From the plains of the African Serengeti to the forests of British Columbia, Anthony Sinclair has studied biological diversity. Sinclair is the director of the Center for Biodiversity Research at the University of British Columbia, and has spent 35 years studying biodiversity. Sinclair said that preserving ecologically intact areas like national parks is essential for the study of biological diversity. He added that his research has proven the value of such natural ecosystems. Humans, he said, continue to lose biological diversity of species without realizing it.
New technologies bring new extinctions.
Areas such as the Serengeti ecosystem within Tanzania National Park are the only way to remind us of what we are doing, he said. We have to be able to get at ecosystems that haven't been disturbed to compare them. Studying these areas can give ecologists a greater understanding about how biodiversity relates to ecosystem processes such as water cycling, climate, air purity and crop pollination, he said. Biodiversity is also important because many species, such as the wildebeest, have evolved in connection with other species, so to lose one species would affect several others. In Australia, for example, diversity of insect-feeding birds keeps the forest healthy.