Habitat Loss

Orange County, California

Processes that degrade habitat and ecosystems

• Contamination/Pollution• Human built structures• Soil erosion• Changing fire regimes• Changing water use and hydrology• Deforestation• Desertification• Draining wetlands

Human Built Structures

Pacific or CaliforniaFire-bellied Newt

Pacific or California Fire-bellied Newt –don’t try this at home w/o washing hands

Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA

Snake migration in Shawnee

Copperhead

Dandelion dispersal – along roads and railroads

Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon

Fish Ladders

Dingo Fence – The World’s Longest Fence– New South Wales

The Dingo – Canis familiarus dingo

Erosion and loss of habitat on Round Island, Mauritius

Early human use of fire

Maori Use of Fire

• http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/15203/forest-in-1000-and-1840

Smokeythe bear- 1953

Smokey theBear - 1960

Southern US pine savanna

Crown Fire

EvergladesSurfaceWater Flow

Everglades Restoration Project

Desertification

• Desertification is the conversion of grassland and savanna habitat into relatively sparse, unproductive vegetation

• The main cause of desertification is overgrazing by livestock

RioPuercoBasinNM

Rio Puerco Basin1885 1977

Rio Puerco Today

Overgrazing – Texas and England

Left good, right overgrazed Left good, right overgrazed

Wetlands

• Wetlands are lands that are transitional between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Freshwater Wetland Types

General Locations of U.S. Wetlands

Wetland Loss

• In the US – the lower 48 states once had about 221 million acres of wetland; today only 95 million acres of wetland remain

• In the US we lose about 200,000 to 400,000 acres of wetlands each year – despite wetlands being protected

Wetland Functions

Crane Species• 1. Eurasian Crane,

2. Black-necked crane, 3. Munktrana,

• 4. Sandhill Crane, • 5. Whooping Crane,

6. Japanese crane, 7. White-naped Crane, 8. Sarus Crane, 9. Australian Crane, 10. Siberian Crane, 11. Wattled Crane, 12. Demoiselle Crane, 13. Blue Crane, 14. Black Crowned Crane, 15. Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane

Overexploitation

Tokyo Tuna Market

Commercial exploitation• Potential market for wild products is enormous• Given market, people will exploit wild species for

financial gain• Domestic substitutes for wild products are not

identical in value• Market price for wild products increases as product

becomes rarer• Wild resources are communal resources owned by no

one or everyone

Morel Mushrooms for Sale

Coral harvested for jewelry

Rhinoceros exploitation

Rhino hornProducts – Dagger marketin Yemen

Rhino Horn in Traditional Medicine

Wild Blueberries

Wild Salmon

Egret plumes and feathered hat

Tragedy of the Commons

Japanese Whaling Ships

Subsistence exploitation

Subsistence Hunting

Recreational exploitation

Hunting as Recreation

Shell Collection

Gordon Alcorn

Photographic safari

Cheetah on Land Rover

Incidental exploitation

Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Trawling

Shrimp net with TED – turtle exclusion device

Indirect exploitation

Overgrazing

Domestic cats preying on small birds

Pet market

Tropical Fish for Aquarium Trade

Pet and Exotic Species Trade

• 2-5 million live birds are sold each year• 500-600 million live ornamental fish -

mainly tropicals• 9-10 million live orchids• 7-8 million live cacti• Worth over $10 billion/year

Cactus Market

Saguaro Cactus