Transcript measuring biodiversity - Midlands State University

Measuring Biodiversity
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Main Ideas
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How to define ‘biodiversity’?
Ways to measure biodiversity
Biodiversity and the relationship to the
way ecosystems function
Taxonomic methods used in relation to
quantifying and studying biodiversity
Problems in general
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Main Ideas
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Primary causes of biodiversity loss
The benefits of biodiversity
Biodiversity conservation efforts
Questions?
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How do we define ‘biodiversity’?
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The sum of all
biotic variation
from the level of
genes to
ecosystems.
The number,
variety, and
variability of living
organisms in a
quantified area.
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– Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
Biodiversity Expert
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“Except in pockets of ignorance and malice, there is no longer an
ideological war between conservationists and developers. Both
share the perception that health and prosperity decline in a
deteriorating environment. They also understand that useful
products cannot be harvested from extinct species.”
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Biodiversity
• Variety of living things,
number of kinds
• Ecological diversity
– different habitats, niches,
species interactions
• Species diversity
– different kinds of
organisms, relationships
among species
• Genetic diversity
– different genes &
combinations of genes
within populations
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Ecosystem diversity
• Ecosystem diversity = the number and
variety of ecosystems
• Also encompasses differing communities and
habitats
• Rapid vegetation change and varying
landscapes within an ecosystem promote
higher levels of biodiversity
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Species diversity
- Evenness or relative abundance =
extent to which numbers of individuals of
different species are equal or skewed
- Speciation generates new species and adds
to species richness
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- Richness = the number of species
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• Species Diversity = the number or variety of
species in the world or in a particular region
- Extinction reduces species richness
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Benefits of Biodiversity
• Ecosystem functions
• Ecosystem services
• Cleaning water,
• Cleaning air,
• Habitat & breeding
areas for wildlife, …
• Aesthetic and
cultural benefits
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Natural Resources
• Management of natural
resources
– Assure availability of
resources for the future
– Three “philosophies”
• Maximum sustained yield
• Ecosystem-based
management
• Adaptive management
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Benefits of Biodiversity
• New food sources
– Grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish
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Benefits of Biodiversity
• Medicines
• Plants
• Jellyfish & sea
anemones
• Nudibranchs
• Marine slugs
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Biodiversity provides ecosystem services
free of charge
• Provides food, shelter, fuel
• Purifies air and water, and detoxifies wastes
• Stabilizes climate, moderates floods, droughts,
wind, temperature
• Generates and renews soil fertility and cycles
nutrients
• Pollinates plants and controls pests and
disease
• Maintains genetic resources
• Provides cultural and aesthetic benefits
• TAllows us to adapt to change
The annual value of just 17 ecosystem services =
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per year
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Biodiversity helps maintain ecosystem
function
• Biodiversity increases the stability and resilience
of communities and ecosystems
- Decreased biodiversity reduces a natural
system’s ability to function and provide
services to our society
• The loss of a species affects ecosystems
differently
- If the species can be functionally replaced by
others, it may make little difference
- Extinction of a keystone species may cause
other species to decline or disappear
• Precautionary principle: “To keep every cog
and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent
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Biodiversity enhances food security
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Genetic diversity within crops is enormously valuable
- Turkey’s wheat crops received $50 billion worth of disease
resistance from wild wheat
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Wild strains provide disease resistance and have the ability to
grow back year after year without being replanted
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New potential food crops are waiting to be used
- Serendipity berry produces a sweetener 3,000 times
sweeter than sugar
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Organisms provide drugs and medicines
•
Each year
pharmaceutical
products owing their
origin to wild species
generate up to $150
billion in sales
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FIGURE 9.15
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Biodiversity provides economic benefits
through tourism and recreation
•
Ecotourism is particularly beneficial in developing countries
- Africa savanna-major tourist attraction Kenya, Zimbabwe,
etc
- Belize: reefs, caves, and rainforests
•
Incentive to preserve natural areas and reduce impacts on the
landscape and on native species
•
Too many visitors can degrade the outdoor experience and
disturb wildlife
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Importance of biodiversity
Ecological balance
 Biogeochemical cycles, food chains, population controls by
positive and negative feedback mechanisms
Economic values
 Timber, firewood, natural rubber,gums,drugs, medicine
(penicillinm, quinine-cinchona, morphine-opium)
