History & Origins of Conservation - exam 1 Flashcards
What is conservation biology? What is its main goal?
What is science?
What is biodiversity?
About how many species are there on earth and how many are well-described by science?
At what 4 scales is biodiversity measured?
What are the top 5 problems addressed by conservation biology?
What do conservation biologists actually do?
- The conservation of genetic diversity
- The conservation of species
- The conservation of habitat
- The management of landscapes through ecosystem
processes -
Sustainable development of human economies and
human populations
Conservation Biologists examine reasons that
species have gone extinct, why others are in peril,
and ways to avoid the loss of additional species and
the ecological services and other benefits they
provide.
Conservation Biologists also focus on humans - sustainability of human diversity (life strategy, culture, economics)
common name? status? habitat? range?
What 5 large species were extirpated from KY by 1900?
What are 4 overarching drivers of conservation biology (in relative chronological order)?
Describe how instinctual human behaviors and traits that are strongly selected for have shaped modern humans’ innate attitudes toward nature.
Rank these in order of most human deaths caused to least human deaths caused.
Judeo-Christian Influence on Conservation
Prominence in bible?
What’s the primary view of the man-nature relationship in this school of thought?
What are 3 examples of stories from this tradition that may have positive corellations with conservation?
What is/was the perception of nature from The Essenes/Monastic point of view?
How do Noah’s Ark, St. Basil, and St. Francis of Assisi fit into the story of conservation biology?
Break down the word “wilderness”
origins, etimological parts, appearance in historic texts
How did/do eastern philosophies and religions differ from Judeo-Christian beliefs about man’s relationship to nature? What about their view of wilderness? How does this affect their art?
Describe these “true world” theories:
Eternal True World
Monistic True World/Continual Cosmos
Temporal True (Better) World
Describe rational/scientific thinking about the world and nature. How does this compare with dogmatism?
Describe “social contract theory” including what philosopher was most associated with it.
What influences (4) did the N.A. fur trade have on conservation/exploitation and in what years?
During what century did the Enlightenment occur and what was it? How did it relate to previous religious perspectives on man’s relationship to nature?
Compare/contrast Pre and post-Columbian America.
Populatin dynamics
Habitat management
Overexploitation
Exotic species
Where was the birthplace of American paleontology? What was discovered there and in what year?
Who was Georges-Louis Leclerc,
Comte de Buffon? What years was he around? What was his view on American fauna?
What were Thomas Jefferson’s thoughts on extinction? How did his opinion of Buffon’s position regarding American fauna influence the Lewis and Clark expidition?
Who was Georges Cuvier? What years was he around?
How did he contribute to the lexicon of the conversation about extinction?
What evidence did he use to work out this idea?
What was his position on evolution?
Describe the timeline and cause of the Pleistocene Extinction Wave
What/where is the Bialowieza Forest? What is its significance and when was it established? Why was it established?
Describe 4 of the earliest known colonial conservation regulations
Who was William Penn and what was his major contribution to early conservation? What years was he around?
Describe Romanticism. How did Deists and Primitivism fit in here?
How did Colonial America’s “identity crisis” in comparison to Europe develop into a new appreciation of wilderness?
Where did the rise of nature appreciation begin in America? What cultural influences encouraged it, and in what years? How did art change during this period? Who were two prominent painters of this time?
nature-centric art (rather than anthropocentric) contextualized humans as tiny and less significant than the whole of nature
Who was George Catlin and what years was he around? What major proposal did he put forth and what was the main motivator behind it?
What is Manifest Destiny? Describe the important act passed in 1862 which supported this idea. What other factors influenced its spread?
gold rush
barbed wire fencing
Repeating firearms
introduction of cattle/agriculture
railroads
industrialization
Name some species that were extirpated or when completely extinct during the 1800-1900 era of overexploitation? What motivated these?
killing for food, fur, competition w/ predators (fear, agriculture)
last picture is auk, passenger pigeon (KY), Carolina parakeet (KY)
Who were Thomas Moran and William Jackson? How did they influence an acceleration of conservation measures, and when?
A painter and photographer sent to document Yellowstone. Comparing Jackon’s photos to Moran’s paintings showed that this fantastical landscape really did exist (“seeing is believing”) and was worth saving. As photography spread as a new medium, people back east were able to see the wanton waste happening on the frontier and began to pressure the government to do something about it.
Who was George Perkins Marsh? What book did he write in 1864? What were the main ideas of the book? What practices did he hope to curb?
Who was Charles Darwin and when was he around?
What was his book and the breakthrough idea it described?
What was the mechanism behind it this idea? What two major biological phenomena were easily described by this idea?
What is/was the Romantic-Transcendental conservation ethic and who were 3 key figures in its evolution?
What book did Ralph Waldo Emerson write?
What modern day discipline did it underpin?
What was a major flaw in his thinking/beliefs?
What book did Henry David Thoreau write, and when? What was it about and what philisophical position did it support?
What problems did he foresee, and what did he propose in response?
Protecting wilderness = ?
Who was John Muir and when was he around?
What movement was he a key leader of, and what modern day management philosophy arose from this?
What was his central belief system with regards to interpreting wilderness?
How did his writing influence the creation of some national parks (and which ones/when)?
What important conservation organization did he found and when?
How did he influence Teddy Roosevelt?
Who was Gifford Pinchot and when was he around? What was his fundamental conservation philosophy? What’s the proper name for the ethic that underpins this idea?
What federal agency did he found, and when? Under which president?
His “first principle” of conservation?
Besides being the 26th US President, who was Theodore Roosevelt? What was his platform called?
What important conservation organization did he establish, and when?
What new federal agency was established under his presidency, and when?
Who were 2 major mediating influences on his thinking about conservation?
When and where did he establish the first national wildlife refuge?
Put some numbers to his accomplishments as president (# of NWRs, NPs, Nat. Mon., NF acreage)
Other federal agency he boosted, and how?
When was the National Park Service established? How many NPs were there by this time?
What conservation philosophy/movement was the biggest supporter of the National Park concept?
Explain the significance of this slide. What is the term that describes this attitude? What types of trends did it start in various parts of American society?
ARCADIAN MYTH – returning to a
mythical pastoral place and past
An example: After the civil war ended and gun manufacturers lost that revenue stream, they started to appeal to the arcadian myth to encourage people to purchase more firearms and return to a more self-sustaining, virtuous, rural/outdoor lifestyle.
Who was Alice Hamilton and when was she around? What books did she publish and when? What other distinction did she hold?
Who was Anna Comstock? What book did she publish and when? What company did she start?
Who was Roger Tory Peterson? What was he known for?
Who was Jay “Ding” Darling?
What is the Lacy Act? When was it passed?
What years was Aldo Leopold alive? Who/what was he?
What text book did he publish and when?
What was his best know work, when was it published, and what was its central idea?
What protected area did he help create, and what did that eventually lead to?
What conservation organization did he help found?
Explain the concepts:
Ecological-Evolutionary Land Ethic
Biocentric Equality
Who was Rachel Carson and when was she around?
What influential book did she publish and when? What was it about?
What is the Wilderness Act and when was it passed?
How are lands under this act defined, and how are they to be managed?
What is significant about April 22, 1970?
What is the ESA and when was it passed? What does it authorize the government to do?
What year was “Conservation Biology” truly born, and what organization was created to support it? What motivated this move?
What are the 3 underlying tenets of conservation biology?
What are the 7 characteristics that distinguish conservation biology from other sciences?
