Download The Great Barrier Reef

Areas of biological significance
Learning outcomes
All of you should be able to:
• Identify an area of biological significance that
has been threatened by human activity
Most of you should be able to:
• Describe the ecological, socio-political and
economic pressures affecting the area
• Describe the threat to biodiversity
Areas of biological significance
There are 4 areas of biological significance pasted around
the room.
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The Great Barrier Reef
The Galapagos Islands
Yosemite National Park
Chihuahuan Desert
• Have any of you heard of these locations before?
• Discuss what you know about them with a partner
Activity
Complete your sheet using the information on
the posters that are stuck around the room.
You need to identify where the area is located,
why it has significant biological interest and the
pressure that are causing degradation to the
site.
Conservation Leaflet
• Choose one of the sites of biological significance
• Create a leaflet giving information about the site.
Include the following details:
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Why is it a site of biological significance?
What are the threats that are affecting the area?
How is this affecting the biodiversity?
Conservation methods that you recommend
• Make sure that it is attractive and would get the
public’s attention.
The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It
contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and
4,000 types of mollusc. It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong
(‘sea cow’) and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.
Overfishing
The reef subject to high levels of fishing pressure. Fishing practices,
such as trawling for prawns, are permitted in over one-third of the
marine park, resulting in untargeted fish capture (bycatch), and
damage to the seafloor and its resident plants and animals.
Industrialisation
The Great Barrier Reef is under threat from the most widespread,
rapid and damaging set of industrial developments in Queensland’s
history. The Queensland Government is fast-tracking dredging and
dumping of millions of tonnes of seabed and rock, and encouraging
increased shipping through the narrow straits between reefs. The
Australian Government is considering approval of these
developments, including the world’s biggest coal port at Abbot Point,
50 km from the Whitsunday Islands.
Climate change
Climate change is the biggest threat to the reef’s future. The Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority’s Outlook Report for the Great Barrier Reef in 2009
stated: “the threats of increasing sea temperature, ocean acidification and
rising sea level are assessed as very high risk to the ecosystem.”
Coral bleaching
The reef has already experienced two mass coral bleaching events – in 1998
and 2002. Bleaching was more severe in 2002, when aerial surveys showed that
almost 60% of reefs experienced bleaching of some degree.
Pollution
Sediment, nutrient and pesticide pollution from catchment run-off is also
affecting the health and resilience of the reef ecosystem. Nutrient loads have
also increased, encouraging algal blooms, which, in turn, provide food for larvae
of the devastating crown-of-thorns starfish. In addition, nearly one-third of the
reef is now exposed to pesticides.
http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/oceans_and_marine/priority_ocean_places/great
_barrier_reef/threats/
Yosemite National Park
The expansive park’s 747,956 acres or 1,169 square miles are home to hundreds of
wildlife species and thousands of Yosemite plants. Designated a World Heritage Site
in 1984, Yosemite is known for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant
sequoia groves and biological diversity.
Yosemite is located in California and supports more than 400 species of
vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Insects
abound as well, with the recent discovery of two species not believed to exist
anywhere else in the world. The high diversity of animal species falls in line with
striking elevational gradient and topographic variability of the park.
Air pollution
Air pollution is currently recognized as one of the most significant threats to the
resources of the Sierra Nevada. Sources are local, regional, and in some instances,
global.
Global Warming
A pattern of warming during the past 30 years in the Yosemite region has resulted in
thinner snowpacks. All climate models show a warmer future in central California,
with temperatures at least 5° to 10° Fahrenheit higher by the end of the century,
especially at higher elevations. Why can't this temperature change simply be assumed
to be a natural variation? Scientists attribute the ongoing warming to society's
emission of greenhouse gases that persist for long periods in the atmosphere.
Invasive species
Invasive species have a negative impact on natural resources
across America, including in Yosemite National Park. Non-native
animal species, like the New Zealand mud snail, concerns park
scientists because this species can completely cover a river
streambed, thereby altering the ecosystem. Plant species, like
Himalayan blackberry, can form impenetrable thickets that
replace native vegetation. It is much easier to prevent the
spread of invasive species than to try to eradicate them once
they are introduced.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/index.htm
Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos Islands, 1,000km west of Ecuador, are distinguished by remarkable wildlife
found nowhere else in the world: the Galapagos tortoise, the world’s only seagoing lizards, the
flightless cormorant, Darwin’s finches and the Galapagos penguin. The islands are also
distinguished by the degree to which they have remained relatively intact, retaining nearly all
their original biodiversity.
