Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
GEOG 101: Day 10 Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Housekeeping Items I will hand back your outlines today. [any confusion?] We didn’t get a chance to talk about the “slow food” movement. It started in Italy when McDonald’s tried to put in a restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome. It has since spread around the world. You can read more about its principles (Good, Clean, and Fair) at It spawned another movement – Cittaslow – which expanded the idea to cities (see ). The first Cittaslow community in North America was Cowichan Bay. On the theme of food, here’s a funny cartoon:

Housekeeping Items Did anyone go to any of the food talks yesterday?
On Wednesday, there will be a Geography Career event with former Geography students talking about what they are doing with their degrees. It will be in Room 217 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. There will be refreshments. Please come out. Thanks to Audrey for the info on a piece on CBC on rethinking the Canada city: We’ll finish the last couple of slides on agriculture and then move into biodiversity. A reminder about the two events tonight…

Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to
Characterize the scope and value of biodiversity on Earth Describe ways to measure biodiversity Evaluate the primary causes of biodiversity loss Specify the benefits and challenges of conserving habitat and the role of habitat fragmentation Contrast in situ and ex situ conservation approaches Compare and contrast traditional and innovative conservation efforts Outline reasons for setting aside parks, reserves, and other protected areas

News / Canada Researcher warns of looming 'catastrophe' for St. Lawrence beluga population The latest figures come amid a debate over whether to allow exploratory drilling off shore of Cacouna, Que., near the breeding ground at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. October 1st, Toronto Star

JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS
By: Benjamin Shingler The Canadian Press, Published on Sun Sep MONTREAL—A researcher monitoring belugas in the St. Lawrence estuary is warning of a looming "catastrophe" after another difficult calving season for the endangered whale. The belugas have been in a slow population decline for the past decade, according to Robert Michaud, the scientific director of Quebec's Marine Mammals Research and Education Group. His team has found the carcasses of at least five baby belugas so far during the calving period, which officially ends on Oct. 15. The number of dead beluga calves turning up on the shore has been unusually high since 2008, Michaud said. "It's a catastrophic trajectory we're observing, and we don't yet know exactly what are the causes for that," he said. "The only way this population can reverse its trajectory would be to increase the survival rate and the birth rate, and what we've been observing for the last years is totally the opposite….

Central Case: Saving the Polar Bear: What Will it Take?
“There will be no polar ice by Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out.” Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) – for political reasons the polar bear was not listed as a “threatened” species, though in the U.S. it is Polar bears are coming into contact and interbreeding with other types of bears Polar bears are appearing more frequently in human settlements Traditional Inuit hunting practices are being affected by the loss of sea ice, a process for which they are not responsible What will it take to save the polar bear? 9-8

Our Planet of Life 9-9

Biodiversity encompasses several levels
Biodiversity = sum total of all organisms in an area at whatever scale, including Ecosystem diversity Species diversity Genetic diversity

Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
Species Diversity = the number or variety of species in the world or in a particular region Species richness = the number of species Evenness or relative abundance = extent to which numbers of individuals of different species are equal or skewed Speciation generates new species and adds to species richness Extinction reduces species richness

Species Diversity Immigration is the inmigration of a species to an area Emigration is the outmigration of a species from an area Extirpation is the local extinction of a species

Genetic Diversity All species consist of individuals that vary genetically from one another to some degree (this is as much true for humans as it is for other species) Encompasses the varieties in DNA among individuals within species and populations The raw material for adaptation to local conditions, though some species can adapt much more quickly (such as the peppered moth)

Peppered Moth

Genetic Diversity Populations with low genetic diversity are vulnerable Inbreeding depression = genetically similar parents mate and produce inferior offspring (e.g. certain offspring of overly inbred royal families or of hillbillies) Genetic bottleneck = limited variety of genetic material is available to be passed along by the small number of surviving individuals to their descendants

Ecosystem diversity = the number and variety of ecosystems Also encompasses differing communities and habitats Rapid vegetation change and varying landscapes within an ecosystem promote higher levels of biodiversity Ecotones = where different types of habitats or biomes intermix

Some groups hold more species than others
Insects predominate over all other life-forms – hence a lack of ‘evenness’ 40% of all insects are beetles (yeah, yeah, yeah!) Groups accumulate species by Adaptive radiation Allopatric speciation (from isolation) Low rates of extinction

