Biodiversity Flashcards
Biodiversity
The wide variety of life on Earth.
Phenology
Study of how nature times events like migrations, leaves changing color, etc.
Based off of climate, but affected by climate change.
Food web
Shows energy transfer between species (producers, consumers, and decomposers).
Bioaccumulation
How pollutants become more concentrated up the food chain (animals can absorb pollutants and then be eaten).
Natural disturbances (and human ones)
Any event that causes a disruption in the current state of the ecosystem.
Caused by forces of nature like fire, disease, storm, drought, etc.
Sometimes goes back to normal, other times things change.
Human disturbances can occur too (clear cutting, pollution, etc.) and now too many disturbances are happening at once.
Fragmentation info
Species with large habitats are threatened by fragmentation (which can be from roads, fences, buildings, etc.) and habitat loss.
Wildlife corridor
A tract of land that connects wildlife habitats separated by human development.
Allows for larger territories, biodiversity, larger gene pool, more food/water access for animals, etc.
Flyway
Pathway used by migratory birds and insects.
In the US:
1. Pacific Flyway
2. Central Flyway
3. Mississippi Flyway
4. Atlantic Flyway
UN biodiversity goals, years
2021-2030 is the UN decade for ecosystem restoration.
Their goal is to prevent, halt, and reverse ecosystem degradation.
Post-2020 biodiversity framework:
1. Restore freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems.
2. Connectivity, highlights importance of unimpeded movement of species.
Large mammals
Reintroducing just 20 large mammals worldwide would have great benefits.
30 priority regions regions meet criteria (lack no more than 1-3 of 20, have extensive habitat, can feasibly be restored).
They’re more vulnerable due to their size: they need more habitat space and reproduce slower. Asian ones were affected the most.
Biodiversity convention (cop15)
Earth summit in Rio in 1992 created 3 conventions: climate change, desertification, and biodiversity.
Every 10 years the biodiversity one meets and agrees on new targets—all of them have been failed so far.
CBD aims:
1. Conservation if biodiversity
2. Sustainable use of biodiversity
3. Fair and equitable sharing if benefits from use of genetic resources
Cop15: was held by China in Montreal for two weeks starting 12/7/22, after being delayed multiple times due to Covid.
Current mass extinction
It’s the sixth mass extinction in geological history.
Called the Anthropocene.
At least 1 million species are at risk of extinction.
This is estimated to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times the natural extinction rate.
5 biggest threats to biodiversity
- Changes in land and sea use
- Direct exploitation of natural resources
- Climate crisis
- Pollution
- Invasive species
Issues of biodiversity conference
- Money
- 30x30 (target to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030)
- Monitoring of targets
- Digital sequence info relating to biopiracy
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
Trophy hunting (with pros and cons)
Legally hunting animals with large defining characteristics, usually meat is eaten.
The UK, US, and Australia have imposed restrictions.
Pros:
Generates revenue for conservation
Doesn’t usually affect the animal populations much
No good alternatives for revenue (photo tourism doesn’t bring in enough $, and it’s bad to be dependent on external funding)
Cons:
Unethical
Can be harmful if poorly managed (too-high quotas, killing young animals, etc.)
Galapagos Islands National Park, Galapagos Islands Marine Reserve, and the new Marine Reserve
Large upwellings of cold currents bring nutrients and allow for biodiversity, but now with intensifying El Niño events, winds don’t blow warm water away to allow this.
The new Hermandad Marine Reserve (2022) is 23,000 square miles and creates a migration corridor to Cocos Islands National Park in Costa Rica.
The Eastern Tropic Pacific Marine Corridor was an agreement between Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia.
What biodiversity is important for
- Food security
- Public health (more than 50% of modern medicines and 90% of traditional medicines come from wild plants and animals)
- Water
- Economy/reducing poverty (more than half of GDP relies on it)
- Political stability
Zoonotic diseases
(Like HIV/AIDS, ebola, SARS, flu, yellow fever, etc.)
Cause millions of human deaths and billions of illness cases per year.
75% of emerging diseases are zoonotic.
Where zoonotic diseases come from
Come from improper animal husbandry, veterinary failures, and animal markets with poor unsanitary conditions especially in East Asia (China declared a permanent ban on consumption of wild meat due to Covid).
Human encroachment on natural habitats accounts for 33% of its emergence.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Lots of issues due to this, animals killed, markets for it, Chinese government pushes it as good cures without scientific evidence.
Pandas and other Chinese bears
5 species: pandas, Asiatic black bears, brown bears, sun bears, and sloth bears.
Pandas are popular, they get money and have gotten better with conservation efforts due to popular support and willpower. The other bears haven’t.
China had 67 panda reserves and spends $225 million annually on their conservation.
Climate refugee
An animal whose current range is different from its historical ones.
This means that its current distribution is not optimal, which scientists looking to help with conservation efforts have to consider.
De-extinction programs
Are going to be possible soon, but will cost a lot due to caring for the animals and the tech required.
Money will either come out of government conservation funds or from private companies, but it would be better used going to conservation efforts. Roughly 2 species will go extinct for every revived species.
It might also be messy and counterproductive ecologically.
Connected Conservation
Joint initiative between NTT Ltd. and Cisco.
Basically using smart technology to keep track of animals without tagging them. It tracks everything including ranger locations and occurrences in parks, which saves time and human resources.
Covers over 200,000 acres of land and has reduced incursion by 78% and poaching by 95%.
Camera traps
Digital camera connected to an infrared sensor that takes pictures and videos of animals moving past the sensor.
Wildbook
An AI program that scans photos from scientists, volunteers, and social media to identify species and individual animals and gathers useful info.
Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security (PAWS)
Uses poaching records and geographical data do predict poachers’ behavior.
Prevents poaching with optimal ranger routes and risk maps.
Environmental DNA (eDNA)
Conservationists extract DNA from environmental samples, which can detect species, threats, and provide a lot of info.
Smart Parks
Deploying sensors in national parks (because many don’t have internet) which track important info and allow for communication.
Parachute science
Scientists and conservationists from high-income countries provide temporary help in developing nations then leave when the project is done.
Makes the long-term sustainability worse and less effective.
Restoring converted lands worldwide could avoid __% of expected extinctions.
60%
An estimated ___% of the world’s large carnivores and an estimated ___% of the world’s large herbivores are threatened with extinction.
64%, 58%
More than ____ land animal species are on the brink of extinction and likely lost within 20 years.
500
1/__ reptiles, 1/__ bird species, and ___% of plant species are facing extinction.
1/5, 1/8, 40%
World’s wildlife population has been reduced by ____ in the last 40 years.
Half
At least ____ species are lost per year.
10,000
