Amazon deforestation obliterates soil biodiversity, with wider ecological implications. Mongabay.com December 24, 2012 Conversion of Amazon forest for cattle pasture in Brazil.
Deforestation in the Amazon leads to a substantial loss in microbial biodiversity potentially reducing the ecological resilience of affected areas, report researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Sampling 100 square kilometers (38 sq miles) of forested land converted to cattle pasture, a team of scientists found that deforestation leads to "biotic homogenization and net loss of diversity" of soil bacteria. The results suggest the decline in biodiversity may reduce the ability of forest areas to recover as well as the ability of deforested land to sustain agriculture. Huile de palme: le cauchemar vert de "l'or rouge".
Is Humanity Pushing Earth Past a Tipping Point? Could human activity push Earth’s biological systems to a planet-wide tipping point, causing changes as radical as the Ice Age’s end — but with less pleasant results, and with billions of people along for a bumpy ride?
It’s by no means a settled scientific proposition, but many researchers say it’s worth considering — and not just as an apocalyptic warning or far-fetched speculation, but as a legitimate question raised by emerging science. “There are some biological realities we can’t ignore,” said paleoecologist Anthony Barnosky of the University of California, Berkeley. “What I’d like to avoid is getting caught by surprise.”
In “Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere,” published June 6 in Nature, Barnosky and 21 co-authors cite 100 papers in summarizing what’s known about environmental tipping points. Deforestation in the Amazon jungle, which some scientists say could become a savannah. “We have quite good evidence for the Earth having tipping elements.
7 Billion and Counting. Our planet has reached a staggering milestone: On October 31, 2011, the world population reached 7 billion people eking out a living.
By the end of the century, it’ll top 10 billion. Unsustainable human population growth and overconsumption are the root causes of environmental destruction. They’re driving species extinct, destroying wildlife habitat, and undermining the basic needs of all life at an unprecedented rate. It has to stop. That’s why the Center for Biological Diversity has launched an ambitious new national campaign, 7 Billion and Counting. And we need your help.
We’re also giving you a way to understand this global crisis at a local level. L’homme reste le principal prédateur. La disparition des grands prédateurs nuit gravement aux écosystèmes. Le guépard Cheetah, un super-prédateur en...
Angleterre ! © Law Keven CC by-sa La disparition des grands prédateurs nuit gravement aux écosystèmes - 2 Photos Cette découverte, parue dans Bioscience le 01/10/09, révèle qu’en Amérique du nord, et partout ailleurs dans le monde, les super-prédateurs sont en déclin depuis 200 ans, tandis que les effectifs des mésoprédateurs (prédateurs secondaires) ont augmenté de 60%. « Ce phénomène est grave, continu et global. Il y a peu de solutions », préviennent les chercheurs. Pendant longtemps, par crainte des attaques et des dommages sur le bétail, les hommes ont éliminé les grands prédateurs. Quand le lion n'est pas là, les babouins dansent ! Il n’y a plus de loup, mais il y a foison de coyotes. . « Vous avez vu un coyote ? L’étude révèle aussi que le phénomène est global et évolutif.
La déforestation altère la biodiversité microbienne. Earth Blog: RELEASE: Top Earth Scientists Warn of Global Ecological Emergency. Ecological Internet – leading provider of Internet biocentric ecology news, action and analysis – joins with Earth’s best scientists in warning the human family faces imminent collapse of the biosphere – the thin layer of life organized into ecosystems – that makes Earth habitable and human well-being possible.
From Earth's Newsdesk and New Earth Rising, projects of Ecological Internet (EI)Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet, glen.barry@gmail.com, +1 (608) 381-5865 for interviews (Madison, WI) - Ecological Internet (EI) reiterates its declaration of a planetary ecological emergency [1], first issued two years ago. Since then abrupt climate change [search] has revealed itself in all its fury, habitat loss and extinction have intensified, food and water have become increasingly scarce, and human inequity and injustice have grown. What is Agrobiodiversity? Locally varied food production systems are under threat, including local knowledge and the culture and skills of women and men farmers.
With this decline, agrobiodiversity is disappearing; the scale of the loss is extensive. Monde, Nos civilisations se dirigent vers un effondrement irréversible des écosystèmes terrestres. Erin Brockovich is Asked: “Why no time for environmental crime?” (EnviroNews California) – Los Angeles – There have been few instances in the history of the industrial revolution where anyone has actually gone to jail for atrocities committed against the environment.
It seems at least pertinent to ask: Why hasn’t anyone been put in handcuffs yet for the BP spill for example, or for the Fukushima full-blown triple melt-through that continues to spew cesium, plutonium, and other deadly isotopes into the environment as we speak? In the case of Fukushima and the Japanese Yakuza-run TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), they have blatantly lied their little ”red wagons” off at nearly every juncture since the catastrophe in an effort to cover up the severity of the crisis, all the while exposing even more people to deadly poisons, delaying a heightened, aggressive response in Japan and at the international level. Brockovich and her affiliated legal team have certainly punished some very naughty corporate polluters in the past. Requiem pour la Nature. Center for Biological Diversity.