Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us all with vital services our lives depend on.  We rely on this diversity of life to provide us with the food, fuel, medicine and other essentials we simply cannot live without. Yet this rich diversity is being lost at a greatly accelerated rate because of human activities.

Did you know that there are an estimated 5 to 100 million species on the planet, but scientists have only managed to identify 2 million so far?  There still is so much left to discover, yet species are disappearing before we even have a chance to discover them.  In addition to our contributions of greenhouse gas emissions to global warming, other human activities such as clear-cutting forests, development and overfishing are also endangering much of life on Earth.  Humans have greatly sped up the rate of extinction—up to 1000 times the natural rate.  At present, a total of 17,291 species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction.  We need to make changes to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss now.

What is biodiversity?

Biodiversity (biological diversity) reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms and how these change from one location to another and over time. Biodiversity includes diversity within species (genetic diversity), between species (species diversity), and between ecosystems (ecosystem diversity).

Biodiversity is important in all ecosystems, not only in those that are “natural” such as national parks or natural preserves, but also in those that are managed by humans, such as farms and plantations, and even urban parks. It is the basis of the multiple benefits provided by ecosystems to humans.

Why is biodiversity important to us?

Biodiversity is essential for the benefits the ecosystems can provide to humans and hence for human well-being. These ecosystem services go beyond raw materials, and also include clean water, food security, health, and energy security.

What factors lead to biodiversity loss?

Some of the key drivers include land use change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, pollution, and changes in human population, incomes or lifestyle.  Historically, habitat and land use change have had the biggest impact on biodiversity in all ecosystems, but climate change and pollution are projected to increasingly affect all aspects of biodiversity.

What can you do to help?

Use less and act more.  Make changes in your daily life such as:

• Don’t letting the tap run while shaving, washing your face, or brushing your teeth.
• Use an electric razor or hand razor with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors to cut back on waste.
• When packing your lunch, opt for reusable containers for food storage instead of wrapping the food with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
• When deciding what you’re going to eat for the day, go vegan once a week. Many people may not know this, but raising animals for food generates a considerable amount of greenhouse gases!
• Do you have a morning hot drink routine? Using a washable mug is an environmentally-friendly alternative to non-biodegradable styrofoam or plastic cups.
• Lower your office’s carbon footprint by seeing computers, monitors, printers, copiers, speakers and other business equipment to their energy saving feature and turning them off at the end of the day.
• When cooking dinner, match the size of the pan to the size of the heating element to lower energy wastage.

Once again I participated in the Wildlife Conservation Society’s second annual Run for the Wild, a 5K run/walk at the Bronx Zoo. This year’s theme is “Tracks for Tigers”. All the funds raised by participants will go toward the Wildlife Conservation Society’s tiger conservation efforts.

There are only a few thousand tigers left in the wild — in fact, there are more tigers in captivity in the United States alone than there are in the wild worldwide.   Today, tigers are at less than 3 percent of their numbers just a century ago.  Human development, dwindling prey populations and continued threats from poachers have all contributed to the decline of their populations across Asia. In some parts of the world, tigers are valued more for their body parts than as living animals.

With your support, I hope to reach my goal. Even $10 will make a big difference for tigers. The donations I collect will help support WCS’s efforts to create protected areas for these striped beauties, stop illegal poaching, boost prey populations, and collaborate with local governments, business leaders and communities to manage human activity in tiger habitats.

If you wish to make a donation, please visit my fundraising page.

Thanks in advance for your generosity and your commitment to protecting tigers. I’ll keep your posted on my paw-gress!

Sincerely,

Allie Wilkinson

Yesterday started off with a group trip to the Denver Zoo, which was a winter wonderland after the snow we had overnight.  I will definitely blog more about the zoo after returning home.  [Unfortunately I left my camera cable in New York and want to wait to write about it until I can do the day justice with photos.]

This morning officially kicked off the 7th annual carnivore conservation conference.  The theme of this year’s conference addresses the conservation challenge of climate change, and the implications that is has for the conservation of ALL carnivore species, not just those in the polar regions.

The day began with a representative from HawkQuest showcasing one of their captive-bred Harris hawk, which flew directly over my head.  HawkQuest is an organization that educates the public about carnivores, especially raptors.  ”Educating our youth, is paramount to this process,” said an employee of Defenders of Wildlife, whose name I failed to catch.

Next up was a representative from Wolf Park, a non-profit organization located in Indiana, to award the second annual Erich Klinghammer Award, named after  Dr. Erich Klinghammer, the behaviorist who founded Wolf Park in 1972.  This year’s recipient was Nina Fascione, the Vice President of Field Conservation for Defenders of Wildlife.

Eventually we got to our plenary session, “Ecological Consequences of Large Predator Removal: A Comparison of Five U.S. National Parks”, led by Robert Beschta and William Ripple, both of Oregon State University.  After reading about both of these men and their research in “Where the Wild Things Were” by William Stolzenburg on my way to Denver, it was a delight to hear them speak in person about their research on trophic cascades in Yellowstone National Park.  [More on this later!!]

However, it is now time for me to go back to my sessions….

This is a wonderful opportunity and tickets are only $17, so go in my place and tell me all about it!

Credit: Aquafornia.com

WOW, has it really been one year already?  I feel like it was just yesterday that I had been assigned to blog for a week as one of my first homework assignments in grad school.  I didn’t even KNOW what a blog was at the time.  What is this strange thing?  What am I supposed to write?  What am I supposed to put on it?  I spent the whole first day just researching what a blog was and what different ones looked like.  Before I knew it, I was hooked.

Now I’ll admit, sometimes I don’t write as often as I should.  Life happens, or my brain gets fried.  But I could never give up on blogging.

It’s been a long road too.  I started with iWeb, which was a great place for a beginner.  Not knowing much about networking and PR, I switched to Blogger thinking that maybe community had something to do with.  After a few months, I realized I wanted more out of this.  I wanted the ability to expand into a full website (which I still intend to do!), so I switched to WordPress.com.  Somehow, it still wasn’t exactly what I wanted.  I wanted more freedom, and so I made the switch to self-hosted WordPress.org this summer.

So now here we are, at one year.  133 posts.  173 comments.  Clearly, I need to make an effort to writing more.  As for you, my dear readers, I would like for you to make an effort to comment more.  I’ve had the priviledge of getting to know many other wonderful bloggers, but I know next to nothing of my readers.   Are you regular readers?  Who are you?  What interests you?  What do you like?

Weird Sex in the Animal Kingdom
Has Sensationalistic Programming Demonized Sharks?
Vultures: A Symbol of Death
Hey Bungalow Bill, What Did You Kill?
I think I have the nerd infection
It’s a Big Ocean, But Is It Big Enough For Both?

If your favorite post isn’t listed, then leave a comment sharing what your favorite post is. In a week or so, I’ll choose the top two to feature on the side as a “reader’s choice”.