Gps affirmative

***Environment

**Biodiversity Add-On

Telemetry (GPS) key to reversing global species loss

Cooke ‘08

[Steven J., Dept. of Biology and Institute of Environmental Science @ Carleton University (Ontario), Endgangered Species Research, Vol. 4, January, p. 182]

In summary, telemetry and logging can provide conservation practitioners with data that is unattainable using other techniques. However, it is important to only use these technologies when they are determined to be the best means of achieving a specific conservation objective. Telemetry and logging, as well as other innovative research, assessment, and monitoring tools are needed in order to inform decision makers and thus achieve biodiversity targets (e.g. the Convention of Biological Diversity 2010 targets; see Balmford et al. 2005) and reverse the apparent global decline of many animal species.

GPS (telemetry) key to saving species and preserving biodiversity

Cooke ‘08

[Steven J., Dept. of Biology and Institute of Environmental Science @ Carleton University (Ontario), Endgangered Species Research, Vol. 4, January, p. 170]

One of the most desirable characteristics of telemetry and logging for the study of endangered species is that one can study free-living animals in their natural environment. This is particularly relevant to endangered species where removal of the animals to captivity would typically only be done as a conservation measure (e.g. to establish a captive breeding species). In nature, animals face a suite of site-specific biotic (e.g. predation) and abiotic (e.g. weather, habitat heterogeneity) conditions that cannot be adequately replicated in captivity and that need to be characterized and understood in an effort to understand the population ecology of an endangered animal. The monitoring of unrestrained free-ranging animals in their own environment eliminates laboratory artifacts but also eliminates the need to remove animals with reproductive potential from an endangered population. Depending on the technology used, these tools also provide the opportunity to focus on animal behaviour across a variety of scales. For example, to identify the seasonal critical habitats and geographic range of a species, telemetry or logging could be used at a spatial (e.g. site, regional, continental) and temporal (e.g. hours, days, years) scale that coincides with the biology of the animal. Another benefit of telemetry and logging technology is that they can produce continuous data streams (through use of arrays, loggers, or satellites) that eliminate data gaps during periods when animals are not monitored manually by research team members. Longterm and continuous records of behaviour facilitate the detection of trends through time in terms of spatial ecology and phenology. Indeed, data can be collected day and night and in harsh environmental conditions for extended periods without requiring continuous human support. Such an approach is particularly important for organisms that inhabit large ranges, exhibit rapid movement, or occupy habitats that are difficult to study. These tools also enable a researcher to characterize the variation among individuals and to recognize the plasticity of the responses. Individual variation in behaviour is increasingly being recognized as important for the conservation of biodiversity, as the variation can provide a better idea of the extent to which animals will differ from a ‘mean’ response (e.g. how far will they range from their ‘mean’ home range). Telemetry is also an ideal tool for linking individual behaviour with physiology and energy status (Wikelski & Cooke 2006), information that is fundamental for conservation. This integration can be achieved through the use of sensors (discussed in ‘Overview’ above) or by obtaining non-lethal biopsies (e.g. blood samples). Energetic analyses are particularly useful in conservation, as energy is the common currency in ecology and is essential for inferring the bioenergetic costs of different behaviours or exposure to different stressors.

Biodiversity loss outweighs nuclear war, economic collapse and tyranny.

Chen 2000 [Jim, Professor of Law at the U of Minnesota, Minnesota Journal of Global Trade Winter 2000, pg. 211]
The value of endangered species and the biodiversity they embody is literally . . . incalculable. What, if anything, should the law do to preserve it? There are those that invoke the story of Noahs Ark as a moral basis for biodiversity preservation. Others regard the Judeo-Christian tradition, especially the biblical stories of Creation and the Flood, as the root of the Wests deplorable environmental record. To avoid getting bogged down in an environmental exegesis of Judeo-Christian myth and legend, we should let Charles Darwin and evolutionary biology determine the imperatives of our moment in natural history. The loss of biological diversity is quite arguably the gravest problem facing humanity. If we cast the question as the contemporary phenomenon that our descendents [will] most regret, the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats is worse than even energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. Natural evolution may in due course renew the earth will a diversity of species approximating that of a world unspoiled by Homo sapiens in ten million years, perhaps a hundred million.

