versión On-line ISSN 0717-6643 CRISCI, Jorge Víctor. Signs of
the times: biodiversity, systematics and education. Gayana Bot.
[online]. 2006, vol.63, n.1, pp. 106-114. ISSN 0717-6643. doi:
10.4067/S0717-66432006000100006. Biodiversity is the variety and
variability of living things and of the ecosystem that they
constitute. It can be studied at three levels: genes, species,
and ecosystems. The most common way to quantify biodiversity is
using the species level. Estimates place the number of species
in the world at around thirteen million, yet only 1.7 million of
these have been identified and described. There is evidence that
we are destroying species faster than we are identifying them.
This paper is a presentation of the problem of the loss of
biodiversity as a sign of our time. Also biological systematics
and education are discussed as tools to ameliorate the problem
Palabras clave : Extinction; conservation; classification.