Chapter 10Wild Species and Biodiversity

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Prentice Hall, Inc.

EnvironmentalScienceTenth Edition

Richard T. Wright

Wild Species and Biodiversity

• The value of wild species

• Saving wild species

• Biodiversity and its decline

• Protecting biodiversity

Appreciating the Worth of Diversity

• The worth ($) of plant and animal diversity in terms of goods and services.

• Factors that contribute to a reduction in plant and animal diversity.

• Understanding the “costs” of losing plant and animal diversity.

• Programs to protect biodiversity.

Puffin Project: Seabird RestorationProject of the Audubon Society

The Value of Wild Species

• Biological wealth

• Two kinds of value

• Sources for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and animal husbandry

• Sources for medicine

• Recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value

• Value for their own sake

Biological Wealth = $38 Trillion/year

• Gas, climate, and water regulation

• Water supply

• Erosion control

• Soil formation

• Pollination

Biological Wealth = $38 Trillion/year

• Biological control

• Food production

• Recreation

• Raw materials

• Nutrient cycling

• Waste treatment

Two Kinds of Value

• Instrumental: beneficial to humans– Sources for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture,

and animal husbandry– Recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value– Sources of medicine

• Intrinsic: value for its own sake

Source for Agriculture: Wild or Cultivated?

• Highly adaptable to changing environments

• Have numerous traits for resistance

• Lack genetic vigor

Source for Agriculture: Wild or Cultivated?

• High degree of genetic diversity

• Represents the genetic bank

• Need highly controlled environmental conditions

Sources for Medicine: Vincristine

Sources of Medicine: Table 10-1

• Vincristine from rosy periwinkle cures leukemia.• Capoten from the venom of the Brazilian viper

controls high blood pressure.• Taxol from the bark of the pacific yew used to

treat ovarian, breast, and small-cell cancers.

Recreational, Aesthetic, and Scientific Value (see Figure 10-4)

• Ecotourism: largest foreign exchange-generating enterprise in many developing countries

• $104 billion spent on wildlife-related recreation

• $31 billion spent to observe, feed, or photograph wildlife

Value for Their Own Sake

• Spiritual: giving divine recognition to selected species

• Religious: association between wild things and a creator

• Cultural: animal rights, American Indians

Saving Wild Species

• Game animals in the United States

• Protecting endangered species

Past Wildlife Management Problems

• Restoring the numbers of many game animals, e.g., deer, elk, turkey.

• Passing laws to control the collection and commercial exploitation of wildlife.

• Poaching and over-hunting.

Contemporary Wildlife Management Problems

• Road-killed animals• Population explosion of urban wildlife• Lack of natural predators• Wildlife as vectors for certain diseases• Pet predation by coyotes• Changed societal attitudes towards animals

Contemporary Wildlife Management Problems

Acts Protecting Endangered Species (see Figure 10-8)

• Lacey Act: forbids interstate commerce of illegally killed wildlife

• Endangered Species Act (ESA): protects endangered and threatened species (Table 10-3)– Total endangered U.S. species = 1,001 (402

animals, 599 plants)– Threatened U.S. species = 300 (154 animals,

146 plants)

Strengths or Weaknesses of Endangered Species Act?

• The need for official recognition• Control over commercial exploitation of

endangered species• Government controls on development in

critical habitats• Recovery programs• Habitat conservation plan (HCP)

Case Histories

• Peregrine falcon

• Whooping crane

• Spotted owl

• Klamath river and coho salmon

Peregrine Falcon Restoration ProgramHacking involves placing 4-5 five-week-old

peregrine chicks in an artificial structure on a cliff face, tower, or building. The birds are cared for by human hack site attendants until released for fledging when they are 42-45 days old. Hacking success depends on safety from predators, minimal human disturbance, and the presence of sufficient prey. The desired result of this effort is the return of hacked birds to the general area of the hack site as breeding adults, helping to reestablish a breeding population.

Where Peregrine Falcons Live!

Map constructed by Clark E. Adams

Biodiversity and Its Decline

• The decline in biodiversity

• Reasons for the decline

• Consequences of losing biodiversity

The State of U.S. Species

Causes of Animal Extinctions

Reasons for Biodiversity Decline

• Habitat change– Conversions– Fragmentation– Simplification– Intrusion

• Exotic species introductions

Reasons for Biodiversity Decline

• Overexploitation: combination of greed, ignorance, and desperation

• Pollution

• Climate change

Habitat Alterations

Photo by C.E. Adams

Human Population Growth and Species Extinctions

Pollution: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

• March 24, 1989• 11 million gallons of

crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound

Oil slick

Exotic Species: Brazilian Pepper Bush

Exotic Species

Brown tree snake

Overuse

• Harvest of 50 million song birds for food

Pollution

Overuse

• Trafficking in wildlife and products derived from wild species - $12 billion/year– 90% decline in rhinos– 1.6 tons of tiger bones = 340 tigers– Parrot smuggling: 40 of 330 species face

extinction

Tibetan Antelope

Shahtoosh Shawls

Consequences of Losing Biodiversity: The Plane Analogy

• The whole plane is an ecosystem.• There are many different parts (species) in

the jet plane ecosystem.• How does removal of one or more species

affect ecosystem structure or function?

Protecting Biodiversity

• International developments

• Stewardship concerns

International Steps to Protect Biodiversity

• “Red List of Threatened Species”– 11,167 species of plant and animals

• Convention on trade in endangered species (CITES) – Focuses on trade in wildlife and wildlife parts

• Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD)

International Steps to Protect Biodiversity

• Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD)– Stepping up war on invasive species– Access to genetic resources– Stem tide of deforestations– Formulating a strategic plan through 2010

International Steps to Protect Biodiversity

• Convention on biological diversity– Focuses on conserving biological diversity

worldwide– Does not yet have the support of the United

States

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

• Sponsors: World Bank, Conservation International, and the Global Environment Facility– Fund = $150 million for developing countries– Protect biodiversity “hotspots”

Biodiversity Hotspots

60% of the biodiversity is located on just 1.4% of the Earth’s land surface.

Stewardship Concerns

• Managing and protecting something you DO NOT own. Involves:– Wisdom– Values

The Wisdom of Stewardship

• Reforming policies that lead to declines in biodiversity

• Addressing the needs of people whose livelihood is derived from exploiting wild species

The Wisdom of Stewardship

• Practicing conservation at the landscape level

• Promoting more research on biodiversity

The Values of Stewardship

• Manage or mine the resource?

• Human perceptions of their relationships to the natural world.– Deep ecology: we are part of the Earth and

not separate from it– Religious faiths