BAGAIMANA SPECIES BARU MUNCUL

apakah asal usul biodiversiti yang kita lihat hari ini?

biodiversity results from the process of evolution and speciation

HOW we define species also has a massive impact on our view of 'biodiversity - the study of TAXONOMY

 spesies-spesies sentiasa berevolusi sepanjang masa, oleh itu kita boleh menyiasat proses kemunculan spesies baru dengan melihat pada spesies yang ada pada masa sekarang.

Dilwynnia sp.

 dengan demikian kita boleh lihat pada kelainan pola variasi pada spesies yang diperhatikan buat masa kini, dan cuba memahami bagaimana variasi ini terjadi dahulu. Darwin explains evolution.. Those animals that survive and reproduce . are those animals that survive

and reproduce.

Proses Asas.
Tumbuhan dan haiwan menghasilkan banyak zuriat, lebih daripada yang diperlukan bagi mengekalkan populasi wujud persaingan dalam kalangan zuriat untuk bermandiri kerana sumber yang terhad ciri-ciri zuriat adalah pelbagai

sesetengah individu dapat beradaptasi dengan persekitarannya dengan baik berbanding yang lain

individu-individu ini akan mempunyai beberapa kelebihan untuk bermandiri individu-individu yang dapat beradaptasi dengan paling baik akan membiak dan akan menurunkan ciri-ciri mereka kepada zuriat mereka. dan seterusnya.

proses ini mempunyai beberapa andaian

proses pembentukan spesies seringkali berlaku apabila populasi terpencil (secara geografi?)

proses pembentukan spesies seringkali berlaku apabila terdapat tekanan terhadap pemilihan adalah tinggi (misalnya hanya beberapa individu dapat terus hidup iaitu yang mempunyai variasi mempunyai kelebihan yang kompetetif)

 ini akan berlaku apabila sumber (air? nutrien?) adalah terhad individu-individu yang berjaya untuk terus hidup akan menjadi pengasas kepada generasi akan datang seterusnya kumpulan baru akan terpisah secara genetik terutamanya apabila terdapat pemencilan secara geografik) dan tidak dapat membiak dan mereka akan membentuk spesies baru

Pola-pola pada peringkat spesies

dalam komuniti hutan hujan kita mempunyai kepelbagaian(diversiti) pada peringkat FAMILI tetapi setiap famili mempunyai kurang spesies oleh itu di hutan hujan terdapat banyak jenis spesies dan kebanyakannya tidak ada kaitan antara satu sama lain dan berasal dari famili yang berlainan

Hutan hujan

idi kawasan vegetasi yang kaya terdapat diversiti SPESIES, utetapi bilangan famili yang sedikit secara relatif eg in W.A. 89 famili 5 famili = 56% of spesies eg Proteaceae (Grevillea, Banksia ) Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus,Leptospermum) Mimosaceae (Acacia )

POLA-POLA DIVERSITI

- diversiti alpha
- kekayaan spesies dalam lingkungan sesuatu habitat - kekayaan spesies dalam hutan atau paya dsb

- diversiti beta
- perbezaan spesies diantara habitat - perbezaan spesies diantara kawasan paya dan hutan berhampiran

POLA-POLA DIVERSITI

- diversiti gamma diversity

- perbezaan dalaman habitat, diantara kawasan(region)

POLA DIVERSITI

Fitzgerald River NP

Royal Hakea

GENUS Acacia Eucalyptus Grevillea Stylidium Melaleuca Hakea Caladenia

NUMBER of SPECIES 400+ 300+ 200+ 150+ 150+ 100+ 100+

there are some 'centres of diversity or diversity hot spots

Fitzgerald River 1750+ species

Mt Leseur 820+ species

Stirling Range

Murchison Gorge

plant diversity hot spots

Eucalyptus

often have large or showy fruits

Banksia

26

21

Verticordia

Acacia

In W.A. there is high '-diversity' (gammadiversity)

ie variation ACROSS the landscape even relatively close areas have different suites of species

how did this diversity arise ?

EXPLAINING DIVERSITY vegetation types

arid zone

forest

divide W.A. into three rainfall zones

HIGH (800 - 1500 mm)

TRANSITIONAL (300 - 800 mm) ARID (< 300 mm)

decreasing rainfall

forest

Arid Zone

 the landscape has barely changed since the Permian nutrient poor soils
these are some of the least fertile soils in the world (low P) plants have evolved many adaptations to be able to compete proteoid roots, symbiotic relationships

 erosion of laterites resulted in mosaic of soil types

typically laterite 'islands' in a sea of saline valley floors

 adaptation to these nutrient poor soils has resulted in 'adaptive radiation' (each species adopts a different survival strategy which reduces direst competition) some individuals have shallow extensive roots

some have deep roots

some exploit the surface to target brief rainfall events

some have both deep roots and extensive shallow roots

reduces direct competition

plants growing together have different survival strategies

 in the Transitional Rainfall Zone climatic change resulted in significant rainfall fluctuations high
rainfall

mean ! low rainfall

year

 FREQUENT and UNPREDICTABLE environmental stresses for a long period variable climatic conditions result in strong selection pressure strong selection pressure results in high levels of speciation

 following a fire

CONDITIONS SEEDLING SURVIVAL Drought 780 seedlings nearly zero Artificial watering 90% survival Wet depressions 90% survival 'Good' year 40% survival
strong selection acting on populations isolated by soil type (island effect) results in different species on different soil islands

SUMMARY
factors contributing to the development of high diversity in W.A. are: nutrient scarcity result of long period of environmental stability and leaching geographic isolation (eg by arid Nullarbor Plain) mosaic of landforms and soils (small scale isolation and island effect)

 cycles of strong selection pressure following disturbances such as drought, fire 'flush-crash' cycles

 so we can see that many of our ideas about speciation are supported by this case study

read about some other well known example such as Darwins finches in the references !!

 many species are now at risk of extinction due to fragmented habitat

composition of roadside patches is very variable

 if we know that our biodiversity is distributed across the landscape, no single reserve can conserve all of the species present in the region every patch has a different suite of species how many patches can we protect ? with limited resources which patches will we choose to protect ?

....see the prac exercises !!!!