Biological Diversity and Conservation

What is Biodiversity?

The variety of life in an area that is determined by the number of different species in that area.

Where can you find Biodiversity?

• Tropical Regions of the world contain 2/3 of all land species on Earth

• Biodiversity increases as you move toward the Equator

Importance of Biodiversity

• Organisms are connected within the community

• Biodiversity brings stability to an ecosystem

• Health and Dietary benefits to humans

Loss of BiodiversityExtinction- when the last members of a species

die.• Three tiers to the loss of Biodiversity

• Threatened

• Endangered

• Extinct

The declining population of one species can affect an entire ecosystem.

Question: What would happen to this ecosystem if kelp forest were destroyed?

Human beings are the largest and most influential threat to

biodiversity.

Threats to Biodiversity

• Habitat Loss• Habitat Fragmentation– Biotic Issues• Predator – Prey relationships• Migration Patterns disrupted

– Abiotic Issues• Can change climate of an area

Threats Continued• Habitat Degradation• Water Pollution– Acid Precipitation– Excess fertilizer runoff – Excess silt runoff – Heavy metals

• Land Pollution– Trash and debris– Chemical pollutants/

pesticides

Biomagnification – the accumulation of chemicals in an ecosystem.Sometimes called bioaccumulation.

Introduction of Exotics

• FDA estimates that more than $5 billion is spent annually on medical treatment, damage, and control.

• The ants cause approximately $750 million in damage annually to agricultural assets, including veterinarian bills and livestock loss as well as crop loss.

• Introduction traced back to a South American cargo ship in Alabama in 1918.

Conservation of Biodiversity

Sustainable Use

Using resources at a rate in which they can be replaced or recycled

Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources

• Renewable – replaced by natural process faster than they are used

Solar energy Plants WaterAir

• Nonrenewable – in limited amounts or are replaced by natural process slower than they are used

Fossil fuels Mineral Deposits

Renewable or nonrenewable?

• Wind• oil• Iron ore• Plastic

• Livestock• Aluminum• Gold• Sandstone