CHAPTER 18: SUSTAINING BIODIVERSITY: THE
SPECIES APPROACH
Passenger
pigeon
Great auk
Dodo
Dusky seaside
sparrow
Aepyornis
(Madagascar)
HERE ARE SOME ANIMAL SPECIES THAT WERE DRIVEN TO
EXTINCTION BY HUMANS BY HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND
OVERHUNTING. THE PASSENGER PIGEON IS NOTEWORTHY DUE TO
ITS ASSOCIATION WITH GROSS MISCALCULATIONS OF THE MINIMUM
VIABLE POPULATION (NUMBER OF SURVIVORS NEEDED TO MAINTAIN
THE SPECIES PERMANENTLY) AND HABITAT WHICH LED TO ITS
EXTINCTION.
Slide 1
Grizzly bear
(threatened)
Kirtland's
warbler
White top
pitcher plant
Arabian oryx
(Middle East)
African elephant
(Africa)
Mojave desert
tortoise
(threatened)
Swallowtail
butterfly
Humpback
chub
Golden lion
tamarin
(Brazil)
Siberian tiger
(Siberia)
THREATENED (VULNERABLE) SPECIES ARE STILL ABUNDANT IN
THEIR NATURAL RANGES BUT BECAUSE OF DECLINING NUMBERS
Figure 18-3 (1)
Page 450
Slide 2
West Virginia
Giant panda
spring salamander (China)
Mountain gorilla
(Africa)
Pine barrens
tree frog
(male)
SPECIES
ARE
Whooping
crane
Knowlton
cactus
Swamp
pink
Hawksbill sea
turtle
Blue whale
El Segundo blue
butterfly
ENDANGERED
ONES WITH SO FEW INDIVIDUALS
THAT THE SPECIES WILL SOON BE EXTINCT. TERMS
ENDANGERED AND THREATENED HAVE LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE.
Slide 3
Florida
manatee
Northern spotted
owl (threatened)
Gray wolf
Florida panther
Devil's hole
pupfish
Snow leopard
(Central Asia)
Symphonia
(Madagascar)
Black-footed
ferret
Ghost bat
(Australia)
California
condor
Black lace
cactus
Black rhinoceros
(Africa)
CONSIDER SOME
EXAMPLES:
MANATEE IS
DYING FROM
THERMAL
POLLUTION;
SPOTTED OWL
WAS USED IN AN
ATTEMPT TO SET A
Bannerman's
LEGAL
turaco (Africa)
PRECEDENT ON
TERRITORIAL
EXTENT IN ORDER
TO PRESERVE A
HABITAT – OLD
GROWTH;
GRAY WOLF HAS
GOTTEN SOME
BAD MEDIA
Utah prairie dog
LEADING TO
(threatened)
MISGUIDED
EXTERMINATION
EFFORTS BY GOVT
AND RANCHERS;
CONDOR IS
EXAMPLE OF
CAPTURE &
RECOVER ZOO
Figure 18-3 (3)
APPROACH
Page 451
Oahu tree
snail
Slide 4
Characteristic
Examples
Low reproductive rate
(K-strategist)
Blue whale, giant panda,
rhinoceros
Specialized niche
Blue whale, giant panda,
Everglades kite
Narrow distribution
Many island species,
elephant seal, desert pupfish
Feeds at high trophic
level
Bengal tiger, bald eagle,
grizzly bear
Fixed migratory patterns
Blue whale, whooping crane,
sea turtles
Rare
Many island species,
African violet, some orchids
Commercially valuable
Snow leopard, tiger,
elephant, rhinoceros,
rare plants and birds
Large territories
California condor, grizzly
bear, Florida panther
SOME FEATURES
OF SENSITIVE
SPECIES; THESE
ARE PROBLEMS
WITH WARM AND
FUZZY OR
CALENDAR
SPECIES. MOST
EXTINCTIONS
ARE HAPPENING
WITH LESS
FAMOUS SMALL
CRITTERS SUCH
AS INSECTS,
FUNGI, ETC.
