Novacek M J, Cleland E E
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 May 8;98(10):5466-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.091093698.
The current massive degradation of habitat and extinction of species is taking place on a catastrophically short timescale, and their effects will fundamentally reset the future evolution of the planet's biota. The fossil record suggests that recovery of global ecosystems has required millions or even tens of millions of years. Thus, intervention by humans, the very agents of the current environmental crisis, is required for any possibility of short-term recovery or maintenance of the biota. Many current recovery efforts have deficiencies, including insufficient information on the diversity and distribution of species, ecological processes, and magnitude and interaction of threats to biodiversity (pollution, overharvesting, climate change, disruption of biogeochemical cycles, introduced or invasive species, habitat loss and fragmentation through land use, disruption of community structure in habitats, and others). A much greater and more urgently applied investment to address these deficiencies is obviously warranted. Conservation and restoration in human-dominated ecosystems must strengthen connections between human activities, such as agricultural or harvesting practices, and relevant research generated in the biological, earth, and atmospheric sciences. Certain threats to biodiversity require intensive international cooperation and input from the scientific community to mitigate their harmful effects, including climate change and alteration of global biogeochemical cycles. In a world already transformed by human activity, the connection between humans and the ecosystems they depend on must frame any strategy for the recovery of the biota.
当前栖息地的大规模退化和物种灭绝正发生在灾难性的短时间尺度上，其影响将从根本上重置地球生物群的未来演化。化石记录表明，全球生态系统的恢复需要数百万年甚至数千万年。因此，作为当前环境危机的始作俑者，人类必须进行干预，生物群才有短期恢复或维持的可能性。目前的许多恢复工作存在缺陷，包括关于物种多样性和分布、生态过程以及生物多样性所面临威胁（污染、过度捕捞、气候变化、生物地球化学循环中断、外来或入侵物种、因土地利用导致的栖息地丧失和破碎化、栖息地群落结构破坏等）的规模和相互作用的信息不足。显然有必要对解决这些缺陷进行更大规模且更紧迫的投入。在人类主导的生态系统中进行保护和恢复工作，必须加强人类活动（如农业或收获实践）与生物、地球和大气科学领域相关研究之间的联系。生物多样性面临的某些威胁需要密集的国际合作以及科学界的投入来减轻其有害影响，包括气候变化和全球生物地球化学循环的改变。在一个已经因人类活动而改变的世界里，人类与其所依赖的生态系统之间的联系必须成为生物群恢复的任何战略的框架。
