11.8 - Methods of Maintaining Biodiversity

Question 1

Define conservation and its general role.

Answer 1

Conservation – preservation and management of the environment and natural resources

• Conservation allows an organism’s chance of survival to be maintained, to allow them to reproduce
• Species and genetic diversity are safeguarded.

Question 2

What are the 2 types of conservation?

Answer 2

in situ conservation: conservation within natural habitat;

ex situ conservation: conservation out of the natural habitat

Question 3

What are pros and cons and examples of in situ conservation?

Answer 3

Pros

• Organims in natural habitat
• Habitat is conserved
• Organisms behave normally
• Ecological tourism

E.g. Wildlife reserves, marine conservation zones

Cons

• Hard to monitor organism’s health
• Environmental factors causing their decline may still be present
• Poaching or hunting still exists
• Disease hard to treat
• Predators hard to control

Question 4

What active management techniques do wildlife reserves employ?

Answer 4

Controlled grazing: allowing livestock to graze in designated areas of land for limited time – allows species time to recover

Human access restriction: e.g. not allowing humans to visit beaches during seal reproductive season, or providing paths to stop damage to other wildlife

Poaching restrictions: creating defences to prevent access and to issue fines

Animal feeding: ensures organisms survive to reproductive age

Culling/removal of invasive species: Invasive species – organisms that aren’t native to a habitat and have -ve economic and environmental effects

Halting succession: Succession – progressive replacement of a dominant species/community by another ecosystem until a stable climax community is established

• To protect habitats such as heathlands from becoming scrubland and woodland, controlled gazing means animals eat the seeds of growing woodland. Helps preserve natural beauty.

Question 5

Give examples of marine conservation zones and what they do?

Answer 5

• Vital in protecting species rich areas such as coral reefs – they are being devastated by non-sustainable fishing
• Purpose (not to prevent fishing) - but to create refuge areas to allow marine populations to build up and repopulate.

Conservation Methods

• Fishing quotas
• Species fishing restriction
• Impose sanctions
• No. of days allowed at sea
• Monitor/surveil

Question 6

What are examples of ex situ conservation methods?

Answer 6

Botannical Gardens

Seed Banks

Captive Breeding Programmes

Question 7

How are botanical gardens an example of ex situ conservation?

Answer 7

• Allows successful growth of plant species. Actively managed to provide species with best soil nutrients, watering and removal/prevention of pests to allow growth
• 1,500 botanic gardens worldwide holding 35,000 plant species.
• Majority of species not conserved; wild relatives of the selectively bred crop species are underrepresented amongst conserved species.

Question 8

How do seed banks conserve biodiversity?

Answer 8

• Example of a gene bank (store of genetic material)
• Seeds stored to be grown in the future, they are dried and stored at -20⁰C to maintain viability – will be viable for thousands of years and provide back-up for wild plant species extinction
• Seed banks don’t work for all plants, some die when dried and frozen – e.g. tropical plants

Question 9

How do zoos maintain biodiversity?

Answer 9

By using captive breeding

• Producing offspring in human-controlled environments
• Aim to create stable, healthy population of species before releasing back into the wild
• They give animals shelter, nutritious food, no predators and veterinary treatment
• They import suitable breeding partners

Question 10

Why aren’t some organisms born in captivity suitable for wild release?

Answer 10

Disease – loss of resistance to local disease in captive-bred organisms, new diseases may exist in the wild which captive animals haven’t developed resistance to yet.

Behaviour – some innate behaviour, but most must be learnt through copying, in reintroduction to wild, some species don’t know how to behave – e.g. monkeys searching for food. (Now food is hidden in cages)

Genetic races – captive animals genetic make-up can differ to original species, inhibiting breeding

Habitat – if habitat space is limited, it is not suitable as organisms fight for resources and territory

Question 11

What do the CITES conservation agreement do?

Answer 11

Conservation on International Trade in Endangered Species

An international trade agreement betwee governments ensuring…

• Regulating and preventing the trade of endangered species
  
  • Ensuring if there is trade, it does not endanger species survival (prevents over-exploitation)
• Prohibit wild plant species trade

Question 12

What does the Rio Convention aim to do?

Answer 12

• People need to use resources for food, water and medicine
• Develops strategies for sustainable use of organisms, habitats and ecosystems
• Adopts ex situ conservation techniques (seed banks, botannical gardens, zoos and captive breeding)
• Promotes international cooperation between nations to raise awareness about biodiversity and to t_ackle biodiversity issues_
  
  • _​_Can be done by sharing genetic resources

Question 13

What is the aim and the role of the County Stewardship scheme?

Answer 13

• Local level conservation scheme
• Operated in England from 1991-2014, offered governmental payments to farmers to farmers and land managers to enhance and conserve English landscape
• General aim – make conservation the norm in farming

Scheme aims

• Sustaining natural beauty of landscape
• Improving, extending and creating wildlife habitats
• Restoring neglected land and conserving archaeological/historical features
• Improving opportunities for public access