Habitat restoration Flashcards
Why is habitat restoration needed to improve ecosystem service provision?
- 60% of 24 ecosystem services are being degraded
- Non linear changes to ecosystems will increasingly -ively impact human wellbeing
Why is habitat restoration needed to aid species conservation?
- Habitat loss: 50% of worlds original forests have been lost
- Habitat loss is the main threat to 85% of species on IUCN red list
- Degregation another factor e.g from invasice sp, habitat fragmentation, fires, resource extraction
What are the 5 criteria for the IUCN red list?
- Reduction in geo distribution
- Restricted distribution
- Degradation
- Disruption of biotic processes/interactions
- Probability of collapse (quantitative analysis)
What type of systems tend to be ‘data deficient’ on the IUCN Red list?
- Marine and freshwater
- Indicates the pattern of threat assessed in terrestrial systems is likely to be worse for these systems
Describe the ecological collapse of the Aral Sea
Before 1960:
- 4th largest continental water body, hydrologically stable.
- 20 freshwater fish species, >150 unique invertebrates, reed-bed ecosystems.
2005:
- Reduced to 10% of former area; reed-beds gone, replaced by deserts/saline lakes.
Salinity increased 10x, 28 aquatic species left, endemics extinct.
What restoration efforts have been made for the Aral Sea?
Northern basin (Kazakhstan):
- 8-mile dam, improved river flow, reduced salinity.
- Wider fish diversity; fishing and people returned, but not to original levels.
Southern basin (Uzbekistan):
- River still diverted for cotton irrigation.
- Saxual plantations: 0.5M ha planted (goal: 2.5M ha) to stabilize desert plains.
Challenges:
Endemic species remain extinct; salinity and diversity not fully restored.
Describe the restoration of the Sundarbans mangrove forest
- Mangroves, tigers, masked finfoot (endangered waterbird)
- 85% loss of mangroves since 2000
- Unique biodiversity and supports flood protection, small scale fishers and carbon storage
Successful restoration:
- Local schemes e.g Sumatra above ground carbon increased from 0 to 314 per ha
Describe the restoration of the Harapan Rainforest (Sumatra)
- 98,000 ha of Ecosystem Restoration Concession (ERC)
- Supports 300 bird sp, Sumatran tiger etc.
- Restoration integrates forest utilisation, environ services biodiversity protection and improving livelihoods of local people
What threatens the restoration of the Harapan Rainforest (Sumatra)?
- Funding issues (Danish gov backed out)
- Oil palm encroachment and other settlers
- 51 km long highway (to transport coal)
What are the 5 general restoration principles?
- Consider all stakeholders and diverse goals
- Remove all threats
- Clear measurable (and measured) targets across multiple timeframes
- Diversity of approaches that scale up
- Regulation and policy support across scales needed - local, national, and global
Describe the impact of introducing the Espanola tortoise to the Galápagos island
- 1800s Santa Fe tortoise went extinct
- Feral goals ravaged island which still wasn’t recovering despite eradication
- Espanola tortoise introduced 2015-2020
- 10% island colonised, 85% survival
- Improvement in vegetation = other endemic species improving e.g land iguana
Define reintroduction + give an example
The deliberate release of species into their natural habitats where they were previously extirpated or critically threatened.
Components:
- Source populations: Captive breeding or wild populations.
- Site selection: Suitable habitat with minimal threats.
- Monitoring: Regular assessment and adaptation to challenges.
Example: Gray wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park.
What is the Conservation Translocation Cycle?
The process of planning, implementing, and monitoring species translocations for conservation purposes:
- Feasibility: Assess biological, social, and economic viability.
- Planning: Define goals and objectives, choose source populations and release sites.
- Implementation: Use pre- and post-release management to aid success.
- Monitoring: Track survival, reproduction, and adaptation.
- Evaluation:Assess whether objectives were met.Adjust management strategies as needed.
Goal: Ensure long-term success of reintroduced populations and ecosystem restoration.
Outline the IUCN reintroduction guidelines
- Feasililty (e.g sp must have been previously present in region)
- Appropriateness (e.g suitable sites with good habitats in former range must exist)
- Provenance (e.g reintroduced animals must not endanger the status of source pops.)
- Socio-economic (e.g project should have long-term financial and political pupport)
- Release (e.g needs a proper release strategy with public relations programe and scientific evaluation)
Give some UK examples of reintroductions
Large blue butterfly (only one on the global IUCN red list!)
- Highly specialist., larvae can only pupate if taken into ant nest (symbiosis)
- Extinct in 1979, reintro to Somerset 1980s
Common Crane
Extinct in 1500s due to drainage of wetland systems
Natural recolonisation 1980s, Reintro 2010
Capercaillie
- Extinct 1785, Reintro 1837
- Pop. decline since though, partly due to Scots pine woodlands, incr in deer pops, deer fences, explosions of predators, climate change
- Another Reinro programme needed to increase genetic diversity
Describe the reintroduction of the Californian Condor
- scavenger - foodsource (large mega herbivores) driven to extinction by native pops
- Lead poisioning from lead shots, controversial ban in Condor ranges
- = huge decline, and so brought in by conservationists for captive breeding
- Successful breeding, and have since begun to be reintroduced
- Extremely costly → $35 mil
What were the causes and human impacts of the collapse of the Aral Sea?
Causes:
- River diversion for irrigation (majority cause).
- Pesticide runoff
- Only 14% due to climate change.
Human impacts:
- Toxic dust storms (linked to cancer, infant mortality doubled).
- Fishing industry collapse; local climate changes (less rain, higher temps).
