Biodiversity Intactness Index Essay

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1. What is the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII)? (p. 289)
a. The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) is the average abundance of originally present species across a broad range of species, relative to abundance in an undisturbed habitat.
2. What four pressure variables were investigated? (p. 290)
a. The four pressure variables that this paper focused on were land use, land-use intensity, human population density, and proximity to the nearest road.
3. The “average local abundance of originally present species has globally fallen to” 84.6%.
4. If you consider “novel” species to contribute beneficially to ecosystem function, what has happened to global average abundance?
a. If you consider “novel: species to contribute beneficially to ecosystem function the safe limit for total abundance would be 48.4%.
5. If novel species impair ecosystem function, how would this affect
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He probably thinks that ESA does have enough money but that it isn’t being used properly. He also knows, like we all do, that getting more money from Congress is not easy because that means a long process of bureaucratic affairs and more taxes on the people—neither of which are favorable. I think that reassigning current funds is better than claiming you don’t have the funding you require when you really do. It is the bureaucratic way to always ask for more money and to always spend the money you are given even if it is not necessary (If you don’t use the money you are given for the year, you will not get as much next year no matter what you ask for). I think that it will show congress that they are being more efficient with their funding and would be more deserving of an increase of funding in the future. Congress likes when people don’t ask for more money all the time so when the ESA does need more money, it can remind Congress that it hasn’t asked for more money in a few years and it has been using its money more efficiently so the funding from Congress is going a lot further than

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