Answers to Laboratory 7, Biodiversity

Laboratory 7--Biodiversity 30 points Name: __________________

Due Date: April email your answers Lab: M W 1 2

The week’s laboratory will take you a tour of the internet biodiversity sites and some of the ongoing projects establishing links between the biosphere and global climate change. Below, I’ve listed the websites that you will be exploring. I’ve developed questions to which you will be able to find answers for on these sites. You may copy and paste for questions marked with * from the site. #1-9 (2.5 points each) #10 (7.5 points)

1. http://www.icsu.org/DIVERSITAS/

What are the three thematic core scientific projects?*
Core Project 1, "Understanding, monitoring and predicting biodiversity changes"
Core Project 2, "Assessing impacts of biodiversity changes
Core Project 3, "Developing the science of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity"

When will the International Biodiversity Observation Year occur?*
Lastly, IBOY, the International Biodiversity Observation Year, is an initiative of DIVERSITAS that spans the whole programme. It is a one-time event to celebrate biodiversity, which will last from 2001 to 2002.

2. http://www.wri.org/biodiv/biodiv.html

What are the four hierarchal categories of biodiversity?
Biodiversity can be divided into hierarchical categories -- genes, species, ecosystems, and culture -- that describe quite different aspects of living systems and that scientists measure in different ways.

What is the range of scientific estimates of the number of species on planet earth? What is the best estimate? Surprisingly, scientists have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than how many species there are on Earth. Estimates of global species diversity have varied from 2 million to 100 million species, with a best estimate of somewhere near 10 million, and only 1.4 million have actually been named. The problems stemming from the limits of current knowledge of species diversity are compounded by the lack of a central database or list of the world's species.

Together biodiversity and ecological processes (the interactions among species and between species and their environment) define Earth's living mantle--the biosphere. For individuals and populations, what interactions are included in ecological processes?

For individuals and populations, these interactions include such mechanisms as: predation, competition, parasitism, and mutualism while communities change through the process of succession.

3. http://opp.gsfc.nasa.gov/

What three steps does NASA propose to answer the two following research questions of interest: 1)How does a change to the ocean's phytoplankton (caused naturally or artificially) affect global climate? 2)How does such a change affect the ocean's food supply?
(Any 3 of the 4) The first steps toward answering these questions are: estimating 1) how much productivity occurs in the ocean, 2) how accurate is our estimate, 3) how variable is productivity, and determining 4 ) if we see significant long-term trends.

4. http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html

The SeaWIFS saltellite was launched after several years of delays mostly due to government funding problems. This satellite is one of the prime global change observing platforms currently in orbit.
Go to Browse Utlility to see a map of primary productivity. Where is productivity highest? Near coastal areas (especially upwelling regions – tpically on the western edge of continents) Where is it lowest? Center of oceanic gyres Why?
Coastal regions are nutrient-rich due to land runoff, whereas open ocean regions tend to be depleted in nutrients. Also coastal areas are affected by tidal currents which cause mixing and turbulence which replenishes nutrients to surface waters. High productivity areas may also be associated with fronts (regions where warm and cold waters collide).

From site:

Wherever mixing takes place in the ocean, or where currents bring the colder, nutrient-rich waters up from the depths, the surface waters will be enriched with added nutrients which may stimulate phytoplankton growth. In looking at the large-scale distributions of phytoplankton in the ocean, we can see how closely they are related to areas where nutrients are being supplied to the surface waters.

Go to the Teacher’s Guide section. Go to…Why study the oceans from space?

So why study the oceans from space?
Satellites on the other hand are wonderful for looking at very large areas of the world in a very short time. This is called synoptic; being able to look at a large region at the same time. But you can easily see that it would be impossible to capture the kind of variability that you can see in that satellite image over such a large area from the traditional shipboard survey. However, the real strength in satellite measurements come when they are combined with the very detailed measurements that can only be made by sampling the ocean directly.

5. http://www.wf.carleton.ca/Museum/lobby.html

Just take a tour there are a number of interesting sites there.
What did you learn from this site? Which room (topic) did you like best?
Answers will vary.

6. http://www.si.edu/crc/brochure/index.htm

What is the mission of the CRC?
Given the pervasive scale of biological destruction, there is an urgent need for integrated approaches that address wildlife conservation from the broad expanse of landscapes to the minute subcellular realm of genetics. The only unit of the Smithsonian Institution exclusively devoted to the study of wildlife conservation biology at these diverse levels is the Conservation and Research Center.

