biodiversity and chocolate

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Biodiversity and Chocolate Special topics: Valentine’s Day lecture Some material from Chpt 10

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All organisms that provide ecosystem services are specific species (kinds) of: animals plants fungus protozoa bacteria

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http://www.ualr.edu/botany/tree_of_life.jpeg

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Results 1 - 10 of about 3,330,000 for biodiversity- Feb 2006 Google search: Biodiversity bi·o·di·ver·si·ty   n. The number and variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region. The variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems. Results 1 - 10 of about 29,100,000 for biodiversity- Feb 6, 2007

The Value of Wild Species: 

The Value of Wild Species Instrumental Sources for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and animal husbandry Recreational, aesthetic and scientific value Sources of medicine Intrinsic

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Gas, climate, and water regulation Water supply Erosion control Soil formation Pollination Biological control Food production Recreation Raw materials Nutrient cycling Waste treatment Ecosystem Goods, Services, and Functions = $33 Trillion/year

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http://courses.nres.uiuc.edu/nres105/sweetcorn.htm Wild species Agricultural crops Example: Corn Originated in prehistoric Mexico No longer occurs wild, related spp. found in Mexico and Guatemala Early small-grained forms probably eaten as popcorn Small primitive cobs found in caves dating to ~3500 BC Not a stable crop in North America until after 500 AD Sweet corn first used as sugar source for beer

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Usually high degree of genetic diversity-adaptable Represents the genetic bank Wild Cultivated Selected for growth under specific conditions  Need highly controlled environmental conditions

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Botany of Desire Michael Pollan Apples Tulips Potatoes Marijuana

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http://www.ultimatedisney.com/melodytime.html

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Red junglefowl: S.E. Asian ancestor of the chicken Domestication = ~8000 yr ago

Sources of Medicine: Table 10-1: 

Sources of Medicine: Table 10-1 Vincristine from rosey periwinkle cures leukemia. Capoten from the venom of the Brazilian viper controls high blood pressure. Taxol from the bark of the pacific yew used to treat ovarian, breast and small-cell cancers.

Recreational, Aesthetic, and Scientific Value: 

Recreational, Aesthetic, and Scientific Value Ecotourism: largest foreign exchange-generating enterprise in many developing countries $104 billion spent on wildlife-related recreation $31 billion spent to observe, feed, or photograph wildlife

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Mountain gorillas: Uganda & Rwanda

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Intrinsic Value? Do species have an intrinsic value? Why: religion? Is it ever OK to purposefully cause a species to go extinct?

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http://www.fws.gov ~ 1/3rd N.A. species gone or threatened

Causes of Animal Extinctions: 

Causes of Animal Extinctions

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http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/strategies/hotspots/hotspots_map.xml Do we live in a diversity hotspot? What pattern do you see in hotspots?

Chocolate: 

Chocolate The “Food of the Gods”?

Cacao: 

Cacao Theobroma cacao - chocolate and cacao Origin in eastern Andes, "Food of the Gods" to Mayans, Mayan drink included cacao, red pepper, vanilla and other spices. Sweet hot chocolate became popular in Europe ~1650. Spanish, then Dutch, then Germans, became involved in establishment of cacao plantations. W. Africa and Brazil are now world's largest producers.

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http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/strategies/hotspots/hotspots_map.xml Brazil West Africa Also some in Hawaii

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Cacao tree, w pods, roughly the size and shape of a football, the pods grow straight out of the tree's trunk and branches. Usually grows w/in 20 degrees of equator, at temps of 70-90F in moist soil

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The beans spend a week soaking in the pulp while their flavor develops and their color changes to a rich brown. When they've soaked long enough, the beans are dried in the sun, bagged up and sent to chocolate factories.

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After arriving at the chocolate factory, the cacao beans are inspected. The beans that pass the test are sent on to be roasted. http://www.nwf.org/getgreen/Chocolate.cfm The roasted beans are shattered and tumbled and ground into bits. When melted, these become chocolate liquor, the main ingredient in chocolate. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Processing: 

Processing Cocoa is made by pressing out fat (cocoa butter), dry powder is treated with alkali to produce Dutch cocoa. Milk chocolate is produced by continuous stirring of a mixture of chocolate liquor + cocoa butter + sugar + condensed milk.

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http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe2520083&layout=martha&rsc=020606_slot3_chocolate Many ingredients can be added & many uses

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Tropical forests Why is biodiversity important to chocolate ? Why is chocolate important to biodiversity?

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The cacao flower is complicated in design, and its fertilization highly specialized. The flowers are pollinated exclusively by midges--small, gnat-like flies that thrive in the moist, debris-strewn rain forest floor. Chocolate & Biodiversity the chocolate bug

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Only 1 to 3 percent of the many hundreds of flowers produced by a single tree are fertilized and develop into pods. Trees at plantation edges, where the cultivated areas meet the rain forest, have many more pods than centrally-located trees. It's believed that the plantation environment (sunny, with trees planted far apart in rows) is far less attractive to the midges that pollinate cacao trees, as the insects prefer the damp, shady rain forest. Pre-Columbian farmers, who harvested trees in small plantings in the forest or at its edge, probably got a better yield.

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Cacao pods are tough-skinned Unlike the fruit of most trees, mature pods do not fall from the cacao tree Seeds cannot germinate unless freed from the pod To propagate cacao relies on animals who chew through the pod for the sweet pulp, and who discard the bitter seeds. Chocolate & Biodiversity

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Cacao trees and intact forest provide habitat for birds and many other insects

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Buying Shade grown chocolate Green and Black: Kroeger, Target; http://www.greenandblacks.com/uk/index.php?flash=yes