Tourists walking the beaches, streets and parks of resort towns [in Hawaii] . . . see an impressive array of lush vegetation and a kaleidoscope of birds.
Exotic-looking papaya and banyan trees, beautiful blossoms of bougainvillea and the sweet smell of jasmine are everywhere. Canaries, cardinals and Saffron finches flitter about.
But this perfect tropical paradise holds a dark secret: None of these plants or animals is native to Hawaii.
Contrary to the myth, when vacationers come to the Hawaiian Islands, they unknowingly enter a zone of mass extinction, not Eden.
An Ecological Catastrophe
The real Hawaii has become the biggest ecological catastrophe in the United States—the nation’s capital of species extinction and endangerment, scientists say.
And this disaster is playing out in the tropical jewel of the United States unnoticed by the American public.
Hawaii, the nation’s leader in biological diversity, is well on its way to becoming an archipelago of the “living dead.” That’s a term biologists use to describe a species of animal or plant that still has a few individuals alive but which almost surely will go extinct soon.
Invasion by non-native species, economic development, suburban sprawl, even environmental destruction by hooved animals—all these have added up to devastation for native animals, plants and the ecological connections that bind them, scientists say. In turn, this threatens the fragile tapestry of life on the islands, its supply of fresh water, its soil and its economic future.
For years, researchers warned about the impact of wild pigs, goats, mongooses and other alien animals imported on purpose or by accident. These creatures have sucked out the natural life of the islands like movie space aliens that take over a human body, feed on it and kill it.
Only a few years ago, scientists here still talked hopefully of reviving nature by applying the techniques of restoration ecology. But some now speak of “hospice ecology”—taking care of species while they inevitably slip into extinction.
Like a doctor trying to save a fatally injured person in a hospital emergency room, some of these scientists are reluctantly awakening to the fact that their patient cannot be saved.
“Depressing—that’s an optimistic way to frame it,” said Rick Warshauer, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s biological resources division on Hawaii. He coined the term hospice ecology. “What we’re dealing with is whole suites of organisms disappearing.”
Said Peter Van Dyke, manager of the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, on the Kona coast of Hawaii: “It’s very frustrat.....
Lost Species
More than 1,000 native Hawaiian species are known to have gone extinct since humans arrived.
Among other measures of the crisis, according to recent reports:
&.....
Spider Web of Destruction Keeps Growing
The small dirt hole in the forest didn’t look like much, but it was a good place to begin to understand extinction in Hawaii.
Monday, August 20, 2007
The Importance of Biodiversity to Ecosystem Health Is in Dispute
If environmentalists were to write down their Ten Commandments, one of the sacred principles would surely be, “Honor thy species.” The green movement takes as a truism that ecosystems are healthier when they contain many species of plants and animals. Ecological scientists have even coined a term for this riot of life: biodiversity.
Though the idea now seems natural to environmentalists, scientists have long wondered whether an abundance of species truly improves the health of ecosystems and the way they work. Experiments to test that link were not completed until the mid-1990’s, when some large-scale, much-heralded studies seemed to provide a positive answer. In 1999, the Ecological Society of America enshrined the importance of biodiversity to ecosystems in a report intended for educators and policymakers. The report concluded that, because ecosystems are vital to human welfare, we must “adopt the prudent strategy of preserving biodiversity in order to safeguard ecosystem processes vital to society.”
It sounded harmless enough. But the publication of the article touched off a firestorm of debate that had been smoldering within ecology.
A group of scientists charged that the society’s report ignored a different viewpoint held by many. The studies cited by the report, the scientists said, were flawed and didn’t justify the conservation recommendation. Diversity is worth saving for moral, aesthetic, and even economic reasons, the critics said, but it might not make ecosystems healthier or more efficient.
The altercation went public when, in a letter in the July 2000 issue of the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, eight ecologists bluntly charged that the report was “biased” and “little more than a propaganda document”; made “indefensible statements”; and set a “dangerous precedent” for scientific societies by presenting only one side of the debate, even though the report seemed to represent the entire 7,600-member society.
They wrote, “Our concern is that unjustifiable actions are being made to protect this single rationale for biodiversity conservation, and that scientific objectivity is being compromised as a result.”
Today, the controversy encompasses issues beyond scientific disagreement.
Some scientists claim that the eminent researchers who lead the movement to link biodiversity to ecosystem health, including John H. Lawton at the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine’s Silwood Park campus, in England, and David Tilman at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, have exerted so much influence in the field that the major journals are silencing the critics.
Though the idea now seems natural to environmentalists, scientists have long wondered whether an abundance of species truly improves the health of ecosystems and the way they work. Experiments to test that link were not completed until the mid-1990’s, when some large-scale, much-heralded studies seemed to provide a positive answer. In 1999, the Ecological Society of America enshrined the importance of biodiversity to ecosystems in a report intended for educators and policymakers. The report concluded that, because ecosystems are vital to human welfare, we must “adopt the prudent strategy of preserving biodiversity in order to safeguard ecosystem processes vital to society.”
It sounded harmless enough. But the publication of the article touched off a firestorm of debate that had been smoldering within ecology.
A group of scientists charged that the society’s report ignored a different viewpoint held by many. The studies cited by the report, the scientists said, were flawed and didn’t justify the conservation recommendation. Diversity is worth saving for moral, aesthetic, and even economic reasons, the critics said, but it might not make ecosystems healthier or more efficient.
The altercation went public when, in a letter in the July 2000 issue of the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, eight ecologists bluntly charged that the report was “biased” and “little more than a propaganda document”; made “indefensible statements”; and set a “dangerous precedent” for scientific societies by presenting only one side of the debate, even though the report seemed to represent the entire 7,600-member society.
They wrote, “Our concern is that unjustifiable actions are being made to protect this single rationale for biodiversity conservation, and that scientific objectivity is being compromised as a result.”
Today, the controversy encompasses issues beyond scientific disagreement.
Some scientists claim that the eminent researchers who lead the movement to link biodiversity to ecosystem health, including John H. Lawton at the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine’s Silwood Park campus, in England, and David Tilman at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, have exerted so much influence in the field that the major journals are silencing the critics.
Invading Species Threaten America’s Biodiversity and Environment
Cruising westward at 300 feet, the helicopter is heading straight for the end of civilization. You can see it just ahead. It’s a line across the surface of the Earth—a levee, built years ago to hold back the swamp. Now it works in reverse, restraining the developers. Beyond the levee there are no shopping malls, no houses, no roads, just a wet prairie full of alligators, lily pads and saw grass.
And there’s something new, something growing, spreading—a pale-green substance that seems to be crawling all over the tree islands that speckle this portion of the Everglades. The pilot takes the chopper down for a closer look. You can see it, sure enough: lygodium. Old World climbing fern.
It has gone berserk. It’s like the Blob. The islands are caving in at the center, crushed by the dense, matted blanket of vegetation. The willows, the hollies, the cabbage palms—they’re being buried alive.
“You wouldn’t see any of this three years ago,” testifies the chopper pilot, Jim Dunn.
David Viker, deputy manager of the federally managed swamp, says, “It looks like a green bomb went off.”
What exactly is this virulent organism? It’s a houseplant. In the right context, it’s a lovely little fern.
Lygodium is the classic invasive species: an organism that’s been transported by human beings to habitats where it has no natural enemies. The counterattack against this intruder is just one isolated battle in what is becoming a major war from the Everglades to Rock Creek Park, from Hawaii to your own back yard. The scale of the conflict is planetary.
There are bombs detonating everywhere.
There have always been invasive species, but ecologists and government officials say the situation has become riotous. One study estimated that exotic species, including diseases, cost the nation more than $130 billion a year. There is an emerging sentiment that this could be the next great environmental crisis, that without serious countermeasures we will find ourselves living in what the nature writer David Quammen has called the “Planet of Weeds.”
In 1999 President Bill Clinton signed an executive order requiring all federal agencies to address the problem of invasives. The order created a new entity called the Invasive Species Council. . . . But for all the bureaucratic sparks, there are no platoons of weed-whacking commandos taking to the hills with machetes.
For the general public the issue remains relatively obscure. People grasp the dangers posed by bulldozers and acid rain. It’s not as easy to understand the menace of, say, Eurasian milfoil.
The issue also suffers from its scattered nature
And there’s something new, something growing, spreading—a pale-green substance that seems to be crawling all over the tree islands that speckle this portion of the Everglades. The pilot takes the chopper down for a closer look. You can see it, sure enough: lygodium. Old World climbing fern.
It has gone berserk. It’s like the Blob. The islands are caving in at the center, crushed by the dense, matted blanket of vegetation. The willows, the hollies, the cabbage palms—they’re being buried alive.
“You wouldn’t see any of this three years ago,” testifies the chopper pilot, Jim Dunn.
David Viker, deputy manager of the federally managed swamp, says, “It looks like a green bomb went off.”
What exactly is this virulent organism? It’s a houseplant. In the right context, it’s a lovely little fern.
