Chapter 29: Conservation Biology Flashcards

Question

what happens to tropical forests as they are cleared

Answer 1

- tropical forests are burned, this releases carbon stored in wood as cO2 into the atmosphere, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to global warming - forest burning contributes nearly 20% of all greenhouse gases released by human activity into the atmosphere annually - once a forest is cut, heavy grazing or farming removes nutrients from the soil

Answer 2

lower evapotranspiration rates - leading to increased outflow of water through streams and rivers and lower amounts of water returned to the atmosphere - the amazon has up to 40% of precipitation is generated through water

Answer 3

the remaining areas of intact habitat are inevitably reduced to small, isolated patches *complete habitat conversion isn't required for the degradation of habitats or a reduction to biodiversity - when humans first colonize a habitat they usually build roads and then clear isolated areas for specific uses

Answer 4

- small habitat patches can sustain only small populations of organisms and because of reduced habitat quality in the patches of remaining habitat - populations that have small habitat patches usually have low carrying capacities - fragmented habitat patches are often separated by unsuitable habitat that organisms may be unwilling or unable to cross, such as a busy road or city - therefore, individuals from one isolated population won't migrate to another which reduces gene flow = reduces genetic variability and can contribute to population decline

Answer 5

max. population size that it can support, varies with available resources

Answer 6

- human activities create noise and pollution that spread into nearby areas - removal of natural vegetation disrupts the local physical environment, exposing the borders of the remaining habitat to additional sunlight, wind, and rainfall - increased runoff compacts the soil and may lead to increased flooding or waterlogging

Answer 7

- Luke Gibson of the Natural University of Singapore and colleagues from Australia, Canada, China, Thailand, and the USA studied the effects of habitat fragmentation on communities of small tropical mammals in Southern Thailand - they surveyed mammals on 16 small islands when a river was dammed to establish a reservoir - the dam flooded 165 km^2 of continuous forest that had harboured 13 native small mammal species - they discovered that the species richness declined after the island fragments were formed - the only small mammal present on every island was the non-native Malayan rat which the researchers believe colonized the after the flooding of the forest - this invasive rat may have contributed too the extinction of the other species, either through competition or predation

Answer 8

many local population extinctions

Answer 9

excessive harvesting of an animal or plant species

Answer 10

- extirpations result from overexploitation

Answer 11

harvesting species

Answer 12

they can be wiped out completely

Answer 13

the only environment from which we routinely harvest predators as food example: the fishery on the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland provides a stark example - fishers used traditional line and small-net fishing to harvest a large but sustainable - new technology allowed fishers to locate and exploit schools of fishes more efficiently - roughly half of fish species harvested there are now overfished

Answer 14

- Haddock and Yellowtail flounder - they've been essentially eliminated from Grand Banks; their populations may never recover - because fishers preferentially harvest the oldest and largest individuals, Atlantic cod now mature faster at. younger age and smaller size

Answer 15

less than 10% of the highest historic levels - in the mid 1960s, Atlantic cod yielded a minimum of 350 000 tons per year - by the mid-1970s the catch dropped to 50 000 tons per year - the Canadian government finally closed the fishery in 1993, after the cod catch fell bellow 20 000 tons for several years - NOW: - heavily exploited species are less marketable because of their smaller size - fish populations have decreased to dangerously low levels, and the fishing industry is itself imperilled

Answer 16

fish communities in the future will be dominated by small prey fish, rather than by the large predators that were abundant in the previous century

Answer 17

- Bramble Cay melomys = small rodent endemic to a single small island = habitat lost to rising sea levels = declared extinct in 2014

Answer 18

- changing temperature can disrupt phenology = the timing of life history events such as migration, reproduction, bud burst or flowering time (diff organisms base the timing of these events based on diff environmental cues which can lead to ecological mismatches impacting species ability to find food for their young, make suitable nests, or other important activities that can have substantial impacts on their fitness)

