Biodiversity

Defined as: the amount of biological

diversity per unit area.
Includes: genetic, habitat, and species
diversity
What is biodiversity?2:10
min

Genetic
Diversity:
The total number of genetic
characteristics of a specific
species.

Habitat
Diversity:
Variety of forests, deserts,

grasslands, lakes, oceans, coral

reefs, wetlands, and other
biological communities.
(niches per unit area).

Species Diversity:
The number of
species or
organisms per
unit area
found in
different
habitats of the
planet.

Ecological Pressures:
Adverse habitat
conditions for
example:
decreases in
food, water,
shelter, weather,
sunlight, or
increase in
predation or
pollution

What are the

relationships among
ecosystem stability,
diversity,
succession and
habitat ?

TOPICS WE WILL COVER:

How does diversity change during succession?

How does habitat diversity influence species

diversity and genetic diversity?

How does ecosystem complexity, with its

variety of nutrient and energy pathways,
provide stability?

How do human activities (agriculture, mining,

logging, etc.) modify succession?

What are the potential positive and negative

results of human activities that simplify
ecosystems? (monocrop agriculture)

Natural Selection and

Evolution of mammals

Evolution Revolution Song

Darwin's Natural Selection & Theory of Evolution M

Evolution: the changes in the gene

pool of a population over time.
Natural selection: process by which
individuals that are better suited
to their environment survive and
reproduce most successfully.

Bill Nye: Evolutio

n (13:12
)

Adaptation: an inherited
characteristic that increases an
organisms chance of survival.
Speciation: the evolutionary
process by which new biological
species arise.

Darwin

Wolf

Pinta

Marchena

Genovesa

Santiago
Bartolom

Fernandia

Rbida
Pinzon

Seymour
Baltra
SantaCruz

EQUATOR

SantaFe
Tortuga
Isabela

SanCristobal
Espaola

Floreana

Galpagos
Islands

Marine Iguana
Land Iguana

KONA
FINCH
extinct

KAUAIAKIALAOA

AMAKIHI
LAYSAN
FINCH
IIWI
AKIAPOLAAU

APAPANE

MAUI
PARROTBILL
fruit and seed eaters

insect and nectar eaters

FOUNDERSPECIES

Based on his
observations,
Darwin
proposed that
EVOLUTION
occurs by
NATURAL
SELECTION.

Darwins
Postulates

1. Individuals within populations vary.

2. Some of these variations are passed on
to offspring.
3. In every generation some individuals are
more
successful in surviving or reproducing
than others.
4. Survival and reproduction are not

DISPERSAL
OFHIGHLY
EVOLVED
PLACENTAL
MAMMALS

South
America

Extinctions of many marsupials and

early placental mammals

About 5 million years ago, during the Pliocene

Fig. 27.19d, p. 471

Nonvertebrate chordates
Jawless fishes
Cartilaginous fishes
Bony fishes
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals

Eurasia

North
America
MONOTREMES,
MARSUPIALS
EVOLVEAND
MIGRATE
THROUGH
PANGEA
South
America

Africa
India

Australia

Antarctica
About 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic
Fig. 27.19a, p. 471

MONOTREMES

Platypus
Spiny anteater

MARSUPIALS

Koala

Tasmanian Devil

PLACENTAL
MAMMALS
EVOLVE;
ADAPTIVE
RADIATIONS
BEGIN

Isolation of the
early
monotremes,
marsupials on
this land mass

Between 100 and 85 million years ago, during the Cretaceous

Fig. 27.19b, p. 471

PLACENTAL MAMMALS

Bat
Arctic Fox

Walruses
Manatee

Beaver

Beaver
Muskrat

NORTH AMERICA

Muskrat

Beaver and
Muskrat
Coypu
Capybara
Coypu and
Capybara

Capybara

SOUTH AMERICA

Coypu

North
America

ADAPTIVE
RADIATIONS
OFMORE
EVOLVED
PLACENTAL
MAMMALS

South
America

Eurasia

Continued isolation of
early monotremes and
marsupials
Africa
Extinctions of mammals
Antarctica

About 20 million years ago, during the Miocene

Fig. 27.19c, p. 471

RACCOON REDPANDA

DIVERGENCE
approximately
40millionyearsago

GIANTPANDA

SPECTACLED
BEAR

SLOTH SUN
BEAR BEAR

BLACK
BEAR

POLAR BROWN
BEAR
BEAR

DIVERGENCE
1520millionyearsago

Fig. 20.10, p. 319

What is a
Species?
A group of potentially or actually
interbreeding populations, with a common
gene pool, which are reproductively
isolated from other groups

There is a problem with the

species definition
The species concept is a human construct used to make
sense of the natural world.
While extraordinarily helpful in understanding life, it fails to
capture the full complex reality of continually evolving
populations of organisms.

Sibling Species
Species that cannot interbreed,
and have no significant
differences in appearance.

