Washington — More than 1,000 environmental studies conducted over the last 20 years led an international group of scientists to conclude that a decline in biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of ecosystems.

The group, including American, Canadian, French and British researchers, published its findings in the June 7 edition of Nature, the international science publication.

The scientists also report their consensus that declining biodiversity decreases ecosystems' ability to provide humankind with the raw materials and services that support us: food, wood and fertile soil, for example.

“Water purity, food production and air quality are easy to take for granted, but all are largely provided by communities of organisms,” said George Gilchrist of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology, the financial backer of the research.

The scientific group concludes that the variety of species and the diversity of genetic traits and characteristics that they bring to an ecosystem are critical to its balance.

The research also shows that human actions leading to species extinctions cause ecosystem breakdown in many places at a faster rate than is recorded in the fossil record.

“This is a consensus statement that loss of Earth’s wild species will be harmful to the world’s ecosystems and may harm society by reducing ecosystem services that are essential to human health and prosperity,” said the University of Michigan’s Bradley Cardinale, who is the lead author of the Nature article, “Biodiversity Loss and its Impact on Humanity.” Cardinale specializes in ecosystem study in the university's School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Ecosystems are more abundant in producing those goods and services when their natural genetic diversity has been left intact. Drawing on the broad range of research conducted on this topic since the Convention on Biological Diversity took force in 1993, the article finds that crop yields are greater, wood plantations produce more and fisheries’ yields are sustained when a diverse range of organisms coexist in an ecosystem.

Among plants, diversity supports greater resistance to invasion by non-native species, inhibits plant pathogens and increases the capability of biomass to absorb carbon dioxide, the article says.

“Biodiversity underpins our ability to achieve sustainable development,” said paper co-author Shahid Naeem of Columbia University.

The article is published as the United Nations prepares to convene a conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro June 20–22. The meeting is known as Rio+20, commemorating the first Earth Summit held in that city in 1992. That meeting set the stage for the accession to the Convention on Biodiversity by 193 nations.

The authors of this scientific report urge nations of the world to make biodiversity preservation an international priority to prevent further extinctions, preserve what still exists, and perhaps restore some of the life forms that have been severely diminished.

Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/06/201206077033.html#ixzz1xSjQ9uNQ