Conservation Biology Exam 1

What are the goals of conservation biology?

• To document the full range of biological diversity on Earth

• To investigate human impact on species, genetic variation, and ecosystems

• To develop practical approaches to

  • Prevent the extinction of species

  • Maintain genetic diversity within species

  • Protect and restore biological communities and their associated ecosystem functions

book - chapter 1 defining conservation biology

note - conservation biology arose in the 1980s

What is a normative discipline?

A discipline that embraces ethical commitment rather than ethical neutrality; embraces certain values and attempts to apply the scientific method to achieving those values

book - chapter 1 defining conservation biology

Resource management needs …?

Field experience and research

Basic sciences apply…?

New ideas and approaches

Tell me about the kemp’s ridley sea turtles!

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles faced risk of extinction due to local communities harvesting their eggs from nests for eating. It was incredibly difficult to figure out exactly where they nest, but they found that the species nests in one spot on the beaches of Tamaulipas. They are highly synchronized in groups called arribadas, with one arribada in 1947 occurring with up to 40,000 nesting females. Local people have collected 80% of Kemp’s ridley eggs, other eggs were lost by predation from coyotes, and turtles drowned after becoming trapped in fishing nets.

What did scientists do to improve the kemp’s ridley sea turtle population?

The U.S. and Mexican governments worked together. Collecting eggs was banned, fishers were required to use turtle excluder devices, and campaigns/ propaganda were started to discourage eating turtle eggs.

Scientists set up a population on Padre Island National Seashore, where they relocated eggs from Rancho Nuevo over country borders, packing eggs with the same sand from Rancho Nuevo, transporting them in climate controlled conditions, and then rearing them for 9-11 months. From 1978 to 1988, they collected 22,507 eggs. Now, when staff find new eggs at Padre Island, they remove the eggs to incubate. There are nearly 18,000 nests on the island each year, with over 750,000 hatchlings.

Habitat degradation is still a major threat to this species, as well as climate change. In addition, the deepwater horizon spill impacted populations.

What is cold-stunning?

When temperatures are warmer than usual for time of year, sea turtles at higher latitudes aren’t signaled to migrate south before the onset of autumn storms, which makes them vulnerable to cold-stunning. They are paralyzed, but alive when this happens.

2021 logged the largest cold-stunning event, with nearly 5,000 various species of turtle washed up on Padre Island’s shore. Residents transported cold-stunned turtles to the island’s conservation center.

What are the organizational values of conservation biology?

• Biological diversity has intrinsic value

• The untimely extinction of populations and species should be prevented

• The diversity of species and the complexity of biological communities should be preserved

• Science plays a critical role in our understanding of ecosystems

• Collaboration among scientists, managers, policymakers, and the public is important and often necessary

Give me a description of Soule’s paper on “What is Conservation Biology?”

Soule’s paper defines conservation biology as a crisis discipline - often, people often need to act before they know all the facts. Conservation Biology is similar to cancer biology in the regard that it requires knowledge and expertise from a large variety of fields to inform decisions and function as a discipline.

Conservation biology may be informed by:

• Ecophilosophy

• Environmental Monitoring

• Veterinary Medicine

• Hazard Evaluation

• Historical Biogeography

• Island Biogeography

• Physiology

• Population Biology

  • Population Genetics

  • Ecology

  • Sociobiology

• Genetics

• Natural Resource Fields

  • Forestry

  • Fishery Biology

  • Wildlife Biology

  • Public Policy

  • Management

• Social Sciences

This paper also introduces postulates of conservation biology.

What are the functional postulates of conservation biology?

Functional postulates suggest rules for action

• Many species that constitute natural communities are products of coevolution

• Ecological processes often have thresholds, after which they become discontinuous, chaotic, or suspended (Think k-selected species - after reaching a maximum value, the population will be chaotic until it levels off)

• Genetic and demographic processes have thresholds below which nonadaptive, random forces prevail over adaptive, deterministic forces

• Nature reserves are inherently disequilibrial for large, rare organisms - (large organisms need much more space than small organisms)

By Soule

What are some examples of species that have made a comeback in Ohio?

