Entries Tagged 'Environment' ↓

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Dense populations usually works against biodiversity so if we’re reading TreasureNature, chances are we live far from areas with highly diverse animal and plant life, except for those in Sao Paulo, Brazil. However, if we are fortunate enough to be living in one of the Biodiversity Hotspots, then the greatest single thing we can do to protect biodiversity is prevent habitat loss.

Animals in the wild need a home and sources of food. Once we deny them these resources by destroying forests, reefs, and other ecosystems, they will die. How much area do they really need? It depends on the size of the animal.

Consider the Critically Endangered and majestic Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), of which there are an estimated number of less than 400 pairs in the wild and only a dozen or so in captivity. A breeding pair usually needs 38 square miles (approxiamately 100 square kilometers) of hunting ground–for comparison, Manhattan has 22.7 square miles. That is assuming that the said area is well-stocked with monkeys, rodents, lemurs, civets, and snakes.

Man is competing with the eagle for the available resources by cutting down trees for timber and clearing forests for farming. These activities reduces the eagles’ hunting range which serves as home for their food too. As men encroaches on the eagles’ home ground, the risk of hunters trying to bag one as a trophy also increases.

The Philippine Eagle is not alone, if we check all species on the Critically Endangered list, they all face the same problems: habitat loss, dwindling food supply, and poaching.

If we live far away from Biodiversity Hotspots, are we powerless to get involved in biodiversity issues? On the contrary, we can do a lot to help. See, most biodiversity-related issues has their roots in densely-populated urban environments.

Here are a few measures to protect biodiversity we can do right where we are:

1. Be aware of where the stuff that we buy comes from and don’t buy anything that contributes to habitat loss.

Reaching for a can of corned beef at your local mart? Check where did the beef came from. If it says Brazil, then think about the Amazon rainforest. For the record, Brazil provides only a minuscule amount of the FRESH beef available in the US market. It’s main market is Europe.

Brazilian ranchers tore down the Amazon to raise beef. A few enlightened individuals have cropped up with eco-friendly ideas but they are only a drop in the bucket. Some people contends that cutting down the Amazon for cattle can be compensated for by planting a forest elsewhere. Sadly, this is impossible to do so because we’re not talking here only about trees but of the biodiversity contained in a patch of the Amazon. Biodiversity lost cannot be regained, except on paper.

2. Don’t buy or keep exotic pets.

That colorful Macaw might come from a long line of birds breed in captivity but it still sends the signal that it is okay to keep them. Trapping for the underground exotic pet industry is a major factor why colorful species regularly turn up in the Critically Endangered list.

3. Keep the CREED of REAL mountaineers.

If we head off to the great outdoors for some fun and communing with nature, keep these words close to our hearts:

• Take nothing but pictures
• Leave nothing but footprints
• Kill nothing but time

4. Spread the word.

Do what TreasureNature tries to do, tell other people about it.

5. Support agencies and other entities that works for biodiversity.

There are dozens of them out there. If we want to get our hands dirty, then why not volunteer in Yachana’s Protected Forest in the Amazon?

More ideas on how we can help protect and preserve biodiversity?

As stated in Part 1 and Part 2, there are 34 regions through out the world with rich biodiversity as covered by BiodiversityHotspots.org. We have already tackled nine (9) for the Americas and twelve (12) for Africa, Europe, and Central Asia. The final installment will cover the Asia-Pacific region…

East Melanesian Islands (Bismarck and Admiralty Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the islands of Vanuatu). Excessive logging, mining, and unsustainable farming practices have accelerated habitat loss in these islands, threatening the survival of one of the most remarkable number of endemic species — 3,000 unique species of plants, shrubs, and trees. Faunal diversity isn’t far behind, led by the majestic Solomon  sea-eagle and more than a dozen threatened species of flying fox (large fruit-eating bats).

Himalaya (Northern Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and the Northwestern and Northeastern states of India). The hotspot is home to numerous large birds and mammals, including vultures, tigers, elephants, rhinos and wild water buffalo.

Indo-Burma (Eastern Bangladesh, Northeastern India, Myanmar, part of Yunnan Province in China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and part of Peninsular Malaysia). Covering 2 million square kilometers (772,204.317 square miles) of tropical Asia, this immense treasure trove of biodiversity is yet to divulged a lot of secrets. Six large mammal species have been discovered in the last 12 years: the large-antlered muntjac, the Annamite muntjac, the grey-shanked douc, the Annamite striped rabbit, the leaf deer, and the saola. Bird life is also incredibly diverse, holding almost 1,300 different bird species. Sadly, these documented species and possibly a host of others still waiting to be discovered are in danger of being killed-off due to exploitation and habitat loss.

