ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

(PE014IU)

LECTURE 3
BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

MAppSc. Dao Bui

 Outlines

1. Biodiversity

2. Biological evolution

3. Ecological succession
 Biodiversity
❖ Variety of different species (species diversity), genetic
variability among individuals within each species/ a
population (genetic diversity), variety of ecosystem in an
area (ecological diversity) and function such as energy
flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species
and biological communities (functional diversity)
 Biodiversity
❖ Species diversity: organisms , the different forms of life on earth,
can be classified into different species based on certain distinctive
traits

❖ Genetic diversity: In most natural population, individuals vary

slightly in their genetic make up. This genetic diversity enables life
on the earth to adapt to and survive dramatic environmental
changes.

❖ Ecological diversity: Terrestrial (land) of the biosphere is classified

into biomes. The differences reflect changes in climate, mainly
differences in average annual precipitation and temperature.

❖ Functional diversity: The variety of processes such as energy flow

and matter cycling that occur within ecosystems as species interact
with one another in food chains and webs
 Ecological diversity

• Terrestrial (land) portion of the biosphere is classified into

biomes
• The differences reflect changes in climate, mainly differences
in average annual precipitation and temperature.
 Functional Diversity
Community 1 Community 2

Barnacle

Seastar Mussel

Barnacle Mussel

Anemone
Barnacle Seagrass

• Barnacles: filter feeder • Mussel: filter feeder

• Mussel: filter feeder • Anemone: sessile predator
• Seastar: mobile predator
• Seagrass: photosynthesize
 Biodiversity
❖ Most undescribed are in rainforests and deep oceans.

❖ Tropical rainforest cover no more than 6% of the Earth’s

surface and contain up to half of world’s plant and animal
species live in tropical rain forest.

❖ Tropical rain forest are near equator, warm year-round,

high humidity and heavy rainfall almost daily.

❖ They are damaged, degraded and disappeared

Costa Rica’s tropical
rainforest are being used
for cultivation for coffee,
palm wine, banana and
cattle pasture
Costa Rica’s tropical rainforest at an aerial view
 Biodiversity
❖ Habitat: where an organism lives. Each organism have a
range of factors it can survive in (temperature,
salinity…)

❖ Important characteristic of a community and ecosystem

is its species diversity: the number of different species
combined with the relative abundance of individual
within each of those species

❖ Species rich ecosystems tend to be productive and

sustainable.
 Why is biodiversity important?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_vRtHJZu4&feature=youtu.be
 Discussion
❖ 2 main questions of ecology
1. How can we have so many different species?

2. How have they come to live together?

 Natural selection
➢ Biological evolution: earth’s life changes over time
through changes in the genetic characteristics of
population
➢ Natural selection: Process by which a particular
beneficial genes (or set of genes) is reproduced in
succeeding generations more than other genes. The result
is a greater proportion of organisms better adapted to
certain environmental conditions.
➢ Process where better competitors survive and reproduce
more successfully
 Natural selection
➢ Natural selection is a necessary consequence of 3 main
properties of living organisms
• all animals tend to over-reproduce
• individuals differ in ways that confer different survival
chances
• these differences may be heritable
❖ Caused by:
• Random mutations: changes in DNA are usually bad but
can be beneficial
• Selective pressure: limited resources means only the best
competitor survive
• Sexual selection: Female choose a mate based on certain
characteristics
 Niches
➢ Niches : total way of life or role of a species in an ecosystem.
Include physical, chemical and biological condition that
species needs to live and reproduce.
• In order to live together in an environment, different
species exploit different niches
Example: some species are hunters (killer whale), other
are scavengers (crabs and snail)
• Niches of different species could overlap
• Although all species are essentially doing the same thing,
they respond differently to environment conditions
• All off these thing enable a species to fit into a
community in a unique way. How and where a species fits
in its niche.
 Niches example

Specialized feeding niches of various bird species in a

coastal wetland. This specialization reduces competition
and allows sharing of limited resource
 Niches
➢ Generalist species: have broad niches, can live in many
different place, eat variety of foods and tolerate a wide range
of environmental conditions ( mice, deer or human)

➢ Specialist species: occupy narrow niches, able to live in only

1 type of habitat, use one or few types of food or tolerate a
narrow range of climate and other environmental conditions
(tiger salamanders, giant panda)

Is it better to be generalist or to be specialist species?

