Balance of nature: loss of diversity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, July 15, 2016, 01:38 (3053 days ago) @ David Turell

Here is an article that demonstrates the importance of maintaining the balance of nature:-http://phys.org/news/2016-07-biodiversity-falls-safe-globally.html-"Levels of global biodiversity loss may negatively impact on ecosystem function and the sustainability of human societies, according to UCL-led research. -"'This is the first time we've quantified the effect of habitat loss on biodiversity globally in such detail and we've found that across most of the world biodiversity loss is no longer within the safe limit suggested by ecologists" explained lead researcher, Dr Tim Newbold from UCL and previously at UNEP-WCMC.-"We know biodiversity loss affects ecosystem function but how it does this is not entirely clear. What we do know is that in many parts of the world, we are approaching a situation where human intervention might be needed to sustain ecosystem function."-"The team found that grasslands, savannas and shrublands were most affected by biodiversity loss, followed closely by many of the world's forests and woodlands. They say the ability of biodiversity in these areas to support key ecosystem functions such as growth of living organisms and nutrient cycling has become increasingly uncertain.-***-"It's worrying that land use has already pushed biodiversity below the level proposed as a safe limit," said Professor Andy Purvis of the Natural History Museum, London, who also worked on the study.-"'Decision-makers worry a lot about economic recessions, but an ecological recession could have even worse consequences - and the biodiversity damage we've had means we're at risk of that happening. Until and unless we can bring biodiversity back up, we're playing ecological roulette."-***-"The team used data from hundreds of scientists across the globe to analyse 2.38 million records for 39,123 species at 18,659 sites where are captured in the database of the PREDICTS project. The analyses were then applied to estimate how biodiversity in every square kilometre land has changed since before humans modified the habitat.-"They found that biodiversity hotspots - those that have seen habitat loss in the past but have a lot of species only found in that area - are threatened, showing high levels of biodiversity decline. Other high biodiversity areas, such as Amazonia, which have seen no land use change have higher levels of biodiversity and more scope for proactive conservation.-"'The greatest changes have happened in those places where most people live, which might affect physical and psychological wellbeing. To address this, we would have to preserve the remaining areas of natural vegetation and restore human-used lands," added Dr Newbold."-Comment: This study illustrates why the 'balance of nature' and the h-p bush are so important. Both are one and the same, that is obvious. Both are needed. Isn't that obvious?