Transcript What is Conservation Biology?

Biology
Ecology
Human Impact
Ecology
Topics
•
Human
population growth
•
Biodiversity
•
Impacts on the
environment
•
Factors
influencing
climate
•
Direct & Indirect
influence on
natural resources
•
Conservation
Essential Questions
9. What factors affect the growth of human
populations?
10. What is biodiversity? Describe the importance
of it.
11. How do both the changes and the needs of a
human populations impact the environment?
12. What are the factors that influence climate?
13. How do humans directly and indirect influence
natural resources? What some practices that
can be done to improve and conserve the
natural world?
World Population and Exponential Growth
As the human population grows what might be the impact on
the following:
(1) Resources
use and
waste
(2) Poverty
2012
(3) Loss of
biodiversity
(4) Global
Climate
Change
Who is Overpopulated?
Population Growth
Are we living
Sustainably?
Is the problem we face
population size or resource
use?
Fig. 1-4, p. 8
return
Ecological Footprint
What is an ecological footprint?
Resource use and WastePollution (Air, Water and Land) – Planet in Peril
Loss of Biodiversity
Poverty
The Story of Stuff
Global Climate Change
Examples of over consumption
Living on interest vs. Living on principal
Imagine you win $1,000,000 in the lottery
Living on Interest
(Sustainably)
Invest the capital (1 million)
at 10% interest.
Living on Principal
If you spent $200,000 per
year, your 1million would
be gone early in the 7th
year
You will have a sustainable
income of $100,000 per
year. Without depleting
your capital (1 million)
If you spent $110,000 per
year, you would be
bankrupt early in the 18th
year.
How would you prefer to live?
How do we live now?
Human Impact: Population and Activities
Humans have disturbed from 50 to 83% of the earth's land surface.
Humans use, waste, or destroy about 40% of the net primary productivity of the
planet's terrestrial ecosystems.
Examples / Issues:
Planet in Peril – Battle lines (2009)
Bush Meat / Zoonotic Viruses
Nigerian Oil Conflict
Peruvian Lead poisoning
Shark fining and Ecotourism
African Elephants
Mountain Gorillas
Climate
Climate is the long-term
atmospheric conditions of a
region, typically considered
over decades
(30-1 million years).
Average temperature and
average precipitation are
the two major factors that
determine the climate of
a region.
The amount of incoming
solar energy per unit area
of land, air circulation over
surface of the earth, and
water circulation determine
the different climates that
occur.
Factors that Influence Climate
Greenhouse Effect
Climate and Climate Change
Melting Alaska
Impact of Warming and the Northern Passage
Greenhouse Gases
Carbon Dioxide – increase due to the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
Methane – increase due to raising livestock, growing rice and warming
Nitrous Oxide – burning anything in our atmosphere produces nitrogen oxides
Why should we care about
biodiversity?
Preservation of biodiversity is
important for several reasons:
intrinsic or existence value
Instrumental value usefulness to
humans (pharmaceuticals,
ecotourism, economic value)
Example: Coffee
What is Conservation Biology?
• Conservation biology is a
multidisciplinary science that originated
in the 1970’s. Its goal is to use
emergency responses slow down the
rate destruction and degradation
Examples:
California Condor
Tigers
RAP – in Madagascar
Human Impact on
Biodiversity
Illegal species Trade
Invasive Species
Deforestation
Major Pollution Events
Photochemical Smog (Los Angeles)
Acid Rain
Ozone Double Trouble
Industrial Disasters
(Three Mile Island, Chernobyl & Bhopal)
BP Oil Spill
Exxon Valdez
Minamata Bay, Pesticides & Love Canal