Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6
Scent of an Anteater
H
UMAN ACTIVITIES, AS THE STORIES
of the greater one-horned rhinoceros and other species
have shown us, sometimes bring species back from the brink of extinction. But more often
they exacerbate rarity even to the point of disappearance, drive into rarity species once com-
mon, or further constrain those species that normally have narrow ranges or live at low dens-
ities. The most dramatic change happening today that is pushing already uncommon species
toward even greater rarity is the conversion of rain forests and natural savannas into commod-
ities production for industrialized agriculture. Big Ag, as it is now known, is largely mech-
anized, highly profitable, and controlled by multinational corporations. Some biologists and
geographers describe extension of this trend as the future; increasingly, we live on a cultiv-
ated planet. The loss of natural habitats through nonagricultural use—that is, human settle-
ments—and in nontropical areas is also high, but the conversion is greatest in the tropics and
through big agriculture.
Few field biologists bother to check the daily price of soybeans or palm oil. This is an over-
sight because the market value of these commodities—along with that of beef, corn, sugar,
and coffee—may over the coming decades define the future of rare species more profoundly
than will any other driver of habitat loss. At present, nowhere is the conversion and fracturing
of rain forests by industrialized agriculture in the world's hotbeds of rarity more evident than
in Southeast Asia and Brazil. In Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia, expansion of oil palm
and wood pulp plantations threatens the most species-rich rain forests in the world. In Brazil,
vast areas of the Amazon are turning into cattle ranches and soybean farms. In addition to
causing habitat loss, such rampant conversion imperils climate stability. Nearly 70 percent of
the greenhouse gas emissions released annually from tropical forests originate from agricul-
turedriven forest conversion in just two places, Riau Province, Sumatra, and the state of Mato
Grosso, at the edge of the Amazon in Brazil.