 Agriculture-cattle ranching, tourism
Genetic resources
 Genes from wild plants and animals can be used to help breed
better varities
 -genetic resevoir
Aesthetc values, education and scientific values
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Biodiversity
• How much biodiversity
1.7—2.0 million species
Estimates to 100 million
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Some groups contain more species than
others
• Insects predominate
over all other life-forms
- 40% of all insects are
beetles
• Groups accumulate
species by
- Adaptive radiation
- Allopatric speciation
- Low rates of extinction
FIGURE 9.4
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Species Richness
www.nature.com/cgi-taf
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Insects outnumber all other species
FIGURE 9.5
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Biodiversity is unevenly distributed
FIGURE 9.6
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Latitudinal gradient =
species richness
increases towards the
equator
•
Plant productivity and
climate stability play key
roles
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Latitudinal gradient has many causes
FIGURE 9.7
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Biodiversity loss and species extinction
- Extinction = occurs when the last member of a species dies and
the species ceases to exist
- Extirpation = the disappearance of a particular population from a
given area, but not the entire species globally
- Endangered = species in imminent danger of becoming extirpated
or extinct
- Threatened = species likely to become endangered in the near
future
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Extinction is a natural process
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Paleontologists estimate 99% of all species that ever lived are now
extinct
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Background rate of extinction = natural extinctions for a variety
of reasons
- 1 extinction per 1 to 10 million species for mammals and marine
species
- 1 species out of 1,000 mammal and marine species would go
extinct every 1,000 to 10,000 years
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Earth has experienced five previous
mass extinction episodes
• In the past 440 million years, mass extinctions
have eliminated at least 50% of all species
• Today’s mass extinction is caused by humans
and humans will suffer as a result of it
FIGURE 9.8
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Humans set the sixth mass extinction in motion years ago
FIGURE 9.9
Extinctions followed
human arrival on islands and con
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Current extinction rates are much higher
than normal
•
The Red List = an updated list of species facing high risks of
extinctions
- 23% of mammal species
- 12% of bird species
- 31 to 86% of all other species
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Since 1970, 58 fish species, 9 bird species, and 1 mammal species has
gone extinct
- Actual numbers are undoubtedly higher
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Biodiversity loss is more than extinction
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The Living Planet Index quantifies degradation
- Between 1970 and 2003, the Index fell by 40%
FIGURE 9.10
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There are several major causes of
biodiversity loss
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Reasons for biodiversity losses are multifaceted and factors
may interact synergistically
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Causes of population decline:
- Habitat alteration
- Invasive species
- Pollution
- Overharvesting
- Climate change
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Habitat alteration causes biodiversity loss
• The greatest cause of biodiversity loss
- Farming simplifies communities
- Grazing modifies the grassland structure
and species composition
- Clearing forests removes resources
organisms need
- Hydroelectric dams turn rivers into
reservoirs upstream
- Urbanization and suburban sprawl
reduce natural communities
- A few species (i.e., pigeons, rats) benefit
from changing habitats
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Invasive species cause biodiversity loss
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Introduction of non-native species to new
environments
- Accidental: zebra mussels
- Deliberate: food crops
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Island species are especially vulnerable
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Invaders have no natural predators, competitors, or
parasites
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Cost billions of dollars in economic damage
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Pollution causes biodiversity loss
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Harms organisms in many ways
- Air pollution degrades forest ecosystems
- Water pollution adversely affects fish and amphibians
- Agricultural runoff harms terrestrial and aquatic species
- The effects of oil and chemical spills on wildlife are
dramatic and well known
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Overharvesting causes biodiversity loss
• Vulnerable species are large, few in number,
long-lived, and have few young (K-selected
species)
- The Siberian tiger (The 1989 political
freedom in Soviet Union brought the
freedom to hunt)
- Atlantic gray whale
- Sharks
- Gorillas
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Climate change causes biodiversity loss
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Global impact on habitat and biodiversity
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Greenhouse gases modifies global weather patterns and
increases the frequency of extreme weather events
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Increases stress on populations and forces organisms to
shift their geographic ranges
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Most animals and plants will not be able to cope, as
evolution has been about adaptation genetically over much
more slowly-evolving time periods.
