Question
Explain 'rivet popper hypothesis with example.

Answer

→ Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich used an analogy to give a proper perspective about biodiversity.
→ In an airplane (ecosystem) all parts are joined together using thousands of rivets (species).
→ If every passenger travelling in it starts popping a rivet to take home (causing a species to become extinct), it may not affect flight safety (proper functioning of the ecosystem) initially, but as more and more rivets are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak over a period of time.
→ Furthermore, which rivet is removed may also be critical.
→ Loss of rivets on the wings is obviously a more serious threat to flight safety than loss of a few rivets on the seats or windows inside the plane.
→ The wings of airplane is compared with key species that drive major ecosystem functions.

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