Lecture No. 3 BIOL 549 Biodiversity

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Lecture No. 3BIOL 549 Biodiversity
Conservation

• Measuring Biodiversity
• Ecosystem Classification Systems
• Biodiversity Virtual Fieldtrips and Mapping

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Consider biodiversity at many scales and levels
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Biodiversity - hierarchical levels of analysis
Regions Ecosystems Communities Species Populations
Individuals Genes Molecules
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Species

• Most useful level is the species, because most
  scientists agree on what constitutes a species
• A commonly accepted definition is "a population
  whose members are able to interbreed freely under
  natural conditions".

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Cataloging and Discovering Species and Ecosystems

• Team efforts to use the World Wide Web to
  coordinate the efforts of hundreds of biologists
  to classify and describe species.
• a) Tree of Life
• b) All-species Foundation
• c) All-species Inventory
•  
• For many years biologists divided Life forms
  into
• prokaryotes, in which the DNA is not enclosed in
  a nucleus, e.g. bacteria and viruses  
• eukaryotes, in which the DNA is enclosed in a
  nucleus.  This group includes the algae, fungi,
  protozoans, animals, and plants. 

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New Group of Organisms

• Archaea, consisting of about 500 species
  discovered in 1977.
• First discovered in the most extreme environments
  - the hottest, coldest, and highest pressure,
  e.g. high salt and alkaline environments--called
  "extremophiles".
• Now scientists are finding that they are very
  abundant in the open ocean as well, especially
  around Antarctica.  In fact, they are so abundant
  that they are estimated to make up about 30 of
  the biomass on Earth.
• New Species.  About 10,000 new species are found
  every year, and most of these are insects and
  other inconspicuous animals.

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New Ecosystems

• Hydro-thermal marine vents. The vents, which are
  like submarine hot springs, have been found to
  support over 300 new species of organisms.
• Anchialine caves . These habitats are flooded
  caves, under land but usually near the coast,
  that have no direct surface connection with the
  sea.
• Lava tubes.

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NEMO (New Millennium Observatory
http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/index.html
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Anchialine Caves
Remipedia  

• See - World Association of Copepodologists
  http//www.copepoda.uconn.edu/anchialine.htm
• Anchialine habitats are flooded coastal caves and
  groundwater habitats that lack any direct surface
  connection with the open sea.  They are inhabited
  by remarkably primitive animals, long term
  survivors of ancient lineages, which are
  threatened by changes in their fragile habitat.
• Galapagos Islands and Palau in the Pacific, the
  Canaries and the Bahamas in the Atlantic, and the
  Balearics in the Mediterranean.
• In recent years over 200 new species, at least 10
  new families and even a new class of crustaceans
  - the Remipedia - have been described from
  anchialine caves, particularly on islands.
• See A Condensed History of Biospeleology in
  Yucatanhttp//www.caves.org/project/qrss/bspeleo
  h.htm

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Lava Tube - Rwanda
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Number of Species on Earth

• Until a few years ago, number of species on earth
  was estimated at between 1.4 and 6 million.
• A dramatic upward revision of these estimates to
  30 million came about as a result of work by
  Erwin on tropical beetles.
• A more reliable estimate comes from work on
  tropical bugs (hemipterans) on the island of
  Sulawesi, Indonesia by Hodkinson and Casson
  (1991). about 5 million

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Hodkinson and Casson

• They sampled bugs over a one-year period using
  several sampling methods at several sites
  including a variety of host plants.
• They found a total of 1690 species of which only
  37.5 were previously described. Total of
  described species of hemipterans is 78,656.
  Therefore, a simple estimate for the real total
  is 78,656 x 100/37.5 209,749
• Hemipterans represent about 10 of all described
  insect species therefore, the estimate for the
  total number of insect species is about 2.1
  million, giving an estimate for the total species
  number of about 5 million - consistent with
  earlier estimates.

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Geographical Patterns of Species Richness

• For example, on Australia's Great Barrier Reef,
  the number of genera of coral is less than 10 at
  the southern end but more than 50 at the northern
  end.
• Number of sea squirt species is 103 in the arctic
  but 629 in the tropics. Even deep sea species
  diversity is higher in the tropics than at the
  poles.

