Convention on Biological Diversity
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose case studies on various topics to identify management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, and enhance productivity and the capacity to sustain livelihoods.
Abstract: Background The programme of work on agricultural biodiversity, adopted by the Conference of Parties in decision V/5, makes provision for case studies on various topics to identify management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and mitigate the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, and enhance productivity and the capacity to sustain livelihoods. More specifically, activity 2.1 of the Programme of Work calls for a series of case studies, in a range of environments and production systems, and in each region: (a) To identify key goods and services provided by agricultural biodiversity, needs for the conservation and sustainable use of components of this biological diversity in agricultural ecosystems, and threats to such diversity;
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TL;DR: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols used xiii 1.
Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201
14,171 citations
City College of New York1, University of Michigan2, University of Wisconsin-Madison3, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology4, University of Hong Kong5, University of New Hampshire6, Griffith University7, Southern Cross University8, University of Washington9, University of Western Australia10
TL;DR: The first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts is presented.
Abstract: Protecting the world’s freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.
5,401 citations
TL;DR: Case studies re-evaluating three different types of biodiversity experiments demonstrate that the increases found in such ecosystem properties as productivity, nutrient use efficiency, and stability were actually caused by “hidden treatments” that altered plant biomass and productivity.
Abstract: Interactions between biotic and abiotic pro- cesses complicate the design and interpretation of eco- logical experiments. Separating causality from simple correlation requires distinguishing among experimental treatments, experimental responses, and the many pro- cesses and properties that are correlated with either the treatments or the responses, or both. When an experi- mental manipulation has multiple components, but only one of them is identified as the experimental treatment, erroneous conclusions about cause and eAect relation- ships are likely because the actual cause of any observed response may be ignored in the interpretation of the experimental results. This unrecognized cause of an observed response can be considered a ''hidden treat- ment.'' Three types of hidden treatments are potential problems in biodiversity experiments: (1) abiotic condi- tions, such as resource levels, or biotic conditions, such as predation, which are intentionally or unintentionally altered in order to create diAerences in species numbers for ''diversity'' treatments; (2) non-random selection of species with particular attributes that produce treatment diAerences that exceed those due to ''diversity'' alone; and (3) the increased statistical probability of including a species with a dominant negative or positive eAect (e.g., dense shade, or nitrogen fixation) in randomly selected groups of species of increasing number or ''diversity.'' In each of these cases, treatment responses that are actually the result of the ''hidden treatment'' may be inadver- tently attributed to variation in species diversity. Case studies re-evaluating three diAerent types of biodiversity experiments demonstrate that the increases found in such ecosystem properties as productivity, nutrient use eAciency, and stability (all of which were attributed to higher levels of species diversity) were actually caused by ''hidden treatments'' that altered plant biomass and productivity.
1,601 citations
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TL;DR: It is clear that the above can lead to confusion when scientists of different countries are trying to communicate with each other, so an internationally recognized system of naming organisms is created.
Abstract: It is clear that the above can lead to confusion when scientists of different countries are trying to communicate with each other. Another example is the burrowing rodent called a gopher found throughout the western United States. In the southeastern United States the term gopher refers to a burrowing turtle very similar to the desert tortoise found in the American southwest. One final example; two North American mammals known as the elk and the caribou are known in Europe as the reindeer and the elk. We never sing “Rudolph the Red-nosed elk”! Confused? This was the reason for creating an internationally recognized system of naming organisms. To avoid confusion, living organisms are assigned a scientific name based on Latin or Latinized words. The English sparrow is Passer domesticus or Passer domesticus (italics or underlining these two names is the official written representation of a scientific name). Using a uniform naming system allows scientists from all over the world to recognize exactly which life form a scientist is referring to. The naming process is called the binomial system of nomenclature. Passer is comparable to a surname and is called the genus, while domesticus is the specific or species name (like your given name) of the English sparrow. Now scientists can give all sparrow-like birds the genus Passer but the species name will vary. All similar genera (plural for genus) can be grouped into another, “higher” category (see below). Study the following for a more through understanding of taxonomy. Taxonomy Analogy Kingdom: Animalia Country
1,305 citations
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TL;DR: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols used xiii 1.
Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201
14,171 citations
TL;DR: The traditional view of natural systems, therefore, might well be less a meaningful reality than a perceptual convenience.
