1. Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future Richard T. Wright
Chapter 10
Wild Species and Biodiversity
PPT by Clark E. Adams

2. Wild Species and Biodiversity
The value of wild species
Saving wild species
Biodiversity and its decline
Protecting Biodiversity

3. Appreciating the Worth of Diversity
The worth ($) of plant and animal diversity in terms of goods and services
Factors that contribute to a reduction in plant and animal diversity
Understanding the “costs” of losing plant and animal diversity
Programs to protect biodiversity

4. Puffin Project: Seabird Restoration
Project of the Audubon Society

5. The Value of Wild Species
Biological wealth
Two kinds of value
Sources for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and animal husbandry
Sources for medicine
Recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value
Value for their own sake

6. Biological Wealth = $38 Trillion/Year
Gas, climate, and water regulation
Water supply
Erosion control
Soil formation
Pollination

7. Biological Wealth = $38 Trillion/Year
Biological control
Food production
Recreation
Raw materials
Nutrient cycling
Waste treatment

8. Two Kinds of Value Instrumental: beneficial to humans
Sources for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and animal husbandry
Recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value
Sources of medicine
Intrinsic: value for its own sake

9. Source for Agriculture: Wild or Cultivated?
Highly adaptable to changing environments
Have numerous traits for resistance
Lack genetic vigor

10. Source for Agriculture: Wild or Cultivated?
High degree of genetic diversity
Represents the genetic bank
Need highly controlled environmental conditions

11. Sources for Medicine: Vincristine

13. Sources of Medicine: Table 10-1
Vincristine from rosy periwinkle cures leukemia.
Capoten from the venom of the Brazilian viper controls high blood pressure.
Taxol from the bark of the pacific yew used to treat ovarian, breast, and small-cell cancers.

14. Recreational, Aesthetic, and Scientific Value
Ecotourism: largest foreign exchange-generating enterprise in many developing countries
$104 billion spent on wildlife-related recreation
$31 billion spent to observe, feed, or photograph wildlife

15. Recreational, Aesthetic, and Scientific Value

16. Value for Their Own Sake
Spiritual: giving divine recognition to selected species
Religious: association between wild things and a creator
Cultural: animal rights, American Indians

17. Saving Wild Species Game animals in the United States
Acts protecting endangered species

18. Past Wildlife Management Problems
Restoring the numbers of many game animals, e.g., deer, elk, turkey
Passing laws to control the collection and commercial exploitation of wildlife
Poaching and overhunting

19. Contemporary Wildlife Management Problems
Road-killed animals
Population explosion of urban wildlife
Lack of natural predators
Wildlife as vectors for certain diseases
Pet predation by coyotes
Changed societal attitudes towards animals

20. Acts Protecting Endangered Species
Lacey Act: forbids interstate commerce of illegally killed wildlife
Endangered Species Act (ESA): protects endangered and threatened species (Table 10-4)
Total endangered U.S. species = 987 (388 animals, 599 plants)
Threatened U.S. species = 276 (129 animals, 147 plants)

21. Strengths or Weaknesses of Endangered Species Act?
The need for official recognition
Control over commercial exploitation of endangered species
Government controls on development in critical habitats
Recovery programs
Habitat conservation plan (HCP)

22. Case Histories Peregrine falcon Whooping crane Spotted owl
Klamath river and coho salmon

23. Biodiversity and Its Decline
The decline in biodiversity
Reasons for the decline
Consequences of losing biodiversity

25. The Status of U.S. Species

26. Causes of Animal Extinctions

27. Reasons for Biodiversity Decline
Habitat alterations
Conversions
Fragmentation
Simplification
Human population growth
Pollution (Fig )

28. Reasons for Biodiversity Decline
Introduction of exotic species, e.g., brown tree snake in Guam
Overuse: combination of greed, ignorance, and desperation

29. Habitat Alterations
Photo by C. E. Adams

30. Human Population Growth and Species Extinctions

31. Pollution: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
March 24, 1989
11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound
Oil slick

32. Exotic Species: Brazilian Pepper Bush

33. Overuse
Harvest of 50 million songbirds for food

34. Overuse
Trafficking in wildlife and products derived from wild species – $10 billion/year
90% decline in rhinos
1.6 tons of tiger bones = 340 tigers
Parrot smuggling: 40 of 330 species face extinction

35. Consequences of Losing Biodiversity: The Plane Analogy
The whole plane is an ecosystem.
There are many different parts (species) in the jet plane ecosystem.
How does removal of one or more species affect ecosystem structure or function?

36. Protecting Biodiversity
International developments
Stewardship concerns

37. International Steps to Protect Biodiversity
“Red List of Threatened Species”
11,167 species of plants and animals
Convention on trade in endangered species (CITES)
Focuses on trade in wildlife and wildlife parts
Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD)

38. International Steps to Protect Biodiversity
Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD)
Stepping up war on invasive species
Access to genetic resources
Stem tide of deforestations
Formulating a strategic plan through 2010

39. International Steps to Protect Biodiversity
Convention on biological diversity
Focuses on conserving biological diversity worldwide
Does not yet have the support of the United States

40. Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Sponsors: World Bank, Conservation International, and the Global Environment Facility
Fund = $150 million for developing countries
Protect biodiversity “hotspots”

41. Biodiversity Hotspots
60% of the biodiversity is located on
just 1.4% of the Earth’s land surface.

42. Stewardship Concerns
Managing and protecting something you DO NOT own. Involves:
Wisdom
Values

43. The Wisdom of Stewardship
Reforming policies that lead to declines in biodiversity
Addressing the needs of people whose livelihood is derived from exploiting wild species

44. The Wisdom of Stewardship
Practicing conservation at the landscape level
Promoting more research on biodiversity

45. The Values of Stewardship
Manage or mine the resource?
Human perceptions of their relationships to the natural world
Deep ecology: we are part of the Earth and not separate from it
Religious faiths

46. End of Chapter 10