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Places with High Abundance but Lower Species
Numbers

• Where wildlife is very abundant although the
  number of species may not break any records.
• An example is the Southern Ocean surrounding the
  Antarctic continent, which supports one of the
  most productive ecosystems on Earth.
• East African grasslands, e.g. Serengeti

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Wildebeast Migration
http//www.climbingaround.net/Africa/Wildebeasts.h
tm
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Species Richness
GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY VALUE a map showing the
distribution of some of the most highly valued
terrestrial biodiversity world-wide (mammals,
reptiles, amphibians and seed plants), using
family-level data for equal-area grid cells (ref
10), with red for high biodiversity and blue for
low biodiversity.
Mapping biodiversity value worldwide combining
higher-taxon richness from different groups.
Williams, P. H., Gaston, K. J. Humphries, C.
J. (1997) Proceedings of the Royal Society,
Biological Sciences, 264 141-148..
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Why?

• The reason for the species richness of the
  tropics is not known, but the following ideas
  have been proposed
• Organisms in the tropics have had a longer time
  in which to evolve new species. In temperate
  zones species have been periodically wiped out by
  glaciation during the ice ages.
• Milder climate and greater supply of solar energy
  allows more biomass to be produced. This
  translates into more organisms per unit area, so
  more species can exist in a given area.

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Classification Systems

• ESS (Earth System Science)
• Biogeographical
• Ecological
• Natural Areas
• Hotspots
• Life Zones
• Etc.

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Hierarchical Structure of LifeFrom Cells to
Biosphere

• Universe
• Galaxies
• Stars
• Planets
• Earth
• Biosphere
• Ecosystems
• Communities
• Populations
• Organisms
• Organ Systems
• Organs
• Tissues
• Cells
• Molecules
• Atoms
• Subatomic particles

Biological Entities
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Earth System Science
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ESS (Earth System Science) In NASAs Earth
Science Enterprise
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Bretherton The Earth System
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Full Diagram - Earth Systems
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Stuart Gage, Michigan State University
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Sun
Earths position
From Stuart Gage, Michigan State University
Geographical latitude
Solar Radiation
CHANGE
Climate
Weather
Greenhouse gases
Temperature and moisture dynamics
Earths rotation (Seasonality)
Chemical comp.
Global wind circulation
Cloud cover
Energy
Energy
Atmosphere
Condensation
Sea-Ice dynamics
Water Cycle
Evaporation
Precipitation
Cryosphere
Respiration Heat
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Carbon
Biogeochemical Cycles
Population
Human-made disturbances
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Aquatic Ecosystems
Sulfur
Phosphorus
Ocean circulation
Ocean depth zones
Nutrients
Population growth
Heat
Photosynthesis
plants
Culture
Algal bed
Autotrophs
algae
Tropical F
Coral reef
Estuaries
Decomposers
Natural resources
prokaryotes
Shelf
bacteria
CHANGE
Fresh water distribution
Open Ocean
Energy use
Hydrosphere
CHANGE
Sea level
Land use
Herbivores
Omnivores
Ocean heat capacity
Sociosphere
Temperate F
protozoa
Marine
Precipitation
fungi
Technology
Carnivores
Boreal F
virus
Natural disturbances
animals (inc.humans)
Savanna
Thermal vents
Seasonal precipitation
Environmental values
Grassland
Tundra
Water runoff
Freshwater
Desert
Chaparral
Temperature
Agriculture Fisheries Forestry Urban
Surface-Ground water dynamics
Ecosystem management
Organization
Succession Evolution Extinction
Soil development
Lithosphere
Energy
Plate tectonic cycle
Rock cycle
Earths internal heat
Earthquakes Volcanism
Continental Geomorphology
Sea-floor Geomorphology
CHANGE
M Colunga-Garcia, S Gage, P Webber, D Long, and
C Harris.1999. The Biosphere Diagram II. MSU ESSE
Program
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Biogeography

• The science of biogeography is the study of the
  geographic distribution of organisms.
• Classification systems are defined and produced
  for various scales of use and depending on
  disciplinary interests and goals
• Realms, Provinces, Ecoregions, Biomes,
  Ecosystems, Floristic Kingdoms, Life Zones,
  Natural Areas note some variety in use of
  terms by different disciplines, e.g. ecologists,
  biogeographers, landscape ecologists, etc. For
  example
• Zoogeographic REALMS (provinces by some systems)
  are regions of distinctive fauna. They are based
  on the taxonomic or phylogenetic relationships of
  animals and not the adaptations of animals to
  specific environments. The gene pool (i.e, the
  taxa represented) is different in each province.
• Nearctic
• Palearctic
• Ethiopian
• Australian
• Oriental
• Neotropical
• Biogeographic realms are subdivided into 227
  provinces
• World Wildlife fund and National Geographic
  Society recently mapped 867 terrestrial
  ecoregions
• Illustration Mexican Biodiversity database by
  Vivanatura http//www.vivanatura.org/

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Key Systems - Definitions

• Cells gt organs gt organisms
• Populations group of individual organisms of
  the same kind that intebreeds
• Species made up of populations capable of
  interbreeding and occasionally exchanging genes
• Genus several species sharing genetic
  characteristics
• Ecological communities sets of interacting
  species
• Ecosystem ecological community of plants,
  animals, fungi and microorganisms and its local,
  non-biological environment (air, water, soils,
  etc.)
• Biomes global classes of ecosystems. A biome is
  composed not only of the climax vegetation, but
  also of associated successional communities,
  persistent subclimax communities, fauna, and
  soils.
• Biosphere The place on Earths surface where
  life dwells Vladimir Ivanovitch Vernadsky
  (1863-1945)- CEVL (Michigan State University)
  
  

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Biosphere
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Global Biomes
Distribution of global biomes and their
correlation with latitude, altitude and
precipitation. 
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Grasslands - Eurasia and Africa
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Life Zones

• Affects of climatic variables on distribution of
  plant life, Alexander von Humbolt (1807)
  altitudinal zonation
• Traditional Latin American Zones (Humbolt)
• Tierra caliente
• Tierra Templada
• Tierra fria
• Tierra helada
• Paramo, etc
• C. Hart Merriam (1889) mean annual temperature
  and distribution of flora and fauna in the
  western US Life Zones
• Merriam delineated six different life zones and
  correlated these with latitudinal vegetation
  zones ranging from Sonora, Mexico, to the Arctic
  coast of Canada.
• Koeppens climates (1930) more later
• Holdridges Life Zones (1947) The life zones
  are defined first according to a climatic
  variable--degrees mean annual biotemperature (and
  not according to degrees latitude or meters of
  elevation).

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East African Vertical Zones
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Altitudinal Vegetation ZonesVirunga Mountains
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Climographs Koppen Climates
http//www.fs.fed.us/colorimagemap/images/app2.htm
l
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Biogeography Online

• Living in the Biosphere Production, Pattern,
  Population, and Diversity, by Dwight Brown (Univ.
  of Minnesota)
• http//www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/module/
  biosphere/toc.html
• Overview of Life Zones, Biomes, Zoogeographic
  Provinces (Radford University Biogeography
  course)
• http//www.runet.edu/swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/bio
  geog.htm
• Stuart Gage, CEVL(Computation Ecology
  Visualization Laboratory) Michigan State
  Universityhttp//www.cevl.msu.edu/

DEVELOPING ACTIVE LEARNING MODULES ON THE HUMAN
DIMENSIONS OF GLOBAL CHANGE Association of
American Geographers And NSF (National Science
Foundation)
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Importance of Distribution Patterns

• Local Endemics
• e.g. remote islands, isolated mountains,
• very susceptible to extinction due to
  over-exploitation and habitat loss.
• Sparsely Distributed Species
• Occur over very large geographical regions but
  are not very abundant anywhere.
• e.g. tigers, Grizzly Bear
• Migratory Species
• require habitats along and at each end of their
  migration routes, e.g. The Case Of The Missing
  Songbirds (bird-friendly coffee) Smithsonian
• Sea turtles in Meso-america
• Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
• September 2002 meeting some of the notable new
  listings on Appendix I were the Bactrian Camel
  (down to less than 1000 individuals), the Great
  White Shark and three species of whale.
• Conservation "Hot spots High endemism coupled
  with imminent threats from habitat loss Coastal
  California
• Two important facts about California
• California is the most biologically diverse
  state in the union, with 40,000 species and more
  federally listed species than any other mainland
  state.
• California's population is expected to grow from
  32 million to 49 million by the year 2025.