So does that mean with very different

appearances, species can interbreed?!

Two tigons
(more tiger than lion)

A Liger (More lion than

tiger

A "boblynx (bobcat and lynx)

A "zonkey (zebra and donkey)

Are all species safe?

Status of Species

Projected Status of Biodiversity

19982018
Arctic Circle
60
30N

EUROPE

NORTH
AMERICA

Tropic of Cancer
Pacific
Ocean
0 150 120
90
Tropic of Capricorn

ASIA
Atlantic
Ocean

30W
SOUTH
AMERICA

AFRICA
0

Pacific
Ocean
60E
90
150
Indian
AUSTRALIA
Ocean

30S

Antarctic Circle

60
ANTARCTICA
Critical and endangered

Threatened

Stable or intact

uses of Extinction

Ecological Pressures:

Volcanic events
Ocean temperature change
Sea level changes
Meteorites
Glaciations
Global climate change
Competition/predation

Socio-Political and Economic causes

HIPPO

Habitat destruction and fragmentation

Introduced species
Pollution
Population
Over consumption

Extinction
Rate of Extinction: the number of species
becoming extinct per unit time.
Rates of extinction are very difficult to estimate,
because we don't even know within an order of
magnitude how many species there are.
Fossil records can only reveal the average
"lifetimes" of species, or how long different classes
of plants and animals generally exist on the earth
before going extinct.

Extinction continued
From this information, scientists can
determine a "background" rate of extinction,
or the natural rate of extinction without
human intervention.
Because of human intervention, the Earth's
species are dying out at an alarming rate up
to 1,000 times faster than their natural rate
of extinction.

Fossil Records
By carefully examining fossil records and
ecosystem destruction, some scientists
estimate that as many as 137 species
disappear from the Earth EACH DAY
This adds up to an astounding 50,000 species
disappearing every year!

The Earth has experienced 5 MASS EXTINCTIONS

 Mammals average species lifespan is 1 million years.

With ~ 5,000 mammalian species, the background extinction rate
is 1 every 200 years.
In the past 400 years though, 89 extinctions have been recorded,
almost 45 times the natural rate.
Over 50 of those
CENTURY, which is
100 times the
background rate!!

extinctions have
occurred in the past

EXTINCTION RATES OVER GEOLO

OW CAN WE PREVENT ENDANGERMEN

AND ULTIMATELY, EXTINCTION?

Red List Criteria

The International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria are used
to determine extinction risk and
set numerical thresholds for qualification
for three globally threatened categories.
IUCN Red List 2011 (2:42)

IUCN Mission Statement:

to influence, encourage and assist societies
throughout the world to conserve the integrity
and diversity of nature and to ensure that any
use of natural resources is equitable and
ecologically sustainable.

Specific aims:
To provide a standardized system that can be applied
consistently by different people.
To improve objectivity by providing users with clear
guidance on how to evaluate different factors which affect
the risk of extinction.
To provide a system which will facilitate comparisons
across widely different taxa.
To give people using the threatened species lists a better
understanding of how individual species were classified.

Categories
EXTINCT (Ex) - taxa for which there is no reasonable
doubt that the last individual has died. After exhaustive
surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at
appropriate times, throughout its historic range.
ENDANGERED (E) taxa in danger of extinction and
whose survival is unlikely if casual factors continue.
Includes taxa with drastically reduced numbers and habitats.

Categories
VULNERABLE (V) taxa believed to move into
endangered category in the near future if the factors
causing decline continue operating (e.g.
overexploitation, habitat destruction, other
environmental disturbance, numbers are abundant but
are under threat from serious adverse factors).
RARE (R) taxa with small world populations that are
not at present endangered or vulnerable, but are a
risk as some unexpected threat could easily cause a
critical decline (usually small geographic distribution).

 UNKNOWN (K) taxa that are suspected but not

definitely known to belong to any of the categories
because of lack of information.

Why Should We Care About Biodiversity?

Goods
Food, fuel, fiber, lumber, paper,
90% of todays food crops are unprocessed
40% of all medicines (85% of antibiotics) are
unprocessed
Foxglove

Pacific yew

Digitalis purpurea,
Creates medicine Digitalis
used for treating heart failure

Taxus brevifolia,
Potent treatment for
ovarian cancer

Ecological Services:
Flow of materials, energy, and information in the
biosphere:
Photosynthesis
Pollination
Soil formation and maintenance
Nutrient recycling
Moderation of weather extremes
Purification of air and water

Information:
Genetic information for adaptation and evolution
Genetic information for genetic engineering
Educational and scientific information

Option:
People would be willing to pay in advance to preserve the
option of directly using a resource such as a tree, an
elephant, a forest or a clean lake.

Recreation:
Hunting, fishing, swimming, scuba diving
Eco-tourism

Non-utilitarian:
Existence
Aesthetic
Protect natural capital for future generations