Biodiversity, Extinction, and Humanity’s Future: The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Human Population and Resource Use

Humanities

Jeffrey V. Yule¹  Robert J. Fournier² 

[1]id="af1-humanities-02-00147">School of Biological Sciences, LouisianaTech University, P.O. Box 3179, Ruston, Louisiana 71272, U

关键词: biodiversity;    extinction;    ecology;    evolution;    population ecology;    human population;    human carrying capacity;    resource use;    infectious disease;   

DOI  :  10.3390/h2020147

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Human actions have altered global environments and reduced biodiversity by causing extinctions and reducing the population sizes of surviving species. Increasing human population size and per capita resource use will continue to have direct and indirect ecological and evolutionary consequences. As a result, future generations will inhabit a planet with significantly less wildlife, reduced evolutionary potential, diminished ecosystem services, and an increased likelihood of contracting infectious disease. The magnitude of these effects will depend on the rate at which global human population and/or per capita resource use decline to sustainable levels and the degree to which population reductions result from increased death rates rather than decreased birth rates.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.