Chapter 8 Biological Diversity and Biological Invasions

8.1 What is Biological Diversity?

Biological Diversity variety of life-forms commonly expressed as the number of species or genetic types in an area.
9 primary reasons for conservation of biodiversity:
1. Utilitarian provides a product that is of direct value to people
2. Public service nature and its diversity provide some service (taking up carbon dioxide; pollinating flowers)
3. Ecological species have roles in their ecosystems which are necessary for the persistence of their ecosystems
4. Moral species have a right to exist, independent of their value to people
5. Theological religions value nature and its diversity
6. Aesthetic beauty of nature
7. Recreational
8. Spiritual religious experience
9. Creative stimulation for creativity

8.2 Biological Diversity Basics

Biological diversity involves the following concepts:
1. Genetic diversity total number of genetic characteristics of a specific species, subspecies, or group of species
2. Habitat diversity different kinds of habitats in a given unit area
3. Species diversity
a. Species richness total number of species
b. Species evenness relative abundance of species
c. Species dominance most abundant species
All living organisms are classified into groups called taxa.
Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus classification system
Three major domains of life: Eukaryota, Bacteria, Archaea

8.3 Biological Evolution

Biological evolution - change in inherited characteristics of a population from generation to generation
New species arise as a result of competition for resources and the differences among individuals in their adaptations to
environmental conditions.
The Four Key Processes of Biological Evolution
1. Mutation changes in genes; each gene carries a single piece of inherited information from one generation to next,
producing a genotype, the genetic makeup that is characteristic of an individual or group
2. Natural Selection process of increasing the proportion of offspring. It involves four primary factors:
a. Inheritance of traits and some variation in these traits genetic variability
b. Environmental variability
c. Differential reproduction differences in numbers of offspring per individual
Influence of the environment on survival and reproduction
*natural selection, in combination with geographic isolation and subsequent migration can lead to new dominant genotypes
and eventually to new species
3. Migration and Geographic Isolation important evolutionary process over geologic time
*adaptive radiation
4. Genetic Drift changes in the frequency of a gene in a population due not to mutation, selection, or migration, but
simply to chance
*founder effect occurs when a small number of individuals are isolated from a larger population

8.4 Competition and Ecological Niches

The Competitive Exclusion Principle supports those who argue that there should be only a few species
o Two species with exactly the same requirements cannot coexist in exactly the same habitat
o Garrett Hardin Complete competitors cannot coexist
 Ecological Niche set of all environmental conditions under which a species can persist and carry out its life functions;
explains how so many species can coexist
o Species that require the same resources can coexist by using those resources under different environmental
conditions
If we want to conserve a species in its native habitat, we must make sure that all the requirements of its niche, and habitat
are present; as well as their symbionts

8.5 Symbiosis
Symbiosis relationship between two organisms that is beneficial to both and enhances each organisms chances of
persisting
Symbiont partner in symbiosis
Obligate symbionts - each providing what the other needs, and neither could survive without the other

8.6 Predation and Parasitism

Predation an organism feeds on other live organism
Parasitism organism lives on or within another and depends on it for existence but makes no useful contribution to it and
may in fact harm it

8.7 How Geography and Geology Affect Biological Diversity

In general, greater diversity occurs at lower latitudes
Biogeography the geographic distribution of species
Alfred Russel Wallace suggested that the world could be divided into six biogeographic regions on the basis of
fundamental features of the animals found in those areas
o Nearctic, Neotropical, Palaearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian
Biotic province region inhabited by a characteristic set of taxa bounded by barriers that prevent the spread to other
regions
Biome - ecosystem
Convergent evolution process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar
traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
Divergent evolution - accumulation of differences between groups which can lead to the formation of new species
8.8 Invasions, Invasive Species, and Island Biogeography
E.O. Wilson and R. MacArthur established a theory of island geography; major principles:
o Islands have fewer species than continents
o Two sources of new species on an island are migration from the mainland and evolution of new species in place
o Smaller island, fewer species
o Farther the island from mainland, fewer species
Ecological Island comparatively small habitat separated from a major habitat of the same kind
Chapter 9 Ecological Restoration
9.1 What is Ecological Restoration?
Ecological Restoration - providing assistance to the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or
destroyed
General Principles for Ecological Restoration
o Ecosystems are dynamic, not static
o No simple set of rules will be applicable to a specific restoration project
o Adaptive management, using the best science, is necessary for restoration to succeed
o Careful consideration of ecosystems, geology and hydrology plays and important role in all restoration projects
Adaptive management application of science to the management process

