Thursday, February 9, 2012

Why Protecting Species Diversity Is So Important

biodiversityProtecting biodiversity is even more important than we’ve thought. A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that increasing species diversity decreased both the prevalence and the severity of the disease.

The researchers looked at frogs and other amphibians. They were able place the amphibian species in a controlled environment and found when there were more species, there was a smaller percentage of the animals that died when disease was introduced into the environment.

Having more species in the environment diluted the effect of the disease since some of the species may have been poor hosts to the disease and others may not have gotten infected at all. So…we’d better pay attention because as species go extinct we may be affecting our own survival on the planet.

(Reported Onearth, Winter 2011/2012)

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