**Oil Spills Mod

GPS used in tracking and cleaning oil spills

Christopher Jablonski is a freelance technology writer. August 3, 2008. “Robot buoy to track oil spills”. ZDnet. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/robot-buoy-to-track-oil-spills/999

Yesterday, Japan Today reported about a prototype of robotic buoy developed at Osaka University to fight sea pollution in the event of an environmental disaster caused by an oil spill. The current prototype, dubbed SOTAB (short for 'Spilled Oil Tracking Autonomous Buoy') is a 110-kilogram GPS-equipped robot. The cylindrical buoy has a length of 2.7 meters and a diameter of 27 centimeters. The lead researcher admits that these robots will not be really ready before at least three years. But he would like to have these buoys installed on all oil tankers to be automatically dropped in the sea in case of an accident. But read more... You can see on the left a photo of the SOTAB 1 robotic buoy. There are several pictures of this prototype 'floating' on the Web. This one comes from this page at TreeHugger. This robot buoy has been designed by Naomi Kato, professor of submersible robotic engineering at the Department of Naval Architecture at Osaka University, Japan, with the members of his lab. The 'Katolab' "is conducting education and research on underwater robotics, biomechanics on aquatic animals and its application to engineering, computational hydrodynamics of viscous flow fields." You'll find more details about this robotic buoy by looking at this specific research project, Development of Spilled Oil Autonomously Chasing Buoy System. According to Japan Today, here is how Kato justifies the usage of such buoys. "'The development of an oil field in Russia's Sakhalin and Chinese economic expansion will likely lead to increased tanker traffic in Japanese coastal waters.' The buoy is intended to be deposited along the edge of an oil slick in the sea at the time of an accident. A sensor to analyze the stickiness of liquids detects heavy oil, which is more glutinous than sea water."

Oil Spills causes loss of Biodiversity, BP proves

Brian Merchant August 10, 2010 “4,500 Animals Killed in BP Spill ... And Counting”

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/4500-animals-killed-in-bp-spill-and-counting.html

a freelance writer and editor living in Brooklyn, NY. He covers politics for TreeHugger, with a focus on climate and energy issues. Brian has written for Slate, Paste, Salon, GOOD, and the Huffington Post, among many others. He pens the column Getting Samy Out of Burma, and is the editor and founder of the blog the Utopianist.

As BP moves to permanently seal the blown-out well that unleashed 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the focus is turning to the toll of the disaster. It should be said that the true and total toll will not be known for some time, until scientists have had a chance to properly investigate the extent of the damage above and below the sea. But there are some things we can start looking at now: Like the direct number of casualties among the Gulf's wildlife the spill has claimed so far. Thousands of animals -- birds, sea turtles, dolphins, and reptiles -- have been killed so far. Birds have fared the worst -- 3,902 have officially been collected dead*. These birds include the threatened brown pelican, Louisiana's state bird. The birds are killed after ingesting oil while attempting to clean it off of their feathers. 1,869 have been collected alive, and some 775 of those have been released into the wild -- though many scientists believe that only a small percentage of those will survive. 517 sea turtles, all of which are considered endangered, have been killed by the spill. Another 500 oiled turtles have been collected alive, and their future is uncertain. Many of these turtles belong to a species called Kemp's Ridley, the smallest and most endangered sea turtle in the world. 71 marine mammals, mostly dolphins, have been killed over the course of the spill thus far. One solitary, unidentified reptile has also perished in the spill

Impact to loss of ocean life is extinction

Craig 8 Robin Kundis, Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida, “ CLIMATE CHANGE, REGULATORY FRAGMENTATION, AND WATER TRIAGE”, Summer, 79 U. Colo. L. Rev. 825, lexis

Marine ecosystems have immense value. Oceans cover more than 70% of our planet, 314 support vast reserves of biodiversity (in all senses), 315 produce at least half of the Earth's atmospheric oxygen, 316 drive the planet's hydrological cycle, 317 sequester carbon dioxide, 318 and play a significant role in the earth's climate and weather. 319 As such, oceans and estuaries are critical providers of ecosystem services - those "myriad of life support functions, the observable manifestations of ecosystem processes that ecosystems provide and without which human civilizations could not thrive." 320 According to a comprehensive study that appeared in Nature in 1997, "about 63% of the estimated value [of the world's ecosystem services] is contributed by marine ecosystems," especially coastal ecosystems. 321 Specifically, "coastal environments, including estuaries, [*892] coastal wetlands, beds of sea grass and algae, coral reefs, and continental shelves ... cover only 6.3% of the world's surface, but are responsible for 43% of the estimated value of the world's ecosystem services." 322
**Deforestation Mod