9.2 Goals of Restoration: What is Natural?

Balance of nature - a theory that proposes that ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium or homeostasis, which
is to say that a small change in some particular parameter will be corrected by some negative feedback that will bring the
parameter back
Major Tenets of a belief in the balance of nature:
o Left undisturbed, nature achieves a permanency of form and structure that persists indefinitely
o If it is undisturbed and the disturbance is removed, nature returns to exactly the same permanent state
o In this permanent state of nature, there is a great chain of being, with a place for each creature (a habitat and a
nice) and each creature in its appropriate place
Restoration Ecology - depends on science to discover what used to be, what is possible, what an ecosystem or species
requires to persists, and how different goals can be achieved

9.3 What is usually restored? Rivers, streams, coastal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, beaches, sand dunes, landscape, lands
disturbed by mining
9.4 Applying Ecological Knowledge to Restore Heavily Damaged Lands and Ecosystems
Reclamation restoration of heavily damaged lands
Naturalization - any process by which a non-native organism spreads into the wild and its reproduction is sufficient to
maintain its population.
Chapter 10 Environmental Health, Pollution, and Toxicology
10.1 Some Basics
Disease impairment of an individuals well-being and ability to function
Polluted Environment impure, dirty, unclean
Pollution unwanted change in the environment caused by the introduction of harmful materials or the production of
harmful conditions
Contamination making something unfit for a particular use through the introduction of undesirable materials
Toxin substances poisonous to living things
Toxicology science that studies toxins or suspected toxins, and toxicologists are scientists in this field
Carcinogen toxin that increases the risk of cancer
Synergism interaction of different substances, resulting in a total effect that is greater than the sum of the effects of the
separate substances
Point sources how pollutants are commonly introduced into the environment
Area sources / nonpoint sources more diffused over the land and include urban runoff and mobile sources automobile
exhausts

10.2 Categories of Pollutants

Infectious Agents
o Infectious diseases spread by interactions between individuals by food, water, air, soil, animals in contact
Environmentally transmitted infectious disease
Toxic heavy metals
o Heavy metals metals with relatively high atomic weight
o Body burden quantity of heavy metals in our bodies
Toxic pathways
o Biomagnification / bioaccumulation accumulation or increasing concentration of a substance in living tissue as it
moves through a food web
Organic compounds carbon compounds produced naturally by living organisms or synthetically by industrial processes
o Synthetic organic compounds used in industrial processes, pest control, pharmaceuticals and food additives
Persistent Organic compounds synthetic compounds
Hormonally active agents (HAAs) may cause developmental and reproductive abnormalities
Nuclear Radiation
Thermal Pollution / heat pollution heat released into water or air produces undesirable effects (increasing heat of water;
thereby changing species composition of a body of water)
Particulates small particles of dust released into the atmosphere
Asbestos several minerals that take the form of small, elongated particles, or fibers
Electromagnetic Fields
Noise pollution unwanted sound
Voluntary exposure tobacco, alcohol

10.3 General Effects of Pollutants

Concept of dose and response
o Dose response effect of a certain chemical on an individual
o ED-50 effective dose 50%; dose that causes an effect in 50% of the observed subjects
o TD-50 dose that is toxic to 50% of the observed objects
Threshold effects
o Threshold level below which no effect occurs and above which effects begin to occur
Ecological gradients a gradual change in abiotic factors through space (or time). Environmental gradients can be related
to factors such as altitude, temperature, depth, and ocean proximity and soil humidity.
Tolerance ability to resist or withstand stress from exposure to a pollutant or harmful condition
o Behavioural tolerance results from changes in behaviour
 o Physiological tolerance results when the body of an individual adjusts to tolerate a higher level of pollutant.
Detoxification mechanism for physiological tolerance
o Genetic tolerance results when some individuals in a population are naturally more resistant to a toxin that
others
Acute and Chronic Effects
o Acute occurs soon after exposure
o Chronic occurs over a long period

