Unit 1

Value of Biodiversity
The biggest impact of biodiversity is on the environment. Healthy ecosystems help to
maintain the Earth's natural processes. Soil turnover (SOC turnover time (τ) is the average
time between when a carbon atom enters the soil until it exists the soil), water purification,
pest control, and other processes wouldn't be possible without the species that support them.
Biodiversity may be defined as the variety and richness in which life presents on the earth. It
refers to the diversity in all species such as plants, animals and microorganisms. Since all
species in an ecosystem are interrelated and dependent on one another, biodiversity has
enormous value in the lives of all organisms, particularly for human beings. It would be
difficult for life to continue and sustain without biodiversity.
Biodiversity serves a dual purpose in providing ecological functions. Biodiversity helps
living beings procure food, fuel, fibre and other extractable commodities. Biodiversity is vital
for the ecosystem because it provides regulatory, cultural, and sustaining functions.
Vegetation cover, for example, protects the land against erosion by binding soil particles and
decreasing the impacts of water runoff. Similarly, crop cultivation is strongly dependent on
the presence of pollinating insects.
Fundamental Value to Humans
Humans place a high value on biodiversity because they rely on it for social, economic, and
environmental wellbeing. Biodiversity also helps to shape our culture and identity. Different
character traits are regularly integrated into cultural practices.
Other elements of human wellbeing, such as wellness and economic and political security,
depend on biodiversity. Encompassing prospective sources of multiple foods, medications,
and energy can help economic activity and make the population healthier. When adjusted for
use in wellbeing, agrarian, or industrial applications, biodiversity has proven to be extremely
valuable.
Explain the Values of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is commonly defined in terms of species or groups of independent living
organisms that can produce offspring. Marine mammals, fair-skinned deer, pine forests, fresh
flowers, and micron-sized bacteria that cannot be seen with the naked eye are some of the
examples of species that inhabit the earth.
Biodiversity has fundamental values, which can be categorised into:
1. Environmental values
2. Social values
3. Ecosystem services
4. Economic values
5. Value of consumptive use
6. Value of productive use
7. Moral and ethical values
8. Aesthetic values
1. Ecosystem values: The environmental values of biodiversity can be evaluated by
analyzing the functions of the ecosystem. Ecosystem services, such as intensive agricultural
production ecosystems, help in maintaining human needs and activities. These include the
establishment and maintenance of fertile soil, retention of fresh groundwater resources
through vegetation and the output of oxygen by ground plants and microalgae.
2. Economic Value: Biodiversity has a tremendous economic perspective on food, livestock
feed, medicative, ethical, and social ideals. Biodiversity is an important resource for many
industry sectors that regulate the world economy.
3. Consumptive use value: This refers to natural products that are used for food, such as
livestock feed, wood products, fuelwood, and other purposes. Humans consume 40,000 flora
and fauna species daily. Many people remain dependent on wildlife for the majority of their
necessities, such as nutrition, temporary housing, and clothing.
4. Productive Use Value: This implies products that are sourced and commercially
marketed. Almost all of the crops grown today have evolved from wild varieties.
Biotechnologists are continuously experimenting with wild plant species to create new, more
productive disease-resistant variants.
5.Ethical and Moral Value: Biodiversity has enormous economic potential in terms of food,
livestock feed, medications, etc. Biodiversity is vital for many areas of the economy.
6.Aesthetic Value: The beauty of our planet is due to biodiversity. Otherwise, it would have
looked like any other deserted planet, which is scattered throughout the universe. Biological
diversity enhances the quality of life and contributes significantly to some of nature’s most
beautiful aspects. Biodiversity makes a significant contribution to the gorgeousness of the
landscape.
Conclusion
Biodiversity may be defined as the variability with which life presents on the earth. It is
difficult for life to sustain on this earth without biodiversity. The variety of organisms that
exist on the earth is referred to as biological diversity. They are interconnected, as well as
create an impact on each other. Biodiversity includes a wide range of plants, animals, and
microorganisms. In layman’s terms, biodiversity corresponds to the quantity and wide range
of lifeforms found in a given geographic area. It refers to the various plant, animal, and
microorganism species, as well as the genetic mutations they encompass and the ecosystems
they form. Biodiversity helps to create and preserve cultural, and religious values.

Some of the major values of biodiversity are as follows: 1.

Environmental Value 2. Social Value 3. Ecosystem
Services 4. Economic Value 5. Consumptive use value 6.
Productive Use Value 7. Ethical and Moral Value 8.
Aesthetic Value.

