1. Rivet Popper hypothesis was given by Paul Ehrlich to emphasise significance of diversity.
2. For explaining the hypothesis, he gave an analogy between aeroplane and ecosystem.
3. As the rivets keep all parts of the aeroplane together, similarly, all species keep the diversity of an ecosystem in functional.
4. Just as if one species gets extinct, initially not much of a problem will take place in an ecosystem, just as in case of a single rivet mission cannot cause problem in flight. However, if the same damage is continued, the turbulence will be experienced.
5. When more rivets are popped out gradually, there will be a serious threat to the safety of the aeroplane.
6. Also the rivets in key positions can cause serious situation. With same analogy he explained that if loss of species occurs, initially the problem will not be obvious but later if similar damage continues, there will be a threat to the ecosystem.
7. Thus, there is a relationship between diversity and well-being of ecosystem which is not linear.
8. Loss of key species causes threat in very short span of time by affecting food chains, food web, energy flow, natural cycles, etc. This will disturb the balance of the ecosystem.
