Topic 12.

Ecosystem Conservation
Introduction
Are you concerned about the extinction of animal species such as whales, turtles or
rhinoceros? Conservation efforts are greatly based on understanding ecosystems and human’s
interaction with it. Science is needed as you face more important ecological problems and
gives you tools to fight them back.
Explanation
12.1 The Explorations of Alexander von Humboldt
Environmental protection was not a concern of any society or scientist until the 19th century.
The first true environmentalist was Alexander von Humboldt. He was an explorer, humanist,
geographer and biologist. He did an immense field work around the world, especially in
Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Cuba. Through deep observation and measurements
Humboldt was able to get the following results (International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences, 1968):

All these individual discoveries led Humboldt to conclude on ecological concepts that are the
basis of how nature is understood today, such as (Humboldt State University, 1978):
Habitat or ecosystem

Places with similar climate conditions come from the concept of isotherms.
Flora and fauna are alike in these regions.

Connection between life diversity and the geographical conditions.

Conservation

The overexploitation of a tree can lead to its extinction.

The importance of this plant (Chinchona tree) is that it cures malaria.

Unity of Nature

Interconnectedness of nature: weather, organisms, geographical conditions.

There is a global connection of nature on Earth, so something that happens faraway can affect in
other regions.
12.2 Mario Molina’s Nobel Prize
Scientific discoveries can give enough evidence for deciding and implementing environmental
conservation policies and regulations. One vivid example is the global protocol for controlling
chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) which were proven to damage the ozone layer in the stratosphere.
Mario Molina is a Mexican scientist who discovered the environmental effect of these
substances. In the fall of 1973, Molina, who had just completed his Ph.D. at the University of
California, in Berkeley, moved to the University of California at Irvine to do postdoctoral
research with Rowland. Molina wondered what happened to CFCs once they were released
into the atmosphere and his results suggested that CFCs could, in theory, destroy an oxygen
compound called ozone under the conditions that exist in the upper atmosphere. Far above the
earth’s surface, a thin layer of ozone floats, protecting people from the sun’s ultraviolet
radiation (Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2010).
Molina’s theories were supported by an alarming observation in 1983. British scientist Joseph
Farman, along with some colleagues, measured the ozone levels above Antarctica and
determined that they had been dropping dramatically, by as much as 35 percent, during the
Antarctic spring (September through December) compared with 1960s levels. Molina and
Rowland were vindicated.
In 1987 the Montreal Protocol for reducing named substances that deplete the ozone layer was
opened for signature. By 2009 all nations in the United Nations had ratified the original
protocol. In 1995 Molina and Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize of chemistry along with
Swedish scientist Paul Crutzen, for the work they had done in helping unravel the mysteries
and dangers of CFCs.
12.3 Challenges in Ecosystem Conservation
The alarming rate of ecosystem degradation has raised the need for ecological restauration
throughout different biomes and continents. The ecosystems that still exist under fairly good
conditions need conservation because humans are intending to replace them with grasslands
for cattle. They also want to obtain wood from forests, change natural surfaces for industrial
parks or golf courses, etc. You need to understand the importance of these ecosystems and
science is the best way to do this.
There are still many mysteries in nature that researchers are thrilled about. Humans need to
discover and understand this so they can work on its conservation or restauration. Below there
are some examples: