Note: blue highlighted bullet points = lecture notes, red bullet points = discussion

questions

Chapter 4
Biodiversity and Evolution
Core Case Study: Why Are Amphibians Vanishing?
● Amphibians live part-water, part-land → are affected by human activities on
land and water
● 33% of amphibian species face extinction AKA the end of their existence
○ Going extinct 10,000 times faster than historical rates
○ Factors:
■ Frog eggs lack shells to protect embryos from water pollutants
■ Adult frogs ingest insecticides contained in insects they eat
■ Parasites
■ Viral and fungal diseases
● Can spread easily because adults congregate in large
numbers for breeding
■ Habitat loss and fragmentation
● Caused by forest clearing and draining/filling freshwater
wetlands for farming and urban development
■ Higher levels of UV radiation
● Caused by ozone-depleting chemicals released by
human activities
● Kills embryos
■ Pollution
■ Climate change
● Warmer temperatures lead to amphibians breeding too
early
● Extended dry periods dry up ponds
■ Overhunting
■ Invasion by non-native predators and competitors
● Who cares if amphibians goes extinct?
○ 1. Amphibians = biological indicators
 ■ Includes habitat loss, air and water pollution, UV radiation,
warming climate
○ 2. Adult amphibians are important part of food web
■ Eat more insects (like mosquitoes) than birds
○ 3. Help human health
■ Pharmaceutical products come from amphibian secretions

4.1 What Is Biodiversity and Why Is it Important?

Biodiversity Is the Variety of Life
● Biodiversity = variety of life on earth (no duh)
● 4 components:
○ 1. Species
■ 7-100 million species, but probably 7-10
■ Scientists have only identified 2 million
○ 2. Genetic = variety of genes found in a population or species
■ Genes determine the traits passed onto offspring
■ Greater genetic variety = better chance of surviving and
adapting to environmental changes
○ 3. Ecosystem = diversity of biological communities
■ Terrestrial land → classified into biomes
○ 4. Functional = variety of processes
■ Examples: energy flow, matter cycling, species interactions
(pollination, pest control, waste conversion to nutrients)
■ DQ: Any other benefits from insects?
● Why does it matter?
○ Sustains and increases natural capital
○ Used as food, medicine, building materials, fuel
○ Provides natural ecosystem services
■ Example: air and water purification, topsoil, waste decomposition,
pollination
○ Earth’s ecological insurance policy

4.2 What Roles Do Species Play In Ecosystems?

Each Species Plays a Role
 ● Ecological niche = each species’ specific role within its ecosystem
○ A way of life in a community
○ Includes everything that affects survival and reproduction (water,
sunlight, space, predators, prey, temperatures)
○ NOT the same as a habitat = place, or type of ecosystem, that a species
lives in
● Generalists vs. specialists
○ Generalist = broad niche
■ Can live in different places, eat different foods, and tolerate
different conditions
■ Examples: cockroaches, rats, coyotes, white-tailed deer
○ Specialist = narrow niche
■ Can live in only one type of habitat, eat one or few types of food,
and tolerate a narrow range of conditions
■ More likely to become endangered or extinct
■ Examples: giant panda, shorebirds specialized to feed on
crustaceans/insects found on sandy beaches and wetlands
● Giant pandas are endangered due to habitat loss, low
birth rate, and specialized diet of bamboo :(
○ Which is better?
■ If environmental conditions are constant, specialists
● Example: tropical rainforest
● Have fewer competitors
■ If environmental conditions are rapidly changing, generalists
(more adaptable)
○ DQ: Which species are more sensitive to environmental changes?

