Biodiversity and Human Health SUSTAINING LIFE: HOW HUMAN HEALTH DEPENDS

The rate of species loss today is approaching catastrophic levels. Scientists project that over the next two decades, more than one million species of plants and animals will become extinct. E.O. Wilson has estimated, ‘‘The rate of loss may exceed 50,000 a year, 137 a day...this rate, while horrendous, is actually the minimal estimate, based on the species/area relationship alone....’’ (Kellert and Wilson, 1993, p. 16). Over-exploitation of species, habitat fragmentation and destruction, and exotic species introduction have been the most important factors of biodiversity loss; we refer to them as the ‘‘Evil Trio.’’ More recently, three other factors have proven devastating to populations and ecosystems, adding to the list: pathogen pollution, global toxification, and global environmental change linked to climate; we refer to all these as the ‘‘Savage Sextet’’ of biodiversity loss. In this context, the release of ‘‘Sustaining Life: How Human Heath Depends on Biodiversity’’ comes at an exceptionally opportune time. Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein have put together an outstanding 542-page compendium that outlines, in rich detail, our dependency on the variety of life on Earth—its genes, species, populations, and ecosystems. Setting the stage with a Foreword by E.O. Wilson, the father of biodiversity, and a Prologue by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the book includes 10 chapters and 3 appendices written by experts in their fields. The first chapter, ‘‘What Is Biodiversity?’’ provides a historical, evolutionary, and biological account of biodiversity with many rich examples. There is a substantial discussion on how we estimate species numbers and extinction rates, how the latter have changed over geological frames since the arrival of humans, and outlines why analyses need to include details on losses at the population and genetic levels. A well-known example of recent extinctions includes the Pacific Island birds. From 136 species known to exist in the Hawaiian Islands before Captain Cook’s arrival in 1778, today only 11 extant species have a relatively safe future. Chapter 2, ‘‘How Is Biodiversity Threatened by Human Activity?’’ sets the stage outlining the fundamental anthropogenic threats. Habitat destruction and species loss have led to ecosystem disruptions that include, among other impacts, the alteration of disease transmission patterns (i.e., emerging diseases), the accumulation of toxic pollutants, and the invasion of alien species and pathogens. The authors pay special attention to the profound role of climate change on all ecological processes, EcoHealth DOI: 10.1007/s10393-009-0242-0