01:119:115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Scarlet Macaw, Catharanthus Roseus, Extinction Vortex

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Biological Science
• Course: 01:119:115
• Professor: Daniel Stern Cardinale

Document Summary

Biodiversity biological diversity: 1. 8 million species described and name (mostly insects, 10-100 million total, mostly unclassified. Human activities are changing : trophic structure. Removing resources and energy when hunting: e flow. Taking natural ecosystems and replacing the primary producers with crops: chemical cycling, natural disturbances. Modern mass extinction: human activity may be driving a 6th mass extinction, may be larger than kt event ~65 million years ago (killed the dinosaurs) Extinction: when a species no longer exists, natural phenomenon the problem right now is high rate of extinction. Conservation biology: integrates ecology, physiology, molecular biology, genetics, evolutionary biology to preserve biological diversity. 3 levels of diversity: genetic, species, community and ecosystem. Genetic diversity: variation between and within populations. Species diversity: variety of species in ecosystem or biosphere, endangered species: in danger of local or global extinction, 2464 animals and 2104 plant species critically endangered, threatened species: like to become endangered in the near future.