Two key challenges for biodiversity: discontinuities and synergisms
The survival outlook for biodiversity is being profoundly and adversely influenced by the twin phenomena of discontinuities and synergisms. So potent are their impacts that they may well cause the mass extinction to overtake us more swiftly and extensively than is often expected. Despite their importance, however, we know all too little about these phenomena. They remain almost entirely a black hole of research. This paper, being an introduction to the special issue, presents a short selection of both phenomena, with an evaluation of their impacts on biodiversity. It concludes with an overview of the human enterprise and its probable future repercussions for biodiversity.