Biological Diversity = biodiversity
ecological diversity = richness + evenness
richness = number of different species
evenness = number of individuals within each species
biodiversity - variety of living organisms at all levels of biological organization
Three primary levels of organization:
2.1 Biological diversity includes genetic, species, and community/ecosystem diversity
-loss of biodiversity due to human population growth. Human population
grows at about 50-100 million (260,000/day). A rapidly increasing
human population and the growth of technology consumes greater amounts
of natural resources.
Is their any hope
for solving this
problem?
as increased spectacularly since the
Reasons for optimism
1. Some countries have lowered population growth rates and others have had
periods of negative growth.
2. Birth rates are high where family survival depends on being successful in an
unskilled and uneducated labor pool that promotes large family size. This can
be changed.
3. Wealthy countries consume a disproportionate share of global resources.
Many tropical countries with high biodiversity are so poor that protecting native
species is not a high priority. This can be changed.
Key to these changes = Education and sustainable economic development can
reduce population problems.
As these social changes occur, society must be concerned about
biodiversity. Why?
1. Loss of biodiversity is occurring at an unprecedented level.
As far as paleontologists can determine, never in the history of life
have so many species been threatened
with extinction in so short a period of
time. Extinction is about
100-1000X faster than speciation.
2. What is bad for biodiversity is
bad for humans.
Result of these concerns is Conservation Biology
- science that uses an integrative approach to protection of
biodiversity
- uses principles of biology, natural resource management, and
social sciences (anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and
economics)
1.1 Conservation biology and resource management
Box 1.1 (Part 1) Brazilian scientists measure the length of an endangered green turtle
Conservation Biology has 2 goals
1. investigate human impacts on species, communities, and ecosystems.
2. develop practical approaches to prevent the extinction of species and
reintegrate them into properly functioning ecosystems
Read Box 1.1
Sea turtles
Origins of Conservation Biology
1. Non-European religion and customs
- religion and philosophy rooted in relationships to natural world
- Chinese Tao, Japanese Shinto, Hindu (killing of animal life is wrong) and
Buddhist philosophies protect nature because of its capacity to produce
spiritual experiences (meditation in natural areas, reverence for nature)
- Native peoples had purification rituals in order to be considered worthy of
hunting animals, gave names to, and told myths associated with plants,
animals, and places
1.4 Tanah Lot is a Hindu temple on the island of Bali in Indonesia
2. European Origins
-anthropocentric view (human centered). God created nature for human’s use and
benefit.
-this view of nature led to exploitation and degradation of vast resources in the
regions colonized by European countries
-but made detailed observations of nature and began to see that conservation was
needed.
-noted the extinction of dodo on island of Mauritius in Indian Ocean (1680) (80 years
after human colonization) and loss of wild cattle (Bos primigenius or aurochs) (1627) in
the 1600s
-by the 1800s, there had been many more extinctions and declines in population and
several societies devoted to conservation were established (Commons, Open Spaces and
Footpaths Preservation Society, National Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds), however only 1% of land in Great Britain is in nature reserves
-the anthropocentric view has been challenged with a Judeo-Christian
stewardship conservation ethic (Barr, J. 1972. Man and Nature: The Ecological
Controversy and the Old Testament. Bulletin John Rylands Library 55: 9-32.) See Box
6.2, page122-123
1.5 Dodo went extinct in 1680s and Poland formed nature reserve for European bison in 1561.
European w
3. American Origins
John Muir (1838-1914) and the Preservation Ethic
-influenced by three writers/philosophers
1. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
-considered to be the first true American novelist and his most popular work was The
Last of the Mohicans
-novels (The Pioneers, The Prairie, and The Deer Slayer) described the aesthetic
values of wilderness
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
-essayist and poet
-brought eastern philosophy to America and argued that nature was a temple for
spiritual communion
3. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
-writer and naturalist that built a cabin at Walden Pond on Emerson’s land
-Walden and other works advocated a simpler life in tune with nature
Muir used ideas from these three writers to develop a preservation
ethic which said that nature should be preserved on the grounds of
human spiritual needs.
-said nature had intrinsic value (value in and of itself apart from
humanity). God created nature and destroying it was undoing God’s
work. The beginning of the idea for the Judeo-Christian
Stewardship Conservation Ethic
-also started developing an ecological-evolutionary perspective that
viewed biological communities as assemblages of species evolving
together and dependent on one another.
-Muir's Preservation ethic is the one followed by the National Park
Service today
Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911)
-developed first course at MIT in the new subject of Ecology
-particularly concerned with water quality and helped pioneer water quality
standards and sewage treatment
Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) and the Resource Conservation Ethic
-proper use of natural resources is whatever furthers “the greatest good for the greatest
number [of people] for the longest time”
-first developed idea of sustainable development- development that best meets present
and future human needs without damaging the environment and biodiversity
-argued that government is needed to manage natural areas
-philosophy mostly used by the Forest Service today
Aldo Leopold (1887-1962) and the Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic
-initially embraced Pinchot’s Conservation Ethic
-later synthesized the ecological-evolutionary perspective (Muir) and sustainable
development (Pinchot) into an evolutionary-ecological land ethic.
-summed up in the following quote “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends to do
otherwise”
-his philosophies combined with Pinchot’s resource conservation ethic provide the
philosophical basis for ecosystem management used by federal government and some
private entities to manage with prioritybeing the health of wild species and ecosystems
Box 9.1 (Part 1) A captive peregrine feeding young at the Cornell
University propagation facility
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) Marine Biologist
-role of pesticides in decline of bird populations in Silent Spring (1962)
-led to bans on DDT in many countries and recovery of numerous bird species
including eagles, ospreys and falcons
Conservation Biology‘s Ethical Principles
1. The biodiversity of organisms is good.
- all philosophies except early European generally agree with this.
-conservation biologist E. O. Wilson calls this biophilia- hypothesis that humans have a
genetic predisposition towards liking biodiversity
2. Untimely extinction of populations and species is bad.
- all philosophies except early European.
3. Ecological complexity is good.
- Muir and Leopold
4. Evolution should be allowed to continue.
-Muir and Leopold
5. Biodiversity has intrinsic value.
-Muir and Leopold to some degree
Currently Conservation Biology is a rapidly growing area of science as evidenced by the
following:
1. first International Conference on Conservation Biology (1978)
2. increased involvement of governments
3 increased media coverage spreads the aims and goals of Conservation Biology
4. increased grant funding for preserving biodiversity
5. graduate programs and courses in conservation biology
6. private organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and the
Audubon Society embrace the goals of conservation biology
7. new journals have been created for the field. Ex. Conservation Biology, Ecological
Applications, Biodiversity and Conservation, and Biological Conservation
8. Society for Conservation Biology (1985)
9. United Nations declared 2011-2020 as the
Decade on Biodiversity
1.4 The Society for Conservation Biology has a simple, yet powerful, logo
“It hath been taught us from the primal state that he which is was wished until he
were” William Shakespeare
Quoted in an essay in The Night Country by Loren Eiseley regarding that what we
wish for in terms of conservation will happen