Lygodium is the classic invasive species: an organism that’s been transported by human beings to habitats where it has no natural enemies. The counterattack against this intruder is just one isolated battle in what is becoming a major war from the Everglades to Rock Creek Park, from Hawaii to your own back yard. The scale of the conflict is planetary.
There are bombs detonating everywhere.
There have always been invasive species, but ecologists and government officials say the situation has become riotous. One study estimated that exotic species, including diseases, cost the nation more than $130 billion a year. There is an emerging sentiment that this could be the next great environmental crisis, that without serious countermeasures we will find ourselves living in what the nature writer David Quammen has called the “Planet of Weeds.”
In 1999 President Bill Clinton signed an executive order requiring all federal agencies to address the problem of invasives. The order created a new entity called the Invasive Species Council. . . . But for all the bureaucratic sparks, there are no platoons of weed-whacking commandos taking to the hills with machetes.
For the general public the issue remains relatively obscure. People grasp the dangers posed by bulldozers and acid rain. It’s not as easy to understand the menace of, say, Eurasian milfoil.
The issue also suffers from its scattered nature
Loss of Biodiversity Is a Global Crisis
Known as the biosphere to scientists and as the creation to theologians, all of life together consists of a membrane around earth so thin that it cannot be seen edgewise from a satellite yet so prodigiously diverse that only a tiny fraction of species have been discovered and named. The products of billions of years of evolution, organisms occupy virtually every square centimeter of the planet’s surfaces and fill nearly every imaginable niche.
Biologists estimate that more than half the species occur in the tropical rain forests. From these natural greenhouses, many world records of biodiversity have been reported—425 kinds of trees in 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of Brazil’s Atlantic forest and 1,300 butterfly species from a corner of Peru’s Manu National Park, both more than 10 times the number from comparable sites in Europe and North America. At the other extreme, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, with the poorest and coldest soils in the world, still harbor sparse communities of bacteria, fungi and microscopic invertebrate animals.
A few remarkable species, the “extremophiles,” have achieved astonishing feats of physiological adaptation at the ends of habitable Earth. In the most frigid polar waters, fish and other animals flourish, their blood kept fluid by biochemical antifreezes. Populations of bacteria live in the spumes of volcanic thermal vents on the ocean floor, multiplying in water above the boiling point. And far beneath Earth’s surface, to a depth of 2 miles (3.2 km) or more, dwell the SLIMES (subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems), unique assemblages of bacteria and fungi that occupy pores in the interlocking mineral grains of igneous rock and derive their energy from inorganic chemicals. The SLIMES are independent of the world above, so even if all of it were burned to a cinder, they would carry on and, given enough time, probably evolve new life-forms able to re-enter the world of air and sunlight.
Earth’s biodiversity (short for biological diversity) is organized into three levels. At the top are the ecosystems, such as rain forests, coral reefs and lakes. Next down are the species that compose the ecosystems: swallowtail butterflies, moray eels, people. At the bottom are the variety of genes making up the heredity of each species. How much biodiversity is there? Biologists have described a total of between 1.5 million and 1.8 million species. Yet this impressive achievement is only a small beginning. Estimates of the true number of living species range, according to the method employed, from 3.6 million to more than 100 million.
Least known are the smallest organisms
Biologists estimate that more than half the species occur in the tropical rain forests. From these natural greenhouses, many world records of biodiversity have been reported—425 kinds of trees in 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of Brazil’s Atlantic forest and 1,300 butterfly species from a corner of Peru’s Manu National Park, both more than 10 times the number from comparable sites in Europe and North America. At the other extreme, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, with the poorest and coldest soils in the world, still harbor sparse communities of bacteria, fungi and microscopic invertebrate animals.
A few remarkable species, the “extremophiles,” have achieved astonishing feats of physiological adaptation at the ends of habitable Earth. In the most frigid polar waters, fish and other animals flourish, their blood kept fluid by biochemical antifreezes. Populations of bacteria live in the spumes of volcanic thermal vents on the ocean floor, multiplying in water above the boiling point. And far beneath Earth’s surface, to a depth of 2 miles (3.2 km) or more, dwell the SLIMES (subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems), unique assemblages of bacteria and fungi that occupy pores in the interlocking mineral grains of igneous rock and derive their energy from inorganic chemicals. The SLIMES are independent of the world above, so even if all of it were burned to a cinder, they would carry on and, given enough time, probably evolve new life-forms able to re-enter the world of air and sunlight.
