I spoke with you several weeks ago regarding our publication.
Attached is a text version of the press release. I hope your
readers will find it of some interest. Thanks,
Christine Raeke, Administrative Assistant Maine Forest
Biodiversity Project
NEWS RELEASE
Date: July 29, 1996
Contact: Leslie Hudson, Maine Forest Biodiversity Project (207)
879-1977; Molly Docherty, Maine Natural Areas Program (207)
287-8045
The Maine Forest Biodiversity Project, in collaboration with the Maine Natural Areas Program, announces the publication of Biological Diversity in Maine: An Assessment of Status and Trends in the Terrestrial and Freshwater Landscape. In this first-ever assessment of terrestrial biodiversity, co-authors Susan Gawler, John Albright, Peter Vickery, and Frances Smith seek to answer the question: what is the status of biological diversity in Maine?
Biodiversity is defined as the variety of all forms of life trees and other plants, invertebrate and vertebrate animals, and microorganisms. It also includes the different levels on which life operates, from the level of genetic differences between individuals to the complex interactions within ecosystems.
The authors note that the opportunity to avoid an acute biodiversity crisis in Maine is before us, and calls for action. Even acknowledging gaps in available information on many important species, the report still shows loss or reduction of certain plants and animals, and an apparent lack of unmanaged, representative ecosystems expressing Maine's natural biological diversity. While the situation in Maine is not as drastic as in some other parts of North America, failure to initiate biodiversity-maintenance strategies now will result in a loss of biological diversity that will be more difficult to address in the future.
The two-volume report contains essential information found nowhere else in a single publication. The contents of Volume I include thorough reviews of existing knowledge about the diversity of species (invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, fish, mammals, birds, vascular plants, and bryophytes, fungi, and lichens), and ecosystems (forests, barrens and woodlands, non-forested uplands, non-forested wetlands, and rivers and lakes), as well as a discussion of biodiversity in a landscape context. Volume II contains a wealth of data on ecosystems and species, including threatened and endangered species, and contributed papers by experts on several lesser-known groups such as lichens, mosses, liverworts, and various invertebrates.
University of Maine professor Malcolm Hunter, author of Fundamentals of Conservation Biology reports, "This is a remarkable work that will find many users: for natural resource managers and naturalists it is a great introduction to the essence of biodiversity; for scientists it is a comprehensive compilation of information; and for conservation biologists from other parts of the world it is a solid model to seek to emulate. Tons of data in a highly readable package a very rare find."
Copies of the report can be obtained by sending payment to the Natural Resources Information and Mapping Center at the Department of Conservation, State House Station 22, Augusta, Maine 04333, or by phoning (207) 287-2801. Volume I is available for $15.00 (Maine residents please include $.90 sales tax); Volume II (appendices) costs $10.00 (plus $.60 tax). Prices include postage. Please make checks payable to Treasurer, State of Maine.
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