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    What Is Biodiversity Importance of Biodiversity Levels of Biodiversity Threats To Biodiversity Patterns of Biodiversity

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    Israel Glean Esmile
    This document discusses biodiversity, including its definition, importance, threats, and patterns. It defines biodiversity as the variety of organisms within an ecosystem and notes it depends on factors beyond just species counts. Biodiversity is important for economic reasons like agriculture and tourism, generating trillions globally. It ensures food security by providing genetic resources and wild fish stocks. Biodiversity exists at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Threats include habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Rare, long-lived, and keystone species are most vulnerable. The document stresses conservation over preservation to allow continued evolution.

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    What Is Biodiversity Importance of Biodiversity Levels of Biodiversity Threats To Biodiversity Patterns of Biodiversity

    Uploaded by

    Israel Glean Esmile
    36 views24 pages
    This document discusses biodiversity, including its definition, importance, threats, and patterns. It defines biodiversity as the variety of organisms within an ecosystem and notes it depends on factors beyond just species counts. Biodiversity is important for economic reasons like agriculture and tourism, generating trillions globally. It ensures food security by providing genetic resources and wild fish stocks. Biodiversity exists at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Threats include habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Rare, long-lived, and keystone species are most vulnerable. The document stresses conservation over preservation to allow continued evolution.

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    This document discusses biodiversity, including its definition, importance, threats, and patterns. It defines biodiversity as the variety of organisms within an ecosystem and notes it depends on factors beyond just species counts. Biodiversity is important for economic reasons like agriculture and tourism, generating trillions globally. It ensures food security by providing genetic resources and wild fish stocks. Biodiversity exists at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Threats include habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Rare, long-lived, and keystone species are most vulnerable. The document stresses conservation over preservation to allow continued evolution.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    36 views24 pages

    What Is Biodiversity Importance of Biodiversity Levels of Biodiversity Threats To Biodiversity Patterns of Biodiversity

    Uploaded by

    Israel Glean Esmile
    This document discusses biodiversity, including its definition, importance, threats, and patterns. It defines biodiversity as the variety of organisms within an ecosystem and notes it depends on factors beyond just species counts. Biodiversity is important for economic reasons like agriculture and tourism, generating trillions globally. It ensures food security by providing genetic resources and wild fish stocks. Biodiversity exists at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Threats include habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Rare, long-lived, and keystone species are most vulnerable. The document stresses conservation over preservation to allow continued evolution.

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    of 24

    U6115: Populations & Land Use

    Tuesday July 8, 2003

     What is Biodiversity
     Importance of Biodiversity
     Levels of Biodiversity
     Threats to Biodiversity
     Patterns of Biodiversity
    A one-acre patch of elm trees produces
    oxygen, removes carbon from the
    atmosphere, and captures at least 16 tons
    of airborne dirt, which rain then washes
    back to the ground as productive soil.

    Norman Myers 1983


    What is Biodiversity?
     The variety of different types of organisms present
    and interacting in an ecosystem.
     Often more species equals more diversity, although
    there are, in fact many more factors beyond a simple
    count of species that determine whether biodiversity
    is higher or lower in any given ecosystem.
    Biodiversity and global economy
     Globally agriculture, which depends on genetic stock from
    natural ecological systems, is now a $3 trillion global
     Recreation and nature tourism generates some $12 billion
    worldwide in annual revenues
     In the United States, the economic benefits from wild plants
    and animals comprise approximately 4.5% of the Gross
    Domestic Product.
     Global trade in wild plants (timber and others) is estimated at
    $6 billion annually
    Biodiversity and food security
     Much of the world's major food crops, including corn, wheat,
    and soybeans, depend on new genetic material from the wild to
    remain productive and healthy.
     Food production from wild stocks of fish is the single largest
    source of animal protein for the world's 6 billion inhabitants. In
    the US alone more than 10 billion pounds of fish, valued at
    about $4 billion, were caught and sold yearly.
    Levels of Biodiversity

     Genetic Diversity
     Species Diversity
     Ecosystem Diversity
    Genetic Diversity
     Amount and variety of genetic material within individuals,
    populations or communities
     Source of biodiversity at all levels
     Knowledge of amount of genetic variability present within local
    populations essential in directing conservation programs.
     Amount of genetic differences among species could help
    determine rates of evolutionary change
    Species Level
     Species Richness: numerical count of species present in an
    area. Richness tends to increase over area and sampling
    intensity

     Species Diversity: When species are weighted by some


    measure of importance e.g. abundance, productivity or size.
     Measures of Diversity include:
    – Shannon-Wiener Index
    – Simpson index
    Shannon’s Diversity Index

