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Biological diversity (1980) Biodiversity (1985, 1986) A Shifted Focus

Delve into the intricate web of life and ecosystems through a comprehensive view of biodiversity, touching on its definitions, challenges, and crucial role in sustaining our environment. Discover how species richness, ecosystem diversity, and genetic variation contribute to the grand diversity of life on Earth.

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Biological diversity (1980) Biodiversity (1985, 1986) A Shifted Focus

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  1. Biological diversity (1980)Biodiversity (1985, 1986)A Shifted Focus Nature not self-contained or equilibrial (various time scales) Human influence widespread, humans depend on environment The extinction crisis, habitat critical, and the pure effects of diversity Tropical forest loss =Biodiversity focus

  2. Conservation responses • Individual species or groups (Intrinsic rights and utilitarianism) • Wild, pristine, human-free places (Preservation Ethic) • Wise use, sustained yield, sustainability (Resource Conservation Ethic) • Holism of Leopold, people in the equation (Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic) • And now: biodiversity

  3. Defining Biodiversity The floor is open

  4. Extremes • Narrow definition: species richness

  5. The ATBI in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

  6. www.dlia.org

  7. Caves to treetops

  8. As of 2007, 860 species new to science

  9. As of 20075,000 species new to the Park

  10. Why is it so hard to answer the questions: How many species are there?When will we be done?

  11. How many species are there? “It reminds me of the question we used to get all the time at Mammoth Cave: How many miles of unexplored cave are there?” Phil Francis, Then Assistant Superintendent Now Superintendent BLRI Problem:Scale Dependence

  12. Defining Biodiversity The variety of life in all its forms, levels and combinations. Includes ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1991

  13. Biodiversity is the variability among all living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Convention on Biological Diversity

  14. Biological diversity is the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur…For biological diversity, these items are organized at many levels, ranging from complete ecosystems to the chemical structures that are the molecular basis of heredity. US Congress Office of Technology Assessment 1987

  15. The totality of the inherited variation of all forms of life across all levels of variation, from ecosystem to species to gene. Edward O. Wilson

  16. Biodiversity means the whole variety of life on Earth. Biodiversity is the grand diversity of life on Earth and all the interconnections that support these myriad forms of life. Biodiversity…is perhaps most commonly defined as "the full variety of life on Earth."

  17. Biodiversity is the variation of life within a given ecosystem, biome, or the entire Earth. Biodiversity as found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, the product of four billion years of evolution. The variation of life at all levels of organization. Wikipedia

  18. Extremes • Narrow definition: species richness • Inclusive definition (Noss): • Genes, species, ecosystems • Composition, structure, function/process

  19. 4 Biodiversity problems Definition Set point Scale dependence The equality and inequality of species

  20. 2. Set PointUniversality/Historic Constraint We seek universal principles, some conservation answers are dependent on historic condition or precedence What is the RIGHT level of biodiversity?

  21. 3.Scale dependence Comparing places: Coastal Plain Savanna vs. Tropical Rain Forest

  22. 3.Scale dependence Comparing times (detecting change): Logging, Exotic invasion

  23. 4. The equality and inequality of species • Human value • Range/Abundance: Rarity, Native/Alien • Phylogeny • Evolutionary potential • Ecological role • Representativeness, Surrogacy

  24. Surrogacy in conservation planningData are incomplete:Can some species be surrogates for biodiversity? • Flagship • Focal, Indicator • Keystone (driver-passenger species) • Umbrella

  25. World Wildlife Fund

  26. Indicator Species

  27. Keystone Species

  28. Ecosystem Engineer Species

  29. Ecological Role:Little things, Big things Wilson 1987 Terborgh 1988

  30. Top Predators • Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments • Terborgh et al. 2001, Science 294:1923-1926. • Damming led to hilltops becoming islands; large predators lost, herbivores increased (ants 100x), plant cover decreased

  31. Top Predators • Introduced predators transform subarctic islands from grassland to tundra • Croll et al. 2005, Science 307:1959-1961. • Foxes preyed on birds which then deposited less ocean-derived N, leading to succession

  32. Top Predators • Are predators good for your health? Evaluating evidence for top-down regulation of zoonotic disease reservoirs. • Ostfeld and Holt 2004, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2:13-20. • Predators decrease, rodents increase, transmission of disease to humans increases

  33. Ecology of Fear, Yellowstone NP

  34. Ecology of Fear, Zion NP

  35. The Rivet HypothesisThe pure effects of diversity • What is the relationship of function to diversity? • Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection • What is the FORM of the function? • Linear • Saturating • Hump-shaped

  36. The Goldilocks problem • Not too hot, not too cold, but just right • Species have ranges of tolerance and optima for given environmental parameters • Species tend to have different set points • A particular change in the environment or conservation strategy will be good for some species and bad for others

  37. Biodiversity • Species richness (taxonomic diversity) • Functional trait diversity • Abundance • Species interactions

  38. Functional traits • Complimentarity • Efficiency of use • Resilience • Adaptability • Redundancy • Insurance (rivets, if rivets are all equal) • Stability • Resistance

  39. How would you phrase the question & test the surrogacy idea? • Flagship • Focal, Indicator • Keystone (driver-passenger species) • Umbrella

  40. How would you phrase the question & test the surrogacy idea? • Flagship • Focal, Indicator • Keystone (driver-passenger species) • Umbrella Initial capture of biodiversity Ongoing process of loss

  41. 5 Threats • Habitat loss and fragmentation • Direct taking of species • Invasive species • Changes in physical and chemical environment • Change in natural process: fire, flood, predation

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