Before we approach biodiversity- I saw this abstract the other day... still another very important health effect of stress: aging.

SCIENCE NEWS ....November 30, 2004.......High Stress Levels Linked to Cellular Aging
Stress may take a toll on your health by affecting the strands of DNA on the ends of chromosomes, new research suggests. A report published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that women with higher psychological stress levels have shorter telomeres, which play an important role in cellular aging. What is more, the difference between stressed study participants and the control group was equivalent to nearly a decade of additional aging.
Telomeres, chromosomal caps that promote genetic stability, naturally shorten with each cellular replication: shorter telomeres are associated with greater biological age. In the new work, Elissa S. Epel of the University of California at San Francisco and her colleagues studied healthy premenopausal women to investigate the link between psychological stress and telomere shortening. For the high-stress group, the researchers recruited 39 mothers of chronically ill children and compared them to control women who had healthy children. In a questionnaire, mothers with sick children reported that they were more stressed compared to mothers with healthy children. When the scientists obtained cell samples and compared stress levels to telomere length, they found correlations between the length of caregiving (and thus stress levels) and cellular aging. According to the report, women who felt more stressed had cells with shorter telomeres, lower levels of the associated enzyme telomerase, and greater levels of oxidative stress.

"The new findings suggest a cellular mechanism for how chronic stress may cause premature onset of disease," Epel says. "Chronic stress appears to have the potential to shorten the life of cells, at least immune cells." The team plans to continue its investigation of the connection between stress and telomere length with a long-term study that repeatedly measures the variables over time instead of taking a single snapshot. In addition, the researchers intend to try to determine whether prolonged stress impacts telomeres in other types of cells, such as those that line the cardiovascular system. --Sarah Graham

Because of the pressure humans put on the environment at least 300 species of vertebrates and 100 species of invertebrates of species of plants have become extinct in the last 300 years.

Today, more than 5,000 species of animals and over 25,000 species of plants are endangered and scientists estimate that we may be losing one species a day. Most endangered animals and have become so because their habitats are being destroyed.

November 18, 2004 — By Reuters - BANGKOK -

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) unveiled its 2004 "Red List" of endangered species on Wednesday, saying the roll-call of animals threatened with extinction is growing faster than ever before.The full IUCN Red List is available on the Internet at www.iucnredlist.org.
Following are some salient facts from the list and the IUCN's accompanying Global Species Assessment.

Location and type of threatened species:
* Of the 15,589 species on the list of threatened species, 7,266 are animals and 8,323 are plants or lichen.
* Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia and Mexico hold particularly large numbers of threatened species.
* Most threatened birds, mammals and amphibians are found in the tropical areas of Central and South America, Africa south of the Sahara, and tropical South and Southeast Asia.
The GSA shows that threatened species are often concentrated in densely populated areas, particularly in much of Asia (for example, in the Western Ghats of India and the island of Java in Indonesia) and parts of Africa (such as the Albertine Rift and the Ethiopian Highlands). A major conservation challenge will therefore be to reconcile the demands of large numbers of people on the environment, while protecting the biodiversity upon which so many people's livelihoods depend.
The importance of international support in safeguarding biodiversity is highlighted by the fact that many countries with a high concentration of threatened species have a low Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (for example, Brazil, Columbia, Cameroon, China, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, and the Philippines) and are unable to implement the required conservation measures without international assistance.

A total of 784 extinctions have been documented since AD 1500, when accurate historical and scientific records on species started. This figure has risen from 766 documented extinctions by 2000. This represents an increase of 3,330 since the previous year's Red List, due to a combination of first-ever species evaluations as well as reassessments;

At least 15 species have gone extinct in the past 20 years, and an additional 12 species survive only in captivity. However, the real extinction figure is believed to be much higher, due to the conservative approach used in such listings;
* One in three amphibians (32%) and almost half (42%) of turtles and tortoises are now known to be threatened with extinction, along with one in eight birds (12%) and one in four mammals (23%);

* While the vast majority of extinctions since AD 1500 have occurred on islands, over the past 20 years continental extinctions have become as common as island extinctions.
* Although estimates vary greatly, current extinction rates are at least one hundred to a thousand times higher than "background," or "natural," rates.

* Humans have been the main cause of extinction and continue to be the principle threat to species at risk of extinction.
* Habitat loss, introduced species, and over-exploitation are the main threats, with human-induced climate change becoming an increasingly significant problem.

Habitat destruction and degradation are the leading threats, but other significant pressures include over-exploitation (for food, pets, and medicine), introduced species, pollution, and disease. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a serious threat.
"From dying coral reefs to later autumns and endangered male painted turtles, global warming has started to affect plant and animal life across the planet, scientists said .
The world's mean temperature increased by around 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th century — most of the rise came in the last 30 years — and its impact is already being felt by flora and fauna from the equator to the poles.

"Temperature has increased by no more than 0.6 degrees and already the signs are very obvious," said geobotanist Gian-Reto Walther from the University of Hanover in Germany, who collated the research from across the branches of the natural sciences.
The study's conclusions highlight the seriousness of global climate change by showing parallel trends in plants, birds, animals, and fish. "This is a major concern," said Walther, adding that extinction for some species was inevitable. "The big difference between now and previous periods of climate change, like the Ice Age, is that 7 billion people live on Earth now, and many migration corridors for species are blocked."
One of the most dramatic barometers of climate change has been the world's coral reefs, which have been devastated by coral bleaching — a direct result of warmer ocean water. In the worst case of mass bleaching, in 1998, an estimated 16 percent of the world's reef-building coral died, Nature said.
Meanwhile in Europe, trees are starting to show their autumn color between 0.3 and 1.6 days later per decade, while some migrating birds are changing their travel plans. "

The situation in freshwater habitats is less well known than for terrestrial habitats, but early signs show it is equally serious. Amphibians, which rely on freshwater, are considered to be outstanding indicators of ecosystem health; therefore their catastrophic decline serves notice about the state of the planet's water resources.
The marine environment is also not as well known as the terrestrial environment, but many marine species are being over-exploited to the point of extinction.

Community-based conservation is the key to saving endangered species around the globe. Without community buy-in, the conflict that arises between man and wildlife will continue to result in the loss of animal populations who face extinction as growing human populations encroach on their natural habitat.
This was the message from leading wildlife conservationists who gathered on the campus of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif., Oct. 16-17, for the Third Annual Wildlife Conservation Expo sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN)
At this year's event, 14 of the world's leading animal conservationists gave presentations about their conservation programs in Africa, Asia and South America. They emphasized the opportunities for wildlife conservation worldwide through community-based programs that help local communities: resolve conflicts over livestock loss from wildlife through unique livestock management programs, create jobs, encourage ecotourism and instill pride in communities for their contribution to saving endangered animal populations.

The arguments that scientists & conservationists offer to support efforts to prevent species loss are not being seen as valid or important by politicians and social scientists:

1. Species diversity is a hedge against disease and famine:
It is true that many important drugs we use evolved by other species: antibiotics, aspirin, cancer drugs etc. However many drugs today are being designed today to fight specific diseases through molecular modeling techniques. In the future, it may be 'easier' to do drug solutions this way then to discover natural solutions.However a recent program on CNN investigated the role of African healers who use drugs they derive from plants, and argue this cheaper and often quite effective solution beats the expensive drugs offered by the western world which the majority of individuals can not afford. Herbal treatment for AIDS appears to work and is being now investigated by drug companies.

With respect to food... it is unlikely that many new crops will arise from wild species for many reasons, including cultural preferences, the way farming is practiced and so on.However with globalization, individuals are being introduced to new foods from other nationalities, and if the agroindustry were encouraged to grow more select crops based on widening interests of consumers, this approach may become more important.

2. Ecosystem service: we know that species perform critical roles, but unless we can estimate an economic value and strongly associate it with that organism, most humans will not accept the value of that organism relative to their needs.
How do you give a net value to the role of a tree sucking in CO2 from the atmosphere or a tree cooling down a house by shading it? Or in this case a forest not of 1-2 species but a collection of many species? This would take a great effort and people would have to buy in to it. It is not that species don't play an incredibly valuable role, just that it is hard to accept that value without a clear price tag for the service.

3. Moral Obligation: moral obligation is valid primarily for those well off ( individuals in MDC rather than those basically living precariously on the edge - families in third world nations whose major concern is their existence rather than that of other species).
Individuals who are best off can better absorb the cost of buying out large tracts of still wild areas and putting them into conservation phase.
It is difficult to get the 'public' with varied needs to put the rights of species up their.
Who wins out in a congressional debate.. the needs of education or the existence of species other than humans? tax rebates for the majority or programs that insure drugs for the elderl?

Yet we know from the report above that the better off must support these efforts as most species exist in areas with the poorest people, BUT at the same time, the effort to support must come from locals who coexist with the threatened species..

What most threatens your species?
Why should your species be saved?
What service does your species provide the world?