Earth’s biodiversity (short for biological diversity) is organized into three levels. At the top are the ecosystems, such as rain forests, coral reefs and lakes. Next down are the species that compose the ecosystems: swallowtail butterflies, moray eels, people. At the bottom are the variety of genes making up the heredity of each species. How much biodiversity is there? Biologists have described a total of between 1.5 million and 1.8 million species. Yet this impressive achievement is only a small beginning. Estimates of the true number of living species range, according to the method employed, from 3.6 million to more than 100 million.
Least known are the smallest organisms
The Convention on Biological Diversity Helps Protect Biodiversity Through Sustainable Development
Biological diversity—or biodiversity—is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly, by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully depend.
This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from 3 to 100 million.
Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each species—for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA—the building blocks of life—determine the uniqueness of each individual and each species.
Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural landscapes. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including humans, form a community, interacting with one another and with the air, water, and soil around them.
It is the combination of life forms and their interactions with each other and with the rest of the environment that has made Earth a uniquely habitable place for humans. Biodiversity provides a large number of goods and services that sustain our lives.
At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy for “sustainable development”—meeting our needs while ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was the Convention on Biological Diversity. This pact among the vast majority of the world’s governments sets out commitments for maintaining the world’s ecological underpinnings as we go about the business of economic development. The Convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.
This [article] looks at the importance of biological diversity for the health of people and the planet. It explains the role of the Convention in protecting this biodiversity and ensuring that it is used for the benefit of all. . . .
The Value of Biodiversity
Protecting b.....
An Agreement for Action
While concern for the environment is constant in history, heightened concern about environmental destruction and loss of species and ecosystems in the 1970s led t.....
The Convention on Biological Diversity
In 1992, the largest-ever meeting of world leaders took place at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Br.....
National Action
The Convention on Biological Diversity, as an international treaty, identifies a common problem, sets overall goals and policies and general obligations, and organizes te.....
Conservation and Sustainable Use
The conservation of each country’s biological diversity can be achieved in various ways. “In-situ” conservation—the primary means.....
Sharing the Benefits of Genetic Resources
An important part of the biodiversity debate involves access to and sharing of the benefits arising out of the commercial and other utilization .....
Future Challenge
Economic development is essential to meeting human needs and to eliminating the poverty that affects so many people around the world. The sustainable use of nature is es.....
Information, Education, and Training
The transition to sustainable development requires a shift in public attitudes as to what is an acceptable use of nature. This can only happen if peo.....
Take Action Now
Although still in its infancy, the Convention on Biological Diversity is already making itself felt.
This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from 3 to 100 million.
Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each species—for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA—the building blocks of life—determine the uniqueness of each individual and each species.
Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural landscapes. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including humans, form a community, interacting with one another and with the air, water, and soil around them.
It is the combination of life forms and their interactions with each other and with the rest of the environment that has made Earth a uniquely habitable place for humans. Biodiversity provides a large number of goods and services that sustain our lives.
At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy for “sustainable development”—meeting our needs while ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was the Convention on Biological Diversity. This pact among the vast majority of the world’s governments sets out commitments for maintaining the world’s ecological underpinnings as we go about the business of economic development. The Convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.
This [article] looks at the importance of biological diversity for the health of people and the planet. It explains the role of the Convention in protecting this biodiversity and ensuring that it is used for the benefit of all. . . .
The Value of Biodiversity
Protecting b.....
An Agreement for Action
While concern for the environment is constant in history, heightened concern about environmental destruction and loss of species and ecosystems in the 1970s led t.....
The Convention on Biological Diversity
In 1992, the largest-ever meeting of world leaders took place at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Br.....
National Action
The Convention on Biological Diversity, as an international treaty, identifies a common problem, sets overall goals and policies and general obligations, and organizes te.....
Conservation and Sustainable Use
The conservation of each country’s biological diversity can be achieved in various ways. “In-situ” conservation—the primary means.....
Sharing the Benefits of Genetic Resources
An important part of the biodiversity debate involves access to and sharing of the benefits arising out of the commercial and other utilization .....
Future Challenge
Economic development is essential to meeting human needs and to eliminating the poverty that affects so many people around the world. The sustainable use of nature is es.....
Information, Education, and Training
The transition to sustainable development requires a shift in public attitudes as to what is an acceptable use of nature. This can only happen if peo.....
Take Action Now
Although still in its infancy, the Convention on Biological Diversity is already making itself felt.
Why is biodiversity loss a concern?
2.
Biodiversity provides many key benefits to humans that go beyond the mere provision of raw materials. More...
