ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Species Evenness, Deep Ecology, Mescaline

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murch

Document Summary

Session 30: conservation of species & habitats (i) (18-11-15) Organisms provide drugs and medicines: plants: in response to herbivory, they produce: cyanide, caffeine, cocaine, mescaline, nicotine, atropine, strychnine, morphine, quinine, codeine, digitalis, and many, many, more. Eco-tourism: tourism directed toward exotic, often threatened, natural environments, especially to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife . Incentive to preserve natural areas and reduce impacts on the landscape and on native species: can be beneficial in developing countries. Biodiversity helps maintain ecosystem functions: biodiversity increases the stability and resilience of communities and ecosystems, decreased biodiversity reduces natural system"s ability to function and provide services. Is quantitative we can measure it: abundance = number of individuals, richness = number of different species, evenness = distribution of abundance over species. If the same species are found in different habitats over a wide area, then: (cid:534) = , and (cid:533) If different species are found in different habitats over a wide area, then: (cid:533) > 1.