Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:49:30.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mass extinction—profound problem, splendid opportunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Norman Myers
Norman Myers
Affiliation:
Upper Meadow, Old Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 8SZ, UK
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A major extinction spasm is under way, threatening to eliminate millions of species. Fortunately we still have time—although only just—to slow and stem the tide of extinctions that is washing over earth's biotas. We cannot stop the mass extinction altogether; the processes of broad-scale habitat depletion have generated too much momentum to be halted overnight. But there is still much we can do to contain the scale of extinctions. In short, the prospect of a broad-scope depletion of earth's biodiversity is all too real: a profound problem. All too real also is the scope for an expansive effort to limit the phenomenon, and to save species in their millions: a splendid opportunity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , October 1988 , pp. 205 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1988

References

Bishop, R.C. 1980. Endangered species: an economic perspective. Transactions of North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, 45, 208–218.Google Scholar
Club of Earth 1986. Inaugural Statement of the Club of Earth. Club of Earth, Division of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. 1981. Extinction: the Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Fisher, A.C. 1982. Economic Analysis and the Extinction ofSpecies. Department of Energy and Resources, University of California, Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization, World Resources Institute, World Bank and United Nations Development Programme. 1987. The Tropical Forestry Action Plan. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, World Resources Institute and World Bank, Washington DC, and United Nations Development Programme, New York.Google Scholar
Gilbert, L.E. 1980. Food Web Organization and the Conservation of Neotropical Diversity. In Conservation Biology (eds Soule, M.E. and Wilcox, B.A.), pp. 11–33. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Greenwood, P.H. 1984. African cichlids and evolutionary theories. In Evolution of Fish Species Flocks (eds Echelle, A.A. and Kornfield, I.), pp. 141–154. University of Maine at Orono Press, Orono.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. and Raup, D. (eds) 1986. PatternsandProcesses in the History of Life. Springer-Verlag, Berlin and New York.Google Scholar
Janzen, D.H. 1975. Ecology of Plants in the Tropics. Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Knoll, A.H. 1986. Patterns of Change in Plant Communities Through Geological Time. In Community Ecology (eds Diamond, J. and Case, T.J.), pp. 126–141. Harper and Row New York.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. 1982. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution and Inheritance. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Myers, N. 1979. The Sinking Ark: A New Look at Disappearing Species. Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York.Google Scholar
Myers, N. 1983. Priority Ranking Strategy for Threatened Species? The Environmentalist, 3, 97–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, N. 1987. Tackling Mass Extinction of Species: A Great Creative Challenge. Albright Lecture in Conservation, University of California, Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Myers, N. 1988. Threatened Biotas: ‘Hot-Spots’ in Tropical Forests. The Environmentalist, in press.Google Scholar
Pearce, D.W. 1983. The Economic Value of Genetic Materials: Methodology and Case Illustration. Environment Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris.Google Scholar
Peters, R.L. and Darling, J.D.S. 1985. The greenhouse effect and nature reserves. BioScience, 35, 707–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raven, P.H. 1987. The Global Ecosystem in Crisis. MacArthur Foundation Occasional Paper. The MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Soule, M.E. (ed.) 1986. Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Terborgh, J. 1986. Keystone Plant Resources in the Tropical Forest. In Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity (ed. Soule, M.E.), pp. 330–344. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
UNICEF 1987. The State of the World's Children. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Western, D. 1988. Population, resources and environment in the 21st Century. In Conservation Biology for the Next Century (eds Western, D. and Pearl, M.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, in press.Google Scholar
Western, D. and Pearl, M. (eds) 1988. Conservation Biology for the Next Century. Oxford University Press Oxford, in press.Google Scholar
Wilson, E.O. (ed.) 1988. Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington DC.Google Scholar