Lecture 1

Question 1

What are the guiding principles for conservation biology?

Answer 1

Evolutionary change
Dynamic ecology
Human presence

Question 2

What is the 6th Mass extinction?

Answer 2

Human-driven initially in the late Pleistocene with hominids transitioning to a carnivore diet.

Later due to the development of human societies, urbanization, and the intensification of agriculture

Question 3

What happened with the absence of megafauna in the late Pleistocene?

Answer 3

Megafauna depletion changed the ecosystem structure.

Question 4

What is the modern extinction crisis?

Answer 4

The underestimated background extinction rates of species.
The IUCN estimates 868 species have gone extinct.

Question 5

How do populations go extinct?

Answer 5

Driven extinction
- Caused by Changes in the environment.
- Lower density of populations.
- Caused by catastrophic events.

Stochastic extinction
- Small population problem
- extinction by demographic malfunction
- Extinction by genetic malfunction
Driven» Demographic malfunction» Genetic malfunction

Question 6

Name some species that have been affected by habitat change and Fragmentation.

Answer 6

Gull Island vole - Extinct
Hispid Hare - Endangered

Question 7

How was the black-footed ferret impacted by pest control of Praire dogs?

Answer 7

Prairie dogs were eradicated to reduce competition for grass with livestock and prevent unsafe horse riding.
Subsequently, the black-footed ferret no longer had a food supply and was reduced to a single colony.

Question 8

What are the effects of hunting?

Answer 8

Commercial hunting (e.g., Whaleing or muskoxen in Canada)

Question 9

Name one example of the effects of environmental contaminants.

Answer 9

The use of DDT played a role in the decline of bald eagles and other birds of prey due to bioaccumulation.

Question 10

Define the extinction vortex.

Answer 10

The outcome of progressive processes until a ‘tipping point’ is reached where a species cannot recover.
A common factor of these processes is the alteration in the interaction between environmental conditions and the traits that the species have evolved to face those conditions.

Question 11

Which taxonomic groups are experiencing the greatest inclines and declines?

Answer 11

Birds have the highest proportion of increasing but is still very low.

Whereas amphibians have the highest proportion of species with decreasing trends.

Question 12

Why are there inconsistencies when it comes to ranking threats?

Answer 12

1. Conditions and nature of threats vary among different locations, habitats, and taxa.
2. Threat rank depends on the metric
3. Threats are multifaceted