Figure 18-4
Page 452
Slide 5
IT IS NOT A
GOOD TIME
FOR TOP
PREDATORS
ALMOST
ANYWHERE ON
THE GLOBE
Range 100 years ago
Range today
(about 2,300 left)
Indian Tiger
Figure 18-6 (1)
Page 456
Slide 6
RHINO HABITAT
IS SHRINKING
AND THEY ARE
HUNTED FOR
THEIR HORNS
Range in 1700
Range today
(about 2,400 left)
Black Rhino
Figure 18-6 (2)
Page 456
Slide 7
ELEPHANTS
ARE
FOLLOWING
THE SAME
PATH AS THEIR
MASTADON
RELATIVES,
YET THIS TIME
WE ARE MORE
CERTAIN OF
THE CAUSE OF
THEIR DEMISE
Probable range 1600
Range today
(300,000 left)
African Elephant
Figure 18-6 (3)
Page 456
Slide 8
Cerulean warbler
Sprague’s pipit
Bichnell’s thrush
Blacked-capped vireo
10 MOST THREATENED SPECIES
Florida scrub jay
California gnatcatcher Kirtland’s warbler
Henslow’s sparrow
Golden-cheeked
warbler
Bachman’s warbler
SONGBIRDS PLAY IMPORTANT ECOLOGICAL ROLES AND ARE
INDICATOR SPECIES OF HABITAT INTEGRITY. DEMISE IS DUE TO
HABITAT LOSS, FRAGMENTATION AND NON-NATIVE BIRDS
(STARLING)
Figure 18-7
Page 457
Slide 9
Purple looselife
European starling
African honeybee
(“Killer bee”)
Marine toad
Water hyacinth
Japanese beetle
Nutria
Salt cedar
(Tamarisk)
Hydrilla
INTRODUCED SPECIES ARE ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS FOR THE
DECLINE OF MANY NATIVE SPECIES
European wild boar
(Feral pig)
Figure 18-8 (1)
Page 458
Slide 10
Sea lamprey
(attached to lake trout)
Argentina fire ant
Brown tree snake
Eurasian muffle
Common pigeon
(Rock dove)
Formosan termite
Zebra mussel
Asian long-horned
beetle
Asian tiger mosquito
Gypsy moth larvae
MANY OF THESE INTRODUCED SPECIES ARE INSECTS AND FISH;
SOME ARE GOOD AND INTRODUCED TO CONTROL PREVIOUS
INTRODUCTIONS; MANY EXOTIC SPECIES COME FROM SHIP
BALLASTS
Figure 18-8 (2)
Page 458
Slide 11
CAUSES OF EXTINCTION
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
POPULATION GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
INCREASE IN RESOURCE CONSUMPTION
POVERTY
HABITAT LOSS, DEGRADATION AND FRAGMENTATION
INTRODUCTION OF NON-NATIVE SPECIES
OVERFISHING
CLIMATE CHANGE
PREDATOR AND PEST CONTROL
POLLUTION
COMMERCIAL HUNTING
POACHING
HARVEST AND SALE OF EXOTIC PETS, PLANTS, CORAL REEF
INHABITANTS, ETC.
Slide 12
KUDZU WAS AN INTENTIONAL INTRODUCTION IN THE 1930'S. IT
WAS INTRODUCED TO CONTROL EROSION AND FIX NITROGEN.
IT BECAME OVERDOMINANT TO SAY THE LEAST.
Figure 18-9
Page 459
Slide 13
CASE STUDY OF
CETACEANS:
Atlantic
Common
TOOTHED VS.
Harbor
white-sided
dolphin
BALEEN (HORNY
porpoise
dolphin
PLATES USED AS
Killer
FILTERS FOR
whale
ACQUIRING
Bottlenose
Beluga
KRILL); EASY
dolphin
whale
PREY DUE TO
SIZE AND NEED
False killer
TO SURFACE;
whale
FOLLOW
Cuvier's
Pilot
TRAGEDY OF
beaked
whale
THE COMMONS;
whale
8 OF 11 MAJOR
SPP.
Narwhal
ENDANGERED;
IWC SET UP TO
REGULATE
WHALE HARVEST
Pygmy
Sperm IN 1946; 1970 U.S.
sperm
whale
STOPPED ALL
whale
Baird's
WHALING AND
beaked
BANNED
Squid
whale
IMPORTS; 1986
MORATORIUM
IMPOSED ON ALL
WHALING BY IWC
0
5
10
15
20
25
30m
Figure 18-12 (1)
Page 462
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90 100ft
Odontocetes (Toothed Whales)
Slide 14
Humpback whale
Bowhead whale
Right whale
Minke
whale
Blue whale
JAPAN, NORWAY,
ICELAND AND
RUSSIA OPPOSE
BAN; ADDED
TROPICAL
COUNTRIES INTO
IWC TO GAIN
SUPPORT TO
RESUME
HUNTING;
REQUEST
RESUMING
HUNTING OF
MINK, PILOT,
SPERM,
BYRDE'S, AND
GRAY WHALES
(SPECIES WHOSE
POPULATIONS
HAVE
RECOVERED
Fin whale
Feeding
on krill
Sei whale
Mysticetes (Baleen Whales)
Figure 18-12 (2)
Page 463
Gray whale
Slide 15
Olive ridley
76 centimeters
Loggerhead
119 centimeters
Leatherback
188 centimeters
Hawksbill
89 centimeters
Australian
flatback
99
centimeters
Black turtle
99 centimeters
Green turtle
124 centimeters
Kemp's ridley
76 centimeters
Figure 18-16
Page 470
Slide 16
North American-South
American flyways
European-African
flyways
Asian flyways
WHALES, TURTLES AND MANY BIRDS HAVE HEMISPHERIC MIGRATORY
ROUTES THAT MAKE IT EASY TO DISRUPT THEIR LIFE HISTORY
CYCLES CAUSING POTENTIAL EXTINCTION. MIGRATIONS ALSO MAKE
THEM EASY TO HUNT.
Figure 18-17
Page 474
Slide 17
BIODIVERSITY HOT SPOTS IN THE U.S.
2
4
3
5
Top Six Hot Spots
6
1 Hawaii
2 San Francisco Bay area
3 Southern Appalachians
4 Death Valley
5 Southern California
6 Florida Panhandle
Concentration of rare species
1
Figure 18-13
Page 467
Low
Moderate
High
Slide 18