Biodiversity

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Chapter 16

• Biodiversity

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Biodiversity

• Biodiversity is the same as biological diversity
• Species diversity- different species
• Genetic diversity- variable gene pool
• Ecosystem diversity- variety of interactions
  between natural community

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Ecosystem services of biodiversity

• Examples
• Pollination
• Pest control
• Soil fertility
• Decomposition
• Genetic engineering- modifying genes artificially
• Broad genetic base- goodgt min. susceptibility to
  pests and diseases

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Biodiversity

• Maintains genetic reserves
• Source of food, medicine industrial goods
• Aesthetic spiritual value

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Extinction

• Extinction- occurs when last individual of a
  species dies
• Background extinction- continuous low-level
  extinction of a species
• Mass extinction- numerous species disappear
  during a relatively short geological time
• Today, species are going extinct at 100x the
  natural beginning extinction rate

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Endangered species

• Endangered species
• Identified in Endangered Species Act
• Imminent danger of extinction throughout all or a
  significant portion of its range
• Threatened
• Extinction is less imminent but its population is
  quite low
• Likely to become endangered unforeseeable future
  without intervention

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Endangered Species Cont.

• Characteristics of endangered species
• Extremely small or localized range
• Large territory
• Living on islands
• Low reproductive success resulting from low
  population or reproductive rates
• Specialized breeding area
• Specialized feeding habits

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What leads to endangerment (cont)

• High trophic level feeders
• Specialized niche
• Low population density
• Interference with human activity
• Large size puts a species at risk

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Endangered Species Cont.

• Endemic- found only in that one place (island)
• Habitat Fragmentation- break-up of large areas of
  habitat into small, isolated patches (islands)

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Decline in biodiversity

• States with biggest decline in biodiversity
• Florida, California, Hawaii
• World-wide places with biggest decline in
  biodiversity is tropical rainforest (1 is being
  cleared or severely degraded each year)
• Human causes of biodiversity loss is habitat
  loss, exotic species, pollution overuse
• Adaptive radiation- evolution of a large number
  of related species from an ancestral organism

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Endangered Species

• http//www.redlist.org/info/gallery2004

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Species Extinction

• Scientists estimate that there are somewhere
  between 10-30 million species of living things on
  earth. So far we have classified about 3 million
  of those.
• Humans may cause up to 20 of the earths species
  to become extinct by the year 2030.
• If we assume there are 20 million species on
  earth and we lose 20 of them, then 4 million
  species will be lost by 2030.
• That is a loss of over 360 species a day or 15
  per hour.

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Threat to biodiversity

• Greatest Threat to biodiversity habitat loss
• Total agriculture occupies 35 of total Earths
  land area (excluding Antarctica)
• Biotic pollution- introduction of foreign or
  exotic species into an ecosystem

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Threat to biodiversity Cont.

• 3. Pollution
• Acid rain, ozone depletion, global warming
• Direct pollution
• 4. Over exploitation (over use)
• Killed because the prey on livestock or game
  animals (e.g. wolf grizzly bear)
• Killed because lifestyle cause problems for
  humans or infill of creeks (deemed a pest)
• Killed/Over killed for food

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Over use of species

• Over use of species
• Over hunted (unregulated hunting)
• E.g. Am. Bison
• Illegal hunting (poaching)
• Commercial harvest- collection of a live organism
  from nature
• e.g. parrots for pets
• Commercial extinction- hunting a species until
  the population drops its no longer profitable
  to harvest

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Sentinel Species

• Bell weather species (sentinel species)
• Organisms that provide an early warning of
  environment damage that could affect other
  species (e.g. canary in coal mine)
• Amphibians are often sentinel species as they are
  very sensitive to environment changes

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Conservation

• Conservation biology- scientific study of how
  humans impact organisms the development of ways
  to protect biological diversity
• In-situ conservation preserving biodiversity in
  parks and reserves.
• Ex-situ conservation- conserving biodiversity in
  human-controlled settings (e.g. zoos labs)

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Prob. w/ Protecting biodiversity w/ habitat

• Protected areas often have multiple uses or are
  privately owned
• Not always effective in preserving biodiversity
• Most are located in least habitable areas (e.g.
  deserts or high mountain areas)

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Restoration Ecology

• Principles of ecology are used to return a
  degraded environment as close as possible to us
  former state
• Expensive time consuming (con)
• Adds new habitat (pro)

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Biodiversity maintained by man through

• Artificial insemination- sperm collected from
  suitable male used to impregnate a female at a
  different location
• Embryo transfer- eggs from rare species are
  harvested, fertilized implanted in female of
  similar but less rare species
• Seed banks- storing seeds at low temps. Keeps
  them safe but only works for those plants that
  can be stores as dried seeds
• Also, dont remain viable indefinitely
• Currently testing cryopreservation

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Conservation of Organisms

• Champions preservation
• 2 biggies
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
• World Conservation Union
• International Union for Conservation of Nature
  National Resources (IUCN)

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Conservation of Organisms

• Endangered Species Act-1973
• Provides legal protection to listed species
• Requires FWS to select critical habitats design
  a detailed recovery plan for each species.
• Does not provide compensation to private property
  owners for financial loss because they cannot
  develop their property
• 90 of endangered species live on private lands.
• Key counter law is geared more to saving a few
  popular or unique species rather than larger,
  less glamorous species

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Habitat Conservation Plans

• Allowed under 1982 amendment to ESA
• Allows taking of rare species if it does not
  threaten the survival or recovery of the species

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Biological Resources Division(part of Dept. of
Interior)

• Mission is to provide info technologies to
  manage conserve biological resources on federal
  lands.
• World Conservation Strategy- plan designed to
  conserve biological resources worldwide

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Biological Resources Division(part of Dept. of
Interior) Cont

• Wildlife Management- applied field of
  conservation biology that focuses on continued
  productivity of plants animals
• Bioaccumulation- increase/build up of chem.
  concentration in the bobies of animals plants

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What can we do?

• Increase public awareness
• Support research
• Support establishment of Intl system of parks
• Control pollution
• Provide incentives to encourage preservation of
  ecological resources (e.g. ecotourism, fees for
  genetic material)