Answer 19

- temperature itself can impact the balance of males and females and thus the sex ratio and the number of breeding adults in certain populations - in humans and other animals, sex is determined by genotype - in other species (i.e. reptiles) sex is determined by environment = eggs incubated at some temperatures develop into males, (27-29 degrees) and when incubated at other temperatures produce females (23-26 OR 30-33 degrees) [Warner and Shine experiment]

Answer 20

- larger body sizes develop at higher temperatures and larger females have higher fecundity than smaller ones - higher temperatures also correlate with larger body size in males, however this wasn't an advantage for females as much - males hatched from eggs incubated at intermediate temperatures and produced more offspring than those at lower temperatures (increased fitness)

Answer 21

- populations have been observed to be 99% female - eggs incubated at the wrong temperature may also fail to hatch - as climate change continues (temp increases) it'll continue to stress these populations which will threaten biodiversity

Answer 22

House Cats (Felis Catus) - in 1894, one house cat named Tibbles exterminated an entire population of flightless wrens in Stephens Island near NZ

Answer 23

- colonize - establish - and cause environmental damage to consider invasive - fewer than 10% of all introduced species become established and that less than 1% of that 10% become invasive - when spices do cause damage, the impact can be severe and long-lasting

Answer 24

- arrive and establish - outcompete resident species or may prey on local species, driving population decline and devastating native species and ecosystems

Answer 25

- go from Eastern Europe - Zebra Mussels invaded the Great Lakes, arriving in the ballasts of ships - these immigrant mussels outcompete and overgrew many native species including human-created structures and equipment - this reduced the range and populations of native mussels to levels that threatened the survival of several endemic species, and continue to cost millions to manage

Answer 26

via Ballast water in ships - ships without cargo ride high on ballast water resulting in low fuel efficiency which also reduces fuel consumption

Answer 27

- horticulture is the art and science of cultivating plants - 34 of the 100 worst invasive species are plants, 89% of which were intentionally introduced

Answer 28

- one of the worst invasive species - delicate purple flowers that is in all ecosystems as a decorative water plant - rapidly cover the surface of water bodies, blocking light that other aquatic organisms need to survive and increasing flooding by covering the water surface with thick, impenetrable mats -

Answer 29

- when europeans first arrived in the New World, the American chestnut tree was widespread in forests from Southern Ontario to Alabama - distribution and density were reduced as settlers from Europe cleared more and more land for agriculture = CHESTNUT BLIGHT - an introduced disease that killed nearly all American chestnut trees

Answer 30

1) filling empty ice space in the new environment 2) invading an area where they have no native predators 3) using defences such as exuding chemicals that are novel weapons in the new environment and allow them to outcompete native species OR 4) exploring novel habitats, such as those opened by humans along roadsides in urban environments

Answer 31

humans - i.e. species of birds disappeared from islands in South Pacific as Polynesians arrive there from the west - Easter Islands lost sea birds as humans got there - same w/ Galapagos you don't have to be industrial to effect extinctions

Answer 32

- materials or energy in forms of quantities that organisms do not usually encounter, poses another major threat to biodiversity

Answer 33

the by-products or waste products of agriculture and industry are released locally - many spread in water or air, sometimes on a continental or global scale - i.e. in NA - winds carry airborne pollutants from coal-burning power plants to the northeast - SO2 which dissolves in water vapour and forms sulphuric acid falls as an acid precipitation, acidifying soil and bodies of water - many lakes in northeastern areas have experienced drops in pH (10 fold increase of acidity) = these lakes are now devoid of life

Answer 34

- 200 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico - uncapped well continued to spew oil until it was clogged in July

Answer 35

- application of synthetic compounds to agricultural fields or livestock can have dire and far reaching consequences - enormous populations of vultures estimated at more than 40 million birds consumed the abandoned carcasses of farm animals across South Asia - early 1990s, farmers began to administer diclofenac to injured livestock which left vultures almost extinct because diclofenac is responsible for fatal kidney failure

