REN3301 Discussion Q's Flashcards
[M1 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Name and review the four resource/conservation ethics that contributed to the development of modern conservation biology. In your answer, list one or more people who are associated with each ethic.
i) Romantic Transcendental preservation ethic - Nature has a value beyond human gains (Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882] & Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862])
ii) Preservation ethic - Natural areas and species have intrinsic value (John Muir [1838-1914])
iii) Resource conservation ethic - Natural resources should be used sustainably for the good of humanity (Gifford Pinchot [1865-1946])
iv) Evolutionary ecological land ethic - Most important conservation is health and well-being of natural ecosystems and ecological processes (Aldo Leopold [1887-1948])
[M2 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Biodiversity has been described as a concept, measurable quantity and social/political construct. Discuss these three meanings commonly associated with biodiversity.
Species concept: We can think of a species as a group of naturally occurring individuals that can interbreed and that have a common evolutionary ancestry. It can be morphological, biological, phylogenetic, evolutionary,
Noss (1990) defines 3 measurable contributes of biodiversity:
i) Composition (identity and variety of elements in a collection)
ii) Structure (physical organisation or pattern of a system)
iii) Function (ecological and evolutionary processes)
Measurable quantities involve species richness and overall representation (evenness).
2 aspects of biodiversity as a measurable quantity are:
a) Biodiversity as discrete entitites
b) Measure of difference between these entities
[M3 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Discuss the main human-induced factors contributing to the extinction of species in more recent times.
i) Habitat destruction and fragmentation - Role in over 85% of extinctions since 1800s. Increasing with population. Tropical rainforests, wetlands and reefs most at risk.
ii) Introduced species - role in nearly 50% of extinctions since 1800. Generalists who outcompete or predate native species.
iii) Overexploitation - Over 17% of modern extinctions. Often impacts large, charismatic animals. Increasing with population needs. Can result in top down trophic cascades.
iv) Pollution / climate change - agricultural / industrial run off / waste often considered biggest threat. Expected now that climate change will be a major threat in future, threatening finely balanced distribution of ecosystems and biomes.
[M4 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Paul Ehrlich (2002), in selected reading 4.2, examined the various attitudes of environmental scientists, social scientists and the general public to conservation in the context of environmental values (ethics). Discuss these attitudes and the future directions identified by Ehrlich.
Ehrlich states minimal disagreement about dire state of global ecology. Attitudes of the following are:
i) Environmental scientists - Must be advocates at least in sense of informing the public of their work.
ii) Social scientists - Should deal more with environmental scientists. Still a long way from understanding evolution of attitudes towards conservation of nature.
iii) Non-scientific public - Often believe humanity and growth will not threaten biodiversity and the environment.
[M5 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - What is the enhanced greenhouse effect and what are some of the likely consequences for biodiversity?
Concentration of GHG’s come about from burning fossil fuels, mass deforestation, etc. Some synthetic gases such as CFC’s and PFC’s also act as GHG.
Some consequences for biodiverstiy include:
- Habitat loss
- Ecological disruptions
- Severe weather / fire
- Agricultural productions / soil infertility
- Human, animal and plant health & spread of tropical diseases
Some reports suggest up to 30% of all species will be lost as a consequence of CC and habitat alteration.
Other changes include:
- Poleward and elevational shifts
- Growth cycle changes
- Local species disappearance
- Changes in community composition
Speed of CC faster than plants can adapt to and migrate from
[M7 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - How could management designed to improve conditions for an endangered species have negative effects on other species? What could a land manager do to prevent this situation from occurring?
There is increasing recognition by conservation biologists that holistic, whole-of-ecosystem approaches to conservation may be more effective than single-species focused conservation.
PVA identifies and focuses conservation on species that are threatened. This can be harmful to other species or the ecosystem though.
Knowledge of source-sink habitats is vital. Focusing on a species threatened in a sink habitat could prove folly in the long term.
[M8 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Polak et al. (2015) advocate planning for species and ecosystem targets simultaneously to achieve more efficient outcomes. Discuss this approach compared to an ecosystem-based approach to conservation.
Polak et al found however, that an ecosystem-based approach will not, by itself, ensure the adequate representation of species in a protected area. Under an ecosystem only approach, many species can fall through the cracks, and under a species only approach, the ecosystem may be detrimental to their survival.
Whereas the ecosystem approach focuses purely on the habitat and environmental surrounds, the simultaneous model would focus on addressing the needs of threatened species to survive, as well as ecosystem to be successfully managed. This is suggested to be maintained through understanding and expanding source habitats, as well as focusing on the needs of individual threatened species.
[M9 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Watson et al. (2014) suggest that a step change involving increased recognition, funding, planning and enforcement is needed if protected areas are going to fulfil their potential. Discuss this statement and explain the main elements of the step change suggested by Watson et al. (2014).
A fundamental step change is needed to ensure both the current and future potential of the estate is met. These steps include:
1) Countries must create regimes in existing areas that support PA systems
2) There should be adequate investment in PA’s
3) Governments wont give adequate funding to PA’s and the wider community must help take responsibility.
[M10 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Suding et al. (2015) advocate four principles for planning restoration as foundations for sustainability and resilience into the future. Briefly discuss each principle.
i) Restoration increases ecological integrity - prioritising biological assemblages, including species composition, and all features needed to sustain and support biodiversity within an ecosystem function is accelerated by restoration
ii) Restoration is suitable in the long term - Once a restoration project Is complete, human intervention should be limited over a long-term period.
iii) Restoration is informed by past and future – Historical knowledge can indicate how many ecosystems have performed under various conditions and climates and can help identify and model indicators of the future, despite difficulty of anthropogenic forcings.
iv) Restoration benefits and engages society – restoration focuses on biodiversity and supporting the intrinsic value of nature. Engages people through direct participation.
[M11 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - Discuss the challenges to adaptive management implementation.
Challenges to adaptive management implementation can described through technical, economic, ecological, institutional and sociological barriers.
i) Technical challenges: the design of suitable experiments and effective monitoring strategies for large scale phenomena with high variability and long response times is very difficult. Much data needs to be invested in.
ii) Economic challenges: adaptive management requires more careful planning and implementation than routine operations. Short term revenues may be reduced and long-term economic boosts delayed.
iii) Ecological challenges: In order to increase learning, adaptive management may require sub-optimal environmental processes
iv) Institutional and sociological challenges: : institutions are often the biggest barriers to acceptance and implementation of adaptive management as it is different for them to admit they are uncertain about outcome of actions.
[M12 DISCUSSION QUESTION] - According to Rands et al (2010), there is a need for more radical changes in approaches to biodiversity conservation that recognises biodiversity as a public good, integrates biodiversity conservation into policies and decision frameworks for resource production and consumption, and that focus on wider institutional and societal changes to enable more effective implementation of conservation policy. Describe these elements.
Rands et al. (2010) propose three inter-connecting priorities to address the continued loss of biodiversity:
I) Manage biodiversity as a public good – to increase the recognition among the general public of the value (economic and intrinsic) of biodiversity;
II) Integrate biodiversity into public and private decision-making – to make the value of biodiversity an integral element of social, economic, and political decision-making.
III) Create enabling conditions for policy implementation – enabling factors include institutional and governance structures to enable the effective use of targeted interventions to address biodiversity loss.
