Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-8v9h9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-17T02:59:05.234Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Biodiversity in the modern world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Charles Perrings
Charles Perrings
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Get access

Summary

Widening horizons

What do we know about the role of biodiversity in the modern world? What are the effects of biodiversity change on the two-fifths of the terrestrial system that have been fundamentally transformed by humankind? While the shape of the Holocene extinction is familiar to many – certainly to all those who work in the biological sciences – the way in which changes in species abundance and richness affect human activities is not. Most biodiversity research has focused on natural systems, and not on the role of biodiversity in supporting the production of goods and services of value to people. Research on agro-biodiversity, for example, is a vanishingly small proportion of total agricultural and forestry research. There are relatively few studies of the biodiversity in urban ecosystems, and almost no studies of the impact of changes in species diversity on ecosystem services in urban areas. The literature on biodiversity and health is primarily concerned with the role of species diversity in affecting disease transmission in natural ecosystems. The literature on invasive species is more broadly concerned with the impact of invaders on both managed and unmanaged systems, but it too focuses on the role of invaders in disrupting existing, functioning systems. The result is that we understand much about the ecology of biodiversity change, but little about its consequences for the production and consumption processes at the core of all human activity. Yet these are the things we need to understand if we are to understand directed biodiversity change.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Our Uncommon Heritage
Biodiversity Change, Ecosystem Services, and Human Wellbeing
 , pp. 39 - 77
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alston, J. M., Beddow, J. M. and Pardey, P. G. (2009) Agricultural research, productivity, and food prices in the long run. Science, 325, 1209–1210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alston, J. M., Andersen, M. A., James, J. J. and Pardey, P. G. (2010) Persistence Pays: US Agricultural Productivity Growth and the Benefits from Public R&D Spending. Springer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bairoch, P. (1988) Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Barbier, E. B. (2008) In the wake of tsunami: lessons learned from the household decision to replant mangroves in Thailand. Resource and Energy Economics, 30, 229–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbier, E. B., Burgess, J. C. and Grainger, A. (2010) The forest transition: towards a more comprehensive theoretical framework. Land Use Policy, 27, 98–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binswanger, H. P. and Ruttan, V. W. (1978) Induced Innovation: Technology, Institutions and Development. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. (1965) The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. George Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. (1981) Population and Technological Change: A Study of Long Term Trends. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Brandon, K. and Bruner, A. (2008) Benefits of protected areas: perspectives and experiences of Conservation International. Protected Areas in Today’s World: Their Values and Benefits for the Welfare of the Planet (ed. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity), pp. 29–36. Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal.Google Scholar
Brooks, T. M., Mittermeier, R. A., da Fonseca, G. A. B., Gerlach, J., Hoffmann, M., Lamoreux, J. F., Mittermeier, C. G., Pilgrim, J. D. and Rodrigues, A. S. L. (2006) Global biodiversity conservation priorities. Science, 313, 58–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bulte, E. H. and Horan, R. D. (2003) Habitat conservation, wildlife extraction and agricultural expansion. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 45, 109–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. (1976) Toward a restatement of demographic transition theory. Population and Development Review, 2, 321–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caliendo, L. and Parro, F. (2011) Estimates of the trade and welfare effects of NAFTA. Working Paper, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Canadell, J. G. and Raupach, M. R. (2008) Managing forests for climate change mitigation. Science, 320, 1456–1457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carew, R., Smith, E. G. and Grant, C. (2009) Factors influencing wheat yield and variability: evidence from Manitoba, Canada. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 41, 625–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cervigni, R. (2001) Biodiversity in the Balance: Land Use, National Development and Global Welfare. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.Google Scholar
Chapin, G. and Wasserstrom, R. (1981) Agricultural production and malaria resurgence in Central America and India. Nature, 293, 181–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Childers, D. L., Corman, J., Edwards, M. and Elser, J.  J. (2011) Sustainability challenges of phosphorus and food: solutions from closing the human phosphorus cycle. Bioscience, 61, 117–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conservation International (2010) Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal.Google Scholar
Conservation International(2013) The Biodiversity Hotspots. Available at (accessed 2013).
