M02 Assignment ESEC

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Biology

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Jun 5, 2024

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M02 Assignment Part 1: What Is Biodiversity? As ecology graduate students, we spent many hours discussing the theories that predict the relationship between the number of species in an area and that area's size. One of the founders of leading theories in the field of biodiversity and species assembly rules is E. O. Wilson. Dr. Wilson's papers and studies formed the basis of my education as a graduate student working to answer questions about biodiversity in Yellowstone National Park. He begins this first video that you will watch by describing his experimental research that lead to the development of theories on species area curves that could predict how many species will be found in a given area of habitat. To define biodiversity and identify the data supporting theories on species assembly and number, watch the following video and answer the related questions: From Ants to Grizzlies 1. What experimental data did E. O. Wilson collect? How did he analyze that data? What did he discover? E.O Wilson identified insects across islands in the South Pacific. He wondered why different islands had different species and different numbers of species. He tallied the number of ant species on each island and when he plotted them against the area of the island, he noticed that an island that was 10 times bigger, had twice as many species. On other islands, reptiles and amphibians showed a similar relationship. Wilson discovered what he called ‘a rule of thumb, a general relationship between the number of species on an island and its area. 2. How are humans affecting the size of natural habitat? By building Farms, roads and towns, humans are steadily shrinking Earth’s remaining natural habitats 3. How are humans affecting the distribution and continuity of habitats? As humans start to build roads, towns and farms creating small, isolated fragmenting islands of forest and natural habitat. The animals that inhabited those habitats are being impacted by the islands' fragmentation. The Amazon experiment demonstrates how smaller habitats have a more major impact on larger creatures. 4. How did experimental data show a different effect of island biogeography on large animals compared to smaller animals like insects? Why is there a different effect? In these islands, there were less distinct species. Monkeys were the animal most negatively impacted since they spend the most of their time in trees rather than on the

ground. Their movement was constrained by the creation of these islands. Larger species, such as jaguars, harpies, eagles, and spider monkeys, are also more negatively affected because of their greater range requirements and need for space. Some species begin to go extinct when the forest is torn down and humans leave these little, isolated pieces behind. 5. What approach have humans taken to addressing habitat fragmentation in the Rocky Mountains and the Yukon? Who are the partners involved in this project in Western Montana? Humans are discovering that national parks might not be large enough to maintain species with extensive home ranges and that Human activities are stopping larger animals from roaming around . The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative was established in 1993 with the goal of linking and preserving habitat over a 3,2000 km stretch of land from Wyoming to the Arctic Circle and the Yukon. Y2Y is purchasing land to create a wildlife corridor, a larger continues wilderness through which animals can move. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, with the wildlife biologist here, successfully lobbied for the construction of bridges and passages to connect habitats severed by highway 93. Part 2: What are the Effects of Human Population Growth on Biodiversity? To complete this module's assignment, watch the HHMI Holiday Lecture on Science: Humans, Biodiversity, and Habitat Loss 1. Who is the speaker? What is her background and what academic institution is she from? Dr Elizabeth Hadly PhD of Stanford University. Dr Hadly has been working for 30 years in the field of Biology and paleontology and geology. 2. What levels of biodiversity are described? Include the examples used to illustrate each. How humans impact biodiversity on the planet, what biodiversity is and why it matters. The levels of biodiversity include: Ecosystems – Yellow Stone National Park Species – Grizzly Bears, Wolves Population - home range of Grizzly bears Genetic - Animals have their own genotype composed of DNA 3. What threats to biodiversity are described? What drives these threats?

 Climate Change  Ecosystem Loss  transformation. The rise in human population is to blame for these threats. Our climate's temperature and the number of ecosystems we're destroying for human purpose are both being affected by the rise of the human population. Species extinctions are associated with humans. The Late Pleistocene Extinction Event, which occurred between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, is complicated by a mix of climatic change and human hunting, but it is most notable that it occurred. 4. What types of impacts on biodiversity are described related to the migration of humans from Africa to the Americas? Large animals that lived there began to go extinct as humans started to colonize the globe. They first traveled through Asia and Australia before making their way to Europe, North America, and South America. There were indications that nearly all the large-bodied animals had suffered significant losses. 5. Which animals species are described in this video as heading towards extinction? What activities are causing this threat? Elephants, rhinos, golden toads, and scimitar oryx are some of the animals that are on the verge of extinction. Approximately 5,500 mammals, or 22% of them, are in danger of going extinct. The eight species of pangolin that are found in Africa and Asia are among the other creatures. They are the most heavily traded mammal in the world due to their peculiar scaly body, which they use as protection. Loss of habitat, hunting, and human financial gain are all contributing factors to animal extinction. 6. What is the relative relationship between the abundance of livestock and pets, humans, and wild species illustrated in this lecture? The amount in mammalian biomass of livestock and pets are almost double than humans. Wildlife is a fraction of humans in mammalian biomass. Humans will consume more biomass than all livestock and wildlife put together if they continue to grow. 7. How much of the land on our planet has been transformed for human use? What types of transformations dominate this use? The amount of land that has been used for human purposes is about 51%. A large portion of the land has been changed to allow to produce crops, the grazing of humans and animals, and for us to live.

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