10.4 Risk Assessment process of determining potential adverse health effects of exposure to pollutants and toxic materials
Identification of the hazard
Dose response assessment
Exposure assessment
Risk characterization
Chapter 11 Agriculture, Aquaculture, and the Environment
11.1 An Ecological Perspective on Agriculture
Agroecosystems - spatially and functionally coherent unit of agricultural activity
Ecological succession is halted to keep the agroecosystem in an early-successional rate
Biological diversity and food chains are simplified.
The focus is on monoculture, one plant species rather than many.
Crops are planted in neat rows and fields.
Agroecosystems require plowing, which is unlike any natural soil disturbance.
They may include genetically modified crops.
11.2 Can we free the world?
People starve in two ways
o Undernourishment results from insufficient calories in available food
o Malnourishment results from a lack of specific chemical components of food

11.3 What we grow on the land

Crops
o Forage food for domestic animals
Livestock the agriculture of animals
o Rangeland provides food for grazing and browsing animals without plowing and planting
o Pasture plowed, planted and harvested to provide forage for animals

11.4 Soils
Soil horizons soil layers
Fertility capacity of a soil to supply nutrients necessary for plant growth
Restoring our Soils
o Fertilizers
o Limiting factors
Macronutrient chemical element required by all living things in relatively large amounts
Micronutrient chemical elements required in small amounts
Liebigs law of the minimum some single factor determines the growth and therefore the presence of a
species
Synergistic effect change in the availability of one resource affects the response of an organism to some
other resource
11.5 Controlling Pests
Scientific industrial revolution bought major changes in agriculture pest control which is divided in FOUR stages:
1. Broad-spectrum inorganic toxins
2. Petroleum-based sprays and natural plant chemicals
3. Artificial Organic compounds
4. Integrated pest management and biological control
a. Integrate pest management uses a combination of methods (biological control, chemical pesticides)
b. Biological control using one species that is a natural enemy of the another

11.6 The Future of Agriculture

Three major technological approaches to agriculture
o Modern mechanized agriculture production is based on highly mechanized technology that has a high demand
for resources and makes little use of biologically-based technologies
o Resource-based agriculture based on biological technology and conservation of land, water and energy
o Genetic engineering
Increased production per acre
Increased farmland area
 New crops and hybrids
o Green revolution - a large increase in crop production in developing countries achieved by the use of fertilizers,
pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
Organic farming
o Three qualities: more like natural ecosystems than monoculture (the cultivation of a single crop in a given area);
minimizes negative environmental impacts; food that results from it does not contain artificial compounds
Eating lower on the food chain

11.7 Genetically modified food: biotechnology, farming and environment

Genetically modified crops
New hybrids through genetic engineering
Terminator gene makes seeds from a crop sterile
Transfer of genes from one major form of life to another
o Genetic modification of crops transfer of genes from one major kind of life to another

11.8 Aquaculture farming of aquatic organisms

Mariculture farming of ocean fish
Chapter 12 Landscapes: Forests, Parks and Wilderness
12.1 Forest and Forestry
Forest building materials, spiritual and aesthetic
o Public service functions retard erosion, moderate availability of water, improve water supply, habitat for
endangered species and wildlife
Forestry
o Professional growing of trees silviculture
At beginning of 21 century 26% of Earths surface was forested
st

