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Notice the Variation Schueller NRE 509 Schueller NRE 509 Lecture 4 Life on earth: Global change & Biodiversity, continued 1. Mass extinctions: A very brief history of life and death on earth 2. Global Change: Intro to the 5 major causes of current biodiversity loss 3. Biodiversity: What are we losing? What is biodiversity really? a. Genes b. Species c. Community types/ Biomes Michigan Natural Community Types Life on Earth: Land - BIOMES http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/communities/index.cfm Alvar Intermittent Wetland Poor Conifer Swamp • Forests: Tropical (rain, dry), Bog Inundated Shrub Swamp Poor Fen Boreal Forest Lakeplain Oak Openings Prairie Fen Temperate (deciduous, evergreen, Bur Oak Plains Lakeplain Wet Prairie Rich Conifer Swamp Cave Lakeplain Wet-mesic Prairie Rich Tamarack Swamp coniferous, rain), Boreal (Taiga), Clay Bluff Limestone Bedrock Glade Sand and Gravel Beach Coastal Fen Limestone Bedrock Lakeshore Sandstone Bedrock Lakeshore Mediterranean woodlands, swamps Coastal Plain Marsh Limestone Cliff Sandstone Cliff Dry Northern Forest Limestone Cobble Shore Sandstone Cobble Shore • Shrublands: Garrigue, maquis, Dry Sand Prairie Limestone Lakeshore Cliff Sandstone Lakeshore Cliff Dry Southern Forest Mesic Northern Forest Sinkhole mattoral, chapparral, mallee Dry-mesic Northern Forest Mesic Prairie Southern Hardwood Swamp Dry-mesic Prairie Mesic Sand Prairie Southern Shrub-Carr Dry-mesic Southern Forest Mesic Southern Forest Southern Wet Meadow • Grasslands: savanna, prairie, Emergent Marsh Muskeg Submergent Marsh Floodplain Forest Northern Bald Volcanic Bedrock Glade plains, pampas, veld, alpine Granite Bedrock Glade Northern Fen Volcanic Bedrock Lakeshore Granite Bedrock Lakeshore Northern Hardwood Swamp Volcanic Cliff meadow, wet meadow/ fens Granite Cliff Northern Shrub Thicket Volcanic Cobble Shore Granite Lakeshore Cliff Northern Wet Meadow Volcanic Lakeshore Cliff • Desert (cold, hot) Great Lakes Barrens Oak Barrens Wet Prairie Great Lakes Marsh Oak Openings Wet-mesic Flatwoods Hardwood-Conifer Swamp Oak-Pine Barrens Wet-mesic Prairie • Tundra Hillside Prairie Open Dunes Wet-mesic Sand Prairie Inland Salt Marsh Patterned Fen Wooded Dune and Swale Interdunal Wetland Pine Barrens Sampling of Life on Earth: Land • Where on earth? • Major Physical conditions: develop a full LIST • Characteristics of the plants and animals that live there Notice the variation 1 Schueller NRE 509 Temperate Forest Deciduous Temperate Forest • Michigan, Germany, China,… • Seasonality • Low light under canopy • Fertile nutrient- rich soils • Dominant plants: broadleaf deciduous trees • Thick leaf litter – rate of See Stiling Fig 22.14 decomposition? Tropical Forest Tropical Rain Forest • Brazil, Congo, Indonesia… • Warm and wet year round • Very low light under canopy • Soil: Rapid decomposition and heavy rain – fertility? • High evapotranspiration • Very high species and structural diversity • Epiphytes • Lianas = woody vines • Tall trees with buttresses • Leaves: drip tips, evergreen Tropical Dry Forest Taiga (Boreal Forest) • Mexico, Australia, India, central Africa, Costa Rica • Seasonal wet/dry • Soils more fertile than tropical rain forest – why? • Shorter trees than tropical rain forests • Tigers, leopards, komodo dragon 2 Schueller NRE 509 Boreal Forest (Taiga) Soak it in • Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada – North • Compare the physical conditions of • Short, cool, moist summers & long, cold, these different forests winters – Deciduous temperate • Acidic soil, nutrients in leaf litter – Tropical rain – Tropical dry •Needle-like – Boreal evergreen leaves •Blueberries, caribou, moose, • Without looking at your notes: In wolves which forests are the following most limiting to growth: light, moisture, •A few dominant warmth? tree species Shrublands Shrublands • Mediterranean phrygana, California chaparral, .. • Hot dry summer, cool wet winter growing season • Fire • Woody stems, thick evergreen leaves • Flammable oils, root sprouting • Olives, rosemary, sage, dwarf evergreen oaks Grasslands Grasslands • Tropical – Australian savanna, South African veldt • Temperate – Midwest prairie… • Warm or hot • Seasonal rainfall, drought • Fire & Grazing • Fertile soil • Deep roots • Scattered trees • Big herbivores 3 Schueller NRE 509 Tree planting can harm ecosystems September 9, 2015 Desert See: Veldman et al. 2015. Where Tree Planting and Forest Expansion are Bad for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. BioScience, 10.1093/biosci/biv118 - World Resources Institute and International Union for Conservation of Nature “Atlas of Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunities” included 