L20. Biodiversity and Society Flashcards
1
Q
Things effecting current biodiversity
A
- heterogeneous environments
- natural selection and speciation
- extinctions
- human migration
- habitat loss
- overexploitation
- pollution
- climate change
- invasive species
2
Q
Biodiversity loss
A
- timely issue
- potentially orders of magnitude beyond background rate
- potentially changes in abundance before extinction
3
Q
Why should we care about biodiversity loss
A
- ethics/value of life
- medical
- ecosystem services (direct, indirect, lifestyle)
- culture
4
Q
Why is biodiversity (not just interest in certain biota) important?
A
- productivity (biomass)
- stability
- niche complementarity hypothesis (relation between plant diversity and biomass)
5
Q
Biomass
A
- relation to other services
- how to find comparison point
- Biomass is organic, meaning it is made of material that comes from living organisms, such as plants and animals.
- how do you determine which is better, more stable, which should try to conserve?
6
Q
Theories in evaluating ecosystems
A
- 50-60s: more pathways means less severe the failure of any one pathway
- 70-80s: mathematical models: more complex systems (higher biodiversity) less stable
- current: depends on the type of interactions
7
Q
Spatial insurance hypothesis
A
- low diversity may be maintained by immigration from the region, which provides the source of variation that can buffer ecosystem processes against environmental variation
8
Q
What policies do we have in place (current actions)
A
Post 2020 biodiversity framework
- Lofty goals, probs won’t reach entirely but at least moving towards in a substantial way
- Want to preserve about 30% of land and seas of countries who have signed off on it
goals are hard to assess
9
Q
Recent trends in biodiversity
A
- increasing number of species listed
10
Q
where have we focussed our resources
A
- endangered species act
- protected areas network
- species at risk act
