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I SOLATED AREAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK STATE ARE THE HABITAT OF THE EASTERN WOODRAT. IT WOULD SEEM THESE AREAS’ INACCESSIBILITY WOULD PROTECT THE WOODRAT FROM EXTINCTION, AND YET INEXPLICABLY IT DECLINED IN NEW YORK STATE IN RECENT DECADES, AND FINALLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE STATE IN 1989. B i o l o g i c a l 12 D i v e r s i t y
It is possible that the next hundred years will become known as the “Century of the Environment.” If in the fullness of time that prophecy comes true, the beginning of this era might be marked by historians by environmental disasters, such as the 11 million-gallon Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, the 350 tons of depleted uranium weapons still lying on Persian Gulf War battlefields, and the continued exploitation of precious ecosystems like the Brazilian Amazon, where deforestation, mining and over-development continue to flourish. I would like to summarize the whole picture by classifying global trends into four categories: 1. Ozone depletion in the stratosphere, allowing increased penetration of ultraviolet radiation to reach ground level. 2. Global warming due to the greenhouse effect, in which increased levels of carbon dioxide, methane and a few other gases trap growing quantities of heat. 3. Toxic pollution, including acid rain. 4. Mass extinction of species by destruction of habitats, especially tropical rainforests. The first three trends are dangerous to health and the economy—but they can be reversed. It is a matter of converting to cleaner forms of energy, changing our patterns of production and consumption, and above all, reversing population growth with an aim toward reaching supportable levels country by country. However, extinction cannot be reversed. No species can be called back. Extinction of species, or the reduction of biodiversity, is the one process that is being perpetrated not only on our children and grandchildren but also on our descendants 10,000 years from now and beyond—as far into the future as can be imagined. With that somber but essential theme as background, let me now review some of the key facts about global biodiversity. The world is at or close to its highest level of biodiversity in the history of life, spanning 3.75 billion years. This buildup has been associated with changes in the ACIDIFICATION REDUCES THE DIVERSITY OF AQUATIC LIFE, BECAUSE FEW SPECIES CAN SURVIVE IN WATER WITH A LOW pH. THE pH LEVEL CAN BE RESTORED THROUGH LIMING; SOME OF THE PLANT SPECIES LOST MAY RE-ESTABLISH FROM SEED SOURCES IN NEARBY LAKES. atmosphere, the most important of which were caused by organisms and their innovations as they adapted to the changing atmosphere and other parts of the B i o l o g i c a l 13 D i v e r s i t y
Page 1: Biological Diversity: T H E O L D E
Page 4 and 5: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW
Page 6 and 7: Copyright © 1999 by The New York S
Page 9 and 10: Preface This book is based on a man
Page 11 and 12: Additional information on the activ
Page 13 and 14: Biological Diversity: T H E O L D E
Page 15 and 16: some degree of potency. A much high
Page 17 and 18: Some groups of organisms, such as f
Page 19 and 20: to their environment and to one ano
Page 21 and 22: N EW YORK’S BIODIVERSITY IS THREA
Page 23: 12 10 Number of Butterflies Observe
Page 27 and 28: environment. For almost 3 billion y
Page 29 and 30: W ITH ITS WISPINESS AND LIGHT-AND-D
Page 31 and 32: sophisticated microscopic and bioch
Page 33 and 34: The tropical zones generally have a
Page 35 and 36: average as well as greater ecologic
Page 37 and 38: early extinction within the next 30
Page 39 and 40: perished. As the paleontologist Dav
Page 41 and 42: collected in the stream in 1936 and
Page 43 and 44: Systematics, or taxonomy, is at the
Page 45 and 46: Community ecology addresses the man
Page 47 and 48: Biological field stations from four
Page 49 and 50: Biogeography 1 The scientific study
Page 51 and 52: Dispersal In biology, the way a spe
Page 53 and 54: Global warming An increase in the c
Page 55 and 56: Ozone A form of oxygen (O 3 ) that
Page 57 and 58: Termites A group of insects that is
Page 59 and 60: Grifo, Francesca, and J. Rosenthal
Page 61 and 62: diverse and why the threat to that
Page 63 and 64: Mitchell, Richard S., L. Danaher, a
Page 65 and 66: 9. Is an ecologist the same as a ta
Page 67 and 68: 31. Do you know of a biological res
Page 69 and 70: B i o l o g i c a l 57 D i v e r s
Page 72: THE NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM IS A PROG

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