• Trumpeter swans, which indicate how clean the environment is

• Bald eagles - DDT affecting their eggs’ shells, lead poisoning from carrion or waterfowl shot with lead ammunition, and mercury contaminating water.

What are the normative postulates of conservation biology?

• Diversity of organisms is good

• Ecological complexity is good

• Evolution is good

• Biotic diversity has intrinsic value, irrespective of its instrumental or utilitarian value

By Soule, analyzed by Kareiva and Marvier

What do Kareiva and Marvier propose in response to Soule’s paper on Conservation Biology? - Their paper is conservation science

These two authors have a much higher focus on human impact and wellbeing to inform conservation science. For example, they believe that the following fields contribute to conservation science:

• Conservation biology

• Economics

• Agriculture

• Anthropology

• Communications

• Psychology

• Sociology

• Philanthropy

• Sustainable development

• Ethics

• Public policy

• Public health

• Climate science

They state:

Conservation is fundamentally an expression of human values, biodiversity is not the only entity affected by conservation actions and policies: People’s lives also affected

More focus nowadays on using peer-reviewed papers, research, and accumulated evidence, and meta-analyses to inform care

Conservation science is defined in this paper as: A key goal is the improvement of human well-being through the management of the environment

They proposed new postulates

What postulates did Kareiva and Marvier propose?

• “Pristine nature” untouched by human influences does not exist.

• The fate of nature and that of people are deeply intertwined.

  • Many of the activities that harm biodiversity also harm human well-being - ex: chemical pollution of air and water - both human and nonhuman life are harmed

• Nature can be surprisingly resilient

  • Nature often rebounds - marine ecosystems recover after oil spills

• Human communities can avoid the tragedy of the commons

• The “flat world” means that local conservation efforts are deeply connected to global forces

What is fortress conservation?

• The creation of protected areas through the displacement and exclusion of human communities

How does the destruction of mangrove forests exacerbate the loss of human life caused by tsunamis or hurricanes?

Mangrove forests are trees in the water, they act as a natural “wall” that breaks waves, prevents water from rising, and protects human settlements nearby. By destroying these forests, less protection is provided along the shorelines, in places that once had protection and the biodiversity resulting from it.

What is the tragedy of the commons?

When a community shares a space, and an individual can benefit from the space at a cost to the community, which therefore leads to depletion of the source and eventually nobody has anything.

What normative postulates did Marvier and Kareiva suggest?

• Conservation must occur within human-altered landscapes

• Conservation will be a durable success only if people support conservation goals

• Conservationists must work with corporations

• Only be seeking to jointly maximize conservation and economic objectives is conservation likely to succeed

• Conservation must not infringe on human rights and must embrace the principles of fairness and gender equity

What are the principles of conservation biology?

• Biological diversity has intrinsic value

• Untimely extinction of populations and species should be prevented

• Diversity of species and complexity of biological communities should be preserved

• Sciences play a critical role in our understanding of ecosystems

• Collaboration among scientists, managers, policymakers, and the public is important and often necessary

What is the difference between resource management and conservation biology?

Resource management involves the use of forestry and fisheries, while conservation biology is focused on preservation

Conservation biology INFORMS resource management

Compare and contrast conservation biology and environmentalism

Environmentalism usually involves some sort of activism or political involvement, while conservation does not (currently) involve activism or political involvement

What is transcendentalism?

• Transcendentalism is spiritual connection

Written by Henry David Thoreau, author of Thoreau - he stayed at a cabin in the woods, which he finds is healing for people

What is preservationist ethic?

This is by John Muir, the idea that natural areas have spiritual value superior to material gain obtained by their exploitation

What is resource conservation ethic

Made by Gifford Pinchot, who is the head of the U.S. forest service. Pinchot is seen as the father of modern forestry.

• The proper use of natural resources is “whatever will further good of the greatest amount of people for the greatest time”

What is sustainable development

Development that best meets present and future human needs while respecting the ecosystem function

What is land ethic?

This is when you consider the ecosystem as a whole

Aldo Leopold looked at the interrelatedness of living things and their environment, the health of natural ecosystems and ecological processes - certain parts of natural forces set aside as wilderness areas

How are public views of the importance of conservation affected by the economy?

Importance of conservation falls after an economic crisis, then rises again slowly over time - therefore, it is important that humans have a good wellbeing to have the political will to conserve

What is ecosystem management?

It places the highest management on cooperation among businesses, conservation organizations, government, citizens, and other people. Meet human needs, but maintain human processes

What did theodore roosevelt do?

He doubled the amount of national parks - he was considered an incredibly environmental president - however, he also led the smithsonian-roosevelt african expedition to kenya in 1909-1910, killing more than 11,000 animals - fuels the modern idea that trophy hunting pays for wildlife conservation in Africa, however this idea has little evidence and reinforces exploitative models of conservation, and removes local communities from lands

What did Audubon do?

He contributed greatly to the birding world, however he brought a slave along with him who most likely the majority of the work observing and identifying the birds, but received no credit for doing so. He believed that overpopulation is the root cause of environmental problems. This implies economically less-developed nations with large populations are the biggest threat to conservation

How was the national park system set up?

The national park system started with yellowstone in 1872. Railroad executives pushed for national parks to encourage people to ride trains across the country. Making the national park system also brought in jobs, in making trails, railroads/ roads, tourism, etc. In addition, the idea of the “American West” encouraged tourism to barren land.

What is biodiversity?

All species, genetic variations, and biological communities and their ecosystem-level interactions

How do countries contribute to the global issue of conservation biology?

Energy use - as countries develop, resource consumption increases

The average US citizen uses 4x more energy than the global citizen

The top 10 countries account for 61% of global total.

US has a higher per capita consumption, while China has a large population with a low per capita consumption

How do biodiversity threats affect people?

People depend on the natural environment for food, medicine, water, air, etc. - the poorest people have the greatest hardship from damaged environments - fewer reserves of food, less access, etc.

Who wrote silent spring?

Rachel Carson - it’s about the dangers of pesticides, which spurred an international environmental movement

How did conservation arise?

Conservation Biology is founded in religious and philosophical beliefs, such as taoism, hinduism, buddhism - these religions believe all killing of animal life is wrong, in islamic, judaic, and christian religions, people are given sacred responsibility to be guardians of nature, in indigenous religions, spiritual traditions honor nature and its perception

• De aere aquis et locis - by hippocratus - protecting nature

• Pierre Poure - relationship between deforestation and regional climate change

• Bishnol Hindus of Khekarli - gave their lives protecting trees from being felled for the palace of Maharaja of Jodhpur 1720

• Europe, romanticism movement emphasized appreciation of nature as a response to the industrial revolution

• US, philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau had wild nature as an important element

• Michael Soule proposed a new idea called conservation biology

Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

On the central california coast, members of northern chumash tribe drove the effort to protect rugged coastline, eventually leading to the creation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which will advise the federal government. This land is protected from oil and gas drilling, undersea mining, however fishing is still prohibited. There is more public outreach and monitoring for environmental impacts.

The rocky cliffs are a spiritual place for this tribe, where they believe all people leave this world into the next life

What are economics?

The study of the transfer of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services

What are externalities?

Hidden costs and benefits (both positive and negative)

What are open access resources?

Common property resources, such as water, air, and soil

What is the tragedy of the commons?

When people, industries, and govt use or damage resources and pay little cost; value is lost to all of society

What is a market failure?

Balance of supply and demand for products or services lost

What is the purpose of the “ecosystems preserved” versus “ecosystems damaged” image showing two halves of a town, the left being preservation, the right being exploitation of the resources

This shows that spending a little bit more money to conserve and protect the environment, such as installing water treatment plans, can have a better long term impact on the environment, although it may seem that it costs an excessive amount, it has better implications for the future and people’s ability to continue to use the resource

What are the value systems that are used to justify conservation of nature and its biodiversity?

Intrinsic value, such as moral, ethical, and religious

Instrumental, such as direct use, indirect use, option value, and non-use

What are ecosystem services?

A collection of biological processes that are required to sustain human life and provide a good standard of living on Earth - such as bees, which pollinate flowers and allow fruits to grow

What is provisioning of conservation?

Products such as food, water, raw materials, medicines, and biotechnology are obtained from ecosystems

What is regulating of conservation?

