Understanding Endangered Species & Biodiversity Hotspots for Conservation, Slides of Wildlife Ecology

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Chapter 17

Biological Resources

Overview of Chapter 17

• Biological Diversity
• Extinction and Species Endangerment
  • Endangered and Threatened Species
  • What courses species endangerment
• Conservation Biology
• Conservation Policies and Laws
• Wildlife Management

Why We Need Organisms

• Example contributions to human life:
  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Shelter
  • Pollination of crops
  • Antibiotics and medicines
  • Biological processes (nitrogen fixation)
• Biological Diversity represents an untapped resource for future uses

Ecosystem Services and Species Richness

• All organisms are interrelated
• Ecosystem services
  • Important environmental benefits that ecosystems provide to people
  • Removal of a species from a community can decrease ecosystem services

Extinction

• Elimination of species from earth
  • Irreversible
  • Eventual fate of all species
• Background extinction
• Mass extinction

Endangered & Extinct Species

Characteristic of Endangered Species

• Extremely small (localized) range
• Requiring a large territory
• Living on an island
• Having a low reproductive success
• Small population size
• Low reproductive rates
• Requiring specialized breeding areas
• Having specialized feeding habitats

California Condor

• Scavenger bird
• Requires large, undisturbed territory
• 1983 - only 22 birds
• 1987–1992 - no longer found in nature
• 1992 - reintroduced to nature from zoos
• Currently - 200 condors in nature

Earth’s Biodiversity Hotspots

Causes of Declining Biodiversity

Human Cause - Invasive Species

Left: Illegal Trade in Products Made From Endangered Species

Right: Illegal Animal Trade - Green Parrots from the Amazon Rainforest

Human Cause- Overexploitation

Case-In-Point

Disappearing Frogs

• Amphibians are indicator species - 168 Amphibian species have gone extinct in last 2 decades - No single cause has been identified
• Deformities have also been identified (right)

Conservation Biology

• Scientific study of how humans impact organisms and the development of ways to protect biodiversity
• Involves:
  • Protecting habitats
  • Restoring damaged or destroyed habitats
  • Zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens
  • Seed banks