Ecosystem Services

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Ecosystem Services

• Biodiversity
• Climate
• Mitigation of floods and droughts
• Services provided by soil
• Pollination
• Pest control
• Seed dispersal
• Aesthetic beauty

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BIOSPHERE 2
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Biosphere 2

• 3.15-acre artificial closed ecological system
  outside Tucson
• It included a rainforest, mini-ocean, coral reef,
  mangrove wetlands, savannah grassland, desert,
  farm, and living quarters and offices
• First mission 9-26-1991 to 9-26-1993, 8 people
• Second mission 3-6-94 to 9-6-94, aborted

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Problems

• Despite 200 million invested, impossible to
  sustain the 8 people without continual help from
  the outside.
• O2 concentration dropped to 14
• Spikes in CO2
• Nitrous oxide concentrations high enough to cause
  brain damage
• Extinctions (19/25 vertebrates, all pollinators)
• Wild overgrowth of vines and various insect
  populations

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• Both missions, and especially the second,
  experienced many, many social and organizational
  problems.

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• Overriding scientific lessons from Biosphere 2
  already may be available. To many of us, healthy
  ecosystems and biodiversity have inestimable
  aesthetic value, but such philosophical
  orientations are difficult to translate into the
  kinds of economic terms that carry weight with
  business or industrial interests. Some
  far-thinking economists have sought to attach
  dollar values to natural ecosystems by virtue of
  the fundamental life-support services rendered
  (e.g., atmospheric regulation by rainforests and
  oceans, water purification by marshes,
  groundwater storage by aquifers, soil generation
  and maintenance by decomposers), but such at-
  tempts are almost hopelessly complicated by the
  vast range of spatial and temporal scales over
  which the monetary valuations might be tabulated.
  However, thanks to the controlled experiment of
  Biosphere 2 we now have a more explicit ledger. ..

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• The cost of the man-made technosphere that
  (marginally) regulated life-support systems for
  eight Biospherians over two years was about 150
  million, or 9,000,000 per person per year. These
  services are pro- vided to the rest of us
  more-or-less cost-free by natural processes, but
  if we were being charged, the total invoice for
  all Earthospherians would come to an astronomical
  three quintillion dollars for the current genera-
  tion alone! The sad irony is that, as a species,
  we blithely take these eco- system services for
  granted, acting as though we can endlessly befoul
  and overpopulate our planet.
• --John Avise, The Real Message From Biosphere
  2

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The problem

• Its widely agreed that there is a biodiversity
  crisis. Legislation and treaties are enacted to
  help stop it. But what is biodiversity, and why
  do we value it? Should we value it?

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• Endangered Species Preservation Act, 1966
  required a list to be made of endangered species
  and money to be set aside for purchase of habitat
  to protect them--but no provisions included
  against harming endangered animals.
• Endangered Species Conservation Act, 1969
  required two lists, of foreign and of native,
  endangered species foreign species on the list
  were not allowed into the country, and species
  native or foreign could not be bought or sold if
  illegally taken.

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• The stated purposes of the ESA are to provide
  a means whereby the ecosystems upon which
  endangered species and threatened species depend
  may be conserved, to provide a program for the
  conservation of such endangered species and
  threatened species, and to take such steps as may
  be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the
  treaties and conventions on international trade
  in endangered species (Sec. 2(b)).
• Certainly the best-known impact of the ESA is
  the establishment of broad prohibitions against
  any take of endangered and threatened animal
  species. However, another major intention of the
  act is to integrate federal and international
  legislation on endangered species, including the
  national-level implementation of CITES
  (Convention on International Trade in Endangered
  Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, 1973). Within
  this structure, the ESA establishes guidelines to
  define categories and listing protocols for
  endangered and threatened species (Sec. 4). In
  addition, the act defines the concept of
  "critical habitat". Federal agencies are required
  to (a) actively promote the conservation of
  listed species and (b) avoid any actions that
  would have negative effects on listed species and
  their critical habitat. Finally, the ESA provides
  matching federal funds for some state actions in
  support of the act and authorizes the acquisition
  of land for plants and animals listed under
  CITES.

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Endangered Species Act 1973

• gives the FWS and NMFS authority to list species
  that are either "endangered" or "threatened"
  (likely to become endangered in the foreseeable
  future),
• requires that federal agencies and departments
  through their own actions or actions funded or
  permitted by them must not jeopardize the
  continued existence of a listed species or its
  habitat,
• declares it unlawful to "take" an endangered or
  threatened species within the U.S., its
  territorial waters, or on the high seas,
• provides Interior and Agriculture with authority
  and funds to acquire habit of endangered or
  threatened species,
• provides for criminal penalties, including
  seizure of equipment used in takings, and
• provides standing to citizens to bring suit under
  the ESA.

