BI102 General Biology

Spring 2008

Dr. Brian K. Penney

Goulet 2320

603 641-7149

bpenney@anselm.edu

Brian K. Penney 's web page

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1. Biodiversity has more than sentimental value.

   • Many communities provide important ecosystem services, such as oxygen production, improved hydrology, and carbon cycling.

   • Biodiversity provides a reservoir of new crops and pharmaceuticals (chemical prospecting), as well as a genetic reserve for improvement of established crops.

   • Ecotourism has provided new economic incentive for maintaining biodiversity.

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2. What generates or is correlated with high biodiversity?

   • Sufficient energy and water input for longer food chains.

   • Habitat complexity and consequent organismal specialization.

   • Species richness of a region is directly correlated with area and distance to other habitat patches.

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3. Some locations in the biosphere are especially rich in species

   these are termed biodiversity hotspots, e.g. Central America (terrestrial) and the Western Indo-Pacific (marine).

   
   many hotspots hold disproportionate numbers of endemic species

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4. Humanity's style of resource use, coupled with the recent technology and population explosion presents several threats to the maintenance of biodiversity

   • Habitat destruction on global or local scales or habitat fragmentation leads to smaller population sizes.

   • Biodiversity hotspots are often located in developing countries that are currently in phases of high development, or political instability.

   • Increased movement of people and goods have compounded problems with invasive species.

   • Populations of many species are victims of overexploitation or increased pollution (e.g. biological magnification; eutrophication)

   • The extent and rate of global climate change (warming, ozone layer loss, etc.) threatens many species.

Copyright 2007-2008, Brian K. Penney

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