Extinction is the most irreversible and tragic of all environmental calamities.

With each plant and animal species that disappears, a precious part of creation is callously erased
Michael Soule, 2004

Threats to Biodiversity
chap 3

Threats to Biodiversity
As our numbers climb, we expand agricultural conversion, import invasive species, hunt more species, degradate habitat, fragment and lose habitat, pollute water and air, impact climate In short, we are causing the 6th mass extinction, the only biological driven one

Threats to Biodiversity
Major factors impacting biodiversity

Threats to Biodiversity
Habitat Degradation Includes conversion from suitable to unsuitable, lowering quality, fragmentation that lower PVA Causes: many industries (e.g. forestry, agriculture, development, fishing, mining, chemical)

Threats to Biodiversity
Overexploitation Hunting, collecting, fishing (and indirect by-catch), trade of animals (and parts)

Threats to Biodiversity
Invasive Species With our help, species have the ability to get virtually anywhere in the world Direct actions: predation, parasitism, disease, competition or hybridization Indirect paths: changing abundances, disruption of mutualisms, modifying habitat, reducing habitat quality)

Threats to Biodiversity
Anthropogenic Climate Change Climate has been a cause of previous mass extinctions Couple this with lower abundance, invasive species and other problems, a severe impact is likely from climate change Climate change will also trigger additional biological responses (e.g. malaria in temperate places)Fig 3.3

Threats to Biodiversity
Snowballing effect of the invasion of the alien root pathogen

Threats to Biodiversity
Snowballing effect of the invasion of the alien root pathogen Indirect effects

Threats to Biodiversity
Anthropogenic Pollution There are direct discharges of chemicals into the environment, there are also pollutants released into the atmosphere Toxic chemicals (e.g. mercury, lead) are found even in remote areas Also have the problem of bioaccumulation (or biomagnification)

Threats to Biodiversity
Toxic chemicals (PCBs and dioxins) accumulate in fatty tissues

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems
Loss of species, populations and/or habitat is dramatic and extreme Extinction as a process Can be local or global (also, ecological)

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems
Early extinctions probably caused by overexploitation Now, habitat degradation and/or invasive species major factors

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems
No. of genera (megamammal) extinct and cause 72% Aust 88% NAm

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems
Consider Polynesian colonization of Pacific Islands 1-3KYA Over 2000 species of birds (flightless rails) and 8000 populations driven to extinction Story is not so simple Where invasive sp and habitat degradation combined, extinction followed

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems

Anthropogenic Extinctions impact

on communities and ecosystems
Since 1500, >129 sp extinct Habitat loss major cause Invasive sp contributed for many Overexploitation for 1/5

indirect impacts Species dont exist in a vacuum and extinctions usually have a ripple effect Cascade effects such as secondary extinctions may occur E.g. plants with a single sp pollinator or seed dispersers E.g. sea otters and sea urchins

Anthropogenic Extinctions

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts Tambalacoque & Dodo

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts E.g. sea otters and sea urchins

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts Another problem is the removal of top predators, which may cause the ecological release of mesopredators

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts
So there are many important species in a given community and some are more important than others Dominant sp: common, but also have strong effects on other members Ecosystems engineers: those that modify the ecosystem (e.g. beaver, elephant) Keystone sp: sp that has more impact on community than numbers (biomass) would suggest (e.g. bat pollinator)

Anthropogenic Extinctions
indirect impacts

Current Patterns of Global Endangerment

Best data on global endangerment are collated in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org) All species placed into one of 9 categories (3 primary categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable) To date, only 2.5% of species evaluated (and 41% considered endangered)

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

What groups are in endangered?

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Globally threatened processes Some dramatic phenomenon may disappear (e.g. large-scale migrations) Read Essay 3.3

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Factors threatening biodiversity Factors are listed in the Red List Knowledge varies tremendously and by taxonomic group and habitat Most face multiple threats and threats can act synergistically

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Overexploitation is major cause for fish

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Where are sp most at risk worldwide? Not all biomes (and their inhabitants) are equally at risk Most tropical habitats and grasslands have large substantial numbers of threatened vertebrates

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Current Pattern of Global Endangermentthe US

Geographically, there are very high numbers in SAm, SE Asia, sub-Saharan AF, Oceania, and NAm (where?) The US is second (Ecuador) for the number of species though to be at risk of extinction globally (IUCN) Many are plants (>5000sp), freshwater species (e.g. mussels {70%},crayfish, stoneflies)

