I am going to assign you all a role, you must look up what your opinions on the ANWR development would be

You will then have to talk to other people and complete your conflict matrix

You can use pages 96-97 to help

Potential conflicts

Complete a conflict matrix of the various views

Politicians Arctic Power Alaskan Residents

Inupiats Gwich’in Environmental Groups

Politicians

Arctic Power

Alaskan Residents

Inupiats

Gwich’in

Environmental Group

Biodiversity distributionBIODIVERSITY UNDER THREAT

Learning intention:To understand the distribution of biodiversity

and what a hotspot is

What does this map tell us about the global distribution of biodiversity?

What is the link?

Is this surprising?

It is not surprising that new species have been discovered in the tropical rainforests of Papua New Guinea because biodiversity is greatest in the tropics and declines as you move towards the poles

Global variations in biodiversity

70% of the world’s species is found in just 12 countries

What factors determine the distribution of biodiversity?

Climate Endemism Human activity

Determining factors

Tropical rainforests contain over 50% of the world’s species in just over 7% of the world’s land area 80% of all insects 90% of all primates

Brazil, Indonesia and Madagascar contain over 55% if the world’s mammals

Tropical America has about 85 000 species of flowering plants, compared with about 11 300 in Europe

Global variations in biodiversity

Global variations in biodiversity

Biodiversity is low where there are climatic extremes

Biodiversity is generally greatest in the southern hemisphere

Biodiversity is greatest in the tropics

I would like you to discuss what you think the term ‘biodiversity hotspot’ means

What criteria makes a hotspot?

What makes a hotspot?

1. Species richness 2. Number of endemic species 3. Number of species at risk

Hotspot criteria

Species richness

Endemic

richness

Level of

threat to

species

A biodiversity hotspot is an area containing a huge number of species, a large percentage of which are endemic. Hotspots have been described as ‘the most remarkable places on Earth and the most threatened’. They cover less than 2% of the Earth’s surface yet they contain 44% of the world’s plant species and 35% of its animal species.

Biodiversity hotspot

Biodiversity hotspots

Terrestrial hotspots cover 1.4% of the earth’s surface, but contain 44% of the world’s plants and 35% of the world’s animal species

Initially 25 terrestrial hotspots, recently updated to include marine reserves so there are now 34

Terrestrial and marine hotspots are often adjacent to each other

Marine hotspots are essentially coral reef areas in the tropics

Biodiversity hotspots

The location of hotspots does not correlate exactly with the location of greatest biodiversity, e.g. France

Tropical distribution of both types of hotspot is due to an absence of limiting factors, which allow maximum primary productivity

NET PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY – rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy (how quick plants grow)

Using the information provide I would like you to complete a case study about your hotspot

You will then have to share this with others

What makes a hotspot

Has ensured that the ‘best bits’- areas with the highest levels of biodiversity, substantial levels of endemism (unique/rare species) are conserved and protected.

Areas under threat are commonly in the tropics and in developing countries where conservation costs are much lower (cheap labour) – idea of value for money.

Hotspots now covers marine area under threats in addition to terrestrial ecosystems

Advantages of hotspots

Even with the additions of marine hotspots under 2% of the earth and 0.017% of oceans are protected by this approach

The distribution of areas protected is very uneven. Most hotspots lie in the tropics e.g. rainforests. Many ecosystems such as Tundra, Taiga and Temperate Forest are not included.

Huge areas of the world are not covered including many areas under great threat e.g. Arctic Ocean, or many outstanding smaller regions such as Galapagos . These are not protected because they do not meet all three criteria to be a hot spot. Polar bears subsequently face extinction.

Hotspots tend to follows protectionist approach. This entails removing people and their activities from areas under threat. This has occurred in tropical countries where indigenous people have been forced off their land in favour of creating big reserves.

Disadvantages of hotspots

A) explain the distribution of the world’s terrestrial and marine hotspots in the fig. below. (10)

Exam Question