Conservation Biology and Threats to Biodiversity

Vocabulary flashcards covering topics on conservation biology, threats to biodiversity, regulatory acts, and ecological preserves based on lecture materials.

Habitat Loss

The primary threat to biodiversity caused by human activities such as deforestation, dam construction, and wetland drainage, which removes the natural environments needed by endemic species to survive.

Borneo and Sumatra Habitat Removal

The clearing of tropical rainforest habitats in Borneo and Sumatra—home to endemic species like orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus, Pongo abelii), Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae), and Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus)—primarily to build oil palm plantations.

Overharvesting

The removal of wild organisms or fish from an ecosystem at rates faster than the population can naturally reproduce, leading to severe population decline or collapse.

Tragedy of the Commons

An economic phenomenon in which individuals acting in self-interest deplete an unregulated shared resource, such as the overfishing that caused the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery off Newfoundland.

Exotic Species

A non-native organism introduced by human activity into a new ecosystem that can become invasive if it lacks natural predators and outcompetes, preys upon, or spreads disease to native species.

Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis)

An exotic reptilian predator accidentally introduced to Guam in 1950 that caused numerous extinctions of local bird and animal species on the island.

Chytridiomycosis

A fungal disease affecting amphibians globally, characterized by red skin lesions and mortality, as seen in the endangered Limosa Harlequin Frog (Atelopus limosus) in Panama.

White-Nose Syndrome

A disease caused by an introduced European fungal pathogen that infects hibernating bat species in North America, documented in little brown bats.

Anthropogenic Climate Change

Human-caused climate warming driven by the burning of fossil fuels, which elevates atmospheric carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) concentrations to unprecedented levels and causes rapid ecosystem changes.

Grolar Bear

A wild hybrid produced by the mating of a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) and a polar bear (Ursus maritimus), first shot in 2006 as climate change caused grizzly bear ranges to shift northward into polar bear territory.

DNA Barcoding

A molecular taxonomy technique that involves taking a small tissue sample, sequencing a specific segment of DNA, and identifying the exact species to catalog biodiversity across ecosystems.

IUCN Red List

A comprehensive listing of threatened and endangered species maintained globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which shows amphibians as having the highest proportion of vulnerable and endangered species.

Amphibian Susceptibility

The heightened vulnerability of amphibians to environmental threats caused by their dual life cycle ('amphi' = dual, 'bio' = life), requiring both aquatic environments during early development and terrestrial environments as adults.

CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)

An international treaty enacted to prevent listed threatened and endangered species from being transported across national borders, combating illegal wildlife trade.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

United States law enacted to identify species at risk of extinction and develop detailed recovery plans to restore their population sizes.

Migratory Bird Treaty Act

A bilateral agreement between the United States and Canada that protects shared migratory bird populations from being hunted or killed.

Conservation Preserve

A designated land area protected from human impact to preserve local species, ecological interactions, and biodiversity inside its boundaries.

Buffer Zone

A surrounding area placed around a core conservation preserve that mitigates edge effects and shields preserved habitats from full human disturbance.

Keystone Species

A species that exerts top-down regulation essential for maintaining biodiversity, such as the wolves of Yellowstone National Park whose 1995 reintroduction limited elk grazing and allowed vegetation like willow and cottonwood to recover.

Captive Breeding Program

A program managed by zoos and conservation organizations that breeds endangered species in captivity to eventually reintroduce them into wild natural habitats.