BIOLOGY CONCEPTS & CONNECTIONS Fourth Edition Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Neil A. Campbell Jane B. Reece Lawrence G. Mitchell Martha R. Taylor From PowerPoint ® Lectures for Biology: Concepts & Connections CHAPTER 38 Conservation Biology Modules 38.9 – 38.12

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Conservation efforts are increasingly aimed at learning how to sustain whole ecosystems and landscapes Landscape ecology employs ecological principles to study land-use patterns –It aims to make species conservation a functional part of those patterns 38.9 Sustaining ecosystems and landscapes is a conservation priority MANAGING AND SUSTAINING ECOSYSTEMS

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Researchers often use gap analysis to study the distribution of organisms relative to landscape features and habitat types Gap analysis employs computerized maps along with information on the distribution of organisms

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Figure 38.9A Map of vegetation patterns and river course Distribution of rare, endemic species Distribution of protected areas Final overlay map

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Gap analysis can highlight areas with the greatest concentrations of rare and endangered species outside of protected areas –It can lead to sustaining the biodiversity of the whole area Figure 38.9B

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Boundaries between ecosystems have their own set of features and assemblages of species Human activities can create edges that are more abrupt than those found naturally Edges and corridors can strongly influence landscape biodiversity Figure 38.10A

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings The increased frequency and abruptness of edges can increase the loss of species –Populations of the brown-headed cowbird, an edge-adapted species, are currently expanding –Populations of songbird species are declining Figure 38.10B

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Movement corridors are strips or clumps of quality habitat that connect otherwise isolated habitat patches –They may be helpful or harmful to fragmented populations Corridors can promote dispersal and reduce inbreeding in declining populations Figure 38.10C

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Restoration ecology uses ecological principles to develop ways to return degraded ecosystems to conditions as similar as possible to their natural, predegraded state There are two strategies in restoration ecology –Bioremediation –Augmentation Restoring degraded habitats is a developing science

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Bioremediation is the use of living organisms to detoxify polluted ecosystems –These organisms are usually prokaryotes, fungi, or plants –These lichens are concentrating mining wastes Figure 38.11A

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Augmentation of ecosystem processes involves resupplying an area with key factors that have been removed Encouraging the growth of plants that thrive on nutrient-poor soils can hasten the rate of recovery of some tropical areas –In Puerto Rico, the legume Albizia helped set the stage for recolonization by native species Figure 38.11B

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings In numbers, geographic range, and capacity to alter the biosphere, our species is clearly one of the most successful ones ever to inhabit planet Earth Human attitudes and environmental awareness are of utmost importance in the search for solutions to the biodiversity crisis Sustainable development is an ultimate goal

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings The gray-headed flying fox symbolizes the biodiversity crisis Habitat destruction and the killing of animals as pests has reduced the population 75% in the past 25 years Further decrease could endanger this species and hurt its ecological role in maintaining forest diversity by pollination and seed dispersal Figure 38.12

Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings Understanding the biosphere's limits and vulnerability and our own linkages to the natural world may help us make decisions that lead to a sustainable future