450 likes | 681 Views
Extinction. What makes species vulnerable to extinction?. The dodo. Passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeon. Allee Effect. Some species have a minimum requirement for population size in order to successfully breed . Characteristics that predispose species to becoming extinct.
E N D
Passenger pigeon
Passenger pigeon
Allee Effect • Some species have a minimum requirement for population size in order to successfully breed
Characteristics that predispose species to becoming extinct 1. habitat overlap - the species occupy habitat that is desirable to humans and lose out in competition with humans for the habitat - tallgrass prairie species 2. human attention - species suffer because singled out by humans - either desired as food or fur and hunted heavily (passenger pigeon, dodo, northern elephant seal); or disliked by humans and killed as varmints (wolves, African wild dogs) 3. large home range requirements - animals needing large areas can’t find large enough areas in human dominated landscape - California condor 4. limited adaptability and resilience - salmon return to natal stream to reproduce; won’t go elsewhere
Threatened And Endangered Species in Illinois
Minimum Viable Population • The smallest population for a species which can be expected to survive for a long time • Many factors effect MVP – the study of those factors is often called Population Viability Analysis – or Population Vulnerability Analysis – or PVA
Factors that make populations vulnerable to extinction • Environmental fluctuations • Catastrophes • Demographic uncertainties • Genetic problems • Habitat fragmentation
Habitat Fragmentation • Fragmentation is the transformation of large expanse of habitat into a number of smaller patches of smaller total area isolated from each other by a matrix of habitat unlike the original
Factors that make populations vulnerable to extinction • Environmental fluctuations • Catastrophes • Demographic uncertainties • Genetic problems • Habitat fragmentation
Minimum Viable Population Size • Another definition - often defined as 95% probability of 100 year survival, but can also plan for longer survival (500 or 1000 years) • MVP is usually determined by modeling
Forces which may cause extinction 1) deterministic - something essential is removed (habitat loss) or something lethal is added (pollutant, disease, introduced species) - presumably we can act to minimize these risks
Forces which may cause extinction 2) stochastic (random) - environmental, catastrophic, demographic and genetic - this is what we need to worry about and what is hardest to prevent • environmental randomness effects resources and conditions and we can't do much about it • catastrophic randomness - floods, fires, hurricanes, volcanoes - can't really prevent but can spread individuals around to minimize the impact • demographic - just natural random variation in birth and death rates can lead to extinction • genetic - lack of genetic variability can lead to problems of inbreeding and poor response to diseases and environmental change