Earth’s Biodiversity
Or
Bullwinkle and Rocky Find Their Friends
 In front of you will be the article entitled: Biodiversity:The Fabric of Life after
you follow the directions.
 Follow these Bullwinkle steps to the land of People and Planet:
go to….. http://www.peopleandplanet.net/
scroll down to Biodiversity found on the green part (banner) of the homepage
click on it and the article Biodiversity: The Fabric of Life appears magically on the
screen
 Answer these “snappers”: A) why is biodiversity referred to as the fabric of life?
Write a list of 10 factual reasons for this description. B) Is biodiversity losing its
ability to play the role of the fabric of life? Support your answer with five factual
bits of information. C) Define the term “sixth extinction” and make note of its extent.
D) List the major threats to biodiversity. E) In point form, note the author’s opinion
on what needs to be done. F) Formulate your solution to the problems of
biodiversity. Include three factual reasons for your ideas.
scroll down to the bottom portion of the reading and you will see in red Hotspots and
threatened habitats.
click on it and like Bullwinkle pulling a rabbit out of his hat, Hotspots and threatened
habitats appears on the screen ready for you to use in your expansion of geographic
knowledge and savvy.
scroll down to the bottom portion of the reading and you will see in red See Hotspots Map
click on it and like Rocky swooping down on Boris and Natasha, in front of your eyes you’ll
see Hotspots Around the Globe. It’s a wonderful age we live in.
written at the bottom of this short piece of geographic literature are the words, in blue,
Biodiversity Hotspots
click onto these words and a snazzy red background screen shows up
find the map in the top right centre and place the mouse anywhere on the map and click
once
an interactive map is displayed for your viewing pleasure, the kind of map we geographers
love the best cause you can play with them! LOL
 Here’s one for you: There are 34 hotspots located with flashing red and white dots.
Notice on the map, land has been shaded red to demarcate the hotspot areas.
G) Why are these hotspots significant? Give three ideas you formulated all by
yourself in your geographic mind. Sweet deal!
on the top right side of the map you’ll see a banner with the title: Hotspot Menu
by sliding the mouse over the little white square with the two red chevrons, a dropdown
list of the 34 hotspots appears, like by design
but first, here’s the list of Hotspots, from which you will find the one you were assigned…
1 Atlantic Forest
2 Guinean Forest of West Africa
3 California Floristic Province
4 Himalaya
5 Cape Floristic Province
6 Horn of Africa
7 Caribbean Islands
8 Indo-Burma
9 Caucasus
10 Irano-Anatolian
11 Cerrado
12 Japan
13 Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests
Islands
14 Madagascar and Indian Ocean
15 Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa
16 Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands
17 East Melanesian Islands
18 Mediterranean Basin
19 Eastern Afromontane
20 Mesoamerica
21 Mountains of Central Asia
22 Mountains of Southwest China
23 New Caledonia
24 New Zealand
25 Philippines
26 Polynesia-Micronesia
27 Southwest Australia
28 Succulent Karoo
29 Sundaland
30Tropical Andes
31 Tumbes-Choco-Magdelena
32 Wallacea
33 Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
34 Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany
the mouse creates a little hand when you slide it over the name of your hotspot…
just one left click of the mouse and an information box is displayed with a thin white line
pinpointing its location
to make the box vamoose, simply click onto the little red X in the bottom right corner
 For interest’s sake, simply read the written information found within the box….this
will serve as an introduction to your Hotspot
at the bottom of the box the words “Click Here For More” are written…..
you guessed it…..you are a sharp witted human…..click twice and a litany of factually
important geographic literature is now at your disposal…from this body of knowledge you
will answer some questions specific to your Hotspot…
in order to answer some of the questions you will require this body of Canadian statistical
facts:
Land and Freshwater Areas
Land and Freshwater Areas (areas in square kilometres)
Provinces and Territories
Newfoundland and
Labrador
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia
Land
373 872
5 660
53 338
71 450
1 365 128
917 741
553 556
591 670
642 317
925 186
Water
31 340
Data not
available
1 946
1 458
176 928
158 654
94 241
59 366
19 531
19 549
Total Area
Percentage of
Canadian Total
405 212
4.06
5 660
0.06
55 284
72 908
1 542 056
1 076 395
647 797
651 036
661 848
944 735
0.55
0.73
15.44
10.78
6.49
6.52
6.63
9.46
Yukon Territory
474 391
8 052
482 443
4.83
Northwest Territories
1 183 085
163 021
1 346 106
13.48
Nunavut
1 936 113
157 077
2 093 190
20.96
Canada
9 093 507
891 163
9 984 670
100.00
Source: Natural Resources Canada. Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. GeoAccess
Division.
So go ahead and click onto “Click Here For More”
Up pops a map of spectacular detail and some written info to the right
 Upon reading the note to the right of the map, H) find three factual reasons to
account for the importance of this hotspot.
 From the box Vital Signs gobble up these grounders:
I) What % of the original extent remains? J) On the previous page are Canada’s vital area
stats. Compare the original extent and the remaining area to any Canadian dimension you
wish. Find a meaningful way to compare areas. K) Total the numbers of threatened
mammals, amphibians and birds. L) Compare the human population density of the hotspot
zone with that of Canada. Ours is 3.6 people/sq. km. M) Make a comparison between areas
of Canadian Provs. and Territories with the size of the protected area.
 Using the section Overview, answer these skill testing queries:
N) In a short, succinct paragraph, summarize the situation. The summation ought to include
references to the area of the region, human activities and human impacts upon the
landscape, wildlife and plant life.
 At the bottom of the page click onto Unique Biodiversity and answer these not so
skill testing questions:
O) Just what is so unique and/or special about this place on earth? Where possible, your
summation ought to include notes on plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians,
freshwater fish and invertebrates,
 At the bottom of the page click onto Human impacts and answer these
geographically stunning questions:
P) Identify three significant impacts of humankind upon this place.
 At the bottom of the page click onto Conservation Action and answer these
conservation questions:
Q) In point form notes, list the actions taken by people and groups to improve the health
situation of this hotspot.
 Analytical Conclusions and Discovery of Major Geographic Understandings
R) Give your assessment of the hotspot placed upon a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being excellent
health. Support your conclusion with 10 facts garnered from the article. S) Devise a
solution to the problems facing the zone. Once again support your plan with 7 reasons
based in factual details. T) Go to Google Earth. Using the tutorial attached to Moroney’s
Geographic, Physical Features in Aerial Photos, find five satellite images of your hotspot
which remain more or less pristine. Below each photo image, describe the major landforms
comprising the landscape. Use the latitude/longitude locator in the bottom left of the
image to locate the centre each feature. With these features you’ve selected, note the
elevation at the centre. Somewhere in the caption identify the altitude at which the photo
was taken. If so desired, feel free to rotate the image in any compass direction away from
the standard orientation to grid north. Also you have the license to delve into the world of
3D imaging. Have fun. Be absolutely certain the images are crystal clear.
 Delivery to Mr. M. You may do this in a power point format, or Word and email the
results to me at sjm11156@gmail.com. Be certain when saving to place it into the
compatible format for 1997 – 2003 Microsoft. This can be found by selecting Save
As…You also have the option of completing this work on paper. Have this to me by
March 2. Ciao. SJM