I don’t understand why you’re assuming that biodiversity is bad for wild-animal welfare. Biodiversity and population size are conceptually distinct: you can have a population of a single species that is much larger than the total population of five different species. Indeed, the most biodiverse regions (such as the Amazon) get that way not just because they’re very productive but because they have numerous low-population species. Biodiversity loss is disproportionately concentrated among low-population species, as they are the most likely to go extinct.
Similarly, while I haven’t been following the field closely for many years, my understanding is that we are certainly reducing arthropod biodiversity, but may or may not be reducing populations—a 75% reduction in biodiversity is absolutely not the same thing as a 75% reduction in insect populations!
I think (assuming net suffering in nature) biodiversity is probably neutral for animal well-being, and potentially valuable for other reasons such as scientific research.
Biodiversity isn’t ultimately what matters but unfortunately it’s the best proxy that we have for learning about the distant past. There aren’t really studies about past NPP after mass extinctions. More diverse ecosystems tend to be richer and more productive.
I don’t understand why you’re assuming that biodiversity is bad for wild-animal welfare. Biodiversity and population size are conceptually distinct: you can have a population of a single species that is much larger than the total population of five different species. Indeed, the most biodiverse regions (such as the Amazon) get that way not just because they’re very productive but because they have numerous low-population species. Biodiversity loss is disproportionately concentrated among low-population species, as they are the most likely to go extinct.
Similarly, while I haven’t been following the field closely for many years, my understanding is that we are certainly reducing arthropod biodiversity, but may or may not be reducing populations—a 75% reduction in biodiversity is absolutely not the same thing as a 75% reduction in insect populations!
I think (assuming net suffering in nature) biodiversity is probably neutral for animal well-being, and potentially valuable for other reasons such as scientific research.
Biodiversity isn’t ultimately what matters but unfortunately it’s the best proxy that we have for learning about the distant past. There aren’t really studies about past NPP after mass extinctions. More diverse ecosystems tend to be richer and more productive.
Also, humans have, in fact, been drastically reducing insect populations—https://reducing-suffering.org/humanitys-net-impact-on-wild-animal-suffering/