Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity

• Biodiversity refers to the variety of species, genes, and ecosystems within an environment
• It has three components: species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity
• Maintains ecosystem services like pollination, pest control, and nutrient cycling
• Supports human well-being through food, medicine, and recreation
• Enhances ecosystem resilience to environmental changes

Population Dynamics

• Study of changes in population size and structure over time
• Factors affecting population growth: birth rate, death rate, immigration, and emigration
• Population growth models: exponential growth and logistic growth
• Exponential growth assumes unlimited resources, while logistic growth assumes limited resources
• Population regulation is influenced by density-dependent and density-independent factors
• Density-dependent factors include predation, competition, and disease, while density-independent factors include weather and natural disasters

Ecosystem Services

• Ecosystem services are benefits provided by functioning ecosystems
• There are four types of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services
• Provisioning services include food, water, and timber
• Regulating services include climate regulation, pollination, and pest control
• Cultural services include recreation, tourism, and spiritual values
• Supporting services include soil formation, nutrient cycling, and primary production
• Ecosystem services support human well-being and economy, and maintain ecosystem health and resilience

Conservation Biology

• Conservation biology is the application of ecological principles to preserve and protect biodiversity
• Goals of conservation biology: preserve ecosystem services, protect endangered species, and maintain ecosystem processes
• Conservation strategies include habitat preservation and restoration, species reintroduction and translocation, and ex situ conservation
• Ex situ conservation involves breeding and rearing species in controlled environments, such as zoos and seed banks

Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is the process of ecosystem change over time, resulting from disturbance or colonization

• There are two types of succession: primary succession and secondary succession
• Primary succession occurs in newly formed habitats, such as volcanic islands
• Secondary succession occurs in disturbed habitats, such as after forest fires