Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T22:43:18.629Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changing habitats of the world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Martin W. Holdgate
Martin W. Holdgate
Affiliation:
Chief Scientist, Department of the Environment, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3EB, UK.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The world is being altered by human action more rapidly now than natural forces changed it during any short period in the past. There are predictions of massive ecological changes and extinctions of species on a unprecedented scale. The author examines what is actually happening, what the consequences are likely to be, and what corrective action can be taken. He emphasizes that, as with all exercises in crystal gazing, this cannot be an error-free analysis. Despite the vast scale of current scientific activity, our knowledge of the processes affecting the world environment and our monitoring of changes are far from adequate. Too many statements—including widely quoted estimates of extinctions—are based on extrapolation from limited data. This is a speculative paper intended as a spur to further analysis rather than as a definitive review. It is based on an address to the Annual General Meeting of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society on 10 September 1986.*

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 149 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1987

References

Brown, L.R. and Wolf, E.C. 1986. Reversing Africa's decline. In: State of the World 1986 (Ed. Brown, L. R.), pp. 177–194. W. W. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Clark, W.C. 1982. (Ed.) Carbon Dioxide Review: 1982. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Dahl, A.L. 1986. Coastal ecosystems and rapid sea-level rise. The Siren (Newsletter of UNEP Regional Seas Programme), 31, 18–22.Google Scholar
Darlington, P.J. 1957. Zoogeography: the Geographical Distribution of Animals. John Wiley & Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R., Harte, J., Harwell, M.A., Raven, P.H., Sagan, C., Woodwell, G.M.et al. 1983. Long term biological consequences of nuclear war. Science, 222, 4630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elton, C.S. 1958. The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Methuen, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Environmental Protection Agency 1984. Potential Climatic Impact of Increasing Atmospheric CO2, with Emphasis on Water Availability and Hydrology in the United States EPA, Washington.Google Scholar
Flohn, H. 1978. Comparison of Antarctic and Arctic climate and its relevance to climatic evolution. In: Antarctic Glacial History and World Palaeoenvironments (Ed. Bakker, E. M. Van Zinderen), pp. 3–13. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Holdgate, M.W. 1965. The fauna of the Tristan da Cuha Islands. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 249, 361–402.Google Scholar
Holdgate, M.W., Kassas, M. and White, G.F. (Eds) 1982. The World Environment, 1972–1982, A report by UNEP. Tycooly International, Dublin.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. 1970. Volcanic dust in the atmosphere, with a chronology and assessment of its meteorological significance. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 266, 425–533.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H. 1977. Climate, Present and Future. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
McCormick, J. 1985. Acid Earth. An Earthscan Paperback. International Institute for Environment and Development, London.Google Scholar
Pollack, J.B. 1981. Atmospheres of the terrestrial planets. In: The New Solar System (Eds Beatty, J. K., O'Leary, B. and Chaikin, A.), pp. 57–70. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Postel, S. 1984. Protecting forests. In: State of the World, 1984 (Ed. Brown, L. R.), pp. 74–94. W. W. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Repetto, R. 1985. The Global Possible. Resources, Development, and the New Century. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Royal Society 1984. The ecological effects of deposited sulphur and nitrogen compounds. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 305, 259–577.Google Scholar
Royal Society 1987. Quantitative Aspects of the Ecology of Biological Invasions. Proceedings of a discussion meeting organized by Sir Hans Komberg FRS and Professor M.H. Williamson. The Royal Society, London.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, E.M. 1981. The collision of solid bodies. In: The New Solar System (Eds Beatty, J. K., O'Leary, B. and Chaikin), A., pp. 33–44. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.G. 1953. Evolution and Geography. Eugene, Oregon.Google Scholar
United Nations Environment Programme 1987. Environmental Data Report. UN Environment Programme, Nairobi (in press).Google Scholar
World Resources Institute 1985. Tropical Forests: A Call For Action. World Resources Institute, Washington DC.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute 1986. World Resources, 1986. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar