Week 1 & 2 Flashcards
If the population of a species is greater than its carrying capacity for a long time, what can that do to available resources in its ecosystem?
Deplete them completely
True or false:
Keystone and foundation species have strong effects on the ecosystems. The difference between a keystone and foundation species is that foundation species are relatively rare, while keystone species are relatively abundant.
False. Keystone species are more rare, while foundation species are more abundant
When looking at a habitat, what do limiting factors do?
Regulate how many organisms live in an ecosystem
True or false:
Ongoing discussions about the new buy-out plans to address the Dutch Nitrogen crisis, reflects the governance challenge of contested knowledge.
False: This particular policy discussion strongly reflects the challenges of decision making and implementation as well as multiple values at stake since it will have a huge impact on Dutch farmers.
Relational value
Reflect the qualities of the relationships between humans and nature, such as care, social bonding, place attachment and spiritual meanings
Instrumental value
The value of ecosystems as merely means to an end and are often measured in monetary terms (how humans value $$ nature)
Intrinsic value
The value that is independent of potential usefulness of biodiversity for human beings
(Nature has a value of its own, independent of people)
Keystone species
A species whose importance is disproportionate to itsabundance (e.g., wolves, beavers)
Foundation species
Form the foundation of an ecosystem (e.g. coral reef, kelp forest)
- they offer protection, usually
- abundant
Ecosystem engineer
Species that change the (a)biotic environment/ecosystems
- e.g. Mussels: they create substrate > mussels attach together and protect themselves against waves, thus fish can lay their eggs and create an ecosystem for other species
- beavers are another example
α / alpha diversity
mean species diversity in sites or habitats at a local scale (i.e. within a site; richness)
β / beta diversity
the differentiation in diversity among those habitats (i.e. compositional heterogeneity)
((diversity bewtween communities))
γ / gamma diversity
the total species diversity in a landscape as a whole (i.e. the multiplication of α-diversity and β-diversity, assuming that they are independent from each other)
Understanding α diversity: why can multiple species co-occur?
Species diversity and functional diversity at a site (or α-diversity) is presumed to be determined by the number of niches available at a location. Can have different species with different niches.
→ Niche = the combination of factors describing the environmental space within which a species can occur
What is this an example of? Explain
- Niche partitioning
→ Birds with varying neck and head shapes and beak size that allow themco-exist together in on ecosystem but everyone has its own environmentalniche.
Understanding α diversity: limiting similarity
The niche concept also predicts that co-occurring species will differ in their traits, called the concept of limiting similarity, sometimes called competitive exclusion principle.
True or fasle:
In deserts (due to abiotic filter) there is a low productivity but in rainforest there is high productivity
True
BD: Biotic interaction Filter
- Trophic interactions - Competition & predation
- Mutualistic interactions - Positive interactions(facilitation)
BD: Regional Filters
- Regional biogeography
- Regional species pool
- Dispersal
- Colonisation
BD: Environmental Filters
Only species with appropriate traits can pass through the filter
Productivity - biodiversity relationship
→ If the productivity of an area is low i.e., in a desert, than you get a high number of environmental filters (so only a small number of species cansurvive there), than biodiversity is low
→ If the productivity is high i.e., high temp, high rainfall, great conditions, then you see a lot of biotic filtering and competition is high (you can sometimes get a monoculture and thus biodiversity is low).
- There is the optimum balance between the two where many speciescan co-exist
Productivity – biodiversity relationship
Alpha (local) > the number of species/BD they find is highest at intermediate levels of productivity
Productivity – biodiversity relationship
→ Gamma (regional ) > increased species/diversity with productivity (highest diversity at highest productivity)
→ Why? Because as beta diversity goes up as you move to higher productivity levels
- Higher productivity = groups are dissimilar
- Lower productivity > groups are similar > low productivity the environmental filtering is larger so lower number of species can exist in the area.
Productivity – biodiversity relationship
How do we get to this graph?
beta = alpha/gamma
How to conserve/restore nature/biodiversity?
- Remove pressures (HIPCO)
- Restore state: abiotic environment, foundation species, keystone species
- Remove dispersal barriers
Assigning personhood rights to nature
- has legal origins
- highest level of protection
- reflects relational value
What are some challenges with assigning personhood rights?
▪ Example: Bangladesh - rulings can make riverside communities
vulnerable to evictions
▪ Purely symbolic?: Ecuador & Bolivia- Extractive industries (oil, mining) continue
▪ Mixed legal results: not always in favour of nature (e.g. Ecuador)
▪ Ambiguous language -> Misuse by extraction companies
▪ Transboundary issues: e.g. Ganges
▪ Liability issues: e.g. Industrial impact on Climate change
In regard to nature protection, institution refers to and provides…?
- refers to: rules
- provides: structure and guidance
In regard to nature protection, governance refers to and provides…?
- refers to: process
- provides: who’s involved and how decisions are taken
In regard to nature protection, management refers to and provides…?
- refers to: substance
- provides: what is done
What are the different challenges with the governance of BD?
- different stakeholders are involved and interact with this policy field
- transnational issues i.e., nitrogen emissions coming from other countries, therefore need for collaboration
- multiple value stakes; different actors, economic sectors and policy fields can put forward multiple policy rationales and values for different ways of managing ecosystems.
- multiple policy objectives i.e., besides primary environmental objectives, policy instruments often target non-environmental (side) objectives such as social equity, rural development and sustainable economic growth
- finding an appropriate mix of policy instruments through employing direct regulation, agreements, cooperation or other policy approaches is a major challenge
- decision making & implementation; There’s a difference in where decisions are made (The Hague, EU, UN) and where decisions have to be implemented (local level)
- Contested knowledge; contesting other groups calculations or scientific knowledge (need for scientific rigour), people don’t always believe.
Nation states to networks
- Trend towards international agreements and conventions
- More transnational networks
- More emphasis on policy-making in supranational institutions
Shift from direct regulation to market forms of governance
- beginning of the 20th century: protection of nature was the responsibility of nation states. emphasis on direct regulation & instrumental values.
- shift after the 1980s: New incentive-based economic policy instruments such as market-based instruments for conservation and payments for ecosystem services schemes are increasingly being implemented from global to local levels
DPSIR - explain what each stand for
- Drivers: overarching economic and social goals and policies
- Pressures: mechanism thru which an activity has an effect on the ecosystem
- State change: changes in the state of the natural environment (to ecological characteristics)
- Impact: effects of state changes on human well-being
- Response: societal response to impacts thru policy measures
Habitat characteristics: abiotic factors
light, temperature, water, nutrients, building materials
Habitat characteristics: biotic factors
resources (food, breeding sites), intraspecific interactions (competition, mutalism)
Carrying capacity
→ Biotic and abiotic factors (i.e. the availability of resources in the environment) limits the size of the population that can b e supported in a certain area.
→ The carrying capacity is the theoretical equilibrium population size at which a particular population in a particular environment will stabilize when its supply of resources remains
constant.
Fundamental Niche
(abiotic conditions)
the set of all the states of the environment which would permit
the species to exist indefinitely
Realized Niche
(biotic conditions)
- regards the intersection between abiotic and biotic factors
- part of the fundamental niche in which a species has positive population growth rates, given the constraining effects of biological interactions (e.g. competition)
Niches: Occupied Area
(accessibility)
part of the realized niche that is accessible to the species
Niches: Generalists VS Specialists
Generalist species: wide niche, adaptable to many environments, high tolerance, etc
- example = racoons, rats
Specialist species: narrow niche, more likely to become extinct, uses specific resources
- example = pandas, koalas
Functional homogenization
Generalists replacing specialist species causing functional homogenization at the community level.
→ Three mechanisms = 1) habitat changes, 2) generalists may be able to colonize newly emerged niches, and 3) competition induced by changes favors generalists
Hollow state
Increasing use of third party, non-governmental actors in the delivery of services in public policy domains
→ Trend where central government power (and responsibilities) are devolved to lower-levels of government and / or third party actors
→ Outcome = joint production / collaborative governance
collab governance
The processes and structures of public policy decision making and management that engage people constructively across the boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or the public, private and civic spheres to carry out a public purpose that could not otherwise be accomplished.
What are some pros/cons of collab governance?
(+) Pro: response to policy gridlock
(-) Con: but consensus based processes doesn’t mean better decisions
(+) Pro: less bureaucratic
(-) Con: but weaker form of social action (unlike a monopoly)
(+) Pro: more flexibile, adaptable
(-) Con: but unstable and less predicitable
(+) Pro: builds trust, social captial
(-) Con: but coordination & accountability are difficult to achieve
Market-based conservation
- assigns a monetary value to nature
- quantifies economic values for conservation strats
- uses public & private markets to sell/trade value resource and environ. goals
- example = green payments, market based env standard/certifications, environ. credits
Non-state market driven governance (NSMD)
- defined as deliberative and adaptive governance institutions
- designed to embed social and environmental norms in the global marketplace that derive authority directly from interested audiences, including those they seek to regulate, not from sovereign states.
(example = better life food label)
What are alien species and what sort of role/impact do they have in an ecosystem?
Alien species are species occurring outside its natural range. There is potential for dispersal due to direct or indirect introduction by humans.
» The species might survive and subsequently reproduce.
» We speak of alien invasive species when these species become established, when it is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity.
» This change can also include negative effects on economics or human health.
At the local scale, species richness (alpha diversity) is optimum at intermediate productivity. But at the regional scale, biodiversity (gamma diversity) increases with productivity. What is the explanation for this?
Under high productivity, local communities become more different from each other.
What are the 3 filters to keep in mind when thinking about high/low BD?
3 important filters:
1) Regional processes (can species actually get to a certain place?):
- Regional biogeography
- Regional species pool
→ it is determined by the regional biogeography, meaning: if you want to find a species it has to be present in the larger regional species pool)
* Dispersal
* Colonization
2) Environmental filters (abiotic factors):
- Is the environment suitable?
→ E.g., is the temperature right? Is the acidity right? pH? Water? Disturbances (like fire, hurricanes…)? Seasonal changes (hot, cold…)?
» Only species with appropriate traits can pass through the filter
3) Biotic interaction filter:
- It’s about other species they have interactions with
→ Trophic interactions (consumption) - There can be competition & predation
→ Mutualistic interactions - Positive interactions (facilitation)
- Example: some pollinators might not be able to live in a certain area because the plants there aren’t suitable for them, they need certain interactions and without those they cannot survive
What are 3 factors that affect productivity? (to increase it)
1) Water (rainfall)
2) High temperatures (but not too hot) → sunshine is needed for that (plants grow faster when it’s warmer)
3) Resource availability (nutrients)
What are two processes that can influence species richness?
Environmental filtering and competitive exclusion
High vs low productivity
- Productivity is the biomass, the amount of growing mass per unit of time
→ High productivity: something grows quickly
→ Low productivity: something grows (or reproduces) slowly - Productivity-biodiversity relationship is a plot with diversity on the y axis (abiotic filter) and productivity on the x axis (biotic filter)
True of false:
Environmental filtering is a type of abiotic filtering and competitive exclusion is a type of biotic filtering
True
