Conservation Biology Flashcards
What are 2 main goals of conservation biology?
- investigate the impact of human activities on all levels of biodiversity
- develop PRACTICAL approaches to prevent extinction
What is a brief definition of “special concern”?
Small or declining populations
What was the classic approach to wildlife management?
Management was for maintaining game animals mostly
What are 3 examples of practical approaches to prevent extinction?
Habitat protection
Restoration ecology
Progressive wildlife management
Research and application
What is the sequence of the extinction vortex?
Small population, inbreeding and random genetic drift leads to loss of genetic variability, reduction in individual fitness and population adaptability, lower reproduction and higher mortality lead to an even smaller population and the vortex continues.
What is one of the most important aspects of conservation biology?
Habitat! Location!
What are 7 Eco-centric considerations for conservation area design?
- minimum critical area
- habitat diversity
- biodiversity hot spots
- maximum core/ minimum edge
- spacing/ connectivity/ corridors
- buffers/ zoned reserved
- habitat health/ restoration efforts
What are 3 considerations for minimum critical area?
- island biogeography
- natural disturbance regimes
- migrations and top predator home ranges
Why are top level predator ranges important?
Range of predator is so large that it encompasses many lower tropic level ranges.
Why are habitat corridors designed?
Because animals have migration routes
Biodiversity hot spots such as…?
Endemics, large number of species
Explain biodiversity with respect to islands
Less biodiversity on islands as distance from the mainland increases and less biodiversity on smaller islands
What are 4 anthropocentric considerations for conservation area design?
- politics
- economics
- legal issues
- stakeholder interests
What are 5 types of stakeholder issues when designing conservation area?
- Housing and highways
- Agriculture
- Industrial development
- Resource extraction
- High/ low impact recreation (hike vs. ATV)
Restoration Ecology: Natural succession often slower or faster than rate of human activities?
Slower
What is Restoration ecology?
Restoration (ex. streams)/ conversion(change of habitat from dry to wet) of degraded ecosystems to the natural state
Applied side of conservation biology
Restoration Ecology: Ecosystems are not infinitely resilient but environmental damage is….?
(partly) reversible
Preventing is easier than restoring/reclaiming
What is the physical aspect of restoration ecology?
altering landscape structures
What is the hydrological aspect of restoration ecology?
changing flow regimes
What is the Chemical aspect of restoration ecology?
bioremediation using bacteria, fungi, plants
What is the biological aspect of restoration ecology?
re-vegetation, re-introducing native species, eradicating invasive species, biological augmentation (N-fixers, mycorrhizae)
What is the experimental aspect of restoration ecology?
adaptive management
trial and error
What are 5 aspects of restoration ecology?
physical chemical hydrological biological experimental
What are 5 limitations to restoration ecology?
money time knowledge (restore to what?) values (re-create for what purpose?) nature (limited or unpredictable responses of organisms and natural systems
What is Wildlife management?
The process of keeping certain (classically game) wildlife populations at “desirable” levels determined by wildlife managers (predator control)
What is the Minimum Viable Population?
Smallest number of individuals at which population can sustain itself and avoid extinction vortex (the brink before extinction vortex)
What is the Minimum Viable Population based on?
Based on effective (not total) population size (ex. number of reproducing individuals and sex ratio)
Takes into account sex ratio for reproductive success and # of individuals as well as effective population size
Ne (effective pop) = 4 #females x #males/#f +#m)
What is Optimum Sustainable Population?
Maximum population that can be sustained indefinitely without detrimental effects on the population or its ecosystem (carrying capacity, k)
What is Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)?
population size providing optimum reproduction for commercially exploited species
Theoretically an inflection point of logistic growth curve (k/2)
Difficult to pinpoint
Lots of variables involved
Highest reproduction point is the steepest gradient of graph
What is the Anthropocentric approach to wildlife management? Re: value systems
historically focused on game species management for hunting and control of “pest” (competitors) animals and socio-economic values (game/sport)
What is the Ecocentric approach to wildlife management? Re: value systems
Should include broader aspects of conservation biology, biodiversity, and ecosystem maintenance, ecological values, ecosystem as a whole, broader picture of niche for animal
What is manipulative management? Re: degree of interference
changing population numbers by direct or indirect means
High degree of interference, goal oriented (short-term goals)
What is custodial management? Re: degree of interference
minimizing external influences on populations and habitat
Low degree of interference, protective
What is traditional management? Re: knowledge base
conservative and based on experience and received wisdom passed down through generations
What is experimental management? Re: knowledge base
based on hypothesis testing and trial and error
more modern scientific
What are 6 Direct management techniques (for better or worse - value based whether or not we agree with them)?
(Re-)Introduction, stock enhancement
Captive breeding programs
Sterilization programs (predator control)
Regulating hunting/trapping/fishing by season, area, gender, size restrictions
Hunting/trapping/poisoning of “undesirable” species (invasives, competitors, predators)
Deterrents
What are some deterrents used in direct management techniques?
sound, physical/visual barriers, chemical irritants, herding (yosemite:minimize contact of ranchers and wolves)
What are 7 Indirect management techniques?
Planting food crops Artificial/ supplemental feeding Water sources/ Salt licks Artificial or planted shelters Artificial nest sites Habitat alterations Education (Bearsmart)
What are 4 habitat alterations involved with indirect management techniques?
Reforestation, wetland restoration
Controlled burns, cuts, mowings
Adding coarse woody debris to streams
Deliberate habitat impoverishment
What is an example of deliberate habitat impoverishment?
Airport bird control
ie. making the habitat unappealing to birds such as no roosts or food sources