Unit 4

Species Richness- amount of species in an area

Species Evenness-the proportion of species in an area

Microevolution- evolution below the species level
Macroevolution- evolution that begets a new species and such

Evolution by natural selection- change in genes regarding which species will survive

Evolution by artificial selection- change in genes regarding human breeding

Allopatric Speciation- speciation with isolation

Sympatric Speciation- evolution of one to two 

Genetically Modified Organisms- taking genes from one organism and transferring to another to create a modified organism

Fundamental Niche- ideal environment for a species

Exponential Growth Model- estimates future size of a population

Logistic Growth Model- describes how the populations starts off exponential but then slowly decreases as it reaches its carrying capacity

Carrying Capacity- maximum size an environment can hold due to its resources

Keystone Species- a species that is more important than its abundance says it is

HOTspots- As defined by Myers, a hotspot is an isolated area that contains a high proportion of all the species found on Earth. These are important because they contain species richness and they are also the most threatened areas for plant and animal species.

My hotspot is located in Europe and Central Asia. More specifically, it is the Mediterranean Basin. Shrublands and marine ecosystems are located in this hotspot.

Plant-Aphyllanthes monspeliensis

Animal- Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammahI)

An Endemic Specie is a specie that live in a small area of the world and nowhere else.

Humans have been living in this hotspot for a very long time. The most intense reasons why biodiversity has decreased is because of human impact. Impact includes deforestation, grazing and fires, and infrastructure development. The replacement of friendly environment mechanism has also decreased biodiversity in this area. Along with human impact, the industry of tourism has affected this area. More and more people visit this area, therefore changing the environment into a business.

Romans and Greeks set aside land that was protected and now only 4.3% of the land is considered protective. Some conservation action that is being taken is the European Union's Habitats Directive. Along with the directive, regional cooperative programs have furthered conservation.

Pick a Side-

The fundamental niche of a species is its ideal environment. To determine a species ability to evolve it must be placed in an ideal place. To give the best results of evolving and reproducing, the environments carry capacity must be very high to keep the species exponential growth high. But once it reaches it carrying capacity it will start to decrease and move towards a logistic growth. Before it can reach this logistical growth, the species will overcome specific gene changes and evolve during the period of time. It will go through evolution by natural selection in order to reproduce individuals with the best genes and traits to maximize its survival chances. Allowing a species to grow in an ecosystem will increase the species' richness, and increase its proportion towards the other species, therefore increasing its species evenness. With a greater richness, greater change will occur. More mutations will happen in order to produce the best genotype and phenotypes. Species will adapt to the environment and reproduce to maximize survival in this specific environment and allow the individuals to evolve in this niche.

Human Impact: In the evolution of biodiversity, human impact is large. It can either help the biodiversity increase and prosper or decrease it. Also Humans can impact the populations and its ecology. We can sometimes act as parasites and feed off of the environment therefore harming one species fundamental niche. Take for example, in the observation of an animal's living space, we would turn over a rock to count how many Rolypoly's were there. Thus, humans would be disturbing the community of the animals, even if it was the slightest of movement. This slight adjustment could interfere with the community's ecology and disrupt normal interactions. Humans can also have a beneficial impact on some biodiversity increase such as evolution by artificial selection. Humans can breed the best type of animals with the highest chance of survival or any other trait by using this method therefore increasing biodiversity.

Environmental Impact: In the development of species and the growing number of them, they can have many different impacts on the environment- some good and some bad. An increase of species can result in species richness, but if the numbers get too large then it can overpopulate an area and also cause it to reach its maximum carrying capacity. Once it reaches its max carrying capacity its ability to replenish resources will slow down because more will be used. But a growth in species will create a community with a high biodiversity. It will allow more and more animals to evolve to have better traits to live in that ecosystem. Take for example living in a small area with the necessary resources to reproduce a cricket population will grow and grow, but will slowly die off after it reaches its carrying capacity because it will no longer have the required resources. 

Economic Impact: Economically humans act as parasites to the ecosystem by cutting down trees and using animals to take to zoos. This gives us humans a benefit economically. We use the trees to create boats, lumber, and paper. We also use the animals commercially in zoos to gain profit off of them. A large biodiversity can have many beneficial impacts on the world. It can help increase the population of marine ecosystems and cause the fishing industry to grow. It can also increase the community ecology and therefore creating a system that fixes itself when humans disturb it. Therefore when humans take something from the ecosystem, the ecosystem can repair itself and replenish what was taken thus creating a never-ending cycle.

Government Legislation: The endangered species act protects species that are endangered from humans. It allows them to survive off of what little they have of each individual and possibly reproduce to increase biodiversity. The forestry act has many different aspects. A main one is in section 37 of the act and it limits the number of trees that can be cut by an individual or company. This allows the ecosystem to stay alive and not be destroyed. Then there is certain legislation for national parks and wildlife centers. This legislation states that national parks and centers shall be created to keep the enriched biodiversity of the community at a high, to keep the species alive and well.