Conservation Bio Exam 1

Conservation

sustainable use practices for natural resources, including wildlife (NOT leaving land untouched)

Preservation

leaving land untouched in order to preserve it (NOT using it)

Wildlife Management

monitoring and regulating biotic and abiotic components of an environment to achive maximum benefit for the ecosystem and humans

When did Conservation Biology emerge as a field

1970s-1980s

Why did the field of conservation biology initially emerge

to adress concerns regarding the escalating threats to biodiversity

Soule calls Cons Bio:

a Crisis Discipline

Goals of conservation biology

1-document the full range of biological diversity on earth

2-investigate human impacts on ecosystems

3-develop a science around human-caused extinction

4-develop practical approaches to preventing extinction and to protect ecosystem

Limitations of Conservation Biology

1-developing quickly in response to imminent emergency

2-limited time and money

3-often poor data

4-limited public understanding

5-politics

6-constantly changing environments

7-accesibility

Postulate

Assumption

4 Normative postulates of Conservation Biology

1-biodiversity is good, extinction is bad

2-ecological complexity is good

3-evolution is good

4-biotic diversity is intrinsically good

4 Functional Postulates

1-Evolutionary Scale

2-Ecological Scale

3-Scale of Population Phenomena

4-Spatial Scale

Evolutionary Scale-Functional Postulate

many species in an environment are the product of coevolutionary forces

Ecological Scale- Functional Postulate

ecological processes have thresholds, going too far above or below a threshold will result in a catastrophic or suspened form of the ecological process

Scale of Population Phenomena- Functional Postulate

genetic and demographic processes have thresholds, below which, non-adaptive random forces prevail over adaptive forces

(too few individuals= more likely to get wiped out by random chance (Ex:natural disaster))

a population’s survivability is a function of its size

Spatial Scale

nature reserves are inheritly at disequillibrium for large, rare organisms

-reserves are “islands” of biodiversity-extinction is inevitable within them

-natural colonization events are exceedingly rare in reserves

-reserves require human intervention via geneflow to keep going

Key ideas of Functional Postulates

-smallness is detrimental

-randomness can be detrimental

Roots of Conservation

based in human theology and philosophy

Extinction as a concern

As far back as 1863, scientists have been concerned about human-caused extinction (Alfred Russell Wallace)

Sierra Club Founder

John Muir, 19th century

Theodore Roosevelt

Established national parks, first conservationist president

Lacey Act

1900s, preservation of wild game and birds, later expanded upon

Aldo Leopold

father of Wildlife Management

Wildlife Management as a discipline

emerged in 1930s

Rachel Carson

wrote “Silent Springs”

Environmental movement start

1960’s

Green Revolution

1960s-1970s

-Clean air and water act

-NEPA

-EPA established

Gaia Hypothesis

Earth is a “superorganism” that self-regulates

NA Model for wildlife conservation

“7 Sisters” 7 pillars

1-Public trust doctrine

2-Prohibitions on commerce of wildlife

3-Allocation of wildlife by law

4-Hunting opprotunity for all

5-Non-frivilous use of wildlife

6-Wildlife is an international resource

7-Wildlife management based in science

Public Trust Doctrine-NA Model

-wildlife is held in trust for citizenry by govt.

Prohibition on commerce of wildlife-NA Model

wildlife and game cannot be bought or sold

done to avoid overexploitation

Allocation of wildlife by law-NA Model

Govt. manages wildlife to preserve for future generations

Hunting Opprotunity for all-NA Model

Every citizen has equal right and opprotunity to hunt and harvest wildlife

Non-Frivilous use of wildlife-NA Model

Wildlife is only to be harvested for legitimate purpouses, and not to be wasted

Wildlife is an international resource-NA Model

Wildlife management must be done in cooperation with other countries whose range the wildlife shares

Wildlife management based in science-NA Model

science is the proper tool for discharge of policy regarding wildlife

Goals of wildlife management

-increase in quality (could mean increase or decrease in population)

-benefits to humans (economic and utilitarian)

Goals of wildlife conservation

-prevent extinction

-benefits to humans

Endangered Species Act of 1973

initally from 1966 in order to list and protect native fishes

updated in 1969 to expand to species in danger of extinction worldwide

1973-updated to be more comprehensive, written by lawyers and scientists

1982-updated to give concessions to landowners

Purpouse of Endangered Species Act (ESA)

“…to provide a means to conserve ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend”

ESA administration

Combined effort from NOAA and USFWS

“Threatened” species

species likely to become endangered in the future

“Endangered” species

species in danger of extinction throughout all of its range/ a significant portion of its range

“Conservation” definition

to use all methods nessecarry to bring a species to the point where the ESA and its protections are no longer nessecarry

5 possible criteria to be considered for ESA

1-present/threatened destruction/modification of its habitat or range

2-over-utilization of the species

3-severe decline due to disease or predation

4-inadequacy of current regulation of species

5-other natural or manmade factors influencing its existence

Petition and listing process for ESA

criterion is met, NOAA or USFWS sends through candidate assesment program, assessed in terms of priority, highest threat = highest priority

State cooperation

NOAA or USFWS sets up funds and programs w/ states for the preservation of a species

Consultation

Federal agencies must cooperate w/ USFWS or NOAA to ensure minimal harm to endangered species and their habitat

