In this contribution I try to show that the status of
biology today should be reflected from the point of
view of biodiversity – the fact that the number of extant
species is much higher than we were until recently
prepared to believe and the fact that the present
state of the biosphere can be characterized as an
evolutionary catastrophy,for habitats and species are
being destroyed at a rapid pace under the influence
of humans. The task of biodiversity research, I have
argued, is not only to discover and describe new species
but also to show that with the extermination of
species we carelessly destroy resources that could be
utilized. For these reasons the science of biology has
gained a new meaning.In earlier times, until the twentieth century, biologists
confined themselves to describing and classifying the
various kinds of organisms and explaining the phenomena
of life,whether in vitalistic or mechanistic
terms. Today, for the first time in its long history,
biology is in the situation to codetermine the future
of life on this planet: