Sixth Mass Extinction Underway: Save the Buttercup?

Nearly half of all species are disappearing in what biologists from the University of California at Santa Barbara are calling "the sixth mass extinction of both plants and animals." They published research this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences after analyzing 40 studies of grassland ecosystems and performing a kind of conservation triage. Lead researcher Marc Cadotte said in a press release from the university, "We need to know which species matter the most -- and which we should pour our resources into protecting."

How did they make the call on what species deserve saving? By looking at their function in the larger ecosystem. In general, loss of species that perform unique functions and have few close relatives (in evolutionary terms) would cause the most disruption. Daisies and sunflowers, for example, are genetically similar. According to the researchers, if daisies disappeared from a certain grassland "community," sunflowers could take on their jobs. By contrast, the buttercup is relatively unique and would be difficult -- if not impossible -- to replace. Bottom line, the scientists say, "genetic diversity predicts whether or not species matter." That's a weighty dilemma. What do you think about using triage in conservation?

 

Comments

[charon]

Under-restrained capitalism and industrialism, in the context of global competition for resources (i.e., "cold war") are the basic causes of the catastrophic environmental holocaust that is occurring. Until we deal with those underlying causes, nothing will stop it until the parties involved self-destruct or reach a level of stasis short of that point.

I have lived in a fairly intact eco-system and can state as a fact that the vast majority of Americans have no clue what that is. It is nothing like farmland or pasture, though National Parks come pretty close. Most eco-systems are severely damaged and they aren't coming back for generations, if at all. Since most Americans have never lived in one, they don't understand what we are losing and have lost.

It is greater than a crime or a shame, and beyond the power of any individual to stop. Only massive action on a higher political (e.g., federal) level could have any chance of slowing, stopping or reversing this savage devastation. Ultimately, it will require a change in our consciousness of the world and our place in it, and I don't hold out much hope of that happening.

[GuyRC]

I agree that most people don't know what the word ecosystem means. But I think population is the root cause, not capitalism. Even if you had a facist state you couldn't prevent people from poaching whatever they can sell from the ever diminishing areas of species diverstiy. I've read that there are predictions that population growth will slow and eventually top off sometime in a future that I won't live to see. I wish it already had.