Chapter 4: 4-1 to 4-3 By: Ysabelle Badiang Pd #4 AP Environmental Chapter 4: Biodiversity and Evolution

4-1

 Biological Diversity (Biodiversity): the variety of the earth’s species, or varying life-forms, the genes they contain, the ecosystems in which they live, and the ecosystem processes of energy flow and nutrient cycling that sustain all life; four important components  Species Diversity:  Genetic Diversity: enables life on the earth to adapt to and survive dramatic environmental changes  Ecosystem Diversity: earth’s variety of deserts, grassland, forests, mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands Vocabulary

 Functional Diversity: variety of processes such as energy flow and matter cycling that occur within ecosystems as species interact with each other in food chains and food webs  Species: a set of individuals that can mate and produce fertile offspring; ex: Humans- Homo sapiens sapiens  Biomes: large regions such as forests, deserts, and grasslands with distinct climates and certain species adapted to them Vocabulary

Why Should We Protect Sharks?  400 known species of sharks  Range from goldfish-sized dwarf dog shark to whale shark (18 meters=60 feet)  Whale shark, Basking shark, and Megamouth shark: plant-eating (phytoplankton)  people worldwide injured and average six deaths per year ( )  “For every shark that injures or kills a person every year, people kill about 1.2 million sharks”- (79-97 million shark deaths per year)  Finning: sharks caught for their valuable fins and are thrown back, alive, into the water to drown or bleed to death Core Case Study

 32% of world’s open- ocean shark species are threatened with extinction  Most endangered: Scalloped Hammerhead shark  Around for more than 400 mill. years  Keystone Species: play crucial role in helping to keep their ecosystems functioning  Medical Opportunities: possible cure to cancer and better immune systems  Almost never get cancer and wounds heal without infections Core Case Study

Have You Thanked the Insects Today?  Sting us, bite us, spread disease, eat our food, invade plants  Lets flowering plants reproduce sexually through pollination  Insects eat other insects= pest control  We need insects more than they need us Science Focus

 Earth’s biodiversity is a vital part of the natural capital that helps keep us alive and supports our economies  Tech: food, wood, fibers, energy (wood and biofuels), medicines  Air and water quality, fertile topsoil, decomposition and recycling waste, and control of species that we regard as pests  Champion of Biodiversity: Edward O. Wilson Information

 Loved bugs as a kid  Specialized in ants  Widened scope to earth’s biodiversity  Theory of island biogeography  First to use “biodiversity” in a scientific paper Edward O. Wilson

4-2

 Fossils: mineralized or petrified replicas of skeletons, bones, teeth, shells, leaves, and seeds, or impressions of such items found in rocks  Biological Evolution (Evolution): process whereby earth’s life changes over time through changes in the genetic characteristics of populations  Theory of Evolution: all species descended from earlier, ancestral species; life comes from life  Natural Selection: individuals with certain traits are more likely to survive and reproduce under particular set of environmental conditions than are those w/out the traits  “Biological evolution through natural selection”  “Populations- not individuals-evolve by becoming genetically different.” Vocabulary

 Mutations: random changes in the DNA molecules of a gene in any cell that can be inherited by offspring  Adaptation (Adaptive Trait): any heritable trait that improves the ability of an individual organism to survive and to reproduce at a higher rate than other individuals in a population are able to do under prevailing environmental conditions  Differential Reproduction: enables individuals with the trait to produce more surviving offspring than other members of the population produce  Genetic Resistance: the ability of one or more organism in a population to tolerate a chemical designed to kill it Vocabulary

 Biological evolution by natural selection: “Genes mutate, individuals are selected, and populations evolve such that they are better adapted to survive and reproduce under existing environmental conditions.” Vocabulary

 The fossils found so far represent probably only 1% of all species that have ever lived  Paleontology: trying to reconstruct the development of life with so little evidence; challenging scientific detective game  1858 : Charles Darwin ( ) and Alfred Russel Wallace ( ) independently proposed concept of natural selection as mechanism for biological evolution  Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859)

 3 Successful Adaptations of Humans:  Strong opposable thumbs  Ability to walk upright  Complex brains

4-3

 Tectonic Plates: huge flows of molten rock w/in the earth’s interior break its surface into a series of gigantic solid plates  Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions  Tectonic Plates Drifting Effects:  Locations of continents and oceanic basins have greatly influenced the earth’s climate and this helped to determine where plants and animals can live  Movement of continents has allowed species to move, adapt to new environments, and form new species through natural selection Information

Earth is Just right for Life to Thrive  Temperature range: supports life  Orbit size: moderate temperatures  Liquid water: necessary for life  Rotation speed: sun doesn’t overheat surface  Size: gravity keeps atmosphere Science Focus