Biology 2485B Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Introduced Species, Overexploitation, Bromus Tectorum
20 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
Major current threats to biodiversity: habitat alteration (loss, fragmentation, degradation, this is the biggest factor. Learning objectives: understand that not all exotic species are invasive, describe reasons for introduction of exotic species, describe key hypotheses for why some exotic species become invasive, understand potential impacts of invasive species. Exotic species: a species found outside of its natural range because of human activity: this is a species that we have moved from outside of its natural range to somewhere new. The biogeography we observe today, much of it is derived from natural movement of organisms from one location to another. E. g. this figure is meant to show the colonization of the americas across the barren landscape by megafauna (large mammals) during the ice age. Major means of exotic species" introductions: european colonization, agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, accidental transport, biological control. Some of these introductions have been deliberate, and some have been accidental.
