Exam One - Conservation Bio

Carrying capacity

maximum number of individuals that a given area can support given the limited resources available

Ecological Impact =

Human population x Affluence (wealth) x technology

Ecological footprint

- Estimates the surface required to supply the biological resources we use and then compares that with the area that exists - the Earth's biocapacity

- Does not address all environmental pressures associated with consumption (pollution, habitat loss, etc.)

Biocapacity

estimate of the surface of productive lands and lands that can absorb our waste such as the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Ecological Sustainability

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the future generations

Anthropocene

Term (unofficial) used to describe the current geological period in which humans have become to dominate Earth's ecosystems and their biophysical processes

Great acceleration

set of indicators which depict the dramatic acceleration inhuman enterprise and impacts on the Earth system over the last two centuries

5 main threats to biodiversity

- Land and sea use change (including habitat loss and degradation)

- Pollution (may be combined w/ above)

- Species over exploitation

- Climate change

- Invasive species and disease

Romantic transcendentalism

- Celebration of nature in response to the unconstrained impacts of western expansion on forests, waterways and wildlife

- Precursor of other conservation philosophies

Preservation conservation ethic

Primary role of conservation is to preserve nature for its intrinsic value (in pristine state)

John Muir

-Wilderness advocate: major role in establishment of the National Park Service & Forest Reserve Act

- Yosemite & Sequoia National Park

- Sierra Club (citizen-based environmental advocacy organization)

- Preservation conservation ethic

Resource conservation ethic

The proper use of natural resources is 'whatever will further the greatest good of the greatest number of people'

Grifford Pinchot

- Head of the Forest Service: development of sustainable forest management

- Multiple uses and fair distribution of resources used by public land agencies

- Proposed "resource conservation ethic"

Land Ethic

- Ethic that argued that humans are "plain members and citizens" of biotic communities and have a moral responsibility towards nature

- Rooted in ecological-evolutionary thinking

Aldo Leopold

- Professor at University of Wisconsin: his views have been embraced by many conservation organizations and gave rise to ecosystem-based management

- Preserve the integrity, and functioning of entire ecosystems

- First to propose "Land Ethic"

Michael Soulé

Father of Conservation Biology as a discipline 'The New Science of Conservation Biology'

Conservation biology

Multidisciplinary scientific field that has emerged in the mid 1980s to protect Earths biodiversity

3 primary goals of conservation biology

1.) To investigate and describe the full variety of life on the planet

2.) To evaluate and predict the effects of human activities on biodiversity

3.) To develop practical solutions to protect and manage biodiversity

Principles or postulates proposed by Soulé

1. Biodiversity has intrinsic value (regardless of its economic value)

2. Extinction of populations and species should be prevented

3. The diversity of species and ecosystems should be preserved

4. Science plays a critical role (not enough to value diversity)

5. Collaboration among scientists, managers, policy makers, public is key

Normative (Value Based) Discipline

Conservation biologists believe the preservation of species and ecosystems to be an ultimate good

Crisis Discipline

Practitioners must take actions even in the absence of complete information, because waiting to collect the necessary data may result in irreversible loss

What are the concepts of biodiversity?

- Genetic Diversity

- Species Diversity

- Ecosystem Diversity

What are the measures of biodiversity?

- Polymorphism, heterozygosity•

- Species richness, dominance•

- Alpha, beta, gamma diversity•

- Community structure

Genetic Diversity

Genetic variation within species

Species Diversity

Variety of species in a biological community

Community/Ecosystem Diversity

Variety of biological communities and associated habitats and processes

Genetic diversity concepts... Population

group of reproducing individuals

Genetic diversity concepts... Genotype

Genetic makeup of an individual

Gene

a segment (or segments) of achromosome that code for specific proteins

Genetic Locus

- Is the location of a particular gene on a chromosome•

- At each locus, an individual has two alleles, one on each copy of the chromosome

Phenotype is made up of...

Genotype x Environment

Genotype

Genetic makeup of the individual

Phenotype

Set of traits of an individual (physiological or behavioral)

Why is genetic diversity important?

Genetic diversity is the raw material for evolution and adaptation to environmental change (via natural selection)

Gene flow

Movement of alleles from one population to another due to the movement of reproducing individuals or dispersal of seeds

Natural selection

- A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

- Primary cause for changes in allele frequencies

Gene pool

Total array of genes and alleles found across individuals

Measuring genetic diversity... Allele Frequencies

Proportion of each allele in a population

Measuring genetic diversity... Polymorphism

Proportion of gene loci that have multiple forms (polymorphic) in a population

Measuring genetic diversity... Heterozygosity

Average heterozygosity of all individuals in the population

Cryptic diversity

Many undescribed species have been incorrectly classified because they are morphologically similar

Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU)

- Conservation unit below the species level accounting for evolutionary distinctness

- 1 species = 1 or multiple ESUs

Species richness

Total number of species in an area

Simpson's Diversity Index

probability that any two individuals randomly selected will belong to different species

Alpha diversity (α)

mean local species richness

Gamma diversity (γ)

regional species richness

Beta diversity (β)

species uniqueness (γ/α)

Ecoregion

Large areas of land or water that contain geographically distinct communities

How is biodiversity distributed?

- Biodiversity is distributed unequally

- Some biomes harbor more diversity than others with respect to their size (tropical rainforests, coral reefs, rivers)•

- Some areas present unique combinations of species (ecoregions)

Biodiversity hotspot

Areas of abnormally high levels of biodiversity•

Endemism

species that are found in a particular area butn owhere else

Ecosystem services

"nature's contributions to people" (for free)

Supporting services

- Ecological processes that control the fluxes of matter and energy (=ecosystem functions)

- Ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration

- Decomposition and nutrient cycling

- No direct human value, must be placed in the context of other services!

