Editorial

It is natural we imagine that the world has long been, more or less, as we now know it. This perception represents a baseline against which we judge, and respond to, change. If you have never seen tigers, rhinos or gibbons in Hong Kong for example, it is hard to appreciate or even believe, what has been lost. Only by documenting diversity and its change we do learn that this baseline is ever-shifting, typically towards diminishing diversity. Whether the cause is direct removals or displacement by alien invaders, we need to record and understand such changes so better to halt, or reverse them. Many articles in this volume reflect not only the process of documentation but also the fact that, sadly, Hong Kong’s biodiversity, terrestrial or marine, does not yet receive the attention it deserves. On reflection, some change is good!

YS

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