Role of forests in the biosphere:

o Changing the color of the surface, amount of sunlight reflected and absorbed
o Increasing amount of water transpired and evaporated from te surface of the atmosphere
o Changing the rate at which greenhouse gases are released from Earths surface and into atmosphere
o Changing Surface Roughness
Terms
o Trees in a stand usually of the same species or group of species often at the same successional stage
o Two major kinds of commercial stands: even-aged stands and uneven-aged stands
o Virgin forest / old growth forest forest that has never been cut
o Second-growth forest forest that has been cut and regrown
o Rotation the time between cuts of a stand
o Dominants, codominants, intermediate, suppressed how forests and forest ecologists group trees in a forest
o Site quality maximum timber crop the site can produce in a given time
Harvesting trees
o Clear-cutting cutting of all trees in a stand at the same time
o Selective cutting individual trees are marked and cut
Poorly formed trees are selectively removed thinning
Strip cutting narrow rows of forest are cut, leaving wooded corridors whose trees provide seeds
Shelter wood cutting practice of cutting dead and less desirable trees first. And later cutting mature
trees
Seed-tree cutting removes all but a few seed trees
Plantations a stand of a single species, typically planted din straight rows
Certification of forestry certify forest practices
Deforestation
o Causes of deforestation clear land for agriculture; settlement

12.2 Parks, Nature, Preserves, and Wilderness

Park area set aside for use by people
Nature Preserve primary purpose of conserving biological resource
 Major conflicts over parks generally have to do with their size and what kinds and levels of access and activities will be
available

12.3 Conserving Wilderness

Wilderness area undisturbed by people
Goal of preserving wilderness preserve nature; provide people with a wilderness experience
Chapter 13 Wildlife, Fisheries, and Endangered Species
13.1 Traditional Single-Species Wildlife Management
Common history of exploitation, management, and conservation
Maximum sustainable yield maximum growth rate that a population could sustain indefinitely
Maximum sustainable yield population population size at which maximum growth rate occurs
Minimum Viable population estimated smallest population that can maintain itself and its genetic variability indefinitely
Optimum sustainable population population size between MaxSY and MinSY
According to the logistic curve, greatest production occurs when population is of carrying capacity

13.2 Improved Approaches to Wildlife Management

Time series estimate of population over a number of years
Historical range of variation known range of abundances of a population or species over some past time interval
Catch per unit effort harvest counts are used to estimate previous animal abundance

13.3 Fisheries
New approaches to wildlife conservation and management:
1. Historical range of abundance
2. Estimation of the probability of extinction based on historical range of abundance
3. Use of age-structure information
4. Better use of harvests as sources of information
Fish populations on which the harvests depend are generally declining, easily exploited and difficult to restore

13.4 Endangered Species: Current Status

Four ways to save a species
o Wild creature in wild habitat (symbol of wilderness)
o Wild creature in a managed habitat
o Population in a zoo
o Genetic material only
Threatened species any species likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future
Reasons for conserving endangered species
o Utilitarian use of chemical compounds from plants; medical research; ecotourism
o Ecological maintain functions of ecosystems and biosphere
o Aesthetic enhance the quality of our lives
o Moral right to exists
o Cultural importance to indigenous peoples

13.5 How a species becomes endangered and extinct

Local extinction species disappear from a part of its range but persists elsewhere
Global extinction species can no longer be found anywhere
Causes of extinction: *risk chance a species will be extinct due to such causes
o Population risk random variations in population rates (birth and death)
o Environmental risk changes in the environment
o Natural catastrophe change in environment not caused by human action (storm, floods)
o Genetic risk detrimental change in genetic characteristics

13.8 How People Cause Extinctions and Affect Biological Diversity

1. Intentional hunting or harvesting
2. Disrupting or eliminating habitat
3. Introducing exotic species
4. Creating pollution
Chapter 14 Energy: Some Basics
Work product of force times a distance
First law of thermodynamics energy can neither be created or destroyed; always conserved
Potential energy stored energy
Kinetic energy energy in motion
Energy quality availability of the energy to perform work
Second law of thermodynamics energy always tends to go from a more usable form to a less usable form

14.3 Energy Efficiency

First law efficiency deals with amount of energy without any consideration of the quality or availability of the energy
Second law efficiency refers to how well matched the energy end use is with the quality of the energy source