Biodiversity is the most precious gift of nature mankind is

blessed with. As all the organisms in an ecosystem are
interlinked and interdependent, the value of biodiversity in
the life of all the organisms including humans is
enormous.

The role of biodiversity in providing ecosystem services is

twofold.

Firstly, biodiversity is directly used as a source for food,

fibre, fuel and other extractable resources. Secondly,
biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem
processes providing the regulating, cultural and
supporting services.

For example, vegetation cover protects the soil from

erosion by binding soil particles and minimizing the effects
of water runoff. Likewise, cultivation of crops is to a large
extent dependent on the availability of pollinating insects.

Biodiversity has a fundamental value to humans because

we are so dependent on it for our cultural, economic, and
environmental well-being. Elements of biodiversity can
contribute to cultural identity, and many ecosystem
characteristics are frequently incorporated into cultural
traditions.

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Other facts of human well-being, such as health and

economic and political security, can influence the value of
biodiversity. Many arguments to increase efforts to
conserve diversity often emphasize the value of the “un-
mined riches” that has yet to be discovered.

These include potential sources of new foods, medicines,

and energy which can further fuel economic activity, as
well as a healthier population. Biodiversity has proven to
hold enormous value when adapted for use in health,
agricultural, or industrial applications.

In the field of medicine alone, approximately 50% of

current prescription medicines are derived from or
modelled on natural substances. The health and diversity
of ecosystems can have a significant effect on the overall
stability of nearby communities.

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1. Environmental Value:
The environmental value of biodiversity can be found by
examining each ecosystem process and identifying the
ecosystem services that result. For instance, in wetlands
the vegetation captures water- carried sediment and the
soil organisms break down a range of nutrients and
pollutants washed into the area.

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These processes provide the ecosystem service of

purifying water. Wetlands also act as spawning and
nursery grounds for some fish and provide a refuge for
animals in times of drought. Some ecosystem services are
easy to overlook until the underlying process is impaired.

For instance, dry-land salinity has emerged as a problem

following sustained clearance of deep rooted perennial
plants over wide areas. Water tables have raised carrying
dissolved salts which then concentrate in the soil. Forests
regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by
releasing oxygen as a by-product during photosynthesis,
and control rainfall and soil erosion.

2. Social Value:
The social value of biodiversity includes aesthetic,
recreational, cultural and spiritual values. To this can be
added health benefits resulting from recreational and
other activities. While traditional societies which had a
small population and required less resources had
preserved their biodiversity as a life supporting resource,
modern man has rapidly depleted it even to the extent of
leading to the irrecoverable loss due to extinction of
several species.
Thus apart from the local use or sale of products of
biodiversity there is the social aspect in which more and
more resources are used by affluent societies. The
biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by
traditional societies that valued it as a resource and
appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to
their society.

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There can be marked differences in landscape and

biodiversity preferences according to age, socioeconomic
factors and cultural influences. The lifestyle of the ancient
people was closely interwoven with their surroundings.

The life of the indigenous people in many parts of the

world still revolves around the forests and environment,
even in these modern times, many of them still live in the
forests and meet their daily requirements from their
surroundings.

The biodiversity in different parts of the world has been

largely preserved by the traditional societies. Since the
indigenous people always protect the forests for their own
benefit. In ancient times, especially in India, the
environment in totally i.e., flora, fauna, etc., were held in
high esteem.

Trees like Peepal, Banyan and Tulsi are still worshipped.

Ladies offering water to Tulsi daily is considered good and
there are festivals when ladies tie sacred threads around
Peepal and Banyan trees and pray for the welfare of their
families.

3. Ecosystem Services:
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These services also support human needs and activities

such as intensely managed production ecosystems.

Ecosystem service includes:

a. The production of oxygen by land based plants and
marine algae;

b. The maintenance of fresh water quality by vegetation

slowing run off, trapping sediment and removing nutrients
and by soil organisms breaking down pollutants;

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c. The production and maintenance of fertile soil as a

result of many interacting processes;

d. The provision of foods such as fish, pastures for cattle

and sheep, timber, fire wood and harvested wildlife such
as kangaroos and native cut flowers;

e. The provision of native species and genes used in

industry research and development, for instance, in
traditional breeding and biotechnology applications in
agriculture, forestry, horticulture, mariculture, pharmacy,
chemicals production and bioremediation;
f. Pollination of agricultural crops, forest trees and native
flowering plants by native insects, birds and other
creatures;

g. Pest control in agricultural land by beneficial native

predators;

h. Flood mitigation by vegetation slowing run off and

trapping sediment;

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i. Breakdown of pollutants by micro-organisms in soil and

aquatic ecosystems and sequestration of heavy metals in
marine and fresh water sediments;

j. Greenhouse gas reduction by, for instance, sequestering

atmospheric carbon in wood and marine calcium
carbonate deposits;

k. Maintenance of habitats for native plants and animals;

and

l. Maintenance of habitats that are attractive to humans

for recreation, tourism and cultural activities and that has
spiritual importance.

4. Economic Value:
The economic potential of biodiversity is immense in terms
of food, fodder, medicinal, ethical and social values.
Biodiversity forms the major resource for different
industries, which govern the world economy.
The salient features regarding the economical
potential of biodiversity are given below:
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1. The major fuel sources of the world including wood and

fossil fuels have their origin due to biodiversity.

2. It is the source of food for all animals and humans.

3. Many important chemicals have their origin from the

diverse flora and fauna, used in various industries.

4. Diverse group of animals are used for medical research

during the testing of new drugs.

5. Consumptive use value:

This is related to natural products that are used directly
for food, fodder, timber, fuel wood etc. Humans use at
least 40,000 species of plants and animals on a daily basis.
Many people around the world still depend on wild species
for most of their needs like food, shelter and clothing. The
tribal people are completely dependent on the forests for
their daily needs.

6. Productive Use Value:

This is assigned to products that are commercially
harvested and marketed. Almost all the present date
agricultural crops have originated from wild varieties. The
biotechnologists continuously use the wild species of
plants for developing new, better yielding and disease
resistant varieties. Biodiversity represents the original
stock from which new varieties are being developed.

7. Ethical and Moral Value:

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It is based on the principle of ‘live and let others live’.

Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are
based on the importance of protecting all forms of life. All
forms of life have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a
small part of the Earth’s great family of species.

Don’t plants and animals have an equal right to live and

exist on our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship?
Morality and ethics teach us to preserve all forms of life
and not to harm any organism unnecessarily.

Some people take pleasure in the hunting of animals.

People also sometimes degrade and pollute the
environment by their unethical actions. Through proper
education and awareness, the people’s conscience against
such practices must be raised.

8. Aesthetic Value:
The beauty of our planet is because of biodiversity, which
otherwise would have resembled other barren planets
dotted around the universe. Biological diversity adds to
the quality of life and provides some of the most beautiful
aspects of our existence. Biodiversity is responsible for the
beauty of a landscape.
People go far off places to enjoy the natural surroundings
and wildlife. This type of tourism is referred to as eco-
tourism, which has now become a major source of income
in many countries. In many societies, the diversity of flora
and fauna has become a part of the traditions and culture
of the region and has added to the aesthetic values of the
place.

The Values of Biodiversity

The individual components of biodiversity—genes, species, and ecosystems—provide society
with a wide array of goods and services. Genes, species, and ecosystems of direct, indirect, or
potential use to humanity are often referred to as "biological resources" (McNeely and others
1990; Reid and Miller 1989; Wood 1997). Examples that we use directly include the genes
that plant breeders use to develop new crop varieties; the species that we use for various
foods, medicines, and industrial products; and the ecosystems that provide services, such as
water purification and flood control. The components of biodiversity are interconnected. For
example, genetic diversity provides the basis of continuing adaptation to changing conditions,
and continued crop productivity rests on the diversity in crop species and on the variety of
soil invertebrates and microorganisms that maintain soil fertility. Similarly, a change in the
composition and abundance of the species that make up an ecosystem can alter the services
that can be obtained from the system. In this chapter, we review the types of goods and
services that mankind obtains directly and indirectly from biodiversity and its components.
Biodiversity contributes to our knowledge in ways that are both informative and
transformative. Knowledge about the components of biodiversity is valuable in stimulating
technological innovation and in learning about human biology and ecology. Experiencing and
increasing our knowledge about biodiversity transform our values and beliefs. There is a
fairly large literature characterizing nonextractive ecosystem services with direct benefit to
society, such as water pollution and purification, flood control, pollination, and pest control.
In addition, such services in biophysical and economic terms characterize the institutional
mechanisms needed to generate incentives for their preservation (Daily 1997; Missouri
Botanical Garden forthcoming). In this chapter, we review the types of social and cultural
values associated with knowledge of biodiversity. We use those values in chapter 4 to discuss
how they can contribute to decisions on management of biodiversity.
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Biological Values
The components of biodiversity are the source of all our food and many of our medicines,
fibers, fuels, and industrial products. The direct uses of the components of biodiversity
contribute substantially to the economy. In 1989, US agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
contributed $113 billion1 to the US gross domestic product (GDP), equal to the contribution
of the chemical and petroleum industries combined (DOC 1993). The full contribution of
biodiversity-related industries to the economy is higher still, in that it includes shares of such
sectors as recreation (see Everglades and Boulder, Colo., case studies in this chapter and
Lake Washington case study in chapter 6), hunting (see Quabbin Reservoir case study
in chapter 6), tourism (see Costa Rica case study in chapter 2), and pharmaceuticals.
The economies of most developing countries depend more heavily on natural resources, so
biodiversity-related sectors contribute larger shares of their GDPs. For example, the sum of
the agriculture, forestry, and forest-industry products in Costa Rica in 1987 accounted for
19% of the nation's GDP (TSC/WRI 1991), whereas these sectors accounted for only 2% of
the US GDP (DOC 1993). The relatively small direct economic contribution of biological
resources in the two countries illustrates the difficulty of "valuing" biodiversity. The small
fraction of the value of these ecological systems that is accounted for in US economic ledgers
contrasts starkly with the fact that our survival depends on functioning ecological systems. At
the same time, our limited ability to value ecological parallels our limited appreciation of our
dependence on these systems. The imperfections of our knowledge are seen in the $200
million Biosphere 2 trial—in the unsuccessful attempt to house eight people for 2 years in an
ecologically closed system. Cohen and Tilman (1996) concluded that "no one yet knows how
to engineer systems that provide humans with the life-supporting services that natural
ecosystems produce for free."

Biodiversity in Domesticated Systems

Humans rely on a relatively small fraction of species diversity for food. Only about 150
species of plants have entered world commerce, and 103 species account for 90% of the
supply of food plants by weight, calories, protein, and fat for most of the world's countries
(Prescott-Allen and Prescott-Allen 1990). Just three crops—wheat, rice, and maize—account
for roughly 60% of the calories and 56% of the protein consumed directly from plants
(Wilkes 1985). Relatively few species that have not already been used as foods are likely to
enter our food supply, but many species now consumed only locally are likely to be
introduced into larger markets and grown in different regions. For example, the kiwi fruit was
introduced into the United States as recently as 1961; within 20 years, US sales had grown to
some $22 million per year (Myers 1997).
Although relatively few species are consumed for food, their productivity in both traditional
and modern agricultural systems depends on genetic diversity within the species and
interactions with other species found in the agroecosystem. Claims that such biodiversity
"archives" can serve as substitutes for biodiversity in natural habitats are more fanciful than
factual. Genetic diversity provides the raw material for plant breeding, which is responsible
for much of the increases in productivity in modern agricultural systems. In the United States
from 1930 to 1980, plant breeders' use of genetic diversity accounted for at least the doubling
in yields of rice, barley, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and sugarcane; a threefold increase in
tomato yields; and a fourfold increase in yields of maize, sorghum, and potato. An estimated
$1 billion has been added to the value of US agricultural output each year by this widened
genetic base (OTA 1987). Breeders rely on access to a wide range of traditional cultivars and
wild relatives of crops as sources of genetic material that is used to enhance productivity or
quality. Different landraces can contain genes that confer resistance to specific diseases or
pests, make crops more responsive to inputs such as water or fertilizers, or confer hardiness
enabling the crop to be grown in more extreme weather or soil conditions.
Much of the genetic diversity available for crop breeding is now stored in a network of
national and international genebanks administered by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and various
national agricultural research programs, such as the US Department of Agriculture's National
Seed Storage Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado. The value of these genebanks for
agricultural improvement is substantial. For example, in a presentation to this
committee,2 Evenson and Gollin estimated the present net value of adding 1,000 cataloged
accessions of rice landraces to the International Rice Research Institute's genebank at $325
million (on the basis of empirical estimates that these accessions would generate 5.8
additional new varieties, which would generate an annual $145 million income stream with a
delay of 10 years). As important as they are in agriculture, genebanks, and other in situ
collections (cyropreserved and in zoos) are viable only for a very narrow array of species.
The important contribution of genebanks to agricultural productivity has been recognized by
government since the 18th century. It led to the rise of botanical gardens and expeditions in
search of new plant varieties, including the fabled voyage of the HMS Bounty (Fowler 1994),
and is growing substantially as traditional landraces continue to be replaced by modern
varieties.
Genetic engineering has greatly increased the supply of genetic material available for
introduction into crop varieties. Genes from any species of plant, animal, or microorganism
can now be moved into a particular plant. For example, genes from the winter flounder have
been transferred into the tobacco genome to increase its frost resistance, and genes from the
microorganism Bacillus thuringiensis have been transferred into corn, wheat, and rice to give
them resistance to insect pests. Genetic engineering is not without considerable risks, and its
ultimate success will depend on genetic variability in natural populations. It is clear that the
rapid increase in uses of genetic engineering will continue as knowledge and applications of
new techniques increase.
Not only are specific genes valuable in modern agricultural systems, but the maintenance of
genetic diversity is also valuable in traditional agricultural systems. The greater the genetic
uniformity of a crop, the greater the risk of catastrophic losses to disease or unusual weather.
In 1970, for example, the US corn harvest was reduced by 15%—for a net economic cost of
$1 billion—when a leaf fungus spread quickly through a relatively uniform crop (Tatum
1971). Since then, breeders have taken greater precautions to ensure that a heterogeneous
array of genetic strains are present in fields, but problems due to reduced diversity still recur.
The loss of a large portion of the Soviet Union's wheat crop to cold weather in 1972 and the
citrus canker outbreak in Florida in 1984 both stemmed from reductions in genetic diversity
(Reid and Miller 1989).
Humans also use a relatively small number of livestock species for food and transportation:
only about 50 species have been domesticated. Here, too, genetic diversity is the raw material
for maintaining and increasing the productivity of species.

Biodiversity in Wild Systems

Humans still harvest considerable quantities of food, fuel, and fiber from nondomesticated
ecosystems. For example, gross revenue from the world marine fisheries in 1989 amounted to
$69 billion (WRI 1994). Fish contribute only 5% of the protein consumed worldwide, but the
proportion can be much higher locally. In Japan, the Philippines, the Seychelles, and Ghana,
for example, fish account for more than 20% of protein intake (PAI 1995). In some
developing countries and among some population segments in developed countries, terrestrial
wildlife also continues to be an important subsistence resource. In some areas of Botswana,
for example, over 50 species of wild animals provide as much as 40% of the protein in the
diet; and in Nigeria, game accounts for about 20% of the animal protein consumed by people
in rural areas (McNeely and others 1990).
Increased diversity of livestock can sometimes improve productivity. In Africa, for example,
"game ranching"—in which wild species of antelope replace domesticated livestock on
particular ranches—can result in higher yields of meat than could be obtained from
domesticated animals (WRI 1987). Naturally diverse ungulates can use grassland resources
more efficiently than domesticated varieties in these situations.
In rural Alaska, more than 90% of the people harvest and use wild animals for both food and
clothing. The cash value of wild food constitutes 49% of residents' mean income (ADFG
1994). The marine mammals of the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas are among
the most diverse in the world; many of the species are used for subsistence purposes by
Alaskan Natives, and many have important symbolic roles in cultural identity (NRC 1994).
Most of the world's timber production still comes from nondomesticated systems, although a
growing share is now harvested on plantations. In tropical forests, for example, the area of
plantations increased from 18 million hectares in 1980 to 40 million in 1990. Although
statistics on the world value of internal and externally traded timber products are not
available, the world value of forest-product exports alone in 1993 was to $100 billion
(FAOSTAT 1995).
Recreational uses of biodiversity—fishing, hunting, and various nonconsumptive uses, such
as bird-watching—also contribute to the economy (see Everglades and Boulder, Colo., case
studies in this chapter and Lake Washington case study in chapter 6). In the United States
alone, such activities involved about 77 million persons over the age of 16 in 1996 and
resulted in expenditures of $101.2 billion (DOI/DOC 1997). Wildlife watchers made up the
largest group (62.9 million participants in 1996); their expenditures included $16.7 billion for
equipment, $9.4 billion for travel, and $3.1 billion in other expenses. Of a total of 39.7
million sportspersons, 35.2 million were adult anglers and 14.0 million were hunters; this
group spent $72 billion in 1996, including $37.8 billion for fishing, $20.6 billion for hunting,
and $13.5 billion in unspecified expenses (DOI/DOC 1997).
One of the most rapidly growing values of biodiversity in wild ecosystems is related to
tourism. Worldwide receipts from international tourism in 1990 totaled $250 billion (WCMC
1992), and domestic tourism is believed to be as much as 10 times higher. How much of the
tourist trade is attracted specifically by biodiversity is difficult to tell. Of the $55 billion in
tourism revenues accruing to developing countries in 1988, an estimated 4–22% was due to
"nature tourism" (Lindberg 1991). More than half of the visitors in Costa Rica, for example,
state that the national parks are their "principal reason" for traveling to the country (see the
case study on Costa Rica in chapter 2). Costa Rica's protected areas are estimated to account
for $87 million annually in tourism revenues.
As in domesticated agroecosystems, the diversity of genes and species undergirds the
continued productivity of these components of biodiversity in nondomesticated ecosystems.
The genetic diversity in a species provides the basis for the species to adapt to changing
environmental conditions. Reduced genetic diversity increases the probability of species
extinction or of substantial reductions in the population of a species due to changing
environmental conditions (such as, a change in climate or the introduction of a new disease).
For example, wild exotic trout in the western United States can be destroyed by whirling
disease, which is caused by the microorganism Myxobolus cerebralis; the only way to restore
infected populations is to find genetically resistant populations (Hoffman 1990).
The productivity of an ecosystem can be high both in systems with large numbers of species,
such as tropical forests, and in systems with relatively small numbers of species, such as
wetlands.
The extirpation of the California sea otter from much of its range in the 1800s resulted in
substantial changes in near-shore ecosystems (Estes and Palmisano 1974). Recovery of otter
populations to their original densities affects other ecosystem components of commercial or
recreational value: giant kelp, sea urchins, abalone, and surf clams. The sea otter is a primary
predator (top of the food chain) of mollusks and urchins, which graze on stands of algae that
are primary producers (of calories consumed) in coastal regions extending from California
through the Aleutian Islands. As a consequence of the extirpation of sea otters, grazing
urchins became common and reduced the biomass of primary producers.

Biodiversity in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry

Wild species of plants and animals have long been the source of important pharmaceutical
products. Natural products play a central role in traditional healthcare systems. The World
Health Organization estimates that some 80% of people in developing countries obtain their
primary health care in the form of traditional medicines (Farnsworth 1988). Systems of
ayurvedic medicine (traditional Hindu medical practices) in India and the traditional systems
of Chinese herbal medicine, for example, reach hundreds of millions of people. Total sales of
herbal medicines in Europe, Asia, and North America were estimated at $8.4 billion in 1993
(Laird and Wynberg 1996). That total is not large on a global scale, but sales of herbal
medicines can often be an important source of income for local communities and business.
Natural products also continue to play a central role in the pharmacopeia of industrialized
nations. Of the highest-selling 150 prescription drugs sold in the United States in 1993, 18%
of the 150 consisted of essentially unaltered natural products, and natural products provided
essential information used to synthesize an additional 39% (Grifo and others 1997). In total,
57% owed their existence either directly or indirectly to natural products.
Natural products were once the only source of pharmaceuticals, but by the 1960s synthetic
chemistry had advanced to the point where the pharmaceutical industry's interest in natural
products for drug development had declined greatly and it declined further with the
introduction of "rational drug design". Several technological advances led to a resurgence of
interest in research in natural products in the 1980s. The development of modern techniques
involving computers, robotics, and highly sensitive instrumentation for the extraction,
fractionation, and chemical identification of natural products has dramatically increased the
efficiency and decreased the cost of screening for natural products. Before the 1980s, a
laboratory using test-tube and in vivo assays could screen 100–1,000 samples per week. Now,
a laboratory using in vitro mechanism-based assays and robotics can screen 10,000 samples
per week. Where the screening of 10,000 plant extracts would have cost $6 million a decade
ago, it can now be accomplished for $150,000 (Reid and others 1995). In the next decade,
throughput could grow by a factor of 10–100.
As the new technologies became available in the 1980s, many companies established natural-
products research divisions. Of 27 companies interviewed in 1991, two-thirds had established
their natural-products programs within the preceding 6 years (Reid and others 1993). In most
large pharmaceutical companies, natural-products research accounts for 10% or less of
overall research. But some smaller companies now focus exclusively on natural products. For
example, Shaman Pharmaceuticals bases all its drug-discovery research on natural products
used in traditional healing systems, and it currently has two drugs in clinical trials.
How long the interest in natural-products drug discovery will last is impossible to know. New
techniques of combinatorial chemistry and other advances in drug design might reduce
interest in natural-products research. Even so, many chemists feel that current synthetic
chemistry is still unable to match, the complexity of many of the natural compounds that have
proved effective as drugs. For example, paclitaxel, known as Taxol, a compound from the
Pacific yew tree (which is not considered economically important for timber or other
commercial purposes), is being used in treatment for ovarian and breast cancer. The
compound was discovered in the 1960s but could not be synthesized until the 1990s; and
even now, the process is so time-consuming and expensive that natural precursors are used in
the production of the drug.
Drugs developed from natural products often generate large profits for drug companies, but
the actual value of biodiversity as a ''raw material'' for drug development is much smaller
(Simpson and others 1996). On the average, some $235 million and 12 years of work are
required to produce a single marketable product in the drug industry. Moreover, less than 1 in
10,000 chemicals is likely to result in a potential new drug and only 1 in 4 of those candidates
will make it to the pharmacy. On the basis of typical royalties paid for raw materials, the
likelihood of discovering a new drug, the length of patent protection, and the discount rate,
the present net value of an arrangement whereby a nation contributes 1,000 extracts for
screening by industry would be only about $50,000. Moreover, there would be a 97.5%
chance that no product at all would be produced. The likelihood that any particular plant or
animal will yield a new drug is extremely small, but endangered species in the United States
have yielded new drugs. We can to some degree aggregate the plants and animals that are
most likely to lead to new drugs. These are likely to have considerable value as prospects
(Rausser and Small in press).

