Transcript Figure 55.24a

Chapter 55: Conservation Biology & Restoration Ecology
1. What is conservation biology?
- The integration of all aspects of biology to conserve biological diversity at all levels
- Ecology, physiology, molecular biology, genetics & evolutionary biology
2. What is restoration ecology?
- Applies ecological principles to return humanly disturbed ecosystems back
to their natural state
3. What is biodiversity?
- Biological diversity
- 3 levels
- Genetic diversity
- Genetic variation within a population & genetic variation
between populations
- Species diversity
- The variety of species in an ecosystem or throughout the biosphere
- Threatened species – species likely to be considered endangered
in the foreseeable future
- Endangered species – species in danger of becoming extinct
within their range
- Ecosystem diversity
- The variety of biosphere’s ecosystems
- Extinction of 1 species can impact its community & ecosystem
Figure 55.2 Three levels of biodiversity
Genetic diversity in a vole population
Species diversity in a coastal redwood ecosystem
Community and ecosystem diversity
across the landscape of an entire region
EXPRIMENT
200
Number of male birds
Researchers observed that the population
collapse of the greater prairie chicken was mirrored in a reduction in
fertility, as measured by the hatching rate of eggs. Comparison of
DNA samples from the Jasper County, Illinois, population with DNA
from feathers in museum specimens showed that genetic variation
had declined in the study population. In 1992, researchers began
experimental translocations of prairie chickens from Minnesota,
Kansas, and Nebraska in an attempt to increase genetic variation.
150
100
50
0
1970
RESULTS
After translocation (blue arrow), the viability of eggs
rapidly improved, and the population rebounded.
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
Year
(a) Population dynamics
100
CONCLUSION
The researchers concluded that lack of genetic
variation had started the Jasper County population of prairie
chickens down the extinction vortex.
Eggs hatched (%)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
1970-74
1975-79
1980-84
1985-89
Years
Figure 55.10
(b) Hatching rate
1990
1993-97
Chapter 55: Conservation Biology & Restoration Ecology
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is conservation biology?
What is restoration ecology?
What is biodiversity?
What things are threatening biodiversity?
- Habitat loss
- Introduced species
- Overexploitation
- Disruption of interaction networks (honeybee / pollination)
Figure 55.1 Tropical deforestation in West Kalimantan, Borneo
Habitat loss
(a) A red-cockaded woodpecker perches at the
entrance to its nest site in a longleaf pine.
Figure 55.13a–c
(b) Forest that can
sustain red-cockaded
woodpeckers has
low undergrowth.
(c) Forest that cannot sustain red-cockaded
woodpeckers has high, dense undergrowth that
impacts the woodpeckers’ access to feeding grounds.
Figure 55.6 Two introduced species
(a) Brown tree
snake, introduced to Guam
in cargo
(b) Introduced kudzu thriving in South Carolina
Figure 55.7 Overexploitation
North Atlantic bluefin tuna
Chapter 55: Conservation Biology & Restoration Ecology
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is conservation biology?
What is restoration ecology?
What is biodiversity?
What things are threatening biodiversity?
What’s the difference between fragmentation, an edge, and a corridor?
- Fragmentation – division of natural habitat
- Edge – boundary between ecosystems – species rich
- Corridor – movement strip that connects habitats
Figure 55.15
Figure 55.16 An artificial corridor
Terrestrial
biodiversity
hot spots
Equator
Figure 55.17
Nicaragua
0
50
Costa
Rica
100
Kilometers
42
Gallatin R.
Madison R.
43
National park land
Buffer zone
Montana
Wyoming
Yellowstone
Shoshone R.
National
(a) Boundaries
of the zoned
Idaho
Parkreserves are indicated by black outlines.
Montana
41
Grand Teton
National Park
Wyoming
40
Biotic boundary for
short-term survival;
MVP is 50 individuals.
Idaho
Biotic boundary for
long-term survival;
MVPinisone
500of
individuals.
(b) Local schoolchildren marvel at the diversity of life
Figure 55.19a, b
Figure 55.18
Costa Rica’s reserves.
PACIFIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
Biophilia
• The evolutionary connection between
human beings and other plants/animals
within the environment.
(a) Detail of animals in a Paleolithic mural, Lascaux, France
Figure 55.24b
(b) Biologist Carlos Rivera Gonzales examining a tiny tree frog in
Peru