专业英语-生态学教材

Threat-Excessive deforestation
Threat-Industrial pollution
Threat-Excessive exploitation
Case Study
• Costa Rica's leading agricultural produces have long included beef and bananas, whose production and cultivation require extensive environmental modification.
4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 12% 0 0.86m 33% 80% 25% 1945 1995
3.34m
Population
Farmland
Forest coverage
At the begining
Quakers: Quakers (or Friends, as they refer to themselves) are members of a family of religious movements collectively known as the Religious Society of Friends.
Biodiversity value
• Direct value • Indirect value
Biodiversity value
• Direct value
– Provide food and energy. – Provide rich resources of medicinal herbs. – Provide industrial raw materials.
Today government support is greater. Fully 12% of the nation's area is contained in national parks, and a further 16% is devoted to other types of wildlife and conservation reserves. Costa Ricans, along with international biologists, are working to protect endangered species and recover thkers make it start
• The Quakers relied on milk and cheese for much of their economic activity, • They also set aside one-third of their land for conservation. • The Quakers' efforts, along with contributions from international conservation organizations • Provided the beginnings of what is today the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve.
Cahuita National Park protect a prominent coral reef system
Initially the government gave the parks little real support.
According to Costa Rican conservationist Mario Boza, in their early years the parks were granted only five guards, one vehicle, and no funding
• In 1970, the Costa Rican government and international representatives came together to create the country's first national parks and protected areas. • The first parks centered on areas of spectacular scenery, such as
Costa Rica has protected a wide array of its diverse natural areas. This protection has stimulated the nation's economy through ecotourism. Here, visitors experience a walkway through the forest canopy in one of the nation's parks
The benefits of their conservation efforts-not only ecological benefits, but also economic ones. Tourists from around the world now visit Costa Rica, a phenomenon called ecotourism
Conclusion
• The golden toad and other organisms of the Monteverde cloud forest have helped illuminate the fundamentals of evolution and population ecology that are integral to environmental science. • The evolutionary processes of natural selection, speciation, and extinction help determine Earth's biodiversity. • Understanding how ecological processes work at the population level is crucial to protecting biodiversity threatened by the mass extinction event • Many biologists maintain is already under way
How Best to Conserve Biodiversity?
• Most people view national parks and ecotourism as excellent ways to help keep ecological systems intact. • Yet the golden toad went extinct despite living within a reserve established to protect it, and climate change does not pay attention to park boundaries.
What lessons can we take from this about the conservation of biodiversity?
• It remains to be seen how effectively ecotourism can help preserve natural systems in Costa Rica in the long term. • As forests outside the parks disappear, the parks are beginning to suffer from illegal hunting and timber extraction. • The parks are still underprotected and underfunded. • Still need more money to preserve habitat, protect endangered species, and restore altered communities to their former condition
Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve
This privately managed 10,500-ha (26,000-acre) reserve was established in 1972 to protect the forest and its populations of 2,500 plant species, 400 bird species, 500 butterfly species, 100 mammal species, and 120 reptile and amphibian species, including the golden toad.
Biodiversity value
• Indirect value
– – – – – – – Maintain the balance and stability of ecological system Solar fixed Hydrology regulation Climate regulation absorption and decomposition of pollutants, Storage of nutrient elements and promote nutrient cycling maintenance of the evolutionary process
The ecotourism industry draws more than 1 million visitors to Costa Rica each year, provides thousands of jobs to Costa Ricans, and is a major contributor to the country's economy. It’s contributions (40%) outweigh those of industry (22%) and agriculture (13%) combined.
Poas Volcano National Park
Santa Rosa National Park encompassed valuable tropical dry forest
Tortuguero National Park essential nesting beaches for the green turtle