Intro slides Flashcards
Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity refers to de variety of life on earth in all of its forms, from bacteria to entire ecosystems.
What is the difference between phenotype and genotype?
Genotype refers to the genetic makeup of an organism; in other words, it describes an organism’s complete set of genes.
Phenotye results from the interaction between the genotype of an organism and its environment. It has to do with its behavior, expression and lifecycle.
Society for Conservation Biology
Founded in 1985 - a non-profit international professional organization that is dedicated to conserving biodiversity.
National Forum on Biodiversity
Took place in in 1986 in Washington D.C. - coincided with a noticeable rise in interest, among scientists and portions of the public, in matters related to biodiversity and the problems of international conservation.
Why? Enough data gathered on deforestation, species extinction and tropical ecosystems; growing awareness of importance of ecosystem for development.
Convention on Biological Diversity
1992 Rio de Janeiro - multilateral treaty with three main goals:
the conservation of biodiversity
the sustainable use of its components
the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Diversity
Life is multilayered and multidimensional. It is composed of cells, tissues, organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems. All interconnected by different processes that can be:
top-down → the populations of the organisms on lower trophic levels are controlled by the organisms at the top. Predator-controlled food web of an ecosystem.
bottom-up → driven by the presence or absence of the producers in the ecosystem. Changes in their population will affect the population of all the species in the food web, and thus, the ecosystem. Resource-controlled (or food-limited) food web of an ecosystem.
Population
Is defined as a group of interbreeding organisms belonging to a particular species and sharing a common geographic area. Thus the smallest unit that can evolve through natural selection is the population.
Ontogeny and philogeny
Ontogeny → The process of individual development from a single cell, an egg cell or a zygote, to an adult organism.
Phylogeny → the relationship between all the organisms on Earth that have descended from a common ancestor, whether they are extinct or extant.
Phylogenetics
the science of studying the evolutionary relatedness among biological groups and a phylogenetic tree is used to graphically represent this evolutionary relation related to the species of interest.
Biological evolution
Biological evolution can be divided into:
Ecological hierarchy → interaction with the ecosystem: an energy flow system, manifested by patterns of energy and matter exchange between the organism and its environment (trophic levels, ecological associations).
Genealogical hierarchy → tree of life: an information-flow system manifested by genealogical relationships over short (genetic) and long (phylogenetic) time scales.
The ecological hierarchy establishes the dimensions of the playing field, whereas genealogical hierarchy establishes the rules of the game being played.
Biophilia
Innate emotional affiliation of human beings to other living beings. Biophilia is a framework that can be used to generate other hypotheses like the Savannah Preference Hypothesis. Biophilia basically states that there is a relationship between biodiversity and our emotional system.
Conservation
In a broad approach: preserving what is already there and the due care and attention to protecting it for the future. It is based on a specific ethic foundation.
More specifically, as regards biological diversity:
–> Actions that directly enhances the chance of habitat and species to persist in the wild.
–> Actions that are intended to establish, improve or maintain good relations with nature.
Conservation biology
The study of the conservation of nature and of Earth’s biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.
In 1984/1985, this scientific discipline was founded with the explicit goal of reaching the balance between men and nature, to fight the biodiversity crisis.
3 characteristics of conservation biology?
Conservation biology is:
a crisis discipline → it is mission oriented and deals with the threat of extinction.
holistic → embraces different disciplines.
Ethical foundation → conservation ethics
Soulé’s postulates
Value statements that make up the basis of an ethic of appropriate attitudes towards other forms of life. Standards by which to measure our actions:
Diversity of organisms is good
Ecological complexity is good
Evolution is good
Biotic diversity has intrinsic value
