Announcements Exam 2 November 9 th 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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Recreation, tourism is worth many billions of dollars.

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."

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

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

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

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

Mass Extinction Events Over 50% of species are lost edu/ees207/Mass_Ext/higg ins_mass2.html Permian extinction K-T extinction

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

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

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