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Oil palm research in context: Identifying the need for biodiversity assessment
February 13, 2008Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation has expanded dramatically in recent decades and is frequently cited as a major threat to tropical biodiversity. This is because oil palm is grown in lowland tropical regions and so impacts on the most biodiverse terrestrial habitats: tropical rainforests. Analysis of the published literature by scientists led by Edgar Turner at the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge has revealed significant changes in the focus of oil palm research over the last 30 years. The findings are published in PLoS ONE on February 13.
Recent years have seen a broadening in the scope of the research with a slight increase in research focusing on the environment and a dramatic increase in research focusing on biofuel. Despite this, hardly any oil palm publications focused on biodiversity and species conservation. Of these publications, the majority were related to mammals and birds. Although these larger animals are important flagships for the state of the tropical environment, they are not good indicators of oil palm biodiversity. The vast majority of the species worldwide are insects and it is they that carry out the lion's share of the ecosystem function.
Head of the Insect Ecology Research Group, Dr William Foster said: "Much more research must be carried out to determine the impacts of habitat conversion on insect biodiversity. We need to move on from merely cataloguing biodiversity impacts, to understanding how all aspects of ecosystem services are affected by agricultural expansion."
Public Library of Science
Public Library of Science
Biodiversity Current Events and Biodiversity News RSSNew chameleon species discovered in East Africa
Dr Andrew Marshall, from the Environment Department at the University of York, first spotted the animal while surveying monkeys in the Magombera Forest when he disturbed a twig snake eating one.
Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss
Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight - creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 5,000 meters (~3 miles) below the ocean waves.
Smithsonian scientists find the frog legs trade may facilitate spread of pathogens
Most countries throughout the world participate in the $40-million-per-year culinary trade of frog legs in some way, with 75 percent of frog legs consumed in France, Belgium and the United States.
TEEB report released on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for policy makers
Policy makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century.
Darwin meets Facebook
Natural history plans to chart life on earth, yet the discipline risks being buried under a landslide of painstakingly collected data that isn't always used.
DNA barcodes: Creative new uses span health, fraud, smuggling, history, more
The scientific ability to quickly and accurately identify species through DNA "barcoding" is being embraced and applied by a growing legion of global authorities - from medical and agricultural researchers to police and customs authorities to palaeontologists and others.
Researchers Hail Innovative Plan to Save Rainforest, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An innovative proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect an untouched, oil rich region of Amazon rainforest is a precedent-setting and potentially economically viable approach, says a team of environmental researchers from the University of Maryland, the World Resources Institute and Save America's Forests.
Wolves, moose and biodiversity: An unexpected connection
Moose eat plants; wolves kill moose. What difference does this classic predator-prey interaction make to biodiversity?
World interest in Australian fishery impact test
An Australian method for assessing the environmental impact of marine fisheries has caught the eye of fishery management agencies worldwide.
Charles Darwin really did have advanced ideas about the origin of life
When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species 150 years ago, he deliberately avoided the subject of the origin of life.
