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Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services
Boris Worm,1*Edward B. Barbier,2Nicola Beaumont,3J. Emmett Duffy,4Carl Folke,5,6Benjamin S. Halpern,7Jeremy B. C. Jackson,8,9Heike K. Lotze,1Fiorenza Micheli,10Stephen R. Palumbi,10Enric Sala,8Kimberley A. Selkoe,7John J. Stachowicz,11Reg Watson12
Human-dominated marine ecosystems are experiencing acceleratingloss of populations and species, with largely unknown consequences.We analyzed local experiments, long-term regional time series,and global fisheries data to test how biodiversity loss affectsmarine ecosystem services across temporal and spatial scales.Overall, rates of resource collapse increased and recovery potential,stability, and water quality decreased exponentially with decliningdiversity. Restoration of biodiversity, in contrast, increasedproductivity fourfold and decreased variability by 21%, on average.We conclude that marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairingthe ocean's capacity to provide food, maintain water quality,and recover from perturbations. Yet available data suggest thatat this point, these trends are still reversible.
1 Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1. 2 Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. 3 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK. 4 Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, Gloucester Point, VA 23062–1346, USA. 5 Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE-106 91 Sweden. 6 Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, SE-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden. 7 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA. 8 Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093–0202, USA. 9 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama. 10 Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA. 11 Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. 12 Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bworm{at}dal.ca
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LETTERS
Steven Murawski, Richard Methot, Galen Tromble;, Ray W. Hilborn;, John C. Briggs;, Boris Worm, Edward B. Barbier, Nicola Beaumont, J. Emmett Duffy, Carl Folke, Benjamin S. Halpern, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Heike K. Lotze, Fiorenza Micheli, Stephen R. Palumbi, Enric Sala, Kimberley A. Selkoe, John J. Stachowicz, and Reg Watson (1 June 2007) Science316 (5829), 1281b.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.316.5829.1281b] |Full Text »|PDF »
TECHNICAL COMMENTS
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[DOI: 10.1126/science.1137946] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
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[DOI: 10.1126/science.1139114] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
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