See also GreenFacts' Ecosystem Change Digest 2.1 Biodiversity loss has negative effects on several aspects of human well-being, such as food security, vulnerability to natural disasters, energy security, and access to clean water and raw materials. It also affects human health, social relations, and freedom of choice. More...
2.2 Society tends to have various competing goals, many of which depend on biodiversity. When humans modify an ecosystem to improve a service it provides, this generally also results in changes to other ecosystem services. For example, actions to increase food production can lead to reduced water availability for other uses. As a result of such trade-offs, many services have been degraded, for instance fisheries, water supply, and protection against natural hazards. In the long term, the value of services lost may greatly exceed the short-term economic benefits that are gained from transforming ecosystems. More...
2.3 Unlike goods bought and sold in markets, many ecosystem services are not traded in markets for readily observable prices. This means that the importance of biodiversity and natural processes in providing benefits to humans is ignored by financial markets. New methods are being used to assign monetary values to benefits such as recreation or clean drinking water. Degradation of ecosystem services could be significantly slowed down or reversed if the full economic value of these services were taken into account in decision-making. More...
2.4 Over the last century, some people have benefited from the conversion of natural ecosystems and an increase in international trade, but other people have suffered from the consequences of biodiversity losses and from restricted access to resources they depend upon. Changes in ecosystems are harming many of the world's poorest people, who are the least able to adjust to these changes.
Labels: posted by shakir
Biodiversity provides many key benefits to humans that go beyond the mere provision of raw materials. More...
See also GreenFacts' Ecosystem Change Digest 2.1 Biodiversity loss has negative effects on several aspects of human well-being, such as food security, vulnerability to natural disasters, energy security, and access to clean water and raw materials. It also affects human health, social relations, and freedom of choice. More...
2.2 Society tends to have various competing goals, many of which depend on biodiversity. When humans modify an ecosystem to improve a service it provides, this generally also results in changes to other ecosystem services. For example, actions to increase food production can lead to reduced water availability for other uses. As a result of such trade-offs, many services have been degraded, for instance fisheries, water supply, and protection against natural hazards. In the long term, the value of services lost may greatly exceed the short-term economic benefits that are gained from transforming ecosystems. More...
2.3 Unlike goods bought and sold in markets, many ecosystem services are not traded in markets for readily observable prices. This means that the importance of biodiversity and natural processes in providing benefits to humans is ignored by financial markets. New methods are being used to assign monetary values to benefits such as recreation or clean drinking water. Degradation of ecosystem services could be significantly slowed down or reversed if the full economic value of these services were taken into account in decision-making. More...
2.4 Over the last century, some people have benefited from the conversion of natural ecosystems and an increase in international trade, but other people have suffered from the consequences of biodiversity losses and from restricted access to resources they depend upon. Changes in ecosystems are harming many of the world's poorest people, who are the least able to adjust to these changes.
Labels: posted by shakir
. Biodiversity: What is it, where is it, and why is it important?
11.1 Biodiversity reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms. It includes diversity within species, between species, and among ecosystems. The concept also covers how this diversity changes from one location to another and over time. Indicators such as the number of species in a given area can help in monitoring certain aspects of biodiversity. More...
Estimates of the proportion of named species 1.2 Biodiversity is everywhere, both on land and in water. It includes all organisms, from microscopic bacteria to more complex plants and animals. Current inventories of species, though useful, remain incomplete and insufficient for providing an accurate picture of the extent and distribution of all components of biodiversity. Based on present knowledge of how biodiversity changes over time, rough estimates can be made of the rates at which species become extinct. More...
1.3 Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Biodiversity plays an important role in the way ecosystems function and in the many services they provide. Services include nutrients and water cycling, soil formation and retention, resistance against invasive species, pollination of plants, regulation of climate, as well as pest and pollution control by ecosystems. For ecosystem services it matters which species are abundant as well as how many species are present.
Labels: posted by shakir
Estimates of the proportion of named species 1.2 Biodiversity is everywhere, both on land and in water. It includes all organisms, from microscopic bacteria to more complex plants and animals. Current inventories of species, though useful, remain incomplete and insufficient for providing an accurate picture of the extent and distribution of all components of biodiversity. Based on present knowledge of how biodiversity changes over time, rough estimates can be made of the rates at which species become extinct. More...
1.3 Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Biodiversity plays an important role in the way ecosystems function and in the many services they provide. Services include nutrients and water cycling, soil formation and retention, resistance against invasive species, pollination of plants, regulation of climate, as well as pest and pollution control by ecosystems. For ecosystem services it matters which species are abundant as well as how many species are present.
Labels: posted by shakir
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