14.4 Energy Sources and Consumption

Alternative energy geothermal, nuclear, hydropower, solar
Renewable energy solar, wind

14.5 Energy Conservation, Increased Efficiency, and Cogeneration

Energy Conservation using less energy and adjusting our energy needs and uses to minimize the amount of high-quality
energy necessary for a given task
Energy efficiency yield more output from a given amount of energy input
Cogeneration includes a number of processes designed to cpture and use waste heat

Energy Conservation ways of modifying behaviour to conserve energy:

o Using carpools
o Purchasing a hybrid car (gasoline-electric)
o Turning off lights when leaving rooms
o Taking shorter showers (conserves hot water)
o Putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat in winter
o Using energy-efcient compact uorescent lightbulbs
o Purchasing energy-efcient appliances
o Sealing drafts in buildings with weather stripping and caulk
o Better insulating your home
o Washing clothes in cold water whenever possible
o Purchasing local foods rather than foods that must be brought to market from afar
o Reducing standby power for electronic devices and appliances

14.6 Sustainable Energy Policy

Energy Alternatives that emphasize energy quality and are renewable, flexible, and environmentally more benign:
o Rely heavily on renewable energy resources, such as sunlight, wind, and biomass
o Diverse and are tailored for maximum effectiveness under specic circumstances.
o Flexible, accessible, and understandable to many people.
o Matched in energy quality, geographic distribution, and scale to end-use needs, increasing second-law efciency.
Integrated energy management recognizes that no single energy source can provide all the energy required by various
countries in the world
Sustainable energy development
o Provide reliable sources of energy
o Not destroy or seriously harm or environment
o Help ensure future generations inherit quality environment
A good energy plan:
o Provide for sustainable energy development.
 o Provide for aggressive energy efciency and conservation.
o Provide for diversity and integration of energy sources.
o Develop and use the smart grid to optimally manage energy ow
o Provide for a balance between economic health and environmental quality.
o Use second-law efciencies as an energy policy tool
Micropowersmaller, distributed systems for production of electricity
Chapter 15 Fossil fuels and the Environment
Peak oil time when of Earths oil has been exploited
Fossil fuels forms of stored solar energy
Our primary energy sources fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, coal)
Crude oil and natural gas are deried from organic materials that were buried with marine or lake sediments in what are
known as depositional basins
Petroleum production
o Primary production involves pumping oil from wells
o Enhanced recovery steam, water, chemicals are injected into the oil reservoir to push oil toward wells to easily
recover
Coal-bed methane partial decomposition of plants buried by sediments convert organic material to coal; this process
releases a lot of methane stored in coal
Methane hydrate white, ice-like compound made of molecules of methane gas
Coal most abundant fossil fuel
Coal mining and the environment
o Strip mining surface mining process which strips overlying later of soil and rock
o Acid mine drainage drainage of acidic water from mine sites
Allowance trading innovative approach to managing U.S. coal resources and reducing pollution
Oil shale fine grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter
Synfuels oil from shale
Tar sands sedimentary rocks or sands impregnated with tar oil, asphalt or bitumen
Chapter 16 Alternative Energy and the Environment
Nonrenewable alternative energy nuclear energy, geothermal energy
Renewable energy solar, freshwater, wind, ocean, low-density, biofuels

16.2 Solar Energy

Passive solar energy systems use architectural designs to enhance absorption of solar energy; promotes cooling in hot
weather and heating in cold weather
Active solar energy requires mechanical power, electric pumps
o Solar collectors provide space heating o hot water
o Photovoltaics converts sunlight into electricity

16.4 Water Power form of stored solar energy (hydropower)

16.5 Ocean Energy
Tidal power use of the water power of ocean tides
16.6 Wind Power
16.7 Biofuel energy recovered from biomass (organic matter)
16.8 Geothermal energy deep-earth, high density (energy within the Earth); shallow-earth, low density (energy from surface of
earth due to Sun)