1. Threats to Biodiversity

2. Habitat Loss
Deforestation: trees cut and never replanted (for timber or agriculture reasons)
Tropical forests only cover 7% of Earth’s land yet contain over half of Earth’s species.
Wetland drainage:6% of the earths surface, 24% of all wetlands are in Canada (Manitoba and Ontario)
Habitat loss and species loss are one problem but also plants in wetlands help filter out sediment and pollutants from the water helping to keep it clean.

3. Alien Species
Introducing new (non-native) species from a different area into an ecosystem. May be purposeful or an accident through shipments of goods by humans
Most alien species are harmless or even beneficial in their new ecosystem

4. Invasive Species
An alien species that takes over the habitat of native species
Upset equilibrium (balance) of the ecosystem
Many aquatic invasive species are transported in the ballast water of a ship (helps to keep the boat in balance) Ballast water is like a huge aquarium containing fish, and microscopic organisms
ZEBRA MUSSELS AND LAKE ERIE
GOBIE and the GREAT LAKES

5. Over Exploitation
Taking too much of a resource for human use to the point of resource depletion
The cod fishery on the East coast is an example of this

6. Ecosystem connectivity
Several ecosystems are connected through the lifecycle of some of it’s organisms.
Ex. Salmon: they hatch in fresh water stream temperate rain forest (B.C.)
Spend adult life in Pacific ocean picking up and storing nutrients
Return to birth place to spawn (breed)
Bears catch salmon bring into the forest and the nutrients from the ocean are released into the forest as its body decays.

7. Extinction
Death rate remains higher than birth rate for a long time= species will go extinct
Not necessarily only caused by humans, ecosystems change and species can go extinct because of this
Patterns of natural extinction:
Background extinction-slow change in ecosystems result in recurring extinction
Mass extinction: sudden change in ecosystems on earth result in many species going extinct all at once.

8. Extinction

9. Current extinction rates
Due to human presence rate is 100 to 1000x higher than normal background rates.
This problem has been called the BIODIVERSITY CRISIS
Resulted by humans and acts such as deforestation, habitat destruction and air and water pollution changing abiotic and biotic factors

10. Restoring ecology
The renewal of degraded or destroyed ecosystems ( like the TED talks video)
Reforestation methods:
Seeding efforts and management have shown this works
Wetland restoration:
Alfred bog is an example Pg. 87
Water control is used to restore water to drained wetlands then replanting native species occurs
Controlling alien species:
Biocontrol: the use of a species to control the population growth or spread of an undesirable species
Problems go with this-sometimes the species it controls can affect native species negatively.
Gypsy moth and Parasitoid fly example

12. Controlling alien species
Chemicals: poisons directly presented to the organisms to be controlled can have fairly contained results (e.g. killing rats on an island had big impacts on the rats population and minimal on the bird population of the island)
Bioremediation: the use of living organisms to clean up contaminated areas naturally
E.g. fungi, plants and bacteria can be used to extract contamination.
Bioaugmentation: the use of organism to add essential nutrients to depleted soils
E.g. clover planted to restore nitrogen levels naturally

14. The future of Restoration Ecology
Alberta Tar sands result in almost complete habitat and ecosystem destruction
The oil spill off the coast of New Mexico