Protected Areas Flashcards
What are there three main conservations strategies?
- protected areas
- connectivity and conservation on productive lands
- species management (ex translocations, rescue)
- protected areas are the most cost effective and efficient
What is a protected area?
- clearly defined geographical space managed for purpose of conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values
- created by gov, indigenous people and traditional societies, private individuals, conservation authorities and research institutes
Very broadly, describe the IUCN protected area categories
- I - IV are strictly protected
- V and VI are considered multiple use / multi-managed sites with the goals of conservation and of producing natural resources
L> often much larger than I to VI areas
L> may contain many or even most of the original sp
L> often adjoin surround other PA (can be buffers
Describe Terrestrial Protected Areas (PA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPA).
- PA: accounts for 13% of the total land surface. Much variation in proportion of land protected between countries (42% Germany -> 1% of Haiti, Iraq, Syria, Uruguay)
- MPA: ~2% of total marine environment. ~6% of coastal areas are protected. Goal of international organizations: protect 10% by 2020. Most areas are small and not properly regulated or funded. ie exist only on paper
What are the mechanisms involved for creating new protected areas?
- Government action (national, regional or local level)
- Land purchases / easements by private individuals or conservation organizations
- Actions of indigenous peoples and traditional societies
What is Nature Conservancy of Canada’s role in developing protected areas?
- private non profit conservation organization
- works with local landowners, corporations, other conservation groups
- aim: purchase land or establish long term conservation easements for protecting sensitive biodiversity areas.
What are the three main considerations for conservation targets?
- Relative uniqueness of species / habitat (or irreplaceability)
- Degree of risk species / habitat is facing vulnerability
- Utility of species / ecosystems (ones with present/ future monetary or cultural value often given priority)
What are irreplaceable sites? (alliance for zero extinction sites)
- this a site designation when endemic spa re present and it contains either large portion of the pop or is important for their life history. It also applies to EN or CR.
- only designated if is sole location for all or vast majority of populations for an EN or CR sp, or for one life history segment (eg breeding ground) for an EN or CR sp
L> irreplaceability is a key driver for cost effective planning
L> picking sites for high irreplaceability decreases area needed within protected area system
What is UNESCO?
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
What are UNESCO World heritage Sites?
- diverse sites with overwhelming natural or cultural significance, deemed to be incredibly value or irreplaceable
How are priority areas identified?
-there are two complementary approaches:
1. Conserve individual species or groups of species
2. Conserve habitats and landscapes
- prioritize based on species richness and endemism
L> goal : protect rare species and not the overall biodiversity of an area.
Explain the surrogate species approach to protected areas.
- protect a species’ habitat, which can protect an entire biological community and its associated ecosystem processes
- focal species: provides impetus to protect an area/ecosystem
What are the requirements for the surrogate species approach to protected areas?
- Co-occurrence with other species
- needs to be found many palaces (some degree of ubiquity)
- this approach generally relies on development of some sort of species survival plan
What are the four types of focal species under the surrogate species approach.
- Keystone species
L> species that exerts a large influence on a community - Indicator species
L> species associated with an endangered biological community or a set of unique ecosystem processes - Flagship species
L> charismatic sp that can be sued to represent its community/ rats funds (eg top carnivores, large mammals) - Umbrella species
L> protected sp (eg flagship, indicator) whose protection extends to other species and communities
You are designing a protected area to protect the endangered red wolf
of Ontario. This wolf is all that remains of an ancient N. American wolf
species that used to be more widespread, and that acts as an
ecosystem engineer in the communities where it is still found because
of its impact on deer populations.
It is a charismatic species, which makes it easier for you to attract
public interest. Protecting its habitat will also protect the populations of
other species in its community. Based on this description, your focal
species is a ____________ species.
A. Keystone
B. Indicator
C. Flagship
D. Umbrella
E. More than one of the above
E - Keystone (large effect on community structure) + Flagship + Umbrella
**Indicator does not apply….has to be a unqiue feature only found there. Wolves move around a lot so they are not tied to one specific community necessarily
What is the Northern Spotted Owl an example of?
- endangered sp that acts as forest indicator for Pacific Northwest
Explain the Hotspot approach to protected areas.
- protect areas with high levels of species richness (especially endemics) that are facing a high degree of habitat loss
- this approach utilizes biodiversity indicators, aka organisms / groups of organisms to identify hotspots when information about the whole ecosystem is unavailable.
- areas with high BD often have high endemism too
- protecting indicator sp also protects endemics
** a single island does not meet the criteria of a number of sp
Explain the ecosystem approach to protected areas.
- ensure that representative sites of as many type so f ecosystems as possible are protected to maintain valuable ecosystem services
- focuses on protecting ecosystems and bio communities, rather than the sp themselves. (ie coldsot approach)
- representative sites = sites that include species and environmental conditions characteristic of the target ecosystem
- ## biomes : broad categories of terrestrial ecosystems definite bye structure and characteristics of veg
Under the ecosystem approach, wheat areas have the greatest cons priority?
- temperate grasslands, Mediterranean forests, tropical seasonal forests, which re all under sig threat, with only a small % of area protected.
What are some difficulties with designing protected areas?
- small tropical islands -> high level fo endemism, high risk of evolution but are not sp rich (hotspot approach does not prioritize these areas)
- patterns of sp richness differ between taxa
- difficult to manage reserves to meet needs of all sp involved (surrogate approaches can help with this by reducing number of variables involved )
- political corruption and money often barriers to PA establishment even if identify good target areas.
A protected area is set up to conserve a rare bird species that is representative
of pristine grassland habitat in central North America (a habitat that has largely
vanished due to agricultural and pastoral practices). This bird species is
charismatic, and has caught the attention of the public as a result. Protecting
its habitat also protects other species that are found within these forests.
Based on this information, which of the below statements is CORRECT?
A. This is an example of a surrogate species approach towards
conservation
B. This bird is acting as an indicator species
C. This bird is acting as a flagship species
D. This is an example of an ecosystem approach towards conservation
E. More than one of the above
E. A, B and C are correct.
** Protecting the sp not the habitat in this case.
What problem exists with current protected areas, especially wrt climate change?
- protected area boundaries are fixed but species ranges are dynamic
- climate change can result in range shifts out of protected areas and range shifts into protected areas
Explain the significance of rear edge of habitat ranges and climate change
- edges of ranges closet to tropics have been the most stable in past ice age cycles
- these areas acted as refuges during ice ages
- species expanded out of these refuges during interglacial periods
- genetic richness typically highest in rear edge populations due to longer evolutionary history / larger population sizes