🚀 go-pugleaf

Following Andy's point, maybe the most important point Jim Heath can make
in his piece is that true biodiversity is not simply a tally of number of
species.  True biodiversity means diversity of plant and animal community
types, ecosystem types, and ecoregion types.  As Andy suggests, it is this
wondrous, diverse mosaic of natural systems that has provided humankind
and all living creatures with the fundamental ingredients for survival and
development.

On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Andrew R. Dyer wrote:

> At 05:09 AM 1/19/98 GMT, Jim Heath wrote:
> >As you might guess, I've had no trouble finding
> >arguments in *favour* of biodiversity. But are there
> >professional voices urging caution? For some fundamental
> >biological reasons?
> >
>
> The discussion is really one of semantics, but I'll offer a real world
> example of a sort. The California Flora is comprised of some 3500 species
> and has been invaded by approx. 1050 species in the past 230 years while
> very few species have been lost.  Biodiversity, using the layman's
> definition which is the only one that really matters, has increased
> dramatically.  (In truth, it is species richness that has increased.)  At
> the same time, many habitats have been compromised, particularly lowland and
> wetland habitats.  Some 99% of the native grasslands have been type
> converted to Mediterranean annual grasslands, and so on.
>
> So, in general, biodiversity has increased, and not just in the plant world
> either, but no one would argue that native California is the better for it.
> Although problematic when writing for the casual reader, it would be better
> to differentiate between increased species richness via the homogenization
> of the world's flora and the smaller scale mosaic qualities that natural
> environments tend to have which promote true biodiversity.
>
> Given the recent research on biodiversity and stability, I think it will be
> difficult to find good example of negative effects of biodiversity when
> using an accurate definition of the term.
>
> All the best,
> Andy
>
>
> Andrew R. Dyer
> Department of Biology
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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