Protecting Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

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Protecting Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

• Mon 8 Nov Wed 10 Nov 2004

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Why Preserve Lands?

• Biodiversity
• Ecosystem services
• Unique ecosystems
• (endangered or endemic species habitats)
• Significant migratory routes
• Aesthetics
• Recreation
• Human population density

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Preservation and Public Lands

• Department of the Interior
• National Park Service (84 M acres)
• National Parks and Monuments
• National Preserves and National Seashore /
  Lakeshore
• Bureau of Land Management (261 M acres)
• US Fish and Wildlife Service (94 M acres)
• National Wildlife Refuges
• National Wilderness Areas
• Department of Agriculture
• National Forests (200 M acres)

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Challenges to Managing Public Lands

• Multiple agencies
• Competing goals
• Extractive interests
• Recreational overuse
• Science not exact
• No single unified vision

Arches National Park, Utah
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Loved to Death Tourism and Preservation

• Air pollutionmass transit
• Soil compaction
• Humanwildlife interactions
• Water quality
• Invasive species
• Conflicts with park interests and adjacent
  landowners
• Fire suppression

Liberty Cap, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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Wildlife and Preservation
Bear at cars, Yosemite, 2001
Rangers feeding bear, Yosemite, 1912
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Protection of Private Lands

• Outright purchase of land
• Purchase or transfer of development
  rights (conservation easements)
• Development agreements (cluster development)
• Planning tools (general plan, zoning, growth
  boundaries)

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Tenets of Preservation

• Large tracts of land
• Contiguous tracts
• Maintenance of migratory pathways
• Unique, endemic lands preserved
• Common lands preserved
• Functional preservation
• Protection of keystone species

Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming
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Ecosystem Preservation

• How to include humans as part of natural system
• Management of species, habitat, and ecosystems
• Need for overarching goals and vision
• US preserving 5 of total lands
• Aesthetic and wildlife values of preservation

Sequoia National Park, California
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Values of Marine Biodiversity

• Products
• Foods
• Medicines and biomedical resources
• Raw materials
• Ecosystem Services
• Coastal processes
• Global climate
• Aesthetics
• Recreation

Kelp forest off of Monterey Coast, CA
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Threats to Marine Biodiversity

• Over-exploitation
• Fisheries
• Aquaria
• Physical alterations
• Trawling
• Anchoring, visiting
• Noise pollution
• Siltation
• Freshwater inputs
• Pollution
• Chemical
• Solid waste
• Non-native Species
• Climate Change

Emperor angel fish, USVI, and coral reef, BVI
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Impediments to Marine Conservation

• Insufficient scientific information
• Inadequate transfer of information
• Cultural and biological diversity
• Differing values on benefits/costs of harming
  marine life
• Jurisdiction
• Military immunity
• Fragmented decision making
• Burden of proof

Humpback whales in Hawaii National Marine
Sanctuary
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Tools for Conserving Marine Biodiversity

• Education
• General public, media, decision-makers
• Science
• Inventory
• Monitoring
• Planning
• EIAs
• Ecosystem management
• Regulations
• Environmental
• Trade
• Economics
• Sanctuaries, Reserves

Mangroves in US Virgin Islands
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Marine Sanctuaries

• Department of Commerce
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
• (19 K acres)
• National Marine Sanctuaries

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Summary

• Why protect biodiversity?
• How are we protecting biodiversity?
• What are some of the challenges with our current
  efforts?
• What other tools are available to protect
  biodiversity?