6
1. Introduction
the assemblages they form (World Resources Institute 1999). Now common
throughout the academic community and popular literature and press, the
term "biodiversity" arose only in the early 1980s in the midst of the growing
recognition that the diversity of the natural world is rapidly being reduced
by the direct and indirect influence of humankind (Norse 1980). Human impacts on the natural world occurs at all levels at which diversity is perceived-at the ecosystem and community level, at the level of individual
species and at the level of the genetic diversity of populations.
Whereas a variety of traditional disciplines have been investigating
human interaction with the natural world for quite some time, it has only
been in the last 30 years that the extent of our collective influence on the
planet has become evident. For instance, even though some individual
human-induced extinction events such as that of the Dodo in Mauritius
and the Carrier Pigeon in North America are widely known by the public ,
it was not until the work of scientists like Erwin (1982, 1991) that we
began to understand how many species actually might be going extinct annually, even daily. Working in Panama, Erwin (1983) estimated that based
on the number of insect species resident in a single tree , there may be as
many as 30 million species of insects alone worldwide. High estimates of
the number of insect species , when correlated with the number of trees
lost through deforestation, led to upward correction of previous estimates
of the rate of species extinction. Although not undisputed, these estimates
provide strong evidence of the irreversible consequences of human activity for biodiversity and the implications for the health of the global ecosystem (Myers 1993).
In fact, the rate of extinction of species attributable to human activity is
considered to be 1000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction (Primack 1993), The consequences of this fact for humanity are many, and the
reasons behind the many pleas for strategies to reduce loss of biodiversity
range from the purely pragmatic to the moral and ethical. For example,
Perrings et al. (1994) suggest that the most important anthropocentric reason for conserving biological diversity is the role that the mix of microorganisms, plants and animals plays in providing ecological services of
value to humanity. Ecological life-support services such as carbon uptake,
oxygen release, food supply, and waste assimilation derive from the complex interactions of biological organisms and allow human societies to
exist. Others have stressed benefits of the integrity of marine ecosystems
to humans that go beyond directly measurable exchanges of matter and
energy (Keller 1997). Among those benefits are aesthetic values associated
with the great vistas, contrast, light, color and texture that coastlines ,
beaches, and open oceans, and the species they harbor, can provide.
Other contributions that marine systems make to human well-being include the emotional benefits derived from those aesthetic experiencesfeelings of harmony, pleasure, contentedness and belonging, a sense of
awe, a sense of place .
1. Introduction
the assemblages they form (World Resources Institute 1999). Now common
throughout the academic community and popular literature and press, the
term "biodiversity" arose only in the early 1980s in the midst of the growing
recognition that the diversity of the natural world is rapidly being reduced
by the direct and indirect influence of humankind (Norse 1980). Human impacts on the natural world occurs at all levels at which diversity is perceived-at the ecosystem and community level, at the level of individual
species and at the level of the genetic diversity of populations.
Whereas a variety of traditional disciplines have been investigating
human interaction with the natural world for quite some time, it has only
been in the last 30 years that the extent of our collective influence on the
planet has become evident. For instance, even though some individual
human-induced extinction events such as that of the Dodo in Mauritius
and the Carrier Pigeon in North America are widely known by the public ,
it was not until the work of scientists like Erwin (1982, 1991) that we
began to understand how many species actually might be going extinct annually, even daily. Working in Panama, Erwin (1983) estimated that based
on the number of insect species resident in a single tree , there may be as
many as 30 million species of insects alone worldwide. High estimates of
the number of insect species , when correlated with the number of trees
lost through deforestation, led to upward correction of previous estimates
of the rate of species extinction. Although not undisputed, these estimates
provide strong evidence of the irreversible consequences of human activity for biodiversity and the implications for the health of the global ecosystem (Myers 1993).
In fact, the rate of extinction of species attributable to human activity is
considered to be 1000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction (Primack 1993), The consequences of this fact for humanity are many, and the
reasons behind the many pleas for strategies to reduce loss of biodiversity
range from the purely pragmatic to the moral and ethical. For example,
Perrings et al. (1994) suggest that the most important anthropocentric reason for conserving biological diversity is the role that the mix of microorganisms, plants and animals plays in providing ecological services of
value to humanity. Ecological life-support services such as carbon uptake,
oxygen release, food supply, and waste assimilation derive from the complex interactions of biological organisms and allow human societies to
exist. Others have stressed benefits of the integrity of marine ecosystems
to humans that go beyond directly measurable exchanges of matter and
energy (Keller 1997). Among those benefits are aesthetic values associated
with the great vistas, contrast, light, color and texture that coastlines ,
beaches, and open oceans, and the species they harbor, can provide.
Other contributions that marine systems make to human well-being include the emotional benefits derived from those aesthetic experiencesfeelings of harmony, pleasure, contentedness and belonging, a sense of
awe, a sense of place .