Friday, July 13, 2007
Vital Ecosystem Services Threatened by Species Loss
Vital ecosystem functions, such as sequestering carbon dioxide and purifying water, depend on a larger number of species than previously thought. That means we may have underestimated the environmental impact of biodiversity losses. Andy Hector and Robert Bagchi of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, analysed data on the ecosystem services provided by grass species. They then devised a method to identify how many species were need to provide increasing numbers of services.
