1. Conservation Management
North American Wildlife

2. Conservation Biology
A mission oriented science that focuses on protecting and restoring biodiversity
What is biodiversity- Variety of living things
Includes…
All forms of life
All levels of organization
All interactions among different forms of life in the envioronment.

3. Where is the biodiversity
Endemic species- species whose natural occurrence is confined to a certain region and whose range is relatively limited.
Isolated areas- Islands, Mountain ranges
Product of unique habitat or climate features
Can you think of an area where you might find endemic species???

4. Biodiversity hotspots - areas with a high concentration of endemic species, experiencing rapid habitat loss

5. Biodiversity Hotspots
Occupy only 1.4% of land area
Contain 44% of vascular plant species
Contain 35% of terrestrial vertebrate species
BUT!!!
Also contains 20% of human population with the greatest population growth(1.8% compared to 1.3%)
Each hotspot is estimated to have lost 70% of its vegetation already.

6. Threatened/Endangered Species
5,188 vertebrates (9%)
1,992 invertebrates (0.17%)
8,321 plants (2.89%)
2 lichens (0.02%)
Since 1600, ~1000 species have gone extinct (probably many more)

7. Causes of species declines
Habitat destruction and fragmentation
Introduced species
Exploitation and overharvesting
Pollution
Climate change

8. USA

9. What is fragmentation?
Disruption of extensive habitats into smaller isolated patches

10. Exploitation and overharvest
Direct exploitation for food
overfishing
“bycatch” in fisheries – killing non-target species (birds, marine mammals)
“bush meat” – harvest of wild animals for food
can be sustainable, but often not
threatens many large mammals, primates

11. Pollution Most important for aquatic systems
chemical pollutants
acid precipitation
Bioaccumulation (AKA Biological Magnification)– process by which toxin concentrations increase in living tissues
concentrations increase through the food chain

13. protecting biodiversity
Reasons for
protecting biodiversity
Intrinsic – valuable for its own sake
Instrumental – beneficial to humans
Economic (food, drugs, tourism)
Ecosystem services (moderating climate, eliminating wastes/toxins, mitigating floods and droughts)

14. What can we do???
To sum it up a more diverse ecosystem is a more stable ecosystem
We need to take steps to prevent extinction of species
We need to take bigger steps to protect biodiversity hotspots