These are benefits from regulation of ecosystem processes

• Air, water purification

• Climate regulation

• Soil fertility

• Erosion control

• Pest and disease control

• Pollination

• Natural disaster mitigation

What is cultural of conservation?

Nonmaterial benefits obtained from ecosystems

• Recreation

• Ecotourism

• Health and well-being

• Spiritual and religious

• Aesthetic and inspiration

• Educational

• Cultural Heritage

What is supporting conservation?

Ecological processes that control the functioning of ecosystems and production of all other services

• Resource capture

• Biomass production

• Decomposition

• Nutrient recycling

What is consumptive use value under the category direct use values?

When people living close to the land derive a considerable proportion of the good they require for their livelihood from the surrounding environment, such as fuelwood, wild meat, etc. They do not contribute to the nation’s GDP as they remain local to the people. However, if the ecosystems surrounding them are exploited, they are unable to obtain the products and their standard of living will decline

What is productive use value under the direct use category?

When natural resources are harvested and sold in national or international commercial markets. Productive use may motivate unsustainable removal of organisms from their environment, threatening species, such as overexploitation

What are some examples of raw materials?

Wood - timber, animal products, dyes and perfumes, and gums and resins (food and personal health care products)

What are some plant derived medicinal resources?

• Rose periwinkle - two drugs for treating hodgkin’s disease, leukemia, and other blood cancers derive from this plant

• Cinchona succirubra - quinine, treats malaria and barbosis

• Pacific yew - taxol, a chemotherapy drug

• Willow tree - acetylaslicylic acid, which is aspirin

• Coca - novocain and lidocain, anesthetic that numbs specific areas of the body

What are some animal derived medicinal resources?

• Golden orb spider - using venom to treat epilepsy

• Gila monster - venom can be used to treat type 2 diabetes

• Cone snail - venom can be used as a painkiller - their venom has small peptides called conotoxins

What are some fungal derived medicinal resources?

• Penicillin - antibiotic

• Tetracycline - antibiotic

• Cyclosporine (heart and kidney transplants)

Bioprospecting

Preserving ecosystems for the potential that they may have to humans, such as specialized bacteria at the morning glory pool in yellowstone’s hot mineral springs

What is biopiracy?

Unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or intellectual property

How do structures or processes go into ecosystem service to go into benefit to go into value?

• The forest ecosystem is a structure or process - it provides environment to support growing hardwood (this is provisioning), which goes to the trees to harvest, which are an ecosystem service, which goes to material to build houses, which are a benefit, which goes to how much people will pay for timber, which is a value

• Filtering process of a wetland is a structure or process and is regulating, cleaning water is an ecosystem service it provides, people and crop’s don’t get sick from dirty water is a benefit, and the cost of water purification plant alternative is a value

What is the indirect use value of the classification of value systems that are used to justify conservation of nature and its biodiversity?

Value of the services nature provides to people - example: wetlands control flooding to protect my community

What is the option value?

Value of natural assets when used in the future - example: Rainforests may hold the cure to an illness threatening society

What is the non-use value?

Value of leaving nature intact for future generations - example: I want my children to enjoy and benefit from nature the way I have

How is climate regulation being impacted by climate change?

The hydrologic cycle is altered due to global warming

How does the environment directly impact us in terms of energy cost?

Planting trees in your yard around your house saves energy, because you use less energy to keep the house cool

How does biological control of pests and disease impact us?

• Decreases the need for pesticides

• Native predatory insects provide 400 billion dollars a year in avoided crop damage - which means that the loss of insect-eating bats in north america could lead to agricultural losses of more than 3.7 billion dollars a year

• Biological control allows for significant control of zoonotic vector-borne diseases (mosquitos carry disease, bats eat mosquitoes)

How much is pollination worth?

Crop pollination by insects is worth up to 167 billion dollars worldwide

How does the natural environment contribute to soil fertility?

Primary producers (plants) grow and reproduce, and are consumed by primary consumers (herbivores), which are consumed by primary carnivores (could be insectivores), which are consumed by secondary carnivores (meat-eating animal), which eventually die and are consumed by detritivores, who break down decaying matter and nutrients in the soil, soil becomes nutrient rich

Example: Legumes convert nitrogen to ammonia

Ecotourism

This contributes to 20% of the 600 billion tourist industry

Subcategory of cultural amenity value of the ecosystem

Other examples are:

Wildlife viewing, recreational hunting, boating, recreational fishing, bird watching, and mountain biking

Love it to Death Syndrome

When ecotourism begins to exploit the environment - for example, snorkeling to see the coral reefs, but they are all dead because of too much ecotourism, or the tourists are actually damaging the environment they are being tourists of.

