Lecture 13

Question 1

What is in-situ conservation and management?

Answer 1

The process of protecting an endangered (doesn’t have to be an endangered species) plant or animal species in its natural habitat (e.g. protected areas)

Question 2

The point of a protected area is to protect the species and habitats within that area from any threats. How do they do this?

Answer 2

1. Identify drivers of population change (what is actually causing the species decline in the area you are protecting)
2. Identify management strategies that you are going to implement (e.g. habitat restoration, might need to be coupled with things such as translocation)
3. Wider landscape management (because the protected area is not exclusive and is in wider landscape): habitat quality, habitat connectivity (so the species can move between PAs), habitat area (within the PA & the wider landscape)
4. Monitor success & modify plans if necessary

Question 3

Is the protected area coverage globally increasing or decreasing?

Answer 3

Increasing, massive increase in the last half a century in the land and ocean area that is designed as protected

Question 4

What was the 2014 status of how many km^2 of terrestrial and inland water areas were covered by protected areas of one form or another?

Answer 4

20.6 million km^2

Question 5

What is the CBD 2020 target for the amount of protective area they want? What would need to happen for this to be achieved based on the 2014 status (20.6km^2)?

Answer 5

The target is to have 17% of the world’s land areas and 10% of ocean area under some sort of protection.
This means that 2.2 million additional km^2 of protected areas are needed based on the 2014 status.

Question 6

What did the 2018 protected planet report say about the amount of protected area there is?

Answer 6

14.9% land surface protected and 7.3% of ocean

Question 7

What percentage of key biodiversity areas (KBAs) are fully covered by protected areas (2018)?

Answer 7

21%

Question 8

What are KBAs (Key biodiversity areas)?

Answer 8

Areas that are critical for the survival of a species e.g. an area that conditions a critical population in which if it survives you can be fairly confident the species will persist

Question 9

What are strict nature reserves?

Answer 9

Areas that were established specifically for conservation purposes and they should not have human activities disturbing them

Question 10

What is a natural monument/ feature?

Answer 10

Ones that have been established because of particular interest in landscape features

Question 11

Describe what protected areas with sustainable use of natural resources are

Answer 11

Important landscapes for conservation they are managed for conservation but they allow the use of sustainable resources in some way or another- this is likely to be fishing or hunting for the local communities to be able to make a living but these areas have to be managed very carefully to balance the goals of the conservation with the needs of whoever the uses are

Question 12

How is protected area effectiveness assessed?

Answer 12

. Change over >2 decades (and they were able to categorise protected areas as suffering or succeeding and it was roughly a 50/50 split): interviews + time-series of data
. Looking at sensitive functional groups: apex predators, amphibians, bats, large-seeded old-growth trees

Question 13

Why are protected area useful tools?

Answer 13

. More effective and more secure
. Should be less costly (although that is context specific) than other options
. Coverage: many species conserved at once through a network of protected areas
. Viability: natural selection and evolution continue -> maintenance of genetic diversity and have gene pools within the landscape
. Economic sustainability

Question 14

Why are protected areas more effective and secure and why is that useful?

Answer 14

We often only know what we don’t know e.g. we may not know the exact ecological requirements of the endangered species but if we know that the endangered species exists in the landscape and know that we can elevate threats to that landscape then we can be fairly confident that, that is going to be an effective way to protect that endangered species

Question 15

What is translocation often used in tandem with?

Answer 15

Protected areas

Question 16

Define translocation

Answer 16

Moving plants and animals for conservation purposes from one site for release in another site

Question 17

Different species will respond differently to translocation, to reintroduction strategies. What is translocation success more likely for?

Answer 17

. Native non-sensitive species than for threatened, endangered or sensitive species
. When habitat quality at target site is high/ increased- Degraded forests may not harbour the same species as primary forests
. In the core of species historical ranges (as compared to periphery of species range- all to do with the climatic niche- would face the extreme of the climatic niche at the periphery, whereas at the core they are at their peak niche)
. Herbivores compared to carnivores (possibly because carnivores are more demanding so the conditions have to be optimum for their release or may be depend on whether they have been translocated from a wild or captive population- in a captive population they may not have had the opportunity to develop the skills in which they need in the wild)
. Early breeders with large clutches as compared to late breeders with small clutches (so species that can increase their population size more rapidly)

Question 18

What are the two types of translocation?

Answer 18

. Population restoration

. Conservation introduction

Question 19

Describe the type of translocation population restoration. Give examples

Answer 19

Conservation translocation to within indigenous range.
E.g.
. Reinforcement: intentional movement and release into existing population of conspecifics- so this is where the existing population has fallen below the minimum viable population threshold so you bolster that population by releasing additional individuals
. Reintroduction: intentional movement and release inside its indigenous range from which it has disappeared- areas where it has gone locally extinct you are trying to re-establish the population

Question 20

Describe the type of translocation conservation introduction and give examples

Answer 20

Conservation translocation to outside an organism’s indigenous range
E.g.
. Assisted colonisation: international movement and release outside its indigenous range to avoid extinction of populations of the focal species- potential conservations strategy discussed in the context of climate change. When the climate in the region where the population currently lives will become unsuitable. So you expect them to go extinct in the current region under climate change
. Ecological replacement: intentional movement and release outside its indigenous range to perform a specific ecological function- to fill an ecological gap in the region under climate change

Question 21

What is the pro argument for conservation introduction?

Answer 21

Under climate change retaining or restoring past community composition is no longer feasible so climate change will force shift and in doing so will change community composition

Question 22

What species are at the greatest risk of extinction from anthropogenic climate change?

Answer 22

Narrow endemics

Question 23

What is the argument against conservation introduction?

Answer 23

The current understanding of invasions is inadequate to forest negative consequences associated with species translocations e.g. of ecological risks

Question 24

Give some case studies against conservation introduction that demonstrate a broad range of ecological risks of invasions

Answer 24

. Alter production, hydrology, disturbance (E.g. fire, erosion)
. Disrupt ecological interactions linked to pollination and seed dispersal
. Spread parasites and diseases (e.g. blue tongue disease in livestock)

Question 25

Explain the Nile perch case study against conservation introduction

Answer 25

. Translocated to Lake Victoria (extremely high endemism) in the late 1950s and early 1960s) from Lake Albert and Lake Turkana
. Nike perch is an aggressive predator
. Contributed to the disappearance of nearly 200 endemic fish species from the lake

Question 26

Give the American red squirrel case study against conservation introduction

Answer 26

. Translocated to Newfoundland as suitable prey for declining pine marten
. Impacts: presumably competed with Newfoundland red crossbill (had specialised bills for the cones- were already suffering when the squirrel was introduced) for black spruce cones as primary food source causing near local extinction
. Red squirrel competed not only for the cone but also contributed to nest predation

Question 27

What do opportunity costs in designating land to conservation areas measure?

Answer 27

Forgone benefits from alternative land uses (e.g. eating their food- killing the animals or eating the crops)

Question 28

Who are opportunity costs particularly high for?

Answer 28

People that depend heavily on natural resources for the food intake and livelihoods e.g. in many tropical landscapes (e.g. may depend on wood for fuel, or fishing or hunting for food and economic income). These costs need to be included in conservation planning.

Question 29

Conservation is expensive, give the example from Borneo

Answer 29

. Carbon payments needed to overcome profit gained from logging: 22-28 US Dollar/ tCO2
. Compensating for opportunity costs of not planting oil palm increases that to 46-48 US Dollar/ tCO2

Question 30

Conservation is expensive, give the example from Borneo

Answer 30

. Carbon payments needed to overcome profit gained from logging: 22-28 US Dollar/ tCO2
. Compensating for opportunity costs of not planting oil palm increases that to 46-48 US Dollar/ tCO2

Question 31

What is the reality of the ‘western idea’ of large unspoilt landscapes covering Sub-Saharan Africa (Shimba Hills Forest reserve)?

Answer 31

Human-modified tropical landscapes with intense land use pressures and high population growth (Kenyan side near Elgin NP)

Question 32

Describe biodiversity hotspots. How many are there?

Answer 32

. High species richness
. High endemism
. High levels of threat
Currently 35 hotspots

Question 33

What are endemic bird areas?

Answer 33

The most important places for habitat-based conservation of birds

Question 34

What do sites have to be, to be world heritage sites?

Answer 34

Sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria (cultural or natural)
E.g. criterion 10: most important and significant natural habitats for biological diversity

Question 35

What are Ramsar sites and how many are there?

Answer 35

List of wetlands of international importance: designed according to nine criteria, eight of which are related to biodiversity.
>2000

Question 36

What are UNESCO biosphere reserves and how many are there?

Answer 36

Learning sites for sustainable development: core area- strictly protected; buffer zone- used following sound ecological practices; transition area- greatest activity is allowed.
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