Climate Change Climate change (a topic in the next lesson) is a major threat to biodiversity. Remember that organisms are adapted to their environments and have specific tolerance ranges to temperature and other abiotic conditions. If conditions change beyond an organism's tolerance, the organism must move to a more suitable location or face extinction. Species in fragmented habitats are particularly vulnerable to climate change because if conditions change they may not be able to move easily to a suitable habitat. Estimates vary regarding the effects of climate change on biodiversity. If global temperatures increase 1.5°C–2.5°C over late twentieth-century temperatures, 30 percent of species studied are likely to face increased risk of extinction. If the global temperature increase goes beyond 3.5°C, it is likely that 40–70 percent of species studied will face extinction.
Conserving Biodiversity
How do we preserve biodiversity?
What can we do to protect biodiversity? Should we focus on a particular organism like the scarlet macaw? Or should we try to save an entire ecosystem like the Amazon rain forest? We must do both. At the same time, conservation efforts must take human interests into account. To conserve biodiversity, we must protect individual species, preserve habitats and ecosystems, and make certain that human neighbors of protected areas benefit from participating in conservation efforts.
Protecting Individual Species In the past, most conservation efforts focused on individual species, and some of this work continues today. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), for example, oversees species survival plans (SSPs) designed to protect threatened and endangered species. A key part of those plans is a captive breeding program. Members of the AZA carefully select and manage mating pairs of animals to ensure maximum genetic diversity. The ultimate goal of an SSP is to reintroduce individuals to the wild. Research, public education, and breeding programs all contribute to that goal. More than 180 species, including the giant panda shown in Figure 6–19, are currently covered by SSPs.
Preserving Habitats and Ecosystems The main thrust of global conservation efforts today is to protect not just individual species but entire ecosystems. The goal is to preserve the natural interactions of many species at once. To that end, governments and conservation groups work to set aside land as parks and reserves. The United States has national parks, forests, and other protected areas. Marine sanctuaries are being created to protect coral reefs and marine mammals.
FIGURE 6–19 Saving an Individual Species Efforts to save the giant panda include a comprehensive captive breeding and reintroduction program. Here, a researcher examines an infant panda at China's Wolong Nature Reserve. Apply Concepts How does captive breeding affect a population's genetic diversity?
Table of Contents
- Formulas and Equations
- Applying Formulas and Equations
- Mean, Median, and Mode
- Estimation
- Using Measurements in Calculations
- Effects of Measurement Errors
- Accuracy
- Precision
- Comparing Accuracy and Precision
- Significant Figures
- Calculating With Significant Figures
- Scientific Notation
- Calculating With Scientific Notation
- Dimensional Analysis
- Applying Dimensional Analysis