Deforestation is at the tipping point

Brahic 09(Catherine Brahic, March 2009, “Parts of Amazon close to tipping point” Newscientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16708-parts-of-amazon-close-to-tipping-point.html)

The Mato Grosso, the most scarred region of the Amazon rainforest, is teetering on a deforestation "tipping point", and may soon be on a one-way route to becoming a dry and relatively barren savannah. Mônica Carneiro Alves Senna and colleagues at the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, used computer models to simulate how the Amazon would recover from various amounts of deforestation. Their simulations ranged from a complete wipe-out of the entire forest to a situation where just one fifth of the forest would be removed. Previous studies have shown that cutting trees has a double effect on the forest's recovery. Fewer trees means less rain - because rainclouds are more likely to form above moist forests. It also leads to poorer quality soil, as most of the Amazon's nutrients come from decaying vegetation, explains Yadvinder Malhi of the University of Oxford. "By removing the forest you remove the nutrients," he says.

GPS key to tracking and solving deforestation

Satheesh Gopi February 21, 1996 “Global Positioning System: Principles And Applications” has over 16 years experience as a hydrographer and is currently working as Marine Surveyor in the Hydrographic Survey Wing of the Kerala Port Department. He received his degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram and also holds a masters degree in information technology. He is the author of Global Positioning System – Principles and Applications. He was commissioned to supervise surveys with commercially available Total Stations in the late eighties and with GPS receivers in the early nineties. He has worked with Total Station and GPS ever since. R. Sathikumar is presently Professor (Civil) with the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. He received his post-graduate degree, in Transportation Engineering, from IIT Kanpur in 1989 and his Ph.D from IIT Roorkee in 1996. N. Madhu is Assistant Professor (Civil) with the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. He obtained his M.Tech in Traffic and Transportation Engineering from IIT Madras in 1991.

Modelling Deforestation Researchers in Cameroon have used GPS and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create a spatial model of deforestation in southern Cameroon, around the town of Bertoua. After producing a GIS database containing information on natural and cultural landscape variables, the researchers were able to create a map of deforestation risk zones on a regional scale by relating the data base information to how frequently deforestation was happening. Ground observations were geo- referenced using GPS. The deforestation map will have value in implementing development projects and establishing policies to reduce the detrimental effects of deforestation.

Deforestation causes biodiversity loss and human extinction

Akhand Jyoti 3 (Akhand Jyoti is the leading magazine in Mathura, India. “The Disaster of Deforestation” March-April 2003. http://www.akhandjyoti.org/?Akhand-Jyoti/2003/Mar-Apr/Deforestation/)

Imagining Earth without forests is a horrifying picture to conceive. As its knowledge base has expanded and deepened, mankind has realised that forests are extremely important to the survival of humans and other life forms on earth. Yet deforestation continues unabated in different parts of the world. According to the World Resource Institute based at Washington DC (U.S.A.), the rates of rainforest destruction are 2.4 acre per second, 149 acres per minute, 214000 acres per day and 78 million acres per year. Literature survey and research by Stephen Hui reveals that British Columbia has about 40% of its original forests remaining, while Europe has less than half; the United States have approximately 1-2% of their original forest cover; more than 80% of the planet’s natural forests have already been destroyed.1 This article examines the importance of forests, the effects of deforestation on health and environment and an effective remedy to replenish the flora already lost. Plants and animals, along with microorganisms, comprise life on Earth. Herbivorous animals sustain their life by consuming plants. Carnivorous animals and birds kill herbivorous animals for food; therefore indirectly they also depend on plants. Sea creatures eat aquatic plants and humans consume crop plants. A large variety of birds feed on seeds. There would rarely be any animal or bird who do not use plants directly or indirectly to satisfy their food requirements. It is thus not surprising that tropical forests are the home to 70% of the world’s plants and animals (more than 13 million distinct species) 30% of all bird species and 90% of invertebrates.2 Loss of forests has led to the extinction of thousands of species, estimated to be 50000 species annually. Besides being the source for food, plants help us in a number of other ways. Animals, including humans, inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plants take up carbon dioxide and in return they release oxygen – this exchange is very important. Forests in particular act as a huge carbon dioxide sink. If there were not enough trees to absorb carbon dioxide, its accumulation would make the environment poisonous. Over the last 150 years, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased by about 25%.3 Carbon-dioxide also contributes to global warming.