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Page 15 (Biodiversity)
Conserving Life
Bio-life
o Diversity-different
o
Video: Bill NYE Biodiversity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0As7130mc
20:38 min
Bill Nye: BiodiversityFinish for homework.

1. What does an ecosystem need to have in
order for it to be healthy and successful?

2. What does biodiversity mean?

3. How is an ecosystem like a giant jenga
game?
Biodiversity
 Refers
to the variety of life in an
ecosystem.
Why is biodiversity
important?
A
loss of biodiversity can weaken an
ecosystem
What reduces
biodiversity?

Human Impact
1. Habitat Loss
2. Invasive Species
3. Pollution (climate change)
Habitat Loss #1
 Habitat
loss is the
main reason
why species are
becoming extinct,
endangered or
threatened.
Invasive Species #2

Compared to other threats to
biodiversity, invasive/introduced species
ranked second.
Pollution/Climate Change #3
Anthro: a prefix meaning human
Genic: means origin
• Anthropogenic climate
change-caused by human
activity.
• A.K.A. global warming, is
causing huge changes to
biodiversity, and it will
continue to threaten species
and their habitats.
Pollution/Climate Change #3

Anthropogenic can refer to any changes in
nature that are caused by humans — like the
existence of roads or cities where once there
were forests.

Global warming due to
burning fossil fuels is
making the climate
change a lot faster.
Page 16 (Native, Introduced/Invasive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JftiWffNTc
Introduced Species 9:55 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmzt
PktOfzs
Invasion of the Yellow Crazy Ants
Biological Control
Native Species
A
species that is original to the ecosystem
it lives in.
 In Michigan, a native species is one that
was present in Michigan prior to
European settlement.
•
•
•
•
Wild Turkey
Lake Sturgeon
Snapping Turtle
White Tailed Dear
Introduced Species
 Also
called an exotic species, are
those that have been moved by
humans to a new environment.
Invasive Species
 Invasive
species are organisms
that cause harm to an ecosystem.
 Invasive
species can enter an
environment unintentionally.
 Sometimes
https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=e
DOwTXobJ3k
Bozman
The Bunny Story
Invasive Species
10:44 min
they are brought in
on purpose and then later found
to damage the ecosystem.
Michigan Introduced/
Invasive Species
1. Brown Headed Cowbird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guX
dDc5XrFY
Kirdland Warbler Endangered Species
2:59 min
1.Effect on the
Kirkland Warbler
Parasitism
Michigan Introduced/ Invasive
Species
 2. Phragmities 1.Effect on Ecosystem
Crowding out the
https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=X
native plants.
IROHThBzvo
Michigan Introduced/Invasive
Species

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtqb41CjQfc

Silent Invaders: Zebra Mussels 20:31 min
1.Effect on
native
mussels
Crowding
out the
native
mussels.
Pg 17 (Threatened, Endangered & Extinct)
Michigan Threatened Species
A
species that is likely to become
“endangered”.
1. Copperbelly Water Snake
LIMITING FACTOR
HABITAT LOSS!!!
2. Monarch butterflies
Limiting factors:
HABITAT LOSS
CLIMATE CHANGE
Michigan’s long, cold winters are causing
many returning butterflies to stay further
south.

https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=zJuSQoxuHoI

Monarch Butterfly
3:18min
Endangered Species
A species that is in
danger of becoming
“extinct”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iu8b
bntr80
Endangered Species: Cosmo 6:16 min
Michigan endangered species
1. Karner Blue
Butterfly
Limiting Factor:
♦ Habitat Loss
Michigan endangered species
2. Kirkland Warbler
Limiting Factors:
oHabitat loss
oCowbird parasitism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3vAPM
UW4CA&list=PLUMPmkLD0pskzvosl3RrZg
EzAk0M0_6wV&index=3
Brownhead Cowbird laying egg in Warbler
nest. 2:36 min
3. Northern Long Eared Bat
Limiting Factor:
♦ Population declines caused
by white-nose syndrome.
Extinct Species
A
species that was once present
on Earth but has died out.
https://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=Q7I
zvcVa53A
10 species hunted
into extinction
10:30 min
1. Passenger Pigeon
Limiting Factor:
Hunted out of existence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp
C8Nm4v1xM
Near Extinct Species
6:25 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vro
kfZ6mD5A
10 Animals That May Go Extinct In The
Next 10 Years
3:14 min
1. Dodo Bird
Limiting Factor:
Hunted out of existence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tux
KDMDZZA
Dodo Bird
Climate Change?
https://www.yout
ube.com/watch?
v=4RhqR2ZGkc0
Ice Age 2:42
Pg 18 Conservation Biology
Protecting Biodiversity
 1. Conservation: The
study of
methods for protecting biodiversity.
 There are two goals for every
conservation plan.
◦ Protect a species from harm.
◦ Protect a species habitat.
2. Conservation Strategies
Legal protections: Laws are made
to protect species and their
habitat.

