Landscape Level Conservation

Question 1

Define the main difference between traditional and ecosystem management?

Answer 1

Traditional management : reductionism, site specificity.

Ecosystem management: holism, contextual view.

Question 2

Define landscape ecology

Answer 2

o A landscape or seascape is a mosaic of connected ecosystems.
o Landscape ecology focuses on the exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms across multiple ecosystems.

Question 3

List three factors that threaten species persistence

Answer 3

1. Habitat loss
2. Habitat fragmentation
3. Matric quality

Question 4

Define Habitat loss

Answer 4

occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species

Question 5

Define Habitat fragmentation

Answer 5

the dissection of natural habitat by human activities

Question 6

Define Habitat Fragmentation conservation

Answer 6

The conservation of the contiguous area of native vegetation into remnant patches of native vegetation for human use

Question 7

Define Patch

Answer 7

a relatively homogenous area that differs from its surroundings

Question 8

Define Mosaic

Answer 8

patterns of patches, formed by patches within the landscape

Question 9

Define Matrix

Answer 9

background in which mosaic is embedded, often the most continuous element within the landscape

Question 10

Define Perforation

Answer 10

where human uses alter small patches within an area of natural vegetation

Question 11

Define Internal fragmentation

Answer 11

linear corridors (roads, power lines, etc.) dissect an area

Question 12

Define Landscape matrix and include examples

Answer 12

The most extensive, most connected, or most influential landscape element of an area.

Ex: mid-west (farmland), Orange County (urban), Yellowstone (conifer forest), and Antarctica (ice).

Question 13

Define Landscape mosaic and include examples

Answer 13

The spatial characteristic of all natural and human-created aspects of the environment.

Ex: roads, towns, neighborhoods, city parks, woodlots, prairie remnants, lake reservoirs, agricultural fields, shopping malls, parks, and recreation areas – collectively these are mosaics.

Question 14

What are the consequences of fragmentation

Answer 14

o Loss of total amount of habitat
o Increased edge
o Increased isolation of the remaining patches
o Average patch size
o Patch isolation.

Question 15

What is species-area relationship?

Answer 15

 Large areas can hold and support many species. More species per area. Trophic system.
 Buffer from inbreeding and catastrophes.

Question 16

Area sensitive species need what?

Answer 16

Need an increased buffer from other species. Sensitive to overcrowding

Require large areas to survive and reproduce

Question 17

How does habitat area affect species richness?

Answer 17

o Islands vs land.
o Competing and then relaxation, fewer species, and less competition.
o Habitat moving = changing of biodiversity.

Question 18

Define edge effects

Answer 18

the phenomenon whereby some species are negatively affected near habitat edges.

Question 19

Example of edge effects

Answer 19

 Different sunlight levels, different wind levels, etc.
 Car noise coming from the habitat edge, sounds throughout the entire canyon, interrupting the species within the forest. This goes back to how some species are very sensitive to abiotic change.

Question 20

What happens to the amount of edge habitat with habitat fragmentation?

Answer 20

Minimizes the edge effects.

Question 21

Example of an interior specialists

Answer 21

Amphibians do not do well on the edge borders, they need humidity. They are interior specialists

Question 22

Example of an edge specialists?

Answer 22

 Cowbirds like to be out on the edge, not deep in the forest.
o Patterns in the young bird’s mouths to combat brood parasitism.
 Different colored eggs to combat brood parasitism.
 The brood parasite learns to evolve to also do these bird mouth patterns and different colored eggs.
 Due to the other species learning how to combat this ecological evolution, each brood parasite will target a single species, not many, to focus their evolution to be similar to their target species.

Question 23

Define habitat fragmentation

Answer 23

Suitable habitat patches are separated by unfavorable habitat.

Question 24

Define metapopulation

Answer 24

Population divided by habitat heterogeneity into subpopulations with varying amounts of migration between patches.

o Example: snail kites moving between wetlands

Question 25

In metapopulations, the number of movements depend on what?

Answer 25

 Distance between the patches.  Nature of intervening matric.  Mobility of species.

Question 26

Habitat patchiness has led to three models of populations. . .

Answer 26

1. Metapopulation model 2. Source-sink model 3. Landscape model

Question 27

Define Metapopulation model

Answer 27

 Occupied patches vs unoccupied patches.  Describes organismal populations as existing in small subpopulations that together form a matrix of interconnected groups.

Question 28

Define Source-sink model

Answer 28

 One patch, the source, is a high-quality habitat that on average allows the population to increase.  The second patch, the sink, is a very low-quality habitat that, on its own, would not be able to support a population.

Question 29

Define Landscape model

Answer 29

 Most ecosystem process models explicitly account for spatial differences in key environmental controls, including radiation, moisture inputs, and temperature.

Question 30

What determines if a matric is a batter to a movement?

Answer 30

o Distance between subpopulations. o Nature of intervening habitat. o Mobility of species.

Question 31

What factors would be incorporated in a model of metapopulation dynamic in bighorn sheep?

Answer 31

Want to ensure the animals can go between the patches with minimal obstacles such as traffic and urbanization.

Question 32

Metapopulation dynamics depends on what?

Answer 32

 Birth and death within each subpopulation.  Migration between patches.  Colonization to form new subpopulations.  Extinction of existing subpopulations.  Connectivity influences metapopulation dynamics.

Question 33

Define Corridors

Answer 33

the continuous connection between patches

Question 34

Define stepping stones

Answer 34

small intervening patches between large patches of favorable habitat

Question 35

Which type of organisms (fliers vs non-fliers) requires which type of connection?

Answer 35

 Steppingstones (migrant traps) are useful for birds to take rests between migrations, they do not stay there, but use as a temporary location.  Corridors are useful for animals who cannot fly and need a continuous path to follow.

Question 36

How do corridors and population gene flow correlate?

Answer 36

There doesn’t need to be continual movement between two subpopulations, but through various generations and slow movement, this ensures that there is enough genetic variation. o Different populations bring different genes.  Genetic differences between populations can be found in small, isolated patches.

Question 37

Examples of issues with connectivity in Arizona

Answer 37

Increasing routes and bypasses in connection with highways will increase the cost of construction and have environmental constraints.  Roadways are dangerous for animals passing and break up connectivity. Border walls separate animal populations and isolate species looking for connectivity between landscapes.  Individual loss of resources such as historical landscapes (water sources).