Download ENDANGERED SPECIES: Obama admin confronts

Species Diversity
Seven kinds of rarity
From Deborah Rabinowitz
Pigweed – widespread, truly common
Red Mangrove – rare –
large range, narrow habitat, large populations
Pygmy Cypress – rare –
small range, wide habitat, large populations
Haleakala silver sword – rare –
small range, narrow habitat, large population
Beach tiger beetle – rare –
small range, narrow habitat, large population
Bristle grass – rare –
large range, wide habitat, small populations
Peregrine Falcon – rare –
large range, wide habitat, small populations
Pacific Yew – rare –
large range, narrow habitat, small populations
Osprey – rare –
large range, narrow habitat, small populations
Dry stone wall – SW England –
home of wall whitlow grass
Malaysian tapir– rare –
small range, wide habitat, small populations
Alpine Lily - rare –
small range, narrow habitat, small populations
Giant Panda - rare –
small range, narrow habitat, small populations
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
categories for rare species
• Extinct – not definitely reported in 50 years
• Endangered – taxa in danger of extinction and whose survival is
unlikely if current trends continue
• Vulnerable – taxa likely to move into endangered category in near
future if current trends continue (USFWS calls this group threatened)
• Rare – taxa with small world populations that are not at present
endangered or vulnerable but are at risk
• Indeterminate – taxa known to be endangered, vulnerable or rare but
where there is not enough information to say which category applies
• Out of danger – once endangered, vulnerable or rare but now
considered relatively secure
• Insufficiently known – taxa that are suspected to be endangered,
vulnerable or rare but not enough is known to be sure
• Threatened – any taxa considered endangered, vulnerable, rare or
insufficiently known
• Commercially threatened – taxa not currently threatened with
extinction but where all or most populations are threatened as a
sustainable commercial resource
IUCN Red Data Books
Thylacine – Tasmanian wolf - Extinct?
Black rhino – Endangered
Nile crocodile - Vulnerable
Wood duck – Out of Danger
Atlantic cod – vulnerable & commercially threatened
Atlantic cod – amount caught
Headlines about U.S. backlog of
candidate endangered species
• ENDANGERED SPECIES: Obama
admin confronts 'candidate species'
backlog (Greenwire, 09/08/2009)
• Endangered Species Backlog to Decrease
Under U.S. Work Plan By William
McQuillen - May 10, 2011 3:45 PM CT
Backlogged candidate species –
Florida bonneted bat and streaked horned lark
Climate and distribution
• Climate, particularly
temperature and precipitation,
influences the distribution of
the earth's organisms
• In each major kind of climate, a
distinctive type of vegetation
develops - for desert plants
occur in arid (dry) climates,
grasses with semi-arid climates
and forests with moist climates
• Certain animals, fungi and other
organisms are associated with
particular vegetation types
Biomes
• A Biome is a large, relatively distinct
terrestrial ecosystem characterized by
particular climate, soil, plants and animals,
regardless of where it occurs on earth
• A biome's boundaries are determined by
climate more than by any other factor
Biomes
Limits to Biome Distribution
Limits to Biome Distribution
Anthropogenic Biomes – from
Ellis and Ramankutty 2008
Global Patterns of Species Richness
Global Amphibian Diversity
Global Patterns of Species Richness
Measures of Biodiversity
• Species richness – the number of species in
an area – the simplest measure of
biodiversity
• Species evenness or equitability – the
relative proportion of number of individuals
of each species in an area
• Often richness and evenness are combined
into a Species Diversity Index
Explanations for Global Patterns of
Species Richness
1) Morphological diversity, spatial heterogeneity
2) High average rarity - no monocultures – in tropics
3) Climatic constancy of tropics
4) Geological age
5) Special adaptations in extreme (harsh) environments
6) Competitive "balance"
7) Alternating competitive advantages
8) "All niches filled theory" - saturation of community
9) Productivity
from A.R. Wallace - 1878
Richness and
Productivity
Richness and
Structural Diversity
Environmental harshness
Richness and Climatic Variability
Richness and Environmental Age
Last Glacial Maximum
Richness and Environmental Age
South American Rain Forest – Today and Past Refuges
Richness and High Average Rarity
Global Plant
Richness
Local Centers
Of Diversity
Quality of
Data
Richness and High Average Rarity
Endemic Plant Species Globally
Richness and High Average Rarity
Endemic Plant Species Globally
Richness and High Average Rarity
Endemic Plants in Africa