Thinking Globally on Biodiversity
The really critical areas which need careful watching
are more likely to be the tropics and the seas close to
the continental shores. It is in these regions, where
few do watch, that harmful practices may be pursued to
the point of no-return...(James Lovelock)
Biodiversity is shrinking all over the planet, but as
suggested by James Lovelock in the above quote, the
problem is most severe and most serious in two places on
the planet; the tropical rainforest and the continental
shelves. It is in these two places where the greatest
variety of species exist (e.g., in a 2.5 acre plot of
Indonesian rainforest there were identified as many
different tree species as exist in all of North America.
The number exceeded seven hundred) (Wilson), and
it is in these areas where the greatest number of
species are disappearing (an estimated 137 species per
day in the world’s rainforests) (Rainforest Facts).
Lovelock’s concern, however, is not merely in numbers of
species lost, but in the impact that these two
ecosystems have on the planet’s homeostasis. Homeostasis
is the ability of an organism (e.g., homo sapiens) or
entity (e.g., the planet Earth) to maintain its vital
statistics within a healthy and sustainable range. For
the earth, this would include temperature ranges, ozone
content in the stratosphere and vital cycles such as
carbon cycle and water cycle. If the forests of North
America were destroyed by logging or forest fire, the
immediate regional devastation would be severe, but
these forests would gradually return and the lasting
impact to the planet would be minimal. If, however, the
life of the rainforest or the continental shelves were
destroyed, not only would the damage to the particular
ecosystem be irreparable, but the impacts would
dramatically felt worldwide.
For this reason, the two global subtopics for the Env
201 biodiversity web pages are rainforest depletion and
disruption of the continental shelves. Please pay
special attention to the pages about the continental
shelves, for they explicitly point out that damage to
distant ecosystems have regional causes.
<< ----- >>
|