Answer 36

- PET (polyethylene terephthalate) - used in plastic products with over 55 million tons of PET produced in 2013 - most plastics don't biodegrade, persisting in the environment well beyond human lifetimes - microplastics have been found (less than 5mm in diameter) have been found in the digestive systems and in some cases the tissues, of both aquatic and terrestrial organisms PLASTIC IMPACTS - entangle organisms - leave them falsely satiated when they ingest plastics leading to starvation

Answer 37

- provisioning services = natural products that humans use directly from ecosystems (clean air, eater, wood for firewood, etc) - regulating and supporting services = critical functions that persevere and recycle the resources upon which ecosystems depend, including soil formation and maintenance, air, and water purification, and flood control - cultural services = ecosystems provide recreation opportunities, beauty, learning experiences, and other cultural services to people across the world

Answer 38

- a drug tx for breast and ovarian cancer, was isolated from the narrow strip of vascular cambium beneath the bark of the Pacific yew tree - but a fully grown, 100 year old tree produces only a small amount of Taxol and you need 6 trees to be destroyed to treat 1 patient - pacific yew trees aren't abundant and grow slowly so harvesting them for taxol can lead to extinction

Answer 39

- forests and communities of marine phytoplankton withdraw CO2 from the atmosphere, transferring it to be a different nutrient compartment in the biosphere

Answer 40

pollinate 80% if species of flowering plants - also introduced where they are exploited agriculturally, they compete with native bee species which threaten survival of those species - affect co-evolved plants species as well

Answer 41

- interdisciplinary science that focuses on the maintenance and preservation of biodiversity STEPS 1) development and adoption of objective, data-based criteria for assessing risk posed to different species - process developed on several fronts around the world

Answer 42

approx 1.6 million

Answer 43

- studied beetle biodiversity in Southern Peru where he sprayed biodegradable insecticide inside a canopy of a large tree where he collected thousands of beetle species - more than 90% of them were undescribed species, Erwin used this to formulate a mathematical model to predict that approx. 30 million species exist - he then tweaked this assumption to around 100 million therefore more than 98% of species are unknown (mostly bacteria, arthropods, etc)

Answer 44

new technique that simplifies the identification of species

Answer 45

genetic drift inevitably reduces their genetic variability - this limits the evolutionary potential of the population to adapt to a changing environments - the loss of even a small fraction of a species' genetic diversity reduces its chances of survival - the effects of inbreeding become more common in these small populations - to avoid these negative consequences, conservationists strive to increase the population sizes of threatened or endangered species and also to maintain or increase their genetic variation, both within and between populations

Answer 46

- abundant bird in wet grasslands in North America - by the early 1940s, excessive hunting and habitat destruction had caused the numbers to decline to just 21 individuals in 2 isolated populations - this population bottleneck and the resultant loss of genetic variability apparently contributed to developmental deformities of the spine and trachea that had not been seen previously - during the 1970s, biologists began an aggressive conservation program, they initiated controlled captive breeding designed to minimize the effects of inbreeding along with preserving habitats = population has been restored = low genetic diversity, despite stable modern populations

Answer 47

- predatory marine mammals live along the coastline of the North Pacific ocean - they numbered 300 000 in the early 1700s, but commercial hunting reduced their numbers to around 3000 individuals by the start of the 20th century - they are keystone predators - the destruction of sea otter populations had profound cascading effects on the communities in which they lived - the numbers of sea otters plummeted and sea urchins (favoured prey) exploded which disrupted communities and environments TREATMENT - treaties ended nearly all hunting of sea otters in 1911 - population recovered to 1/3 of go levels through reintroduction - populations in Cali were beginning to experience high mortality and nearly half of those dying were adults in their reproductive prime = due to parasitic infection and heart disease because coastal environments are so badly degraded

Answer 48

population growth model which helps estimate how large a population must be to increase the likelihood of its long-term survival - evaluate phenomena that may influence the longevity of catastrophic events, chronic environmental stressors, and others factors that may cause fluctuations in demographics, population size, or genetic variability - researchers need to make an assumption for what level of risk is acceptable and over what timescale

Answer 49

- identifies that smallest population that would lead to a self-sustaining population

