Birds Do It, Bees Do It, Even Educated Fleas Do It: But Why?

Abstract

Look around. There are living organisms everywhere. We have a special word for it: biodiversity. We even have international Conventions about it. Article 2 of the 1988 Convention helpfully tells us that “Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic Systems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” All that boils down to the life-support System of planet Earth on which we depend for the air we breathe and the food we eat. We worry about it, of course, be-cause we have recognized over the past few years that human activities are destroying ecosystems. We make deserts out of fertile plains, turn tropical forests into pastures, and pollute entire oceans. Then we worry about it.