Tell me about the systematic overview and second-order meta-analysis of nature-based interventions for stress, anxiety, and depression

Basically, nature makes you happy!

What are environmental ethics?

• Each species has a right to exist

• All species are interdependent

• People have a responsibility to act as stewards of the earth

• People have a responsibility to future generations

• Respect for human life and human diversity is compatible with respect for biodiversity

• People benefit from aesthetic and recreational enjoyment

• People benefit from the knowledge the natural world provides

Humans are NOT at the top of the pyramid - humans are just one species that is part of a large system

For the article, perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision-makers in 37 countries: What are the major drivers of global biodiversity decline?

Habitat loss, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species

For the article, perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision-makers in 37 countries: What is the purpose and rationale of the study?

To assess college students’ perceptions of biodiversity loss, what causes it, what is important to it, etc. They wanted to target variable countries to have a more accurate representation of the world’s perception, so they sent this out to universities or professors to send to their students. By analyzing how people perceive biodiversity loss, they can understand where the industry lacks education or where its strengths are, and which countries have altered views of biodiversity loss due to exposure or lack thereof.

State the hypotheses of perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision-makers in 37 countries

Students from wealthier countries with higher CO2 emissions per capita (more developed countries) will be less concerned about biodiversity loss and therefore rate the main reasons for biodiversity loss as less severe compared to students from less wealthy countries with lower CO2 emissions. Also, they assume students from countries with higher biodiversity are more likely to appreciate it and better able to recognize and assess the reasons for biodiversity loss.

Explain the survey that was administered in perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision makers in 37 countries

They surveyed students using an online questionnaire and then used a method for analyzing data sets to analyze the data.

To analyze and display the data, responses were grouped into 8 response types.

• Response type 1, all factors except climate change were considered to have a high influence on biodiversity decline - minor drivers were less important than major drivers

• Response type 2, all factors except pollution were considered to have a high influence on biodiversity decline - minors drivers were less important than major drivers

• Response type 3, all factors were rated as having little influence on biodiversity loss

• Response type 4, three of the five main drivers were rated as moderately strong influencing factors - exploitation, invasive species, habitat loss - climate change and pollution were slightly stronger drivers

• Response type 5, all main drivers were considered as strong influencing factors, but differentiation between main and minor drivers was medium

• Response type 6, all main drivers were identified as very strong drivers for biodiversity loss - invasive species were assessed as slightly less important - clear differentiation between minor and main drivers

• Response type 7, the main drivers were identified, with invasive species rated as a minor driver

• Response type 8, the main drivers were identified, with invasive species rated as a moderate driver

Which response type is most concerning in perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision makers in 37 countries?

Response type 3, which rates all factors as having little influence on biodiversity loss

What response type is most desirable in perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision makers in 37 countries?

Response type 7

What response type did our class have?

Response type 5

What are the five indices used to explain the distribution of response types within different countries?

1. Fossil CO2 emissions of a country from 2021: Countries’ CO2 emissions from fossil emissions. This includes fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, and product use

2. Environmental Performance Index from 2022 [EPI]: This is an index that examines how environmentally sustainable a country is using 40 performance indicators

3. Legatum Prosperity Index from 2021 [LPI]: With a total of 300 individual indicators from 12 subcategories, the LPI evaluates the prosperity of a county

4. Global Biodiversity Index [GBI] from 2022: This index takes into account the diversity of bird, amphibian, fish, mammal, reptile and plant species in a country

5. Number of invasive species [NIS]: Number of reported invasive species in a country

Identify and explain any interesting correlations in perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision-makers in 37 countries

Countries that were les wealthy had incredibly high amounts of response type 5, more wealthy countries had mostly response type 6, disproving their theory that wealthier countries will have response types that are less aligned with how biodiversity loss is really impacted.

