Nature's capacity to 'bounce back' when species are lost is vastly overestimated
A large-scale study led by King's College London and Imperial College London reveals that ecosystems have less capacity to recover from species loss than previously assumed. The research highlights that biodiversity is essential for critical services like food security and carbon storage.
Why it matters
This finding challenges the 'functional redundancy' theory, suggesting that environmental degradation may have more immediate and severe consequences for human survival than expected.
edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan
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Add as preferred source Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The idea that ecosystems carry plenty of backup, so if a small number of species become extinct there is little harm, has been greatly overestimated, according to the largest global study of its kind.
New research led by King's College London and Imperial College London warns that a lack of biodiversity could threaten people's food security and climate protection, as diverse ecosystems provide a wide range of benefits that people depend on, including pollination, water purification, carbon storage and natural pest control.
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