Biodiversity

flat = = =What is biodiversity? Why is it important to protect it? Why does Costa Rica have such a high biodiversity percentage?=

Biodeversity is the diversity of species (flora and fauna) in a certain environment; this characteristic can vary depending on the characteristics of the environment in which it is being measured. For example, an desertic environment will have low diversity because of its climate and habitats but in the other hand a tropical rain forest will have a large biodiversity in its environment, this would be due to its bountiful resources and perfect ecosystems. This is the reason why [|Costa Rica] has such a large biodiversity, its numerous rain forests and its location in the tropics create the perfect environment for species to succeed. Costa Rica as an ecosystem is a paradise for different types of species; our position near the ecuator gives us the perfect climate and makes us a tropical country. The biodeversity of a place could be the most important feature that an area can posses, it determines how filled with life it is and the amount of species that inhhabit it. It is important to protect it because it includes our world's species and without it whole ecosystems could be destroyed. Also the cycles in nature would be altered if certain species become extinct and this could leed to a mass extinction. (Gabriel Farhat has an excelent example on question number 1 of another native specie of Costa Rica which is in danger of extinction: The Bellbird)

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The video above is a video project I made along with Felipe de la Garza, Thomas Keller, Marique Prada, and Adrian Viquez for the weather station in our trip to Monteverde. It is supposed to be a news report on an extinct species, in this case the [|golden toad]. This is an example of how biodiversity can be affected by climate change and why we should try to mantain the species of our country to conserve the biodiversity. In the case of the golden toad, their breeding pools evaporated due to the warm weather and scientist didn't had the chance to make an intervention, it was too late. By the time they realized the decrease of the specie, there weren't enough individuals left to achieve succesful reproduction.

=How can sustainable development be achieved? What evidence of it did you find in Monteverde?=

"[|Sustainable Development] is a pattern of economic growth in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come." media type="custom" key="18344376" width="62" height="86" align="right" It can be achieved as comunities, cities, and countries work together to take advantages of the natural resources that surround them, but at the same they protect them. One example of this is the need for wood that humans have, we are responsible for the deforestation of many ecosystems due to our need to get construction suplies and paper. But at the same time that we are reforesting everything we cut, in fact, we are planting twice as much trees as we cut due to several laws that have been made in order to contain the ecosystems. This is an excelent example because it shows how governments have worked with the logging companies in order to make agreements in which they can conserve the environment and mantain a sustainable development. Clearly this is the greates method that can be used to achieve it, alliances in between powers, or people, to get to an agreements that benefit both humans and nature. In Monteverde I did found several example of sustainable development, specially in the campus itself. I have been in Monteverde several times and I have noticed the sustainable development in several areas that we didn't visit during the trip, for example [|Santa Elena], the largest town in the area. The community is very concerned about conserving their environment and I have witnessed several actions they have taken, for example in "Hotel El Establo" they have a very strict program for reusing resources like water. They reuse it as much ways as they can and it undergoes through several cleaning processes before it is sent back to nature. In the case of the UGA campus I saw an amazing exaple of sustainable development, the biodigester. A [|biodigester]is a natural system which takes advantage of decomposition to create fertilizers and natural gas. In UGA the biodigester is part of a cycle they had in which they fed pigs the leftovers from meals, and then the waste produced by the pigs was placed in the biodigester. Then the fertilizers created by the biodigester were used to fertilize the lands of the campus which were used for agriculture, and the natural gas produced was used to heat the water in the campus and for cooking every meal. ( The map shows the "Hotel El Establo" in Santa Elena, Moteverde, it is an outdated image so the actual hotel isn't completed and the recycling plant infrastructure isn't visible.)

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The video to the left is an explanation of how the idea of a biodigester works, it is an excelent example to understand the whole procedure that the waste undergoes before getting to its final state; natural gas or fertilizer.

The biological corridors are another type of sustainable development in Monteverde, the .pdf above shows the idea of a biological corridor.

=Why are insects worth conserving?= Our planet is inhabited by several types of species, each one of them has been classified according to their common characteristics, and most of them have unique habitats in which they can survive. The most amazing of these groups are the [|insects], the most abundant and unique species are included here, and each of those species have an important role in our planet. Insects are considered by scientist as the most diverse class, it contains thousands of unique species and it has by far more variety than any other group. Today's scientists have named and discovered over 1,000,000 different types of insect species on our planet, and it is estimated that there are about 8,000,000 species present on our planet. This number exceeds the amount of any other group present on our planet, going way over the amount of mammals, fish, reptiles, and even fungi. Insects are a vital part of our planet's ecosystems, they are present on every ecosystem on the planet, going from desserts and forest, to even the artics. Eventhough they are more abundant in warm and tropical places, the whole world wouldn't survive without them. The insects are the ones responsable of several processes in nature, including polination, decomposition of organisms, reintroducing nutrients to soil, and much more processes that are vital for nature's survival. Without them the world wouldn't be able to survive, plants wouldn't reproduce, our soil would be unfertile, the decomposition of organisms wouldn't be posible, and several other problems would emerge without their intervention in nature. This is why insects should be conserved in our environments, we should be trying to protect the most vital species of our planet, because without them life wouldn't be able to survive in our planet. (Adrian Fernandez has an excelent answer involving the importance of insects, it is included in his page "Ecosystems" on question number 2)



