Study finds link between languages and high biodiversity regions
Earth is home to some of the most linguistically diverse regions, which are found specifically in hot spots and high biodiversity wilderness areas, new British-American research shows. Presented in the journal PNAS, the findings suggest that around 70% of all languages have found a niche in these regions. The study will help shed light on the lives of people who reside in these areas, and provide insights into the conservation of biodiversity. Conservationists from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in the United States say the languages in question are for the most part unique to particular regions and could be potentially wiped out. Experts believe species are becoming extinct at a rate 1,000 times higher than historic rates. For their part, linguists say 50% to 90% of the languages spoken worldwide will become extinct by the end of the 21st century. Researchers in the past had identified a link between language diversity and biodiversity. The datasets, however, were not geographically accurate. 'Paul Ehrlich likened the loss of species to removing the rivets in a plane's wings,' said Professor Larry J. Gorenflo from Penn State. 'How many rivets can you remove before the wing falls off and the plane falls out of the sky? Similarly, how many species can you lose before an ecosystem fails? Unfortunately, stopping species loss in a world of 7 billion people is extremely challenging. We conducted this study to understand more about the people living in areas important for biodiversity conservation.' For the purposes of this study, Professor Gorenflo and colleagues used two sets of data: the locations of the hot spots and high biodiversity wilderness areas, and the geographic locations of more than 6,900 languages. The former were compiled for geographic information system (GIS) applications by Conservation International and the latter for GIS by Global Mapping International. 'We looked at regions important for biodiversity conservation and measured their linguistic diversity in an effort to understand an important part of the human dimension of these regions,' Professor Gorenflo explained. The team observed that intact habitat in 35 hotspots hold over 50% of the world's vascular plants and 43% of terrestrial vertebrate species. Intact habitat represents just 2.3% of the surface of the planet. Overall, 3,202 languages, or almost 50% of the world's spoken languages, are found within the 35 hotspots. They exist all around the world, save for Antarctica. Looking specifically at 5 high biodiversity wilderness areas, which represent just over 6% of the planet's surface and are home to around 17% of the vascular plant species and 6% of the terrestrial vertebrate species, the researchers identified another 1,622 languages. The uniqueness of these languages, however, makes them vulnerable and increases their risk of extinction. 'What ends up happening when we lose linguistic diversity is we lose a bunch of small groups with traditional economics,' said Professor Gorenflo. 'Indigenous languages tend to be replaced by those associated with a modern industrial economy accompanied by other changes, such as the introduction of chain saws. In terms of biodiversity conservation, all bets are off.' The loss of a language can trigger a lot of damage. Environmental information is lost, putting much strain on culture, language and words. The researchers say it is important to act and protect cultural and linguistic diversity. 'I think it argues for concerted conservation efforts that are integrated and try to maintain biodiversity and cultural diversity,' Professor Gorenflo remarked. Gorenflo also warns that without cultural and linguistic diversity, which increasingly appears to be tied to biological diversity, biodiversity loss is likely to continue at an alarming rate. 'In many cases it appears that conditions that wipe out species wipe out languages,' he adds. The team said their work can help others further investigate the link between biological and linguistic-cultural diversity.For more information, please visit:Penn State:http://www.psu.edu/University of Oxford:http://www.ox.ac.uk/PNAS:http://www.pnas.org/
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