Lecture 1: Ecology
Extinctions
▯ - Current extiction rate is up to one thousand times higher than the fossil record
▯ - Projected future extinction rate is more than ten times higher than current rate
▯ - The rate of extiction is higher and its predicted that it will increase
▯ - We are losing species that we havenʼt even discovered
▯ - An example of extiction was due to an astroid hitting the earth and destroying the earth,
▯ this time its different because humans are causing the extiction of species
▯ - Extictions: historial (723) [caribbean monk seal, javan tiger, dodo, tasmanian wolf], past 10
▯ years (7) [west african black rhino, baiji white dolphin, golden toad, ▯spixʼs macaw] we are in
▯ risk in the next 20 years of losing 50% of amphibians
▯ - One reason for extinction is because change the landscape of the world. Species lose
▯ their habitats. These changes only benefit humans to a certain extent. However these
▯ actions have long term consequences
What is Biodiversity?
▯ - Countries came together to say that we have a biodiversity crisis
▯ - 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro defined biodiversity as “the
▯ variability among living organisms from all sources, including: diversity within species,
▯ between species and of ecosystems”
▯ - Biodiversity is the variation of life, includes variations in genes, forms, and functions
Why conserve biodiversity?
▯ - Organisms teach us a lot
▯ - We get most of our medicine from organism
▯ - They operate in ways that can help us solve many problems
▯ - Organisms can provide pollination service, an utility in nature
▯ - They control pests
▯ - Control water system and/or make it clean
▯ - Therefore we need biodiversity to help maintain a healthy environment
▯ - Biodiversity tell us where we came from, tell us about our history
▯ - Nature helps us understand ourselves, if we protect it we can learn more about ourselves
What is Ecology?
▯ - Ecology is not conservation or preservation/protecting species, its about understanding
▯ - It is the study of the interaction between organism and their environment
▯ - Ecology is the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their
▯ environment
▯ - It is a branch of biology. Ecology is not the same thing as environmental science
▯ - Environmental science incorporates concepts from the natural sciences (including
▯ ecology) and the social sciences, and focuses on solutions to envir
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