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| Hierarchy of components: diversity of genes, of species, of communities/ecosystems (desert versus Arctic, for example) and of ecological processes (such as predators and their prey, and parasites and their hosts). |
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| # of species that have been described: |
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| # of estimated total species: |
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| Greatest # of species located in: |
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| species that are geographically limited |
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| Why should we care about biodiversity? |
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| Maybe you feel an ethical responsibility to the organisms with which we share the Earth. Or perhaps you care because you find biodiversity beautiful. |
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| ? One class of pollutant is something that is present in area where it should be absent. Other pollutants may occur naturally, but human activity then boosts them to abnormally high levels. |
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| Pollutants may come from: |
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| either point or non-point sources. The latter are the hardest to monitor and regulate. |
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| agriculture was developed: |
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| Rachel Carson and the story of DDT |
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| By eating contaminated prey with DDT stored in fatty tissues, DDT became bioconcentrated (or bioaccumulated or biomagnified) in predators at higher levels in food webs. |
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| At the top of their food webs, populations of many predatory birds started to decline. Why? |
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| Because DDT caused egg shells to thin and few live baby birds to hatch. |
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| Today in the U.S., the use of DDT is very restricted because of effects in non-target species. |
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| Integrated Pest Management (IPM) |
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| Because of non-target contamination and the evolution of pesticide resistance, our strategy today is one of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) rather than Outright Pest Eradication (OPE) – careful use of chemicals, use of natural enemies and use of bioengineered crops. |
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A growing number of chemicals disturb the hormonal control of reproduction, either by mimicking the effects of natural hormones or blocking their effects.
Such hormone disrupters have been shown to affect cells growing in dishes, laboratory animals and wildlife. |
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| The average woman in the U.S. has around a one-in-eight chance of developing breast cancer. If a man lives long enough, he will probably die with prostate cancer, even if not from prostate cancer. Is there a link with our use of chemicals? Can we be certain? |
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| , if the consequences of doing nothing might be sufficiently bad, then maybe it is best to act now even if we aren’t 100% certain whether those bad consequences will actually come about. |
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| # of people on the planet |
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Definition
For most of human history there have been fewer than one billion people on the planet. It was in the 1800s that our numbers started to climb.
Our global population is predicted to increase from around 6 billion in 2000 to around
9 billion (-ish) in 2050. |
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| Female determinants of fertility |
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| the timing of puberty, use of birth control (with the ‘global gag rule’ now lifted), lowered fertility while breast-feeding and the impact of education |
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| are diagrams that provide summaries of current population sizes and serve as predictors of the potential for future population growth. |
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| demographic transition model |
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| core idea is that, as a nation moves toward a more ‘developed’ economy, a decline in death rate occurs before a decline in birth rate. Thus there is the potential for a surge in population growth. |
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| measures the average per capita amount of land needed to provide people with the goods and services they need (or want) and enable wastes to be disposed of. |
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| Cutting the vas deferens prevents sperm from leaving the testis |
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| These kill sperm in the vagina after ejaculation |
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| Intrauterine devices (IUDs) |
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| These prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, probably by causing mild inflammation (some IUDs contain copper). |
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| Oral contaceptives, or “the Pill” |
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| There are many different kinds, with most containing a combination of estrogen and progesterone. These molecules inhibit the release of FSH and LH from the pituitary gland. Follicles fail to develop, and if one ‘gets through the net,’ ovulation is unlikely. In addition, mucus in the cervix may become thick and viscous, blocking the path of sperm. The so-called “Mini Pill” contains only progesterone; while a little less effective than combination pills, it has fewer side-effects. |
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| Multiple stick-like capsules containing progesterone are placed under the skin. Implanon works in a similar way, but only a single capsule is needed |
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| “the Patch”. Looking a bit like a Band-aid, the patch releases hormones that pass across the skin and into the blood. |
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| A thin, flexible ring containing hormones that is placed in the vagina. The hormones pass into the blood. |
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| A shot of progesterone injected into a muscle |
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| Designed as emergency contraception after unprotected sex, the hormones in Plan B pills block ovulation, disrupt sperm transport and make implantation less likely. They do not cause the abortion of an already-implanted embryo. |
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| This molecule blocks the action of progesterone. If taken before pregnancy, it can prevent implantation. More controversial is its use after pregnancy (the time when it is most used), when it causes abortion. |
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| female reproduction basic players |
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Definition
| the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary gland, posterior (back) pituitary gland, ovaries, uterus (or womb), and mammary glands (or breasts) |
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| is produced by the follicle before and by the corpus luteum after ovulation. Progesterone is another hormone produced by the corpus luteum. These hormones have effects on the uterus, the mammary glands and the brain |
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| which predictable changes occur in the pituitary, ovary and uterus over the course of about 28 days (one lunar month). In a typical menstrual cycle, day 1 = the first day of menstruation (or period), and day 14 = the day of ovulation. |
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| an ovulated egg is picked up from the surface of the ovary by finger-like fimbriae found at the ends of the Fallopian tubes. As the egg moves down one of the tubes, it may encounter sperm and become fertilized. Just one sperm fertilizes a single egg. Meiosis by the egg is completed only after penetration by a sperm |
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| hCG from an embryo implanted in the wall of the uterus enters the mother’s blood and stimulates the corpus luteum in her ovary to keep producing estrogen and progesterone (hCG carries the message “Mom’s pregnant,” and is the target of detection of pregnancy-test kits). If the corpus luteum fails, then the wall of the uterus is lost, i.e., a woman experiences her period. |
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| a complex organ in which the baby and mother’s blood come very close together but do not directly mix. There’s a lot of exchange between the two blood supplies, oxygen and nutrients moving to the baby, carbon dioxide and other wastes moving to the mother. Of course, some unwanted things can also pass into the baby across the placenta, such as alcohol and cocaine. |
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| The baby initiates birth by: |
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| producing stress hormones that cause contractions of the uterus’ muscles |
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| a short passage connecting the uterus to the vagina, and through which the baby passes during birth |
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| For a woman who is unable to produce muscle contractions strong enough to expel the baby, an obstetrician may inject an artificial form of oxytocin, called pitocin, into one of her veins. |
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| When the process of birth is too painful for a woman to endure, an obstetrician may inject an anesthetic into the space around her spinal cord. Known as an epidural, this causes the woman to feel no pain below the site of the injection. |
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| The health of the newborn baby is measured according to: |
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| A set of standardized APGAR scores. |
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| The breast first produces ________, which is rich in disease-fighting antibodies. |
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| A hormone called ________, produced by the anterior pituitary gland, stimulates milk production by cells in the ducts of the breast |
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| A second hormone, called ______ and produced by the posterior pituitary gland, stimulates the ejection of milk from the nipple |
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| basic players in male reproduction: |
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| the hypothalamus in the floor of the brain, the anterior (front) pituitary gland attached to the hypothalamus and the two testes |
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| Sertoli cells ‘nurse’ sperm produced by meiosis in the seminiferous tubules. Situated between these tubules are Leydig cells that produce male sex hormones (or androgens) such as testosterone. |
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| produced by Sertoli cells regulates sperm production by negative feedback |
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| specialized single cells that are mobile (with a tail, or flagellum). They carry paternal DNA in the form of 23 chromosomes. They also carry mitochondria to generate energy and enzymes needed to penetrate into an egg |
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| it is neither a bone nor a muscle, but a blood pump |
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| can help men with erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow to the penis |
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| are ‘natural clones’ – they are identical genetically (barring mutations, of course), formed when a single embryo breaks in two. |
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