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Chapter 5 Biodiversity
The number of species of
animals and plants in a
given area describes it
biodiversity.
What is the biggest threat to
biodiversity?
Habitat Loss
Statistics from an Indiana Forest
Area
Deer
Turtle
Fox
Raccoon Bats
Owls
A
2
4
3
7
3
2
B
0
2
0
0
2
0
C
6
6
0
6
8
0
D
6
0
4
3
11
1
 What
area would have the greatest
biodiversity?
 What species has the highest
average population size?
 What species is most likely to face
extinction?
 If all four areas have the same
temperature and precipitation and
geology , which one would most
likely have the smallest area?
Reintroduction in Indiana?

At 10,750 acres, Lake Monroe is
the site of the state's bald eagle
reintroduction program from 1985
- 1989. Although an eagle nest was
found on the lake in 1988, it would
to be another 3 years before an
eaglet would hatch - the first
from Indiana's reintroduction
program and the first to hatch in
the wild in Indiana since 1897. In
2008, yet another record number
of eaglets hatched from yet
another record number of nests in
the state. Lake Monroe today is
the birding and eagle-watching
capital of Indiana, with year-round
resident pairs of bald eagles.
Habitat fragmentation most affects
which group?

Group A
Large Predators
 Large Herbivores
 Migratory Animals


Group B
Small Predators
 Small Herbivores
 Non-Migratory
Animals

What are sources of acid
precipitation?
 Sulfur
dioxide
from burning
coal.
 Nitrogen oxides
from car exhaust
Fragile Eggs and DDT

The potentially lethal impact of DDT on birds
was first noted in the late 1950s when spraying
to control the beetles that carry Dutch elm
disease led to a slaughter of robins in Michigan
and elsewhere. Researchers discovered that
earthworms were accumulating the persistent
pesticide and that the robins eating them were
being poisoned. Other birds fell victim, too.
Invasive Species Example in the
Great Lakes States
(Accidentally Introduced)
Any native species of earthworms that may have lived
in the region were destroyed when glacial ice sheets
covered the Upper Midwest 11,000 to 14,000 years
ago. Forests of the Great Lakes region developed
without earthworms. All earthworms now in the region
are exotic, and most are European. They continue to
be transported through the dumping of unused fishing
bait, and the transport of compost and mulch.
Leaf litter decomposition in hardwood forests is
controlled by fungi and bacteria. Decomposition
is slower than accumulation of new litter,
resulting in the formation of a thick, spongy
forest floor that provides protection from
predation and extremes in temperature and
moisture to seeds.
Earthworms remove the forest floor by eating it
and by mixing it into the upper soil. As a result,
it is difficult for plants and animals adapted to
forest floor conditions to survive following
earthworm invasion.
Extinct Species Examples

The Caribbean monk seal
has joined a long and
growing list of species that
carry the "extinct" label.
The seals were first
sighted during Christopher
Columbus' second voyage
in 1494 and once
numbered in excess of
250,000. But the creatures
proved easy prey and were
killed primarily for their
blubber. The last
confirmed sighting was in
1952.

The dodo is perhaps the bestknown example of a species
driven to extinction by human
activity. Their numbers dwindled
quickly after the arrival of
Portuguese and Dutch sailors to
the Indian Ocean island of
Mauritius in the 1500s. Some of
the flightless birds were hunted by
humans, though competition with
dogs, pigs and other animals
introduced by settlers may have
been the true cause of extinction,
some scientists say.
A Sad Story….



The last known individual of the passenger
pigeon species was "Martha" (named after
Martha Washington). She died at the Cincinnati
Zoological Garden, and was donated to the
Smithsonian Institution, where her body was
once mounted in a display case with this
notation:
MARTHA
Last of her species, died at 1 p.m.,
1 September 1914, age 29, in the
Cincinnati Zoological Garden.
EXTINCT
Habitat Degradation Includes…
 Water
Pollution
 Land Pollution
 Air Pollution
 Ozone Layer Depletion
The Nearer the Equator, the MORE
species of plants and animals.
Ocean Levels are Increasing. How
could this affect biodiversity on
islands? Why?

Island size might decrease and with it a species
biodiversity decrease.
Island
Size
Biodiversity
What is the biggest factor affecting
biodiversity?
AREA
or available space!
Which land area would protect
biodiversity the best?
Larger land areas are better in
Conservation Biology