thorough description of what biodiversity is and how the concept of biodiversity has developed over the past 15 years at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/biodiversity. From this site we learn that the term "Biodiversity" was coined as a contraction of "biological diversity" in 1985. A symposium in 1986 and the follow-up book Biodiversity, edited by biologist E. O. Wilson and published in 1988, expanded the popularity of this concept.

The continued health of human societies depends upon a natural environment that is productive and contains a wide diversity of plant, animal, and microbe species. Life on the earth comprises at least 10 million species of plants, animals, and microbes, while in the United States there are an estimated 750,000 species, of which small organisms such as anthropods (arachnids such as spiders and mites,now and for the future. The goals of the NBI are to inventory and monitor the many species of plants and animals found on Nantucket and to educate the public about the importance of protecting the rare elements that contribute to Nantucket’s rich biodiversity. Members of the NBI include: the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, Maria Mitchell Association, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Nantucket Garden Club, Nantucket Islands Land Bank Commission, Nantucket Land Council, Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program of Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, Science Department of Nantucket High School, The Trustees of Reservations, the Tuckernuck Land Trust, and the University of Massachusetts Boston Nantucket Field Station.

NBI members have selected 21 specific plots in 21 different habitats in order to coordinate the research conducted and