Insects outnumber all other species
Mammals= %

Measuring biodiversity is not easy
Precise quantitative measurements are difficult About 1.8 million species but likely higher Incomplete for several reasons Some areas of Earth little explored (new species being discovered all the time in Australia) Many species are tiny and overlooked Many organisms are difficult to identify 9-19

Biodiversity is unevenly distributed on the planet
Latitudinal gradient = species richness increases towards the equator Plant productivity and climate stability play key roles

Latitudinal gradient has many causes

Biodiversity Loss and Species Extinction
9-22

Biodiversity loss and species extinction
Canadian Species at Risk Act uses categorizes: Extinction = occurs when the last member of a species dies and the species ceases to exist Extirpation = the disappearance of a particular population from a given area, but not the entire species globally Endangered = species in imminent danger of becoming extirpated or extinct Threatened = species likely to become endangered in the near future

Extinction and extirpation occur naturally
Paleontologists estimate that 99% of all species that ever lived are now extinct Background rate of extinction = natural extinctions for a variety of reasons 1 species out of 1,000 mammal and marine species would normally go extinct every 1,000 to 10,000 years or 1 in a 1000 would typically go extinct every year

Extinction and extirpation occur naturally (cont’d)
Earth has experienced five previous mass extinction episodes In the past 440 million years, mass extinctions have eliminated at least 50% of all species Today’s mass extinction is caused by humans and humans will suffer as a result of it

Some species are more vulnerable to extinction than others
In general, extinction occurs when environmental conditions change so severely that a species cannot adapt to the change. What kinds of changes are occurring today that fall into this category? … Vulnerable = species that are of particular concern because of characteristics that make them particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events. What are some species we can consider ‘vulnerable,’ and due to what? …. 9-26

Humans have started the sixth mass extinction
Extinctions followed human arrival on islands and continents

Humans have started the sixth mass extinction (cont’d)
Global extinction rate is currently 100 to 1000 times greater than background rate The Red List = an updated list of species facing high risks of extinctions – at least 23% of mammal species 12% of bird species 17% to 75% of all other species Extinction is only part of the story of biodiversity loss, the larger part of the story is decline in population sizes

Endangered Species

Humans have started the sixth mass extinction (cont’d)
The Living Planet Index quantifies biological degradation Between 1970 and 2007, the Index fell by 30%

Housekeeping Items Did anyone go the events on Tuesday night and last night? I put up part of a biological inventory of Linley Valley on my web site. I have a conflict with my office hour today. I will hand back more outlines. Originally, we might have gone on a field trip this week, but the person who was going to lead it was having trouble with her knees, so we will go when we’re discussing sustainable cities and the weather will hopefully be better. I dug up some information on caribou. See also the film “Being Caribou.”

Caribou More Information

Forest Caribou Largest mammal that still travels in herds
Dweller in Canada’s boreal forest, amongst other habitats Dubbed “threatened” by COSEWIC

Subtypes of Forest Caribou
According to the B.C. government, there are three different sub-types of forest caribou: “Mountain Caribou live in the Interior Wet Belt that stretches from the United States border to an area east of Prince George. They are different from other caribou because they live year-round in high elevations and in winter walk on top of the deep snowpack and feed on lichens that grow on trees. Northern Caribou live in the west central and northern British Columbia. During the winter they dig through the snow and feed on lichens that grow on the ground. They calve in the alpine and normally winter in low elevation pine forests or wind-swept ridges where there is shallow snow. Boreal Caribou live in the low elevation muskeg and open forests in northeast British Columbia, north of Ft. St. John. They live in a small area that is normally around a wetland complex. Ground lichens are their main winter food.”

Mountain Caribou in Trouble
According to an article less than a year ago in The Rocky Mountain Outlook, entitled Mountain Cariboo Herds Faced with Extinction, “[t]he central mountain caribou population was previously considered to be part of the southern population. With an estimated 515 mature individuals, the central population has been deemed endangered. It’s made up of 10 or 11 herds, most of which are on the east side of the Rockies in Alberta and into east-central B.C., including in Banff and Jasper national parks. All herds have less than 250 mature individuals and seven have less than 30. Two herds have disappeared from this troubled group, including a remnant herd of five animals completely wiped out in an avalanche in Banff in The Burnt Pine herd in the northern part of the population’s range was also confirmed gone this year. Three of four herds in Jasper have dropped to critically low numbers, with two of the herds – the Maligne and Brazeau – having less than 10 animals. In the mountain national parks, caribou numbers have declined from approximately 800 caribou 25 years ago to less than 250 animals. Ray said surveys have shown consistently high adult mortality and low calf recruitment, accelerating decline rates within this overall central population.”

