A FEW DEFINITIONS

Predation Parasitism Mutualism Commensalism

-/+ -/+ +/+ +/~

Predation: one organism kills and consumes another as a food resource.

Predation Parasitism Mutualism Commensalism
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Parasitism: a relationship where one organism lives on or in another causing it harm.

Predation Parasitism Mutualism Commensalism
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Mutualism: interaction between species where each has a net benefit.. Can be obligate
or facultative
Predation Parasitism Mutualism Commensalism
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Commensalism: interaction where one organism benefits and another derives neither
benefit nor harm.
3.6 GLOBAL DILEMMAS
 Tiger mosquito Kudzu Sea lamprey Japanese knotweed Wild boar

Phragmites Wooly adelgid Fire ant Alewife

DILEMMA 1: INVASIVE SPECIES

OVERVIEW OF INVASIVE SPECIES

Video
4:45
A GROWING CONCERN: INVASIONS PER YEAR

European settlers brought 100s

of alien species

# of species invading US has

increased steadily at ~10 sp/yr
for plants & insects
THE COST OF INVASIVE SPECIES

$138 Billion/year total cost to US

$15 Billion/year agricultural loss to US
$100 Million/year spent on control of
aquatic plants
Major threat to biodiversity:
In the last 500 years 33% of extinctions
caused by invasive species
 36% due to habitat destruction
MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE SPECIES

Stages of management
• Prevention
• Eradication
• Containment
• Long Term Control
MODES OF INTRODUCTION OF INVASIVE SPECIES

Intentional Unintentional Invasions Shipping: Aquarium Internet

introduction: introductions with a host cargo trade buying &
aquaculture, (carrying containers, trading
(Asian carp), organisms ballast,
horticulture from one packaging
(Water location to
hyacinth) another)
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO INVASIVE SPECIES:
A PATCHWORK OF POLICIES

20 Federal agencies deal with invasive species

Legislation:
 1900 Lacey Act prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants
that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or
sold.
 1990 Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention &
Control Act
 1996 National Invasive Species Act
 2000 Plant Protection Act
 2008 Injurious Wildlife Provision of the Lacey Act
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF INVADERS:
A SUCCESS STORY

Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) introduced into

Australia in 1839 as a garden plant
Lacking native herbivores, quickly spread &
became pest species over 16,000 square miles
The moth Cactoblastis introduced from Argentina
in 1925
Larvae destroy cactus plants
By 1931 only scattered patches of Opuntia
remained
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF INVADERS:
CATASTROPHIC FAILURE

Video 3:30
IMPACTS OF AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES

Clog waterways
Clog intake pipes (individual &
industrial)
Foul boats & docks
Lower water quality by
 Change productivity
 Change turbidity
 Toxicity
ZEBRA MUSSEL INVASION TO THE UNITED STATES

Accidental introduction in late 1980s A freshwater mollusk native to eastern Europe

in Lake St. Clair, connecting Lake that is thought to have been introduced from
Huron to Lake Erie ballast water of ships
IMPACT OF ZEBRA MUSSELS

Restructure aquatic food webs

• Decrease phytoplankton and
zooplankton populations
Out compete native species
Decrease tourism
Clog hydroelectric pipes and
otherwise biofoul substrates
DILEMMA 2: WATER SECURITY
EUTROPHICATION: EXCESS NUTRIENTS

Eutrophication: excessive
nutrients in a lake or other
body of water, frequently
due to runoff from the land.
Causes a dense growth of
plant life and death of
animal life from lack of
oxygen.
DEAD ZONES: OXYGEN DEPLETION IN WATER

Dead zones can be caused by natural and by Dead Zone

anthropogenic factors
Natural causes include coastal upwelling and
changes in wind and water circulation patterns
Anthropogenic causes include
• Chemical fertilizers
• Land use changes
• Farming practices
• Global climate change
• Etc…
4:34
HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS:
EXCESS ALGAE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TOXINS

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are an overabundance of algal biomass that can cause
harm to animals, people, or the local ecology with the production of toxins.
SALINIZATION:
INCREASING SALT CONCENTRATIONS IN FRESHWATER

Salinization is caused by salt

pollution (e.g., road deicers,
irrigation runoff, sewage,
potash), accelerated
weathering and soil cation
exchange, mining and
resource extraction, and the
presence of easily weathered
minerals used in agriculture
(lime) and urbanization
(concrete).
DILEMMA 3: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
A PRIMER ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Video
4:09
EARLY DISCOVERY OF THE GREENHOUSE GAS EFFECT

1900 - Nobel Prize winning chemist Svante

Arrhenius proposes ice ages caused by variations
in atmospheric CO2 (Carbon dioxide)

Correctly predicted that a doubling of atmospheric

CO2 would lead to a ~6°C increase in global
temperature
Svante Arrhenius
GLOBAL WARMING: THE KEELING CURVE

Roger Revelle & Charles Keeling began

taking daily measurements of CO2 atop
Mauna Loa in 1958
Pre-industrial levels 280 ppm
They quickly realized that the CO2
concentration was increasing and was most
likely responsible for climate warming
GREENHOUSE GASES

Nitrous Carbon Sulfur

Methane Water vapor
oxide dioxide hexafluoride
GREENHOUSE EFFECT SUMMARIZED

The greenhouse effect is a

natural process that warms the
Earth's surface. When the Sun's
energy reaches the Earth's
atmosphere, some of it is
reflected back to space and the
rest is absorbed and re-radiated
by greenhouse gases.
CARBON DIOXIDE AND RELATIVE AIR TEMPERATURE CHANGE
SEA ICE CHANGES
MELTING GREENLAND’S ICE SHEET
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW DEGREE CHANGE MAKES:

Two Degree Change

2:35
ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

“Anthropogenic warming will lead to ecological

impacts that are abrupt and irreversible,
depending on rate & magnitude of climate
change.” – IPCC 2007
~90% of Earth’s species affected
Distribution shifts, abundance declines, smaller
ranges, new parasites, diseases, competitors &
predators
Extinction rates elevated world-wide
Estimated by calculating biome area that will be
uninhabitable due to climate change
MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HARM
AMERICANS, BUT THEY DON’T THINK IT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM

20% 30 40 50 60 70 80
Global-warming will harm people in the United Global warming will harm me, personally
States
PULLING THINGS TOGETHER

Video

9:12
LAKE GEORGE- A MODEL ECOSYSTEM
WHERE RPI TAKES ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
INVASIVE SPECIES

RPI Managed Invasive Species in the

Lake
Eurasian Water Milfoil - Found by
RPI scientist in the mid 1980s
studied and managed by DFWI
Zebra Mussels - Eliminated from
one location through RPI efforts
Asian Clams - Found by RPI
scientist, studied and managed
EUTROPHICATION

Lake is low in nutrients 1980-1989 1990-1999 200-2009

and therefore has low
chlorophyll concertation
North to south gradient
exists
Moderate increase in
chlorophyll over time
which is eutrophication
SALINIZATION

R² = 0.961077356197666
15

10
ppm

R² = 0.971353463253102

0
9 80 983 986 989 992 995 998 001 004 007 010 013
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
Chloride Linear (Chloride)
Sodium Linear (Sodium)
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Aquatic growing season increased by ∼2 weeks

Surface water (0–10m) temperatures increased by
0.063 and 0.051 C/yr
THE JEFFERSON PROJECT

Jefferson Project 4:44

Year 5 3:14
LAKE GEORGE TODAY….. (ISH)
FOR THURSDAY, 11/17

We made it! This is the end of content!

Exam is Thursday!
A draft of your slides for Team Presentations will be due Monday!