Conservation Biology

Question 1

What does the History fo RCW reflect?

Answer 1

species that require specific habitat that is degraded via human activity will continue to shrink, in some cases, they vanish altogether

Question 2

What is conservation biology?

Answer 2

the scientific study of
- biodiversity
- how human activities impact diversity
- how to maintain and prevent its loss
- how to reverse course

Question 3

Why protect biodiversity?

Answer 3

• we, as humans, rely of biodiversity (food, fuel fibre, medicine, building materials, spices)
• moral obligation

Question 4

Extinction

Answer 4

is a natural part of the evolutionary process
- evolution occurs from a balance of the end of species (via extinction) and the birth of new ones (speciation)

Question 5

How do we quantify extinctions occurring periodically

Answer 5

“background rate of extinction”
- 10% of species are lost every 1 million years
- 30% every 10 million years
- 65% every 100 million years

Question 6

Define Mass Extinction

Answer 6

a loss of over 75% of species within a geographically short period of time
-i.e., less than 2 million years

Question 7

Name the ‘Big Five’ mass Extinctions

Answer 7

1. end of the Ordovician
2. Late Devonian
3. End permian
4. End Triassic
5. End Cretaceous

Question 8

End of the Ordovician

Answer 8

• 444 MYA
• 86% of species lost
• intense glacial and interglacial periods created large sea-level swings and moved shorelines dramatically
• the tectonic uplift of the Appalachian mountains created lots of weathering, sequestrian of CO2 and with it changes in climate and ocean chemistry

Question 9

Late Devonian

Answer 9

• 360 MYA
• 75% species lost
• rapid growth and diversification of land plants generated and severe global cooling

Question 10

Early Permian

Answer 10

• 250 MYA
• 96% of species lose
• intense volcanic activity in Siberia
• this caused global warming
• elevated CO2 and sulfur levels from volcanoes caused ocean acidification, acid rain, and other changes in ocean and land chemistry

Question 11

End Triassic

Answer 11

• 200 MYA
• 80% of species lost
• underwater volcanic activity in the central atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) caused global warming and dramatic change in the chemical composition of the oceans
• often mistaken as the even that led to the extinction of the dinos

Question 12

End Cretaceous

Answer 12

• 65 MYA
• 76% of species lost
• asteroid impact in Yucatan, Mexico
• caused a global cataclysm and rapid cooling
• some changes may have already pre-dated this asteroid, with intense volcanic activity and tectonic uplift

Question 13

How many Species are on the 2022 IUCN Red list of threatened species?

Answer 13

42 108, at a minimum are at-risk

Question 14

Biodiversity Crisis

Answer 14

when one species goes extinct, it affects other species and the ecosystem as a whole

Question 15

What does it mean that Earth’s biota is becoming Homogenized?

Answer 15

the worldwide reduction in biodiversity due to spread of non-native and native generalists coupled with declining abundances and distributions of native specialists and endemics

Question 16

How do non-native species have negative effects on native species diversity?

Answer 16

• range contractions
• small population size

Question 17

Specialists vs. Generalists in native species?

Answer 17

• the biggest “losers” tend to be specialists
• the “winners” are generalists and cope with invasives

Question 18

Fish in the US

Answer 18

fish species across the US are becoming more similar, largely due to the introduction of game fish across state lines

Question 19

Threats to Biodiversity

Answer 19

• habitat
• invasive species
• Humans
• overexploitation
• pollution
• climate change

Question 20

Habitat loss

Answer 20

• outright conversion of habitat into something else
• earth has been modified across 60% of its land surface
• one species, homo sapiens, appropriates approx. 25% of earths primary production

Question 21

Habitat fragmentation

Answer 21

breaking up of once continuous habitat into a series of patches amid a human dominated landscape

Question 22

Habitat Degradation

Answer 22

changes that reduce the quality of habitat for many, but not all species

Question 23

What are Invasive Species

Answer 23

non- native, introduced species that sustain growing populations and have large effects on communities

Question 24

Example of Invasive Species

Answer 24

Kudzu - “the plant that ate the south”
- climbing deciduous perennial vines
- vines grow so quickly that it smothers and kills them by blocking out most of the sunlight and taking up root space
- makes leaf little more labile, lessening carbon sequestration ability of the soil

Question 25

Humans as a threat to biodiversity

Answer 25

• consumption of rare animals is linked to cultural traditions and/or considered a delicacy
• e.g., four species of sea turtle are traded off the gulf of venezuela for consumption purposes and are culturally significant to indigenous communities

Question 26

Overexploitation as a threat to biodiversity

Answer 26

• collapse of the cod fishery in the Atlantic
• affects the pop. abundance and organism size (length of fish declined 50%)

Question 27

Pollution as a threat to Biodiversity

Answer 27

pollution can exacerbate declines in species that are already reduced by habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation

Question 28

Bioaccumulation

Answer 28

an increase in the concentration of a chemical in an organism over time because the chemical is not metabolized or excreted

Question 29

Biomagnification

Answer 29

increasing tissue concentrations of chemicals in successively higher trophic levels as animals at each trophic level consume prey with higher concentrations

Question 30

What is DDT

Answer 30

• first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s
• was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and other insect borne human disease
• was also effective for insect control in crop and livestock production, institutions, homes and gardens

Question 31

What kind of effect does DDT result in?

Answer 31

• shell-thinning due to bioaccumulation up the food chain
• bird shells would unable to support the weight of the incubating bird; when mother would sit on the eggs, they would break
• bird pop. rebounded after DDT was banned (1972), but DDR also lasts for a long time in environments

Question 32

Why are small populations more prone to extinction?

Answer 32

small population are more prone to extinction than large ones due to drift , inbreeding and/or increased frequency of deleterious alleles

Question 33

“genetic rescue” of the Florida Panther

Answer 33

• pop. down to 25 in early 90’s
• had low genetic diversity and a high frequency of problems such as heart defects, kinked tails, poor sperm quality and adult males in which one or both testes failed to descend properly
• 8 female pumas from texas were released into florida (resulted in pop size tripling, genetic variation double, genetic abnormalities overall decreased)

Question 34

what is Population Viability Analysis?

Answer 34

• demographic model
• projection of the potential future status of a pop
• often used to estimate the likelhood that a population will persist under different management scenarios

Question 35

Ex Situ Conservation

Answer 35

• a last resort measure to rescue species on the brink of extinction
• taking animals out of original habitat, allowing them to multiple in sheltered conditions under human care
• ex. california condor

Question 36

Where do Ex situ programs take place?

Answer 36

zoos, special breeding facilities, botanical gardens and aquaria throughout the globe

Question 37

What kind of problems do Ex situ programs introduce?

Answer 37

• very expensive
• do not always result in restoration of self-sustaining wild pop.
• captive animals may be: exposed to novel diseases, genetic adaptation to captivity, behavioral changes

Question 38

How are species ranked for protection?

Answer 38

• distinctiveness/ irreplaceability
• vulnerability
• utility

Question 39

How does a species serve as a surrogate species?

Answer 39

1. flagship species - species that capture public attention, have symbolic value, and/or are important for ecotourism
2. umbrella - protecting a species’ habitat will serve to protect the habitat requirements for many other species