Mountain Caribou in Trouble
And yet the federal government is considering allowing a proposal to build a resort on the shores of Maligne Lake, despite the local herd having dropped five individuals from 60 in the last fifteen years. Someone asked about the Peace herd. This from The Tyee on the province’s plan to shoot wolves from helicopters in South Selkirk and the Peace: “Chris Darimont… professor in geography at the University of Victoria, and the co-author of two books on coastal wolves, said, ‘This is a last ditch, Hail Mary effort to save caribou that are on their way out not because of wolves, but because of… aggressive development by humans in their habitat for a few decades now. Forestry and oil and gas activity change the landscape in ways that favour wolves, Darimont said, including opening areas to roads and recreation. The threat to caribou has been known for at least a decade, he said, but there's been no slowdown in development. Culling wolves likely won't save the threatened caribou and it gives industry and the government an excuse not to move ahead with the habitat protection that's needed, he said. ‘Their way of dealing with it will likely not work, or certainly not work in every case,’ he said, citing research from wolf culls in Alberta.”

There are several major causes of biodiversity loss
Reasons for biodiversity losses are multifaceted and factors may interact synergistically Causes of population decline: Habitat alteration Invasive species Pollution, including pesticides Overharvesting Climate change

There are several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
Habitat alteration The greatest cause of biodiversity loss E.g., farming simplifies communities Grazing modifies the grassland structure and species composition Clearing forests removes resources organisms need Hydroelectric dams turn rivers into reservoirs upstream Urbanization and suburban sprawl reduce natural communities A few species (i.e., pigeons, rats) benefit from changing habitats

There are several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
Invasive species Introduction of non-native species to new environments Accidental: zebra mussels Deliberate: food crops Island species are especially vulnerable Invaders have no natural predators, competitors, or parasites Cost billions of dollars in economic damage What are some West Coast invasives?

Invasive species

Several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
Pollution Harms organisms in many ways Air pollution degrades forest ecosystems Water pollution adversely affects fish and amphibians Agricultural runoff harms terrestrial and aquatic species The effects of oil and chemical spills on wildlife are dramatic and well known

Overharvesting Vulnerable species are large, few in number, long-lived, and have few young (K-selected species) The Siberian tiger (The 1989 political freedom in Soviet Union brought the freedom to hunt and poach) Atlantic gray whale has gone extinct Thousands of sharks killed just for fins Gorillas killed for their meat

Climate change Global impact on habitat and biodiversity Greenhouse gases modifies global weather patterns and increases the frequency of extreme weather events Increases stress on populations and forces organisms to shift their geographic ranges Most animals and plants will not be able to cope

Over 2500 amphibian species worldwide are in decline
Some may be lost before they are even discovered Amphibians are regarded as “biological indicators” (‘canary in the coalmine’ analogy) Habitat loss, especially draining of wetlands, is the leading threat to amphibians in Canada Pollution, fragmentation are also problems 9-47

Benefits of Biodiversity
9-48

Biodiversity provides ecosystem services
FREE!! Provides food, fuel, and fibre Provides shelter and building materials Purifies air and water Detoxifies and decomposes wastes Stabilizes and moderates Earth’s climate Moderates floods, droughts, wind, and temperature extremes Generates and renews soil fertility and cycles nutrients Pollinates plants, including many crops Controls pests and diseases Maintains genetic resources as inputs to crop varieties, livestock breeds, and medicines Provides cultural and aesthetic benefits Gives us the means to adapt to change The annual value of just 17 ecosystem services = $16 to 54 trillion per year

Biodiversity helps maintain ecosystem integrity
Biodiversity increases the stability and resilience of communities and ecosystems (like rivets in airplane) Decreased biodiversity reduces a natural system’s ability to function and provide services to our society The loss of a species affects ecosystems differently If the species can be functionally replaced by others, it may make little difference Extinction of a keystone species may cause other species to decline or disappear Precautionary principle: “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering” (Aldo Leopold)