     Assume that there are n possible categories in a data set and


    that their proportions are pi,.....,pn. Then Shannon’s diversity
    index for this system is defined to be :
     H’ = -Σpiln(pi)
     accounts for both abundance and evenness of the species
    present
     The proportion of species i relative to the total number of
    species (pi) is calculated, and then multiplied by the natural
    logarithm of this proportion (lnpi).
    Simpson’s Diversity Index, D

     Simpson's diversity index (D) characterizes species


    diversity in a community.
     Simpson's diversity index (D) characterizes species
    diversity in a community.
     D = 1/(Σpi2)
     The proportion of species i relative to the total
    number of species (pi) is calculated and squared.
    The squared proportions for all the species are
    summed, and the reciprocal is taken.
    Ecosystem and Biome diversity
     Ecosystems are the collection of all the plants and
    animals within a particular area
     Ecosystems may differ in species composition,
    physical structure and function as a result of
    differences in physical structure and composition
     Biomes are large ecological units on the basis of
    dominant vegetation
     Preserving a variety of ecosystems and biomes are
    necessary for preserving species diversity
    Temporal Patterns of Species richness

     Fossil record indicate variation of species


    richness over time and space
     Largest number of phyla in the Cambrian
    and pre-Cambrian period
     Total number of phyla has since declined but
    overall richness has increased
    Spatial patterns of species richness

     Point Richness: number of species that can be


    found in a single point in space
     Alpha (α-) richness: number of species found in a
    small homogenous area
     Beta (β-) richness: rate of change in species in
    species composition across habitats
     Gamma (γ-) richness: change across large
    landscape gradients
     Richness is directly related to physical environment,
    productivity and structural complexity of communities
    Species /Area relations
    100 Cuba
    Number of species

    Jamaica

    10 Monserrat
    Saba
    Redonda

    10 100 1000 10000 100000


    Area (sq.mi)
    Relationship between area and number of amphibian
    species in selected Islands in West Indies- MacArthur & Wilson 1967
    Limits of species richness

     Productivity hypothesis: High productivity


    results in higher number of species
     Stability hypothesis- environments that are
    stable tend to support higher number species
    Threats to biodiversity
     habitat destruction (slash and burn agric. or felling
    of old-growth forests)
     overexploitation (fishing, hunting)
     pollution (domestic and industrial emissions)
     global climate change (the greenhouse effect and
    destruction of the ozone layer)
     invasion by introduced species (displacement of
    native species
     underlying social conditions (increased per-capita
    consumption, poverty, rapid population growth,
    unsound economic and social policies )
    Threats to Biodiversity cont’d

     Habitat degradation
    – Some 93% of coral reefs damaged directly or
    indirectly by human activities
    – During the 1990s between 130,000 and 150,000
    km2 of forest cover lost each year
     Changes in atmospheric composition.
     siltation, nutrient loading, pollution of air and
    water by toxic chemicals
    Patterns of species vulnerability

     Rare Species
     Long-lived species
     Keystone species
    Rare species

     May be the result of many factors small


    range, high habitat specificity or small
    population density
     Human-induced rarity may be more
    damaging
    Long-lived species

     Well-suited to long-term predictability


     Often not equipped to adapt to rapid changes
    brought by human-induced changes
     Often population declines may take many
    years to recover
    Keystone species

     A species or group of species that makes


    and unusual contribution to a community
    structure or processes
     May be predators, food source or species
    that maintains critical ecosystem processes
     A loss of a keystone species may lead to loss
    of others that depend on it.
    Biodiversity Management
    Conservation vs Preservation?

     All about management of Genetic Variation


    – Aim is to allow continued evolutionary change in the
    populations and species concerned
    – Since ecological systems are not static- management
    should allow for change- Conservation rather than
    preservation.
    – 3 Time scales of concern: extinction avoidance (short-term);
    ability to adapt or evolve (medium term) and potential for
    continued speciation (long-term)
    – Units of conservation: What are the units of conservation?
    How do we determine the most appropriate unit?
    Next week

     Habitat fragmentation and biological


    consequences
     Population dynamics on heterogeneous
    landscapes
    Today’s lab
     Review of two short papers.
     Stuart Chapin III et al 2000. Consequences of changing
    biodiversity Nature Vol. 405 pp. 234
    http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v405/n6783/full/405234a0_fs.html&conte
    nt_filetype=pdf

     Franklin, J.F. 1993. Preserving Biodiversity: Species,


    Ecosystems or Landscapes? Ecological Applications, 3(2), pp.
    202 - 205. http://www.jstor.org/cgi-bin/jstor/printpage/10510761/di960380/96p0004u/0.pd
    [email protected]/01cc9933410050dc70eb&backcontext=table-ofcontents&config=jstor
    &dowhat=Acrobat&0.pdf

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