Biodiversity & Human Society What is our role in the natural world?

Biodiversity &Human Society

Biodiversity &Human Society

What is our role in the natural world?

What is our role in the natural world?

Passenger Pigeon~2 million B.C. - 1914 A.D.Passenger Pigeon

~2 million B.C. - 1914 A.D.

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25% of all birds in North

America

25% of all birds in North

America





John James AudubonJohn James Audubon"I dismounted, seated myself on an eminence, and began to

mark with my pencil, making a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time finding the task which I had, undertaken

impracticable, as the birds poured in in countless multitudes, I rose, and counting the dots then put down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I

traveled on, and still met more the farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons; the light of noon-day

was obscured as by an eclipse, the dung fell in spots, not unlike melting flakes of snow; and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose."...Before

sunset I reached Louisville, distance from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were still passing in undiminished

numbers, and continued to do so for three days in succession.”

Aldo LeopoldAldo Leopold

"The pigeon was a biological storm. He was the lightning that played

between two opposing potentials of intolerable intensity: the fat of the land and the oxygen of the air. Yearly the feathered tempest roared up, down

and across the continent, sucking up the laden fruits of forest and prairie, burning them in a traveling blast of

life.”[Sand County Almanac. "On A Monument to the Pigeon"]



Hats,…Hats,…





Pigeon Pies,…Pigeon Pies,…



…& Hunting.

…& Hunting.







Martha:The

last of a

species(1914)

Martha:The

last of a

species(1914)



R.I.P.R.I.P.





Extinction in HistoryExtinction in History

US Species

Secure66

Vulnerable16

Endangered17Extinct

1

US Species (%)US Species (%)

Total ~100,000

NW SalmonNW Salmon



“The quantities of salmon which frequent these waters is beyond calculation and seems to be so great as to challenge human ingenuity to affect it in any way.”

Richard Rathim, 1899

NW SalmonNW Salmon



“The quantities of salmon which frequent these waters are now so few, and obstacles resulting from human ingenuity so great, that extinction seems inevitable. It is no longer a question of why there are so few salmon, it is amazing that they simply exist at all.”

Perry Harvester, 1996

“Four Horsemen of the Environmental Apocalypse”*

“Four Horsemen of the Environmental Apocalypse”*



1. Habitat Loss2. Overkill3. Introduced Species4. Introduced Disease

*E.O.Wilson from “The Diversity of Life”

Habitat LossHabitat Loss



1. Habitat Destruction2. Habitat Degredation

Habitat DestructionHabitat Destruction

1. Complete Loss2. Fragmentation





Habitat Destruction:Fragmentation

Habitat Destruction:Fragmentation





Barriers

Edge Effects

“Island Effects”



QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Habitat Destruction:Edge Effects



are needed to see this picture.Forest

Edge





Habitat Destruction:Island Effects

Habitat Destruction:Island Effects



Distance of Island affects Colonization

Size of Island affects Extinction



Habitat Degredation

”Weakening Habitat”

Habitat Degredation

”Weakening Habitat”

1. Pollution(Chemical change)

2. Physical change3. Simplification

Lead Smelter, Texas





Habitat SimplificationHabitat Simplification







Tall grass Prairie

Corn Field

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Biodiversity & Human Society What is our role in the natural world?