Rodolfo Dirzo: Understanding Mass Extinctions, The Gift of Biodiversity, Plant-Animal Relationships, and 'Defaunation' | #34

We all know extinctions are bad—but extinctions aren't a yes or no question, they're a spectrum. That's why we need to understand the idea of 'defaunation,' a term coined by today's guest, legendary conservation scientist Rodolfo Dirzo.

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A few months ago, I hosted Gerardo Ceballos and Paul R. Ehrlich, two of the authors of Before They Vanish—a book outlining why biodiversity is so critical to life on Earth, how it’s imperiled, and what we can do about it. I had originally hoped to have all 3 authors in the mix, but one of them—Rodolfo Dirzo—was, fittingly, out in the field. Fortunately, we were able to get some time to chat after he’d returned. We spoke extensively about his background in ecology, the tragedy of biodiversity loss, and in particular: defaunation. It’s a term he coined to describe the loss of animals (fauna) across all the various forms that can take: ranging from extinction and extirpation to local population declines. You’re probably familiar with the term “deforestation”—think of defaunation as a sort of counterpart.

As a lover of words, I think having the right word for the concept is critical in communicating necessary ideas. In this case, defaunation gives us a means to understand animal loss on a spectrum. Think of it this way. Even though a species might not have been totally eradicated, a dramatic drop in its numbers might have a whole host of knock-on effects, throwing an ecosystem out of whack. If our only metric for “caring” about animal populations and biodiversity is extinction, we’re missing critical danger signs that an ecosystem has been imperiled. Defaunation, then, allows us to understand the notion of animal loss in a more ecological sense—and measure for it.

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