Answer 50

1) size 2) proximity to larger patches - large habitat patches sustain more species than small patches do - when plotted, the species richness of a community increases steadily with the area sampled - small habitat patches, even minor increase in area allow a large increase in the number of resident species

Answer 51

the number of species present must eventually level off

Answer 52

- edge effects exaggerate the species-area relationship in mainland habitat patches CONSIDER 2 PATCHES patch 1: small = 100m per side with 10 000m^2 patch 2: large = 200 m per side with 40 000m^2 - edge effects disturbances penetrate 20m into each patch from all directions NOW: small patch = 3600 m ^2 large patch = 25 600 m^2 NOTE: - even though the large patch is only four times larger than the small patch, the large patch contains more than 7 times as much as intact habitat

Answer 53

- conservation biologists often use landscape ecology: design the size and geometry of nature reserves and other protected areas - landscape ecology analyzes how large-scale influence local populations and communities

Answer 54

large patches - they harbour more species than small patches - experience proportionately smaller edge effects - better support populations of large animals that need substantial resources HOWEVER - some biologists argue that clusters of physically separate preserves are more effective in maintaining metapopulations of endangered species, especially if patches are interconnected but corridors of intact habitat - individuals could move between preserves, reviving any local populations that experience a decline

Answer 55

- habitat patches connected by corridors retain more native plant species than isolated patches do - corridors did not promote the entry of introduced species - corridors appear to be a useful features in the design of nature preserves

Answer 56

- areas of land, often thin strips of habitat, that connect isolated patches of habitat, allowing wildlife to move, find resources, and maintain genetic diversity - help enable panthers who cross roads often to move safely between conservation areas

Answer 57

- very successful in preventing deaths of wildlife by motor vehicles - Banff National park reduced vehicular accidents with large mammals by 98% - also build in some resilience for species facing climate change = help facilitate the shifting of species

Answer 58

ALPHA - total diversity within well-defined communities (i.e. species richness) BETA - diversity across communities - reflects the increasing numbers of species present in an area including the full variety of habitats, vegetation types, and small-scale environments = slope of species-area relationship: as the size of an area increases, so does the number of distinct environmental features it includes that environmental diversity supports a larger number of species

Answer 59

- conservation biologists can establish reserves that will protect more species - ideal reserve would include several large areas, including a diversity of small-scale environments suitable for species that don't disperse readily, and many small reserves interconnected by landscape corridors

Answer 60

species that replace each other across it - systems that include protected areas at different elevations or latitudes might allow some species to migrate into cooler environments over time

Answer 61

- IUCN (international union for conservation of nature) - keeps the most comprehensive and current list of species and their global conservation status called the IUCN red list of threatened species - the red list has assessed the status of 138 300 species, more than 38 500 are listed as threatened with extinction CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ENDANGERED (green turtle) VULNERABLE NEAR THREATENED LEAST CONCERN DATA DEFICIENT *more than 77 300 species assessed*

Answer 62

into 1 of 8 categories - extinct - extinct in the wild - critically endangered - endangered - threatened - vulnerable - least concern - data deficient

Answer 63

- Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) -recognize similar categories to the IUCN Red List to categorize species DIFFERENCE: = COSEWIC considers the Canadian portion of a species population = species may go extinct in Canada but exist elsewhere (extirpation) *all species listed as endangered or threatened must have a recovery strategy within 5 years* = USES 6 CATEGORIES FOR ASSESSING SPECIES AT RISK

Answer 64

includes plants and animals

Answer 65

species may go extinct in one place and exist somewhere else

Answer 66

1) area of occupancy 2) indication of the geographic range of a species 3) availability of suitable habitat - they consider data about the populations of the species, including trends in the numbers of organisms - they also consider the demographics of species and how birth and death rates vary in the habitats where the species occur *also consider generation time

Answer 67

the number of reproducing adults = as are risks to the survival of species under consideration

Answer 68

- generate substantial public support (i.e. panda) - but if chronic stressors in a habitat drive the decline of a species no amount of captive breeding can facilitate survival in the wild ALSO undercharistmatic fauna such as flora and fungi also need protection but its harder to generate support - we can focus on persevering intact habitats

