Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Chapter 56
Lectures by
Erin Barley
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Genetic diversity
in a vole population
Species diversity
in a coastal
redwood ecosystem
Community and
ecosystem diversity
across the
landscape of
an entire region
Genetic Diversity
• Genetic diversity comprises genetic variation
within a population and between populations
Yangtze River
dolphin
Javan
rhinoceros
Figure 56.4a
Philippine eagle
Figure 56.4b
Javan rhinoceros
Ecosystem Diversity
• Human activity is reducing ecosystem diversity,
the variety of ecosystems in the biosphere
• More than 50% of wetlands in the contiguous
United States have been drained and converted
to other ecosystems
(b) Kudzu
Figure 56.8a
(b) Kudzu
Overharvesting
• Overharvesting is human harvesting of wild
plants or animals at rates exceeding the ability of
populations of those species to rebound
• Large organisms with low reproductive rates are
especially vulnerable to overharvesting
– For example, elephant populations declined
because of harvesting for ivory
4.7
4.6
4.5
4.4
pH
4.3
4.2
4.1
4.0
1960 ‘65 ‘70 ‘75 ‘80 ‘85 ‘90 ‘95 2000 ‘05 ‘10
Year
Concept 56.2: Population conservation
focuses on population size, genetic diversity,
and critical habitat
• Biologists focusing on conservation at the
population and species levels follow two main
approaches
– The small-population approach
– The declining-population approach
Small
population
Genetic
Inbreeding drift
Lower
reproduction
Higher
mortality
Loss of
genetic
Reduction in variability
individual
fitness and
population
adaptability
Smaller
population
Case Study: The Greater Prairie Chicken
and the Extinction Vortex
• Populations of the greater prairie chicken were
fragmented by agriculture and later found to
exhibit decreased fertility
• To test the extinction vortex hypothesis, scientists
imported genetic variation by transplanting birds
from larger populations
• The declining population rebounded, confirming
that low genetic variation had been causing an
extinction vortex
200
100
Translocation
50
0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Year
(a) Population dynamics
100
90
Eggs hatched (%)
80
70
60
50
40
30
1970–‘74 ‘75–‘79 ‘80–‘84 ‘85–‘89 ‘90 ‘93–‘97
Year
(b) Hatching rate
Figure 56.13a
RESULTS
150
100
Translocation
50
0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Year
(a) Population dynamics
Figure 56.13b
RESULTS
100
90
Eggs hatched (%)
80
70
60
50
40
30
‘75–‘79 ‘80–‘84 ‘85–‘89
1970–‘74 ‘90 ‘93–‘97
Year
(b) Hatching rate
Figure 56.13c
Minimum Viable Population Size
• Minimum viable population (MVP) is the
minimum population size at which a species can
survive
• The MVP depends on factors that affect a
population’s chances for survival over a
particular time
4NfNm
Ne =
Nf + Nm
Red-cockaded woodpecker
(a) Forests with low undergrowth (b) Forests with high, dense undergrowth
Figure 56.15a
Red-cockaded
woodpecker
• In a study where breeding cavities were
constructed, new breeding groups formed only in
these sites
• Based on this experiment, a combination of
habitat maintenance and excavation of breeding
cavities enabled this endangered species to
rebound
Equator
Philosophy of Nature Reserves
• Nature reserves are biodiversity islands in a sea
of habitat degraded by human activity
• Nature reserves must consider disturbances as
a functional component of all ecosystems
Kilometers
Yel
low
stone R.
MONTANA
ne R. WYOMING
Yellowstone o
MONTANA Sho sh
National
Park
IDAHO
Sn
ak Grand Teton
e National Park
R. Biotic boundary for
short-term survival;
MVP is 50 individuals.
WYOMING
IDAHO
Costa
Rica
ma
na
Pa
PACIFIC OCEAN
Costa
Rica
ma
na
Pa
PACIFIC OCEAN
50 km
Figure 56.22a
Concept 56.4: Earth is changing rapidly as a
result of human actions
• The locations of preserves today may be
unsuitable for their species in the future
• Human-caused changes in the environment
include
– Nutrient enrichment
– Accumulation of toxins
– Climate change
– Ozone depletion
Winter Summer
Figure 56.24a
Winter
Figure 56.24b
Summer
Toxins in the Environment
• Humans release many toxic chemicals,
including synthetics previously unknown to
nature
• In some cases, harmful substances persist for
long periods in an ecosystem
• One reason toxins are harmful is that they
become more concentrated in successive
trophic levels
• Biological magnification concentrates toxins
at higher trophic levels, where biomass is lower
Lake trout
4.83 ppm
Smelt
1.04 ppm
Zooplankton Phytoplankton
0.123 ppm 0.025 ppm
• In the 1960s Rachel Carson brought attention to
the biomagnification of DDT in birds in her book
Silent Spring
• DDT was banned in the United States in 1971
• Countries with malaria face a trade-off between
killing mosquitoes (malarial vectors) and
protecting other species
380 14.7
14.6
360 14.4
14.3
350
14.2
340
CO2 14.1
330 14.0
13.9
320
13.8
310 13.7
13.6
300 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year
How Elevated CO2 Levels Affect Forest
Ecology: The FACTS-I Experiment
• The FACTS-I experiment is testing how
elevated CO2 influences tree growth, carbon
concentration in soils, insect populations, soil
moisture, and other factors
• The CO2-enriched plots produced more wood
than the control plots, though less than
expected
• The availability of nitrogen and other nutrients
appears to limit tree growth and uptake of CO2
350
Ozone layer thickness (Dobsons)
300
250
200
150
100
01955 ‘60 ‘65 ‘70 ‘75 ‘80 ‘85 ‘90 ‘95 2000 ‘05 ‘10
Year
• Destruction of atmospheric ozone results mainly
from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) produced by
human activity
• CFCs contain chlorine, which reacts with ozone
to make O2
• This decreases the amount of ozone in the
atmosphere
Chlorine atom
O2
Chlorine O3
CIO
O2
CIO
CI2O2
Sunlight
• The ozone layer is thinnest over Antarctica and
southern Australia, New Zealand, and South
America
• Ozone levels have decreased 2–10% at mid-
latitudes during the past 20 years
September 1979
Figure 56.31b
September 2009
• Ozone depletion causes DNA damage in plants
and poorer phytoplankton growth
• An international agreement signed in 1987 has
resulted in a decrease in ozone depletion
60
100
50
50
40