Biodiversity Helps Keep Ecosystems Healthy
Pennisi, E., Science News
For years, prominent biologists and conservationists have campaigned for the preservation of biological diversity, despite little proof of their assertion that reducing the number of plant and animal species upsets nature's balance. Now, two experimental studies illustrate the detrimental effects of species loss.
More than 10 years ago, ecologist David Tilman of the University of Minnesota in St. Paul and his colleagues began investigating how as many as 250 kinds of plants could thrive in midwestern grasslands, even though the flora competed for limited resources. They did not expect to address the question of the value of biodiversity, Tilman says.
For this experiment, the researchers …
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Publication information:
Article title: Biodiversity Helps Keep Ecosystems Healthy.
Contributors: Pennisi, E. - Author.
Magazine title: Science News.
Volume: 145.
Issue: 6
Publication date: February 5, 1994.
Page number: 84+.
© 2009 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 1994 Gale Group.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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