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Scientific American

September 1, 1989

1 min read

Threats to Biodiversity

Habitat destruction, mostly in the tropics, is driving thousands of species each year to extinction. The consequences will be dire-unless the trend is reversed

By Edward O. Wilson

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Edward O. Wilson has made major contributions to a number of fields, including the behavior and evolution of social insects, chemical communication, and the evolution of social behavior. His interest in living organisms, especially ants, stems back to his childhood and to his undergraduate studies in evolutionary biology at the University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University, where he is now Pellegrino University Research Professor and Honorary Curator in Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Among his many honors are the National Medal of Science, two Pulitzer Prizes (for On Human Nature, 1978, and The Ants, 1990, with Bert Hölldobler), and the Tyler Prize for environmental achievement. Other groundbreaking books include Consilience and Sociobiology.

More by Edward O. Wilson
Scientific American Magazine Vol 261 Issue 3This article was originally published with the title “Threats to Biodiversity” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 261 No. 3 (), p. 108
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0989-108
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