Species diversity

Biological species are the basis for mankind's nutrition and medicine, and, more fundamental, their form complex ecosystems which sustain man and other animals. Notably, only few (less than 1%) of the world's biodiversity has been actually tried for as medicine or nutrient and much remains to be discovered. But many or even most species will be lost before it can be discovered.

Loss of species diversity is a huge problem in the present world. Data from industrialized countries as well as developing countries (e.g. Malaysia has lost more than half of 266 freshwater fish species in recent decades; the 白鳍豚Yangtze dolphin populations were 400 in 1980, 150 in 1993, 100 in 1995) show that the present major reasons for species extinction are habitat destruction and environmental pollution. For example, tropical rainforest is burned and cut at 1% of its total area/year and as island geography shows, area is directly linked to species diversity (see equation below), it is loosing some 0.25% of species diversity per year (@Wilson 1994, this being a conservative estimate; higher estimates set the ratio at 0.5% per year). If we assume that the globe houses some 5,000,000 species an extinction rate of 12,500 species per year means nearly 350 species per day or one species per 4 minutes at loss! This figure is much higher than the 1-5 species dying out "naturally" being superseeded by evolution before the advnt of man.

EQUATION from island ecology: species diversity = constant * area to the zth power
- as rule of thumb, natural species diversity increases with decreasing latitude; e.g. in Asia it is highest in Indonesia, very high in Laos, high in Yunnan Xishuangbanna, rather high in West Sichuan, not that high in the North China plain, relatively low in Siberia, even lower in the Arctic. Nevertheless, each habitat does have its own typical "endemic" species.

Of course, the equation above is not valid in every habitat and it matters which types of habitats are preserved. An in not-so-long observed ecosystems (e.g. in remote regions in developing countries) it is very hard to prove actual species loss, as very few historic data exists. Nevertheless, conseervation ecologists usually define so-called "hot spots" like Madagascar, Ecuador, Philippines countries who each have lost two-thirds of
their rain-forest, but where still something to save is left.

So it's no surprise environmental organizations often care about species biodiversity, many being at a national level. The best-known international organization is probably the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) having a budget more than twice that of Greenpeace (sponsered by some 60% from private contributions). The WWF concentrates on 3 types of especially endangered habitat types, viz. forests, freshwater ecosystems and coastal wetlands.

Besides being a pressure gorup at many international conferences (like the last UNCED conference), by it's international program the WWF is active in many countries, including China, where coopereation began with the Wolong panda project in 1980. In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, this project faced many difficulties (@Schaller 1993), e.g. the WWF preferred preserving the panda's habitat rather than breeding in captivity, but many difficulties have been overcome and a "Management Plan for the Giant Panda and its Habitat" has been set up in 1989 by the Ministry of Forestry (China) and WWF International which aims to set up some "bamboo corridors" between the fragmented reserves (none of them uniting more than 80 individuals). With this approach, it is clear that the major aim is not only panda preservation which is rahter a "keystone species": if it is possible to save the panda, the many other plants and animals occuring in its habitats will [hopefully] be saved, too.
Other WWF projects in China are on Xishuangbanna's tropical rainforests, set up a Beijing Energy Efficiency Center, Environental Education and wetland education.

Read: Edward O. Wilson, Times, 30 Oct, 1995
Stephen Budians, New Scientist 14 Oct 95
WWF Materials; @Schaller 1993
contact: WWF-Hong Kong GPO Box 12721 Hong Kong
Fax: +852-2586-1146; Email: chinawwf@asiaonline.net