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Warming has been the greatest in the Arctic
FIGURE 9.13
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Conservation biology arose in response to
biodiversity loss
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Conservation biology =
devoted to understanding the
factors that influence the loss,
protection, and restoration of
biodiversity
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- An applied and goal-oriented
science
FIGURE 9.17
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Conservation biologists work at multiple
levels
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Use field data, lab data, theory, and experiments to study impacts
of humans on other organisms
Design, test, and implement ways to mitigate impacts
•
Minimum viable population = how small a population can
become before it runs into problems
•
Metapopulations = a network of subpopulations
- Small populations are most vulnerable to extinction and need
special attention
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Species richness results from island size and distance
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• Fewer species colonize an island far from the mainla
• Large islands have higher immigration rates
• Large islands have lower extinction rates
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FIGURE 9.18
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Small “islands” of forest rapidly lose
species
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Forests are fragmented by roads and
logging
•
Small forest fragments lose diversity
fastest
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- Starting with large species
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Fragmentation is one of the prime
threats to biodiversity
FIGURE 9.20
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weighing
the issues
Fragmentation and biodiversity
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• How would you respond?
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Suppose a critic of conservation tells you that human development
increases biodiversity, pointing out that when a forest is fragmented,
new habitats, such as grassy lots and gardens, may be introduced to
an area and allow additional species to live there.
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Umbrella species
Conservation biologists use particular umbrella species as
tools to conserve communities and ecosystems
- helps protect less-charismatic animals
Flagship species – large and 'charismatic' species used as
spearheads for biodiversity conservation
- The World Wildlife Fund’s panda bear
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Some organizations are moving beyond the single species
approach to focus on whole landscapes
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•
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•
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Both national and international
conservation efforts are widely supported
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1973: UN Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) –
protects endangered species by banning international
transport of their body parts
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Other approaches highlight areas of high
biodiversity
Biodiversity hotspots – prioritizes
regions most important globally for
biodiversity
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- Support a great number of endemic
species = species found nowhere else
in the world
- The area must have at least 1500
endemic plant species (0.5% of the
world total)
- It must have lost 70% of its habitat
due to human impact
FIGURE 9.22
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There are 34 global biodiversity hotspots
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2.3% of the planet’s land surface contains 50% of the world’s
plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species
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FIGURE 9.23
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Community- based conservation is
increasingly popular
Community-based conservation = conservation biologists
actively engage local people in protecting land and wildlife
- Can guarantee that these resources will not be used up or
sold to foreign corporations and can instead be sustainably
managed
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- Protecting land deprives people access to resources
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Innovative economic strategies are being
employed
Debt-for-nature swap = a conservation organization pays off
a portion of a developing country’s international debt
- Fund environmental education, and
- Better manage protected areas
•
Conservation concession = conservation organizations pay
nations to conserve, and not sell, resources
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- In exchange for a promise by the country to set aside
reserves
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Conclusion
Loss of biodiversity threatens to result in a mass extinction
•
Primary causes of biodiversity loss are:
•
Human society cannot function without biodiversity’s pragmatic
benefits
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Science can help save species, preserve habitats, restore
populations, and keep natural ecosystems intact
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- Habitat alteration, invasive species, pollution, overharvesting
of biotic resources, and climate change
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Methods to Measure
Biodiversity
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Species Richness
Species Evenness
Disparity
Species Rarity
Genetic Variability.
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Measuring Biodiversity…
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Species Richness; the total number of given species in a
quantified area.
Species Evenness; the degree to which the number of
individual organisms are evenly divided between different
species of the community.
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www.nature.com/cgi-taf
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Measuring Biodiversity…
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Disparity; measures the phenotypic differences among
species resulting from the differences genes within a
population.
Species Rarity; the rarity of individual organisms within a
quantified area.
http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/DarwinFinch.html
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Biodiversity and the Relationship to
Ecosystem Functions
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Diverse communities are typically
more stable and function more
efficiently.
Loss of a umbrella species leads to a
unoccupied niche, in turn potentially
affecting ecosystem processes.