Answer 69

1) protection = habitats are often protected when an individual or organization purchases them and enforces strict standards of land use = in sensitive habitats, people may be excluded altogether, access is restricted and the exploitation of resources is controlled which helps protect habitat from large-scale conversion from illegal land clearing and helps maintain native vegetative cover (worked for Pine Bush habitat in Albany, NY,) 2) mixed-use conservation = when we can't use outright preservation = combines use of protection of some land parcels with controlled development of others (NCA in Tanzania provides an tax,ple of mixed-use conservation, where the Maasai people are stewards and agreed to vacate the area which was converted into a national park in return for retaining the rights of live and herd livestock in the NCA) 3) restoration = helps re-establish the vitality of a previously disrupted community or ecosystem in heavily impacted areas = requires the removal of contaminants, impediments to the natural flow of water and barriers to animal movement and the restoration of natural processes such as periodic fires or floods and native species

Answer 70

- will the restored habitat be suitable for rare or endangered species - will its creation increase endemic biodiversity - would the restoration reunite previously fragmented land parcels - will the restored habitat experience the periodic disturbances, such as fires or floods that are essential for its continued existence - what are the costs of implementing the plan and maintaining the area - would the restored land be valued by local residents and will they support and maintain it

Answer 71

- one of the world's most at risk ecosystem - sponsored by IPE a Brazilian NGO - trying to recreate the natural ecosystem by planting native trees in habitat corridors between remaining forest fragments - these corridors of native tree species should facilitate the preservation of species in those forest patches and supply valuable botanical resources for endemic wildlife and local residents

Answer 72

- conservation plans are more successful with the support of the public I..E Northern Spotted Owl - lives only in old-growth coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, where many local residents worked in forestry or supporting industries - listing the owl as endangered would protect the forest and prevent logging which was really important for the ecosystem I.E. CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK - Nepal - recognized as a hunting ground for local royalty - decimation populations of the Bengal Tiger and Rhinos, the area was opened for settlement and immigrants swarmed into the fragile grassland - now, humans are excluded from the park for most of the year, when they are allowed in they harvest grass to feed animals, make mats, and thatch roofs - residents of the buffer zone receive half of the total revenue earned from park activities which has improved the lifestyle of people living there = more support - population of tiger and rhino have now increased

Answer 73

- where ecosystem services such as CO2 processing or H2O tension and purification which are best provided by intact ecosystems are assigned an economic value I.E. Monteverde Conservation Legue signed a contract with Bosuqe forest preserve where the company wanted to build a hydroelectric dam on the Rio and feared that deforestation upstream would disrupt water flow through the dam - but the contract says the company will pay people who lie upstream to preserve their forests rather than cutting them = NOW, forests and water flow are preserved, maintaining the forest ecosystem and generating badly needed electricity

Answer 74

- small populations, limited geographic distribution (range) and specific habitat requirements 1) have very specific habitat needs 2) restricted to a specific range

Answer 75

- sedate rhinos = chainsaw horns = kill rhino + leave the body ...So Biologists - cut off their horns so poachers don't - give armed guards to the rhinos = cutting horns off = no mating --------------------------------------------- - By 1987, populations in wild reduced to 3500 - In less than 30 years, species almost exterminated in wild - Have been hunted as trophies, but also used in Asia as magical properties - Example of targeted harvesting (poachers hunting animals for a specific purpose)

Answer 76

- one small pond, left in world where they live - led to captive breeding efforts they began a conservation project at zoos to perform captive breeding with eggs - reintroduced babies to pond - populations tripled due to this

Answer 77

1) genetic variation within populations and species 2) number of species in an ecological community 3) assortment of communities at a landscape scale

Answer 78

1) overharvesting - buffalo skulls, grind their skulls that they use as fertilizer 2) overfishing

Answer 79

- clamp on fish and bore throat the stomach, and wipe out 90% of the fish in the Great Lakes

