conservation of biodiversity

• Ecosystem diversity (ED) is the range of different habitats or ecological niches per unit area
• Species diversity is the variety of species per unit area (# of species (richness) + abundance (evenness))
• More species diversity means the ecosystem is more complex
• Genetic diversity (GD) is the range of genetic material in a gene pool/species population
• Fossil evidence can be used to identify 5 major extinction events- the last being 66 million years ago.
• Extinction in marine environments caused by the disturbances to certain ecological niches allow other species to occupy the wider niche as it extends range and introduces new species, in turn. Additionally, it changes food chains, creating opportunities for new species, leading to steady increase in biodiversity after extinction events.
• Simpson's reciprocal index where N is the # of all species and n is the # of each species

  D=(sum of n(n-1))/(N(N-1))
• Simpson's reciprocal index assess impact of human development on ecosystems- low=pollution, eutrophication or recent colonization
• Over-harvesting can cause extinction when more species are being taken out than can be reproduced. This often occurs due to the little amount from the actual species that is consumed, requiring larger portions
• Habitat destruction can cause extinction as land is cleared for cities and ecosystems and niches are destroyed, leaving animals vunrable
• Invasive species can cause extinction as native species are attacked through predation or a transfer of foreign diseases they are not adapted to. Additionally, competition for resources and uncontrolled reproduction of invasive play a part.
• Hybrids breeding with invasive species cause extinction of endemic (native) species
• Pollution causes extinction as chemical pollutants, trash, and pharmaceuticals are carried through soil, into ground water and then water bodies globally.
• An example of pollution in water bodies is the lead from the Roman era being present in Antarctic ice, poisoning multiple species
• Global climate change causes extinction as generational adaptation and migration cannot develop as rapidly as the climate does under these circumstances
• Land use for the expansion of agriculture is the main cause of ecosystem loss as the temperate areas suitable for farming were cleared before the 1970s. From then, only old-growth tropical forests have been lost
• The prairies of North America were mostly plowed up in the 19th century due to land use for agricultural expansion
• Urbanization has doubled in land area covered since the 1992 to accommodate growing human populations with homes, offices, factories and roads and railways to connect them. This has destroyed habitats.
• Overexploitation of natural resources such as excessive gathering of fuel wood, hunting, fishing, and harvesting keystone species threaten ecosystems.
• Mining and smelting destroy natural ecosystems through land use change, build up of pollution and improper disposal of wastes.
• The building of dams and extraction of water for irrigation can lead to irregular water patterns in natural rivers and lakes, disturbing habitats
• The Colorado River barely flows as far as the Pacific Ocean because of water extraction and the Nile's annual flood is prevented because of dams constructed that hold back Ethiopia's monsoon waters
• The drainage and diversion of water for human uses can cause the loss of swamps and wetlands in ecosystems.
• In Southern Iraq, the Mesopotamian Marshes were drained by the diversion of Tigris and Euphrates in the 1990s with 2/3rds of its 2 million hectares becoming desert
• The leaching of fertilizers into rivers and lakes kill organisms that are adapted to low nutrient concentrations and also those affected by eutrophication and algal blooms
• Lake Erie has excessive growth of algae every summer since 1990 due to the leaching of fertilizers and is severely affected
• Global climate change is the most widespread threat to natural ecosystems as they are adapted to specific patterns of climate, rainfall, and more-changing these variables can threaten entire ecosystems as forests are replaced by scrublands or grasslands with decreased rainfall and tundras are replaced by forests as temperatures rise.
• The Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is the 4th largest lake with a large ecosystem but is threaten as temperatures rise, its water area and depth decreases with elevated transpiration and precipitation rates and higher salinity. Its ecosystem collapses.
• Sources of evidence for the biodiversity crises are governmental sites gathering and collecting evidence by monitoring habitats.
• Evidence collected by governmental sites include population size over time, range of species, diversity of species in an ecosystem, richness and evenness of biodiversity in an ecosystem, extent of degradation, number of threatened species, and Citizen Science projects
• 1/5 of countries' ecosystems are on the brink of collapse
• Swissre is a company that collects sources of evidence for identification of the biodiversity crises
• Swissre has invented the biodiversity and ecosystem services index which uncovers and depicts the stability of natural systems on which financial and social stability rely on.
• Swissre's index helps policymakers, investors, insurances, and businesses understand areas of vunrablility for more sustainable investment and proper risk assessment of the area - a sort of financial protection against future stocks
• Biodiversity is at an all time high due to no mass extinctions in the last 66 million years but a widespread ecosystem collapse has unfolded over hundreds of thousands of years instead
• The sixth mass extinction is rapidly approaching and all due to anthropogenic means
• The anthropogenic causes threatening ecosystems are not new, they have just intensified in the last 100 years as populations exponentially rise
• Biodiversity conservation measures can be in-situ or ex-situ
• In-situ conservations include legalization of places as protected national parks or reserves to give species and ecosystems protected space and time to recover on their own while remaining in their natural habitat. It can include human extraction of invasive species and reintroduction of locally extinct species and supplementary feed/prey
• Ex-situ conservation can be movement of a critically endangered species to a new environment specifically catered for them to prevent extinction and remove its threats, allowing it a chance for survival. Radical ex-situ conservations include storage of living materials for reintroduction in case of complete extinction