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Endangered Species Act 1973

• (Go to ESA pdf)
• How does a species get listed as an endangered
  or threatened species?
• First, the public, the Fish and Wildlife Service,
  biologists, or other governmental agencies,
  propose a species for the list.
• The public is offered the opportunity to comment
  about the proposal, and the rule is finalized (or
  withdrawn).
• Species to be listed are selected by the Fish and
  Wildlife Service from a list of candidates and
  are recognized using a priority system.

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• Bald Eagle (increased from 417 to 9,250 pairs
  between 1963 and 2006)
• Whooping Crane (increased from 54 to 436 birds
  between 1967 and 2003)
• Kirtland's Warbler (increased from 210 to 1,415
  pairs between 1971 and 2005)
• Peregrine Falcon (increased from 324 to 1,700
  pairs between 1975 and 2000)
• Gray Wolf (populations increased dramatically in
  the Northern Rockies, Southwest, and Great Lakes)
• Gray Whale (increased from 13,095 to 26,635
  whales between 1968 and 1998)
• Grizzly bear (increased from about 271 to over
  580 bears in the Yellowstone area between 1975
  and 2005).
• California?s Southern Sea Otter (increased from
  1,789 in 1976 to 2,735 in 2005)
• San Clemente Indian Paintbrush (increased from
  500 plants in 1979 to more than 3,500 in 1997)
• Florida's Red Wolf (increased from 17 in 1980 to
  257 in 2003)?
• Few species have become extinct while listed
  under the Endangered Species Act, and 93 have
  had their population sizes increase or remain
  stable since being listed as threatened or
  endangered. Currently 1,312 species are listed.

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• As of today in the United States there are 92
  listed endangered species (357 animals and 567
  plants).
• There is a total of 256 listed threatened species
  in the United States (121 animals and 135
  plants).
• Of the 924 endangered species in the United
  States, 70 are endangered and 40 are threatened
  species of fish.
• Plants represent the largest group, followed by
  birds, fishes, mammals, and clams/mussels.

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Controversy

• Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153
  (1978).
• A project that had already progressed
  substantially before the discovery of a listed
  species on the site eventually led to amendments
  to the ESA and associated regulations and to the
  creation of the Endangered Species Committee and
  an exemption process from section 7. More
  directly, this ruling determined that the TVAs
  ignorance of the existence of the species at the
  project site did not excuse it from following the
  protocols required by the ESA in addition, the
  idea that economic factors might be taken into
  account in complying with the ESA was flatly
  rejected, as was the idea that continued
  congressional funding of a project effectively
  exempted the project from ESA compliance.
• Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapt. Comms. for Ore., 515
  U.S. 687 (1995)
• The Supreme Court found that in addition to
  making it a crime to "take" a listed species,
  section 9 also prohibits the destruction of
  habitat of such a species. The legislative
  definitions of "take" and "harm" are sufficiently
  broad to include the degradation or destruction
  of a species habitat.

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• A species is "any subspecies of fish or wildlife
  or plants, and any distinct population segment of
  any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which
  interbreeds when mature." 16 U.S.C.  1532(16).
• http//www.mrsc.org/environment/esa/esaprime.htm
  (explains ESA)
• http//endangered.fws.gov/esa.html (statement of
  ESA)
• 99 of the time the Government has found (in over
  120,000 consultations) the species of concern was
  not in jeopardy.
• There are about 632 officially endangered species
  (326 plants) and 190 threatened species in the
  U.S.

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What is a Species?

• We want to know what to worry about, what to
  conserve. The mallard duck was introduced into
  Australia and New Zealand. It mates with the
  native Pacific grey drakes. Because more
  aggressive and adaptable, the mallard may
  eliminate the Pacific grey drake as a distinctive
  duck. Is this bad?

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Taxonomy

• Taxonomy species (sapiens), genus (Homo),
  family (hominid), order (primates), class
  (mammal), phylum (chordate), kingdom (animal)
• phenetic species concept a measure of
  morphological, genetic or behavioral similarity.
  Species are groups of similar organisms.
• Makes species a conventional distinction
• Males, females, juveniles may differ markedly in
  appearance/behavior
• biological species concept a species is a group
  wherein genes flow freely. If X and Y are two
  species, X is reproductively isolated from Y.
• The notion of potentially interbreeding is
  slippery
• phylogenetic species concept a species is a
  lineage of ancestral/descendant population.
• How do we count lineages?
• Both 2 and 3 are historical definitions. No
  intrinsic property makes you or anything a member
  of a species.

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Problem

• 1.5 million species have been catalogued. It is
  thought that there are currently 10 and 100
  million that exist on Earth.
• Between 1600 and 1900 one species goes extinct
  per 4 yrs
• Between 1900 and 1960 one species goes extinct
  per 1 yr
• Between 1960 and now estimates vary from 100 per
  yr to 40,000 per yr!

