Endangered Species

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Endangered Species
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BIODIVERSITY
1. Species diversity No. of different kinds of
organisms within community/ecosystem 2. Genetic
diversity Diversity within a species variety of
different versions of the same genes within a
species 3. Ecosystem diversity Richness and
complexity of a community (e.g., variety of
forests, lakes, deserts, grasslands. etc.)
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BIODIVERSITY

• Richness and complexity
• -- Richness Not just the number, but how they
  are distributed
• -- Complexity No. of species at each trophic
  level and the no. of trophic levels

Diverse but not complex all species clustered in
a few trophic levels leading to a simple food
chain
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BIODIVERSITY

• How many species are there?
• -- 1.4 million named species (70 of which are
  invertebrates)
• -- 3 to 50 million species alive!
• -- Only 10 to 15 live in North America

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Between 40 and 90 of species live in tropical
forests
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Rare species hot spots in the US
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BIODIVERSITY
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WHAT THREATENS BIODIVERSITY?

• Background extinction (95 of all extinctions)
• Mass extinction

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BIODIVERSITY
Background rates

• 1 mammal species
• every 400 years
• 1 bird species/200 yrs
• Now...
• 10,000 times the
• background rate!
• 20-75 plant/animal
• species each day?

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ENDANGERED VS THREATENED
Threatened population low but extinction less
imminent Endangered not so low that extinction
imminent
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What species are likely to become endangered?

• 1. Low reproductive rates (K-strategist species)
• 2. Narrow niche
• 3. Narrow distribution or rare (Island dwellers)
• Set migration routes
• Commercially valuable species

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Endangered Species Act of 1973

• Designed to legally protect listed species in the
  US and abroad
• Forbids federal agencies from funding or
  authorizing projects that would harm a listed
  species or its habitat
• In 2003, congress exempted the Defense Department
  from this requirement!
• Illegal to buy or sell any product made from a
  listed species
• Between 1973-2009 1,896 listed species
• 60 animal
• Nature conservancy states 30,000 species should
  be listed

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BIODIVERSITY
http//endangered.fws.gov/
http//www.nesarc.org/
http//www.stopextinction.org/
http//www.audubon.org/campaign/esa/esa.html
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BIODIVERSITY
Who cares?
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Reasons to care