Abstract: Individuals die, populations disappear, and species become extinct. That is one view of the world. But another view of the world concentrates not so much on presence or absence as upon the numbers of organisms and the degree of constancy of their numbers. These are two very different ways of viewing the behavior of systems and the usefulness of the view depends very much on the properties of the system concerned. If we are examining a particular device designed by the engineer to perform specific tasks under a rather narrow range of predictable external conditions, we are likely to be more concerned with consistent nonvariable performance in which slight departures from the performance goal are immediately counteracted. A quantitative view of the behavior of the system is, therefore, essential. With attention focused upon achieving constancy, the critical events seem to be the amplitude and frequency of oscillations. But if we are dealing with a system profoundly affected by changes external to it, and continually confronted by the unexpected, the constancy of its behavior becomes less important than the persistence of the relationships. Attention shifts, therefore, to the qualitative and to questions of existence or not. Our traditions of analysis in theoretical and empirical ecology have been largely inherited from developments in classical physics and its applied variants. Inevitably, there has been a tendency to emphasize the quantitative rather than the qualitative, for it is important in this tradition to know not just that a quantity is larger than another quantity, but precisely how much larger. It is similarly important, if a quantity fluctuates, to know its amplitude and period of fluctuation. But this orientation may simply reflect an analytic approach developed in one area because it was useful and then transferred to another where it may not be. Our traditional view of natural systems, therefore, might well be less a meaningful reality than a perceptual convenience. There can in some years be more owls and fewer mice and in others, the reverse. Fish populations wax and wane as a natural condition, and insect populations can range over extremes that only logarithmic
13,447 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Estimates of future extinctions are hampered by the authors' limited knowledge of which areas are rich in endemics, and regions rich in species found only within them (endemics) dominate the global patterns of extinction.
1,980 citations
"Convention on Biological Diversity" refers background in this paper
...The number of endangered species in a region is correlated to the area of habitat available, habitat quality and the history of land use (Pimm et al. 1995)....
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...There is a strong relationship between the extent of deforestation and the level of species extinctions and endangerment (Pimm et al. 1995)....
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...A particular example is the Polynesian occupation of Pacific islands, which resulted in the extinction of more than 2000 bird species (Pimm et al., 1995)....
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...29 Carolina parakeet (Cornuropsis carolinensis), ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), Bachman’s warbler (Vermivora bachmanii) and the eastern cougar (Puma concolor) have become extinct (Pimm et al., 1995)....
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...Current extinction rates are much higher than the rate at which species evolve, and much higher than background rates (Pimm et al. 1995)....
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16 Aug 1996
TL;DR: This paper showed that primary productivity in more diverse plant communities is more resistant to, and recovers more fully from, a major drought and that each additional species lost from our grasslands had a progressively greater impact on drought resistance.
Abstract: One of the ecological tenets justifying conservation of biodiversity is that diversity begets stability. Impacts of biodiversity on population dynamics and ecosystem functioning have long been debated1–7, however, with many theoretical explorations2–6,8–11 but few field studies12–15. Here we describe a long-term study of grasslands16,17 which shows that primary productivity in more diverse plant communities is more resistant to, and recovers more fully from, a major drought. The curvilinear relationship we observe suggests that each additional species lost from our grasslands had a progressively greater impact on drought resistance. Our results support the diversity—stability hypothesis5,6,18,19, but not the alternative hypothesis that most species are functionally redundant19–21. This study implies that the preservation of biodiversity is essential for the maintenance of stable productivity in ecosystems.
1,932 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a process-based model was used to estimate global patterns of net primary production and soil nitrogen cycling for contemporary climate conditions and current atmospheric CO2 concentration, with most of the production attributable to tropical evergreen forest.
Abstract: A process-based model was used to estimate global patterns of net primary production and soil nitrogen cycling for contemporary climate conditions and current atmospheric CO2 concentration. Over half of the global annual net primary production was estimated to occur in the tropics, with most of the production attributable to tropical evergreen forest. The effects of CO2 doubling and associated climate changes were also explored. The responses in tropical and dry temperate ecosystems were dominated by CO2, but those in northern and moist temperate ecosystems reflected the effects of temperature on nitrogen availability.
1,929 citations
"Convention on Biological Diversity" refers background in this paper
...Temperate forests are dominated by deciduous tree species and, to a lesser extent, evergreen broad-leaf and needle-leaf species (Melillo et al., 1993)....
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