Transcript biodiversity and sustainability 2010 working

Our growing population and increasing
consumption of natural resources places
enormous stresses on natural ecosystems and
species within them.
Major causes of loss of biodiversity:
• loss of and damage to habitats
• over-harvesting
• Introduction of non-native species to a new area
• climate change
•Sustainability is being able
to keep an ecosystem
“healthy” or “balanced”
for long periods of time.
What do you think “healthy” and
balanced” means in regard to an
ecosystem?
•Ecosystems are interactions between plants,
animals, and microorganisms and their
environment. Biotic & Abiotic
• Ecosystems will fail if they do not
remain balanced.
•A community (just biotic) can not carry more
organisms
than its food, water, and shelter can
accommodate.
•Each organism has its own niche, or role,
to play.
Are these birds
competing for
food or space?
TX Coastal Marsh Ecosystem
We rely upon it for many things:
• Food: bays are nurseries for shrimp, fish, and
oysters that we harvest
• Transportation: industrial barges transport goods
from Mexico to Maine via the intracoastal canal
• Tourism / recreation: beaches & bays are vacation
destinations, birdwatchers, hunters, and fisherman
• Economics: all of the above bring in millions to TX
economy along with natural resources like gas & oil
Reasons to Save the Katy Prairie
1. It's a great place to enjoy the outdoors.
- hiking, biking, etc.
2. It's a local food source
- farmlands grow rice, vegetables
- ranchers raise cattle for local markets
3. It's good for the air we breathe and the water we drink.
- recharge our
underground aquifers
- sequester carbon from the air
- grasses help reduce downstream flooding by absorbing water
4. natural laboratory
-study nature
- ground-breaking discoveries about ecology, alternative fuels,
and agricultural production
5. It's our heritage; save it for the future.
Katy Prairie species counted in one day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOng-UuvFI
9 banded armadillo
Wood duck
Attwater prairie chicken
Mockingbird
Northern Raccoon
Bobcat
Belted kingfisher
Blue winged teal
Sandhill crane
Eastern bluebird
Coyote
Gulf Fritillary
Clouded crimson moth
Cicada
Green tree frog
Black-bellied whistling
duck
Bald Eagle
Black vulture
Wolf spider
Brown thrasher
Northern bobwhite
quail
Grasshopper
Crested caracara
Southern leopard frog
Chipping sparrow
Brunners praying mantis
Paper wasp
Cucumber
beetle
Beaver
Green Anole
Short-eared owl
Harvester ant
Red-eared slider
Eastern cottontail
Opossum
Western cottonmouth
American robin
Speckled kingsnake
White-tailed deer
Skunk
Rough Green Snake
(Grass snake)
Green Lacewing
Monarch butterfly
Big bluestem
Indian Blanket
Anemone
Purple mistflower
Swamp sunflower
Spartina grass
Iron weed
California Cottontop
Butterfly Pea
Texas Bluegrass
Texas Coneflower
Coreopsis
Cottonwood tree
Sharp gayfeather
Sugarberry Tree
(Hackberry)
Southern Live Oak
Laughing gull
Bottlenose dolphin
Great blue heron
Brown pelican
Spotted sea trout
Red drum
Southern flounder
Blue crab
Black drum
pinfish
shrimp
oyster
mullet
Wigeon grass
Turtle grass
Shoal grass
ANSWERS
Laughing gull
Bottlenose dolphin
Brown pelican
Great blue heron
Spotted sea trout
Red drum
Southern flounder
Blue crab
Black drum
pinfish
shrimp
Wigeon grass
mullet
Turtle grass
oyster
Shoal grass
BIODIVERSITY
other Viruses
Chordates
Mollusks
Bacteria
Fungi
Protozoa
Algae
Plants
Nematodes
Crustaceans
Arachnids
Insects
Scientists have identified
about 1.75 million species and
have arranged them into
groups as shown here. They
tend to be the larger, more
visible species.
Adapted from: http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/sustain/biodiv1.pdf