GEOG 101:
Day 10
Biodiversity and
Conservation Biology
Housekeeping Items






I will collect your outlines
Any thoughts about the field trip?
A number of communities in BC have passed resolutions
banning GM foods. These are largely symbolic, but one
food activist in Vancouver would like to go further.
Worldbridger is showing the Clean Bin Project tonight at
7 p.m. in 356, Room 109.
If you want a chance to influence the timing of
Solutions meetings, go to
http://doodle.com/bxcpxxin6t8fk43m
We didn’t get a chance to talk about the “slow food”
movement. On the theme of food, here’s a funny
cartoon: www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=115522.
Housekeeping Items






Community events for October 2 - October 5:
All week: My Green VIU
hosted by VIU Environment and Sustainability, a
contest to demonstrate how you conserve
energy on campus. Check it out
here: http://sites.viu.ca/sustainability/sustainabili
ty-2014/1368-2
Oct 2 - 4 Zero Waste Conference
Learn more
here: http://www.zerowastecanada.ca/zero-wastecanada-conference-zwia14
We didn’t get a chance to talk about the “slow
food” movement. On the theme of food, here’s a
funny cartoon:
www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=115522.
Housekeeping Items





You are also invited to the Virtual Classroom with David Suzuki and
Friends next Monday, October 6 from 8:30-10 am in the Royal Arbutus
Room above the upper cafeteria. This is a FREE event, but due to
limited space please indicate your interest to sustainability@viu.ca
The event is described as follows:
VIU is taking part in the Hungry for Change conversation event being
put on by the National Film Board, David Suzuki Foundation and
Humber College. The discussion is around the intersection of food and
environmental justice.
David Suzuki, food justice expert Utcha Sawyers and J.B. MacKinnon,
author of The Once and Future World and co-author of The 100-Mile
Diet, will lead the conversation about the impacts of modern food
systems and farming practices on our health, land and food security.
The event will also feature a special performance by poet Tanya
Davis.
For more details please see the following event link:
http://sites.viu.ca/sustainability/hungry-for-change-a-canada-wideconversation
News / Canada
October 1st, Toronto Star
Researcher warns of looming 'catastrophe' for St.
Lawrence beluga population
The latest figures come amid a debate over whether to allow
exploratory drilling off shore of Cacouna, Que., near the
breeding ground at the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS
By: Benjamin Shingler The Canadian Press, Published on Sun Sep 28 2014
MONTREAL—A researcher monitoring belugas in the St. Lawrence estuary
is warning of a looming "catastrophe" after another difficult calving season for
the endangered whale.
The belugas have been in a slow population decline for the past decade,
according to Robert Michaud, the scientific director of Quebec's Marine
Mammals Research and Education Group.
His team has found the carcasses of at least five baby belugas so far during
the calving period, which officially ends on Oct. 15. The number of dead
beluga calves turning up on the shore has been unusually high since 2008,
Michaud said.
"It's a catastrophic trajectory we're observing, and we don't yet know exactly
what are the causes for that," he said.
"The only way this population can reverse its trajectory would be to increase
the survival rate and the birth rate, and what we've been observing for the
last years is totally the opposite….
Upon successfully completing this chapter, you
will be able to







Characterize the scope and value of biodiversity on
Earth
Describe ways to measure biodiversity
Evaluate the primary causes of biodiversity loss
Specify the benefits and challenges of conserving
habitat and the role of habitat fragmentation
Contrast in situ and ex situ conservation approaches
Compare and contrast traditional and innovative
conservation efforts
Outline reasons for setting aside parks, reserves, and
other protected areas
9-7
9-8
Central Case: Saving the Polar Bear: What
Will it Take?
“There will be no polar ice by 2060. Somewhere along
that path, the polar bear drops out.”
 Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in
Canada (COSEWIC) – for political reasons the polar
bear was not be listed as a “threatened” species,
though in the U.S. they are
 Polar bears are coming into contact and interbreeding
with other types of bears
 Polar bears are appearing more frequently in human
settlements
 Traditional Inuit hunting practices are being affected by
the loss of sea ice, a process for which they are not
responsible
 What will it take to save the polar bear?

