Biodiversity 2: Threats and Fixes (Conservation Biology)

Vocabulary terms and definitions from lecture notes on biodiversity threats, extinction rates, and conservation strategies.

Anthropocene

The current era in which humans have had a significant impact on the planet.

Background rate

The normal estimated average rate of species extinction, which is approximately $1$ species per year.

Critically endangered

An IUCN category indicating an extremely high risk of extinction, such as a $50\%$ chance in the next $10$ years.

Endangered

An IUCN category indicating a high risk of extinction, such as a $20\%$ chance in the next $20$ years.

Vulnerable

An IUCN category indicating a risk of extinction, such as a $10\%$ chance of extinction in the next $100$ years.

Habitat destruction

The conversion of primary forest to other uses, such as agricultural fields, which is a particularly devastating cause of species loss.

Habitat degradation

The reduction in habitat quality caused by factors such as pesticides, pollutants, noise, light, waste disposal, water impoundments, and fragmentation.

Overexploitation

The unsustainable use of a renewable resource; it is the dominant threat for marine species, particularly for large predators in top trophic levels.

Invasive species

A non-native species that has become established and spread in a new ecosystem and has the potential to cause harm to the environment, the economy, or human health.

Ex situ conservation

A strategy involving the maintenance of endangered species outside their natural habitat, such as reestablishing wild populations from captive populations.

Genetic restoration

A conservation strategy that uses gene flow to counteract the effects of genetic drift and inbreeding in small populations, such as introducing Texas pumas to Florida.

Wildlife corridors

Vegetated overpasses or other connections that reconnect fragmented habitats, enabling gene flow and access to resources.

Seed banks

The storage of seeds worldwide to avoid the permanent loss of genetic diversity in both domesticated and wild plants.

Ecosystem services

Provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting benefits that provide biological and ecosystem functions to humans.

$Bsal$ ($Batrachochytrium\,salamandrivorans$)

A recently discovered microscopic fungus that infects and kills salamanders, currently found only in Europe and Asia.

Kudzu ($Pueraria\,montana$)

An invasive species imported from Japan in the 1870s that covers more than $3$ million hectares in the US and shades out native plants.

Zebra Mussel ($Dreissena\,polymorpha$)

An invasive species introduced to the Great Lakes in the 1980s that outcompetes natives and clogs water intake pipes, costing the US power industry millions annually.

Brown Tree Snake ($Boiga\,irregularis$)

An invasive species introduced to Guam that caused the extinction of $10$ out of $12$ native bird species.