Efficient conservation of biodiversity at individual, population, species and ecosystem levels depends on two connected stages: first, a listing of the taxa present, particularly those which are vanishing and threatened; second, basic research on how biological systems function and organize themselves in changing environments. At present the first stage prevails in Ukraine. It is known, for example, that 378 vascular plant species have declining distributions in the Carpathian highlands. Plant communities which are rare in this region have been described, and processes in forest, bush, dwarf shrub and meadow ecosystems under human pressure have been studied. The second stage is not yet dominant. This stage should study the following topics: populations as evolutionary units, subsystems of species and ecosystems. Top priorities are: to determine minimum viable populations, to study what happens to these small populations as they become isolated, to study in situ how populations of different species relate to each other and their environment. Scientific research into biodiversity using efficient methods of protection and renewal is particularly important.