• DOI:10.1007/s10393-009-0242-0
• Corpus ID: 27553272

Biodiversity and Human Health

@article{Aguirre2009BiodiversityAH,
  title={Biodiversity and Human Health},
  author={Alonso A. Aguirre},
  journal={EcoHealth},
  year={2009},
  volume={6},
  pages={153-156}
}

• A. Aguirre
• Published 15 July 2009
• Environmental Science
• EcoHealth

The rate of species loss today is approaching catastrophiclevels. Scientists project that over the next two decades,more than one million species of plants and animals willbecome extinct. E.O. Wilson has estimated, ‘‘The rate ofloss may exceed 50,000 a year, 137 a day…this rate, whilehorrendous, is actually the minimal estimate, based on thespecies/area relationship alone….’’ (Kellert and Wilson,1993, p. 16). Over-exploitation of species, habitat frag-mentation and destruction, and exotic species introductionhave been the most important factors of biodiversity loss;we refer to them as the ‘‘Evil Trio.’’ More recently, threeother factors have proven devastating to populations andecosystems, adding to the list: pathogen pollution, globaltoxification, and global environmental change linked toclimate; we refer to all these as the ‘‘Savage Sextet’’ ofbiodiversity loss.In this context, the release of ‘‘Sustaining Life: HowHuman Heath Depends on Biodiversity’’ comes at anexceptionally opportune time. Eric Chivian and AaronBernstein have put together an outstanding 542-pagecompendium that outlines, in rich detail, our dependencyon the variety of life on Earth—its genes, species, popula-tions, and ecosystems. Setting the stage with a Foreword byE.O. Wilson, the father of biodiversity, and a Prologue byformer United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, thebook includes 10 chapters and 3 appendices written byexperts in their fields. The first chapter, ‘‘What Is Biodi-versity?’’ provides a historical, evolutionary, and biologicalaccount of biodiversity with many rich examples. There is asubstantial discussion on how we estimate species numbersand extinction rates, how the latter have changed overgeological frames since the arrival of humans, and outlineswhy analyses need to include details on losses at the pop-ulation and genetic levels. A well-known example of recentextinctions includes the Pacific Island birds. From 136species known to exist in the Hawaiian Islands beforeCaptain Cook’s arrival in 1778, today only 11 extant specieshave a relatively safe future.Chapter 2, ‘‘How Is Biodiversity Threatened by Hu-man Activity?’’ sets the stage outlining the fundamentalanthropogenic threats. Habitat destruction and speciesloss have led to ecosystem disruptions that include,among other impacts, the alteration of disease transmis-sion patterns (i.e., emerging diseases), the accumulation oftoxic pollutants, and the invasion of alien species andpathogens. The authors pay special attention to the pro-found role of climate change on all ecological processes,