(6) http://www.si.edu/crc/rp/rp_nature/rp_eco/rp_eco.htm

Summarize one of the current ecology or endangered species projects that you find interesting. Answers will vary.

7. http://marine.rutgers.edu/OBIS/

What does OBIS stand for and what does it mean?*
Ocean Biogeographic Information System. It is database of global marine animal and plant distributions.

What basic questions about the ocean have never been answered?*
Where are the areas of highest diversity? Where are the boundaries between communities of different types? What determines those boundaries?
Is the tonguefish species arawak typically found in the North Atlantic or near Florida?
North Atlantic (on example map of data)
What are the four objectives of the census of fishes?* (I don’t think I worded this question all that well for the answer – so I won’t mark anyone off for this one as long as you have the general idea)

To proceed, the numerous concerned parties must evaluate

a. the possible purposes of a Census of the Fishes, including its scientific and societal benefits;
b. how the Census might be conducted, and its general strategies;
c. the costs and level of effort entailed; and
d. whether the wish and will exist to do it.

Do you think OBIS will help improve the management of fisheries? Why or why not?
Answers will vary. It certainly seems that it might indeed help for specific regions where extensive datasets already exist. It also would highlight regions where little data has been collected.

8. http://www.gbif.org/

What is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility?*
It will be an interoperable network of biodiversity databases and information technology tools that will enable users to navigate and put to use the world’s vast quantities of biodiversity information to produce national economic, environmental and social benefits.

What purpose does it serve?*
The purpose of establishing GBIF is to design, implement, co-ordinate, and promote the compilation, linking, standardization, digitization and global dissemination of the world’s biodiversity data, within an appropriate framework for property rights and due attribution.

List 3 organizations/biodiversity initiatives that are collaborating with GBIF.*
The Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM), SPECIES 2000, DIVERSITAS, International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases (TDWG), Man and the Biosphere (MAB), EMBL/DDBJ/GenBank, Global Resource Information Database (GRID), Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)/Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

9. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/projects/worldmap/

What specific regions of the world have the high biodiversity values according to the map? Mid-latitudes: northern South America, southern Central America, SE Asia and Indonesia, and western and eastern Africa

How are values, goals, and priorities defined in regard to conservation?*
The value chosen for conservation should be broadly shared by the people giving conservationists their mandate and preferably ought to be quantifiable (at least in relative terms) for arguments presented to economists, politicians and their constituency. Biodiversity value is one popular choice since the Rio Convention.
A goal of ensuring the best representation of biodiversity value within a set of areas has often been used in an attempt to approach conservation as a 'proactive' process, as opposed to 'firefighting' reactively as particular species become endangered. Resources for priority action may still be deployed in relation to perceptions of imminent threat. Representativeness simply implies monitoring all valued biota, not just those parts that are currently threatened.
Distinguishing higher from lower priority of areas for urgent conservation management in the context of a particular representation goal is the purpose of area-selection methods. The need for priorities is usually unavoidable because competition with incompatible land uses limits the extent of the area that is available for conservation. Intensity of management within priority areas may vary depending upon circumstances, from seeking to exclude some of these land uses, such as certain kinds of agriculture, to being very limited and integrated with other current land uses.

10. http://www.cdfe.org/wiseuse.htm

This article contrasts two competing viewpoints: environmentalists versus wise-use free capitalists. Often it is helpful to examine multiple perspectives on an issue when defining your own beliefs and opinions. Most of the previous sites have been based on the belief that biodiversity is important and that conservation is valuable and necessary. Its important think critically and to consider the author’s or organization’s perspective and values when you read a book, magazine article, or website. The following questions will not be graded based on what your views are. Your grade for this section will be based on 1) how well you articulate your view and 2) how well you present your argument.

When you read an article especially one written by a political organization, you need to be aware that the author is in a sense painting a picture of reality that he or she wants you to see as well. Obviously, two people looking at the same landscape will not paint the same picture, because everyone will see things slightly differently. The style that is chosen and what is focused on will vary based on the previous experiences of the painter and what they are trying to communicate. So you need to think critically about the picture you are being presented with. Do the characters that have been drawn look like ones you are familiar with? What does the setting look like? What have they focused on? What has been left out? Does the author include something that also you to relate and connect with what they drawn? What is the goal of the author or artist?

To get an accurate view reality – you probably need to spend some time reflecting on it and to look at a variety of different ways people have already looked at it.

What is the difference between a scientist and environmentalist?

