ZOOLOGY 651 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Tallgrass Prairie, Charismatic Megafauna, Keystone Species
7 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Extinction occurring at rate 1000x faster than previous a global crisis. Are we leaving room for nature? species have habitat needs. Manage game is to manage habitat - a. leopold losing whole (upper) trophic levels. Top carnivores = keystone species can regulate number of prey, distribution cascading effects losing habitats. Loss of 99. 9% tallgrass prairie losing ecological interactions losing evolution processes. World population growth expect 9. 4 billion by 2050. More climate change and instability dense human population limiting area for nature. The elephant in the room a good symbol of conservation. High demand for ivory in developed nations overexploitation especially china. African elephant population dropped 30% from 2007-2014. Will take decades to recover due to slower reproduction rate. Social species concentrated, able to kill a lot at once. High demand & international trade direct mechanisms of extinction. Other threats: deforestation, burning, erosion habitat alteration, competition with other species, etc. What threatens diversity? historically - mostly direct threats:
