Biodiversity and global health—hubris, humility and the unknown

In November 2011, botanists on a remote island off Papua New Guinea discovered a new species of orchid-uniquely and mysteriously night-flowering [1]. New to science, and with so much more to understand, this flower is threatened by deforestation [2]. Also in November 2011, a survey of 583 conservati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research letters 2012-01, Vol.7 (1), p.11008-5
Main Author: Stephens, Carolyn
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In November 2011, botanists on a remote island off Papua New Guinea discovered a new species of orchid-uniquely and mysteriously night-flowering [1]. New to science, and with so much more to understand, this flower is threatened by deforestation [2]. Also in November 2011, a survey of 583 conservation scientists reported a unanimous (99.5%) view that 'it is likely a serious loss of biological diversity is underway at a global extent' and that, for scientists, 'protection of biological diversity for its cultural and spiritual values and because of its usefulness to humans were low priorities, which suggests that many scientists do not fully support the utilitarian concept of ecosystem services' [3]. In terms of management, some scientists now advocate controversial conservation strategies such as triage (prioritization of species that provide unique or necessary functions to ecosystems) [4, 5].
ISSN:1748-9326
1748-9326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/011008