Today, however, the islands are under threat from overgrazing, over-harvesting of marine
resources, tourism and introduced non-native animals such as goats and pigs. WWF has worked
in the Galapagos since 1961, protecting key sites and wildlife populations, as well as supporting
scientific research, environmental education and protected areas management.
But there are real threats nevertheless. They include overgrazing, man-made
fires, poaching, over-harvesting of marine resources, tourism and agriculture.
The islands’ many reefs are also under the pressure from various human
activities.
Fishing and harvesting
Several animal species native to the Galapagos Islands are gradually disappearing as a direct result fishing
and collecting. Illegal poaching of rare or even endangered species and the harvesting of several prized
marine species are both on the rise, as international demand for local products such as sea cucumbers and
shark fins has grown. Human presence on the islands has also brought pollution and habitat destruction to
this once pristine environment.
Tourism
Although tourism has helped promote better conservation, the growing traffic of people and goods has
increased the possibility of species introduction -- a major threat to the fragile ecosystem. Introduced
species, including rats and domesticated animals such as goats and pigs, compete with native species for food
and prey on the eggs and young of reptiles and birds.
http://wwf.panda.org/?uProjectID=9L0813
http://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/615/
http://www.savegalapagos.org/galapagos/issues-in-galapagos-1.shtml
Economic growth
Economic growth and unregulated
development threaten the fragile
ecosystem. Socio-political demands to
increase local access to natural
resources and public services have
grown with the increasing human
population; these demands have created
new social and political stresses in the
islands. The islands are in an accelerating
cycle of economic and population
growth driven by the growth in tourism.
This cycle has, in turn, increased threats
to biodiversity through higher
probabilities of arrival of invasive species
and more frequent pollution events.
http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/5_cool/galapagos/g25_threat.html
Chihauhuan desert
The Chihuahuan Desert covers an area of about 362,600km2 (or 140,000 square
miles). It is the third largest desert entirely within the Western Hemisphere and
the second largest in North America, after the Great Basin Desert. Chihuahuan is
home to more than 130 mammals, 3,000 plant species (1,000 are endemic), over
500 bird species and 110 native freshwater fish.
The Chihuahuan Desert, shared by two nations, is one of the most
biologically rich desert ecoregions in the world, alive with large mammals,
birds, reptiles and an unmatched diversity of cactus species. The desert’s
rivers, streams and springs are considered to be of global significance,
home to fish species found nowhere else on earth.
While the river supports an exceptional array of wildlife, water withdrawals
as a result of population growth and intensive agricultural activities are
threatening the health of this all important cross-border ecosystem.
Overgrazing, invasive species and mining are also taking their toll on the
environment.
The magnificent landscape is threatened by an ever-increasing human
population, water misuse and mismanagement, overgrazing by cattle and
goats, and a lack of knowledge regarding the desert's ecological importance.
Water use
Problems arise as urban areas in the desert continue to expand and fertile
desert soils are put into agricultural production. Up to 99 percent of the
water in the perennial rivers of the Chihuahuan Desert is diverted to
municipal water supplies or to irrigate fields.
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin/2002/03-06/16-17.pdf
Extending from the southeastern US states of Arizona, New Mexico and
Texas deep into central Mexico, the Chihuahuan Desert offers a
kaleidoscope of textures and colours that shape its unique landscapes.
Pronghorn antelope, mule deer and grey fox roam the vast grasslands of
the northern desert, while roadrunners, reptiles, jackrabbits and eagles
live in the desert scrub.
Other desert wildlife includes the jaguar (Felis onca), collared peccary
(Pecari tajacu), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), Mexican blackheaded
snake (Tantilla atriceps) and greater earless lizard (Cophosaurus texanus).
Human land-use
While some of the inaccessible, montane parts of the Chihuahuan Desert
region have floral and faunal communities that are at least relatively intact,
much of the desert has been heavily disturbed by human land use.
Overgrazing, water diversion, aquifer “mining” (pumping at an
unsustainable rate), and overcollecting of native plants and animals are
considered the greatest threats to biodiversity in the Chihuahuan Desert
ecoregion.
Climate change
As warmer, drier conditions prevailed and heavy grazing continued,
thousands of acres of Chihuahuan Desert grasslands were converted to
desert shrubland, a process that continues to this day. In addition to climate
change and overgrazing, certain water-use practices are having significant
impacts on the desert. With climatic warming and drying over the past
10,000 years, water sources dried up, tributaries became isolated from the
main rivers.
http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwfbinaryitem2757.pdf
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/chihuahuan_desert/