It is also a crisis of emerging infectious diseases (EID’s), such as HIV in humans, Ebola in humans and gorillas, West Nile virus and Avian Influenza in humans and birds, chytrid fungi in amphibians, and distemper in sea lions. There is every reason to take these events seriously, because EID’s appear to have a long evolutionary history.
如今的生物多样性危机已经不仅仅是栖息地消失和物种灭绝了，它还是新发传染性疾病（EID’s）——诸如艾滋病（人类）、埃博拉（人类和猩猩）、西尼罗河病毒和禽流感（人和鸟类）， chytrid壶菌（两栖动物）以及瘟热（海狮）等所引发的危机。我们有足够理由来严肃对待这些事件，因为EID’s看来已经经历了很长时间的进化过程。