Answer 80

=INVASIVE SPECIES - goes in and kills birds in a nest box and their babies - they were never around north America, and didn't co-evolve with other birds that are in North America - 40 of them were Brought to NYC and spread

Answer 81

- Windsor, Ontario was the first place

Answer 82

1) extinct: a wildlife species that no longer exists 2) extirpated: a species no longer existing in one location in the wild but occurring elsewhere 3) endangered: a species facing imminent extirpation or extinction 4) threatened: a species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed 5) special concern: a species that may become threatened or endangered because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats 6) data deficient: when available information is insufficient either to resolve a wildlife species' eligibility of assessment or to permit an assessment of its risk of extinction 7th category - not at risk, identifies species not at risk of extinction under current circumstances [ideal category]

Answer 83

a unit below species - includes subspecies, geographically, or genetically distinct populations i..e there are 3 kinds of killer whale on the west coast of Canada RESIDENTS: eat minaly fish and often echolocate like bats TRANSIENTS: eat mainly marine mammals and rarely echolocate OPEN-OCEAN: eat mainly sharks - identify individuals in each group via unique markings on their bodies

Answer 84

- convention for international trade on endangered species (CITES) - attempts to prohibit international trade in endangered species

Answer 85

hooded warbler - small migratory songbird cowbird - brood parasite = puts its egg in nest and ejects host eggs = hatches first and kicks the others off = robins coevolve with warblers, they kill the egg before it hatched

Answer 86

- intact forests are getting chopped up, and isolated we use radiotelemtry - radio tracked the birds, and determined when the birds are in isolated fragments, they have a decreased core and increased edge

Answer 87

Single Large or Several Small - have to make the decision to protect = larger protected areas are associated with lower extinction probabilities in comparison to smaller areas = numerous protected areas provided redundancy against catastrophic losses of endangered species - key factors; area, edge effects, number of protected areas, distance between protected areas

Answer 88

shape - protected areas with max interior habitat experience fewer edge effects spacing - gene flow and recolonization is more likely when protected areas in close proximity corridors: facilitate gene flow and recolonization

Answer 89

Are animals to be released in the historical range YES **pop restoration** - are conspecifics present in the release area yes - re-enforcement no - reintroduction ex. black stilt, wolf, toad NO **conservation introduction** - assisted colonization ez. kakapo

Answer 90

releasing a species back to where it has historically occurred but has been extirpated - re-establish self-sustaining population (with limited or no intervention) * “radical” – pushes line backwards by bringing species back to landscape 1) identify + introduce closest surviving relatives (genetic similarity) 2) ecological suitability 3) introduce multiple strains with differing traits

Answer 91

(1) Survey sites (2) Examine stressors - Salination of water - Turbidity in streams courtesy of Ontario Streamscourtesy of Ontario Streams - Artificial light - Thermal stress (3) Captive Breeding (4) Transport Stress

Answer 92

* Expensive / ineffective * Genetic risks are numerous * What is a native species? * Who decides to reintroduce? * Too focused on species?

Answer 93

Activity 1 - no parameters '1) Population went to fixation because its a smaller population 2) time it takes is variable based on the size Activity 2 - set barriers to create 4 separate popns of equal size 1) small population sizes increase the effect of genetic drift by causing random changes in allele frequencies to have a larger impact, potentially leading to the loss of genetic variation. and then - remove barriers 1) the removal of barriers lead to increased gene flow between populations, promoting genetic diversity and potentially causing the mixing of previously isolated gene pools. * The number of generations until fixation is typically shorter in populations without barriers due to increased gene flow, which facilitates the spread of alleles. With barriers, fixation may take longer because gene flow is restricted, limiting the no. of new alleles and slowing the process of fixation. However, the exact number of generations depends on factors like population size, mutation rates, and selection pressures.* TAME HOME - genetic drift has a more rapid and dramatic effect on allele f in small popns than in large popns - this is a concern for conservation biologists - genetic drift can then produce substantial allele frequency changes, even in large popns - corridors can dampen the effects of genetic drift