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Learning Objectives • Identify the role human play in the loss of species and ecosystem services. • Explain why we should care about sustaining species and the ecosystem services they provide. • Describe how humans accelerate species extinction and degradation of ecosystem services. Agenda • Notes Sustaining Biodiversity – The Species Approach CHAPTER 9 Homework • • • • • Population Ecology QUIZ Thurs/Fri Pop Ecology Lab due Fri 10/16 ES Project due Mon 10/19 Unit 3 Reading Assignment due on Sun 10/25 Unit 3 Current Event article due on Sun 10/25 What is Biodiversity? • Sum total of all organisms in an area Why is Biodiversity Important? • Ecological value - biodiversity provides free ecosystem services − Provides food, shelter, fuel − Purifies air and water, and detoxifies wastes − Stabilizes climate, moderates floods, droughts, wind, temperature − Generates and renews soil fertility and cycles nutrients − Pollinates plants and controls pests and disease − Maintains genetic resources − Provides cultural and aesthetic benefits − Allows us to adapt to change 1 Why is Biodiversity Important? • Economic value − Genetic diversity within crops is enormously valuable − Ecotourism • Wildlife tourism • Generates between $950,000 and $1.8 million per minute in tourist expenditures worldwide Human Impacts on Biodiversity • We have depleted and degraded some of the earth’s biodiversity and these threats are expected to increase We know how populations survive and reproduce, but what happens when something goes wrong? Errrr! Humans! What effect do we have? • Biologists estimate that we have a huge impact! • Species are becoming extinct 100 to 1,000 times faster than they were before modern humans arrived on the earth • This equals about .01-1% a year. Percentage of various species types threatened with premature extinction from human activities. 2 Endangered & Threatened What does it all mean? • Organisms headed toward biological extinctions can be considered: − Endangered: numbers of individuals so low that it may become extinct in part or all of its natural range Species Extinction • Some species have characteristics that make them vulnerable to ecological and biological extinction − Threatened: still relatively abundant in number, but declining numbers suggest that it is headed toward being endangered Blame HIPPCO • • • • • • Habitat destruction Invasive species Population growth Pollution Climate Change Overharvesting Habitat Loss is the greatest threat! • Deforestation, destruction of wetlands/coral reefs, plowing of grasslands − Endemic species: found nowhere else on the earth • Habitat islands (those surrounded by different ones like national parks) are at risk of the P and the I 3 Habitat fragmentation threatens species Invasive Species • Many nonnative species provide us with food, medicine, and other benefits but a few can wipe out native species, disrupt ecosystems, and cause large economic losses • Habitat fragmentation can: − divide populations − increase the effects of disease − storms − fires − predators − restrict the movement of genes ─ 50,000 invasive species in US; 1 in 7 are harmful Kudzu vine was introduced in the southeastern U.S. to control erosion. It has taken over native species habitats. • They have no natural predators, competitors, parasites, or pathogens to control numbers in their new habitat • Invasives threaten 1,260 endangered and threatened species with 95% of those in Hawaii Invasive Species • Prevention is the best way to reduce threats from invasive species, because once they arrive it is almost impossible to slow their spread Fig. 9-12, p. 202 4