So how an organization defines different terms or perspectives is important to be aware of in the process of thinking critically about has been written. I thought that it was interesting how the author’s of this article clearly separated scientists and environmentalists in two different and mutually exclusive (can’t be both) groups.

Here are formal defintions of the two words:

Scientist A person having expert knowledge of one or more sciences, especially a natural or physical science.Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
One learned in science; a scientific investigator; one devoted to scientific study; a savant. [Recent] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

The authors suggest that environmentalists want to limit science and technology. Do you agree?
Answer will vary as you are asked to give your opinion. It think it depends on the type of environmentalist a person is. Some extreme environmentalist do want to limit science and technological progress. Most I think do not. My impression is that most environmentalists want science and technology to proceed with caution and with minimal impact to the environment.

Is an ecologist, a scientist who examines an endangered species' distribution in regard to environmental variables, necessarily an environmentalist?

No. Although many ecologist probably consider themselves environmentalists, an ecologist by definition is not necessary an environmentalist (see definitions above). Ecologists may study organisms but may not directly act to protect it. Often studies bring attention to changes in specie populations and this data and knowledge may be used by others to protect the env or it may be used to justify drilling of oil or constructing new buildings. I’ve met a few different ecologists who do not consider themselves environmentalists.

Can a person be both a scientist and environmentalist?
Yes. I think the two may go together. However it is important that a scientist stay objective and unbiased when doing science. Many scientists also are simply too busy doing science to also be environmentalists – even though they may share some of the same values. Also some scientists may have no training in the earth or environmental sciences and may not be aware of the debates or knowledge in those fields.

Ideally, scientists and the science they produce are objective and impartial (politically at least). Can politics interfere with the quality of science?
Yes. You may have heard of the Case of the Missing Lynx. In Washington, wildlife biologists falsified evidence of the Canadian Lynx, which is an endangered species, to prevent a forested region from being logged. Obviously such cases reduced thecredibility of science. Politics can also affect what scientific questions are asked or not asked and what research is conducted. Scientists (whether in academics, industry or gov’t) interested in maintaining funding from certain agencies or organizations may be tempted to bias results towards what there funders want to hear. Peer review of science and repeating scientific studies often helps minimize these problems – however they still may occur.

Do you think science (such as knowledge concerning biodiversity) should play a role in public policy and government regulations? Who should decide what kind of science is supported and produced?
Answers will vary on this one too. My personal opinion is that science should be included in public policy and gov’t regulations, however this requires that policy makers and gov’t regulators be scientifically literate. Misunderstandings between scientist and lawyers and policy makers commonly occur due to a lack of understanding of what science is and how it is produced (or a lack of understanding how legal or regulatory systems work). A combination of experts (scientist and non-scientists) and the public should be included in deciding how science is funded.

“Environmentalism by its very nature promotes feelings of guilt for existing, which naturally degenerate into pessimism, self-loathing and depression.” – from the website

Do you agree with this statement? What is your perspective?
Answers will vary. I thought this was an interesting quote. There are a number of extreme environmentalists out there who do have a rather dismal view of life. However, I think its important to stay emotionally neutral and objective in terms of understanding the earth system and how life works from a scientific perspective. We know life is resilient and has survived numerous mass extinctions. The earth will ultimately save itself. And yet, the earth system as we currently know it may be easily set off balance by human changes with unknown consequences. Whether these are positive or negative changes remains to be seen. Science may serve as a guide to reduce our destructive effects and maximize our beneficial ones. Believing in the value of the earth and its organism and taking action to protect life from destructive forces, I think can be both very uplifting and rewarding.

How do you see the relationship between people and nature?
Answers will vary. You could easy write a book on this topic. I think the relationship if we’re honest with ourselves is quite complicated. I think its an important one to reflect upon though. This is relationship is a common theme in American literature. The Bear by William Faulkner is a good example. I remember a talk that evol. biology professor gave when I was a frosh (about 10 years ago). He discussed the evolution of ethics and suggested that over time our ethics have been extended gradually over time from a vary localized entity to a far reaching one: family -> tribe/ethnic group -> nation ->humanity -> humanity and nature. Of course this obviously does not apply to everyone.

The government is a major financial supporter to scientific research. What is your opinion about global change research? Should the government support it even though we may never be able to predict climate accurately in the future? Has studying earth systems science systems been valuable to you?
Answers will vary. You’d be surprised how little most people know about global change research and science. Fortunately through classes like this one, more people are at least gaining exposure and insight about global climate change and an earth systems perspective of the world. Its difficult to hold productive political discussions when people lack even a very basic understanding of the science that is behind or apart of many political issues.