Biodiversity Lecture November 11th

Question 1

Why conserve ecosystems

Answer 1

A catch all for species conservation, value of ecosystems greater than the sum of their parts (ecosystem services), Ex. Black footed ferrets and burrowing owls, both listed by SARA, both dependent on eating prairie dogs which we still have a bounty to kill)

Question 2

Surrogate or Keystone Species

Answer 2

A species that is crucial to an ecosystem, without which the ecosystem collapses (ex. when seastars were taken out of intertidal community, mussels took over outcompeting everything else and ecosystem collapsed) Keystone species are often top predators which control the herbivores so plants aren’t all annihilated.

Question 3

Ecosystem Engineers

Answer 3

A specific case of keystone species that have an affect on more than just the trophic chain. Ex. African Bush elephant maintains savannah by pulling out trees and eating saplings, the african forest elephant that disperses most of the seeds in the forest, wolves, earthworms, trees, beavers, nitrogen fixing bacteria.

Question 4

Umbrella Species

Answer 4

Species that require a lot of habitat (usually large animals) and therefore the conservation of which also leads to the conservation of species that require less of the same habitat. Ex Northern spotted owl requires large expanses of old growth forest

Question 5

Indicator Species

Answer 5

Canaries in the coal mine. Species that are very sensitive to pollution, habitat loss, etc. and give us an indication when something is wrong in an ecosystem that may also affect other species. Ex. Lichens sensitive to air pollution and amphibians sensitive to water pollution.

Question 6

Flagship Species

Answer 6

May or may not be indicators, keystone or umbrella species. Often large fuzzy animals used for PR, poster children of conservation. Ex. Pandas, polar bears, tigers

Question 7

Multi-species conservation imperative where:

Answer 7

multiple species at risk occupy an area, species may have conflicting needs which can be addressed effectively with a broad approach. Threats operate on large scale, species face the same suite of threats. Ex. Garry Oak Ecosystems

Question 8

True Ecosystem Conservation: IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in Production

Answer 8

Focusing not only on threatened ecosystems, secretariat, enhancing technical and institutional capacity for ecosystem red listing at all levels of gov. , developing linkages at sectors for ecosystem conservation

Question 9

Challenges of True Ecosystem Conservation

Answer 9

Modeling outcomes, defining ecosystems and their characteristics

Question 10

Ecosystem Conservation vs. Species Conservation

Answer 10

Ecosystem conservation may be more successful because it looks at the bigger picture, surrogate species approaches have been long used, but are they really representative? Multi species approaches may be an intermediate step, true ecosystem conservation is in the works, though not simple because we must agree on what defines an ecosystem.