Chapter 5 Biodiversity

1
Chapter 5 Biodiversity

• The number of species of animals and plants in a
  given area describes it biodiversity.

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What is the biggest threat to biodiversity?

• Habitat Loss

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Statistics from an Indiana Forest
Area Deer Turtle Fox Raccoon Bats Owls
A 2 4 3 7 3 2
B 0 2 0 0 2 0
C 6 6 0 6 8 0
D 6 0 4 3 11 1
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• What area would have the greatest biodiversity?
• What species has the highest average population
  size?
• What species is most likely to face extinction?
• If all four areas have the same temperature and
  precipitation and geology , which one would most
  likely have the smallest area?

5
Reintroduction in Indiana?

•     At 10,750 acres, Lake Monroe is the site of
  the state's bald eagle reintroduction program
  from 1985 - 1989. Although an eagle nest was
  found on the lake in 1988, it would to be another
  3 years before an eaglet would hatch - the first
  from Indiana's reintroduction program and the
  first to hatch in the wild in Indiana since 1897.
  In 2008, yet another record number of eaglets
  hatched from yet another record number of nests
  in the state.  Lake Monroe today is the birding
  and eagle-watching capital of Indiana, with
  year-round resident pairs of bald eagles.

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Habitat fragmentation most affects which group?

• Group A
• Large Predators
• Large Herbivores
• Migratory Animals

• Group B
• Small Predators
• Small Herbivores
• Non-Migratory Animals

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What are sources of acid precipitation?

• Sulfur dioxide from burning coal.
• Nitrogen oxides from car exhaust

8
Fragile Eggs and DDT

• The potentially lethal impact of DDT on birds was
  first noted in the late 1950s when spraying to
  control the beetles that carry Dutch elm disease
  led to a slaughter of robins in Michigan and
  elsewhere. Researchers discovered that earthworms
  were accumulating the persistent pesticide and
  that the robins eating them were being poisoned.
  Other birds fell victim, too.

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Invasive Species Example in the Great Lakes
States(Accidentally Introduced)
Any native species of earthworms that may have
lived in the region were destroyed when glacial
ice sheets covered the Upper Midwest 11,000 to
14,000 years ago. Forests of the Great Lakes
region developed without earthworms. All
earthworms now in the region are exotic, and most
are European. They continue to be transported
through the dumping of unused fishing bait, and
the transport of compost and mulch.
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• Leaf litter decomposition in hardwood forests is
  controlled by fungi and bacteria. Decomposition
  is slower than accumulation of new litter,
  resulting in the formation of a thick, spongy
  forest floor that provides protection from
  predation and extremes in temperature and
  moisture to seeds.

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• Earthworms remove the forest floor by eating it
  and by mixing it into the upper soil. As a
  result, it is difficult for plants and animals
  adapted to forest floor conditions to survive
  following earthworm invasion.

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Extinct Species Examples

• The Caribbean monk seal has joined a long and
  growing list of species that carry the "extinct"
  label. The seals were first sighted during
  Christopher Columbus' second voyage in 1494 and
  once numbered in excess of 250,000. But the
  creatures proved easy prey and were killed
  primarily for their blubber. The last confirmed
  sighting was in 1952. 

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• The dodo is perhaps the best-known example of a
  species driven to extinction by human activity.
  Their numbers dwindled quickly after the arrival
  of Portuguese and Dutch sailors to the Indian
  Ocean island of Mauritius in the 1500s. Some of
  the flightless birds were hunted by humans,
  though competition with dogs, pigs and other
  animals introduced by settlers may have been the
  true cause of extinction, some scientists say.

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A Sad Story.

• The last known individual of the passenger pigeon
  species was "Martha" (named after Martha
  Washington). She died at the Cincinnati
  Zoological Garden, and was donated to the
  Smithsonian Institution, where her body was once
  mounted in a display case with this notation
• MARTHA
• Last of her species, died at 1 p.m.,1 September
  1914, age 29, in theCincinnati Zoological
  Garden.EXTINCT

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Habitat Degradation Includes

• Water Pollution
• Land Pollution
• Air Pollution
• Ozone Layer Depletion

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The Nearer the Equator, the MORE species of
plants and animals.
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Ocean Levels are Increasing. How could this
affect biodiversity on islands? Why?

• Island size might decrease and with it a species
  biodiversity decrease.

Island Size
Biodiversity
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What is the biggest factor affecting biodiversity?

• AREA or available space!

19
Which land area would protect biodiversity the
best?
Larger land areas are better in Conservation
Biology