9 million km2 of grasslands, savannas, and open-canopy woodlands - Failure of environmental policymakers to recognize grassy biomes for protection Desert • Sonoran (Arizona), Sahara, Mongolia • 30 latitude • Hot or cold • DRY • Extensive root systems (> 10 m) • Succulent leaves, spines, seed dormancy • Many nocturnal animals • Cryptobiotic soil Tundra Tundra • Arctic Circle • Very cold, low precipitation • Extremely short growing season • Permafrost • Very low nutrient availability • Low precipitation + Low evapotranspiration =? • Small, short plants: Lichens, mosses, sedges, dwarf shrubs • Very slow growth (1mm/yr) • Low nutrient requirements • Supports many migratory animals (caribou, birds) – why? 4 Schueller NRE 509 WET WET What limits the height of vegetation? Whittaker’s biome depictions - See also Stiling Fig. 22.13 DRY DRY HOT COLD HOT COLD Aquatic Ecosystem types Aquatic ecosystems: 71% of earth covered with water! Life in Water Freshwater • Lentic: Freshwater streams and rivers • Lotic: lakes and ponds, wetlands (fens, bogs, • Types marshes, swamps…) • Major Physical conditions: develop a full LIST Estuaries, Salt marshes, Mangrove Forests • Characteristics of the Marine (97%) plants and animals that • Intertidal zones live there • Coral reef • Coastal ocean • Open ocean • Deep-sea thermal vents OCEANS OCEANS Euphotic zone Abyssal zone •sun penetrates to c. • deep, dark, cold 100 m (= where • few organisms (Except at hydrothermal vents) photosynthesis occurs) • Diverse Coral reefs, kelp forests, phyto- and zoo plankton Stiling Fig. 23.9 5 Schueller NRE 509 Deep Sea Species Discovered Abundant and diverse ecosystem found in area targeted for deep-sea mining in darkness 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) under the sea 29 Jul 2016 Check out this video: Scientists discovered impressive abundance http://news.nationalgeogra phic.com/news/2009/11/09 and diversity among the creatures living on 1122-marine-census- the seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone -- narrate-video.html an area in the equatorial Pacific Ocean being targeted for deep-sea mining. The study found that more than half of the species they November 22, 2009—Oil-eating tubeworms and 15-tentacled sea collected were new to science, reiterating cucumbers are among the 5,000 deep-dwelling species identified by the how little is known about life on the seafloor Census of Marine Life, a ten-year effort to chronicle life in the deep in this region. ocean. Marine Shores Estuaries, Salt Marshes, and Mangrove Forests • Estuaries - where freshwater meets salt water – • Waves and tides changing salt concentrations • Intertidal organisms • Salt Marshes & Mangrove forests- low-lying coasts: roots in saline water Important fish nurseries, also storm protection FRESHWATER ENVIRONMENTS Salt Marshes and Mangrove Forests Cover less than 2% of Earth’s surface Alterations to flow: “The amount of water impounded behind dams has measurably changed the speed at which the earth spins.” NASA LOTIC - streams and rivers FLOW LENTIC - lakes, ponds, marshes, wetlands 6 Schueller NRE 509 Rivers and Streams Rivers and Streams • Strong connection between land and water Sediment plume off the coast of Spain – Watersheds drain into streams and rivers (sediments, nutrients, pollutants, etc.) Lakes Lakes • Most of the world’s freshwater resides in a few What can live there depends on light, large lakes. temperature, wind movement, nutrient input… – Great Lakes of North America contain 20% of freshwater in the world! From the perspective of a living organism, Self assess what is the “physical environment”? • For any biome – where on earth might you find it? What are the conditions there? How do they relate to the 1. Compile your full list of conditions characteristics of the plants and animals that live there? 2. Create a single key to identify all • Where (in the world and in what biome) might you find kelp? Oil-eating tubeworms? Permafrost? Why there? terrestrial biomes and aquatic • Why do unrelated species from different parts of the world, ecosystem types based on their but the same biome, look similar to each other? physical conditions (e.g. is it hot or • What do you think causes the boundaries of different biomes? cold…, is soil fertility high…,…) • What is the largest/most pervasive ecosystem type on and if needed, other characteristics earth? • What are the types of physical conditions experienced by organisms? How are these conditions inter-related? • Make a dichotomous key of terrestrial biomes and aquatic ecosystems using their physical conditions and/or species characteristics as features. 7.
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