the pyramids of giza. the hanging gardens of babylon
TRANSCRIPT
The Pyramids of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Lighthouse At Alexandria
The Great Barrier Reef
What Do They Have In Common?
• All massive feats of construction/engineering
• All gone or in disrepair
In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but what we refuse to
destroy-John Sawhill 1999
BIODIVERSITY
General Definition: Sum total of the genetically based variety in the biosphere
Different Measures of Biodiversity
• Species – how many different species
• Ecosystem – how many different habitats and communities
• Genetic – sum total of all of the different forms of genetic information currently carried by living organisms
Diversity Exceeds Assessment
• Since Linnaeus’ Systaema Naturae was published in 1755, over 1.75 million species have been identified
• Old Estimate: 5-100 million may exist in the biosphere
NEW ESTIMATE OF SPECIES BIODIVERSITY
• NEW ESTIMATE: 8.7 million
• 86% of terrestrial and 91% of aquatic undiscovered
Life Can Live In The Most Extreme Habitats Found On Earth
Life Can Be Incredibly Diverse In A Small Area
• In Brazil, 425 different tree species live in 2 square acres
• In Peru, 43 different species of ant live on ONE tree
• In Illinois, one gram of dirt may have as many as 1,000 species of bacteria
Human reliance on high biodiversity is unmatched
Yet, 50% of Earth’s Different Species Are At Risk of Extinction
• Extinctions are occuring at a rate 10 to 10,000 times faster than before
• Evidence suggests we are entering the 6th major extinction
Extinction Is Natural?
Extinction & Biodiversity
• Of the estimated 5 billion various species that have ever evolved, only 1% of them remain today
• The extinction of some species spurs the speciation and development of new lifeforms
What Does It Mean To Be Extinct?
All Gone…
“Lazarus Species”
• Species once thought to be extinct that have reappeared after long periods of time
• Ex: Coelacanth, Black Java chicken
“Elvis Species”
• A species that actually is extinct but appears to still exist due to “imitators”
• Ex: Komodo Dragon
Neodarwinism & Extinction
• A species is extinct when all of the alleles in its gene pool have a frequency of 0.
• Under this definition, few species ever truly become extinct!
Habitat Fragmentation
• The Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity is forced to live on 2% of its surface area
• Of 196,938,800 square miles of Earth, only 13, 785, 716 are rainforest
• Yet half of the terrestrial species on Earth live in tropical rainforests
These Areas Are Known As Biodiversity “Hot Spots”
The Measure of A Society
• “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”
– M.K. Gandhi
New Zealand & The Brown Kiwi
What is man without the beasts?If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit.For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man.All things are connected.
-Chief Seattle
The “Part” of the “Whole”
14 Natural Divisions of Illinois
Prairie
Agriculture
Deciduous Forests
Illinois, Mississippi & DesPlaines Watersheds
Unglaciated Moraine
Lake Michigan Dunes
Cypress Swamps
Ozark Uplift
Urban Environments
Illinois’ Biodiversity Is Changing
Today 0.01% Remains
21,702 sq miles forests and wetlands in 1800’s
5,646 square miles remain
Where Did It All Go?
MONOCULTURE
Why is Illinois Monoculture an ecological risk?
Lower Autotroph Diversity Means Less Consumer Diversity
More risk from invasive species
More Effort To Maintain Artificial Stability Of Monoculture
History Tells Us That Monocultures and Low Biodiversity Are Recipes For Disaster
Biodiversity Analysis (part 1)
• For table 1, sum all of the species in column 2 to determine the total biodiversity of Earth.
• Divide each individual # of species by this total to determine what % of the Earth’s total biodiversity is represented by each taxa (classification)
Part 2
• To determine the biodiversity statistics for Illinois, sum the second column from table 2. This represents the total Illinois biodiversity
• Divide the estimated # of species by the total # of species. This should tell you what % of Illinois biodiversity belongs to each taxa
Part 3: How much does Illinois contribute to global biodiversity?• To answer this question, take the
estimated # of species in IL for a given classification and divide by the estimated # of species (global).
• This value will suggest what % of the total # of species for a given taxa/classification can be found in Illinois.