Wildlife Population Restoration Session 2 Flashcards
Successfully restoring wildlife populations depends upon knowledge of what?
- Understanding of ecological principles (population ecology, genetics. etc)
- Multiple disciplines (chemistry, physics, geography etc.)
- A team approach
What are three difficulties with establishing a historic restoration point?
- Difficult to determine the ‘historic’ time period
- Difficult to determine what ecological conditions existed during that period
- Hard to say if those ecological conditions are still appropriate today
What is a trophic cascade?
The removal (or addition) of organisms triggering a top-down effect that sends ripples of change down the food chain
Yellowstone is a good example (wolves and bears removed, extirpated, later reintroduced)
Reference ecosystems provide four key types of baseline information needed to direct a restoration plan; what are these?
- Determining what the original condition was compared to the present
- Determining what factors caused the degradation
- Defining what needs to be done to restore the ecosystem
- Developing criteria for measuring success
Describe the four basic reference ecosystem models
- Contemporary (current) restoration sites (occur at same time/location)
- Historic models of restoration sites (occur at different time/same location)
- Contemporary remnants (remnant = away from site) (occur at same time/different location)
- Historic remnants (occur at different time/different location)
What is the difference between ‘ecological restoration’ and ‘restoration ecology’?
- Ecological restoration = the practice of restoring degraded ecological systems
- Restoration ecology = the scientific process of developing theory to guide restoration using restoration to advance ecology
Why is it challenging to identify the ‘natural condition’ (3 main points, explain them)?
- Difficult to determine what ‘natural conditions’ are
- One concept: natural conditions are those w/o human-induced impacts
- Another is that natural conditions include the environmental impacts caused by the regions indigenous peoples
- Difficult to identify ‘natural features’ through time
- Alien species - what is considered native versus naturalized
- Short term data does not capture enough information
When developing a restoration plan, one should develop goals based upon what three sources of knowledge?
- Historic conditions
- Current regional conditions
- Species-specific requirements
When developing a restoration plan, consider three restoration principles; what are these?
- Don’t attempt to restore that what cannot be achieved
- Try to place restoration plans in the context of historical conditions
- Clearly and openly states - and justify your goals
Under the BC Wildlife Act, what is the formal definition of ‘wildlife’?
- ‘All native and some non-native amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals that live in B.C.’
- Some provisions have the Act including fish in this definition
- Other legislation defines some insects and plants as wildlife as well
Why is an ecosystem approach needed to restore wildlife populations?
- An ecosystem approach is needed for effective conservation and restoration
- Understanding wildlife in an ecosystem context requires understanding of:
- Population dynamics
- Evolutionary context of organisms
- Interactions between species
- Influence of the abiotic environment on the vitality of organisms
Given all the uncertainties discussed (in Session 3, in general), how can these (uncertainties) be managed when developing a wildlife restoration plan (3)?
- Clearly state specific goals for each restoration project
- Providing clear justification for goals/approaches
- Include a thorough analysis of historical conditions and the role humans have played
- Define historic conditions → justify why you’ve picked that