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Biodiversity Hotspots
http//www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/
Threatened Endemic SpeciesLists of threatened
terrestrial vertebrate species for each hotspot
are available as a PDF below. These lists include
threatened mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians that are endemic to the hotspot. They
were compiled by the Center for Applied
Biodiversity Science at Conservation
International based on the 1996 IUCN Red List of
Threatened Animals (Baillie Groombridge 1996).
The threatened status of each terrestrial
vertebrate species currentlyin the list has been
updated to the 2000 Red List (Hilton-Taylor
2000). We are currently in the process of
determining which additional hotspot endemic
terrestrial vertebrate species should be included
because they were included as threatened on the
2000 Red List but not listed in 1996. Atlantic
Forest (thrspp04.pdf - 72KB)Brazilian Cerrado
(thrspp06.pdf - 68KB)California Floristic
Province (thrspp08.pdf - 65KB)Cape Floristic
Region (thrspp11.pdf - 66KB)Caribbean
(thrspp03.pdf - 85KB)Caucasus (thrspp15.pdf -
64KB)Central Chile (thrspp07.pdf -
63KB)Choco-Darien-Western Ecuador (thrspp05.pdf
- 69KB)Eastern Arc Mountains Coastal Forests
(thrspp10.pdf - 69KB)Guinean Forests of West
Africa (thrspp13.pdf - 71KB)Indo-Burma
(thrspp19.pdf - 73KB)Mediterranean Basin
(thrspp14.pdf - 71KB)Madagascar Indian Ocean
Islands (thrspp09.pdf - 76KB)Mesoamerica
(thrspp02.pdf - 71KB)Mountains of Southwest
China (thrspp20.pdf - 69KB)New Caledonia
(thrspp22.pdf - 65KB)New Zealand (thrspp23.pdf -
71KB)Philippines (thrspp18.pdf - 85KB)Polynesia
Micronesia (thrspp24.pdf - 73KB)Southwest
Australia (thrspp25.pdf - 68KB)Succulent Karoo
(thrspp12.pdf - 65KB)Sundaland (thrspp16.pdf -
71KB)Tropical Andes (thrspp01.pdf -
75KB)Wallacea (thrspp17.pdf - 72KB)Western
Ghats Sri Lanka (thrspp21.pdf - 69KB)
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In-class Activities

• Each student explore for ¼-½ hour ONE of the
  following ecosystem classification systems and
  report back to class on following
• Criteria for definition of threats/endangerment
  etc
• At what scale is the system most applied and used
• What is the primary goal of the classification
  system
• What key ecosystems are defined or listed as
  highest priority.
• US Forest Service ECOMAP Team Baileys
  Ecoregions
• Sierra Club Critical Ecoregions Program
• WCMC/UNEP - World Atlas of Biodiversity
• Conservation International Biodiversity
  Hotspots
• LUHNA (Land Use History of North America) Program
  USGS
• World Resources Institute (WRI) Pilot Analysis
  of Global Ecosystems (PAGE) and Millennium
  Ecosystem Assessment, WRI and others
• National Geographic Society and WWF Wild World
  (terrestrial ecosystems)
• Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
  Ecological Regions of North America

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Take-Home Activity

• Virtual Fieldtrips and Resources to report on and
  evaluate
• Indian Peaks, Colorado
• Pt. Reyes, California
• Big Bend National Park, Texas
• Virunga Mountains, Rwanda
• Muskegon River Watershed CEVL (Michigan)
• Great Salt Lake Ecosystem, Utah
• Deep Lock Quarry, Ohio
• Land and Life on the North American Prairie, USA
• Each of you find another online fieldtrip see
  Ecotourism and Fieldtrips or use GOOGLE etc.
• Robert Fords BIOSPHERE resources
• http//www.usra.edu/esse/ford/ESS205/g300www/g300w
  wwbios.html