Bio_315_Milestone1

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Katie Letson BIO-315 Project 1 Milestone 11/6/2023 Belize Land Acquisition For Environmental Preservation Introduction: Climate change is showing effects all over the world. Global warming is rising temperatures caused by elevated levels of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Some global disasters that are on the rise are due to global warming such as hurricanes, rising sea levels, coral bleaching, ocean acidification effects, flooding, and many more. Many of which are occurring consistently in Belize. Belize is in Central America is located to the West of the Caribbean Sea on the Caribbean Coast below Mexico (which is where the Belize Barrier Reef runs along ) just Southwest of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The coordinates are 17 degrees 15 minutes North of the Equator and 88 degrees 45 minutes West of the Prime Meridian. The topography can be between 0 meters and 1000 meters. The Macal, Belize, and Moho are the main large and long rivers that run across the area. In this area sea levels are rising, and sea temperatures are increasing which causes the coral reef there to turn white from bleaching and once this occurs most coral die. If we do not see a significant reduction in greenhouse gases the coral reefs will likely die off within my lifetime. These coral reefs are imperative to promote balanced and healthy ecosystems with bio diversity richness in species of organisms. In Belize four land parcels have been evaluated by a team of scientists in order to choose one for purchase for preservation[ CITATION Nia04 \l 1033 ]. These evaluations were throughout the following regions and within a 15-mile radius of Gallon Jug, Punta Gorda, Belmopan, and Cockscomb Basin. The evaluations were of populations of birds because they can serve as an indicator of ecosystem health. Birds show stress or other response to

environmental changes rapidly. When birds flourish, they can impact an ecosystem by killing insect pests, dispersal of seeds in their excrement, and pollinating throughout a habitat[ CITATION Kri72 \l 1033 ]. Vegetation and species richness of plants was also observed. Once the scientist completed the evaluations and research, they were able to decide on the parcel that was best suited for preservation. The coordinates for each site are as follows: Belmopan (17.14 N, 88.72 W), Gallon 6̊ 9̊ Jug 17.56 N, 89.04 W) Cockscomb Basin (16.79 N, 88.37 W) Punta Gorda (16.16 N, 1̊ 4̊ 7̊ 9̊ 5̊ 88.88 W). 3̊ Methods: Geospatial data was recorded by GIS technique that was used to mark and record the vegetation on each site and was provided by Meerman [ CITATION JCM04 \l 1033 ] . There were eight categories that land coverage and vegetation species were organized under. They are the following categories: Urbanization, water, wetland, agricultural uses, lowland or submontane pine forest, mangrove and littoral forest, lowland savanna, and lowland and submontane broadleaf forest. The categories were recorded for each of the regions and a 15-mile radius surrounding them for each of the four parcels evaluated. Belmopan parcel has a majority of lowland broadleaf forest on it. Almost a quarter of this land is utilized for agriculture. Cockscomb Basin parcel is also mostly lowland broadleaf forest and a little under a quarter is agricultural land. Close to a quarter of this land is also lowland savanna. Gallon Jug parcel is almost all lowland broadleaf forest. Punta Gorda parcel has just under half of it consisting of lowland broadleaf forest, and the rest is being utilized for agriculture.

Other methods that we used were the MacKinnon method which is standard rapid assessment for tropical birds. The point count survey method was used by preparing separate areas where we stop, count, and describe the species we observed[ CITATION Pee75 \l 1033 ]. Excel was used to document our data from the surveys. Past software was utilized to calculate diversity indices through scientific analysis manipulating the parcel data through different functions. We used both methods to determine types of species and the amount to reduce bias. References Biodiversity in Belize -ecosystem map. (2004). Belize Ecosystem map 2004 version . Retrieved November 5, 2023, from http:/biological-diversity info Ecosystems.htm Kricher, J. C. (1972). Bird Species Diversity: The Effect of Species Richness and Equitability on the Diversity Index. Ecology, 53 (2), 278-282. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1934082 Meerman, J. (2004). Belizean Ecosystems and vegetation types. Belize City, Belize: GIM Internationals. Niall O'Dea, J. E. (2004, January). Rapid assessment in conservation research: a critique of avifaunal assessment techniques illustrated by Ecuadorian and Madagascan case study data. Diversity and Distribution, 10 (1), 55-63. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2004.00050.x Peet, R. (1975). Relative Diversity Indices. Ecology, 56 (2), 496-498.

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