9-9
Our Planet of Life
9-10
Biodiversity encompasses several
levels
 Biodiversity = sum total of
all organisms in an area at
whatever scale, including
Ecosystem diversity
Species diversity
Genetic diversity
9-11
Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
 Species
Diversity = the number or variety of
species in the world or in a particular region




Species richness = the number of species
Evenness or relative abundance = extent to which
numbers of individuals of different species are
equal or skewed
Speciation generates new species and adds to
species richness
Extinction reduces species richness
9-12
Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
 Species
Diversity
 Immigration is the inmigration of a
species to an area
 Emigration is the outmigration of a
species from an area
 Extirpation is the local extinction of a
species
9-13
Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
 Genetic



Diversity
All species consist of individuals that vary
genetically from one another to some degree (this
is as much true for humans as it is for other species)
Encompasses the varieties in DNA among
individuals within species and populations
The raw material for adaptation to local
conditions, though some species can adapt much
more quickly (such as the peppered moth)
9-14
Peppered Moth
Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
 Genetic

Diversity
Populations with low genetic diversity are
vulnerable
 Inbreeding
depression = genetically similar parents
mate and produce inferior offspring (e.g. certain
offspring of overly inbred royal families or of
hillbillies)
 Genetic bottleneck = limited variety of genetic
material is available to be passed along by the
small number of surviving individuals to their
descendants
9-16
Biodiversity encompasses several levels (cont’d)
 Ecosystem
diversity = the number and
variety of ecosystems
 Also encompasses differing communities and
habitats
 Rapid vegetation change and varying
landscapes within an ecosystem promote
higher levels of biodiversity
 Ecotones = where different types of habitats
or biomes intermix
9-17
Some groups hold more species than others

Insects predominate over
all other life-forms – hence
a lack of ‘evenness’


40% of all insects are
beetles (yeah, yeah, yeah!)
Groups accumulate
species by



Adaptive radiation
Allopatric speciation (from
isolation)
Low rates of extinction
9-18
Insects outnumber all other species
Mammals= 2.7-03%
9-19
Measuring biodiversity is not easy
 Precise
quantitative measurements are
difficult
 About 1.8 million species but likely higher
 Incomplete for several reasons
 Some areas of Earth little explored (new
species being discovered all the time in
Australia)
 Many species are tiny and overlooked
 Many organisms are difficult to identify
9-20
Biodiversity is unevenly distributed on the planet
 Latitudinal
gradient
= species richness
increases towards
the equator
 Plant productivity
and climate
stability play key
roles
9-21
Latitudinal gradient has many causes
9-22
Biodiversity Loss and Species
Extinction
9-23
Biodiversity loss and species
extinction
 Canadian
Species at Risk Act uses categorizes:
 Extinction = occurs when the last member of a
species dies and the species ceases to exist
 Extirpation = the disappearance of a particular
population from a given area, but not the entire
species globally
 Endangered = species in imminent danger of
becoming extirpated or extinct
 Threatened = species likely to become endangered
in the near future
9-24
Extinction and extirpation occur naturally
 Paleontologists
estimate that 99% of all species that
ever lived are now extinct
•
Background rate of extinction = natural extinctions for a
variety of reasons
•

1 species out of 1,000 mammal and marine species would
normally go extinct every 1,000 to 10,000 years
or 1 in a 1000 would typically go extinct every year
9-25
Extinction and extirpation occur naturally (cont’d)



Earth has experienced five previous mass extinction
episodes
In the past 440 million years, mass extinctions have
eliminated at least 50% of all species
Today’s mass extinction is caused by humans and
humans will suffer as a result of it
9-26
Some species are more vulnerable to
extinction than others
In general, extinction occurs when environmental
conditions change so severely that a species cannot
adapt to the change. What kinds of changes are
occurring today that fall into this category?
 …
 …
 Vulnerable = species that are of particular concern
because of characteristics that make them particularly
sensitive to human activities or natural events. What are
some species we can consider ‘vulnerable,’ and due to
what?
 ….
 ….

9-27
Humans have started the sixth mass extinction
Extinctions followed human arrival on islands and continents
9-28
Humans have started the sixth mass
extinction (cont’d)
 Global
extinction rate is currently 100 to 1000 times
greater than background rate
 The Red List = an updated list of species facing high
risks of extinctions – at least



23% of mammal species
12% of bird species
17% to 75% of all other species
 Extinction
is only part of the story of biodiversity loss,
the larger part of the story is decline in population
sizes
9-29
Endangered
Species
Humans have started the sixth mass extinction (cont’d)
 The
Living Planet
Index quantifies
biological
degradation

Between 1970
and 2007, the
Index fell by 30%
9-31
There are several major causes of
biodiversity loss
 Reasons
for biodiversity losses are multifaceted
and factors may interact synergistically
 Causes of population decline:





