Biodiversity Hotspots: Brazil's Cerrado

         A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that is both a significant reservoir of biodiversity and is threatened with destruction. The biodiversity hotspot that I chose is Brazil's Cerrado. Though Brazil's Cerrado is not known as well as the Amazon, it takes up approximately 20% of Brazil. Brazil's Cerrado occupies Brazil's central area.
         Due to the fact that the Cerrado is a savanna, the Cerrado is a large grassland. It does not contain as wide a variety of biodiversity as the Amazon rainforest, though it does contain a wide variety of plant and animal species, including many endangered and critically endangered species. These species include, but are not limited to, the maned wolf (see figure 1), the giant armadillo, and the critically endangered Spix's macaw.

Figure 1(WWF) The endangered Maned Wolf.

        As far as average net primary productivity is concerned, the savanna type ecosystem falls about in the middle of the chart with approximately 3,200 kilocalories of energy produced per square meter per year. The Cerrado has enough need for energy that the net primary productivity is larger than the Arctic tundra's need for energy, but there is not so much of a need as what the tropical rainforest needs, therefore, the Cerrado falls right in the middle on the scale for net primary productivity in order to produce just enough energy to sustain Brazil's Cerrado.

Brazil's Cerrado Food Web

           The Cerrado home of a lot of biodiversity. There is an estimated 10,000 plant  species living in the Cerrado, 4,400 of which are considered endemic. (Endemic means that the species lives uniquely in the Cerrado.) 600 regularly occurring bird species migrate to and from the Cerrado, 20 of which are endemic. With 200 species of mammals in the Cerrado, 14 of those species are endemic. 30 of the 220 reptilian species in the Cerrado are endemic. Finally, nearly 13% of amphibians in the Cerrado are endemic. As this shows, species of Brazil's Cerrado allow for a very significant variety of biological diversity. 

         Starting in the 1970s, the Cerrado became the new frontier for agricultural production. This led to an increase of population and trade, mainly soy and corn. Approximately 78.7% of the Cerrado's land has been converted for human use and/or pasture and coal production. Only 21.3% of the indigenous vegetation remains today.  

World Wildlife Foundation

         Some work that the World Wildlife Foundation is using to conserve Brazil's Cerrado includes community-focused ecotourism, helping miners train and work as tour guides, and teachers in freshwater and environmental education. The WWF also sponsors the Round Table on Responsible Soy in the Cerrado, which helps to promote environmentally responsible production and usage of soy.

          With Brazil's Cerrado being on the line, the would is helping to build this savanna back up to its fullest potential. With the help of local and international people, the Cerrado will be the home of many no longer endangered, but thriving endemic species.

References

"Biodiversity Hotspot." Science Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Farticles%2Fb%2Fbiodiversity_hotspot.htm>.

"Biodiversity Hotspots for Conservation Priorities." (2000): n. pag. Web.

"Biological Diversity in the Cerrado." The Encyclopedia of the Earth. Ed. J. Emmett Duffy. Conservation International, 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eoearth.org%2Fview%2Farticle%2F150638%2F>.

"The Cerrado: Savanna in Brazil." E B E R B a C H B L O G. N.p., 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cR9rdkVFa04/U1CuntSJWfI/AAAAAAAABsU/qJIUy4MEKHU/s1600/Cerrado+Food+Web.PNG>.

"Cerrado, the Brazilian Savanna." WWF -. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014. <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/cerrado/>.

Learning About Food Webs and Energy Pyramids Summary

              Food webs are, by definition, consisting of all food chains in a single ecosystem. A food chain is a group of organisms linked in order of the food they eat. The organisms in these food webs are separated into different trophic levels. A trophic level is one of three positions on the food chain including producers, consumers, and decomposers. Producers are also known as autotrophs. They make their own food and do not need to depend on any other organisms for nutrients to survive. Producers use photosynthesis to provide themselves with the appropriate nutrients. Examples of producers are seaweed and some types of bacteria. The next level is the primary consumer level. Primary consumers are herbivores, which means that primary consumers eat plants, algae, and other producers. A mouse is considered a primary consumer. Next, there are secondary consumers. Secondary consumers are carnivores, which means that they eat herbivores. An example of a secondary consumer would be a snake that would eat a mouse. Further up the ladder, there are the tertiary consumers. Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers. Examples of tertiary consumers include owls or eagles that would eat the snake (secondary consumer) that ate the mouse (primary consumer). Finally, there are the decomposers and detritivores. Decomposers eat organic wastes and turn them into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soil. Detritivores, on the other hand, are organisms that eat nonliving plant and animal remains. (Dunn)

              In this activity, I learned a lot about the food webs and energy pyramids in an aquatic ecosystem. We were charged with placing the organisms that we had collected in our cards into the proper order based on the trophic levels that the organisms are placed in. My group's ecosystem was an aquatic ecosystem. The way that my group organized our web was (from bottom to top) producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and then, decomposers. One example for each of these levels would be plankton for primary consumers. For secondary consumers, we have the example of small fish. Tertiary consumer of our food web would be the shark. At the top, for our decomposer, we have the sea urchin.
              The biome that my group's food web represents is the aquatic biome. A biome is an area of the planet that can be classified according to the plants and animals that live in it. (Dunn) We know that the biome of our food web is the aquatic (or marine) biome because the animals and plants in our food web are those that we would find in the oceans of Earth. In conclusion, the food web that my group was assigned, was the aquatic biome food web.

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

Ecological Footprint Summary

The book definition of Ecological Footprint is "the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use; it is a measure of the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas."
During the Ecological Footprint activity, I learned a lot about the ecological footprint of the earth and of myself. Through participating in the Footprint Calculator activity, I found that in order to sustain my lifestyle, if everyone else on the planet lived like I do, we would need to have eight planet earths to be sustainable. As only one person, I need 37.5 global hectares to be sustainable. That is 47.3 tons of carbon dioxide! (A global hectare is a productivity weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the earth, and the demand on biocapacity.)
Even though these were my findings during the Ecological Footprint activity, they may not have been 100% accurate, but I cannot imagine my results coming back much differently had I changed the date. In order for me to live a more sustainable lifestyle, I must change the way I live, drastically.

References

Miller, G. Tyler. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections and Solutions. South Melbourne Etc.: Thomson Learning, 2004. Print.

"Glossary." Footprint Network. N.p., 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/#globalhectare>.