Interpret Figure 2A of perceptions of biodiversity loss among future decision makers in 37 countries

2A shows the distribution of each response type across each country, with the size of the circles correlating to the proportional amount of response type per country.

How is loss of biodiversity impacted?

Indirect threats contribute to direct threats, such as commercial and residential development contributing to habitat loss, which contributes to invasive species and disease (invasive species can invade more easily when a habitat is degraded or vulnerable - invasive species thrive off of edges of habitats), habitat loss also contributes to (and is impacted by) climate change, due to less trees and photosynthesis, rising water, ocean calcification, etc, and habitat loss is impacted by overexploitation from humans using the environment. All of this contributes to a loss of biodiversity.

What is earth overshoot day?

The day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a year exceeds what our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate in that year. Earth overshoot day fell on July 30th for 2026. It falls slightly earlier each year.

Which countries typically use more resources?

• Developed countries and highly populated countries, such as the US, mexico, western europe, china, india, algeria, libya, egypt, and the middle east

The U.S. has the highest standard of living

What are some major threats to birds?

Mainly habitat loss/ degradation

What are some main threats to mammals?

Habitat loss/ degradation and overexploitation

What are some main threats to fishes?

Overexploitation - in the U.S., fish are sourced from lakes, more local than other species that we eat, and not in a farm setting (such as cows, pigs, sheep, etc)

What are some main threats to reptiles and amphibians?

Habitat loss/ degradation

How have different species and their populations been affected since 1970?

• Marine species have declined by 56%

• Terrestrial species have declined by 69%

• Freshwater species have declined by 85%

How have different regions been impacted over the last 50 years?

• North america’s biodiversity has decreased 39%

• Latin America and the Carribbean have declined 95%

• Europe and Central Asia have declined 35%

• Asia and the Pacific have declined 60%

• Africa has declined 76%

Note: North America and Europe + Central Asia have started from a lower baseline, with exploitation already occurring, so they appear to be “better” but they aren’t- they started from lower

Another note: tropical regions have been most affected by climate change

Overwhelmingly, habitat loss and degradation is the dominant driver of change in all regions.

What questions does NatureServe ask to assess biodiversity?

• How many species and ecosystems are at risk?

• Are species and ecosystems adequately protected?

• What are the major threats to biodiversity?

• Where is imperiled biodiversity concentrated?

• Where do we go from here?

How does NatureServe rank species’ conservation status?

• G5/N5/S5 - Secure, at very low risk of extinction due to a very extensive range, abundant populations or occurrences, and little to not concern about declines or threats

• G4/N4/S4 - Apparently secure - at fairly low risk of extinction due to factors such as a fairly restricted range and/or many populations or occurrences, but with possible cause for some concern because of recent local declines and/or threats

• G3/N3/S3 - Vulnerable - at moderate risk of extinction due to factors such as a fairly restricted range, relatively few populations or occurrences, and recent widespread declines and/or threats

• G2/N2/S2 - Imperiled - at high risk of extinction due to factors such as a restricted range, few populations or occurrences, steep declines, and/or severe threats

• G1/N1/S1 - Critically Imperiled - at very high risk of extinction due to factors such as a very restricted range, very few populations or occurrences, very steep declines, and/or very severe threats

• GH/NH/SH - Possibly Extinct - Known only from historical occurrences but still some hope of rediscovery

G = Global, N = National, S= Subnational

3-H are at risk

How does NatureServe rank ecosystems’ conservation status?

• G1/N1/S1 and G2/N2/S2 are imperiled

• G3/N3/S3 is vulnerable

• G4/N4/S4 and G5/N5/S5 are apparently secure

Imperiled and vulnerable groups are at risk

What percent of plant species are at risk of extinction?

34%

What percent of animal species are at risk of extinction?

40%

What percent of ecosystems are at risk of range-wide collapse?

41%

What ecosystems are at most risk?

• Tropical forests

• tropical high montane grasslands and shrublands

• tropical cliffs and open rock

• tropical savannas, grasslands, and shrublands

What are plants most impacted by?

Invasive species and disease

What are terrestrial animals most impacted by?

Invasive species and disease

What are freshwater animals most impacted by?

Pollution

What biomes have been the most converted?

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests