1. Government Action to Protect Ecosystems
Lesson 13
September 14th, 2010

2. Government Action to Protect Ecosystems
In the early 1970’s lake Erie was very polluted and dirty, it often had large amounts of chemicals, sewage and pesticides seeping into the water causing algae blooms that would kill off thousands of organisms.

3. Governments Take Action
In 1978, the United States and Canadian governments signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Its goal was to restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes in a co-ordinated way.
Governments in Canada and the USA did the following
Restored wetlands – wetlands help to filter water entering the lake
Create new wetlands
Reduced amounts of sewage, fertilizer and pesticides in the water

4. Conserving Biodiversity
The modern science of conservation biology seeks to understand and protect biodiversity. Part of this task includes assessing which species are most in danger of extinction as well as developing strategies to protect them.

5. Species at Risk
As a population declines overtime the species may become at risk.
Any native species that is in danger of becoming extinct or disappearing from a region.
There are different levels of risk
currently over 200 species at risk in Ontario

6. Levels Of Risk Level of Risk Definition Extirpated
A species that no longer exists in Ontario but still occurs elsewhere
Endangered
A species that faces extinction or extirpated
Threatened
A species that is at risk of becoming endangered if limiting factors are not reversed
Special Concern
A species with characteristic that make it sensitive to human activities or natural events.

7. Some at-risk species in Ontario
(a) The Karner blue butterfly is extirpated.
(b) The eastern prairie fringed orchid is endangered. (c) The eastern Massasauga rattlesnake is threatened. (d) The red-headed woodpecker is of special concern.

8. Conservation Strategies
Governments of different countries coordinate conservation efforts by using international treaties
Treaty – an agreement, between nations, in which they agree to do certain things to achieve a common goal.
The Convention on Biological Diversity is the international treaty whose goals are to conserve Earth’s biodiversity and has been signed by161 countries, including Canada.
There are two conservation strategies that governments and groups are using to protect biodiversity.

9. 1. Protecting Species in Human-Made Habitats
Ex-situ conservation- conserves species by removing them from their natural habitats.
Used for threatened or extremely small populations
Ex-situ conservation is considered a strategy of last resort
The at-risk individuals are taken to zoos, botanical gardens, or reserves. Zoos play an active role in preserving biological diversity
Species Survival Plans (SSPs) are breeding programs specifically for species threatened with extinction.
Seeds of endangered plants and rare crop plants can be stored in seed banks. – Stores of seeds that can be used to restore the population.

10. 2. Protecting Species in Their Native Habitats
In-situ conservation focuses on conserving species in their natural surroundings.
Strategies
Protecting species’ habitats (most important)
Protect a species from its predators.
Cleaning up or restoring habitat or isolating a habitat from human activity by creating reserves.

11. Genetic Diversity
Populations brought back from very closely related animals run the risk of being wiped out by a single disease.
This is even more true for Ex-situ

12. Ways Governments have helped to sustain Biodiversity
1. Protecting Endangered Species
In 2007, the Ontario government passed the Endangered Species Act. This law prohibits killing, capturing, possessing, selling, or trading species that are endangered in Ontario. The law not only protects at-risk species, it protects their habitats as well.

13. 2.Establishing Protected Areas
Slows down the loss of biodiversity
Worldwide, conservation biologists identify “biodiversity hot spots,” areas that have many unique ecosystems and whose biodiversity is threatened
These areas contain species found nowhere else on Earth. Many of these species are endangered.
Three types of protected areas: federal and provincial parks, wildlife reserves and marine sanctuaries.

14. 3.Creating Action Plans to Restore Ecosystems
Identify the specific causes of the problems.
Government agencies, industry representatives, and community groups met to develop specific plans to fix the problems.
Monitor conditions to check that the actions taken are working.

15. 4.Preventing the Introduction of Invasive Species
Agriculture Canada, a branch of the federal government, has strict laws against citizens or visitors bringing foreign food, animals, or plants into the country. This helps prevent people from unwittingly introducing foreign organisms into Canada’s ecosystems

16. The Asian long-horned beetle threatens Ontario’s hardwood species
The Asian long-horned beetle threatens Ontario’s hardwood species. To slow its spread, governments have enacted by-laws to prevent movement of firewood and wood products and laws against importing foreign food, animals, and plants.

17. Questions
1-8
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