Provisioning services

- Material outputs from ecosystems that are used by people

- Food

- Water

- Medical resources

Regulating services

- Benefits that ecosystems provide by regulating the stability of ecosystem processes through time (=insurance to human well-being)

- Water purification

- Natural disaster mitigation (soil and water protection)

- Crop pollination

Cultural services

- Non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems throughspiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection,recreation, and aesthetic experiences

- Recreation

- Ecotourism

- Health and well-being

Keystone species

A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

ecosystem engineers

A keystone species that creates or maintains habitat for other species

Complementary effects of biodiversity

different species are able to exploit slightly different resources and thus combination of species enhance ecosystem functions more than if they were alone (=niche partitioning)

Stabilizing effects of biodiversity (portfolio effect)

Oceans with a greater variety of fish species have more stable fisheries through time because different species are more likely to fluctuate asynchronously

Resistance effect of biodiversity

Ecosystems with more species are more resistant to invasive pests and diseases as there will be less niche or resource opportunities for them

Ecological economics

address the interrelationships between ecological and economic systems by integrating the valuation of biodiversity into economic analyses

Terrestrial biomes

Areas characterized by dominant vegetation type

Tundra

areas where the subsoil remains frozen throughout the year (permafrost)

Deciduous temperate forest

forest 'dominated' by trees that lose their leaves once a year

Temperate grassland

vegetation 'dominated' by grasses

Tropical rainforest

multi-layered forest with broad-leaved trees

Desert

drought-resistant vegetation, typically spiny with tiny leaves

Aquatic biomes

Areas characterized by dominant physical process

Lake

large body of slowly moving or standing water surrounded by land

River

flowing watercourse but can be intermittent and ephemeral

Estuaries

transition zone of brackish water between river and marine environments subject to tide influence

Intertidal zone

- Area within the tidal range, exhibiting typical zonation

- Terrestrial influence => Marine influence

Coral reefs

underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals

Oceanic pelagic

- Water column of the open ocean

- Largest aquatic biome

Abyssal zones

- Portion of the ocean deeper > 2,000 m

- Life forms adapted to lack of light

- Frontier of biodiversity

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

Provides only a very narrow view of human welfare (=economic activity instead of ecological sustainability or economic health)

Direct Values

- Relate to the harvest/consumption of a resource (e.g., provisioning services: fuelwood, food, medicine)

- Consumptive uses (consumed locally)

- Productive uses (sold in markets)

Indirect values

Assigned to aspect of diversity that provide both present and future benefits without being harvested or destroyed (e.g., regulating & cultural ecosystem services)

Option value

Relates to potential future benefits or willingness to pay to maintain or preserve a resource even if there are no immediate plans to use it (e.g., discovery of new medicines, bioagents)

Existence value

People are willing to pay for their continued existence even they may never experience them for others (=altruism) or future generations (= bequest value)

Subsidies

amount of money governments spend in order to support activities that otherwise might not be financially viable ($950-1450 billion/year)

(Philosophical) Anthropocentric view

People centered → human concerns/needs are placed above all

(Philosophical) Biocentric view

Life centered→ all species (including humans) have an equal right to exist and are worthy of protection

(Philosophical) Ecocentric view

System centered→ all living and non-living things are connected, important is to conserve the ecosystem as a whole

Intrinsic value of biodiversity

- Value of biodiversity based on its existence, regardless of whether it has any usefulness to humans.

- Moral

- Ethical

- Religious

Instrumental value of biodiversity

A focus on the economic value of biodiversity (e.g., the value of lumber and crops).

Relational value of biodiversity

- Choices not based only on how things possess inherent worth; also considers how people relate with nature

- An intersection of intrinsic and instrumental values of biodiversity

Biodiversity latitudinal gradient

A phenomenon where species richness increases from the poles to the tropics.

Taxonomy

The scientific study of how living things are classified

Approximately how many species have been described?

~ 1.5 million described species (< 0.2 million marine)

- Most are animals, plants and fungi

- Insects is the richest taxonomic group (so far)

What two reasons limit our discovery of species?

- The number of species collected is ONLY an estimate of the true number of species present in a given area

- It often takes a few years for a new species to be formally recognized, and it requires considerable resources (field expedition, identification in the lab, molecular analyses, etc.)

(Estimating current number of species) Species-area relationships

Uses a small plot to estimate the species richness of a much larger area (e.g. using the number of insects in a 1 ha plot to assess the number of insects in the entire rainforest)

(Estimating current number of species)

Ratios between taxa (e.g. Ratio 6:1 fungi/vascular plants => Extrapolate based on number of plants [better known taxa])

Which of the following people championed the belief that humans are a part of biotic communities and thus have a moral responsibility to protect nature?

Aldo Leopold

3 multiple choice options

TRUE or FALSE: The Ecological Footprint concept addresses all environmental pressures associated with human consumption

False, it does not address all environmental pressures associated with consumption (pollution, habitat loss, etc.)

1 multiple choice option

Why is the current geological period referred to as the Anthropocene?

Because humans have dominated Earth's ecosystems and biophysical processes during this period of geological time.

Why is genetic diversity an important component of biodiversity?

All of the above

3 multiple choice options

There are 5 main drivers of biodiversity loss. The conversion of prairie to cropland is an example of:

Land and sea use change

3 multiple choice options

A single species can display phenotypic variation throughout its range. For example, song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, are dark and heavily streaked in the Pacific Northwest and pale in the Desert Southwest. Phenotypic variation within species causes problems identifying species using the __________________ species definition.

morphological

3 multiple choice options