The Kingdom of Rarities presents a new context for understanding rarity and its implications, both for our understanding of how the natural world works and for what it can teach us about protecting biodiversity during a time of large-scale environmental change. Using cutting-edge science from remote outposts around the world, award-winning author Eric Dinerstein animates the key questions that scientists are asking themselves about why some species are so abundant and others not. What are the rarest species and why are they most likely to be found in certain types of environments? Which species have always been rare, and which have only recently been made rare? Which should we seek to protect most? Throughout, Dinerstein explores rarity as a central principle within conservation biology, advancing both our understanding of the natural world and inspiring the creation of new tools and technologies that can help us add to our knowledge and design more effective conservation strategies.
He focuses on real-time threats to biodiversity, from climate change to habitat fragmentation, and draws on his long and distinguished scientific career to illuminate the concept of rarity for readers across the spectrum of scientific knowledge.