ANDY PURVIS is Reader in Biodiversity at Imperial College London. His research interests include phylogenetics, macroevolution and conservation biology, and his current research focuses on using phylogenies to study macroevolution and extinction.

JOHN GITTLEMAN is Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of many scientific papers and several books, including Carnivore Conservation (2001, ISBN 0 521 66232 X). His current research examines global patterns and processes of speciation and extinction in mammals.

THOMAS BROOKS is head of the Conservation Synthesis Department in Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. His interests lie in species conservation, particularly birds, and tropical forest hotspots.

Phylogeny is a potentially powerful tool for conserving biodiversity. This book explores how it can be used to tackle questions of great practical importance and urgency for conservation. Using case studies from many different taxa and regions of the world, the volume evaluates how useful phylogeny is in understanding the processes that have generated today's diversity and the processes that now threaten it. The novelty of many of the applications, the increasing ease with which phylogenies can be generated, the urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made and the need to make decisions that are as good as possible together make this volume a timely and important synthesis which will be of great value to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers alike.