Biodiversity and Threats

Biodiversity and Threats

• Biodiversity is examined at three levels: genetic, species, and ecosystem.
• Climate significantly impacts ecosystem occurrence and community types.
• Climate factors include temperature and precipitation.
• There are 10 major terrestrial biome types.
• Two aquatic biomes are marine and freshwater.
• Human activities like burning fossil fuels affect the water cycle, impacting ecosystems.
• Overexploitation occurs when species are harvested at unsustainable rates.
• Invasive species are introduced to new areas, leading to competition with native species.
• Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades changed wildlife counts, impacting native species.
• Invasive species reproduce rapidly, outcompeting native species due to a lack of natural predators.
• Habitat destruction results from human activities like deforestation and conversion for agriculture.
• Solutions to overexploitation include establishing protected areas, enacting regulations, controlling wildlife trade, and combating poaching.
• Solutions to habitat destruction include recycling, reducing land conversion for human uses, and controlling urban growth.

Human Impacts on Biodiversity

• Human population growth is still occurring at a decreasing rate.
• The population surpassed 8 billion in 2022.
• The first time the number of older adults surpassed the number of children was in 2018.
• Biodiversity is affected by human activities such as climate change, habitat destruction, invasive species, and overexploitation.
• Climate Change is long-term change in Earth’s climate or change in climate in a region, which is caused by global warming.
• Global warming is an increase in Earth's average surface temperature.
• Impacts of human activities on biodiversity include global warming and climate change, habitat destruction, and overexploitation.
• Conservation biology aims to protect biodiversity at all levels.

Aquatic Biomes

• Aquatic biomes include marine and freshwater habitats.
• The open ocean is the largest biome, covering 70% of the Earth's surface.
• Phytoplankton are the most common plant life in the open ocean, being responsible for half of Earth's photosynthetic activity.
• Many larger, free-swimming animals are present in the open ocean.
• Lotic habitats are flowing waters like rivers.
• The primary food in fast-moving rivers comes from leaves from surrounding trees.
• Invertebrates often attach to rocks in slow-moving streams.
• Trout are commonly found in clear, cool waters.
• Catfish and carp can be found in murkier waters.

Pollution and Biomagnification

• Chemicals can accumulate at higher trophic levels, concentrating in the tissues of top consumers.
• Biomagnification is the tendency of chemicals to build up and accumulate in food chains over a period of time.
• DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a chemical that was used as a pesticide, is persistent in the environment.
• High concentrations of DDT are found in organisms at higher trophic levels of the food chain.
• DDT interferes with egg shell formation.
• The US banned DDT in the early 1970s.

Solutions for Biodiversity Loss

• Solutions to combat global warming and climate change include renewable energy, energy conversation, carbon removal from the atmosphere through reforestation and a carbon tax; reduced use of pesticides (reduces biomagnification risk).
• Solutions to habitat destruction involve recycling and reducing land conversion for human uses.
• Solutions to overexploitation include establishing protected areas, regulating wildlife trade, and combating poaching.
• Solutions for invasive species include prevention (e.g., maintaining lists of species that cannot be imported by countries), biological control (release of natural enemies).

This quiz explores the various levels of biodiversity, including genetic, species, and ecosystem perspectives. It also highlights the impact of climate change, invasive species, and human activities on ecosystems and conservation efforts. Test your understanding of these critical environmental issues.