Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Conservation of Biodiversity
- The Importance of Biodiversity
- Global biodiversity is the variety
and abundance of life on Earth
- The life on Earth provides a range of
ecological life-support services as
well as resources that we exploit
- Sustainable development
and conservation are
required to maintain
access to there resources
- Resources
- Wood
- Used in the manufacture of
buildings, tools and furniture
- Fibres
- Cotton, wool, paper, silk,rayon
- Oils
- Vegetable and animal
oils are used in foods,
lubricants and soaps
- Fuels
- Wood, charcoal, alcohol, vegetable oils
- Food
- Plants, animals, algae and fungi
- New Food Species
- Few of the known plant/animal
species are used for food.
- Some of these animals/plants are kept in habitats they
are not adapted to, this reduces productivity
- Indigenous species are usually better
adapted than introduced species, to local
conditions, giving them higher survival rates
- Example of conditions include:
Climate, pests and soil conditions
- Selective breeding may be needed
to enhance desirable features
- Plants species that have
potential for commercial
cultivation
- Potato Bean of North America
- High protein content
- Morama Bean from dry
areas of southern Africa
- Protein content
similar to soya and is
drought resistant
- Yeheb Tree from Somalia
- Produces edible nuts, is drought
resistant and can grow in poor soils
- Spinach
- Many species of spinach can grow
in soils with high salt content.
- Could be used in breeding programs to increase
the salt tolerance of other crops in areas where
irrigation has caused soil salinisation
- Perennial variety of
Maize from Mexico
- Perennial means it grows
year on year, so you do not
need to buy new seeds
- Also reduces the need to plough
which reduces the risk of soil erosion
- Kernza
- Perennial, so has similar
advantages to perennial maize
- Animal species
investigated for
domestic farming
- E.g. American Bison, Common
Eland, Common Ostrich, Cane
Rats, Emu and Giant Land Snails
- Biomimetics
- The use of knowledge of
adaptations of other species,
to improve the design of
manufactured goods
- Transport Design
- Splayed wingtip feathers of birds
help reduce turbulence and drag.
- Aircraft's copy this to
improve fuel efficiency
- Humpback whale flippers have tubercles (bumps)
to channel water flow, increasing hydrodynamic
efficiency allowing them to turn tighter
- Now been applied to ship rudders
and aerogenerator blades
- Ships can now turn tighter, and aerogenerators
need a lower wind speed to spin
- Infection Control
- Bacteria doesn't stick easily to shark skin
- A coating that imitates shark skin is used in hospital
operating theatres to help control bacterial infection
- Architecture
- The mounds that termites construct above ground,
become hot and causes the hot air inside to rise. This
draws out stale air at lower parts and creates a
solar-driven ventilation system
- This system has been adopted by shopping centres
and office blocks to eliminate the need for air
conditioning units
- Adhesion
- The toes of gecko lizards have
pads that provide strong adhesion
- Attempts are being made to replicate
this to eliminate the need for glue
- Some seeds have burs with hooks to stick
to fur of animals, this aids seed dispersal
- Velcro copy's this tactic
- Lotus flowers have water repelling features
- This has been copied in self-cleaning glass
- Materials
- Some natural materials have properties that can be
applied to the manufacture of synthetic materials
- The lightweight, strong, flexible silk produced by
spiders in use to create airbags and body armour
- Medicines
- Plants produce toxins to protect themselves
from predators, these toxins in carful
amounts can be used as medicines for humas
- Poppies
- Cultivate to produce painkillers
like morphine and codeine
- Willow Trees
- Bark was originally used to create Asprin. Now created synthetically
- Yew Tree
- Taxol is extracted and used to treat a
range of cancers (Breast, ovarian, lung,
bladder and prostate)
- Caribbean Tropical
Marine Sponge
- The drug AZT was discovered in it. Used to treat HIV/AIDS
- Shark Blood
- Drug AD 114 is being tested as a
cure for fibrosis of the lungs, based
on antibody in shark blood
- Physiological Research
- Marsupials give birth at a very
early stage, their young are then
left to develop in mothers pouch
- Easier to study marsupials young than a
human of the same age in mothers womb
- Hippopotamus skin secretes
hipposudoric acid which is a natural
sunscreen and antimicrobial agent
- Being researched to help improve the
treatment of burns victims
- Pest Control Species
- A wide range of predators, herbivores,
parasites and pathogens are used to
control argricultural pests