Biodiversity enhances food security
Genetic diversity within crops is enormously valuable California’s barley crops annually receive $160 million in disease resistance benefits from Ethiopian strains of barley Wild strains provide disease resistance and have the ability to grow back year after year without being replanted New potential food crops are waiting to be used Serendipity berry produces a sweetener 3,000 times sweeter than sugar

Biodiversity provides drugs and medicines
Each year pharmaceutical products owing their origin to wild species generate up to $150 billion in sales

How Best to Conserve Biodiversity?
weighing the issues How Best to Conserve Biodiversity? Most people view national parks and ecotourism as excellent ways to help keep ecological systems intact. Yet the golden toad went extinct despite living within a reserve established to protect it. Moreover, climate change does not pay attention to park boundaries. What lesson can we learn from this about the conservation of biodiversity?

Biodiversity provides additional economic benefits
Ecotourism is particularly beneficial in developing and developed countries alike Costa Rica: rainforests Australia: Great Barrier Reef Belize: reefs, caves, and rainforests Incentive to preserve natural areas and reduce impacts on the landscape and on native species However, too many visitors can degrade the outdoor experience and disturb wildlife

People value and seek out connections with nature
Biophilia = connections that humans subconsciously seek with life Our affinity for parks and wildlife Keeping of pets High value of real estate with views of natural lands Nature deficit disorder = alienation from the natural environment May be behind some of the emotional and physical problems of the young See “Biophilic Design” in the VIU Library

Approaches to Conservation
9-56

Conservation biology addresses habitat degradation and species loss
Conservation biology = understanding the factors, forces, and processes that influence the loss and protection, and restoration of biological diversity Conservation biologists choose questions and pursue research with the aim of developing solutions to the problems of habitat degradation and species loss Applied and goal-oriented science, with implicit values and ethical standards Thus, both descriptive and normative.

Conservation biology arose in response to biodiversity loss

Conservation biology addresses habitat degradation and species loss (cont’d)
Uses field data, lab data, theory, and experiments to study impacts of humans on other organisms Designs, tests, and implements ways to mitigate impacts Minimum viable population = how small a population can become before it runs into problems Organisms distributed as a network of subpopulations Small populations are most vulnerable to extinction and need special attention (also applies to indigenous and small ethnic groups in terms of their culture)

Island biogeography can help address habitat fragmentation
Equilibrium theory of island biogeography = explains how species come to be distributed among oceanic islands Also applies to “habitat islands” – patches of one habitat type isolated within a “sea” of others (need to link cores with corridors) Explains how the number of species on an island results from an equilibrium between immigration and extirpation Predicts an island’s species richness based on the island’s size and distance from the mainland

Island biogeography can help address habitat fragmentation (cont’d)
Species richness results from island size and distance Fewer species colonize an island far from the mainland Large islands have higher immigration rates Large islands have lower extinction rates

Species-area curves Large islands contain more species than small islands They are easier to find and have lower extinction rates They possess more habitats

Forests are fragmented by roads and logging (and agriculture) Small forest fragments lose diversity fastest Starting with large species Fragmentation is one of the prime threats to biodiversity

Captive breeding and cloning are single-species approaches
Captive breeding – individuals are bred and raised with the intent of reintroducing them into the wild Zoos and botanical gardens Some reintroductions require international cooperation Whooping cranes in Wood Buffalo Park (Canada) and Gulf coast of Texas (U.S.) wolves into Yellowstone Park Some habitat is so fragmented, a species cannot survive once reintroduced 64

Captive breeding and cloning are single-species approaches (cont’d)
Cloning – a technique to create more individuals and save species from extinction Most biologists agree that these efforts are not adequate to recreate the lost biodiversity Even if cloning can succeed, ample habitat and protection in the wild are needed to save species Also: recreating the mastodon of old would be little more than a scientific curiousity

Some species act as “umbrellas” to protect communities
Conservation biologists use particular umbrella species (e.g. tigers, bears, and elephants) as tools to conserve communities and ecosystems helps protect less-charismatic animals Flagship species – large and charismatic species used as spearheads for biodiversity conservation The World Wildlife Fund’s panda bear or Central Coast’s ‘spirit bear’; two concepts overlap Some organizations are moving beyond the single species approach to focus on whole landscapes 66

This or this….? Which is ‘sexier’?

