Abstract:

Aim & Method: On the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the establishment of the journal Biodiversity Science, we conducted questionnaire surveys from Chinese biodiversity researchers to gather the crucial questions in biodiversity science, and finally collected 763 questions from 281 participants.
Results: By summarizing these questions and using the 100 fundamental questions of British Ecology Society as the reference, we narrowed down these questions into 30 key questions, which is grouped into 7 subjects: evolution and ecology (6 questions), populations (4 questions), communities and diversity (7 questions), ecosystems and functioning (3 questions), human impacts and global change (4 questions), methods and monitoring (4 questions), and biodiversity conservation (2 questions). The first five subjects mainly focus on the important processes and mechanisms of speciation and biodiversity maintenances, the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and the consequences of global change in biodiversity; the sixth subject focus on biodiversity monitoring, prediction and data sharing; the last subject covers the key issues in conservation and the connections between nature and human health.
Prospect: Although some biases certainly exist in the selection of these questions, we hope that the 30 key questions could stimulate critical thinking and promote in-depth discussions among Chinese biodiversity researchers.

Key words: evolution, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem functioning, biodiversity monitoring, biodiversity conservation