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Synopsis Fungi : Biological Diversity. The balance between people and their environment is being upset. Escalating human numbers and increasing demands for material resources are leading to the transformation and degradation of ecosystems worldwide, with consequent loss of genetic diversity and an inevitable rise in the extinction of species. More and more land is being converted to intensive production of food, timber and other plant products, much of the world's pasture land is overgrazed, and soil erosion and salinization are reducing the fertility of farmlands, especially in semi-arid regions. Wild species are being displaced or overcropped, and wild ecosystems can no longer be taken for granted as reservoirs of genetic diversity and regulators of the cycles of the elements.