Biodiversity Erosion - Issues and Questions

The erosion of biodiversity is currently highly publicized. Militant movements accuse humans of destroying nature and being responsible for a sixth mass extinction. However, this anxiety-provoking message is sometimes based on misconceptions, false or partisan ideas, and media relays that favor and amplify alarmist information. If the situation of certain populations is worrying, it is not a general phenomenon because others are expanding. Rather than holding a globalizing discourse, it is necessary to recontextualize and relativize the debate to better define the necessary actions.
 
Biodiversity Erosion analyzes numerous scientific publications, as well as alarming discussions, emphasizing the multiple biases present in the way information is presented. This book questions the relevance of the notion of species and the desire to compile an inventory of all living things. It argues for a less Manichean approach to our relationship with nature.

List of contents

Introduction xi
 
Chapter 1 The Gradual Decline of Biodiversity: What Do We Mean? 1
 
1.1 The context of the debate 2
 
1.2 "Biodiversity"? A vague concept 3
 
1.3 The origins of a concept: creationist thinking 4
 
1.4 Decline: clarifying the meaning of the words 6
 
1.5 Are the indicators reliable? 8
 
1.6 Protecting what? 10
 
1.7 The evolution of the concept of decline: from a structural to a functional approach 11
 
1.8 Communication or misinformation? 13
 
1.9 At the roots of the sixth extinction 14
 
Chapter 2 The Promethean Dream: Taking Stock of Biodiversity 17
 
2.1 The notion of species is misleading! 17
 
2.2 Hidden biodiversity: cryptic or twin species 20
 
2.3 Species at the service of genes? 21
 
2.4 Species inventory: what do we know? 22
 
2.5 The geographical distribution of biological diversity 23
 
2.6 In summary 25
 
Chapter 3 What Can We Learn from the Great Extinctions of the Past? 27
 
3.1 A hundred times over, put your work back together 27
 
3.2 The great mass extinctions 28
 
3.3 The tree that hides the forest 31
 
3.4 Evolutionary consequences of extinctions 33
 
3.5 What is known about the post-extinction processes of the past? 35
 
3.6 In summary 35
 
Chapter 4 Biodiversity Decline: "The Worst Is Not Certain" 37
 
4.1 When scientists cross the yellow line! 37
 
4.2 The risk of extinction 40
 
4.2.1 Endemic species 40
 
4.2.2 Specialist species 42
 
4.2.3 Ubiquitous or opportunistic species 42
 
4.3 Vulnerability of species to risks 42
 
4.4 Species extinctions in the plant world 44
 
4.5 What do we know about species extinctions in animals? 46
 
4.6 Species extinctions in France 47
 
4.7 The false trails of globalization: contextualizing erosion! 51
 
4.8 In summary 53
 
Chapter 5 Let's Talk about the Renewal Rate of Biological Diversity 55
 
5.1 Extinction debt and speciation credit 55
 
5.2 Speciation processes 57
 
5.3 The speed of appearance of new species 58
 
5.4 Is speciation more important in tropical environments? 62
 
5.5 Evolution and the role of chance 63
 
5.6 Is habitat fragmentation a threat to biodiversity? 64
 
5.7 In summary 66
 
Chapter 6 Controversies Surrounding the Extinction Rate 67
 
6.1 The laborious calculation of the extinction rate 68
 
6.2 The area/species relationship: a highly criticized prospective tool! 71
 
6.3 Text commentary on the extinction rate of species according to the Sagascience website 74
 
6.4 A debate confused by ideological concerns 76
 
6.5 In summary 78
 
Chapter 7 The Hidden Face of Methods for Assessing Biodiversity Decline 81
 
7.1 Who can be trusted to analyze the data? 82
 
7.2 Questions about the "species" metric 83
 
7.3 Amalgamation and false leads 84
 
7.4 Contingency and the problem of changes in scale: global versus local 85
 
7.5 Losers, but also winners? 86
 
7.6 Manipulating figures: communication or hijacking? 88
 
7.7 The health sector taken hostage 89
 
Chapter 8 Biodiversity and the Functioning of Ecosystems: A Multitude of Preconceived Ideas 91
 
8.1 The black box of ecological functioning 91
 
8.2 The balance of nature is fiction 92
 
8.3 Disruption does not mean disaster 94
 
8.4 Are all species needed? 95
 
8.5 Deterministic or stochastic ecological systems? 96
 
8.6 The more species there are, the more resilient the ecological

About the author

Christian Leveque is Honorary Director of Research at the Institut de recherche pour le développement, France, Honorary President of the French Academy of Agriculture and a specialist in the ecology of continental aquatic environments. He is the author of numerous works on ecology and biodiversity.

Summary

The erosion of biodiversity is currently highly publicized. Militant movements accuse humans of destroying nature and being responsible for a sixth mass extinction. However, this anxiety-provoking message is sometimes based on misconceptions, false or partisan ideas, and media relays that favor and amplify alarmist information. If the situation of certain populations is worrying, it is not a general phenomenon because others are expanding. Rather than holding a globalizing discourse, it is necessary to recontextualize and relativize the debate to better define the necessary actions.

Biodiversity Erosion analyzes numerous scientific publications, as well as alarming discussions, emphasizing the multiple biases present in the way information is presented. This book questions the relevance of the notion of species and the desire to compile an inventory of all living things. It argues for a less Manichean approach to our relationship with nature.

Product details

• Authors: Leveque, C Leveque, Christian Lévêque
• Publisher: Wiley & Sons
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 08.11.2022
• EAN: 9781786307620
• ISBN: 978-1-78630-762-0
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 235 mm x 15 mm
• Weight: 470 g
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Ökologie, Biodiversität, Life Sciences, Biowissenschaften, Biodiversity, Ecology & Organismal Biology, Ökologie u. Biologie der Organismen, Strukturbiologie, Structural Biology