More Biodiversity Current Events and Biodiversity News Articles
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What Is Biodiversity? by James Maclaurin (Author), Kim Sterelny (Author) In the life sciences, there is wide-ranging debate about biodiversity. While nearly everyone is in favor of biodiversity and its conservation, methods for its assessment vary enormously. So what exactly is biodiversity? Most theoretical work on the subject assumes it has something to do with species richness—with the number of species in a particular region—but in reality, it is much more than that. Arguing that we cannot make rational decisions about what it is to be protected without knowing what biodiversity is, James Maclaurin and Kim Sterelny offer in What Is Biodiversity? a theoretical and conceptual exploration of the biological world and how diversity is valued. Here, Maclaurin and Sterelny explore not only the origins of the concept of biodiversity, but also how that... |
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Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity by Eric Chivian (Editor), Aaron Bernstein (Editor) The Earth's biodiversity-the rich variety of life on our planet-is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health. Edited and written by Harvard Medical School physicians Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, along with more than 100 leading scientists who contributed to writing and reviewing the book, Sustaining Life presents a comprehensive--and sobering--view of how human medicines, biomedical research, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and the production of food, both on land and in the... |
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Biodiversity (Papers from the 1st National Forum on Biodiversity, September 1986, Washington, D.C.) by Edward O. Wilson (Editor), Frances M. Peter (Editor) This book calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development. Biodiversity creates a systematic framework for analyzing the problem and searching for possible solutions. |
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Biodiversity by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent (Author), William Munoz (Illustrator) A photo essay demonstrating the concept of biodiversity, a term used to encompass the many forms of life on Earth and their interdependence on one another for survival. The reader not only gets a firm grasp of what biodiversity is, but also an explanation of why it is important to maintain. |
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Biodiversity: An Introduction by Kevin J. Gaston (Author), John I. Spicer (Author) CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ARTWORK This concise introductory text provides a complete overview of biodiversity - what it is, how it arose, its distribution, why it is important, human impact upon it, and what should be done to maintain it. |
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The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts (American Museum of Natural History Books) by American Museum of Natural History (Compiler), American Museum of Natural History (Compiler), Michael J. Novacek (Compiler) The fastest mass extinction of species in Earth's history, intriguingly explored in an illustrated companion to the American Museum of Natural History's permanent exhibit. The Biodiversity Crisis offers general audiences a clear understanding of the current threat to life on Earth posed by the fastest mass extinction in Earth's history, which has taken place over the last five hundred years. Unlike prior extinctions, this one is clearly a direct result of human activity, not of natural phenomena. Yet the public remains unaware of the crisis in sustaining biodiversity—the variety and interdependence of all living things on Earth. Published in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History, whose major Hall of Biodiversity recently opened to great acclaim, the book defines... |
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Climate Change and Biodiversity by Thomas E. Lovejoy (Editor), Lee Hannah (Editor) Leading researchers discuss what is now known about the effects of climate change on the natural world. They examine recent trends in and projections about climate change; ways that particular organisms are responding to climate change; conservation challenges, including social and policy issues; and more. "This book will be a milestone in the emerging discipline of climate change biology. No issue is more important for the global environment; the impressive line-up of experts here gives it definitive coverage."—Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University "A well-written treatise on the past, present, and future effects of climate change on plant and animal biodiversity. . . . It is destined to become a classic."—Choice |
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Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth (CitizenKid) by Rochelle Strauss (Author), Margot Thompson (Illustrator) If every known species on Earth were a leaf on a tree, that tree would have 1 750 000 leaves. Since humans count for just one leaf on the tree, we have a lot to learn about the millions of other forms of life with which we share the world. A dazzlingly illustrated and child-friendly introduction to biodiversity, Tree of Life shows how living things are classified into five kingdoms -- and how each has much to tell us about all aspects of life on our planet. |
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The Diversity of Life by E. O. Wilson (Author), Edward O. Wilson (Author) Harvard Professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Wilson takes readers through time--tracing the processes that create new species, the five cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution over the past 600 million years, and how humans are destroying diversity at a projected rate of 20 percent over the next 30 years. "In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence sometimes begins as a flicker of light beyond the horizon. There in the perfect bowl of the night sky, untouched by light from any human source, a thunderstorm sends its premonitory signal and begins a slow journey to the observer, who thinks: the world is about to change." Watching from the edge of the Brazilian rain forest, witness to the sort of violence nature visits upon its creatures, Edward O. Wilson reflects... |
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Understanding Biodiversity by David Zeigler (Author) The idea of biodiversity has become increasingly important for those who wish to preserve and protect the varieties of life on Earth. While most works on biodiversity look at only three components-the diversity of genes, of species, and of ecosystems-Understanding Biodiversity examines the diversity of life in all of its manifestations. The living world is diverse in many ways. Animals and plants vary greatly in their size and shape, in their behavior, in how they reproduce, in how they sense the surrounding world. Understanding Biodiversity argues that there are many ways in which biodiversity has an intrinsic value - for humans, and for the living world as a whole - and that biodiversity should be better understood and appreciated by everyone, not just those in the scientific... |
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