Conversation Eco Flashcards
1600-1800
european hunting preserves for the monarchies
1800-1830: Alexander von Humboldt
German naturalist scientist,
conservationist, biogeography, explorer, scholar, writer (Cosmos) -major influence on 19th and 20th century science, exploration, political systems,
conservation
1800-1830:
-extensive exploration in South and North America
-first to propose a link between human activities and
climate change
-probably as influential as Charles Darwin
1830-1865: George Perkins Marsh
American naturalist/conservationist
‘ Man and Nature’—1863: resulted in protection of intact forests in the US.
1830-1865: Henry david thorea
American naturalist/philosopher
-advocated protection for the intrinsic value of nature rather than its usefulness to humans
1863:
alfred wallace
1864:
Yosemite Valley (California) protected as a Park by Abraham Lincoln
1872:
Yellowstone established as a Park
1875:
concept of Biosphere developed by the Austrian Suess
1885:
Banff National Park established
1907:
Jasper National Park established
1917:
Mount McKinley National Park
1948:
Establishment of the ‘World Conservation Union’
-became ‘International Union for the Protection of Nature’ (IUCN) 181 countries
1948:
aldo leopold
1951:
Serengeti Park
1962:
Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson
1968:
The Population Bomb’ by Paul Ehrlich
1968:
The first color photo of earth from the moon
1969:
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
1970:
April 22- first ‘Earth Day’ - first national US campaign supported by
all political and economic layers
what did the first earth day lead to?
creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of
the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.’… became a global campaign by the
end of the year
1972:
first Landsat satellite- global coverage of land use, primary
production, health of vegetation, droughts, fires, deforestation…
…currently 75 earth-monitoring satellites in orbit
1975:
CITES- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
1988:
Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC)- scientific view
of climate change…..currently the major agency for assessing global trends
1992:
- The Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson (Chap 12)
- ecological footprint
ecological foot print
- developed by William Rees at UBC, 1992
- Allows individuals to assess their personal impact on the planet
what is CITES
- convention of international trade in endangered species
- finding out what species are threatened/endangered
- fine/shut down airlines transporting them
how many plant and animal species does CITE take into account for?
5,000 animals, 28,000 plants
how many categories does CITE have?
3, appendices 1,2,3
what is appendix 1?
threatened with extinction. Permits required
ex. tiger, leopard, jaguar, cheetah, chimpanzee, gorilla, red panda, Asiatic elephant
what is appendix 2
Not threatened but vulnerable. No permits required
ex. Great white shark, African grey parrot, green iguana, Bigleaf mahogany
what is appendix 3?
legal trade with restrictions
what questions are asked for determining food ecological foot print?
- how often do you eat animal based products?
- how much of the food you eat is processed packaged and imported?
what questions are asked for determining shelter foot print?
- how many people live in your household?
- what is the size of your home?
- which house type best describes your home?
- do you have electricity?
what is the average ecological footprint?
in canada is 8.8 global hectares per person
what is the earths biocapacity
2.1 hectares per person
projected earth population in 2100 (if growth rate same as 2011, 2 child fams, 1 child fams)
2011 growth rate: 18.5 billion
2 child fam: 8.7 billion
1 child fam: 1.4 billion
1997:
kyoto protocol
kyoto protocol
- objective: reduce rate of global warming by limiting release of greenhouse gases
- first implementation period 2008-2012 - each country had to agree on a certain reduction in greenhouse gases
- 2nd commitment period: DOHA ammendment
- 2nd commitment period: DOHA ammendment (2012-2020)
what agreement did canada sign in 2009
Copenhagen agreement
what is the copenhagen agreement
- a NON-BINDING agreement for canada to reduce greenhouse gases by 17% 2005 levels by 2020
- canada did not reduce their greenhouse gases, said it would reduce them by 30% in 2030
2015:
Paris agreement: aimed at limiting global warming to less than 2oC, and
pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5oC.
-194 countries signed (US withdraws 2019)
2021:
COP26
what are the 6 protected area categories IUCN?
- strict nature reserve/wilderness area
- national and provincial parks: mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation
- national monument: for protection of specific natural features (world heritage sites)
- habitat/species management area (introduced species removal) – bringing this space back to original space
- protected landscape/seascape: orca pass international stewardship area??
- sustainable use of natural ecosystem - could not build city here… crown land (resources extracted)
IUCN defines a protected area as:
An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and
maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural
resources, and managed through legal or other effective means
how many km2 are protected?
25 million km2
what country has the greatest % of protected area
Seychelles (94% protected)
what category has the most protected area
2 then 6
national/provincial parks
managed resource protected area
number of countries involved with IUCN now
- what is the average protected land in each country?
169, average of 8.5% of protected land in each country
what kind of countries have low % of protected areas?
Canada (11%)
USA (13%)
how many areas are protected in BC?
> 1000 protected areas
South Moresby campaign (1975-1985)
campaign to terminate logging and mining
- 1980: support by Haida Gwaii (eventual support by prov and fed govnment - 2010)
how is the government website deceiving?
- 167 new protected areas totaling over 2.7 million hectares created
- BUT over 60% of this area is subalpine or alpine
- Of the 100 terrestrial protected ecosection in BC 34 (most) have 0-1% of area protected
- 27 (mainly mountaintops) have 12% protected
how much mid elevation growth and old growth forests are protected in canada
11% of the mid elevation growth protected
- of this growth only 3% of old growth protected
what percentage of BC is forested and what percentage of this is dedicated to commercial forest use?
56% forested
24% dedicated to commercial forest use
80% of forests have not been harvested but most will be
Major IUCN concerns
- paper parks
- design shortcomings
- internal threats to protected areas
- external threats
- trans international boundary effects
- financing protected areas
paper parks
park names exist on maps but with no
implementation/enforcement
design shortcomings
areas where no industries/political practices are
a) small areas not enough for carnivores to live (n = 2500 and 100,000 km2) for carnivore persistence
b) position: largest areas lowest diversity (60% mountaintop)
internal threats
infringement, poaching, fires, dz, groundwater reduction, invasive species, highways
what is happening to the sumatran rhino
- brink of extinction due to poachers and loggers
- extinct in 40 years
- poachers say they are hunting deer but going after endangered animals
how many poaching violations are happening in yellowstone/y
5000
~4000 large mammals killed on highways
- 3800 ungulates
- 200 large carnivores (mostly blackbears and wolves)
external threats
outside the influence of management or control
-headwater effects, dams, atmospheric (acid rain), climate change, biocides, pathogens, invasive species
trans international boundary effects
migration corridors (animals traveling from summer to winter habitats)
1970-1980:
international implementation of marine areas that excluded commercial extraction of fish (No-take Zones)
benefits of marine protected areas
- increased fish abundance
- increase presence of larger fish, exponential increase in reproductive output
- increase species diversity
- recovery of competitors, biodiversity and ecosystem processes
what is the distribution of no take zones?
16,800 MPAs
1042 no-take zones
2.7% no-take zone
re-definition of marine protected areas in 1990’s
intertidal or subtital terrain and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of enclosed environment
commercial fishing now allowed in most MPA’s :(
most MPA’s are about fishing management not conservation
what are no-take zones now called
marine reserves
- now a subcategory of MPA
IUCN global protection of terrestrial
15% of total land area protected
IUCN global protection of marine
~3% protected as a no take zone
approaches to conversation ecology
A) studies of fragmented areas
B) critical habitat approach
C) identifying biodiversity hotspots
D) identifying endemic species
E) park design
F) restoration ecology
What is MVP and MVA
MVP: minimal viable population to maintain 90% of genetic variability over 200 years
MVA: minimum viable area to maintain genetic variability after 200 yrs
there is ____ genetic variability within ___ populations
little, small
graph with heterozygosity and population size
linear
- as population size increases, heterozygosity increases
what happens when looking at survivorship of newborn zoo mammals?
-reduced numbers of individuals results in increased inbreeding
-increased inbreeding leads to increased homozygosity (reduced heterozygosity)
-increased homozygosity leads to increased juvenile mortality
individual heterozygosity abstract: _____ is an indicator of the likelihood of a translocated individuals survival
heterozygosity
what kind of populations have little genetic variability?
small populations
influence of reserve size on populations: mva for large carnivores?
100,000km2
what is the combined area of jasper, banff, calcier, yoho and waterton?
