Scientists: Extinctions Just as Damaging as Climate Change

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http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/05/extinctions-gnarly-global-warming

A new paper in the prestigious science journal Nature assesses one of the big questions in ecology today: How do species extinctions rack up compared to other global change issues like global warming, ozone holes, acid rain, and nutrient pollution (overfertilization)?

"Evidence is mounting that extinctions are altering key processes important to the productivity and sustainability of Earth's ecosystems."
The answer: Just as nasty. In fact species loss is likely to rank among the top five drivers of global change.

"Some people have assumed that biodiversity effects are relatively minor compared to other environmental stressors,” says lead author David Hooper of Western Washington University. "Our new results show that future loss of species has the potential to reduce plant production just as much as global warming and pollution."

Studies in the past 20 years have demonstrated that more biologically diverse ecosystems are more productive. So there's growing concern that the very high rates of modern extinctions from habitat loss, overharvesting, pollution, biological invasions, human overpopulation, and other human-caused environmental changes will diminish nature's ability to provide goods and services important to all life (ours too)... like food, clean water, and a stable climate.