Biological evolution
 Evolution
❖ According to some scientific evidence, Earth life is result
of about 1 billion years of chemical evolution to form the
first cell, and 3.7 billion years of biological evolution to
form the species.
 Evolution
❖ The process of change in genetic characteristic of
population of a species in successive generations.

❖ It can lead to formation of a new species.

❖ 3 conditions for evolution:

• There must be genetic variability for trait in a population
• The trait must be heritable
• The trait must lead to differential reproduction
 Evolution
❖ Microevolution: small genetic changes that occur in a
population.

❖ Macroevolution: long-term, large-scale evolution

changes through which new species arrive from
ancestral species and other species are lost through
extinction.

❖ Gene pool: consist all of genes in its individuals.

Microevolution is change in a population’s gene pool
over time.,
• Evolution of horses and
their leg/foot bone
 How do we know which organisms lived
in the past
• Our knowledge about
pastlife comes from fossils,
chemical analysis, cores
drilled out of buried ice,
and DNA analysis.
 Evidence of evolution
• Physical similarities: most animal
have similar bones in their limbs
(arms, fins and wings)

• Vestigial structures: some

structure still exist in the body
but are no longer needed such as
coccyx (tail bone), appendix and
wisdom teeth

• Comparing DNA
 Mutation
❖ Genetic variability occurs through mutations.
❖ Random changes in the structure or number of DNA
molecules in a cell that originate genetic variability
❖ In 2 ways:
• DNA may exposed to external agents such as
radioactivity, x-rays or chemicals…
• Random mistakes occur in coded genetic instructions
when DNA molecules are copied each time a cell
divides and organism reproduces
❖ Some mutations are lethal, some other results in
beneficial genetic traits may give that individual and its
offspring better chances for survival and reproduction.
 Adaptation
❖ Adaptation – A heritable trait that improves the ability of
an individual organism to survive more easily and
reproduce at a higher rate than other individuals in a
population under prevailing environmental conditions

❖ A population’s ability to adapt to new environmental

conditions is limited by its gene pool and its reproductive
capacity.
• A change in environmental conditions can lead to
adaptation only for genetic traits already present in a
population’s gene pool
• Population of genetically diverse species that reproduce
quickly with large number offspring often adapt in short
time.
Adaptation
 Adaptation
• Natural selection can result in the evolution of genetic
resistance, the ability of one or more organisms in a
population to tolerate a chemical designed to kill the
population.
• Examples include antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pesticide-
resistant insects.
 Speciation
❖ What is a species?

A group of individuals capable of interbreeding to produce

fertile offspring.

❖ Hybrid Infertility

Horse X Donkey = Mule

➢ A group of individuals capable of

interbreeding to produce offspring
that are fertile and these offspring,
in turn, can produce offspring that
are fertile.
 Speciation
❖ Speciation is process of how new species develop.

2 species arise from 1.

• For sexually reproducing species, a new species is form

when some members of population can not longer
breed with other member to produce fertile offspring.

• The mechanism of speciation take place in 2 phases:

