Increasing evidence suggests that loss of Earth’s biological diversity will compromise our planet’s ability to provide the goods and services societies need to prosper.

Read the opinion piece in The Scientist (Feb. 20, 2013) by Brad Cardinale, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He is director of the school's Conservation Ecology Program and teaches courses in conservation, restoration ecology, and ecosystem services. He is also an elected member of the International Council for Science's research program DIVERSITAS.

The article ends, “We are taking the very genes and species that have made Earth an inhabitable and biologically productive planet over the past 3.8 billion years, and we are lining them up on the edge of a cliff from which there is no return. If the ever growing human population is to continue to prosper, we must better appreciate how our own well-being is directly linked to the great variety of life that is the most striking feature of our planet.”