Biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest

By: Katie Julian, Tara Gallagher, and Jessica Darga

The preservation of biodiversity is not just a job for governments. International and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and each and every individual have a role to play in changing entrenched outlooks and ending destructive patterns of behaviour - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General

2003 International Day of Biological Diversity

The Amazon is a canary in a coal mine for the Earth - Dan Nepstadt, Ecologist (October 2005)

Hypothesis:

We believe that anthropogenic impacts will pose a greater threat to biodiversity than natural impacts.

Natural Impacts

• Environmental changes that impact the health, habitat, variance, and vitality of the species who dwell in the rainforest.

Human Impacts

• Impacts that directly or indirectly effect the health, habitat, variance, and vitality of the species who dwell in the rainforest.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bitbrush.com/vine.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bitbrush.com/weeds.html&h=226&w=400&sz=10&tbnid=dZ-E1nIG49ljlM:&tbnh=67&tbnw=120&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2Bvine%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

What We Wish to Learn:

• What is the current stance of biodiversity in the rainforest?• Why is species diversity is important to conserve within the

rainforest?• What are the threats to biodiversity in the Amazon basin?• Which of these threats, human or natural, poses a greater threat to

biodiversity?• What will happen if these threats are not curbed?• What can we do to mitigate these threats? Can we change our path

of destruction?

Why is it important to know whether natural or anthropogenic impacts are more

influential?• Influences plan of action

• Mitigation efforts

• Because you live here and what effects animal and plant biodiversity also effects mankind

• These are not isolated trends, the planet as a whole is also affected

Where do we stand?• Hot spot• Endemic/ Endangered species• Domino effect• 8.3% of Amazonian Rainforest ecosystems are under enforced

protection• “An estimated 20,000 square miles of the Amazon rainforest is

destroyed every year (about the size of West Virginia). At this rate, the Amazon would be completely gone in 50 years.”

• Loss of undiscovered medicinal plants and species• Drastic increase in deforestation since 1992 • “Brazil's deforestation rate has increased 36% in the period of 1991-

94 in the light of increased logging, subsistence activities, and agricultural projects."

Endemic Species

• 30,000 endemic plant species found no where else!

• 173 Mammals

• 69 Primates

• 260 Birds

• 216 Reptiles

• 364 Amphibians

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1255000/images/_1256231_lion1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/1256231.stm&h=197&w=300&sz=15&tbnid=qS1KOVLZOa2LYM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=111&hl=en&start=6&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dprimate%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

Natural Threats

Natural threats have effected the Amazon Rainforests since the beginning of its existence but studies show they are far less damaging then human impacts on the region. Natural threats occur at random and can actually benefit the rainforest. By rainforest regeneration, biodiversity levels increase and can exceed their original levels.

• Fire• Drought• Tropical Storms• Evolution and Natural Extinction • Milankovitch cycles

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0802.htm

Fire and Drought • Fires tend to rid the Rainforest of its weaker vegetation

on the ground level, discounting the canopy species. • They can be initiated by lightning

And are partly instigated through droughts• Drought is brought on by a reduction of humidity and

rainfall in the rainforest• Increase in disease• El Niño- unusual sunny summers, wet alternating

seasons

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0802.htm

Tropical Storms

• El Niño

• Tree fall and surrounding trees

• Gaps

• Unusually damaging storms

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Evolution and Natural Extinction

• Natural Selection• Survival of the fittest• “... The evolution of species must largely

be caused by intrinsic biological features of each group of species."

• “Species split at very different rates, and their extinction or transformation is mostly determined by the ecology and biology of each species… some species survive and multiply, while others remain static or become extinct."

-- Professor Mallet http://pda.physorg.com/lofi-news-species-amazon-evolution_9284.html

• Biology plays larger role then external factors- variable rates

• Evolutionary process-climate change-predation-competition

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Farside_Natural_Selection_at_work.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/Natural_Selection_at_Work.html&h=437&w=330&sz=31&tbnid=c2GMTOfg77X0eM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=92&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnatural%2Bselection%2Bthe%2Bfar%2Bside%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

Milankovitch Cycles

• Eccentricity• Change of axis tilt• Precession• Glaciers and ice ages• CLIMATE

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://deschutes.gso.uri.edu/~rutherfo/milankovitch.gif&imgrefurl=http://deschutes.gso.uri.edu/~rutherfo/milankovitch.html&h=711&w=553&sz=11&tbnid=17vS85lR63t0YM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=107&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMilankovitch%2Bcycles%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Anthropogenic Threats:

• Deforestation

• Fragmentation

• Bush meat trade

• Exotic pet trade

• Poaching

• Non-native species

• Pollution

• CO2 emissions

•Anthropogenic Impacts = More Threatening

Accelerated rate of change due to:

• population growth

• industrialization– fossil fuel emissions– pollution

Population Growth Exacerbates Threats

Evidence

• Natural threats to biodiversity are slower and more gradual than anthropogenic threats, allowing biodiversity to adapt or evolve

• Anthropogenic threats occur at an accelerated rate; biodiversity cannot adjust quickly enough to persevere this rate of change

• Natural threats are cyclical and balancing over long periods of time

• Anthropogenic threats are exponential and immediately disruptive

Why should we conserve the rainforest?

• Medicinal values• Cultural identity• Biodiversity decreases the spread of

disease• Maintains natural cycles

- Nitrogen cycle- Water cycle

• Biological productivity• Aids in regulating climate

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/images/peru/gallery-landscape1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/expeditions/peru%2B.htm&h=223&w=350&sz=16&tbnid=rI41AYXQGlwFAM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=116&hl=en&start=23&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbiodiversity%2Bin%2Bamazon%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

RESPONSIBILTY

“ I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs--he was very upset as he shouted and puffed--What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?”

- The Lorax by Dr. Suess

http://www.hurricanetips.com/welcome.html