Conway, G. R. and Barbier, E. B. (1988) After the Green-Revolution – sustainable and equitable agricultural-development. Futures, 20, 651–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copeland, B. R. (2000) Trade and environment: policy linkages. Environment and Development Economics, 5, 405–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, P. and Kinzig, A. (2005) Nature in the metropolis. Science, 308, 1225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daily, G. and Ehrlich, P. (1996) Global change and human susceptibility to disease. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 21, 125–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
di Falco, S., Smale, M. and Perrings, C. (2008) The role of agricultural cooperatives in sustaining the wheat diversity and productivity: the case of southern Italy. Environmental & Resource Economics, 39, 161–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, J. (2005) Collapse. Penguin Books, New York.Google Scholar
Diaz, R. J. and Rosenberg, R. (2008) Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science, 321, 926–929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dimitri, C., Effland, A. and Conklin, N. (2005) The 20th century transformation of US agriculture and farm policy. USDA Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Dodds, W. K. (2006) Nutrients and the dead zone: the link between nutrient ratios and dissolved oxygen in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4, 211–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P. (1968) The Population Bomb. Buccaneer Books, New York.Google Scholar
Elser, J. J. (2011) A world awash with nitrogen. Science, 334, 1504–1505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ewald, P. (1995) The evolution of virulence: a unifying link between ecology and parasitology. Journal of Parasitology, 81, 659–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fagan, W. F. (2002) Connectivity, fragmentation, and extinction risk in dendritic metapopulations. Ecology, 83, 3243–3249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fei, J. C. H. and Ranis, G. (1964) Development of the Labor Surplus Economy: Theory and Policy. R.D. Irwin, Holmewood, IL.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization (2010a) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010, Main Report. FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization (2010b) The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture. FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
Gadgil, M., Berkes, F. and Folke, C. (1993) Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity conservation. Ambio, 22, 151–156.Google Scholar
Gokhale, Y., Velankar, R., Chandran, M. D. S. and Gadgil, M. (1998) Sacred woods, grasslands and waterbodies as self-organized systems of conservation. Conserving the Sacred for Biodiversity Management (ed. Ramakrishnan, P. S., Saxena, K. G. and Chandrashekara, U. M.), pp. 366–396. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.Google Scholar
Hall, C. M. (2006) Tourism, biodiversity and global environmental change. Tourism and Global Environmental Change: Ecological, Social, Economic and Political Interrelationships (ed. Gossling, S. and Hall, C. M.), pp. 211–228. Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Harrison, G. W., Rutherford, T. F. and Tarr, D. G. (1997) Quantifying the Uruguay Round. Economic Journal, 107, 1405–1430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heal, G. (2000) Valuing ecosystem services. Ecosystems, 3, 24–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heywood, V. and Watson, R. (eds.) (1995) Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Huang, X. -Q., Wolf, M., Ganal, M. W., Orford, S., Koebner, R. M. D. and Röder, M. S. (2007) Did modern plant breeding lead to genetic erosion in European winter wheat varieties?Crop Science, 47, 343–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for Development (2008) Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kinzig, A. P. and Socolow, R. H. (1994) Human impacts on the nitrogen cycle. Physics Today, 47, 24–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, S. A. (2013) Encylopedia of Biodiversity, 2nd edn. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Levy, S. B. (1992) The Antibiotic Paradox. Plenum, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1954) Economic development with unlimited supplies of labour. The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, 22, 139–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1979) The dual economy revisited. The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, 47, 211–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loskutov, I. G. and Rines, H. R. (2011) Avena. Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources (Cereals) (ed. Kole, C.), pp. 109–184. Springer, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malthus, T. R. (1999[1798]) An Essay on the Principle of Population. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manifesto, M. M., Schlatter, A. R., Hopp, H. E., Suárez, E. Y. and Dubcovsky, J. (2001) Quantitative evaluation of genetic diversity in wheat germplasm using molecular markers. Crop Science, 41, 682–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeely, J. A. (2001) An introduction to human dimensions of invasive alien species. The Great Reshuffling: Human Dimensions of Invasive Alien Species (ed. McNeely, J. A.), pp. 5–20. IUCN, Gland.Google Scholar
McNeill, W. H. (1977) Plagues and People. Anchor Books, New York.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005a) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: General Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005b) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Biodiversity Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005c) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Myers, N. (1988) Threatened biotas: “hot spots” in tropical forests. Environmentalist, 8, 187–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, N., Mittermeier, R. A.Mittermeier, C. G., da Fonseca, G. A. B. and Kent, J. (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403, 853–858.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nin Pratt, A. and Fan, S. (2010) R&D investment in national and international agricultural research. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), IFPRI discussion papers.
