Biodiversity also plays a significant role in regulating the climate, making it a key contributor to climate change mitigation and adaptation.  We now understand how important extensive forest ecosystems are to moderating climate impacts.  At the same time, we see how climate change affects ecosystem dynamics and the distribution and abundance of species and habitats.

Human activity has significantly altered natural ecosystems.  Thousands of species are threatened by habitat loss from human development, pollution, the introduction of invasive species, and overharvesting.  Now add climate change to the mix.  Protecting biodiversity here and around the globe requires an understanding of the environments that support microorganisms, plants, and animals. 

Protecting our remaining intact forests is critical to ensure these ecosystems are big enough to maintain biodiversity and remain healthy.  When woodlands get carved up into islands of habitat by roads, expanding suburbs, and power lines, natural habitats become fragmented and weakened.  Native plant species, when forced into smaller areas of habitat, face a threat made more lethal by climate change. 

The good news is that we can take action to ensure the integrity of ecological systems.  By understanding threats to biodiversity, we can better manage the most complicated of conservation issues.  Establishing forest reserves is a high priority here in New England and elsewhere.  It is vitally important that policies recognize local values, needs, and realities to sustainably manage resources for both healthy ecological systems and human communities. Recognizing the significant impact that conservation efforts decades ago have made in the state of biodiversity today, we can identify and implement effective approaches to conservation and sustainability to protect all life on Earth.