保护生物学是科学用于保护地球上受威胁的物种和生态系统的应用。该领域是一个相对年轻的领域，随着对生物多样性危机（可能是我们这个时代最关键的环境问题）的反应而迅速发展。保护生物学家认为自然的所有多样性都很重要并且具有内在价值。这种多样性跨越了生物等级，包括基因，种群，社区，生态系统和生物群落水平的变异。注重生物多样性和对自然的内在价值是保护生物学与野生动植物管理（从功利主义角度出发，侧重于鸟类和大型哺乳动物种群）和一般环境生物学（从广泛关注环境问题）之间的区别。 ）。保护生物学家寻求将生物学观点与社会，经济，
Conservation biology is the application of science to conserve the earth's imperiled species and ecosystems. The field is a relatively young one that is growing rapidly in response to the biodiversity crisis, perhaps the most critical environmental issue of our time. Conservation biologists view all of nature's diversity as important and having inherent value. This diversity spans the biological hierarchy and includes variation at the level of genes, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes. A focus on biological diversity and an intrinsic valuation of nature is what distinguishes conservation biology from wildlife management (with its somewhat more utilitarian perspective and a focus on populations of birds and large mammals) and from general environmental biology (with a broad focus on environmental issues). Conservation biologists seek ways to integrate biological perspectives with social, economic, legislative and political ones to achieve conservation goals.