Antedating of "Biodiversity"

[Baker, John]

        If Google Print can be trusted (which may not be the case - I'm
amazed at how many obvious errors it produces), then "biodiversity" was
used passim in United Nations Environment Programme, Fourth Global
Training Programme in Environmental Law (1980).

        Several writers date the term precisely to September 1986.  From
E.O. Wilson's Introduction, in Biodiversity II (1996), online at
http://books.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biodiversity/introduction.html:

        <<"Biodiversity," the term and concept, has been a remarkable
event in recent cultural evolution: 10 years ago the word did not exist,
except perhaps through occasional idiosyncratic use. Today it is one of
the most commonly used expressions in the biological sciences and
subsequently has become a household word. It was born "BioDiversity"
during the National Forum on BioDiversity, held in Washington, D.C., on
September 21-24, 1986, under the auspices of the National Academy of
Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution. The proceedings of the forum,
published in 1988 under the title BioDiversity (later to be cited with
less than bibliographical accuracy by most authors as Biodiversity),
became a best-seller for the National Academy Press.>>

        However, as shown by Fred's cite, and perhaps the 1980 and 1968
examples, the term was occasionally used prior to the National Forum on
BioDiversity.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Fred Shapiro
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 10:02 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Antedating of "Biodiversity"

biodiversity (OED 1987)

1985 _BioScience_ 35: 336 (JSTOR)  Support research related to
biodiversity conservation institutions and increase conservation
training.

[NOTE: Bill Mullins has previously posted two 1968 citations for this
term, but one of these is definitely erroneous and I imagine the other
one must be also -- just too early.]

Fred Shapiro


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