geographic isolation and reproductive isolation

❖ There are 2 stage of speciation: Geographic isolation and

reproduction isolation
 Speciation
❖ Geographic isolation: population can be separated by
physical barrier (mountain range, river, road); by a change
such as volcanic eruption or earthquake or migration for
food
Two tectonic plates collide in New Zealand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQTfFCMYEI4
 Speciation
❖ Reproduction isolation: member of population may
become so different in genetic makeup that can never
produce live, fertile offspring.
 Extinction
❖ Extinction: A species becomes extinct when its population can
not adapt to changing environmental conditions. An entire
species ceases to exist. Reason could from natural or from
human impact.
❖ 98% of all species that ever existed are now extinct
❖ Background extinction is a certain number of species
disappear at a low rate as local environmental conditions
change in a long period of time.
❖ Mass extinction is significant rise in extinction rate that involve
many species at a short time, widespread event, large group
(25-70%) are wiped out... (Ex dinosaur extinction)
❖ Mass depletion: extinction rate are much higher than normal
but not high enough to classify as mass extinction
 Extinction
❖ Mass extinctions have been followed
by an increase in species diversity as
new species have arisen to occupy
new habitats or to exploit newly
available resources.
❖ There is growing evidence that we are
experiencing the beginning of a new
mass extinction, with much of the
increase in extinctions and loss of The golden toad of
biodiversity due to human activities. Costa Rica’s
Monteverde cloud
forest has became
extinct because of
changes in climate.
 Mass Extinction
• Fossil and geological evidence indicate that there have
probably been 5 mass extinctions during the past
• Mass extinction is a significant rise in extinction rates
above the background level, in which large groups of
species are wiped out.

Source: Univ. of California at Berkeley

 Climate change and catastrophes affect
natural selection
❖ Cooling and warming periods have covered much of the
earth with glacial ice or melted the ice and drastically raised
sea levels.
❖ Long-term climate changes determine where different types
of plants and animals can survive and caused the extinction
of some species.
❖ Catastrophic events, such as collisions with large asteroids,
have caused:
– Destruction of ecosystems and extinction of large numbers of
species.
– Shifts in the locations of ecosystems and created opportunities
for the evolution of new species.
Glacia ice coverage during the past
18,000 years
 Effect of human activities on biodiversity
❖ Human activities are decreasing the earth biodiversity.

❖ Although extinction is a nature process, humans have

become a major force in premature extinction of species.

❖ Extinction rate increased by 100-1000 times the natural

background extinction rate.

❖ The premature extinction of at least one-fifth of earth’s

current species by 2030 and half of those species by the
end of this century.
Ecological succession
 Communities in transition
• New environmental conditions can cause changes in
community structure that lead to 1 group of species being
replaced by other group

❖ Disturbance : An event discrete event that alters an

ecosystem, either significantly changing it or wiping out
entirely. It removes organisms and opens up space which
can be colonized by individuals of the same or different
species. Example : volcano, fire, flood, glacier, tsunami ...
 Communities in transition
❖ Succession: The gradual change in species composition of
a given area
1. Primary succession: begin with bare mineral surface
or water, nothing of previous ecosystem remains from
disturbance and follow severe disturbance.
• It usually takes longer time.
• Succession is often dictated by what time of year the
space opened up and what organism settle there first
• It will eventually end up “climaxed community” which
is a stable number of species and population. This
community is dominated by few long-lived plant
species and in balance
Primary succession
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLpc71YOtcE
 Communities in transition
2. Secondary succession: Occurs when an existing
community is disturbed or destroyed but some part are
left behind such as soil, organic matter, seed bank, some
living plants, some fungus and plant roots.
• More rapid than primary succession
• Example : abandoned farm, burn or cut forests,
flooded land
❖ Can predict the path of succession?
• Depend on biotic (migrate species, predators…) and
abiotic factor (climate, temperature…)
• Pioneer community : early colonizer
• Climax community : old growth forest and stable
Secondary succession
 Six big ideas
❖ Populations evolve when genes mutate and give some
individuals genetic traits that enhance their abilities to
survive and to produce offspring with these traits (natural
selection).

❖ Human activities are degrading the earth’s vital

biodiversity by causing the extinction of species and by
disrupting habitats needed for the development of new
species.

❖ Each species plays a specific ecological role in the

ecosystem where it is found.
 Six big ideas
❖ Certain interactions among species affect their use of
resources and their population sizes.

❖ There are always limits to populations growth in nature.

❖ Changes in environmental conditions cause communities

and ecosystems to gradually alter their species
composition and population sizes (ecological
succession).
 Contents

• Section 4-1: What is biodiversity and why is it

important?
• Section 4-2: How does the earth’s life change over
time?
• Section 4-3: How do geological processes and climate
change affect evolution?
• Section 4-4: How do speciation, extinction, and
human activities affect biodiversity?
• Section 4-5: What roles do species play in
ecosystems?