20,000 km2
what is the area khutzeymateen grizzly bear sanctuary
450 km2
what are the probability’s and years of extinction after for the different categories
safe: 10% of extinction in 100 years
vulnerable: 20% of extinction in 20 years
endangered: 50% of extinction in 10 years
critically endangered: over 50% of extinction in 10 years
what is the probability of extinction of birds, mammals, and amphibians
12% of birds
20% of mammals
32% of amphibians
critical habitat approach
- forest age structure
- nesting trees (snags)
- nutrient pulses (salmon)
critical habitat
the habitat required for species recovery and persistence
age structure of trees
diversity of birds, fungi etc scales with the age structure of trees
- e.g. important that owls live in old growth
why are snags important
wildlife trees, nesting trees
- Critical habitat!! the diversity of species is correlated with the # of dead snags
what are biodiversity hotspots
areas with high species diversity
- areas with high density of individuals within a species
2 biodiversity hotspot examples
monarch butterflies (logged)
- green turtles swimming all the way to atlantic to lay eggs from africa
what species does triangle island have thats high biodiversity
largest seabird colony in BC
- largest auklet colony in the world
hotspots
18 hotspots together make up 20% of the plant species in 0.5% of the earths surface!
what is an endemic species
- species unique to an area
- occur in all countries and all ecosystems
- most common on large islands furthest away from continents
AS EXTINCTION DECREASES AND ISOLATION INCREASES (IMMIGRATION DECREASES) AND AREA INCREASES SPECIATION INCREASES!
park design
- size, number and shape
single large or several small (SLOSS) park design
study said several small because they could contain habitats of only high quality
what shape is best for this?
circle
less edge per SA
depends on species though, if they lived in mountain range or coastline may not want to live in circular area
what shape would you want if there was a lot of pathogens?
- linear
benefit of a triangular plot?
same thing with pathogens, sometimes good to have some isolation
when is it good to have large reserves and when is it good to have smaller reserves (park design)
large reserves- landscape subjected to forestry for the first time
small reserves - in a highly fragmented forested landscape
different categories of park design
single large or several small (SLOSS)
shape
position
corridors
how to resolve the SLOSS debate
increase overlapping to stop creating habitat “islands”
- fewer large reserves are better
restoration ecology subcategories
identical critical issues in restoration?
reconstruction of degraded habitats to pre-disturbance state
reintroduction of recently extinct populations
removal of exotic species
augumentation of ecosystem processes (bird cell phone tower)
the longterm persistence of human society and environmental processes thru ecological management
pros and cons of dams. dam removal trends
pros: important as green source of power
con: expense of a lot of aquatic ecosystem
- a lot of dams are now getting removed
wolf, coyote, vole study
more voles within 3 km of wolf den
- wolves scare away coyotes that eat the voles
- restoration of wolves could be a tool for regulating predation at lower trophic levels
where is invasive alien species especially a problem and what are the major invadors
islands
- cats, dogs, pigs, rats
Augmentation of ecosystem processes
-identifying and correcting sources of biodiversity loss to allow
ecosystem recovery
invasive species definition
species that are not native to the province or outside their natural distribution, and can negatively impact BC’s environment, people and/or economy
possible fixes for global warmin
carbon credits
hydroelectricity
nuclear power
photovolaics
wind
geothermal
new technofixes
what are carbon credits
- credit of currency for reducing output of greenhouse gases
- give monetary value to the cost of polluting air
1 credit = 1 ton oc CO2
hydroelectricity pros
high ecological impact
low cost
few carbon emissions
damns
nuclear power pros and cons
pros: unlimited potential, no carbon emissions
cons: cost, high risk (weapon, ecological and health)
fission and fusion
fusion: 2 nuclei come together to produce a lot of energy
fusion: break apart an unstable nucleus
photovoltaics
- conservation of light into electricity (using semiconducting materials)
- use is growing each year
pros and cons of photovolatics
pros: no carbon emissions, high potential, low risk
wind pros
high potential, low risk
- worldwide electricity gen
what country (and what % of it is powered) uses wind the most
spain
50% of country powered by wind
most of the world powered by china and US
geothermal pros
- high potential globally
- internal heat generated and stored in the earth
- drilling large hole and extracting water
iceland and geothermal electricity
26% geothermal electricity
-74% hydro electricity
-85% of all houses are heated geothermally
new-technofixes example
solar-hydrogen economy
solar hydrogen economy pros
high potential, low risk
what is the solar-hydrogen economy?
- solar panels that dissociate water to hydrogen and oxygen
- used to generate electricity during nightime!!
- during day photovolitics power home
- excess energy is used to split water into H and O for storage
- at night these are recombined in a fuel cell to produce electricity while un cant
