Biodiversity loss

Studies suggest that local species richness enhances ecosystem resilience and productivity. However, the conversion of native biomes by agricultural vegetation is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss (Norton et al., 2013). Biodiversity loss, in turn, becomes a major driver of ecosystem change. 

Calculating the value of ecosystem services (ESS) remains a challenge, but it is important as it drives conservation efforts. This map highlights the rapid loss of ESS due to habitat loss. 
Brazil experienced rapid vegetation conversion for agriculture, and while this trend has slowed (namely through protected areas and afforestation efforts) some ESS losses may be irreversible and fragmented habitats will never be the same. Source

Ecosystem stability is undermined by human activities. Non-marketable and essential ecosystem services include flood control, water purification, soil productivity, crop pollination, air quality and climate control, and the list goes on. According to the IUCN, tropical rainforests cover only 6% of Earth's land surface but are the most biologically diverse ecosystems, with the highest levels of endemic species. Kenton R Miller et al., in Deforestation and Species Loss: Responding to the Crisis (1991) calls the erosion of forest ecosystems due to deforestation an ''unprecedented raid on the planet's biological wealth''. He refers to tropical forests as ''living treasure houses-- a trove of uncounted habitats and species as diverse and individual as snowflakes, linked in the complex webs of interaction that define local ecosystems.''

Oooh edgy. (TheAtlantic)

Deforestation has an important impact on habitat fragmentation, which leads previously continuous habitats to become divided, increasing the vulnerability of species to extinction. The fragmentation of habitats is leading conservationists to study the ''edge effects'' on species; ''85% of forest animals are affected by the presence of an edge'' (Pfeifer et al., 2017). However, changes in species diversity vary at different spatial scales; whereas, globally, species diversity is decreasing, at smaller spatial scales it is often increasing (Sax and Gaines, 2003). It is important to consider changes in species diversity (both flora and fauna), and its impacts on ecosystem functioning, especially at local scales, where changes have the potential to influence ecosystem processes and services such as nutrient cycling and retention. Furthermore, local changes can ''scale up to affect global carbon budgets, global climate change, and the production of clean air and water'' (Sax and Gaines, 2003). For instance, many woody plants produce large fruits which depend on large animals for seed dispersal; the carbon storage capacity of forests is correlated with wood density, which, in turn, determine the size of seeds, therefore the ''loss of mutualistic partners can lead to tropical forests dominated by fast-growing, small-seeded plants with lower carbon stores'' (Johnson et al., 2017).