The term Biodiversity

[Geoff Read]

Thanks to those who provided pointers.

>  Who coined the contraction biodiversity and when?

"Walter G. Rosen in 1985 for the first planning conference of what was to
be a key meeting, the National Forum on BioDiversity'', which convened in
Washington, D. C. in September 1986. The proceedings of that forum, edited
by Wilson* (1988) under the title _Biodiversity_, launched the word into
general use." -- Harper,John L; Hawksworth,David L (1994): Biodiversity:
measurement and estimation. Preface. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London B 345, 5-12.

Biodiversity first appears in Biological Abstracts in 1988. I do not think
I want to delve further into the murky depths of who, when, and in what
context, first put 'biological' and 'diversity' together prior to Lovejoy
or Norse & McManus in 1980,  ... but feel free ...  :-)

*Wilson,EO; Peter,FM (Eds.) (1988): Biodiversity.  National
Academy Press, Washington, 521pp.

--
  Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>