Lecture 28- Conservation Biology Flashcards
What is the difference between an endangered species and a threatened species?
An endangered species is one that is in danger of becoming extinct, whereas a threatened species is one that is likely to become endangered in the near future
What is minimum viable population (MVP)?
The minimum population size at which a species can survive (small populations can be viable but often aren’t)
How is landscape defined?
A landscape is a region containing multiple different ecosystems, linked by exchanges of E, matter, and organisms
______ ________ refers to the process where toxins move up a food web and become more concentrated at each higher trophic level
Biological magnification
What is conservation biology?
Integration of ecology, physiology, molecular biology, genetics, evolutionary biology to preserve biological diversity
What are the three types of biodiversity?
Genetic: Variation within populations eg many alleles, high heterozygosity
Species: Variety of species in ecosystem or biosphere
Ecosystem: Variety of ecosystems on Earth
Extirpation vs. Global Extinction
Extirpation: local extinctions- species lost in a specific area
Global Extinction: Species lost from all ecosystems in which it lived
Genetic Resources
May be useful things in genes of organisms, could improve crop species etc
Ecosystem Services
Processes through which natural ecosystems help sustain human life- undervalued (Air and water purification, waste decomposition, crop pollination, nutrient cycling etc)
Threats to biodiversity include…
Habitat loss, introduced species, (overharvesting, global climate change)
What is the Small Population Approach?
Small N-> vulnerable to drift, inbreeding -> extinction vortex (population shrinks until extinct)
What is the Declining Population Approach?
Focuses on shrinking populations, even if not yet at MVP, emphasized environmental factors that cause population decline rather than genetic factors
Which species are most important to biodiversity as a whole?
Keystone species
How is landscape ecology defined?
How resources are arranged in an environment, and how it affects where species and processes are found
What is an edge and how does fragmentation affect it?
Edge: boundaries between ecosystems
Fragmentation increases edges, decreases biodiversity