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• Amazon 2.7 million square miles (about 90 size
  of continental U.S.). The Amazon River is 4000
  miles long and puts 170 billion gallons of water
  into the Atlantic per hour. In a small area of
  the forest one might find 750 tree species, 125
  mammal species, 400 bird species, 60 amphibian
  species, and 400 insect species (in just one
  tree). 30 of all the worlds bird species are
  here.
• Terry Erwins bug bomb gave estimates of 8
  million types of beetle and 30 million species of
  tropical arthropods in one small area.
• Hawaii since first human contact, as many as
  half of the birds have gone extinct. Out of 135
  current species of bird, only about a dozen are
  doing well. Another dozen are virtually extinct,
  another dozen endangered.

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• 80,000 acres square miles of forest lost each yr
  (World Resources Institute U.N.)
• In U.S. the National Biological Service (Feb
  1995) reported that during last century half of
  our countrys ecosystems had been degraded to the
  point of endangerment.
• There exist various models (e.g., by MacArthur
  and Wilson, Harvard, 1963) that allow one to
  predict the effect on species of deforestation.
  Assuming the number of species doubles with every
  tenfold increase in area, reducing tropical
  forests to 10 of what they were will reduce 50
  of the earths species. Estimated 17,000
  100,000 species per yr lost
• Homo sapiens is poised to become the greatest
  catastrophic agent since a giant asteroid
  collided with the earth sixty-five million years
  ago, wiping out half the worlds species in a
  geological instant. (Richard Leakey in The Sixth
  Extinction)

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What is a Species?

• (15) The term "species" includes any subspecies
  of fish or wildlife or plants, and any distinct
  population segment of any species or vertebrate
  fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature.

• Typological/morphological species?A group of
  organisms in which individuals are members of the
  species if they sufficiently conform to certain
  fixed properties. The clusters of variations or
  phenotypes within specimens (ie longer and
  shorter tails) would differentiate the species.
  This method was used as a "classical" method of
  determining species, such as with Linnaeus early
  in evolutionary theory. However, we now know that
  different phenotypes do not always constitute
  different species (e.g. a 4-winged Drosophila
  born to a 2-winged mother is not a different
  species). Species named in this manner are called
  morphospecies.

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• Biological / Isolation species?A set of actually
  or potentially interbreeding populations. This is
  generally a useful formulation for scientists
  working with living examples of the higher taxa
  like mammals, fish, and birds, but meaningless
  for organisms that do not reproduce sexually. It
  does not distinguish between the theoretical
  possibility of interbreeding and the actual
  likelihood of gene flow between populations and
  is thus impractical in instances of
  geographically isolated populations.
• Phylogenetic / Evolutionary / Darwinian species?A
  group of organisms that shares an ancestor a
  lineage that maintains its integrity with respect
  to other lineages through both time and space. At
  some point in the progress of such a group,
  members may diverge from one another when such a
  divergence becomes sufficiently clear, the two
  populations are regarded as separate species.
  Subspecies as such are not recognized under this
  approach either a population is a phylogenetic
  species or it is not taxonomically
  distinguishable.

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Biological Species Concept The biological
species concept defines a species as members of
populations that actually or potentially
interbreed in nature, not according to similarity
of appearance. Although appearance is helpful in
identifying species, it does not define
species. Appearance isnt everything Organisms
may appear to be alike and be different species.
For example, Western meadowlarks (Sturnella
neglecta) and Eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella
magna) look almost identical to one another, yet
do not interbreed with each otherthus, they are
separate species according to this
definition. The Western meadowlark and the
Eastern meadowlark appear to be identical, and
their ranges overlap, but their distinct songs
prevent interbreeding.t interbreeding.
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Organisms may look different and yet be the same
species. For example, look at these ants. You
might think that they are distantly related
species. In fact, they are sisterstwo ants of
the species Pheidole barbata, fulfilling
different roles in the same colony. Many
characteristics can vary within a single species.
For example, the plant hydrangea may have pink
flowerstheyre actually modified leavesor
blue flowers. But that doesnt mean that we
should classify the two forms as different
species. In fact, you could cause a
blue-flowered plant to become a pink-flowered
plant just by changing the pH of the soil and the
amount of aluminum taken up by the plant.
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The Crisis

• Ranges of current extinctions are 10010,000
  times the prehuman level of roughly one species
  out of a million each year. Most estimates are
  closer to 1,000 times the prehuman level (equal
  to 0.1 per year or 5 over 50 years), but the
  rate is rising.

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In The Diversity of Life, E.O. Wilson uses
conservative values to scale species loss to area
reduction and the rate of tropical deforestation.
He arrives at about 0.25 of tropical forest
species extinguished or committed to early
extinction annually (Wilson 1999, p. 280). Since
most species likely occur in tropical forests,
these ecosystems are a good proxy even if no
extinction occurred elsewhere, the planetary rate
would still be 1,000 times prehuman levels. (What
do we mean by ?committed to early extinction??
Studies from forests show that when forests are
reduced to even large fragments, then 10?50 of
the species go extinct within 100 years (see
footnote above). The area-dependent decline in
mammal species in national parks also accords
with the picture of committed extinction by a
real reduction alone (Newmark 1996) .
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Species-Area Curve