6 Conservation: Why and how?

Question 1

conservation

Answer 1

• keeping and protecting environments

Question 2

examples of conservation (4)

Answer 2

• reclaiming land after industrial use
• setting up sustainable agriculture systems in the developed world
• protecting threatened species
• global legislation on pollution levels and greenhose gas emissions

Question 3

ex-situ conservation

Answer 3

the conservation of componenets of biological diversity outside their natural habitats, such as zoos and seedbanks

Question 4

in-situ conservation

Answer 4

the conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of populations of species in their natural habitats

Question 5

why is ex-situ conservation done and what can it achieve? (3)

Answer 5

• sometimes when an organism is threatened with extinction there is not time to conserve their habitat or protect them in-situ
• always done along-side in-situ
• it enables their genetic material to be conserved and at best a breeding population can eventually be returned to their natural habitat

Question 6

Problems with botanic gardens (ex-situ) (3)

Answer 6

• take up a lot of space
• expensive to maintain species
• genetic variety is low because only a few individuals can be stored

Question 7

How is a seed conserved in a seed bank? (ex-situ) (4)

Answer 7

• seeds are randomly collected from different individuals
• the seeds must be cleaned because there could still be bacteria or fungi contained on the surface and it could be infected
• must be checked with the x-ray if the embryo is present and properly formed because otherwise it is not worth storing
• humidity must be removed and it must be put in low temperatures

Question 8

How can you ensure that seeds are still viable during storage? (2)

Answer 8

• take the seeds out of storage and revive them to see how many % of them germinate
• if germination rate drops, more seeds must be collected

Question 9

what is the goal of captive breeding programmes? (ex-situ)

Answer 9

to increase gentic diversity and the number of individuals so they can be reintroduced back into the wild

Question 10

Why does reintroduction usually fail? (3)

Answer 10

• not enough animals survive
• they are often not sexually mature yet
• they are often not capable of living in the wild anymore

Question 11

How to keep genetic variety in zoos? (2)

Answer 11

• each animal that is born in the zoo has a stud book, which registrates everything about the animal, this is known as a breeding plan
• instead of transporting males, which often kills them, the sperm is frozen and transported

Question 12

What are the problems with captive breeding and reintroduction programmes? (6)

Answer 12

• there is not enough space or resources in zoos for all the endangered species
• often difficult to provide the right conditions for breeding
• reintroduction to the wild will be unsucessful unless the original reason for the endangerment of the species has been removed
• animals bred in captivity often have problems adjusting to life in the wild
• in a small population(like in zoos) the gene pool is reduced, which can cause serious problems
• reintroduction programmes can be very expensive and time-consuming and might still fail