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Biodiversity Erosion. Issues and Questions. Edition No. 1

  • Book

  • 256 Pages
  • November 2022
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5839055
The erosion of biodiversity is currently highly publicized. Militant movements accuse humans of destroying nature and being responsible for a sixth mass extinction. However, this anxiety-provoking message is sometimes based on misconceptions, false or partisan ideas, and media relays that favor and amplify alarmist information. If the situation of certain populations is worrying, it is not a general phenomenon because others are expanding. Rather than holding a globalizing discourse, it is necessary to recontextualize and relativize the debate to better define the necessary actions.

Biodiversity Erosion analyzes numerous scientific publications, as well as alarming discussions, emphasizing the multiple biases present in the way information is presented. This book questions the relevance of the notion of species and the desire to compile an inventory of all living things. It argues for a less Manichean approach to our relationship with nature.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 The Gradual Decline of Biodiversity: What Do We Mean? 1

1.1 The context of the debate 2

1.2 “Biodiversity”? A vague concept 3

1.3 The origins of a concept: creationist thinking 4

1.4 Decline: clarifying the meaning of the words 6

1.5 Are the indicators reliable? 8

1.6 Protecting what? 10

1.7 The evolution of the concept of decline: from a structural to a functional approach 11

1.8 Communication or misinformation? 13

1.9 At the roots of the sixth extinction 14

Chapter 2 The Promethean Dream: Taking Stock of Biodiversity 17

2.1 The notion of species is misleading! 17

2.2 Hidden biodiversity: cryptic or twin species 20

2.3 Species at the service of genes? 21

2.4 Species inventory: what do we know? 22

2.5 The geographical distribution of biological diversity 23

2.6 In summary 25

Chapter 3 What Can We Learn from the Great Extinctions of the Past? 27

3.1 A hundred times over, put your work back together 27

3.2 The great mass extinctions 28

3.3 The tree that hides the forest 31

3.4 Evolutionary consequences of extinctions 33

3.5 What is known about the post-extinction processes of the past? 35

3.6 In summary 35

Chapter 4 Biodiversity Decline: “The Worst Is Not Certain” 37

4.1 When scientists cross the yellow line! 37

4.2 The risk of extinction 40

4.2.1 Endemic species 40

4.2.2 Specialist species 42

4.2.3 Ubiquitous or opportunistic species 42

4.3 Vulnerability of species to risks 42

4.4 Species extinctions in the plant world 44

4.5 What do we know about species extinctions in animals? 46

4.6 Species extinctions in France 47

4.7 The false trails of globalization: contextualizing erosion! 51

4.8 In summary 53

Chapter 5 Let’s Talk about the Renewal Rate of Biological Diversity 55

5.1 Extinction debt and speciation credit 55

5.2 Speciation processes 57

5.3 The speed of appearance of new species 58

5.4 Is speciation more important in tropical environments? 62

5.5 Evolution and the role of chance 63

5.6 Is habitat fragmentation a threat to biodiversity? 64

5.7 In summary 66

Chapter 6 Controversies Surrounding the Extinction Rate 67

6.1 The laborious calculation of the extinction rate 68

6.2 The area/species relationship: a highly criticized prospective tool! 71

6.3 Text commentary on the extinction rate of species according to the Sagascience website 74

6.4 A debate confused by ideological concerns 76

6.5 In summary 78

Chapter 7 The Hidden Face of Methods for Assessing Biodiversity Decline 81

7.1 Who can be trusted to analyze the data? 82

7.2 Questions about the “species” metric 83

7.3 Amalgamation and false leads 84

7.4 Contingency and the problem of changes in scale: global versus local 85

7.5 Losers, but also winners? 86

7.6 Manipulating figures: communication or hijacking? 88

7.7 The health sector taken hostage 89

Chapter 8 Biodiversity and the Functioning of Ecosystems: A Multitude of Preconceived Ideas 91