Example: U.S. Endangered Species Act
3. Habitat Preservation:
National parks and wildlife
areas.
The United States’ first national
park – Yellowstone National Park
4. Wildlife Corridors & Divided Habitats
Connect one wildlife preserve to
another without having to cross
roads, farms or other area
inhabited by humans.
Panther Crossing in the Everglades
5. Habitat Restoration
Taking action to bring a
damaged habitat back to a
healthy condition.
Planting
Eelgrass
Reading selection
Ecology Book
Pg 141
6. Wildlife management
Park rangers, guards and
volunteers manage the area.
7. Captive populations
 A way for conserving species that may
not survive in the wild.
 Cared for by humans.
 Not ideal because it is expensive and
animals loose their wild behaviors.
8. Reintroduction programs
Must remove the factors that
caused endangerment “threat”.
Organism can be returned to
their original habitat.
Releasing Wolfs into Yellowstone National Park
9. Relocation Programs
The threat cannot be
removed.
Organisms are transported to
a new habitat.
Brown Pelican relocation
Scenario 1
Mrs. Wiles noticed that the muskrats in the St.
John’s marsh were disappearing at an alarming
rate. She decided to do some investigating. She
found out that someone let an alligator loose in
the St. John’s Marsh. She asked her students to
help capture all the remaining muskrats and help
her take care of them at school until they caught
the alligator. Then they would be able to return
the muskrats back to their original habitat.
Scenario 1
 Reintroduction
program
Scenario 2
Mrs. Wiles was reading the
newspaper and she read that they
were planning on building a
Walmart right in the middle of
the St. John’s Marsh. Mrs. Wiles
asked her students to help her
capture all the muskrats and find a
new home for them in another
marsh.
Scenario 2

Relocation Program
Scenario 3
Isle Royale is seeing an alarming
loss of moose. They create a
national park to protect the
animals.
Scenario 3
Habitat Preservation &
 Wildlife Management

Scenario 4
The highway runs through the St.
John’s Marsh and there have been
a large number of turtle deaths,
due to cars. The park ranger
designs a under road ditch that will
connect both sides of the marsh.
The turtles can use this path to
cross safely.
Scenario 4

Wildlife Corrdoors




Phragmites - A conservation effort
Across Belle Isle Park, a tall grass is quickly invading.
Phragmites australis, or the common reed, is a perennial grass
found all around the world. The grass grows an impressive 613 feet tall with upright stems and long flat smooth leaves.
Its preferred habitat is wetlands, ditches, streams and ponds.
Phragmites on Belle Isle and in the Great Lakes region is
a concern because it is an invasive species (1). According to
the National Invasive Species Management Plan, an invasive
species is not native to the original ecosystem and its
introduction causes or is likely to cause harm to the
economy, environment or to human health.
(2)In Michigan, a non-native species is one that was not
present in Michigan prior to European settlement. Only
about five percent of introduced species become invasive,
however the effects can be devastating to an ecosystem.
•
Phragmites establishes quickly when introduced
to an area, especially if the area has been
disturbed recently by development or
construction. Dense strands of the common
reed (3)take up most of the nitrogen and
phosphorus from the soil, making these
nutrients unavailable for other native wetland
plants. (4)The resulting decrease of native
wetland species means that wetlands and
coastal marshes may not be able to serve as
habitat for aquatic wildlife and migratory birds.

(5) When Phragmites die and decay, the plant debris
covers the ground and significantly reduces the
ground temperature.The cooler temperature can
prevent amphibians, fish and insects from
completing their life cycles. It is uncertain how this
invasive strain was introduced to North America
and the continental United States; (6) it may have
been introduced by the shipping industry when ship
ballast was emptied. On Belle Isle, several methods
are currently being used to control and prevent
Phragmites. (7) The management techniques
include a combination of chemicals and controlled
burning. These methods have proven to be
effective, but it is important to recognize that it is
impossible to completely eliminate Phragmites.

1. According to the National Invasive Species Management Plan, what is
considered an invasive species?

2. How are the phragmites hurting the native wetland plants?

3. What effect are the phragmites having on the aquatic wildlife and the
migratory birs?

4. What effect are the phragmites having on the amphibians, fish and
insects?

5. How do ecologists believe the phragmites were introduced to North
America?

6. What are two management techniques used to control phragmites?