Pre-European era

Era of Abundance

Era of Overexploitation

Era of Protection

Era of Game management

Era of Environmental management

Era of Conservation Biology

 Pre-European era (to 1500)

a.      Polynesians wiped out huge amounts of endemic species when they colonized the Pacific Islands (1400AD)

b.      Pleistocene overkill and the Clovis people (ate all herbivores with spears, killing of predators and large birds)

a.      Settlers introduced many diseases killing many natives, lower number of natives meant less hunting resulting in larger amounts of bison and game.  Settlers introduced horses to natives so they could kill more wildlife

b.      Lewis and Clark, the start of conservation

Era of Overexploitation (1850-1900)

a.      Yellowstone National Park was founded in 1872

b.      The frontier became civilized: hunting, fishing whaling occurred.

c.       Attitude towards wildlife was negative

Era of Protection (1900-1929)

a.      President Roosevelt created the US Forest Service in 1908 and popularized conservation

b.      Yosemite and other national parks

Era of Game Management (1930-1965)

a.      Scientific management of wildlife: dropping DDT over forests and lakes to control flies and insects

                                                        i.      DDT caused thin egg shells of the birds nearby, when mother bird sat on her eggs they broke

Era of Environmental Management (1966-1979)

a.      Nixon- Endangered Species act, Clear Water act, Wild & Scenic River act, National Environmental Quality act, National Forest Management act

Era of Conservation Biology (1980-present)

a.      People are aware of environmental interactions and global action is needed!

·         Is an area on earth with similar climate, plants and animals, characterized by distinct VEGETATION 

·         Biomes are generally defined by their LATITUDE

·         9 types of biomes

1.      Tropical forest (rainforest to seasonally dry forest poleward)

2.      Savannah (trees dispersed across grassland and shrubland)

3.      Desert (very little plant coverage)

4.      Mediterranean woodlands and shrubland (chaparral) on west coasts

5.      Interior grassland and temperate cool deserts

6.      Temperate forests on east coast, less on west coast

7.      Boreal (coniferous) forest (taiga) – not present in southern hemisphere

8.      Polar tundra (treeless – shrubland to grassland to cold desert)

9.      Polar ice (any plant life rare; lower organisms and migratory insects and vertibrates)

OTHER: Mountain orobiomes (where altitudinal vegetation mirror latitudinal biomes)

the accumulation of daily and seasonal weather events over time

Hadley Cell

 The sun is directly over the equator, causing heat.  The hot air contains much moisture, but as it rises it cools and the moisture is released creating rain forests.  The air is then shifted both north and south of the equator about 30°.  The air warms as it lowers down to these regions and dries the environment creating desert. 

o   Because the earth is spinning anything that attempts to go straight in actually is being displaced as it travels.

§  Thus winds are shifted creating Westerlies and Easterlies

§  Wind drives ocean currents*

o   In the Northern Hemisphere everything is shifted to the right, in the Southern Hemisphere everything is shifted to the left

Upwelling

o   Is caused by the Corialis Effect, surface water is shifted off shore and deep water replaces it.  The deep water is full of nutrients and makes the coast a thriving habitat for many flora and fauna.  Deep water is nutrient rich because when animals and plants in the ocean die they sink to the bottom and decompose releasing nutrients into the water.

o   Shifted up to 45°

Rainshadow

o   Westerlie warm winds blowing across the pacific ocean carrying moisture until they reach high mountains (Sierra Nevada’s), where they are caused to rise and cool. Releasing moisture as it moves up and over the mountain, coming down it heats up again and sucks the moisture out of the landscape making that a desert.

o   East slopes are desert vegetation, west slopes are lush vegetation

1.      More organisms are born then can survive

2.      Organisms vary

3.      The variation is inherited

4.      As a result of this variation there are differences in survival and reproduction

o   Activities and relationships of an organism constrained by physical and biological processes

o   Multidimensional

o   Ex: food type, prey size , temperature of environment

o   The niche stays the same

constraint on an animal’s fundamental niche due to other animals (predators)