Biotechnology
Until recently, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial uses of biodiversity relied on
largely different methods of research and development. Today, with the help of the new
biotechnologies, individual samples of plants or microorganisms can be maintained in culture
and screened for potential use in any of those industries. Companies are screening the
properties of organisms to develop new antifouling compounds for ships, new glues, and to
isolate new genes and proteins for use in industry. A thermophilic bacterium collected from
Yellowstone hot springs provided the heat-stable enzyme Taq polymerase, which makes it
possible, in a process known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), to amplify specific DNA
target sequences derived from minute quantities of DNA. PCR has provided the basis of
medical diagnoses, forensic analyses, and basic research that were impossible just 10 years
ago. The current world market for Taq polymerase, is $80–85 million per year (Rabinow
1996). Biodiversity is the essential "raw material" of the biotechnology industry, but the
process of examining biodiversity for new applications in that industry has only begun.

Biodiversity and Bioremediation

It has become clear in recent years that the fundamental role of microorganisms in global
processes can be exploited in maintaining and restoring environmental productivity and
quality. Indeed, microorganisms are already playing important roles, both in the prevention of
pollution (for example, through waste processing and environmental monitoring) and in
environmental restoration (for example, through bioremediation of spilled oil). Modern
biotechnology is providing tools that will enhance the environmental roles of
microorganisms, and this trend should accelerate as the appropriate basic and applied
sciences mature (Colwell 1995; Zilinskas and others 1995). A variety of probes and
diagnostics for monitoring food and environmental quality have been developed (Dooley
1994), and there is much discussion of the development of genetically engineered organisms
for speeding the clean up of wastes, spills, and contaminated sediments. Furthermore, marine
biotechnology is being pursued avidly and on a larger scale in Japan (Yamaguchi 1996),
where one major goal is to find ways to lower global atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Without doubt, the prediction of climate change will be much improved by a better
understanding of global cycles, and the tools of marine biotechnology will be heavily
involved in this endeavor.
The fundamental premise here is that chronic pollution reduces system species diversity and
diminishes ecosystem function. Thus, restoring perceived environmental quality and
productivity cannot easily be separated from basic biodiversity issues.

Ecosystem Services
A substantial risk of undesirable and unexpected changes in ecosystem services is posed
when the abundance of any species in an ecosystem is changed greatly. Our ability to predict
which species are important for particular services is limited by the absence of detailed
experimental studies of the ecosystem in question. Nonetheless, the available data indicate
that a higher level of species diversity in an ecosystem tends to increase the likelihood that
particular ecosystem services will be maintained in the face of changing ecological or
climatic conditions (below, "Species Diversity and Ecosystem Services").
Both wild and human-modified ecosystems provide humankind with a variety of services that
we often take for granted (see box 3-1). The services include the provision of clean water,
regulation of water flows, modification of local and regional climate and rainfall,
maintenance of soil fertility, flood control, pest control, and the protection of coastal zones
from storm damage. All those are "products" of ecosystems and thus a product of
biodiversity. The characteristics and maintenance of these ecosystem services are linked to
the diversity of species in the systems and ultimately to the genetic diversity within those
species. However, the nature of this relationship between ecosystem services and biodiversity
at the lower levels of species and genetic diversity is complex and only partially understood.

