International Debate Education Association and Willamette University
Biodiversity
2010 Advocacy Institute
Scott Pike, Willamette University
Charismatic Megafauna
Biodiversity
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Defining
Valuing
Measuring
Extinction
– Rates
– Modern Pressures
• Biodiversity Policy
• Managing for Biodiversity
Defining Biodiversity
http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/eigenbr.htm
• Genetic diversity - variety and variability in genetic
makeup among individuals of a single species
Fruit of Lycopersicon spp. and cultivars of L.esculentum (cultivated tomato)
Defining Biodiversity
• Species diversity - variety and variability of species in
different habitats
Defining Biodiversity
• Ecosystem diversity - variety and variability of biological
communities that interact with one another and their
non-living environments
Valuing Biodiversity
Valuing Biodiversity
Measuring Biodiversity
Red wolf
Steelhead
Rainbow trout
www.invasiveplantatlas.org
Forest A
Forest B
How Many Species Are There?
1.75 million? 5 million? 14 million? 100 million?
Extinction
• Local Extinction
• Ecological Extinction
• Biological Extinction
© Gary Larson
Effects of a .1% extinction rate
Number of years until one million species are extinct
Fig. 9-3, p. 186
Fig. 9-6, p. 189
Characteristic
Examples
Low reproductive rate
(K-strategist)
Blue whale, giant
panda, rhinoceros
Specialized
niche
Blue whale, giant panda,
Everglades kite
Narrow distribution
Elephant seal, desert
pupfish
Feeds at high
trophic level
Bengal tiger, bald
eagle, grizzly bear
Fixed migratory
patterns
Blue whale, whooping
crane, sea turtle
Rare
African violet, some
orchids
Commercially
valuable
Snow leopard, tiger,
elephant, rhinoceros, rare
plants and birds
Large territories
California condor, grizzly
bear, Florida panther
Stepped Art
Fig. 9-5, p. 188
Should UNESCO and supporting countries leverage
“charismatic” cultures to achieve more subtle and
far-reaching goals?