Species Play Four Major Ecosystem Roles

● 4 roles:
○ Native = species that normally live and thrive in a certain ecosystem
○ Nonnative = species that migrate into or are deliberately/accidentally
introduced into a new ecosystem
■ Not always harmful
● Examples: food crops, flowers, chickens, cattle, fishes
 ■ But some are AKA invasive species
● Example: wild African honeybees
○ Brazil imported them to increase honey production
but they were actually so aggressive that they
displaced the native honeybee populations and
reduced honey supply
○ Has led to the deaths of many domesticated
animals and people
○ Indicator = species that provide early warnings of environmental
change
○ Keystone = species that have a large effect on types and abundance of
other species
■ Without them, ecosystem would be different or collapse

Indicator Species Can Sound the Alarm

● Example: amphibians
○ Correlation between climate change and extinction of harlequin frogs
● Example: American pika
○ Indicators for changing climate in mountainous regions
○ Cannot survive in warm areas
● Example: lichens
○ Indicators of air pollution

Keystone Species Play Critical Ecosystem Roles

● Examples of roles:
○ Pollination - butterflies, honeybees, hummingbirds, bats
○ Population regulation - wolves, leopards, lions, alligator, some sharks
■ Example: American alligators
● Gator holes → hold freshwater during dry spells, provide
refuge for aquatic life, supply freshwater and food, prevent
vegetation from invading shorelines and open-water
areas
 ● Large nesting mounds → provide nesting and feeding
sites, prevent vegetation from invading shorelines and
open-water areas
● Eat gar, a predatory fish → maintains population
● What’s the danger they’re facing? African and Burmese
pythons in Florida Everglades
■ Example: sharks
● Shark feeding → removes injured and sick animals
○ Ocean would otherwise be full of dead and dying
● What’s the danger they’re facing? Shark finning
● Loss of keystone species can lead to population crashes and extinctions

4.3 How Does the Earth’s Life Change Over Time?

Evolution Explains How Life Changes over Time
● Biological evolution = process by which species change genetically over time
○ How the earth ended up with such diverse species
● Natural selection = process in which individuals with certain genetic traits are
more likely to survive and reproduce under a specific set of environmental
conditions
● Fossils = remains or traces of past organisms
○ Provides us with information about history of life on earth
○ Fossil record = total body of evidence
■ Includes mineralized or petrified skeletons, bones, teeth, shells,
leaves, seeds, impressions in rocks and glaciers
■ Fossils found represent 1% of all species lived

Evolution Depends on Genetic Variability and Natural Selection

● Biological evolution happens through successive generations AKA
populations, not individuals, become different
● Steps:
○ 1. Genetic variability = variety in genetic makeup of individuals in a
population
■ Occurs through mutations = changes in coded genetic
instructions in a gene’s DNA
 ● Caused by random changes or from exposure to external
agents (radioactivity, UV radiation, mutagens = natural
and human-made chemicals)
● Can result in a new genetic trait AKA heritable trait
○ 2. Natural selection = explains how populations evolve in response to
environmental changes by changing their genetic makeup
■ Adaptation/adaptive trait = favored individuals possess heritable
traits that give them an advantage
● Improves ability to survive and reproduce
■ Example: genetic resistance = when one or more organisms in a
population have genes that can tolerate a chemical that is
normally fatal
● Resistant individuals survive and reproduce more rapidly
● Can develop quickly in bacteria and insects → they
produce large offspring in a short time
● Can happen with antibiotics
■ 3 major human adaptations:
● 1. Strong opposable thumbs → humans can grip tools
better than animals
● 2. Ability to walk upright → humans have agility and can
use hands for other things
● 3. Complex brain = humans can develop skills

Limits to Adaptation through Natural Selection

● Humans won’t just get a ton of awesome traits from natural selection, like
immunity to UV radiation and air pollution
● 2 limitations:
○ 1. Adaptation can only take place using genetic traits that are already
present
○ 2. Ability to adapt is limited by reproductive capacity
■ Some species adapt quickly because they can reproduce quickly
● Examples: dandelions, mosquitoes, rats, bacteria,
cockroaches
■ Others don’t
 ● Example: elephants, tigers, sharks, orangutans, humans

Myths about Evolution through Natural Selection

● 1. Survival of fittest does not mean survival of strongest
○ Fittest = measure of reproductive success → does not necessarily
indicate strength
● 2. Evolution does not explain the origin of life
● 3. Humans did not evolve from apes or monkeys
○ But we do have a common ancestor
● 4. Evolution by natural selection is not part of a bigger plan to make species
perfectly adapted
● 5. Evolution by natural selection is important

