Transcript Natural_Loss_of_Biodiversity

 The total amount of species living in a given area
 This accounts from the single celled bacteria to the
largest of the top consumers
 Higher biodiversities are found in your biomes that have
warm temperatures and wetter conditions
 Examples?
 Tropical Rainforest
 Boreal Forest (Taiga)
 Lower Biodiversity biomes
would be cooler and/or dry
 Examples?
 Desert
 Tundra
 Why are we all so different?
 Differences in our genetic code are what make us unique
and look so different
 This is called genetic variation
 These are mutations in the genetic code that cause
similar structures, but different ways to look at it
 This genetic variation is found in all living organisms,
which is believed to be the driving force of evolution
 The better showing of genes are the ones that survive
better
 Ecosystem Services
 Provide food, fuel, fiber, and shelter
 Purifies air and water
 Detoxifies and decomposes waste
 Stabilizes Earth’s climate
 Moderates floods, droughts, and temperature extremes
 Recycles nutrients and renews soils
 Pollinates Plants
 Maintains genetic diversity for new crops and livestock
 Gives us the means to adapt and change
 Background Extinctions
 Natural selection is going to lead to a species that dies
out, by no cause of man
 On average, most species will exist for 5-10 million years
before going extinct
 The number does not remain constant
 Kills off 50-95% of life on Earth
 Have happened 5 times in our history
 We are in a 6th extinction now and it is happening
about 100x faster than the normal background
extinction
 Extinction can happen at a fast rate (100’s of years) or
a slow rate (millions of years)
 Endangered  any species which is in danger of
extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its
range
 Means?
 Threatened  any species which is likely to become an
endangered species within the foreseeable future
throughout all or a significant portion of its range
 Means?
 Black Rhino
 Hawksbill Turtle
 South China Tiger
 Pangolin
 Sumatran Rhino,
Orangutan, Tiger, and
Elephant
 Vaquita
 Polar Bear
 Forest Elephant
 Red Panda
 Whale Shark
 Rock Hopper Penguin
 Great White Shark
 Provide many of the new drugs and drugs that have
been around for centuries
 Rosy Periwinkle of Madagascar
 Provides chemicals for Hodgkin’s disease and a rare fatal form
of leukemia
 Australian Cork
 Has chemicals that are used to treat some forms of cancer,
stomach disorders and motion sickness
 Pacific Yew
 Provides chemicals for many of the cancer drugs
 Tourism and Recreation
 Many people travel to different locations all over the
world to see exotic locations with different landscapes
and ecosystems
 Ex. Rainforests treks, savannah safaris, scuba diving around
coral reefs
 This trekking provides income for many developing
nations which have local services hired to run these
recreation adventures.
 Problems?
 Consider that we have
the increasing need for
space, the need for more
resources from under the
ecosystems, and
increasing population
that needs to be fed, and
that some species are
deadly to us.
 Even if you are not
writing notes, take a
sheet of paper out and
write a small para graph
on which side of the
argument are you on?
Should we conserve
biodiversity, or should
use the resources as we
see fit?