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Forms of stability
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Resilience describes the speed with
which a community returns to its
former state after perturbation
Resistance describes the ability of
a community to avoid
displacement in the first place
Biodiversity & Exotic Species;
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Ecosystems with high measures of
biodiversity are more resistant to
invader species.
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/photos
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Keystone & Umbrella Species
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Species whose presence or resource
requirements affect ecosystem
functions.
Health of an umbrella species is a
way to monitor the health of an
ecosystem.
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Keystone species
disproportionate effect on its environment
relative to its biomass
Such species play a critical role in maintaining
the structure of an ecological community,
affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem
and helping to determine the types and numbers
of various other species in the community e.g.
terminal predators, elephants
• Ecological engineers alter the habitat and, in
doing so, modify the fates and opportunities of
other species
•
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organism that creates or modifies habitats
 Allogenic engineers modify the environment by
mechanically changing materials from one form
to another. Beavers in the process of clearcutting
and damming, beavers alter their ecosystem
extensively
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Different types and numbers of other organisms
will thrive in the region of a beaver dam than
would in a non-dammed region.
 Autogenic engineers modify the environment by
modifying themselves. As trees grow, their trunks
and branches create habitats for other living
things.
 Humans and introduced species are very
significant allogenic
engineers
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Umbrella species either have large area requirements
or use multiple habitats and thus overlap the habitat
requirements of many other species.
species selected for making conservation related
decisions,
typically because protecting these species indirectly
protects the many other species that make up the
ecological community of its habitat e.g tigers and its
habitat
• Link species are those that perform an important
ecological function or provide critical links for energy
transfer within or across complex food webs.
Their removal from the system would affect one or
multiple other species (e.g., alligators and their role in
the creation and maintenance of ponds and wet areas
during times of drought).
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indicator species:
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a species whose presence indicates the presence of a set of
other species and whose absence indicates the lack of that
entire set of species;
a keystone species, which is a species whose addition to or
loss from an ecosystem leads to major changes in
abundance or occurrence of at least one other species
a species whose presence indicates human-created abiotic
conditions such as air or water pollution (often called a
pollution indicator species)
a dominant species that provides much of the biomass or
number of individuals in an area
a species that indicates particular environmental conditions
such as certain soil or rock types
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a species thought to be sensitive to and therefore
to serve as an early warning indicator of
environmental changes such as global warming
or modified fire regimes (sometimes called a
bioindicator species)
a management indicator species, which is a
species that reflects the effects of a disturbance
regime or the efficacy of efforts to mitigate
disturbance effects.
Type 1, 2, and 4 have been proposed as
indicators of biological diversity and types 3, 5, 6,
and 7 as indicators of abiotic conditions and/or
changes in ecological processes.
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Taxonomic methods used in
relation to quantifying
biodiversity



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Phylogenic Species Concept
Biological Species Concept
Evolutionary Species Concept
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Phylogenic Species Concept
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taxa are separate species if they can
be diagnosed as distinct either by
phenotypic or genotypic information.
Leads to an increase in the number
of species.
Does not allow for natural variations
within populations to be listed as
separate species.
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The taxonomy of species
• Taxonomists = scientists who classify species
using physical appearance and genetics
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Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
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• Every species has a two-part scientific name:
genus and species
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Biological Species Concept
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Groups of organisms that can
interbreed freely under natural
conditions.
Most commonly used of the three
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Evolutionary Species Concept
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Groups organisms together using an
ancestral/descendant relationship
that is traceable in the fossil record
Focuses on studying the
morphological features of closely
related organisms.
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Measuring Biodiversity
• The simplest measure of biodiversity is the
number of species – called species richness.
– Usually only count resident species, and not accidental
or temporary immigrants
• Another concept of species diversity is
heterogeneity:
Community 1 Community 2
Species A
99
50
Species B
1
50
Heterogeneity is higher in a community where there are more
species and when the species are more equally abundant.