Habitat alteration
Invasive species
Pollution, including pesticides
Overharvesting
Climate change
9-32
There are several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
 Habitat alteration
 The greatest cause of biodiversity loss
E.g., farming simplifies communities
Grazing modifies the grassland structure
and species composition
Clearing forests removes resources
organisms need
Hydroelectric dams turn rivers into
reservoirs upstream
Urbanization and suburban sprawl
reduce natural communities
A few species (i.e., pigeons, rats) benefit
from changing habitats
9-33
There are several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
 Invasive

species
Introduction of non-native species to new
environments
 Accidental:
 Deliberate:
zebra mussels
food crops

Island species are especially vulnerable

Invaders have no natural predators, competitors, or
parasites

Cost billions of dollars in economic damage

What are some West Coast invasives?
9-35
Invasive species
Several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
 Pollution

Harms organisms in many ways
 Air
pollution degrades forest ecosystems
 Water pollution adversely affects fish and
amphibians
 Agricultural runoff harms terrestrial and aquatic
species
 The effects of oil and chemical spills on wildlife are
dramatic and well known
9-37
Several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
 Overharvesting

Vulnerable species are large, few in number,
long-lived, and have few young (K-selected
species)
 The
Siberian tiger (The 1989 political freedom in
Soviet Union brought the freedom to hunt and
poach)
 Atlantic gray whale has gone extinct
 Thousands of sharks killed just for fins
 Gorillas killed for their meat
9-39
Several major causes of biodiversity loss (cont’d)
 Climate




change
Global impact on habitat and biodiversity
Greenhouse gases modifies global weather patterns
and increases the frequency of extreme weather
events
Increases stress on populations and forces organisms
to shift their geographic ranges
Most animals and plants will not be able to cope
9-41
 Over
2500 amphibian species worldwide are in decline
 Some may be lost before they are even discovered
 Amphibians are regarded as “biological indicators”
(‘canary in the coalmine’ analogy)
 Habitat loss, especially draining of wetlands, is the
leading threat to amphibians in Canada

Pollution, fragmentation are also problems
9-42
Benefits of Biodiversity
9-43
Biodiversity provides ecosystem services












Provides food, fuel, and fibre
Provides shelter and building materials
Purifies air and water
FREE!!
Detoxifies and decomposes wastes
Stabilizes and moderates Earth’s climate
Moderates floods, droughts, wind, and temperature
extremes
Generates and renews soil fertility and cycles
nutrients
Pollinates plants, including many crops
Controls pests and diseases
Maintains genetic resources as inputs to crop
varieties, livestock breeds, and medicines
Provides cultural and aesthetic benefits
Gives us the means to adapt to change The annual value of
just 17 ecosystem
services = $16 to 54
trillion per year
9-44
Biodiversity helps maintain ecosystem
integrity



Biodiversity increases the stability and resilience of
communities and ecosystems (like rivets in airplane)
 Decreased biodiversity reduces a natural system’s
ability to function and provide services to our society
The loss of a species affects ecosystems differently
 If the species can be functionally replaced by others,
it may make little difference
 Extinction of a keystone species may cause other
species to decline or disappear
Precautionary principle: “To keep every cog and wheel
is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering” (Aldo
Leopold)
9-45
Biodiversity enhances food security
 Genetic
diversity within crops is enormously
valuable
 California’s barley crops annually receive $160
million in disease resistance benefits from
Ethiopian strains of barley
 Wild strains provide disease resistance and have
the ability to grow back year after year without
being replanted
 New potential food crops are waiting to be used
 Serendipity berry produces a sweetener 3,000
times sweeter than sugar
9-46
Biodiversity provides drugs and medicines
 Each
year
pharmaceutical
products owing their
origin to wild species
generate up to $150
billion in sales
9-47
weighing
the issues
How Best to Conserve Biodiversity?
Most
people view national parks and ecotourism
as excellent ways to help keep ecological systems
intact. Yet the golden toad went extinct despite
living within a reserve established to protect it.
Moreover, climate change does not pay attention
to park boundaries.
What lesson can we learn from this about the
conservation of biodiversity?
9-48
Biodiversity provides additional economic
benefits
 Ecotourism
is particularly beneficial in
developing and developed countries alike



Costa Rica: rainforests
Australia: Great Barrier Reef
Belize: reefs, caves, and rainforests
 Incentive
to preserve natural areas and reduce
impacts on the landscape and on native
species
 However, too many visitors can degrade the
outdoor experience and disturb wildlife
9-49
People value and seek out connections
with nature
Biophilia = connections that
humans subconsciously seek with
life
 Our affinity for parks and wildlife
 Keeping of pets
 High value of real estate with
views of natural lands
 Nature deficit disorder = alienation
from the natural environment
 May be behind some of the
emotional and physical
problems of the young