Japan. When we talk about this country, images of bullet-trains, cars, high rises, and other accouterments of modern technology usually comes to mind. However, the islands isolation has harbored Critically Endangered endemic species like the Okinawa woodpecker and the Japanese macaque (snow monkey). There are 46 endemic mammals.

Mountains of Southwest China (Southwest China and a tiny part of Myanmar). These mountains are host to different ecosystems, including the most endemic-rich temperate flora in the whole world. The golden monkey, giant panda, red panda, and a number of pheasants are among the threatened species endemic to this hotspot. Primary threats include Illegal hunting, overgrazing and firewood collection.

New Caledonia (Neighbor of Vanuatu). This small island (smallest of the hotspots) is home to five (5) endemic plant families, containing nearly 2/3 of the world’s Araucaria species, all endemic. Nickel mining, forest destruction, and invasive species threaten it’s biodiversity.

New Zealand. This country is home to a renarkable number of endemic species. None of its mammals, amphibians, or reptiles are found anywhere else in the world. In 700 years of colonization, 50 bird species have gone extinct.

Polynesia-Micronesia. 4,500 islands scattered across the Southern Pacific ocean, it is the epicenter of the Gloab extinction crisis. From the time Europeans arrived there 200 years ago, 25 bird species were eradicated from the face fo the Earth. The spectacular endemic honeycreepers and other forest birds of the Hawaiian Islands are among those that are seriously threatened but still surviving in this hotspot.

Southwest Australia. This hotspot is characterized by high endemism among plants and reptiles.The primary cause of habitat loss in the region has been agricultural expansion, aggravated by extensive fertilizer use. Introuced species like foxes and cats theathen the local fauna.

Sundaland (Southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,  Brunei Darussalam, Western half of Indonesia, and the Nicobar Islands). Only one word can describe the biodiversity of this hotspot, spectacular. The better known of its fauna are all in danger of being wiped-out, led by the orangutang (man of the forest) and 2 species of Southeast Asain rhinoceros. Rubber plantations, oil palm plantations, and pulp production are 3 of the most threathening forces facing biodiversity in the Sundaland Hotspot.

Wallacea (central islands of Indonesia east of Java, Bali, and Borneo, and west of the province of New Guinea and Timor Leste). Flora and fauna species in this hotspot is so diverse, every island needs a Protected Area to safeguard its own species diversity. It is 2nd only to the Tropical Andes for bird endemism but also covers a relatively smaller area. It is threathend by a government-sponsored transmigration program, which aims to move people from urban areas into sparsely populated ones.

Western Ghats and Sri Lanka (the Ghats are in Southern India). The region harbors important populations of Asian elephants, Indian tigers, and the Endangered lion-tailed macaque. Sir Lanka is home to as many as 140 endemic species of amphibians. Freshwater fish endemism is extremely high, with over 140 native species. The region is  faced with a tremendous population pressure.

The Philippines. This archipelago of more than 7,000 islands is acknowledge as one of the word’s most biologically diverse countries. There are 6,000 plant and numerous animal species. Detailing the threatened and endangered species found in this country will take up one long article. Ironically, it is also one the most endangered hotspots with logging, farming, and population growth relentlessly pushing countless species to the verge of extinction.

So that’s 34 remaining biodiversity hotspots. Thirty-four regions of the Earth where most living species of this planet are concentrated. Will that number decrease or remain constant? It depends upon us humans, I guess.

As stated in Part 1, there are 34 regions through out the world with rich biodiversity as covered by BiodiversityHotspots.org. We have already tackled nine (9) for the Americas. Let’s get on with Africa, Europe, adn Centrtal Asia…

Guinean Forest (West Africa). It is home to more than a quarter of West Africa’s mammals, including 20 species of primates. Population growth and human activities like logging, mining, and hunting are taking their toll on various species, particularly Jentink’s duiker, pygmy hippopotamus, and western chimpanzees.

Succulent Karoo (South Africa and Namibia). Home to the most number of succulent plant species in the planet. Around 69% of plants are endemic. Grazing, agriculture and mining, especially for diamonds and heavy metals, threaten this fragile region.

Cape Floristic Region (South Africa). One of only two hotspots that encompass an entire floral kingdom. The vegetation on the Cape is dominated by fynbo, a shrubland comprising of hard-leafed, evergreen, and fire-prone shrubs that thrives on the region’s rocky or sandy nutrient-poor soils. It is also home to the geometric tortoise, the Cape sugar-bird, and a number of antelope species.

Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany (Southern Mozambique, parts of South Africa, Eastern Swaziland). Home to nearly 600 tree species, the highest tree biodiversity of any temperate forest on the planet. Thw comeback of the white rhino is a success story of the region but there area increased threats from industrial expansion, farming, and grazing.

Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands. The region have an astounding total of eight plant families, four bird families, and five primate families that cannot be found anywhere else. Madagascar alone has 50 lemur species (featured in the animated movie Madagascar). The Seychelles, Comoros and Mascarene islands in the Indian Ocean between them support a number of Critically Endangered bird species.

Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa (coasts of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique). The region is home to economically important plant species and a variety of primate species including three endemic and highly threatened monkey species and two endemic species of bushbabies. Agricultural expansion continues as its biggest threat. Horn of Africa (Somalia and parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Oman, yemen, and Saudi Arabia) . The Horn of Africa is also one of the most degraded hotspots in the world, with only about 5 percent of its original habitat remaining.

Eastern Afromontane (found on widely scattered, but biogeographically similar mountain ranges in eastern Africa, from Saudi Arabia and Yemen in the north to Zimbabwe in the south). Contain’s some of the world’s most extraordinary lakes and a vast amount of freshwater fish diversity.

Horn of Africa (Somalia and parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Entrea, Oman, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia). Home to a number of endemic and threatened antelope, notably threatened species like the beira, the dibatag, and Speke’s gazelle. This hotspot also holds more endemic reptiles than any other region in Africa. Other distinctive endemics include the Somali wild ass and the sacred baboon.

Mediterranean Basin (parts of Spain, France, the Balkan states, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria). Its 22,500 endemic vascular plant species are more than four times the number found in all the rest of Europe. The Mediterranean monk-seal, the barbary macaque and the Iberian lynx, which is Critically Endangered, are among the region’s imperiled species.

Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, the North Caucasian portion of the Russian Federation, the northeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran). The Caucasus falls in Eurasia so we’ll just include it in Europe. The rugged landscape is home to the two species of highly threatened Caucasian mountain goats.

Irano-Anatolian (Central and Eastern Turkey, part of Southern Georgia, a province of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Northeastern Iraq, Northern and Western Iran, and the Northern Kopet Dagh Range in Turkmenistan).Oaks and Junipers dominate the forests of this region. The famed Silk Road crossed through this hotspot. Many of Turkey’s 1,200 endemic species occur only to the immediate east or west of it. It is home to four endemic and threatened species of vipers.

Mountains for Central Asia (Southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Eastern Uzbekistan, Western China, Northeastern Afghanistan, and part of Turkmenistan). The hotspot’s ecosystems is quite varied and range from high glaciers to low desert. It includes a highly threatened and unique type of walnut-fruit forest, which contains ancestors of domestic fruit varieties and is an important storehouse of genetic diversity. A rich variety of ungulates also call the mountains home, including the threatened argali wild sheep.

Next will be the Asia-Pacific region.

Biodiversity is a natural resource.  Just like any resource we have to manage them carefully and avoid the issue of biodiversity loss. We have 34 regions scattered through out the world the serve as a reserve of the world’s total biodiversity. These regions are also the most threatened and are called our biodiversity hotspots.

The site BiodiversityHotspots.org list has a flash presentation of the following regions with highly diverse life-forms. Let’s begin with the American continent…

