The artistic practices, in particular since the 15th century, were in narrow connection with the scientific and technological advances. The natural resources discovered by navigators were the origin of a tradition of naturalist artworks, always renewed by the discovery of new animal and vegetal species. Yet, the 21th century humanity is contemporary of an unprecedented reduction of the worldwide biological diversity. Biodiversity is a notion which takes nowadays all its importance because of environmental problems, and we can observe an awakening of the ecological wills, particularly in artistic circles. This thesis proposes two visions of the subject : the one who supposes that the biological diversity carries itself an artistic manifestation, and the one who evokes a kind of art which the source is biodiversity. All these investigations are supported and fed by naturalist art practices developed since a decade. From botanical illustrations to multimedia representations, from zoological descriptions to ecological art, from curiosity cabinets to biotechnological creations, the links between the past and the contemporary practices are the source of a hybrid study, between visual arts and biology.