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Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H)
H = - pi(lnpi)  Larger H = more diversity
• Variables associated with the Shannon-Weiner
Diversity index:
 S – total number of species in the community
(richness)
 pi – proportion of S made up of the ith species
 Hmax = ln(S)
 EH – equitability (evenness; b/t 0 and 1) = H / Hmax
Species
1
2
3
4
1.386294
#
12
562
8
1
583
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pi
0.020583
0.963979
0.013722
0.001715
ln(pi )
(pi )(lnpi )
-3.88328 -0.07993
-0.03669 -0.03536
-4.28875 -0.05885
-6.36819 -0.01092
-0.18507
H= 0.18507
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E = 0.18507/1.386297
=
0.1335
#
12
12
12
12
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pi
0.25
0.25
0.25
0.25
ln(pi 2)
-1.38629
-1.38629
-1.38629
-1.38629
-0.34657
Species Richness =
4
-0.34657 ln (species richness) = Hmax = 1.386294
-0.34657
H = - (sum of (pi)(lnpi)) = 1.38629
-0.34657
E = H/Hmax 0.999997
-1.38629
#
pi
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
Species richness and equitability affect the
12
0.05
Shannon Wiener index.
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
12
0.05
#
pi
ln(pi 2)
12
0.05
3
0.0625
-2.77259 -0.17329
Species Richness =
4
12
0.05
38
0.791667 -0.23361 -0.18495 ln (species richness) = Hmax = 1.386294
12
0.05
1
0.020833 -3.8712 -0.08065
H = - (sum of (pi)(lnpi)) = 0.69881
12
0.05
6
0.125
-2.07944 -0.25993
E = H/Hmax 0.504085
240
48
-0.69881
Species Richness =
20
ln (species richness) = Hmax = 2.995732
H = - (sum of (pi)(lnpi)) = 2.99573
E = H/Hmax 0.999999
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Species
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
biodiversity- dept livestock
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ln(pi 2)
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-2.99573
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-0.14979
-2.99573
Simpson’s Index
D = 1 - pi2 ranges from 0 to 1
• N = total number of individuals
• pi = proportion of each species
• Simpson’s Index of Diversity = 1 – D
– Ranges from 0 to 1  Low to high diversity
Species
1
2
3
4
4/6/2017
#
12
12
12
12
48
pi
0.25
0.25
0.25
0.25
pi 2
0.0625
0.0625
0.0625
0.0625
0.25
biodiversity- dept livestock
and wildlife:midlands state
D=
1-D =
0.25
0.75
Species
1
2
3
4
#
12
12
12
12
48
pi
0.25
0.25
0.25
0.25
2
pi
0.0625
0.0625
0.0625
0.0625
0.25
D=
1-D =
0.25
0.75
Species richness and equitability affect
Simpson’s index.
Species
1
2
3
4
#
3
38
1
6
48
4/6/2017
pi
0.0625
0.791667
0.020833
0.125
pi 2
0.003906
0.626736
0.000434
0.015625
0.646701
D = 0.646701
1-D = 0.353299
Species
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
biodiversity- dept livestock
and wildlife:midlands state
#
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
240
D=
1-D =
pi
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.95
pi 2
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.0025
0.05
Problems in General





Measuring biodiversity is ultimately a
complex process involving many facets.
Various applications of species concepts
either divide and/or group organisms
together.
Biodiversity can’t be reduced to a single
number.
Studying biodiversity using all ecosystem
processes at all scales.
In attempting to preserve biodiversity we
often are ‘speciesists’ ;favoring the cute
and popular species.
4/6/2017
biodiversity- dept livestock and
wildlife:midlands state university
Conclusions




Generally, areas of higher productivity
correlate with increases in biodiversity.
Biodiversity is also measured using the
genetic variability of different populations
of a single species.
Biodiversity can’t be reduced to a single
number, thus creating complications when
comparing biodiversity in different
ecosystems.
The importance of biodiversity is accepted
by some and disregarded by many others.
4/6/2017
biodiversity- dept livestock and
wildlife:midlands state university
QUESTIONS…



How do different taxonomic methods
create potential problems in measuring
biodiversity?
How do difficulties in measuring
biodiversity create complications for policy
makers and administrative regulations?
Can we study all processes at all scales?
Why should anyone care about‘biodiversity’
4/6/2017
?
biodiversity- dept livestock and
wildlife:midlands state university