Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity CrisisIn Life in the Balance, Niles Eldredge argues that the Earth is confronting a disaster in the making--an ecological crisis that, if left unresolved, could ultimately lead to mass extinction on the scale of that which killed the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago. Writing for general readers, he reviews compelling evidence for this "biodiversity crisis," showing that species are dying out at an unnaturally rapid rate. He demonstrates the importance of maintaining biodiversity, taking the reader on a journey that reveals the twin faces of biodiversity--over thirteen million living species and the ecosystems through which these species transform the sun's energy into life-sustaining matter. Throughout, Eldredge shows how our own fate is intricately linked with that of other species. |
From inside the book
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... Earth is our home , and all Earth's species are our family , for we have evolved along with every other living thing . Yet all is not well with life on Earth . We are losing roughly 30,000 species of plants and animals a year as ...
... Earth's living species and ecosys- tems . People around the world utilize over 40,000 species every day — and most of these are plants . [ See Appendix II ] All the crops that we culti- vate - corn , wheat , potatoes , tomatoes , apples ...
... Earth — would quickly come to an end . We humans also value life around us — beautiful , eye - catching species , gorgeous intact wild places — for its intrinsic worth . Something within us recognizes that we are connected to this ...
... Earth as a side effect of our success ; and we must decide what we can do about it . Once again , we must use our brains . We need the concept of " enough . " There are already too many humans on the planet for everyone to be able to ...
Contents
TALES FROM THE SWAMP | xiii |
THE OKAVANGO AS PRIMORDIAL EDEN | 20 |
BIODIVERSITY EVOLUTION AND ECOLOGY | 45 |
THE TREE OF LIFE | 63 |
ECOSYSTEMPANORAMA | 109 |
BIODIVERSITYA THREATENED NATURAL TREASURE | 139 |
STRIKING A BALANCE | 173 |
Appendix i ANIMAL SPECIES EXTINCT SINCE CIRCA 1600 | 191 |
Appendix ii ESSENTIAL MICROBES FUNGI ANIMALS AND PLANTS | 202 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SUGGESTED READINGS | 210 |
INDEX | 213 |