This will discuss about biodiversity.

1. Announcements
• Exam 2 November 9th
• Extra credit opportunity: Friday 11 – 2, Oct. 29, Bring a
bag of recyclables - cans, bottles separated from paper -
to Library courtyard (Can also bring old cellphones,
clothes)
– Spend 15-20 minutes getting educated about how to
recycle - right now all our recycling is being thrown
away because it is contaminated with garbage!
– Sign in and get verification that you participated
– Write 1 page summary and reaction, for 25 pts

2. Solutions to the Human Pop Problem
• Slow population growth
• Minimize resource use per person
(lifestyle, technology)
• Sustainable Society

3. Ex. Harvesting wood at the rate the forest grows
5 cords of firewood/yr. from a forest that
produces 5 or more cords/yr.

4. Ex. Annual consumption of clean water = annual
supply
• Harvests of wild species = growth rates
• Output of pollution that does not exceed capacity
of environment to absorb pollutants

5. Ex of Unsustainable actions
• Burning of fossil fuels
• Over-harvesting of wild species
• Exceeding earth's capacity to filter pollution
• Current human population growth

6. Which of the following would reduce your
ecological footprint?
1. Using less electricity
2. Eating little to no meat
3. Walking instead of
driving
4. Using energy efficient
technology
5. All of the above

7. If the earth was divided evenly among everyone, the
average ecological footprint would be 4.5 acres/person. As
the population increases, the average size of the ecological
footprint will do which of the following?
1. Stay the same
2. Increase
3. Decrease

8. Biodiversity:
Values, Threats, Solutions
I. Values of Biodiversity
II. Threats to Biodiversity
III. Causes of Current Mass Extinction
IV. Saving Biodiversity
V. Environmental Conservation

9. Biodiversity – a measure of biological diversity
It includes
• # of species
• genetic diversity within species
• # of species interactions
(predation, etc.)
• # habitat types, ecosystems, etc.

10. How many species are there?
• There are 1.5 million named species.
• Possibly 5 – 30 million species on Earth

11. Biodiversity is not evenly distributed
• Places of greater diversity called “hot spots”
– tend to be in tropical or Mediterranean climates, on
islands, coastlines or mountains

12. I. Value of Biodiversity
Why care about other species and ecosystems?

13. 1. Ecological Value
• Species or ecosystems provide food, shelter,
services for other species
• Species are interdependent

14. 2. Economic Value
• Wild species or ecosystems help us make or
save money
– Medicine, wood
– Filtering pollution, flood control

15. – Filtering pollution, flood control
– Recreation, tourism is worth many billions
of dollars.

16. • Ex. Mountain Gorilla
- Economic value if captured, sold or killed
- one time sale
- not sustainable
- Economic value for tourism
- worth millions of $$
- may be sustainable
"Both sides recognized that . . . through tourism
gorillas were a great economic asset to the
country."

17. 3. Amenity Value
• Species or ecosystem improves life in a non-
material way such as beauty, curiosity, etc.

18. 4. Intrinsic Value
• Species of ecosystem has value to itself
• Has the right to exist

19. The Madagascar periwinkle plant used to treat
leukemia is best defined as having
1. Ecological Value
2. Economic Value
3. Aesthetic Value
4. Intrinsic Value

20. II. Threats to Biodiversity
• Extinction is natural process
• 99% of all species are extinct
• Natural background rate: 1-10 species / year

21. Mass Extinction Events
• Over 50% of species are lost
http://www.earth.rochester.
edu/ees207/Mass_Ext/higg
ins_mass2.html
Permian
extinction
K-T
extinction

22. • K-T Extinction: 65 mya
• 85% of all species living at that time went
extinct, including dinosaurs
• Recovery – it takes 10 -100 million years for #
of species to return to the pre-extinction level
T. Rex Mosasaur
Ammonite

23. Extinction Rates today
• Human actions are causing species to go extinct
• Estimates vary
– Low: 1 species per day = 365 / year
– High: 30,000 species / year
Passenger Pigeons
Sea Mink
Great Auk
Eskimo Curlew

24. We are in the 6th Mass Extinction Event
• 1/3 to 2/3 of all current species could be
extinct by 2050.