Transcript Slide 1

• Have you ever considered that
the cereal you eat is brought to
you each morning by the wind?
• Or that the clear, cold, clean
water drawn from your faucet may
have been purified for you by a
wetland?
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• Trees in your front yard work to
trap dust, dirt and harmful gases
from the air you breathe.
• The medicine you take to ease a
fever, or the achy muscles from a
cold comes to you from Nature’s
warehouse of services.
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Biodiversity
Components of…
Biodiversity—Components
• Species Diversity
• Genetic Diversity
• Ecosystem Diversity
Scientists will look at all these
different factors to determine the
biodiversity of an area.
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Species diversity
• number of species in a given
area.
– An island with 2 bird species and 1 lizard
species is more diverse than an island with
3 bird species.
– It’s numbers of species as well as
categories of organisms.
http://www.al.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/photo/for/mng
t/pine_plantation2.jpg
http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/themes/human/images/Vegetation_Cuba.jpg
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Higher
Species Diversity
Lower Species Diversity
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http://www.sagarprabhu.com/gif/rice5.gif
Genetic diversity
• Variations of genes
within a species.
– Lots of distinct populations
within a species (lots of
varieties of rice in India--all
from same species)
– Genetic Variation within the
population as a whole
(high in Indian rhinos, low
in cheetahs)
A few of the
hundreds of
rice varieties
found in
India.
Some genetic diversity
in potatoes …
http://www.potatoperspective.org/about_files/DSCN7746.jpg
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• Variety of ecosystems
within an area.
Coniferous Forest
meeting a meadow
http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/ba
ckissues/02-01/living_color/beach.jpg
http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/HJA_mo/images/
Lookout_meadow_vs_forest.jpg
Ecosystem diversity
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– Wisconsin has about 9
different ecosystems,
other states only have
about 3, some >14, etc.
– Very hard to measure due
to overlapping boundary
areas also called
ecotones.
Ocean meeting
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Biodiversity
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem Services
Moderating weather events…
–Lessen the effects of
droughts and floods
–Protect streams/rivers and
coastal shores from erosion
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Weather Events, egs
• Plant roots can help buffer shores
from erosion, holding the soil in
place.
• Large trees can shade the
understory plants from the sun’s
rays, helping them sustain a long
period of drought.
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Flood protection—WORTH?
Mississippi River Valley
• Humans drained the wetlands and
altered stream channels. The
wetlands have been controlling
flooding for millennia.
– 1993 floods: 12.8 billion dollars
– Hurricane Katrina: 82.1 billion dollars
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Ecosystem Services
• Maintain Soil quality
– healthy bacteria, algae, fungi, mites,
millipedes and worms help cycle nutrients
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Ecosystem Services
• Maintain
Air quality
– plants purify the
air and filter
harmful particles
out of the air
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Ecosystem Services
• Maintain
Water
quality
variety of vegetation reduces erosion and
purifies water by removing (using or
absorbing) nutrients and pollution
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Ecosystem Services—WORTH?
Water Purification
• When NYC had altered its ecosystem to
eliminate the natural landscape, their
water quality plummeted.
• It would have cost them 6-8 billion PLUS
300 million per year to install water
treatment plants…
• They instead restored the ruined
landscape at a cost of $660 million.
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Ecosystem Services
Detoxify and decompose wastes
– Remember the cycles? Remember how
important the decomposers were to
MANY of
the cycles?
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Ecosystem
Services
• Control agricultural
pests
– most crop pests can be
controlled by other
organisms for a longer
period of time – helpful
Intercropping
cocoa plants
with coconut
trees.
because many pests
become resistant to
synthetic pesticides
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Ecosystem Services—WORTH?
Pollination
• 1/3 of human food comes from plants
pollinated by wild pollinators
• Over 100,000 different animals—including
bats, bees, flies, moths, beetles, birds and
butterflies—provide FREE pollination
services
• This service would cost the US alone 4 – 6
billion dollars per year!
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Ecosystem Services
http://offthegridgirls.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/burdock.jpg
Disperse seeds
• Many plants rely on the wind or animals to
disperse their seeds.
http://www.ontariowildflower.com/images/scat_elk.jpg
http://www.yallaroo.com.au/images/Seed_dispersal.JPG
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Ecosystem Services—WORTH?
Medicines
• 80% of the world’s population relies upon
natural medicinal products.
• Of the top 150 prescription drugs in the
US, 118 originate from natural sources:
– 74% from plants
– 18% from fungi
• 9 of the top 10 drugs come from natural
plant products
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Ecosystem Services—Threats
• Easy to take for granted, but
human actions can limit or
destroy these services
–Growth in the human enterprise
(population, consumption of goods,
effects of technologies)
–Looking to short term gain as
opposed to long term health of
society
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Ecosystem Services—Threats
The HIPPO Dilemma
• H—Habitat destruction/fragmentation
• I—Invasive species
• P—Population growth of HUMANS
• P—Pollution
• O--Overconsumption
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Habitat Destruction/Fragmentation
• Changing a habitat to suit human
needs…for housing, farming, etc.
•This displaces
animals/plants.
As the human
population
grows, so does
habitat
destruction!
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Fragmentation
• Breaking up large
habitats into smaller
habitats.
• Creates an “edge”
habitat where “inner”
habitat used to be.
Some plants and
animals cannot adapt
to these changes.
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Invasive Species
Oftentimes, invasive species
out-compete native species
resulting in disruption of the
and food chain.
relocated somewhereecosystem
Many native organisms are
than its original habitat.
becoming endangered by this!
Any organism that has
been
other
Synonyms include:
Zebra Mussel
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Introduced species, nonnative species, exotic
species and alien species
Asian Beetle
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Population growth of Humans
 Increasing population
means greater demand for
food, shelter, fuel and
water.
 This often leads to habitat
loss, pollution, resource
scarcity and
overconsumption (in areas
with enough money)
 Humans are coming into
greater (more frequent)
contact with previously wild
areas with high biodiversity
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/
2222903/2/istockphoto_2222903_crowded_city.jpg
http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/categories/stressors/image
s/pollution_sm.jpg
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Pollution
o Pollution can alter the habitat to the
point where some plants and animals
will not be able to adapt.
o Global Climate Change--many
species are intolerant to changes in
temperature--affects feeding
relationships and breeding patterns.
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Pollution
o Acid rain/Air pollution-these types of
issues do not respect borders. US acid
rain fell in Canada destroying sugar maple
forests which upset the amount/quality of
maple syrup produced.
• Pesticide runoff—frequently pesticides will
degrade an environment for most
organisms in that ecosystem.
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Overconsumption
 Individuals consuming many more
resources than are needed to survive
– sometimes even more than is needed for a
high standard of life
 Industrialized nations make up 25%
of the world’s population, but use
75% of its resources.
 US makes up only 5% of world’s pop-causes 33% of world’s pollution!
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