Current Pattern of Global Endangermentthe US

Proportion of sp threatened in US

Current Pattern of Global Endangermentthe US

Examining threats to US sp

A correlative cause of many of these factors is urbanization

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Threatened species in other countries Unfortunately, many countries lack solid data on what and how many sp are actually in trouble Some countries have a high proportion of the flora and fauna at risk E.g. Madagascar 80% of plants and 30% of vertebrates (case study 3.2)

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

What types of sp are most vulnerable? Through studies, we have determined there are suites of characteristics that make some sp more vulnerable E.g. large range requirements, narrow habitat range, rarity, low reproductive rate, extreme specialization or coevolutionary dependancies

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Vulnerability due to Specialization Many species (especially tropical) have narrow environmental ranges and highly specialized diets or habitats Perturbations can easily disturb them Specialization on other species can be precarious as well

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Top carnivores with low densities, large ranges, large body size, are often cited as being vulnerable to habitat degradation, as well as overexploitation For marine animals, body size itself does not appear to be a problem, but is associated with another
low reproductive rate

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Vulnerability of Rare species Why might a species be rare?
Consider 3 characteristics: geographic range, habitat breadth and abundance

How might each influence vulnerability? How might they interact?

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

vent sp

Island sp

bats

big cats

raptors

seabirds

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Lets consider a case of extreme endemism: Centinela Ridge in Ecuador During a RAP inventory, 90 endemic plant species were discovered Immediately following the inventory, entire ridge cleared for agriculture

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Island communities have relatively high rates of endemism, although communities maybe less rich than comparable mainland sites However, many island biotas are frequently endangered; why?

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Case Study: birds of Channel Islands 80 year comparison of pop(s)
40% of small pop(s) went extinct (<10 bp) 10% of pop(s) with 10-100 breeding pairs 1 population of 100-1000 bp No pop(s) if >1000 bp

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Bad luck species do not have intrinsically vulnerable traits, just bad luck For example, many freshwater fish near large cities are vulnerable, whatever their LHC 50% of variation in extinction risk for primates and carnivores is strictly due to anthropogenic distrubances

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Economic and Social Context Economic growth and rising affluence drive habitat conversion and overexploitation Unfortunately in the US, areas of high endemism and richness are areas of high human growth (e.g. s. CA, e-c TX, s FL)

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

At the other end of the economic spectrum, billions live in poverty
1B < $1/day 2.7B < $2/day

As a result, unsustainable levels of burning, small-scale agriculture, grazing and bushmeat hunting occur wherever these practices help people survive

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Responses to the Biodiversity Crisis Conservationists and developers agree where solutions need to come from:

1) scientific analysis and promotion of the causes of biodiversity change 2) technological improvements 3) legal and institutional instruments 4) economic incentives and plans 5) social interventions

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Solutions will include:
Establishing protected areas Targeted interventions at the genetic, species, and ecosystems levels Restoration of damaged ecosystems Recovery of endangered species Creation of sustainable forms of development

Current Pattern of Global Endangerment

Single-species approaches will not be enough to conserve biodiversitylarger spatial scales are going to be needed However, many conservation actions are achieved at smaller scales (i.e. local) Need to prioritize and plan at larger scales (consisting of local partners)
Conservationists are generally asking where questions to set geographical priorities and how questions about developing and implementing strategies to conserve conservation targets at priority places Redford 2003

Laws and International Agreements

One major tool for conservationists are US laws and international agreements Please Review Case Study 3.3!!

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

The first step is identifying a trend The second step is to determine what factors most influence trends Finally, establish a plan to remove or eliminate the identified threats As easy as they sound, none of these steps are as easy as they appear and the further along, the more external factors enter the process

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

Besides developing a plan for a single species, important to track status trends to determine success The Red List Index tallies changes in status due to either a deterioration or improvement of all threatened species

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

Overall, birds down 7% Albatrosses and petrels down 25%

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

Unfortunately most species groups are too poorly known to adequately evaluate trends However there are a number of indicies attempting to bridge these gaps IBI (index of biotic integrity), LPI (living planet index; pop change of 1100 terrestrial, marine, and freshwater vertebrate sp)

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

Terrestrial sp (A) and broken down

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

It is not enough to determine where changes are occurring (reactive), but rather perhaps we can use information to generate predictive models of what species or systems may be more vulnerable than others (proactive)

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

Projected trends Dark most impact

Driving Factors and Trends in Species Endangerment

In the end, it is essential we better understand the factors that drive human behavior, which ultimately drive the causes of biodiversity loss