See “Biophilic Design”
in the VIU Library
9-50
Housekeeping Items for Day 11
 Did
anyone go see “The Clean Bin
Project”?
 I saw a similar film at the VIFF: “Just Eat It,”
a film made by a Vancouver couple
about their 6-month experiment to se if
they could live on food other people had
thrown out. They managed to only spend
$200.00 on groceries, and salvaged
$20,000 worth of food that otherwise
would have gone to the landfill and it all
was perfectly good!
Housekeeping Items for Day 11
 Interspersed
with their experience was some
more general analysis of food waste. From
production to wholesale distribution to retail
to households, 30-50% of all food is wasted.
 In U.S. 97% of all waste food is landfilled, thus
producing methane, a potent greenhouse
gas
 The energy used to produce waste food is
equivalent to 4% of the entire energy budget
of the U.S.; water used could provide for half
a billion people. Every hamburger patty uses
the equivalent of a 90 minute shower.
Housekeeping Items for Day 11
 Did
anyone go to the Virtual Classroom on
Food Issues with David Suzuki on Monday?
 Apparently our class was the only one to
challenge another. Shelley put posters on the
door of Room 111, and for the first time in
several years the room was black when I went
by after my last class.
 Scholarpedia is a good alternative to
Wikipedia: www.scholarpedia.org.
 I would like to finish the conservation lecture
today.
Approaches to Conservation
9-54
Conservation biology addresses
habitat degradation and species loss
 Conservation
biology = understanding the factors,
forces, and processes that influence the loss and
protection, and restoration of biological diversity
 Conservation biologists choose questions and
pursue research with the aim of developing
solutions to the problems of habitat degradation
and species loss


Applied and goal-oriented science, with implicit
values and ethical standards
Thus, both descriptive and normative.
9-55
Conservation biology arose in response to biodiversity loss
9-56
Conservation biology addresses habitat
degradation and species loss (cont’d)
 Uses
field data, lab data, theory, and experiments to
study impacts of humans on other organisms
 Designs, tests, and implements ways to mitigate
impacts
 Minimum
viable population = how small a population
can become before it runs into problems
 Organisms
distributed as a network of
subpopulations

Small populations are most vulnerable to extinction and
need special attention (also applies to indigenous and
small ethnic groups in terms of their culture)
9-57
Island biogeography can help address
habitat fragmentation
 Equilibrium
theory of island biogeography = explains
how species come to be distributed among oceanic
islands



Also applies to “habitat islands” – patches of one
habitat type isolated within a “sea” of others (need to
link cores with corridors)
Explains how the number of species on an island results
from an equilibrium between immigration and
extirpation
Predicts an island’s species richness based on the
island’s size and distance from the mainland
9-58
Island biogeography can help address habitat
fragmentation (cont’d)
• Species richness results from island size and distance
• Fewer species colonize an island far from the mainland
• Large islands have higher immigration rates
• Large islands have lower extinction rates
9-59
Island biogeography can help address habitat
fragmentation (cont’d)
 Species-area
curves
 Large islands
contain more
species than small
islands
 They are easier
to find and have
lower extinction
rates
 They possess
more habitats
9-60
Island biogeography can help
address habitat fragmentation
(cont’d)
 Habitat


fragmentation
Forests are fragmented by
roads and logging (and
agriculture)
Small forest fragments lose
diversity fastest
 Starting

with large species
Fragmentation is one of the
prime threats to biodiversity
9-61
Captive breeding and cloning
are single-species approaches



Captive breeding – individuals are bred and raised
with the intent of reintroducing them into the wild
 Zoos and botanical gardens
Some reintroductions require international
cooperation
 Whooping cranes in Wood Buffalo Park (Canada)
and Gulf coast of Texas (U.S.)
 wolves into Yellowstone Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q
Some habitat is so fragmented, a species cannot
survive once reintroduced
9-62
Captive breeding and cloning are
single-species approaches (cont’d)
 Cloning
– a technique to create more
individuals and save species from extinction
 Most biologists agree that these efforts are
not adequate to recreate the lost biodiversity
 Even if cloning can succeed, ample habitat
and protection in the wild are needed to save
species
 Also: recreating the mastodon of old would be
little more than a scientific curiousity
9-63
Some species act as “umbrellas”
to protect communities
 Conservation
biologists use particular umbrella
species (e.g. tigers, bears, and elephants) as tools to
conserve communities and ecosystems

helps protect less-charismatic animals
 Flagship
species – large and charismatic species
used as spearheads for biodiversity conservation

