Name: Stable Community and Biodiversity Conservation
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 9 min 44 s
Description: Our planet has millions of species of plants, animals, and other living organisms. What happens if one of them becomes extinct? Learn more about a stable com...

Question

Explain briefly the 'rivet popper hypothesis' of Paul Ehrlich.

Accepted Answer

Paul Ehrlich was an ecologist who gave an analogy based hypothesis called 'Rivet popper hypothesis' to help understand the contribution of species richness in an ecosystem.

The hypothesis compared every species with a rivet (a short pin to hold two metallic plates together) in the body of an aeroplane (ecosystem). If every passenger in the plain starts taking the rivets home initially it won't affect the function of the plane but later the plane becomes weak and dangerous.

To explain this if, rivets are popped out this will mean species are targeted for extinction. The plain initially functions well means the proper functioning of the ecosystem which later becomes weak and dangerous because species become endangered and then extinct.

Explain briefly the 'rivet popper hypothesis' of Paul Ehrlich.

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