Secondary Research Post #1
The world can be run by a strive for power and money, some call it ambition, others call it greed. Whatever you refer to it as science has made one thing factually clear. We are destroying habitats and wildlife faster than our ecosystems can keep up with.
Scientist and experts in the field tend to agree.
According to Lawton (1998), “At present, species are going extinct at a rate 100 times the natural background rates (1). The readily observable destruction of habitats such as the Amazon (2) and the now-calibrated relationship between habitat loss and species loss (3) predict that these rates will only get larger.” (p. 1)
If humans continue to treat our habitats the way we are now, we may see irreversible damage to our ecosystems. According to Lawton (1998) if we were to destroy or modify all of the land we have left unprotected only half of the planet’s species would survive.
In a recent post, we discussed some of the key questions I would like to attempt to answer, one of those questions probed what areas of the world are most vulnerable? One would hope that humans are taking care to deforest and utilize areas with less vulnerable species, but it appears quite the opposite.
Lawton acknowledges (1998) “Nature has put her eggs in a few baskets — hotspots — where these rare, endemic species are concentrated (5). By a cruel twist of fate, current rates of deforestation appear to be highest in the richest hotspots (6). If humanity placed reserves judiciously over these special places, could we save a greater fraction of species (7)?”
This is truly unfortunate as it seems as if the species that are in need of help the most are also being attacked the most aggressively. Our author asks an interesting question, can we protect areas of land strategically enough to preserve the most important species and keep our ecosystems intact? That question obviously has more than one very complex answer.
Factors such as land size, practicality, and of course money all come into play. With many endemic species residing in lands such as San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Honolulu as described by Lawton (1998). It is highly unlikely that the motive of money could be overcame to protect these delicate creatures.
Overall, creating a world where all the necessary species and their areas are protected would take a global effort, one that seems unlikely unless there is a major shift in awareness, effort, and money.
Lawton, J. H., & Pimm, S. L. (1998). Planning for biodiversity. Science, 279(5359), 2068+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A20485575/GPS?u=sunybuff_main&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=95af4450
