# Species Extinction Weakens Whole Ecosystems by E. O. Wilson > “When you start reducing ecosystems by allowing species to go to extinction, then what you were doing is weakening the system as a whole, and then it becomes vulnerable to accelerating change and collapse.” > **— E. O. Wilson**, *Living on Earth, E. O. Wilson interview, July 21, 2017* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [Living on Earth, E. O. Wilson interview, July 21, 2017](https://www.loe.org/shows/shows.html?programID=17-P13-00029) — show transcript, Wilson answer to Curwood's question about why humans need other creatures. - **Exact original excerpt:** “When you start reducing ecosystems by allowing species to go to extinction, then what you were doing is weakening the system as a whole, and then it becomes vulnerable to accelerating change and collapse.” - **Context and editing:** Wilson describes a possible ecosystem-level consequence of species loss; the following sentence extends the concern to biodiversity and climate change. The poster is a continuous sentence with no editorial insertion. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Ecology|Ecology]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Ecology|Ecology]] - [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] - [[wiki/E. O. Wilson|E. O. Wilson]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “When you start reducing ecosystems by allowing species to go to extinction, then what you were doing is weakening the system as a whole, and then it becomes vulnerable to accelerating change and collapse.” — E. O. Wilson, Living on Earth, E. O. Wilson interview, July 21, 2017 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-eo-wilson-species-extinction-weakens-whole-ecosystems ```