报告题目：Loss of Biodiversity: Three Numbers, Two Concepts, and One Hypothesis

报告人：Ilkka Hanski教授（赫尔辛基大学）

主持人：何芳良教授

时间：2013年8月14日（星期三）  15: 00 – 17 :00

地点：中山大学南校区外国语学院315讲学厅

Abstract: Life first appeared on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. Researchers have estimated that there are now 7 to 10 million species of fungi, plants and animals on Earth, which typically are replaced by new species within 1 to 10 million years.In the past 50,000 years, the balance between extinctions and evolution of new species has been broken by the enormous impact of humans on the environment, and the rate of species extinction has increased 100-fold or even 1000-fold, and is still increasing. The main cause of rapidly disappearing biodiversity is habitat conversion to agricultural land, pastures, plantations, built areas, and so forth. I discuss two important concepts related to habitat loss, extinction threshold and extinction debt. Disappearing biodiversity has many adverse consequences to humans and our societies, which will become increasingly severe in the near future. I discuss one possible consequence that has been little appreciated, the influence of environmental biodiversity on the commensal microbiota of our own bodies and thereby on the functioning of our immune system.