1. California Floristic Province. Home to the largest living organism, the Giant Sequioa. It also shelters the Critically Endangered California Condor.
2. Madrean Pine Oak Woodlands. Embracing most of Mexico’s main  mountain range and some of Southern California’s. One fourth of Mexico’s total species calls it home, most of which can’t be found outside the region. The monarch butterflies overwinters at the pine forest of Michoacan.
3. MesoAmerican Forests (Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as well as a third of Mexico and nearly two-thirds of Panama). Third largest of the hotspots and home to hundreds of exotic animal species and 17,000 plant species.
4. Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena (Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). The white winged guan is seriously threathened with extinction due to deforestation and hunting.
5. Tropical Andes (Western Venezuela, Northern Chile, Argentina, and large portions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia). Richest biodiversity on Earth. The vastness of the region and range in elevation has provided a home to an amazing number of species, with ecosystems varying from desert to cloud forests.
6. Chilean Winter Rainfall - Valdivian Forests (Chile). The Andes mountains and pacific has walled-off around 40% of Chile’s land area into a biological hotspot withmany unique indigenous species.
7. Caribbean Islands. This hotspot has several unique species such as the Cuban crocodile, bee hummingbird (smallest bird), and Leptotyphlos bilineatus (smallest snake).
8. Cerrado (Brazil). 21% of the country’s land area. The giant anteater, giant armadillo, jaguar, and maned wolf call the region home. The hotspot is being threathened by agricultural expansion.
9. Atlantic Forest (Brazil’s Atlantic coast, Eastern Paraguay, Northeastern Argentina, and parts of the Uruguay coast). 20,000 plant species, 40% of which are endemic (local origins). Less than 10% of the orginal forest remains. More than 2 dozens Critically Endangered vertebrae species are found in the region and barely clinging for survival. It’s long been threatened by sugar and coffee plantations. Recently, the cities of Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo has began expanding into the forest too.

Next is Africa and Europe.

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants to an environment, according to wikipedia. Pollutants are not necessarily toxic chemicals that poisons the air we breathe, soil we stand on, and water we drink. Even chemicals seen as beneficial like fertilizers, which in reasonable amounts can boost crop production, becomes a poison when used in quantities that can’t be degraded by nature.

Pollution plays an important role in the loss of biodiversity. In our previous post on biodiversity, we learned that each species has role in an ecosystem and a balance must be maintained. Most ecosystems can withstand some abuse and regenerate as long as most species involved are still present. For instance, if we cut down half of a forest, the other half will soon cover the denuded area in 50 to a hundred years.

Pollution, however, has a more pervasive effect than simply cutting down a tree. Ultimately, it kills delicate species that might have a crucial role in the survival of another. Lets take a look at the 4 common pollution issues we are aware of today: (1) air, (2) water, (3) soil, and (4) species.

1. Air pollution as a threat to biodiversity.

Plants need sunlight to produce food via photosynthesis and smog prevents them from doing so. This affects both the plants (they die off) and the animals that depends on them for food. Fortunately, smog is geographically confined, usually in the vicinity of large cities where there are not much biodiversity anyway.

Another example would be acid rain, a product of the burning of “dirty” fossil fuel like coal. Lichens, fungi, and air plants are sensitive to acid rain and its impact can go far beyond where sulfur is being pumped into the atmosphere since they are incorporated into clouds and swept by the winds. A study in 1983 revealed that half of the Black Forest (in Germany, not the cake) was damaged by pollution, notably acid rain.

2. Water pollution as a threat to biodiversity.

The world’s oceans are our biggest garbage dumps. Everything we dump into streams or flush down the drain or throw out on land and gets swept away by rains goes into the oceans, where currents whirl them around for good measure. Toxins directly and adversely affect larvae, eggs, and other organism that lives near the surface or bottom, where toxins usually accumulate.

Larger fishes or mammals may not be directly affected but they store the toxins within themselves as they feed on the lower life forms. The beluga or white whale of the St. Lawrence river have high concentrations of toxins in their bodies.

3. Soil pollution as a threat to biodiversity.

Soil pollution is the build-up of toxic substances in the soil over time. Soil contaminants not only kill beneficial microorganism, they are also taken up by the plants. If we grow corn on polluted soil, we’d be eating those toxins too.

For biodiversity, the immediate threat is the eradication or killing-off of those species belonging to the primary link in the food chain.

4. Species pollution.

This may be a strange concept, a foreign species contaminating an ecosystem and changing the species landscape, but it is real. That’s what happened to the American Walnut. It was the dominant tree species in the Eastern United States, providing both a beautiful wood and food for humans and a host of wildlife.

Then, in 1904, some Chinese chestnuts were brought into New York’s Zoological Society’s Bronx park, carriers of a deadly parasitic fungus. The American chestnut was wiped out in most of its natural range by the 1950s. The space left by the chestnuts were taken over by oaks.

Other examples of introduced species that became pests in their new habitat include cane toads (from South America to Australia), Golden Apple Snail (US to Vietnam and the Philippines), Wild European Rabbits (Europe to Australia), and Kudzu (Japan to US).