Fundamentals of Conservation Biology. Malcolm L. Hunter, Jr.. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Malcolm L. Hunter, Jr.
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Биология
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781119144175
Скачать книгу
between the forest ecosystem and the lake ecosystem may be relatively easy, but is the young forest on the left a different ecosystem from the older forest on the right?

      Distinguishing ecosystems is also difficult because ecologists think about ecosystems at a variety of spatial scales. A pool of water that collects in a hole in an old tree and is home to some algae and invertebrates can be considered an ecosystem. At the other extreme, ecosystems are sometimes defined on the basis of the movements of wide‐ranging animals. When biologists speak of the Serengeti Ecosystem they are referring to an area of almost 27,000 km2 defined in large part by the habitat needs of a migratory wildebeest population (Rentsch and Packer 2015). At the largest known scale, the Earth’s entire biosphere can be considered an ecosystem.

      Classifying Ecosystems

Ecosystem A B C
Black oak 40 30 10
White pine 30 40 10
Red maple 20 10 10
Yellow birch 10 20 70
Similarity index A vs B 0.96B vs C 0.54A vs C 0.40

      Sources: NatureServe Explorer and The U.S National Vegetation Classification

Class 1: Forest & Woodland
Subclass 1.B: Temperate & Boreal Forest & Woodland
Formation 1.B.2: Cool Temperate Forest & Woodland
Division 1.B.2.Na: Eastern North American Forest & Woodland
Macrogroup Appalachian‐Interior‐Northeastern Mesic Forest
Group Appalachian‐Allegheny Northern Hardwood ‐ Conifer Forest
Alliance Central & Southern Appalachian Rich Northern Hardwood Forest
Association Sugar Maple ‐ Yellow Birch ‐ Black Cherry Forest

      Geography also needs to be considered when classifying ecosystems. Two alkaline eutrophic lakes that share a very similar biota would probably be considered the same type of ecosystem even if they are hundreds of kilometers apart and on either side of a mountain range. On the other hand, if the mountain range was a geographic barrier for many species and the two lakes had quite different biotas we might decide that they are different types of ecosystems.

An illustration of a map depicts the Earth’s terrestrial ecoregions.

      From a conservation perspective we could largely avoid the issue by organizing conservation efforts for each ecological region. However, conservation efforts are usually