Week 6: Land management

Question 1

what is connectivity?

Answer 1

Increase connectivity: shorten distances among patches and make ecological corridors
Improve quality of the matrix

Question 2

how effective are corridors?

Answer 2

Fragmentation disrupts pollination and plant reproduction - corridors can help
Is there gene flow in animals? Some species seem to use corridors, not others

Question 3

how do we manage the land sustainable?

Answer 3

Overcommitment of natural resources is the root cause of most ecological problems
Connectivity is critical, but depends on species and processes
Not all parts of a landscape are equal in their contribution to species persistence
Land use practices can produce spatial and temporal cumulative effects with negative impacts on biodiversity
Land use decisions on the land sparing land sharing spectrum and highly scale and context dependent
Different conceptual models of the landscape lead to different management approaches

Question 4

land sharing

Answer 4

integrating biodiversity conservation and food production on the same land, using wildlife-friendly farming methods

Question 5

land sparing

Answer 5

separating land for conservation from land for crops with high-yield farming facilitating the protection of remaining natural habitats from agricultural expansion

Question 6

strategies for least harm

Answer 6

Do species function best under farming or natural conditions?
Make decisions based on knowledge of what kind of species occupy an area
Criticism: the models are only averaged best guesses

Question 7

organic vs conventional farming

Answer 7

conventional farms will always yield more food per unit of capital investment

Question 8

comparing land sparing and sharing

Answer 8

Land sparing:
Intensification of agriculture happens but no conservation land is released
Not enough area for sparing due to historic land use
Intensified agriculture is not sustainable
High-quality land usually reserved for production
Small areas will not work for species with large home range
Land sharing:
Less effective on both fronts
Reduced agricultural productivity may drive agricultural expansion elsewhere globally
Will not work for species that are highly sensitive

Question 9

what are some programs for land management?

Answer 9

Habitat hectare measured with habitat scores
BushTender
Now focusing on finding a better balance between early intervention and critical care
Strategic management prospects - compares and estimates the effects of different approaches
Cost-effective actions maps
NatureKit