ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Insular Biogeography, Beta Diversity, Species Richness
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ENV100Y5 Full Course Notes
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Chapter 9 - conservation of species and habitats. Thursday, november 19, 2015. Biodiversity provides goods and services. Biodiversity is the biological consequence of a good community. Purifies air and water, detoxifies wastes. Generates and renews soil fertility. Pollinates plants, controls pests and disease. Provides cultural and aesthetic benefits. Allows us to adapt to change. Organisms provide drugs and medicines. Plants: in response to herbivory, they produce: cyanide, caffeine, cocaine, mescaline, nicotine, atropine, strychnine, morphine, quinine, codeine, digitalis, and more. They aren"t able to get away from their pathogens. Losing forests we"re losing drugs and medicines we don"t even know about. Tourism directed toward exotic, often threatened, natural environments, especially to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife - brings in money. Incentive to preserve natural areas and reduce impacts on the landscape and on native species. Can be beneficial in developing countries - large source of their economy. Yes we"re starting to see it more seriously.
