David Post Ecosystem Quotations

A central goal of conservation is to protect and preserve the ecosystem functions and processes upon which all life depends. Because food-chain length affects these ecosystem functions and processes, we need to understand how food-chain length varies and what causes this variation.

If we wish to preserve the diversity of natural ecosystem processes, we must preserve the larger ecosystems where the longest food chains are found, ... As ecosystem size decreases (e.g., through the fragmentation of forest patches), we may see the loss of large, often rare, top predators. Those top predators that can survive in smaller ecosystems will likely feed lower in the food chain, which may alter the feeding relations and community structure through out the food web.