study of extinction on the global and local scale rates and modern causes, prevention, and societal implications

1) describe earth's biological diversity

2) restore biological diversity that has been degraded

3) protect what remains

1) prevent extinction

2) stop population declines caused by humans

3) avoid loss of genetic diversity (KEEP genetic variability)

4) decrease ecosystem function declines

1) aesthetics - people usually like nature

2) moral/ethical reasons - intrinsic values of other organisms

3) economics - important source of economic productivity

4) ecological services - clean drinking water, clean air

5) ecological integrity - avoid losing a large number of animals due to domino affect

1) intrinsic value to any life (higher being created it).

2) intergenerational debt - leave earth a better place for future generations

1) economic productivity - agriculture benefits (crops, stocks, forestry, fisheries)

2) medicinal purposes - important medecines come from common plants

Ecological service reasons for conserving biological diversity

 clean drinking water, breathable air, wetlands prevent flooding, vegetation prevents soil erosion, pollination by insects

1) diversity to be preserved

2) UNTIMELY extinction should be prevented

3) Complexity should be maintained

4) Evolution should be allowed to continue

5) Value should be intrinsic.

1) present threat/destruction

2) over utilization of something for any use

3) species decline due to disease or predation

4) inadequacy of the existing species

5) natural/manmade factors that are affecting this species existence

what is an "average"? mean, median or mode?

1) axes with no units

2) axes dont make sense

3) misconstrued visuals in favor of something

4) broken axes

5) compressed/expanded axes

6) titles that dont match data

7) changing y-axes (to a log scale i.e.)

number of individual species in an eco system.

AKA species richness/diversity/evenness

variation in the distribution of species within a space.

AKA turnover

0 (lowest) = not alot of similaities in species

1 (highest) = lots of similarities in species

play a role in keeping the checks and balances in nature.

ex: sea otters - remove otter, urchins thrive and eat all kelp plants

species that manipulate surroundings to make something useful

ex: beavers

1. migration of the monarchs

2. movement of wildabeast against serengeti

3. fall colors in new england

ordovician, devonian, permian, triassic, cretaceous

about 50% of species and 30% of animal families went extinct

1. takes longer to declare a species extinct now

2. species that have lived this long are more able to adapt

3. killing species for collections/fun not as in fashion

1. species richness increases in island size

2. species richness decreases with isolation

S = number of species

A = islan'd area

z = constant describing slope of line relating to S and A

c = constant

can use this on patches of inland habitat for same purpose

fish 3% (752 species)

amphibians 33% (1856)

reptiles 5% (296)

birds 12% (1183)

mammals 25% (1130)

gymnosperms 32% (242)

angiosperm 2% (5390)

reff-building corals 33% (231)

rare = more valuble

harder to find a mate when youre that small

smaller numbers = less chance of successful breeding

genetic problemsas population decreases.

high population fluctuation

geographically rare, but numbers may be high in the places they are found

especially vulnerable to catastrophic events

nowhere to go if something in habitat changes

endemic

greater risk than populations with stable numbers, population is more likely to get close to 0. especially dangerous with populations that aready have low populations

species uses something specific to an area are more vulnerable because they have fewer options if their resource disappears.

especially true about species that specialize

ex: butterflies that lay their eggs on a specific plant so the larvae can eat - food specialist

loss of host species will DEFINITELY mean extinction

    extreme specialist

takes them a long time to recover from population decline

individuals breed infrequently

takes a longer time to breed

takes longer time to reach maturity in order to breed

ex: albatross do not breed till 5-12 years old, and only lay 1 egg at a time, and not every year

meaning a species relies on more than one habitat to survive. if any of the habitats are distubed it could kill off the species

ex: species that migrate, salamanders that require different habitat in different stages of life

more vulnerable - smaller populations, narrow range, limited disperse ability

high speciation - more species that have similar needs to be met, competition

impoverished communities - fewer predators, parasites, competitors therefore ISLAND SPECIES DO NOT HAVE ABILITY TO DEAL WITH THREATS

new species introduced to an island is likely to wipe out others.