4.4 What Factors Affect Biodiversity?

How Do New Species Arise?
● Speciation = one species evolves in two or more different species
● 2 phases:
○ 1. Geographic isolation = when different groups of the same population
become physically isolated for a long time
■ Potential reasons: migration in search or food, winds/flowing
water, flooding stream, new road, hurricane, earthquake, volcanic
eruption, long-term geological processes
■ Populations can develop different genetic characteristics
○ 2. Reproductive isolation = mutation and change by natural selection
operate independently
■ If it goes on for a long enough time, isolated populations can
become different in genetic makeup
● If these populations reunited, they wouldn’t be able to
produce offspring AKA interbreed

Artificial Selection, Genetic Engineering, and Synthetic Biology

● Artificial selection = humans change genetic characteristics of populations
with similar genes
○ How humans do it:
 ■ 1. Select desirable genetic traits that already exist
■ 2. Use selective breeding/crossbreeding to control which
members reproduce
○ NOT a form of speciation
○ Examples: grains, fruits, vegetables
● Genetic engineering/gene splicing = transferring segments of DNA with a
desired trait from one species to another
○ Speeds up artificial selection
○ Examples: modified crop plants, new drugs, pest-resistant plants,
animals that grow rapidly
■ GMO (genetically modified organism) = an organism with its
genetic information modified in a way not found in natural
organisms
○ Enables scientists to transfer genes between different species that
would not normally interbreed
■ Example: genes from a cold-water fish into a tomato plant →
tomatoes resist cold weather
● Synthetic biology = scientists make new sequences of DNA to design and
create artificial cells, tissues, body parts, and organisms
○ Good ideas: bacteria that can use sunlight to produce clean-burning
hydrogen gas, vaccines, bacteria and algae that can break down waste
○ Bad ideas: biological weapons

Extinction Eliminates Species

● Biological extinction = when an entire species ceases to exist
● 3 options:
○ 1. Adapt
○ 2. Migrate
○ 3. Become extinct
● Endemic species = species found in only one area
○ Especially vulnerable to extinction
○ Exist on islands and other isolated areas
○ Unlikely to migrate or adapt
○ Examples: amphibians
 ● Background extinction rate = species disappearing at a low rate throughout
earth’s history
● Mass extinctions = 50-95% of all species die out
○ Caused by volcanic activity, climate change, changes in atmospheric
chemistry, changes in oceanic chemistry and circulation
○ Provides an opportunity for evolution of new species
○ Each mass extinction has been followed by an increase in species
diversity
● Balance between speciation and extinction determines biodiversity
● Example: monarch butterfly
○ Natural threats:
■ Bad weather
■ Predators
■ Reliance on milkweed plant to lay eggs
○ Threats from human activities:
■ Loss of forest habitat
● In Mexico, due to illegal logging and replacement of forest
with avocado plantations
● In California, due to economic development
■ Reduced access to milkweed
● Due to US emphasis on croplands
○ Why should we care?
■ 1. Monarchs provide ecological service of pollination
■ 2. Ethically wrong
○ What can we do?
■ Protecting migratory pathways
■ Classify monarch as threatened species
■ Reduce use of herbicides that kill milkweed

Science Focus 4.1: Insects Play a Vital Role in Our World

● Insects provide important ecosystem services
○ Example: pollination, nutrient cycling, population control of pests

Science Focus 4.2: Causes of Amphibian Declines

 ● See above

Science Focus 4.2: Geological Processes Affect Biodiversity

● Movement of tectonic plates has had 2 effects:
○ 1. Locations of continents and oceanic basins influence earth’s climate
○ 2. Breakup, movement, and joining of continents have allowed species
to move and adapt to new environments → speciation
■ Example: fissures
● Isolates populations
■ Example: volcanic eruptions
● Destroy habitats
● Reduce, isolate, or wipe out populations