More Biodiversity
JB: This is Earth and Sky. Across the planet, the variety of plants and animals is waning at an alarming rate. But on some islands, biodiversity is actually increasing.
DB: Dov Sax – an ecologist at UC Santa Barbara – has studied changes in the diversity of plants and birds on over a dozen islands. His group has found that – as bird species become extinct – others replace them – so that the total number of bird species has remained more or less constant.
JB: Plants have been found to undergo few extinctions and many naturalizations – causing plant species to double on the islands. Is this a good thing? No one knows. Here’s Dr. Sax.
Dov Sax: Just because diversity is going up on these islands, doesn’t mean that these islands are in any way healthy or from a conservation perspective, that this is in any way desirable.
DB: Sax says it remains to been seen what effect this increased diversity will have on what he calls “ecosystem functioning.” That term describes the secret life of plants, animals and microbes – activities like feeding and growing that physically and chemically change the environment. By the way, most scientists agree – many of these shifts in bio diversity are the result of human activity.
JB: We have a transcript of our interview with Dr. Sax – come to today’s show at earthsky.org. Thanks today to the U.S. Forest Service and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following person was interviewed for today’s program. Our thanks to:
Dov F. Sax, Ph.D.
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA
Links
Issues in Ecology (Issue #4, European Space Agency)
Books and Articles
Christopher Flavin, et.al., “Watching Birds Disappear,” in Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2003 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 8, 15
Wilson, E. O. 1987. The little things that run the world: The importance and conservation of invertebrates. Conservation Biology 1:344-346.
Additional Teacher Resources
Catalina Island Conservancy: Non-Native Animals
The presence of non-native animals on Santa Catalina Island is one of the Catalina Island Conservancys principal management challenges. Non-native animals are those that would not be on the island without the direct or indirect help of humans. This site explains the ecological effects of a variety of non-native species that now exist on the Catalina Islands as well as invasive plant species, conservation actions underway, and the ecological processes now in place on the islands.
U.S. National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park: Nature & Science; Non-Native Species
This site is a good resource for introducing the concept of non-native species and the ecological impact they have on an island ecosystem. The site provides a broad overview of non-native island species, as well as a natural history of the species on the San Juan Islands.
Convention on Biological Diversity, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity; United Nations Environment Project (UNEP): Island Biodiversity Introduction
This site discusses the immense number of endemic species that inhabit islands systems around the globe and the potential problems that the introduction of non-native species poses to these systems. Also covered is factors and strategies in reducing the ecological vulnerability of islands.
Pacific Regional Environment Programme: Invasive Alien Species: Biggest Threat to Pacific Biodiversity
This site explores the effect of invasive species on island systems in the Pacific Ocean. It covers what an invasive species is, the effects of invasive species, how did they get there, and what we can do about them. The site also provides a variety of links to more information.