The World Wildlife Fund’s panda bear or Central
Coast’s ‘spirit bear’; two concepts overlap
 Some
organizations are moving beyond the single
species approach to focus on whole landscapes
9-64
This or this….? Which
is ‘sexier’?
Conservation efforts are both
national and international
 2002:
Species at Risk Act stresses cooperation with
landowners and governments to avoid hostility
 Some say SARA is too weak
 COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered
Wildlife in Canada) = expert committee that
reports the status of species at risk without
executive authority
 1973: UN Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) – protects endangered species by banning
international transport of their body parts (e.g.
ivory)
9-66
Hot spots highlight areas of high
biodiversity
 Biodiversity
hotspots –
prioritizes regions most
important globally for
biodiversity
 Support a great number of
endemic species = species
found nowhere else in the
world
 The area must have at least
1500 endemic plant species
(0.5% of the world total)
 It must have lost 70% of its
habitat due to human
impact
9-67
Hot spots highlight areas of high biodiversity (cont’d)
There are 34 global biodiversity hotspots
2.3% of the planet’s land surface contains 50% of the world’s
plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species
9-68
Community- based conservation is increasingly
popular
 Community-based
conservation =
conservation biologists actively engage local
people in protecting land and wildlife
 Protecting land deprives people access to
resources
 Community-based conservation gives
people a stake in protection vs. poaching,
etc.
 Can guarantee that these resources will not
be used up or sold to foreign corporations
and can instead be sustainably managed
(http://www.ted.com/talks/john_kasaona_from
_poachers_to_caretakers?language=en#).
9-69
Other innovative economic strategies
are also being employed
 Debt-for-nature
swap = a conservation organization
pays off a portion of a developing country’s
international debt



In exchange for a promise by the country to set aside
reserves
Fund environmental education, and
Better manage protected areas
 Conservation
concession = conservation
organizations pay nations to conserve, and not sell,
resources; interesting example in Ecuador that
ultimately failed
9-70
Parks and Reserves
9-71
Why do we create parks and
reserves?
 Enormous,
beautiful, or unusual features inspire
people to protect them – monumentalism
 Protected areas offer recreational value to
tourists, hikers, fishers, hunters, and others
 Protected areas offer utilitarian benefits and
ecosystem services (e.g., preserving water quality)
 Parks make use of sites lacking economically
valuable material resources or that are hard to
develop (“rock and ice”?)
 However, some countries allow resource
exploration or extraction within parks
9-72
Why do we create parks and reserves (cont’d) ?
 There
are 43 national parks in Canada
 Many sites in a parks system also serve as wildlife
refuges
 Some find hunting in parks objectionable or hunting
for rare species objectionable (recent controversy
over man in Texas who bid 100s of 1000s of dollars to
shoot a black rhino; similar cases in BC)
 Hunters often in forefront of conservation (e.g.,
Ducks Unlimited Canada)
 There are two kinds of hunting – for food and for
trophies. Do you think hunting is acceptable under
some/ any circumstances?
9-73
Why do we create parks and reserves (cont’d) ?
 Not
everyone supports land set-asides
 Wise-use movement – dedicated to
protecting private property rights; opposing
government regulation; transferring federal
lands to state, local, or private hands;
promoting motorized recreation on public
lands
 Farmers, ranchers, trappers, mineral
prospectors, as well as groups representing
industries that extract timber, mineral, and
fossil fuels.
9-74
Parks and reserves are increasing internationally
 Many
nations have established national park
systems and are benefiting from ecotourism
 Parks in developing countries do not always
receive the funding, legal support, or
enforcement support they need to manage
resources
 Many of the world’s protected areas are merely
paper parks
 Costa Rican parks initially received little
funding, but the country has a high proportion
of land in reserves
9-75
Costa Rican Protected Areas
Parks and reserves are increasing
internationally (cont’d)
World Heritage Sites – under national sovereignty but
are designated or partly managed internationally by
the United Nations (no binding protection)
 Biosphere reserves – tracts of land with exceptional
biodiversity that couple preservation with sustainable
development to benefit local people (two on
Vancouver Island – Clayoquot and Mount
Arrowsmith)
 Core area
 Buffer zone
 Outer transitional one

9-77
Conclusion
 Loss
of biodiversity threatens to result in a
mass extinction
 Primary causes of biodiversity loss are:
 Habitat alteration, invasive species,
pollution, overharvesting of biotic
resources, and climate change
 Human society cannot function without
biodiversity’s pragmatic benefits
 Science can help save species, preserve
habitats, restore populations, and keep
natural ecosystems intact, but more
fundamental changes are also needed.
9-79