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Nature and Human Society: The Quest for a Sustainable World (1997)
National Research Council (NRC)

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Nature and Human Society

The Quest for a Sustainable World

Peter H. Raven, Editor
Tania Williams, Associate Editor

Proceedings of the 1997 Forum on Biodiversity

Board on Biology
National Research Council

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Nature and Human Society The Quest for a Sustainable World Peter H. Raven, Editor Tania Williams, Associate Editor Proceedings of the 1997 Forum on Biodiversity Board on Biology National Research Council

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Page ii National Academy Press 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for this report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported between the National Academy of Sciences and Monsanto Company; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through grants 97-50855 and 97-48904; The Winslow Foundation; National Science Foundation through grant DEB-9729452; The David and Lucile Packard Foundation through grant 97-8124; Homeland Foundation through grant 3-97-085; Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation; V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation; The World Conservation Union; Trillium Corporation; The Jenifer Altman Foundation through grant 231. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. This material is not an official report of the Board on Biology or the National Research Council and the opinion reports are solely those of the individual forum participants. The papers presented in this volume are based upon presentations made at the October 27–30, 1997 meeting. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Forum on Biodiversity (1997 : National Academy of Sciences) Nature and human society : the quest for a sustainable world : proceedings of the 1997 Forum on Biodiversity / Board on Biology, National Research Council. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-309-06555-0 (hardcover) 1. Biological diversity--Congresses. 2. Nature—Effect of human beings on—Congresses. 3. Human ecology—Congresses. 4. Sustainable development—Congresses. I. National Research Council (U.S). Board on Biology. II. Title. QH541.15.B56 F685 1997 333.95'11—dc21                                                                       99-50565 Cover: Art by Bert Dodson. Nature and Human Society: The Quest for a Sustainable World is available from the National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Box 285, Washington, DC 20055; 1-800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area). Internet: www.nap.edu Printed in the United States of America

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Page iii THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine National Research Council The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

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Page v FORUM ON BIODIVERSITY COMMITTEE Peter H. Raven (Chair), Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO Michael J. Bean, Wildlife Program, Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC Colin W. Clark, Mathematics Department, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Rita R. Colwell, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, University of Maryland System, College Park, MD Joel L. Cracraft, American Museum of Natural History, Department of Ornithology, New York, NY Frank W. Davis, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA Prosser Gifford, Director of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, Washington, DC Gary S. Hartshorn, Organization for Tropical Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC Olga F. Linares, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Miami, FL Thomas E. Lovejoy, Counselor for Biodiversity and Environmental Affairs, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Jane Lubchenco, Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Dan Martin, World Environment and Resources Program, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, IL Nalini Nadkarni, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA Michael H. Robinson, National Zoo, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Daniel Simberloff, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL David B. Wake, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA Edward O. Wilson, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Joy B. Zedler, Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA Advisor Stuart Pimm, Department of Zoology and Graduate Program in Ecology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Convener Liaison Lynne Corn, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC Victoria Dompka, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC Don E. Wilson, Neotropical Biodiversity Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Staff Paul Gilman, Project Co-Director Donna M. Gerardi, Project Co-Director Kathleen A. Beil, Administrative Assistant Norman Grossblatt, Editor Erika Shugart, Research Aide Susan S. Vaupel, Editor Tania Williams, Program Officer

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Page vii PREFACE The 1986 National Forum on BioDiversity carried the urgent warning that the habitats and environments necessary to foster biodiversity were rapidly being altered. The Second National Forum on Biodiversity was held in Washington, DC, on October 27–30, 1997, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It conveyed the positive message that we had learned and were making efforts to conserve biodiversity—that it does not have to be a win-lose situation. It highlighted a number of outstanding efforts to conserve biodiversity in ways that are amenable to all parties involved. The second forum was envisaged to celebrate how much we had achieved since the 1986 forum. We hoped to target the general public as the audience, using dynamic means to catch their interest. It was to be a dialogue, using, for instance, a town meeting, live chat rooms on the Web, and a live-action camera in the Amazon rain forest canopy. The speeches would be peppered throughout to convey our progress and the direction we needed to head in. Although we could not secure the funds necessary to support such a venture, we believe that that format should be used for a third forum. It will be valuable to assemble top scientists to discuss where we are and where we should go. We were impressed and pleased by how easily we secured eminent speakers; many of them had to rearrange their schedules to speak but did so eagerly because of the importance of the topic. We were confounded by the difficulty of presenting all the desired topics at the 3-day forum in such a way that there would be enough time to cover them fully

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Page viii and to allow question and answer sessions with the audience. To fit more topics in, we held several brown-bag luncheon discussions each day; these discussions received favorable comments because they allowed adequate give and take in an intimate atmosphere. When we were putting this volume together, we took the opportunity to address some of the lesser-known groups of organisms that had not been well covered, such as protists, mites, and fungi. We also held a number of events to increase outreach to the public and Congress: several speakers were sent to Capitol Hill to brief congressional members and staff, others participated in radio news events, and all participated in a lunch with the press. The body of the program, including lectures and brown-bag sessions, was held at NAS. An opening evening lecture was held at the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History. The Library of Congress hosted a special dinner and exhibit for the speakers. And the premier screening of the National Geographic film, Don't Say Goodbye, and an accompanying exhibit of the photographic work of Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager were held at AAAS. Over 750 people registered for the 3-day forum, and all the events were well attended. Numerous people were involved in organizing the forum. The National Research Council empaneled a committee to serve as science advisers. That panel enlisted the help of David Wilcove, George Woodwell, and Walt Reid to finalize the program. Staff of the convening organizations did the brunt of the planning: Tania Williams of the National Research Council directed the staff efforts with the invaluable assistance of Donna Gerardi, Erika Shugart, and Kathleen Beil, also of the National Research Council; Prosser Gifford of the Library of Congress; Lynne Corn of the Congressional Research Service; Don Wilson of the Smithsonian Institution; and Dick Gertzinger, Victoria Dompka, and Lars Bromley of AAAS. Ruth O'Brien of the National Research Council organized the complicated arrangements that led to a smoothly conducted meeting; she was assisted by Stacey Burkhardt of the National Research Council. Authors were sent completed and edited manuscripts in late 1998 so that they could update the references. Hence in this volume, there are many references to work published after the forum was held. We wish to thank the Mansanto Company, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Winslow Foundation, National Science Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Homeland Foundation, Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, The World Conservation Union, Trillium Corporation, and The Jenifer Altman Foundation for their support of this effort. Tania Williams served as managing editor for this volume, Norman Grossblatt was senior manuscript editor, and Karen Phillips edited several of the manuscripts. The beautiful art created for the forum, which serves as the cover of this volume, was the work of Bert Dodson. PETER H. RAVEN CHAIR

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Page ix CONTENTS Introduction Peter H. Raven 1 Part 1 Defining Biodiversity Barriers to Perception: From a World of Interconnection to Fragmentation David T. Suzuki 11 The Creation of Biodiversity Edward O. Wilson 22 The Dimensions of Life on Earth Robert M. May 30 The Sixth Extinction: How Large, How Soon, and Where? Stuart L. Pimm and Thomas M. Brooks 46 The Meaning of Biodiversity Loss Norman Myers 63 The Loss of Population Diversity and Why It Matters Jennifer B. Hughes, Gretchen C. Daily, and Paul R. Ehrlich 71 Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of Marine Biodiversity: How Healthy Is It? Jerry R. Schubel and Cheryl Ann Butman 84 Countryside Biogeography and the Provision of Ecosystem Services Gretchen C. Daily 104

