สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume II - 2010 Biodiversity in Thailand 112 due to stochastic as well as human-caused changes in the natural environment. Many species have become endangered and some are “critical”, that is, in imminent danger of extinction if action is not taken to save them. Many examples are known among the birds of Thailand, which are perhaps the best known components of our biodiversity. Recent records show that among the 946 known species of birds found in Thailand, 7 species have become extinct, 37 species are critical, 69 species are endangered and 248 species are vulnerable). Other species of animals are also facing a similar fate due to loss of habitats by deforestation and other human activities such as clear-cutting and unregulated logging as well as hunting for food and for trade. An abundant diversity of microbes, fungi and slime molds, and lichens has recently been discovered from forests in different parts of Thailand, but by far the greatest number remain to be discovered. Systematic studies and bioprospecting assays of these bioresources are currently underway in the laboratories of the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC). Access to these bioresources basically depends upon scientific knowledge in tropical biology, which in turn can be used as guidelines for selecting the most promising species and sites for bioprospecting. However, the most fundamental and pressing questions about our biodiversity deal with systematics and taxonomy. How many species of plants, animals and microorganisms exist in different ecological settings in Thailand? How are they related? Where do they occur? What microbes and fungi are essential for ecological services such as maintaining soil fertility? These questions must be addressed for a better understanding of our biological diversity and the way to protect and manage it. Until recently, there has been very little support for these kinds of basic research from the government of Thailand. Systematics and taxonomy, population biology, genetics and ecology, as well as biological surveys and species inventories, have long been neglected. Thus, researchers in these fields had to find their own financial support from funding agencies outside the country. This was not always an easy task for junior or even some senior biologists. Now the situation is changing, partly due to the environmental awareness of the Thai people, and the impact of the Earth Summit, particularly the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. Thai people have also become increasingly aware of the significance of ecological services. That awareness usually arose following disasters such as landslides, drought, severe flooding, salinization, loss of riverine fishes, etc., resulting from unwise development. Academic and industrial researchers also have become more aware of the economic importance of biological diversity