Spring+2024+Biodiversity+Lab+Manual

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150

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Biology

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Apr 26, 2024

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Activity Student Handout Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa BIO SCI 150 – Biodiversity Lab (Spring 2024) The activity for this lab has been adapted from the HHMI Web site https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom- resources/scientific-inquiry-and-data-analysis-using-wildcam-gorongosa One of the ongoing crises that is of deep concern not only among biologists but also for those interested in the environment and the general public is the current loss of biodiversity. If extinction in the past is a normal process, why should we worry about the loss of species and how they would affect ecological processes and stability? We will discuss this in lecture, and in this lab, you will watch two short videos regarding keystone species from two points of view. You should also watch the two short PBS videos outlined below: Otters and Orcas: An Alaskan Mystery https://www.pbs.org/video/otters-orcas-alaskan-mystery-haeqh2/ How Wildebeest Saved the Serengeti https://www.pbs.org/video/how-wildebeest-saved-serengeti-az7odc/ But before we can discuss the importance of biodiversity, we need to have some means of quantifying and analyzing it to answer the role they play and how the ongoing loss can be detrimental to maintaining ecological systems. In this lab you will carry out an exercise developed by the HHMI BioInteractive Website HHMI in conjunction with E. O. Wilson who is one of the leading ecologists in the field of biodiversity and with Robert MacArthur wrote the seminal Theory of Island Biogeography and is also the world expert on Ants. INTRODUCTION Gorongosa National Park is a 1,570-square-mile protected area in Mozambique. Decades of war, ending in the 1990s, decimated the populations of many of Gorongosa’s large animals, but thanks to a large-scale restoration effort some are now rebounding. Gorongosa’s researchers are working to discover and catalog animal species in Gorongosa in order to track their recovery using remote trail cameras. To fulfill the restoration goals of Gorongosa, it is important for biologists to collect data on the current status of biodiversity in the park. Biodiversity can be defined simply as the variety of life, but biodiversity can be studied at many levels, including genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity. High biodiversity is an indicator of ecological resilience, or the ability of an ecosystem to resist change or recover from disturbances. E.O. Wilson has championed the importance of assessing biodiversity and supports the work of conservation scientists like those working in Gorongosa National Park. The high biodiversity of organisms found in Gorongosa is due, in part, to the different vegetation types, including grassland, limestone gorges, and savanna/woodland. Because biodiversity cannot easily be captured in a single number, various indices, or measurements, are examined together to provide a more comprehensive picture of biodiversity. In this activity, you will calculate and analyze richness, Shannon diversity index, and evenness to compare the biodiversity of different habitats in Gorongosa using real data captured by trail cameras. You will then explore how humans may be impacting the biodiversity of the habitats found in Gorongosa. Ecology Revised March 2018 www.BioInteractive.org Page 1 of 10
Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa Activity Student Handout MATERIALS Internet access, computers/tablets with spreadsheet software (The latest version of Excel is recommended) PROCEDURE Several online/supplemental resources are used in this activity: Gorongosa Interactive Map WildCam Lab for data sets Tutorial for analyzing data Follow the instructions and answer the questions in the spaces provided. PART 1: Exploring Species Diversity in Gorongosa Launch the Gorongosa Interactive Map ( https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/gorongosa-national-park-interactive-map ) for a brief tour and study of the natural features of Gorongosa National Park. In the menu on the left side of the interactive, select the “Vegetation Types” and “Limestone Gorge” layers. These areas will now be visible on the map. Click the names on the map to bring up the pop-up window describing the areas. Note that some pop-up windows have scrolling text. Click through the different vegetation types to read about the variety of species supported in these areas. After you explore, make some predictions about the following : 1. What elements are necessary to support a wide variety of life for a given region? Include specific examples that you read about in the interactive. 2. For this activity, we will be eliminating the Montane vegetation types (Montane Grassland, Montane Woodland, and Montane Rainforest), found only on Mount Gorongosa. Make predictions about the possible differences in biodiversity between the remaining different vegetation types and the limestone gorge feature you read about in the interactive. Include information you used to make your predictions. Ecology Revised March 2018 www.BioInteractive.org Page 2 of 10
Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa Activity Student Handout PART 2: Introduction to Diversity Indices (Measuring Diversity) Before measuring biodiversity using a large data set like the trail camera data, you will practice calculating richness, evenness, and the Shannon diversity index by hand using a small sample data set. 3. Richness (S) is the total number of species in an ecosystem. Richness does not take into account the number of individuals, proportion, or distribution of each species within the ecosystem. Based on the species list below, what is the richness of this ecosystem? S = ________ Species list: Wildebeest, Warthog, Elephant, Zebra, Hippo, Impala, Lion, Baboon, Warbler, Crane 4. Richness alone misses an important component of species diversity: the abundance (number of individuals) of some species may be low while for others it may be higher. The Shannon diversity index (H) accounts for species abundance by calculating the proportion of individuals of each species compared to the total number of individuals in the community (P i ). For most ecosystems, the value for H ranges from 1.5 to 3.5, with the higher score being the most diverse. H = -SUM (P i * ln(P i )) Where: P i = species abundance/total abundance in the community ln = natural log a. Using the table on the next page, calculate the total abundance in the community and the P i value for each species. Next, calculate the natural log of P i for each species (ln(P i )) and then multiply the two columns to calculate P i * ln(P i ). Limit your numbers to three decimal places. Species Abundance P i ln(P i ) P i * ln(P i ) Wildebeest 3 Warthog 3 Elephant 2 Zebra 1 Hippo 1 Impala 4 Lion 1 Baboon 15 Warbler 25 Crane 18 Tot al b. Calculate H by adding each of the values in the P i * ln(P i ) column of the table above and taking the negative of that value. H = _____________________________ (This is the Shannon Diversity Index) Ecology Revised March 2018 www.BioInteractive.org Page 3 of 10
Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa Activity Student Handout 5. Ev enness (E) is a measurement to compare the abundances of each species in the community. Communities in which each species is more evenly represented are considered more diverse than communities in which a few species are very common and other species are very rare. Low values indicate that one or a few species dominate, and high values indicate that all of the species in a community have similar abundances. Evenness values range from 0 to 1, with 0 signifying low evenness and 1, complete evenness. E = H/H MAX Where: H = Shannon Diversity Index H MAX = the highest possible diversity value for the community, calculated by ln(richness) a. Use the richness value you calculated in question 3 to calculate H MAX . H MAX = ln(richness) = __________ Note: There are 10 species in in example. Therefore, the ln of 10 = 2.303. Hence H MAX = 2.303 You can calculate natural log (ln) if you do not have a calculator by entering: =ln(the number, example 8) in excel. b. Use the Shannon diversity index value you calculated in question 4 and the H MAX value you calculated above to calculate E. E = H/H MAX = ________________________________________ PART 3: Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa You will use be Measuring the Diversity in Gorongosa to investigate the richness, evenness, and Shannon diversity index of the dominant vegetation types in Gorongosa National Park. Before you begin, you will need to download a data set from WildCam Lab and save it to your computer. Click on https://classroom.zooniverse.org/#/wildcam-gorongosa-lab and enter the site as Explorer as shown on the figure on the right. This will take you to an interactive screen as shown below on the left . If you click on the stacked icon you can overlay the map with roads or satellite imagery and zoom into physical features of the area and explore it in great detail. The yellow and gray circles give more details about the landscape and also the humans who live there. The ecology and blog tabs contain more information of this area with updates on current research. The image shown below on the right is a satellite image of the same area and if you click on the download icon you can get the data spreadsheet for your biodiversity activity. Please download the spreadsheet and follow the instructions on the spreadsheet tutorial given after the questions. Ecology Revised March 2018 www.BioInteractive.org Page 4 of 10
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