Geography 2156B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Tropical Timber, Orangutan, Fatalism
8 Jan 2020
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Document Summary
Challenge of communicating magnitude + urgency w/out fatalism. Affecting animals loss of biodiversity resonates most powerfully through animals (mammalian life/birds) Lc; nt; vu; en; cr; ew; extinct. 60% of all large predator & herbivores are vulnerable status or . Tiger ~97% decline; all species endangered / critically endangered. Massive loss of habitat + prey due to historic n ongoing land use change. Lions: 20,000 today. w/out major. changes, extinct in wild by ~2050. Climate change n extinction risk (polar bear as a symbol) First mammal species extinction due to climate change. Herbivores for largest predators n herbivores, habitat loss is the driver of decline, but poaching a huge threat. Elephants ~2m 500,000; since 2010, 30% decline. Rhino"s ppln"s devastated by 1970s total in africa + asia. Saiga antelopes (climate change, >200,000, 1/2 ppl die in may 2015) Tropical timber consumption; oil palm; hunting poverty. Key ecological indicator & most vulnerable: amphibians.