= = =What is the 2010 biodiversity target?=

Our planet's biodiversity is in great danger, since it was first recorded the amount of biodiversity on our planet decreased. Several efforts have been done in order to prevent this from happening, including worldwide conferences and intervention on important organization including the United Nations. One of this efforts was the 2010 biodiversity target, which was a proposal made on April 2002, on the [|World Summit on Sustainable development]. Its purpose was to get a halt on the world's decrease on biodiversity by the year 2010. Unfourtunately the target was never reached and it had to be lowered into a more achievable target: Decrease the amount of biodiversity loss on our planet by the year 2010. This change had to be made due to the fact that our planet is infested with pollution and every day millions of people contribute to make it worse. Projects like this should be made each year to achieve the goal that is proposed, and also organizations should unite with goverments to introduce to the world different projects for restoring our biodiversity. This way we should be able to complete our goal for the next biodiversity target that is proposed. (The video on the hyperlink is an explanation of the [|2010 biodiversity target])

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =What options exist to manage ecosystems sustainably?=

The ecosystems of our world are in constant use, it can be used by the organism that live in it or by outer influences. In the case of several ecosystems, the humans, or outer influences, have been taking their resources and damaging them at the same time. This has caused several problems as the ecosystems start to loose their resources or they start to die out, for this reason several sollutions have been proposed in order to get benefits from the natural resources but at the same time regulate their use to save the ecosystem. This method or sollution is called [|"Ecosystem Management"]. "** Ecosystem management ** is a process that aims to conserve major ecological services and restore n atural resources while meeting the socioeconomic, political and cultural needs of current and future generations" There are several ways to manage an ecosystem, some of them are:
 * Adaptive Management: is a concept in which scientist predict what resources or changes are going to be needed on future years. This is used to predict the consumption of resources by humans and at the same time they predict what changes should be made on the ecosystem on years to come. These predictions are made by comparing previous information recolected with the present information, this way the scientist then make a prediction of what would happen in the following years. The results then will be used to start making the changes and adjustments to the environment in order to prevent future damages or lack of resources on the ecosystem.
 * Natural resource Management: is a concept in which a specific natural resource is monitored instead of the whole ecosystem. The natural resource is chosen according to the need of it by the humans, this way there is never a lack of the specific resource. At the same time that they are managing this specific resource, all of the remainig resources are also being monitored to prevent an umbalance of resources on the ecosystem.
 * Strategic Management: encourages the establishment of goals that will benefit the ecosystem while keeping socioeconomic and politically relevant issues in mind.
 * Landscape level Conservation: is a concept in which the wildlife need of the ecosystem is measured and it is compared to the human use of it. The whole concept consists in restoring the land that was taken from the ecosystem according to the wildlife needs, this can be done through several methods. One of the most common methods for restoring the lost areas are the implementation of biological corridors, these connect ecosystems in between them and counteract the territory taken by the humans.
 * Command and Control Management: is a process in which laws are implemented in order to prevent habitat loss or damage. The ecosystem's use is monitered and then predictions are made of what the future outcome may be, if the outcome could damage the ecosystem then laws are passed in order to prevent the damage from happening.



=How is international trade related to endangered species of wild flora and fauna?=

Exotic animals have always been a marvel to humankind, and they have a long history of being pets in wealthy families, monarchies, and dynasties. Throughout history they have been present were there's wealth and love for the uncommon. This taste for exotic animals has followed us to the present day, there are still people who are willing to have these animals as pets and this has led to a lot of international trade. These animals that have been taken from their natural habitats and placed on foreign new ones have started to become more uncommon as they are being removed from the ecossytem and used as pets. This has led to the extinction of many species, and it has also led to endangered species that were once very common. All this has been cause by the international trade of these exotic animals and by the demand of these unusual pets. Nowadays there have been laws passed that prohibit the exchange and trade of the animals, and some of these laws are also present here in Costa Rica. This is due to the fact that one common specie of Costa Rica is now almost extinct because of the trade tht this specie took part of; this species was the Macaw. It used to be a common specie on the habitats and ecosystems of Costa Rica, but since people began to capture them and have them as pets, the population of the Macaw decreased drastically, leading it to its current population.

=Bibliography=

"Biodiversity in Costa Rica." //Biodiversity in Costa Rica//. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June 2012. .

"Ecosystem Management." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 July 2012. Web. 08 June 2012. .

"The Importance of Insects." //The Importance of Insects//. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June 2012. .

"2010 Biodiversity Target." //2010 Biodiversity Target//. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June 2012. . = =

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