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Page x Part 2 Less Well-Known Individual Forms of Life Microbial Diversity and the Biosphere Norman R. Pace 117 Biodiversity, Classification, and Numbers of Species of Protists John O. Corliss 130 Estimating the Extent of Fungal Diversity in the Tropics K.D. Hyde, W.H. Ho, J.E. Taylor, and D.L. Hawksworth 156 Nematodes: Pervading the Earth and Linking All Life J.G. Baldwin, S.A. Nadler, and D.H. Wall 176 Global Diversity of Mites R.B. Halliday, B.M. OConnor, and A.S. Baker 192 Biodiversity of Terrestrial Invertebrates in Tropical Africa: Assessing the Needs and Plan of Action Scott Miller, Barbara Gemmill, Hans R. Herren, Lucie Rogo, and Melody Allen 204 Global Diversity of Insects: The Problems of Estimating Numbers Ebbe S. Nielsen and Laurence A. Mound 213 Part 3 The Role of the Group in Biodiversity The World Beneath Our Feet: Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia 225 Natural Investment in Diversity: The Role of Biological Communities in Soil Frans A.A.M. de Leij, David B. Hay, and James M. Lynch 242 Part 4 Means to Measure Biodiversity Conservation Biology and the Preservation of Biodiversity: An Assessment Gary K. Meffe 255 Conservation Genetics: Applying Molecular Methods to Maximize the Conservation of Taxonomic and Genetic Diversity Don J. Melnick, Juan Carlos Morales, and Rodney L. Honecutt 264 Application of Geospatial Information for Identifying Priority Areas for Biodiversity Conservation Ashbindu Singh 276 Hawaii Biological Survey: Museum Resources In Support of Conservation Allen Allison and Scott E. Miller 281 Building the Next-Generation Biological-Information Infrastructure John L. Schnase, Meredith A. Lane, Geoffrey C. Bowker, Susan Leigh Star, and Abraham Silberschatz 291

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Page xi Part 5 Threats to Sustainability Nature Displaced: Human Population Trends and Projections and Their Meanings Richard P. Cincotta and Robert Engelman 303 Population Growth, Sustainable Development, and the Environment Sergey Kapitza 315 Nonindigenous Species: A Global Threat to Biodiversity and Stability Daniel Simberloff 325 Part 6 Infrastructure for Sustaining Biodiversity—Science Science and the Public Trust in a Full World: Function and Dysfunction in Science and the Biosphere George M. Woodwell 337 The Response of the International Scientific Community to the Challenge of Biodiversity David L. Hawksworth 347 The Millenium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Ghillean T. Prance and Roger D. Smith 358 Charting the Biosphere: Building Global Capacity for Systematics Science Joel L. Cracraft 374 Science and Technology in the Convention on Biological Diversity Calestous Juma and Gudrun Henne 387 Ecology and the Knowledge Revolution Graciela Chichilnisky 398 Part 7 Infrastructure for Sustaining Biodiversity—Society Biodiversity: A World Bank Perspective Ismail Serageldin 413 Creating Cultural Diversity: Tropical Forests Transformed Olga F. Linares 420 Endangered Plants, Vanishing Cultures: Ethnobotany and Conservation Paul Alan Cox 435 Religion and Sustainability James Parks Morton 443 Reaching the Public: The Challenge of Communicating Biodiversity Jane Elder and John Russonello 455

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Page xii Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC): A New Multi-Institutional Partnership to Prepare the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders Don J. Melnick and Mary C. Pearl 462 Natural Capitalism Paul G. Hawken 471 Part 8 Infrastructure for Sustaining Biodiversity—Policy Linking Science and Policy: A Research Agenda for Colombian Biodiversity Cristián Samper 483 Sustainability and the Law: An Assessment of the Endangered Species Act Michael J. Bean 493 Government Policy and Sustainability of Biodiversity in Costa Rica René Castro 500 National Security, National Interest, and Sustainability Thomas E. Lovejoy 506 Biodiversity and Organizing for Sustainability in the United States Government Timothy E. Wirth 514 Part 9 Examples of Sustainability How to Grow a Wildland: The Gardenification of Nature Daniel H. Janzen 521 Measures to Conserve Biodiversity in Sustainable Forestry: The Río Condór Project Mary T. Kalin Arroyo 530 Chemical Prospecting: The New Natural History Thomas Eisner 543 Conservation Medicine: An Emerging Field Mark Pokras, Gary Tabor, Mary Pearl, David Sherman, and Paul Epstein 551 How Countries with Limited Resources Are Dealing with Biodiversity Problems Jeffrey A. McNeely 557 Biodiversity and Sustainable Human Development: The Costa Rican Agenda Rodrigo Gámez, Sandra Rodríguez, and Ana Elena Valdés 573 The National Biodiversity Information System of Mexico Jorge Soberón and Patricia Koleff 586 Community Involvement and Sustainability: The Malpai Borderlands Effort William McDonald and Ronald J. Bemis 596 Index 605