Chapter 10: Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity: The Ecosystem Approach
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Case Study: Gray wolf
Human impacts on terrestrial biodiversity
o Human population
o Activities
o Direct and indirect effects
Biodiversity
o Intrinsic value
o Instrumental value
 Use value
 Nonuse value (existence value, aesthetic value, bequest value)
o Natural capital
Managing and Sustaining Forests
o Types of forests
 Old-growth forest
 Second-growth forest
 Tree plantation/tree farm
 Distribution of forests
o Extent of deforestation and projections
 Economic benefits
 Environmental effects
o Case Study: Need for fuel wood
 Fuelwood and charcoal need
 Consequence of cutting trees
 Community forestry
 Alternatives/solutions
o Harvesting trees
 Logging roads
 Selective cutting
 Creaming
 Clear-cut
 Strip-cutting
 Solutions/sustainable forestry
US Forestry
Forest fires
o Surface fires
o Crown fires
o Ground fires
Fire management
o Slash
o Prescribed fires
o Goats!
o Fires
o Thinning
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o Healthy Forest Restoration Act
 Increase change of fire—why?
o Solutions
Controversy of logging
o Pros and cons to US forest Service
o Solutions: reduce demand
 Improve efficiency of wood use
 Use other resources (not trees)
o US Forestry
 Benefits
 Consequences to biodiversity and watershed protection
Tropical deforestation
o Coverage
o Diversity
o Degradation
o Deforestation
o Uses of forest land
o Brazilian Amazon
Economic and ecological services
o Traditional medicine
o Pharmaceuticals
o Chemicals
o Fuel wood/lumber
Causes of tropical deforestation and degradation
o Subsistence farmers
o Subsidies from government for timber or cattle
o Government established land titles
o Roads, mines, logging, oil dilling, dams
o Logging/settlement
o Domestic v. exports of timber
o Contracts + timber companies
o Ranchers
o Farmers
o Cash Crops
o Basic v. secondary cause
o Effects
 Patchy forests
 Increased CO2
 Changing weather patterns
 Savannization
Solutions: Reducing tropical deforestation and degradation
o Small-scale sustainable agriculture and forestry
o Sustainably harvest renewable resources
o Strip-cutting
o Debt-for-nature swaps
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o Conservation concession
o Better methods for harvesting-prevent destruction
o Reforest/rehabilitate degraded forests and watersheds
o prevent illegal logging
o *Figure 10-20
o Grassroots organization
Managing and Sustaining Grasslands
o Ecological services of grasslands
o Rangelands
o Pasture
o Overgrazing
o Undergrazing
Solutions: managing rangelands more sustainably
o Rotational grazing
o Riparian zones
o Supplemental feed and water holes
o Herbicide spraying
o Mechanical removal
o Controlled burning
o Trampling
o Replanting
Case Study: US
o Cattle ranches
o Conservation easements
o Strategies of ranchers
National parks
o Problems/issues
o US national parks
 Supplemented by state/county/city parks
 Popularity
 Problem with over-popularity
 Migration/deliberate introduction of nonnative species
 Native species
 Inholdings
 Commercial development
 Solutions?
 Private services/concessionaires
 Figure 10-24
Nature reserves
o How much is enough?
o Funding
o Nature Conservancy
o Eco-philanthropists
o Land trust groups
o Developers/resource extractors
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o Designing reserves
 Habitat diversity
 Edges
 Habitat corridors
 Geographic information systems
 Buffer zone concept
 *Costa Rica-megareserves
o ecoregion
 4 steps
 ecoregional conservation
 rewilding
o biodiversity hotspots
 emergency action strategy
o community based conservation
o wilderness
 why should we protect?
 Biodiversity,
 Evolution
 Case Study: US-Wilderness Act
Ecological Restoration
o Wendell Berry
o Restoration
o Rehabilitation
o Replacement
o Artificial Ecosystems
o 5 principles;
 Identify cause of degradation
 Stop abuse/eliminate factors
 Reintroduce species
 Protect
 Management
o *Prairies
o *Costa Rica
 biocultural restoration
o Restoration as an excuse for destruction
Solutions*** both globally/countries and you!