Biodiversity Erosion

Christian Leveque is Honorary Director of Research at the Institut de recherche pour le développement, France, Honorary President of the French Academy of Agriculture and a specialist in the ecology of continental aquatic environments. He is the author of numerous works on ecology and biodiversity.

• Introduction xiChapter 1 The Gradual Decline of Biodiversity: What Do We Mean? 11.1 The context of the debate 21.2 “Biodiversity”? A vague concept 31.3 The origins of a concept: creationist thinking 41.4 Decline: clarifying the meaning of the words 61.5 Are the indicators reliable? 81.6 Protecting what? 101.7 The evolution of the concept of decline: from a structural to a functional approach 111.8 Communication or misinformation? 131.9 At the roots of the sixth extinction 14Chapter 2 The Promethean Dream: Taking Stock of Biodiversity 172.1 The notion of species is misleading! 172.2 Hidden biodiversity: cryptic or twin species 202.3 Species at the service of genes? 212.4 Species inventory: what do we know? 222.5 The geographical distribution of biological diversity 232.6 In summary 25Chapter 3 What Can We Learn from the Great Extinctions of the Past? 273.1 A hundred times over, put your work back together 273.2 The great mass extinctions 283.3 The tree that hides the forest 313.4 Evolutionary consequences of extinctions 333.5 What is known about the post-extinction processes of the past? 353.6 In summary 35Chapter 4 Biodiversity Decline: “The Worst Is Not Certain” 374.1 When scientists cross the yellow line! 374.2 The risk of extinction 404.2.1 Endemic species 404.2.2 Specialist species 424.2.3 Ubiquitous or opportunistic species 424.3 Vulnerability of species to risks 424.4 Species extinctions in the plant world 444.5 What do we know about species extinctions in animals? 464.6 Species extinctions in France 474.7 The false trails of globalization: contextualizing erosion! 514.8 In summary 53Chapter 5 Let’s Talk about the Renewal Rate of Biological Diversity 555.1 Extinction debt and speciation credit 555.2 Speciation processes 575.3 The speed of appearance of new species 585.4 Is speciation more important in tropical environments? 625.5 Evolution and the role of chance 635.6 Is habitat fragmentation a threat to biodiversity? 645.7 In summary 66Chapter 6 Controversies Surrounding the Extinction Rate 676.1 The laborious calculation of the extinction rate 686.2 The area/species relationship: a highly criticized prospective tool! 716.3 Text commentary on the extinction rate of species according to the Sagascience website 746.4 A debate confused by ideological concerns 766.5 In summary 78Chapter 7 The Hidden Face of Methods for Assessing Biodiversity Decline 817.1 Who can be trusted to analyze the data? 827.2 Questions about the “species” metric 837.3 Amalgamation and false leads 847.4 Contingency and the problem of changes in scale: global versus local 857.5 Losers, but also winners? 867.6 Manipulating figures: communication or hijacking? 887.7 The health sector taken hostage 89Chapter 8 Biodiversity and the Functioning of Ecosystems: A Multitude of Preconceived Ideas 918.1 The black box of ecological functioning 918.2 The balance of nature is fiction 928.3 Disruption does not mean disaster 948.4 Are all species needed? 958.5 Deterministic or stochastic ecological systems? 968.6 The more species there are, the more resilient the ecological system is 978.7 The threshold effect or the fall of a paradigm! 988.8 Species substitutions and the functioning of ecological systems 998.9 In summary 100Chapter 9 Species Introductions: For Better or For Worse 1019.1 The delicate issue of indigenousness 1029.2 Species introductions: one of the main causes of biodiversity loss? 1049.3 Species introductions and ecosystem functioning 1069.4 Why are our trees sick? 1079.5 Can introductions be controlled? 1099.5.1 The case of climate migrants 1109.5.2 Stowaways 1109.5.3 Voluntary or accidental introductions 1119.5.4 Lack of courtesy 1129.6 Being pragmatic? 1129.7 Strongly divergent opinions among scientists 1149.8 In summary 115Chapter 10 Global Warming: A Catastrophe for Biodiversity? 11710.1 Climate uncertainties 11910.2 The lessons of retrospective ecology 12110.3 Likely consequences of reduced precipitation 12310.4 Likely impacts of temperature increase on biodiversity 12310.5 Rising sea levels 12510.6 Undergoing or going along with change? 12610.7 In summary 127Chapter 11 Is Planning Destroying Biodiversity? 12911.1 European nature: a reconstructed nature 13011.2 “Degraded” ecological systems… really? 13111.3 When you transform, you lose and you win… 13211.4 Paradox: destroying biodiversity under the pretext of naturalness 13411.5 A brief saga of French forests 13611.6 In summary 139Chapter 12 The Decline of Insects 14112.1 The decline of insect populations creates the event 14112.2 Is the apocalypse coming? 14512.3 The difficulty of identifying the causes 14612.4 Speculation on possible causes 14712.4.1 Light pollution 14812.4.2 Pesticides 14812.4.3 Diseases 14912.4.4 Changes in agricultural practices 15012.5 What is the impact on agriculture? 15012.6 The case of bees 15112.7 The case of butterflies 15312.8 Some remarks on our relationship with insects 15612.9 In summary 157Chapter 13 The Decline of Birds 15913.1 The red list of threatened species 15913.2 The decline of bird populations… as early as the 19th century 16013.3 Monitoring of the STOC program 16313.4 Focus on the farmland bird guild 16413.4.1 Different trends for different species 16413.4.2 Disparities between regions are a cause for concern 16613.4.3 A general decline across Europe 16913.5 The habitat trail 17313.6 Many other causes 17513.7 The role of reserves 17713.8 On what basis can we talk about decline? 17913.9 Let nature take its course? 17913.10 In summary 182Chapter 14 Reasons to be Positive 18314.1 Highly resilient ecological systems 18314.1.1 Oil spills 18414.1.2 Fires 18414.1.3 How long does it take for a tropical forest to regenerate? 18614.1.4 Pollution of continental aquatic systems 18614.2 Recovering populations! 18714.3 Nature conquers the city 19114.3.1 Reducing pollution 19314.3.2 “Rewilding” the city? 19314.4 Rehabilitation of “degraded” systems 19414.4.1 Water quarries 19414.4.2 Slag heaps 19514.5 What is the future for anthropized nature, left to its own devices? 19514.6 Let’s talk about the wolf 19614.7 In summary 198Chapter 15 From Facts to Extrapolations 19915.1 Many inconsistencies and post-truths 20115.2 Going beyond ecocentrism: what kinds of nature do we want? 20315.3 Protected areas and the return of colonialism? 20515.4 Nature, an inexhaustible source of problems 20715.5 Single-mindedness and anxiety-provoking communication 20815.6 The business of biodiversity 209References 213Index 235