The subject of biological diversity is a topical one, much on the minds of today's biologists and with far-reaching consequences scarcely suggested by its simple etymology. Within the biological community, the concept of biodiversity, and especially its loss, is greatly pondered, debated, and written about. Concerned groups of devotees mull over definitions, measures and indices, the most important taxa, the most important habitats, the various degrees of triage, and other factors included within a concept embraced by a term that is, itself, not singularly welldefined. The concept of biodiversity is grasped by all biologists, but its finer details of meaning may be interpreted in different ways by various proponents within the biological community. In spite of what might be considered a fuzzy definitional focus, biologists, it would appear, are generally in agreement that a biodiversity “crisis” exists. It would be safe to say that the extent of each biologist's reaction to the dilemma may be focused on the perspective from his or her own specialized point of view.
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E. E. Grissell (1999) studied this question.