Values of Biodiversity

Medicine Food Building materials Paper Ecotourism Preservation of geochemical cycles

Water Topsoil carbon

Figure 32.1 Resources

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Human population

land

water

food

energy

minerals

(land): Vol. 39/Getty RF; (water): Evelyn Jo Johnson; (food): The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., John Thoeming, photographer; (energy): Gerald and Buff Corsi/Visuals Unlimited; (minerals): James P. Blair/National Geographic Image Collection; (population): D. Normark/Photo Link/Getty RF

 Nonrenewable resources Renewable resources Pollution

Alteration of environment in an undesirable way

Land Use
Beach Erosion Desertification Deforestation

Figure 32.5 Global water use

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

a. Agriculture uses most of the fresh water consumed.

c. Domestic use of water is about half that of b. Industrial use of water is about half industrial use. that of agricultural use.
a: Corbis RF; b: FoodPix/Getty Images; c: Stockbyte/PunchStock RF

Food Production
Decreased Genetic variability Heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides Irrigation Fuel consumption Soil Loss Over fishing

Figure 32.7 continued

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

b. Contour with no-till farming

Inga Spence/Visuals Unlimited

b. Contour farming with no-til conserves topsoil because water has less tendency to run off.

Figure 32.7 continued

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

c. Biological pest control

Courtesy V. Jane Windsor, Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

c. Instead of pesticides, it is sometimes possible to use a natural predator. Here ladybugs are eating cottony-cushions scale insects on citrus trees.

 Energy
Presently most of worlds energy supply comes from 2 finite, nonrenewable sources.
Nuclear power 6% Fossil fuels 75%
Oil, natural gas, and coal

 Renewable energy sources

Wind power Hydropower
Hydroelectric plants convert falling water into electricity. Almost 98% of renewable energy use in US Construction of enormous dams has detrimental environmental effects.

Geothermal energy
Elements undergoing radioactive decay below the Earths surface heat the surrounding rocks.

Figure 32.11 continued

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

b.

S.K. Patrick/Visuals Unlimited

c. Photovoltaic cells on rooftops

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

c.

Argus Foto Archiv/Peter Arnold

 Advantages of a solar-hydrogen revolution would be at least twofold:

(1) the world would no longer be dependent on oil. (2) environmental problems, such as acid rain and smog, would begin to lessen.

Figure 32.12 Solar-hydrogen revolution

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

a.

Matt Stiveson/NREL/DOE

Hydrogen fuel cells

Figure 32.12 continued

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

b.

c.

b: Courtesy of DaimlerChrysler; c: Warren Gretz/NREL/DOE

Hydrogen fuel bus and fuel-cell hybrid vehicle

32.2 Biodiversity
Presently in a biodiversity crisis In the US, 85% of extinction involved habitat loss
Percentages for some species add up to more than 100% because most species imperiled for more than one reason

Conservation biology tries to reverse the trend of extinctions.

Figure 32.15 Habitat loss

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Pollution

Overexploitation

Disease

Exotic species

Habitat loss

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

% Species Affected by Cause

b.

a.

b: Gunter Ziesler/Peter Arnold

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Wild species, like lady bugs, play a role in biological control of agricultural pests.

Figure 32.17 Agriculture and consumptive value of wildlife

a.

Wild species, like the long-nosed bat, are pollinators of agricultural and other plants.

b.

c.

Wild species, like many marine species, provide us with food .

d.

Wild species, like rubber trees, can provide a product indefinitely if the forest is not destroyed.

a: Anthony Mercieca/Photo Researchers, Inc.; b: Merlin D. Tuttle/Bat Conservation International; c: Herve Donnezan/Photo Researchers, Inc.; d: Bryn Campbell/Stone/Getty

Figure 32.18 Indirect value of ecosystems

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

biogeochemical cycles waste disposal provision of fresh water prevention of soil erosion regulation of climate ecotourism

(forest): William M. Smithey Jr.; (seashore): Vol. 121/Corbis RF

 Provision of fresh water

No substitute for fresh water Cost of desalinization 4-8 times the average cost of freshwater acquired through the water cycle

Prevention of soil erosion Regulation of climate

Forests take up carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Figure 32.19 Ecotourism

Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Stuart Westmorland/Corbis