1. Sustaining Biodiversity the Species Approach
Chapter 9
Sustaining Biodiversity the Species Approach

2. Background Extinction
1/106 (or .0001%) until humans came along
Now .1 – 1%

3. Mass Extinction
50 – 95% of species go extinct
5 mass extinctions
Last on 65 million years ago
Cause?

4. Levels of Extinction
Local
Ecological
Biological

5. Animal Species Prematurely Extinct Due to Human Activities

6. Endangered vs Threatened
Endangered Species
So few survivors may become extinct soon
Threatened Species
Population is dropping rapidly
Endangered Species Act

7. Characteristics of Vulnerable Species
Low reproductive rate
Specialized niche
Narrow distribution
Feed at high trophic level
Commercially valuable
Large territory

8. Use Value of Species Ecotourism Pharmaceuticals (62% of cancer drugs)
Rosy Periwinkle + Hodgkin’s Disease
Genetic information
GMOs

9. Hodgkin's disease, lymphocytic leukemia Pacific yew Taxus brevifolia,
Rosy periwinkle
Cathranthus roseus,
Madagascar
Hodgkin's disease, lymphocytic leukemia
Pacific yew
Taxus brevifolia,
Pacific Northwest
Ovarian cancer
Rauvolfia
Rauvolfia sepentina,
Southeast Asia
Anxiety, high blood pressure
Figure 9.8
Natural capital: nature’s pharmacy. Parts of these and a number of other plant and animal species (many of them found in tropical forests) are used to treat a variety of human ailments and diseases. Nine of the ten leading prescription drugs originally came from wild organisms. About 2,100 of the 3,000 plants identified by the National Cancer Institute as sources of cancer-fighting chemicals come from tropical forests. Despite their economic and health potential, fewer than 1% of the estimated 125,000 flowering plant species in tropical forests (and a mere 1,100 of the world’s 260,000 known plant species) have been examined for their medicinal properties. Once the active ingredients in the plants have been identified, they can usually be produced synthetically. Many of these tropical plant species are likely to become extinct before we can study them.
Neem tree
Azadirachta indica,
India
Treatment of many diseases, insecticide, spermicide
Foxglove
Digitalis purpurea,
Europe
Digitalis for heart failure
Cinchona
Cinchona ledogeriana,
South America
Quinine for malaria treatment
Fig. 9-8, p. 190

10. Intrinsic value
Species have an right to survive
We have an ethical duty to try to preserve species

11. Biophilia
Inherent connection with nature
Biophobia

12. Grizzly bear Kirkland’s warbler Knowlton cactus Florida manatee
African elephant
Utah prairie dog
Swallowtail
butterfly
Humpback
chub
Golden lion tamarin
Siberian tiger
Figure 9.4
Endangered natural capital: some species that are endangered or threatened with premature extinction largely because of human activities. Almost 30,000 of the world’s species and roughly 1,300 of those in the United States are officially listed as being in danger of becoming extinct. Most biologists believe the actual number of species at risk is much larger.
Giant panda
Black-footed
ferret
Whooping crane
Northern spotted owl
Blue whale
Mountain gorilla
Florida panther
California
condor
Hawksbill
sea turtle
Black
rhinoceros
Fig. 9-4, p. 187

13. HIPPCO
Habitat alteration
Island species
Habitat island
Habitat fragmentation
Theory of Island Biogeography

14. Asian or Indian Elephant
Indian Tiger
Range 100 years ago
Range today
Black Rhino
Range in 1700
Range today
African Elephant
Probable range 1600
Range today
Asian or Indian Elephant
Former range
Range today
Figure 9.11
Natural capital degradation: reductions in the ranges of four wildlife species, mostly as the result of habitat loss and hunting. What will happen to these and millions of other species when the world’s human population doubles and per capita resource consumption rises sharply in the next few decades? See an animation based on this figure at CengageNOW. Question: Would you support expanding these ranges even though this would reduce the land available for people to grow food and live on? Explain. (Data from International Union for the Conservation of Nature and World Wildlife Fund)
Stepped Art
Fig. 9-11, p. 194

15. NATURAL CAPITAL DEGRADATION
Causes of Depletion and Premature Extinction of Wild Species
Underlying Causes
• Population growth
• Rising resource use
• Undervaluing natural capital
• Poverty
Figure 9.10
Underlying and direct causes of depletion and premature extinction of wild species (Concept 9-3). The major direct causes of wildlife depletion and premature extinction are habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. This is followed by the deliberate or accidental introduction of harmful invasive (nonnative) species into ecosystems. Question: What are two direct causes that are related to each of the underlying causes?
Direct Causes
• Habitat loss
• Pollution
• Commercial hunting and poaching
• Habitat degradation and fragmentation
• Climate change
• Sale of exotic pets and decorative plants
• Overfishing
• Introduction of nonnative species
• Predator and pest control
Fig. 9-10, p. 193

16. Birds 1/8 of world’s birds are endangered
Kirtland’s warbler
Habitat loss, wetlands
1 billion fly into windows
Climate change
Birds are good environmental indicators
Live in every climate and biome
Respond quickly to environmental changes
Easy to track and count

17. Deliberately introduced species
Nonnative species
Deliberately introduced species
98% of food supply (corn, wheat, rice, cattle, chickens)
Kudzu
Meant to control erosion
Afflicts the South
Food, paper, pharmaceutical?

18. Kudzu Taking Over an Abandoned House in Mississippi, U.S.

19. Deliberately Introduced Species
Purple loosestrife
European starling
African honeybee (“Killer bee”)
Nutria
Salt cedar (Tamarisk)
Figure 9.14
Some of the more than 7,100 harmful invasive (nonnative) species that have been deliberately or accidentally introduced into the United States.
Marine toad (Giant toad)
Water hyacinth
Japanese beetle
Hydrilla
European wild boar (Feral pig)
Fig. 9-14a, p. 199

20. Accidentally Introduced Species
Argentina fire ant
Mobile Alabama, 1930’s
Burmese python
Pets dumped in Everglades
Zebra mussel
In ballast water from Europe
Plagues the great lakes

21. Accidentally Introduced Species
Sea lamprey (attached to lake trout)
Argentina fire ant
Brown tree snake
Eurasian ruffe
Common pigeon (Rock dove)
Figure 9.14
Some of the more than 7,100 harmful invasive (nonnative) species that have been deliberately or accidentally introduced into the United States.
Formosan termite
Zebra mussel
Asian long-horned beetle
Asian tiger mosquito
Gypsy moth larvae
Fig. 9-14b, p. 199

22. Pollution Pesticides DDT Kill 1/5 of honeybee colonies
Banned in 1972 (Silent Spring)
Health risk?
Bald eagle recovery (417  10,000 breeding pairs)
Success for ESA

23. DDT is Fat Soluble
therefore it can undergo bioaccumulation and biomagnification
Bioaccumulation
Ingested fat soluble chemicals are absorbed into tissue and accumulate over time
Biomagnificiation
Higher level consumers ingest chemicals stored in all organisms lower on its food chain

24. DDT in fish-eating birds (ospreys)
25 ppm
DDT in large fish (needle fish)
2 ppm
DDT in small fish (minnows)
0.5 ppm
DDT in zooplankton 0.04 ppm
Figure 9.19
Bioaccumulation and biomagnification. DDT is a fat-soluble chemical that can accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals. In a food chain or web, the accumulated DDT can be biologically magnified in the bodies of animals at each higher trophic level. The concentration of DDT in the fatty tissues of organisms was biomagnified about 10 million times in this food chain in an estuary near Long Island Sound in the U.S. state of New York. If each phytoplankton organism takes up from the water and retains one unit of DDT, a small fish eating thousands of zooplankton (which feed on the phytoplankton) will store thousands of units of DDT in its fatty tissue. Each large fish that eats 10 of the smaller fish will ingest and store tens of thousands of units, and each bird (or human) that eats several large fish will ingest hundreds of thousands of units. Dots represent DDT. Question: How does this story demonstrate the value of pollution prevention?
DDT in water ppm, or 3 ppt
Stepped Art
Fig. 9-19, p. 202

25. Bees Important pollinators of ornamental and food crops
1/3 of crops are pollinated by insects worldwide
In US, 98% of honeybees are commercially owned
Bee colony collapse disorder

26. Polar Bears Winter vs summer feeding Global warming
Population declines by 1/3 by 2050
PCBs, DDT accumulates in fat
Russian poachers kill 200 a year
Threatened under ESA

27. Poaching Globally, $10 billion business Mountain gorilla = $150,000
Jane Goodall
Panda pelt = $100,000
Tigers 100,000 in 1900; now 3500
Tropical fish
Poachers rarely get caught

28. International Treaties
CITES
Signed by 172 countries
Has been effective, but member countries can exempt themselves
CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity)
190 countries (not US, so not very effective)
Protects ecosystems rather than individual species

29. ESA
First passed in 1973
National Marine Fisheries Service identifies and lists ocean species
US Fish and Wildlife Species land based species
Endangered and threatened
92 in  1350 in 2007
Shipments of wildlife must enter one of nine ports

30. Legal Consequences Northern Spotted Owl (jobs vs Nature)
Eminent Domain?
Regulatory takings
Takings legislation
Habitat Conservation Plans

31. National Wildlife Refuge System
Established in 1903
Pelican Island
Theodore Roosevelt
540 refuges (3/4 are wetland refuges)
1/5 of endangered and threatened species have habitats in NWRS

32. Seed Banks, Zoos, etc Seed (gene) banks Arboreta, Botanical Gardens
100 worldwide, 3 million samples
Arboreta, Botanical Gardens
1600 worldwide (Tyler, Morris arboreta)
Zoos, aquaria
Egg pulling
Captive breeding
Reintroduction into the wild is rarely successful

33. California Condor Has been successfully reintroduced
Population declined to 22 in 60’s
135 now in the wild
Lead in hunter ammunition led to poisoning