Tipping the Scale: The Delicate Balance Between Microbes and Man
Biodiversity:
* Assures us of sufficient food and fresh water,
* Provides sources of medicines,
* Provides biological models that help scientists understand how the human body works,
* Warns us of toxins and other environmental hazards;
* And keeps populations of disease-causing organisms in check.
Earth’s complex “web of life” protects human from pests, pathogens, and parasites in complex and varied ways, most of which scientists are only beginning to understand. When natural ecosystems are disturbed, this delicate equilibrium between species is altered.
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