Quiz 1 Flashcards
Aims of conservation biology?
1) Document the full range of biological diversity on Earth
2) To investigate human impacts on species, genetic variation, and ecosystems
3) To develop practical approaches to prevent the extinction of species, maintain genetic diversity within species, and protect and restore biological communities and their associated ecosystem functions
What is conservation biology?
integrated, multidisciplinary scientific field that has developed in response to the challenge of of preserving species and ecosystems
Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prominent North American writers who argued that nature has uses other than human economic gain
John Muir
Argued for a national movement to preserve nature in its wild and pristine state
Gifford Pinchot
Developed a more applied view of nature
- Natural resources as commodities, goal of management for the greatest food for the greatest number of people for the longest time
Resource conservation
Aldo Leopold
The land ethic: protection of nature is protecting ecosystems
Rachel Carson
Pesticides and the concept of biological amplification
Found that increasing use of agricultural and industrial pesticides was causing unforeseen and unintended consequences on the environment
Pollution and environmental degradation affect creatures at many different ecosystem levels through cycling of matter
- regional problems with global connections
- such degradation and pollution are not merely irritating but can be life threatening
19th century environmental movement
increasing population pressure and more widespread firearms led to dramatic reductions in some animal populations
Many species became extinct in the wild at this time or suffered severe population declines
- ex. storks, cranes, great bustards, ospreys, sea eagles, wild boar, wolves, etc.
What did the 19th century environmental movement lead to?
Commons, Open Spaces, and Footpaths Preservation Society (1865)
The National Trust (1895)
The Royal Society for Preservation of Birds (1899)
When and what was the Rio summit (Earth summit) about?
1992: convention on biodiversity, which required signatory countries to take action to protect biodiversity and use it sustainably
Lead to the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy (1995)
What is the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy goals?
Conservation and sustainable use
ecological management
education and awareness
incentives and legislation
international cooperation
What are the UN Climate Change conferences?
Held under the UN framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), they serve as formal meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conference of the parties COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change
The Paris Agreement
International agreement to lower worldwide greenhouse gas emissions
COP 28
first global stock take of the world’s efforts to address climate change under the Paris Agreement. Having shown that progress was too slow across all areas of climate action, countries responded with a decision on how to accelerate action across all areas by 2030.
United Arab Emirates (Nov/Dec 2023)
COP 29
Baku, Azerbaijan (Nov 2024)
COP 15
Montreal
Adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) including four goals and 23 targets for achievement before 2030
COP 16
Governments will be tasked with reviewing the state of implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework. Parties at the Convention are expected to show the alignment of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans with the Framework
The Millenium Assessment
International scientific assessment (2001-2005)
Goal to assess the consequences of ecosystem change on human well-being and to establish the scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their contributions to human well-being
Focused on the consequences of changes in ecosystems for human well-being
Undertaken at multiple scales (local to global)
Designed to both provide information and build capacity to provide information
What is biodiversity?
The variety of life, in all of its many manifestations, encompassing all forms, levels, and combinations of natural variation, at all levels of biological organization (within species, between species, and ecosystems)
Levels of biodiversity
Genetic: encompasses the components of genetic coding that structure organisms (nucleotides, genes, chromosomes)
- genetic variability allows species to (potentially) adapt to a changing environment
Organismal: domains or kingdoms, species, populations, etc.
Ecological: biomes, provinces, ecoregions, etc.
What are the three organizations for a species?
Biological, morphological and evolutionary
Biological species
a group of individuals that can potentially breed among themselves in the wild and that do not breed with individuals of other groups
Morphological species
a group of individuals that appear different from others, that is, are morphologically distinct (sometimes referred to as morphospecies)
Evolutionary species
A group of individuals that share unique similarities in their DNA and hence their evolutionary past