BOX 3-1
Types of Ecosystem Services Linked to Biodiversity. Atmospheric—Climatic Gaseous
composition of the atmosphere
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Humankind derives considerable benefits not only from the products of biodiversity but also
from services of ecological systems, such as water purification, erosion control, and
pollination. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services is complex and
will be discussed in greater detail later, but in general, most ecosystem services are degraded
or diminished if the biodiversity of an ecosystem is substantially diminished. Because most
ecosystem services are provided freely by natural systems, we typically become aware of
their value and importance only when they are lost or diminished.
Historically, ecosystem services were not generally scarce and management decisions were
rarely based on their low marginal value. That is decreasingly true, particularly with regard to
drinking-water quality, flood control, pollination, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. This
trend is prompting interest in developing institutional frameworks through which to restore
and safeguard these services in the United States and internationally.
The cost of the loss of various ecosystem services can be high. The US National Marine
Fisheries Service estimated that the destruction of US coastal estuaries in 1954–1978 costs
the nation over $200 million per year in revenues lost from commercial and sport fisheries
(McNeely and others 1990). Hodgson and Dixon (1988) calculated the cost of the potential
loss of the service that the forested watershed of Bacuit Bay in the Philippines provides in
preventing siltation of the coastal coral ecosystem. The forest prevents siltation: if it were cut,
siltation would increase, thereby reducing tourism and fisheries revenues. In a scenario in
which logging is banned in the basin, the net present value of a 10-year sum of gross
revenues from all three sources would be $42 million. In a scenario of continued logging, the
net present value would be only $25 million. One recent and controversial set of global
estimates of the value of ecosystem services is discussed in chapter 5.
The value of various ecosystem services can also be seen in the costs that must be incurred to
replace them. For example, natural soil ecosystems help to maintain high crop productivity,
and the productivity that is lost if soil is degraded through erosion or through changes in
species composition can sometimes be restored through the introduction of relatively
expensive fertilizers or irrigation. Forested watersheds slow siltation of downstream
reservoirs used for hydropower; a forest is altered and sedimentation increases, the
hydroelectric power generating capacity lost could be replaced through the construction of
new dams. Wetlands play important roles as "buffers", absorbing much stream runoff and
preventing floods; if wetlands are filled, their flood-control role could be assumed by new
flood-control dams. The US Army Corps of Engineers estimated that retaining a wetlands
complex outside Boston, Massachusetts, realized an annual cost savings of $17 million in
flood protection (McNeely and others 1990).
The conversion of one type of habitat to another—such as a conversion of natural forest to
agriculture or of agricultural land to suburban development—can dramatically affect a wide
variety of ecosystem services. Historically, the impacts of such conversions on ecosystem
services have not received attention from policy-makers and managers, for two main reasons.
First, the relationship between an ecosystem and a service is typically poorly understood. The
conversion of a park to a parking lot will obviously change patterns of water runoff, but other
effects of habitat conversions are difficult to predict. For example, the replacement of native
vegetation in the western Australian wheatbelt with annual crops and pastures reduced rates
of transpiration, increased runoff, and consequently raised the water table, creating
waterlogged soil. Salts that had accumulated deep in the soil salinized the soil surface. The
saline wet conditions altered ecosystem services by reducing farmland productivity and
reducing the supply of freshwater. Restoring such degraded ecosystems can take decades and
be accomplished at high cost. In addition, the changes threatened the remaining fragments of
native communities and salinized the region's freshwater lakes. Careful research could
probably have predicted many of those effects, but such research is rarely undertaken before
a land-use change (Heywood 1995).
Second, ecosystem services are often public goods. Individual landowners who cut their
forests bear little if any of the cost associated with the reduction of water quality experienced
by downstream water-users. Similarly, the flood control service that is lost when landowners
fill their wetlands might have little direct effect on those landowners, but the private
economic benefits of land conversion to agriculture will be important (see the following case
study on the Everglades). Such losses are described in economic terms as "externalities"; the
changes in the environment occur as a result of economic activity, such as land development
or cutting forests for lumber, but the losses are external to the market transactions.