BIO120H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Biogeography, Phenotypic Plasticity, Genetic Drift

• School: UTSG
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIO120H1
• Professor: Spencer Barrett

Document Summary

We should be concerned about losing our biological heritage: ecological & evolutionary consequences of global environmental change, what is biodiversity and why does it matter, the causes of extinction today. 4. conservation biology ecological & genetic perspectives on a crisis-driven science. Today"s global environmental problems: global warming & climate change, loss of biodiversity, environmental pollution, human famine, spread of infectious diseases, human population growth, all of these are serious issues impacting humans and the biodiversity on earth. How will organisms respond to climate change: migrate to more favourable environmental conditions (=ecology, adapt to changing environmental conditions (=evolution, genetic variability key, go locally (or globally) extinct (=evolution) Can drought cause rapid contemporary evolution of change in owering time by natural selection? (art weis) Art noticed that the mustard plant had tremendous uctuations from year to year depending on whether it was a wet year or a dry year.