Intro lecture

Question 1

Why study humans in conservation biology

Answer 1

• Conservation is ultimately a human issue, without people “conservation” would not exist
• ## Human populations and behaviours drive conservation issues.

Question 2

An Island example of conservation issues caused by humans

Answer 2

Gough island:

• 71/99 of insects on Gough are alien/introduced
• 233 human landings on Gough ever, one succesful establishment 1/3 landing.

Gaston et al. (2008)

Question 3

What is the dilemma with approaches to conservation

Answer 3

Should conservation aim to keep humans out or should it focus promoting co-existing behaviours.

Question 4

Why has conservation become an issue

Answer 4

Over the course of human history , energy and resource usage by humans as increasingly grown, specifically to exponential levels since the industrial revolution.

Question 5

What occurred in 1950

Answer 5

People born n 1950 are the first to have seen human population double in their lifetime

Question 6

How has the human population grown in the 20th century

Answer 6

During the 20th century, more people were added to the population then in all of human history (MASSIVE)

Question 7

What is the current human population growth rate

Answer 7

• 0.9% P/A
• 66.3m people a year
• 180,000 a day

Question 8

Where is most population growth located

Answer 8

The following 6 countries account for 1/2 of annual growth

• India
• China
• Pakistan
• Nigeria
• Bangladesh
• Indonesia

Question 9

What are the population forecasts for 2050

Answer 9

Low - 7.9 B (assuming fecundity falls to 2 per woman )
Mid - 9.3 B (assuming fecundity falls quicker then present)
High - 10.9 B ( assuming fecundity declines at current rate)

Question 10

what are global urbanisation levels

Answer 10

50. 5% of the worlds population reside in cities

- 1/3 live in urban centres of more then 100,000 people

Question 11

How does city size vary

Answer 11

• 985 cities of > 500,000 people
• 54 (of which) have > 5m people
• 21 (of which ) are mega cities with > 10m people (totalling 324m)

Question 12

Where is urbanisation focused

Answer 12

• since the 1950’s urbanisation has been in primarily non European countries
• London one of the few areas where urbanisation rates have not changed in the last half decade

Question 13

What is the great acceleration

Answer 13

The massive increase in energy/resource usage post wwII

Question 14

What increased in usage in the great acceleration

Answer 14

• energy use
• fertiliser consumption
• large dams
• water usage
• paper production
• transportation
• telecommunications
• international tourism

Question 15

What did steffen et al. (2015) say about the current epoch

Answer 15

” the earth system has clearly moved outside the envelope of Holocene variability “

• into Anthropocene

Question 16

How much of global energy do we consume

Answer 16

1/3 of terrestrial energy

1/10 of marine energy

Question 17

How much land has been excavated and moved in the U over the last 200 years

Answer 17

an area 4x the volume of ben nevis

Question 18

How does anthropegenic reactive N creation compare with natural processes

Answer 18

Humans create more reactive N then all other terrestrial processes combined

Question 19

How are wilderness areas under threat

Answer 19

• 10% of wilderness areas have been damaged since the 1990’s
• most remaining wilderness areas are under threat
• Desserts and Tundra are the only areas doing well

Question 20

What are the 9 planetary boundaries

Answer 20

• Climate change
• Atmospheric aerosol loading
• Ocean acidification
• Fresh water use
• Stratospheric zone
• Land use change
• Global P + N cycles
• Biodiversity loss
• Chemical pollution

Question 21

What supposedly happens when planetary boundaries are crossed

Answer 21

Transgressing PB’s may trigger catastrophic environmental change

• we have already crossed 3 boundaries :
• Genetic diversity
• Phospherous and Nitrogen usage.

Question 22

What is the name of the current epoch

Answer 22

Anthropocene - era in which human activity is shaping the climate

Question 23

For a new epoch to be marked a “cut off point” is required. When is this for the Anthropocene

Answer 23

Two were suggested:
- 1492, arrival of Europeans in the Americas, and subsequent global trade, moved species to new continents and oceans, resulting in a global re-ordering of life on Earth.

• 1964 (when nuclear weapons were first used) was also suggested however 1492 was decided upon as a better candidate

Question 24

What happened between 1492 and 1650

Answer 24

• Population decreased from 54-61 million people to 6 million people (diesease, war and famine)
• This resulted in the regeneration of 50 million HA of forest and grassland - detectable by sequestration of 5-40 Pg carbon

Question 25

Who is responsible for the great acceleration

Answer 25

• Great acceleration almost entirely drived by OECD countries
• Worlds poorest countries (800m people) have contributed <2% of global cumulative co2 emissions since 1800
• Poorer countries are rapidly catching up, i.e. china is now the worlds biggest emitter .

Question 26

What is a populations ecological footprint

Answer 26

Total area ofterrestrial and aquativ ecosystems required to produce the resources consumed by a defined population, and to assimilate the waste produced by that population.

Question 27

What is the ecological footprint of london

Answer 27

Biophysical demands of London require an area the size of all ecologically productive land in the UK.

Question 28

How many HA are needed to support western lifestyles

Answer 28

Each resident of NA, Europe, Japan and Australia require 5-10 Ha to support their lifestyles

*There are only 2Ha of productive land/water per person on Earth

Question 29

Ecological footprints in China

Answer 29

• footprint may grow if population does not
• China : fertility rate in 2003 = 1.9 births/women
• number of households grew at 3x the population
• Average household size decreased by 1
• Smaller housholds consume more capita