Today's lecture was a showing of the video "Life in the Balance", part of "The Infinite Voyage" series shown on PBS. For those who missed this showing, there will be an additional screening of the video during the reading days. Please check this lecture space again to find out the time and place of the showing.

Before the screening, we discussed the genetic consequences of the loss of species, and the importance of maintaining biodiversity.

Among the anthropogenic (i.e., human-caused) reasons for loss of biodiversity are...

• habitat destruction (#1)
• pollution of various types
• over-harvesting of species

We also briefly discussed the significance of the Greenhouse Effect (a normal, terrestrial phenomenon that allows life to exist on earth) as opposed to Global Warming, which is being caused by humans over a very short period of time and may result in various problems such as

• loss of arable and habitable land mass
• change in weather patterns (super hurricanes, etc.)
• ecosystem changes that occur more rapidly than species can genetically/evolutionarily handle in such a short time (hence, extinctions)

The loss of species may be one of the greatest environmental crises facing humanity today, and it is occurring at a rate of approximately 7 species per day.