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It was really good. The book came in a timely manner, and I was very pleased to find out that it had a review book with it that I was unaware was included.
The only answer anyone can give is : possibly. So important are insects and other land-dwelling arthopods that if all were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months. The free-living fungi, after enjoying a population explosion of stupendous proportions, would decline precipitously, and most species would perish. Humanity destroys biodiversity as if we would no longer need it. The land would return to approximately its condition in early Paleozoic times, covered by mats of recumbent wind-pollinated vegetation, sprinkled with clumps of small trees and bushes here and there, largely devoid of animal life."Therefore we face an enormous ecological challenge. Ultimately they owe them their very lives, because insects turn the soil around their roots and decompose dead tissue into the nutrients required for continued growth. "Humanity's responsibility to the rest of life and to future generations is clear : bring with us as much of the environment and biodiversity through the bottleneck as possible." This is a very important and urgent message.
One planet, one experiment." Edward Wilson explains in this important work why biodiversity is so important : "The immense variety of the insects and flowering plants combined is no accident. As dead vegetation piled up and dried out, closing the channels of the nutrient cycles, other complex forms of vegetation would die off, and with them all but a few remnants of the land vertebrates. The land surface would literally rot. The two empires are united by intricate symbioses. Next would go the bulk of the flowering plants and with them the physical structure of most forests and other terrestrial habitats of the world.
The author wonders : ".if enough species are extinguished, will the ecosystems collapse, and will extinction of most other species follow soon afterward. Most of the amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals would crash to extinction about the same time. A large fraction of the plant species depend on insects for pollination and reproduction. By the time we found out, however, it might be too late. The insects consume every anatomical part of the plants, while dwelling on them in every nook and cranny.
Mr Wilson's writing is welcoming and the information is great. If you love the planet and want to understand your small place in the grand scheme of things this book is not for you. If you want to understand how we are all interdependent on the life around us, and how evolution has shaped the face of the earth, buy this book.
Anyway, the book encapsulates in easy to read prose much information that your mind can easily wrap itself around. This is an outstanding book. If you read this before you read Darwin's Origin of Species you'll get soooo much more from reading the latter.
Wilson is an excellent author and scientist on the subject of evolution. When I received the book, it appeared that I had already an earlier edition in my bookcase. I did not regret my purchase, because the new version is updated/upgraded and E.O.
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