http://www.e-taxonomy.eu
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
EDITPresentation title
Presenter’s positionPresenter’s name
EDIT Biodiversity
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Dr Natasha de Vere
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth
PopulationsIndividualsChromosomes
GenesNucleotides
Genetic diversity
Kingdoms
Phyla
Classes
Orders
FamiliesGeneraSpeciesSubspeciesPopulationsIndividuals
Organismal diversity
Biomes
BioregionsLandscapesEcosystemsHabitatsNiches
PopulationsEcological diversity
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Definition of biodiversity
Large number of formal definitions; Delong (1996) reviewed 85!
“the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia [among other things], terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Measuring biodiversity
Biodiversity is a multidimensional concept that cannot be reduced to a single number
A
Which is most diverse?
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Measuring biodiversity
Numbers Evenness Difference
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Measuring biodiversity – species richness
Species richness is the most common measure of biodiversity.
This is because:
• Species often keep their genes to themselves.
• Easier to count (humans tend to recognise species)
• Humans can visualise variation in biodiversity as variation in species richness.
• Existing information e.g. museums and herbaria.
• Surrogate for other measures of biodiversity.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Australasian birds-of-paradise
Biological speciesconcept
40 – 42 species
Phylogenetic speciesconcept
90 species
Measuring biodiversity – species richness
Disadvantages in the use of species richness as a biodiversity measure.
• Depends on species concept used.• Need to remember it represents only one element of biodiversity.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Spatial scales, alpha, beta and gamma diversity
• Alpha diversity refers to diversity within a particular area, community or ecosystem and is typically measured as the number of species within that area.
• Beta diversity is the species diversity between areas and involves comparing the number of species that are unique to each area.
• Gamma diversity is a measure of the overall diversity across a region.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
How many species are there?
13.5 million? (lowest estimate 3.5, highest 111.5)
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
“If all matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognisable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes and oceans represented by a film of nematodes”.
The actual number of species of nematode has been estimated to be between 1 million to 100 million species, with a conservative estimate of 1019 free living nematode individuals.
Cobb (1914)
Abundance of species
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Mapping biodiversity
• 90% reduction in the habitat in an area will result in the loss of approximately 50% of the species that live in that habitat.
• 99% reduction will lead to the extinction of 75% of the species.
Log S = log c + z log A
S is the number of species
A is the area
z and c are constants
In general as the size of an area increases so does the number of species
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Mapping biodiversity - hotspots
• High numbers of endemic species, high habitat loss.• 34 hotspots, combined area: 2.3% of Earth’s surface.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Value of biodiversity
• Direct uses e.g. food, fibres and medicines.
• Indirect uses e.g. ecosystem services such as atmospheric regulation, nutrient cycling and pollination.
• Non-use values: • Option value (for future use or non-use). • Bequest value (in passing on a resource to future generations).• Existence value (value to people irrespective of use or non-use).• Intrinsic value (inherent worth, independent of that placed upon it by humans).
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Value of biodiversity
Relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem function and human well-being
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
• Many uses not included in economic accounts leading to biodiversity being under-valued.
• Traditional national accounts do not include measures of the depletion of resources such as mineral deposits, soil nutrients and ecosystem services.
• Depletion shows as positive gain in GDP without registering decline in assets.
Value of biodiversity
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
How much biodiversity is required to maintain ecosystem function?
Eco-systemfunction
A B C
Species richnessSpecies richnessSpecies richness
A: Redundancy: there is a minimum number of species required to carry out ecosystem processes and beyond this species are equivalent and their loss of little significance.
B: Rivet-popping: the loss of a few species may have no apparent effect on ecosystem processes but beyond certain thresholds ecosystem services will fail.
C: Idiosyncrasy: species have complex and varied roles so changes in diversity will cause changes in ecosystem functioning where the direction and magnitude of change is unpredictable.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Loss of biodiversity
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• Largest assessment of the effect of humans on the Earth’s ecosystems
• Found that over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively that in any comparable period of time in human history and that this has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Main causes of biodiversity loss
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Habitat change
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Habitat change
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Climate change
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Invasive species
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Over-exploitation
Atlantic cod stocks off the east cost of Newfoundland
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Pollution (especially nutrient loading)
Estimated total reactive nitrogen deposition from the atmosphere (wet and dry) in 1860, early 1990s, and projected for 2050 (milligrams of nitrogen per square metre per year), from MEA (2005).
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Conserving biodiversity – what actions can be taken?
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment lists a number of actions that have been at least partly successful in
reducing biodiversity loss and can be further strengthened in the future.
Protected areas Species protection
Ex situ conservation
In situ conservation
Markets for biodiversity
Ecosystem restoration
International agreements
Education
Research
Capacity building
Sustainableagriculture
Slow climate change
Slow nutrientloading
Integrate biodiversity in development
planning
Correct markets that fail to include
ecosystem services
Eliminate subsidies that damage ecosystem
services
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Biodiversity and taxonomy
Article 7 of the CBD requires the parties to the Convention to: • Identify and monitor biological diversity, particularly those aspects important for conservation and sustainable use. • Monitor activity which could have significant adverse impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and to • Maintain and organise data derived from identification and monitoring activities.
COP 3 identified a "taxonomic impediment“ to the delivery of the CBD
The Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) was launched in order to try and reverse this impediment.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Biodiversity and taxonomy
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)
“A widely accessible working list of known plant species, as a step towards a complete world flora”.
Target 1
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Over-coming the taxonomic impediment - DNA bar-coding
A DNA barcode is a short gene sequence taken from standardized portions of the genome, used to identify species.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Works with fragments
Works for alllife stages
Un-maskslook-alikes
Reducesambiguity
Expertise goes further
Democratizesaccess
Hand-heldlife bar-coder
New leaves on tree of life
Shows value of
collections
Encyclopaediaof life
Ten reasons for DNA bar-coding
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
DNA bar-coding process
Building the DNA bar-code library
• Well-identified specimen
• Tissue sub-sample
• DNA extraction, PCR amplification
• DNA sequencing
• Data submission
Using the DNA bar-code library
• Unidentified specimen
• Tissue, DNA, sequencing
• Comparison with reference
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Case study: National Botanic Garden of Wales
“The National Botanic Garden of Wales exists to develop a viable world-class national botanic garden dedicated to
the research and conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable utilisation, to lifelong learning and to the
enjoyment of the visitor”
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Rare Welsh Plants Project
Conserve some of the most threatened plant species in Wales by providing a firm scientific basis for their
conservation.
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Welsh flora – DNA bar-coding project
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Waun Las National Nature Reserve
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Plant collections
• Welsh flora
• Mediterranean ecosystems
• Temperate woodland ecosystems
• Medicinal plants
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008
Education and training
Presenter’s institution logo
Taxonomy Summer School1-15 September 2008