NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

This study by the National Research Council's Virtual Commission on the Formation of the National Biological Survey was sponsored by Department of the Interior contract 14-48-0009-93-013,

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Cover: Partly inspired by the cover design of the 1988 book Biodiversity (E.O. Wilson, ed.) published by the National Academy Press, the illustration suggests, through a simple design, the complex interrelationships of human civilization and the rest of the biosphere.