Preface

Chapter 8 **Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and their Value for Ecosystem**

Chapter 9 **An Overview of the Yeast Biodiversity in the Galápagos Islands**

Barbera, Erica Lumini and Valeria Bianciotto

**and Other Ecuadorian Regions 193**

Vivek Khandekar and Anita Srivastava

**Coastal Plain, South Africa 275**

**in the Free State, South Africa 329**

L.R. Brown and P.J. Du Preez

Chapter 14 **The Nile Fishes and Fisheries 349** Waleed Hamza

Chapter 11 **The Ecology and Species Richness of the Different Plant**

Andrea Berruti, Roberto Borriello, Alberto Orgiazzi, Antonio C.

Enrique Javier Carvajal Barriga, Patricia Portero Barahona, Carolina Tufiño, Bernardo Bastidas, Cristina Guamán-Burneo, Larissa Freitas

**Communities Within Selected Wetlands on the Maputaland**

M.L. Pretorius, L.R. Brown, G.J. Bredenkamp and C.W. Van

Chapter 12 **Marine Ecosystem Diversity in the Arabian Gulf: Threats and**

Chapter 13 **Threats of Mining and Urbanisation on a Vulnerable Ecosystem**

**Management 159**

**VI** Contents

and Carlos Rosa

Huyssteen

**Conservation 297** Humood A. Naser

Chapter 10 **Ecosystem Biodiversity of India 233**

Since the first unicellular organisms came to life on our planet, they evolved to colonize ever more hos‐ tile territories, developing, for this purpose, special adaptation features. During the whole evolutionary process of the Earth, these capabilities have enabled them to respond to environmental changes that continuously follow each other and that are at the bottom of the current biodiversity.

Since the first unicellular organisms came to life on our planet, they evolved to colonize ever more hos‐ tile territories, developing, for this purpose, special adaptation features. During the whole evolutionary process of the Earth, these capabilities have enabled them to respond to environmental changes that continuously follow each other and that are at the bottom of the current biodiversity.

Since the first unicellular organisms came to life on our planet, they evolved to colonize ever more hos‐ tile territories, developing, for this purpose, special adaptation features. During the whole evolutionary process of the Earth, these capabilities have enabled them to respond to environmental changes that continuously follow each other and that are at the bottom of the current biodiversity.

In fact, the complex interactions of macro and microscopic species of plants and animals, together with the rich arrays of symbiotic fungi and lichens that are at the basis of every ecosystem, indiscriminately suffer the effects of these changes. The ecosystems are not only basin of very high biodiversity, they are extremely productive areas, providing a lot of benefits to mankind, removing CO2 from the atmosphere, maintaining the water quality and much more. Consequently, their progressive decline may accelerate climate change, influencing flora and fauna composition and distribution, also resulting in loss of pro‐ ductivity and human lifestyle quality.

Many ecological studies, environmental evaluations and monitoring, as well as new models and meth‐ ods to assess and preserve the richness of life forms on Earth have been conducted in the last decades, highlighting the current condition in which our planet is, and the future perspectives.

*Biodiversity - The Dynamic Balance of the Planet* presents comprehensive overviews and original studies focused on biological diversity and conservation of various ecosystems. This volume contains 14 chap‐ ters written by international experts, presenting thorough research results and critical reviews of the most relevant aspects and most ecologically interesting areas of the Earth. Topics of the book are ecolog‐ ical and ecosystem functioning studies, hazards and conservation management, assessment of environ‐ mental variables affecting species diversity, also considering species richness and distribution.

> **Oscar Grillo** Stazione Sperimentale di Granicoltura per la Sicilia Italy

> Centro Conservazione Biodiversità Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente Università degli Studi di Cagliari Italy

**Chapter 1**

**Prioritising Land-Use Decisions for the Optimal Delivery**

Over the past 50 years, ecosystems have changed more rapidly than at any other period of human history [1]. Considerable portions of the world's thirteen terrestrial biomes are being converted to less ecologically diverse ecosystems [2]. Such a high degree of conversion is leading to extensive changes in biodiversity composition and ecological processes, which results in the diminishing of the ecosystem services that help sustain biological diversity and

Estimates of current extinction rates are several magnitudes above average extinction rates through geological time [4]. Some biologists suggest that a sixth mass extinction is underway, but there is large uncertainty in estimates of global extinction rates [5]. Recently, however, there has been considerable evidence for widespread loss of species at the local and regional level. Studies have shown that the loss of biodiversity at this level has led to the simplification of ecosystem function and resilience [6], and is altering key process important to productivity

Biodiversity is considered to provide a range of services of varying values to humanity [7] associated with the normal functioning of both their individual components and different combinations of these components in integrated functional ecological systems (Figure 1).The type and level of service inevitably varies among ecosystems but each one can contribute significantly depending on type and their degree of intactness. As the human population increases so do the demands on most ecosystem services provided by indigenous ecosystems, but their ability to provide these services generally decreases with increasing degradation of

> © 2014 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Protection in**

**Productive Landscapes**

Emily S. Weeks, Norm Mason,

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58255

**1. Introduction**

human populations [3].

and sustainability of Earth's ecosystems.

Anne-Gaelle E. Ausseil and Alexander Herzig

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter
