Tag Archives: Biodiversity Hotspot

Module 10-Maura McGonigal

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  1. Research a biodiversity hotspot location and summarize in 150-250 words the biodiversity and sustainability situation in the chosen area.
  2. Consider and describe the biodiversity and sustainability situation in your hometown in 150-250 words.
  3. Compare and contrast the biodiversity and sustainability in the two locations in 150-250 words.

 

  1. Using the following website I located a biodiversity hotspot in the Horn of Africa, http://www.cepf.net/resources/hotspots/africa/Pages/Horn-of-Africa.aspx. The hotspot is located on the Horn of Africa, and is one of the most depleted hotspots in the world. The Horn of Africa was used extensively for its natural resources for thousands of years and been consumed to the point that only 5% of its original habitat remains intact. The two contributing factors to the destruction of the ecosystem in the Horn of Africa are overgrazing by animals and charcoal harvesting. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all used the region as a source of natural resources. The lack of strong government protection also contributed to the region becoming a biodiversity hot spot. The area contains the threatened species including the antelope, baboon, gazelle, and many reptiles. The Horn of Africa is one of two arid hotspots. This is clear from the 2,750 endemic plant species in the region. The area now has 145,322 square kilometers of protected land.
  2. My hometown is Peters Township in western Pennsylvania. In my hometown we have a variety of nonnative species that have infested the region. The three main insects that have infested the area are Japanese Beetles, Lady Bugs, and Stink Bugs. These insects lack natural predators therefore enabling the species to flourish. One summer, the Japanese beetle infestation was so extreme that they nearly ate our patio peach tree to death. In my hometown, we also face an overpopulation of deer. Since 2000, the population of Peters Township has increased 29.2%. The increase in population leads to an increase in demand for housing. Unfortunately the overpopulation of deer issue continues to get worse seeing as more forestland is cleared and turned into neighborhoods each year. This leads to a large amount of automobile accidents with deer. The remaining deer struggle to survive the winter months due to a lack of low level shrubbery. The deer population is unsustainable and is largely a result of the clearing of woodlands for human housing.
  3. Both the Horn of Africa and my hometown, Peters Township, are currently faced with decreasing biodiversity and sustainability issues. Both region’s issues are partially if not fully a result of human interaction in the environment. While the regions are both facing biodiversity issues, the regions issues are manifesting in different ways. The depletion of the Horn of Africa led to the region becoming an arid environment and thereby threatening grazing species like antelope and gazelle. Peters Township should learn from the Horn of Africa’s experience and realize a similar situation is occurring with the deer in the township. In Peters Township, a decrease in land led to a depletion of food resources for deer. While the current deer population is not threatened, with continued human development, the deer population may become threatened.   Similarly, the Japanese beetle infestation in Peters Township may threaten plant species in the region. The Japanese beetles disrupted the ecosystem in western Pennsylvania because they do not have a natural predator in the region.

Russo Module 10-Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot

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1.) In 175 – 250 words, choose and discuss a biodiversity hotspot. Describe how large it is, what types of species are located there, what the geography of the hotspot is like and what are threats to the native populations of species.

2.) Build a system diagram of the history of threats to this specific biodiversity hotspot.

3.) Explain what you put in your system diagram in 100-150 words.

 

I chose the Polynesia-Micronesia biodiversity hotspot which contains more than 4,500 islands covering 46,315 square kilometers of land (“Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot”). Its marine coverage is 2.6 times larger than the continental US and comprises Micronesia, Polynesia, and Fiji (“Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot”). The geography of this region consists of rocky islets, low-lying coral atolls, uplifted limestone islands, and volcanic islands (McGinley). There are a little less than 7,000 native species in this hotspot (McGinley). The primary species in this hotspot are plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, snails, amphibians and freshwater fish. This hotspot is one of the most endangered in the world because of human disturbances. The introduction of invasive species and habitat loss due to humans using the land for agriculture are the two major threats to this area. Natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are also threats to natural island biodiversity. Birds and reptiles are the most at risk for extinction. Pacific island species are very vulnerable to invasive species because they evolved in the absence of mammalian predators and mainland diseases (McGinley). The introduction of plant and animal species from other regions have slowly overtaken the native species in the past thousand years. For example, there are more alien than endemic species of plants in Hawaii (McGinley).

Geog Mod 10

For the system diagram, I started with the introduction of humans to the region by migration. They were the catalysts for the threats to the Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot. Most came from Southeast Asia and did three main activities. They converted land on islands for agricultural purposes, they brought animals and plants, and they hunted the native species. The extravagant land conversion and overharvesting led to the mitigation of natural vegetation through habitat loss. The humans introduced invasive plant and animal species that became predatory of endemic animals and plants. They hunted native birds and reptiles to extinction. All of these actions ultimately resulted in the Polynesia-Micronesia Hotspot losing more species than any other region. Today, there are now 365 protected areas in the Pacific region to prevent any further extinction of native species.

McGinley, Mark. “Biological Diversity in Polynesia-Micronesia.” The Encyclopedia of Earth. N.p., 1 Dec. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

“Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot.” Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. Conservation International-Melanesia Center for Biodiversity Conservation, May 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.