Biodiversity: To defend or not defend?

1. Biodiversity: To defend or not defend? By: Jaijot Jutla

2. My endangered species • The endangered species that I chose was an American Alligator • One thing to notice is that everyone mixes them up with crocodiles • They are different from crocodiles Alligator Crocodile

3. Species Profile

4. Alligator Taxonomy • Kingdom: Animalia • Phylum: Chordata • Class: Reptilia • Order: Crocodilia • Family: Alligatoridae • Genus: Alligator • Species: Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator)

5. Where it can be Found • American Alligators are natives to mainly USA and China • Hence the name American Alligator • Alligators are mostly on the Atlantic Coast of North America from Florida through the coast of North Carolina

6. Habitat & Type of System • American alligators live nearly in the freshwater rivers, lakesand swamps • They live on land but they’re very good swimmers too • So it would make them terrestrial and partially aquatic but they can’t breathe underwater • They have a little big of their nose sticking out while swimming so they can breathe

7. Current Population • The species current population is 1 million and growing • They have been saved from extinction but are now thriving Trends • There has been a growing variety of trends or products that alligators are used for • For example there are belts, wallets, purses, shoes and even clothing • These business are mostly in Florida and the products are very expensive

8. Major Threats

9. Threat 1 • The first threat that made alligators endangered was habitat loss • Losing their habitat forces them to live only in Florida and China • Habitat loss started about 40-50 years ago and everyone thought they wouldn’t have survived • That’s because the type of habitat they live in are only in those areas • If they don’t have the conditions they need to survive in then that would be the biggest threat to them being endangered

10. Threat 2 • Market hunting is another major threat to alligators being endangered • Hunters looking for alligators and then kill them and take their skin and meat • Alligator skin products are expensive and even the meat itself • Alligator hunting started around the 1970’s • This was mainly because as they were already loosing their habitat then marketers thought getting their skin would be beneficial to them • The benefit was that everyone wanted the product made out of the skin because it would be so rare

11. Threat 3 • Having encounters with people is another threat to alligators • In very rare instances alligators will attack and eat humans • When that does happen, if the humans are carrying any diseases then it gets passed on the alligator • If the alligator were to reproduce then the disease would pass on down to it’s children

12. Food Web

13. Black rat snake (Pantherophisspiloides) Alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii Foxtail (diaspore) Florida redbelly turtle (Pseudemysnelsoni) The Meadow Vole (Microtuspennsylvanicus)

14. Consequences

15. 1 consequence • The only consequence that we would suffer is their ability to store water • Alligators dig holes and store water in it • When there is a drought the water could help other animals or themselves survive • Otherwise alligators don’t play a big role in the world and are one of many animals that don’t • Alligators don’t do anything that affect human lives at the moment and even if they were extinct then human lives wouldn’t be affected

16. Personal Response

17. Why biodiversity is important I think that biodiversity is important because without it there would be no animals and without animals there would eventually be no humans. A diverse ecosystem can prevent and recover from lots of disasters. Humans depend on mostly all plants and animals. For example, one quarter of all prescribed medicines in the U.S. have ingredients from plants. If a diverse ecosystem is more productive, it's easier to get these plants to make anything. Humans also directly benefit from a diverse ecosystem because the plants, the clean water and the air, provide us with oxygen and control erosion. Some major ways biodiversity helps humans is: plants absorb the greenhouse gases and help to stop or reduce global warming, the bio diverse ecosystems easily recover from natural disasters, the biodiversity provide us with food (like meat) and medicinal ingredients come from the plants. There are many other things that come from these ecosystems. Some examples can be furniture that’s made out of wood. The wood comes from trees and then processes and is made into furniture or other products. I personally hate the fact that they have to ruin biodiversity to make products like these even thought they are a necessity for humans. In my opinion biodiversity is beautiful and should be enjoyed and not be taken advantage of.

18. Action Plan

19. Bibliography • http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/american-alligator/ • http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/american-alligator/ • http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/alligators/allmis.htm • http://www.npca.org/marine_and_coastal/marine_wildlife/alligator.html • http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/americanalligator/