8.1 The black box of ecological functioning 91

8.2 The balance of nature is fiction 92

8.3 Disruption does not mean disaster 94

8.4 Are all species needed? 95

8.5 Deterministic or stochastic ecological systems? 96

8.6 The more species there are, the more resilient the ecological system is 97

8.7 The threshold effect or the fall of a paradigm! 98

8.8 Species substitutions and the functioning of ecological systems 99

8.9 In summary 100

Chapter 9 Species Introductions: For Better or For Worse 101

9.1 The delicate issue of indigenousness 102

9.2 Species introductions: one of the main causes of biodiversity loss? 104

9.3 Species introductions and ecosystem functioning 106

9.4 Why are our trees sick? 107

9.5 Can introductions be controlled? 109

9.5.1 The case of climate migrants 110

9.5.2 Stowaways 110

9.5.3 Voluntary or accidental introductions 111

9.5.4 Lack of courtesy 112

9.6 Being pragmatic? 112

9.7 Strongly divergent opinions among scientists 114

9.8 In summary 115

Chapter 10 Global Warming: A Catastrophe for Biodiversity? 117

10.1 Climate uncertainties 119

10.2 The lessons of retrospective ecology 121

10.3 Likely consequences of reduced precipitation 123

10.4 Likely impacts of temperature increase on biodiversity 123

10.5 Rising sea levels 125

10.6 Undergoing or going along with change? 126

10.7 In summary 127

Chapter 11 Is Planning Destroying Biodiversity? 129

11.1 European nature: a reconstructed nature 130

11.2 “Degraded” ecological systems… really? 131

11.3 When you transform, you lose and you win… 132

11.4 Paradox: destroying biodiversity under the pretext of naturalness 134

11.5 A brief saga of French forests 136

11.6 In summary 139

Chapter 12 The Decline of Insects 141

12.1 The decline of insect populations creates the event 141

12.2 Is the apocalypse coming? 145

12.3 The difficulty of identifying the causes 146

12.4 Speculation on possible causes 147

12.4.1 Light pollution 148

12.4.2 Pesticides 148

12.4.3 Diseases 149

12.4.4 Changes in agricultural practices 150

12.5 What is the impact on agriculture? 150

12.6 The case of bees 151

12.7 The case of butterflies 153

12.8 Some remarks on our relationship with insects 156

12.9 In summary 157

Chapter 13 The Decline of Birds 159

13.1 The red list of threatened species 159

13.2 The decline of bird populations… as early as the 19th century 160

13.3 Monitoring of the STOC program 163

13.4 Focus on the farmland bird guild 164

13.4.1 Different trends for different species 164

13.4.2 Disparities between regions are a cause for concern 166

13.4.3 A general decline across Europe 169

13.5 The habitat trail 173

13.6 Many other causes 175

13.7 The role of reserves 177

13.8 On what basis can we talk about decline? 179

13.9 Let nature take its course? 179

13.10 In summary 182

Chapter 14 Reasons to be Positive 183

14.1 Highly resilient ecological systems 183

14.1.1 Oil spills 184

14.1.2 Fires 184

14.1.3 How long does it take for a tropical forest to regenerate? 186

14.1.4 Pollution of continental aquatic systems 186

14.2 Recovering populations! 187

14.3 Nature conquers the city 191

14.3.1 Reducing pollution 193

14.3.2 “Rewilding” the city? 193

14.4 Rehabilitation of “degraded” systems 194

14.4.1 Water quarries 194

14.4.2 Slag heaps 195

14.5 What is the future for anthropized nature, left to its own devices? 195

14.6 Let’s talk about the wolf 196

14.7 In summary 198

Chapter 15 From Facts to Extrapolations 199

15.1 Many inconsistencies and post-truths 201

15.2 Going beyond ecocentrism: what kinds of nature do we want? 203

15.3 Protected areas and the return of colonialism? 205

15.4 Nature, an inexhaustible source of problems 207

15.5 Single-mindedness and anxiety-provoking communication 208

15.6 The business of biodiversity 209

References 213

Index 235

Authors

Christian Lévêque