Normile, D. (2008) Rinderpest: driven to extinction. Science, 319, 1606–1609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, J., McMahon, A., Karsgaard, P., Al Quntar, S. and Ur, J. (2007) Antiquity, 81, 585–600.CrossRef
Ostfeld, R. S., Keesing, F. and Eviner, V. T. (2008) Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and of Disease on Ecosystems. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pardey, P., Beintema, N., Dehmer, S. and Wood, S. (2006) Agricultural research a growing global divide?IFPRI, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Paul, J. R. (1971) A History of Poliomyelitis. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Perrings, C. (1997) Industrial growth, rural income, and the overexploitation of land in the dual economy. Economics of Ecological Resources: Selected Essays. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.Google Scholar
Perrings, C. and Gadgil, M. (2003) Conserving biodiversity: reconciling local and global public benefits. Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization (ed. Kaul, I., Conceicao, P., Le Goulven, K. and Mendoza, R. L.), pp. 532–555. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perrings, C., Fenichel, E. and Kinzig, A. (2010) Globalization and invasive alien species: trade, pests and pathogens. Globalization and Bioinvasions: Ecology, Economics, Management and Policy (ed. Perrings, C., Mooney, H. A. and Williamson, M.), pp. 42–55. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Perrings, C., Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Touza, J. and Williamson, M. (2005) How to manage biological invasions under globalization. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20, 212–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phillips, I., Casewell, M., Cox, T., De Groot, B., Friis, C., Jones, R., Nightingale, C., Preston, R. and Waddell, J. (2004) Does the use of antibiotics in food animals pose a risk to human health? A critical review of published data. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 53, 28–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piesse, J. and Thirtle, C. (2010) Agricultural R&D, technology and productivity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365, 3035–3047.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quadros, C. A. (2006) Is global measles eradication feasible?Mass Vaccination: Global Aspects – Progress and Obstacles (ed. Plotkin, S.), pp. 153–163. Springer, Berlin and Heidelberg.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rangi, D. K. (2004) Invasive Alien Species: Agriculture and Development. UNEP, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Reed, D. H. (2004) Extinction risk in fragmented habitats. Animal Conservation, 7, 181–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rezzonico, F., Stockwell, V. O. and Duffy, B. (2009) Plant agricultural streptomycin formulations do not carry antibiotic resistance genes. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 53, 3173–3177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roe, D., Ashley, C., Page, S. and Meyer, D. (2004) Tourism and the Poor: Analysing and Interpreting Tourism Statistics from a Poverty Perspective. PPT Partnership, London.Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, M. L. (1995) Species Diversity in Space and Time. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotz, L. D., Khan, A. S., Lillibridge, S. R., Ostroff, S. M. and Hughes, J. M. (2002) Public health assessment of potential biological terrorism agents. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 8, 225–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smale, M., Hartell, J., Heisey, P. W. and Senauer, B. (1998) The contribution of genetic resources and diversity to wheat production in the Punjab of Pakistan. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 80, 482–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soulé, M. E. (1986) What is conservation biology?Bioscience, 35, 727–734.Google Scholar
Spinage, C. A. (2003) Cattle Plague: A History. Kluwer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szreter, S. (1997) Economic growth, disruption, deprivation, disease, and death: on the importance of the politics of public health for development. Population and Development Review, 23, 698–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tainter, J. A. (2006) Archaeology of overshoot and collapse. Annual Review of Anthropology, 35, 59–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tauger, M. (2009) Agriculture in World History. Taylor and Francis, New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. S. (1929) Population. American Journal of Sociology, 34, 959–975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilman, D., Hill, J. and Lehman, C. (2006) Carbon-negative biofuels from low-input high-diversity grassland biomass. Science, 314, 1598–1600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tilman, D., Fargione, J., Wolff, B., Antonio, C., Dobson, A., Howarth, R., Schindler, D., Schlesinger, W. H., Simberloff, D. and Swackhamer, D. (2001) Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change. Science, 292, 281–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner, R. E., Rabalais, N. N. and Justic, D. (2008) Gulf of Mexico hypoxia: alternate states and a legacy. Environmental Science & Technology, 42, 2323–2327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNEP–WCMC and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (2012) World Database on Protected Areas: Available at (accessed 2012).
United Nations (1993) Convention on Biological Diversity. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Vavilov, N. I. (1935) Botanical-Geographic Principles of Selection. Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Leningrad.Google Scholar
Widawsky, D. and Rozelle, S. (1998) Varietal diversity and yield variability in Chinese rice production. Farmers, Gene Banks, and Crop Breeding (ed. Smale, M.), pp. 159–172. Kluwer, Norwell, MA.Google Scholar
Williamson, M. (1996) Biological Invasions. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Witte, W. (1998) Medical consequences of antibiotic use in agriculture. Science, 279, 996–997.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Bank (2012a) Agriculture, Value Added (% of GDP). Available at (accessed 2012).
World Bank (2012b) Employment in Agriculture (% of Total Employment). Available at (accessed 2012).
World Tourism Organization (2011) World Tourism Highlights. UNWTO, Madrid.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×