Preface

By the turn of the 21st century, humankind had fallen into a mass of global problems (global ecological crises), which endanger not only its welfare, peace, and development, but its survival as well. Now is the time to unite and address the issues of common concern; however, humankind has reached this era torn to 195 independent national states withno global organization to represent its common interests efficiently. Biodiversity crises (extinction of key species and the reduction of habitats) and climate change induce in each other a positive feedback loop, since through the biosphere, climate-regulating ecosystem services are weakened.

Research into temporal-spatial patterns of ecosystems on our planet, and especially biodiversity research into the recent biosphere, has a very important role in solving these problems.

This book consists of seven chapters. The first is a general text covering mass extinctions: the "Big Five" and "The Sixth", which are recent global ecological crises. This introductory chapter is followed by six specific case study chapters reporting on the frontiers of biodiversity research.

The next chapter is about Caribbean biodiversity. The Caribbean region is one of the world's hottest hot spots, with just over 10% of its original forest remaining. Of the 187 endemic mammals and birds in the Caribbean, at least 43 have become extinct over the last 500 years. Currently, it is estimated that 755 plants and vertebrate species are at risk of extinction.

Acoustic habitat degradation due to shipping in the Indian Ocean region is the topic of the third chapter. Science and technology advances have made the deepest depths of the oceans increasingly accessible, and we are realizing the challenges and opportunities that exist in the marine ecosystem. Marine species use sound or acoustic signals for numerous biologically critical functions, therefore they possess acoustic vision as they perceive the world around them through sound.

The next chapter covers methane, microbes, and models in the Amazonian floodplains. Amazonian floodplain ecosystems include open water and intermittent flood forest and agricultural systems with different water types. They are a significant natural source of methane in the tropics. The Amazon biome, especially the tropical rainforest, is one of the main contributors to the biogeochemical functioning of the terrestrial system, which also has an important role in global climate regulation of the biosphere.

The fifth chapter looks at the impact of disturbances to the biodiversity of a wetland ecosystem. This chapter is important because Nigeria has the largest mangrove forest in Africa and the third largest continuous mangrove forest in the world.

Also in this book is an interesting chapter on economic valuation and the mapping of pollination services in Ethiopia. An increasing amount of attention has been

given to pollination ecosystem services, which have become a commonly mentioned example of how ecosystem services are economically valuable due to their linkage to world food production.

Despite the universally acknowledged, observed, and predicted adverse impacts of climate change, the slow and inadequate policies and responses to climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation practices present a quandary. As a result the closing chapter reviews big data and artificial intelligence for a dynamic climate change management policy regime.

*Changing Ecosystems and Their Services* provides a very interesting account of the frontiers in this area. I am sure that this book will be very useful for everybody who would lbenefit from insight into the recent problems of biodiversity research and ecology.

> **Levente Hufnagel, PhD** Associate Professor, Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary
