Chapter 18
Chapter 18 Summary/Notes
Conservation of Biodiversity
Modern Conservation Legacies * The world is in a sixth mass extinction (the biodiversity is declining at a rapid rate) * Causes are mostly by human activities * Habitat destruction * Overharvesting plant and animal populations * Results in growing interest in conserving biodiversity by setting aside areas that are protected from any human activities * Establishing national parks, national monuments, national forests, wilderness areas * Does not protect against gas and oil drilling
We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction * The biodiversity of the world provides instrumental and intrinsic values to humans * Instrumental: provisions (food, medicine, building materials), regulating services (the ability of plants to remove human-added carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), support services (pollination of crops) * Intrinsic: no direct benefit but the belief that individuals, species, and ecosystems are inherently valuable in themselves and we have an obligation to preserve them * The world has experienced 5 major extinctions during the past 500 million years and we are currently in another * Extinction – when the last member of a species dies * The world is experiencing approx. 50,000 species extinctions per year * 0.5% of the world’s species each year * This extinction is unique for: * It is happening over a relatively short period of time * The rate of decline has been 100x to 1,000x faster during the past 50 years * Is the first to occur since humans have been present on earth * Has a human cause
Global Declines in the Genetic Diversity of Wild Organisms * Populations with low genetic diversity are not well suited to surviving environmental change * Are also prone to in breeding depression * Inbreeding depression – when individuals with similar genotypes-typically
Conservation of Biodiversity
Modern Conservation Legacies * The world is in a sixth mass extinction (the biodiversity is declining at a rapid rate) * Causes are mostly by human activities * Habitat destruction * Overharvesting plant and animal populations * Results in growing interest in conserving biodiversity by setting aside areas that are protected from any human activities * Establishing national parks, national monuments, national forests, wilderness areas * Does not protect against gas and oil drilling
We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction * The biodiversity of the world provides instrumental and intrinsic values to humans * Instrumental: provisions (food, medicine, building materials), regulating services (the ability of plants to remove human-added carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), support services (pollination of crops) * Intrinsic: no direct benefit but the belief that individuals, species, and ecosystems are inherently valuable in themselves and we have an obligation to preserve them * The world has experienced 5 major extinctions during the past 500 million years and we are currently in another * Extinction – when the last member of a species dies * The world is experiencing approx. 50,000 species extinctions per year * 0.5% of the world’s species each year * This extinction is unique for: * It is happening over a relatively short period of time * The rate of decline has been 100x to 1,000x faster during the past 50 years * Is the first to occur since humans have been present on earth * Has a human cause
Global Declines in the Genetic Diversity of Wild Organisms * Populations with low genetic diversity are not well suited to surviving environmental change * Are also prone to in breeding depression * Inbreeding depression – when individuals with similar genotypes-typically