ESA Prohibitions

1-importing/exporting endangered species into or out of US

2-possessing, selling, or transporting endangered species

3-delivering, receiving, transporting, or selling interstate or internationally endangered species

4-violating any regulation on endangered species made by FWS or NFWS

5-”take” of endangered species

“Take” deffinition

the killing/harming/tracking/harrassment/collection of an endangered species

formerly included habitat destruction until Trump Admin

Incidental Takes-ESA “Take” Exceptions

exceptions made for human safety

Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)

plan for conserving habitat, allows incidental takes of endangered species for 30 years

ESA-Delisting

happens by extinction or recovery of endangered species

ESA criticisms

-not cost effective

-not effectively procetive

-lots of landowner burden

ESA has a 3.7% recovery rate

Geometric Growth Formula

Pop. calculations for species with distinct breeding seasons

Exponential Growth Formula

Pop. calculations for species that breed throughout the year (continuous breeding)

Logistic growth formula

Pop. calculations that takes carrying capacity into account

Taxon

a taxonomic group, such as family or class

Endemic

a species found in one/ a limited space

Extinction

the complete disapperance of a species from earth

Extripation

the dissaperance of a species from a significant portion of its range

extant species

a species that still exists

relaxation equillibrium

the loss of species during any part of habitat fragmentation or isolation

Faunal collapse

the demise of most or all animal taxa from an ecosystem

Ecosystem decay

process of species loss from significantly fragmented ecosystem-Thomas Lovejoy term

Mass Extinction events

natural processes, usually due to natural disasters, and take a long time to happen (20,000-1 million years)

5 so far

Currently in one now

Anthropocene Mass extinction event

6th mass extinction

man made

1000 times faster than past mass extinctions

positive correlation between human pop. and extinction rates

Threatened categories-IUCN red list

Vunerable (VU)

Endangered (EN)

Critically Endangered (CR)

Critically Endangered (CR)-IUCN Red List

meets one of these criteria

-80% reduction in pop. size over last 10 years/ 3 generations

-occurs in less than 100 KM² or in only one place

-250 or less mature individuals and 25% decline within 3 years or 1 generation

-fewer than 50 mature individuals

-50% of wild pop. decline in last 3 years or 1 generation

Typical traits of threatened species

-restricted ranges

-specialists

-K selected

-flightless birds and slow moving animals

-large animals

-altruistic behavior

-comercially valuable

-colony breeders

-apex predators, at the end of the foodchain

-migratory species

Lazarus species

species thought to be extinct that survived (ex: coelocanth)

Hypothesis

assumption made before research is done

Theory

principle formed to explain things already shown from research

Island Biogeography

the study of species movement and evolution across islands or other restricted ranges, and the study of how these places support life

Island Biogeography founders

Robert MacArthur and Edward Wilson

Three dichotomies of island biogeography

-small vs large

-close vs far (to mainland)

-age of island

Metapopulation Biology

focuses on local extinction and colonization of a species

Metapopulation Biology founder

Richard Levins

Insights in metapopulation biology

-empty habitat may be essential, not just excess

-reduced dispersal success may result in metapop. extinction

-metapops. can still become extinct even if theres habitat

-spatial arrangement is important (patches can’t be too isolated)

Source-Sink Dynamics

Source-high quality habitat (pop. increases)

Sink-low quality habitat (pop. decreases)

individuals from source may migrate to sink, sustaining it w/o impacting source

Population

all the organisms of the same species within an area that can interbreed with one another

Habitat

and area/ areas that provides all need of an organism or population, including food, water, and shelter

Habitat Gain

gain in the ammount or quality of habitat available to an organism or population

habitat change/alteration

the modification of an organism's/population’s habitat

Habitat loss

a decrease in the ammount or quality of habitat for an organism or population

Habitat fragmentation

the emergence of breaks in the continuity of an organism’s/population’s habitat

Habitat degradation

a reduction in the ability of a habitat to support and organism/population

Habitat destruction

the rendering of a habitat to be completely unlivable for an organism or population

Edge Effect

the influence that two habitats have on one another along their boundry

Ecotone

a region of transition between two biological communities

Defaunation

the destruction or loss of a species in a region or habitat

Extinction debt

an equation used to determine how many species are likely to go extinct in a patch and how long it will take for that to happen

Sympatric Speciation

speciation event wiith no geographic isolation

Allopatric speciation

speciation event with geographic isolation

phyletic evolution

a species changes gradually and no longer resembles origins in either appearance or behavior, but remains the same species

Airstrike

aircraft-animal collision, either in sky or on land

both a human saferty and conservation issue

Airstrike stats-mamals

Artiodactyls hake up 44% of these types of airstrikes

Airstrike stats-birds

9,000 strikes in 2009, 5x more than in 1990

larger birds=more damage

smaller, flocking birds=more dangerous

immature individuals pose the most threat-don’t know to avoid aircraft

Bird airstike mitigation-airstrip

play distress calls

cull

introduce predators

reduce habitat near airstrips

bird radar

radar used to detect bird prescence and movement, good for mitigation, not prevention

Bird airstrike mitigation-aircraft and conditions

more experienced pilots

weather conditions (clear weather=airstrike more likely)

smaller aircraft-less likely to be struck