Conservation efforts are both national and international
2002: Species at Risk Act stresses cooperation with landowners and governments to avoid hostility Some say SARA is too weak COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) = expert committee that reports the status of species at risk without executive authority 1973: UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – protects endangered species by banning international transport of their body parts (e.g. ivory) 68

Hot spots highlight areas of high biodiversity
Biodiversity hotspots – prioritizes regions most important globally for biodiversity Support a great number of endemic species = species found nowhere else in the world The area must have at least 1500 endemic plant species (0.5% of the world total) It must have lost 70% of its habitat due to human impact 69

There are 34 global biodiversity hotspots
Hot spots highlight areas of high biodiversity (cont’d) There are 34 global biodiversity hotspots 2.3% of the planet’s land surface contains 50% of the world’s plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species

Community- based conservation is increasingly popular
Community-based conservation = conservation biologists actively engage local people in protecting land and wildlife Protecting land deprives people access to resources Community-based conservation gives people a stake in protection vs. poaching, etc. Can guarantee that these resources will not be used up or sold to foreign corporations and can instead be sustainably managed ( 71

Other innovative economic strategies are also being employed
Debt-for-nature swap = a conservation organization pays off a portion of a developing country’s international debt In exchange for a promise by the country to set aside reserves Fund environmental education, and Better manage protected areas Conservation concession = conservation organizations pay nations to conserve, and not sell, resources; interesting example in Ecuador that ultimately failed 72

Parks and Reserves 9-73

Why do we create parks and reserves?
Enormous, beautiful, or unusual features inspire people to protect them – monumentalism Protected areas offer recreational value to tourists, hikers, fishers, hunters, and others Protected areas offer utilitarian benefits and ecosystem services (e.g., preserving water quality) Parks make use of sites lacking economically valuable material resources or that are hard to develop (“rock and ice”?) However, some countries allow resource exploration or extraction within parks 9-74

Why do we create parks and reserves (cont’d) ?
There are 43 national parks in Canada Many sites in a parks system also serve as wildlife refuges Some find hunting in parks objectionable or hunting for rare species objectionable (recent controversy over man in Texas who bid 100s of 1000s of dollars to shoot a black rhino; similar cases in BC) Hunters often in forefront of conservation (e.g., Ducks Unlimited Canada) There are two kinds of hunting – for food and for trophies. Do you think hunting is acceptable under some/ any circumstances? 9-75

Why do we create parks and reserves (cont’d) ?
Not everyone supports land set-asides Wise-use movement – dedicated to protecting private property rights; opposing government regulation; transferring federal lands to state, local, or private hands; promoting motorized recreation on public lands Farmers, ranchers, trappers, mineral prospectors, as well as groups representing industries that extract timber, mineral, and fossil fuels. 9-76

Parks and reserves are increasing internationally
Many nations have established national park systems and are benefiting from ecotourism Parks in developing countries do not always receive the funding, legal support, or enforcement support they need to manage resources Many of the world’s protected areas are merely paper parks Costa Rican parks initially received little funding, but the country has a high proportion of land in reserves 9-77

Costa Rican Protected Areas

Parks and reserves are increasing internationally (cont’d)
World Heritage Sites – under national sovereignty but are designated or partly managed internationally by the United Nations (no binding protection) Biosphere reserves – tracts of land with exceptional biodiversity that couple preservation with sustainable development to benefit local people (two on Vancouver Island – Clayoquot and Mount Arrowsmith) Core area Buffer zone Outer transitional one 9-79

Conclusion Loss of biodiversity threatens to result in a mass extinction Primary causes of biodiversity loss are: Habitat alteration, invasive species, pollution, overharvesting of biotic resources, and climate change Human society cannot function without biodiversity’s pragmatic benefits Science can help save species, preserve habitats, restore populations, and keep natural ecosystems intact, but more fundamental changes are also needed. 81

Discussion Questions Who knows anything about hunting in BC?
There is considerable debate about the number of grizzlies that are allowed to be shot in BC every year. The BC government recently allocated more hunting opportunities to outfitters and their international (mostly U.S. customers seeking to bag big game) at the expense of BC hunters. Is this a good move economically? Is hunting in general an ethical and sensible activity?

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