Conservation Biology Terms

What qualifies a biodiversity hotspot?

Contains at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species found nowhere else on earth and have lost 70% of its primary native vegetation.

What are the three main value systems?

Intrinsic, Instrumental, Relational

Intrinsic value

Something is given inherent worth just by existing, independent of any benefit it provides

Moral value (intrinsic)

Value based on individual sense of right and wrong

Ethical value (intrinsic)

Value based on social norms and codes of conduct

Individualistic ethics

Centers on the moral consideration of individual animals, rather than focusing on populations, species, or entire ecosystems

Holistic ethics

Views ecosystems as interconnected systems, prioritizing their well being through a systems-thinking approach rather than centering on individuals

Religious value (intrinsic)

Value from a belief in a higher power 

Instrumental value

How much the nature contributes to the GED/ use of nature as a commodity

Direct use (instrumental)

Value of market goods and products that nature provides

Indirect use (instrumental)

Value of the services nature provides to people

Option value (instrumental)

Value of natural assets when used in the future; potential for a species or ecosystem to provide an economic benefit to human society in the future

Non-use value (instrumental)

Value of leaving nature intact for future generations

Relational value

The importance of people’s diverse relationships and connections to nature

Personal and cultural identity value (relational)

Value of personal and cultural identity

Social responsibility value (relational)

Value of connecting with and caring for others

Historical and education value (relational)

Value of understanding one’s place in the world

Biophilia value (relational)

Value of connecting with nature; the love for nature

Aesthetic value (relational)

Value of beauty, wonder, and inspiration; emotional experience

Types of direct use

• Consumptive use: use of resources consumed locally

• Productive use: creation of crops/products are sold in markets

Types of indirect use:

• Non-consumptive use: provides benefits to humans only when alive and in their natural ecosystem

• Ecosystem functions and services

Provisioning (ecosystem service)

Products obtained from ecosystems

• Food

• Water

• Medicines

• Biotechnology

Regulating (ecosystem service)

Benefits from regulation of ecosystem processes

• Air, water purification

• Soil fertility

• Pollination

• Climate regulation

Cultural (ecosystem service)

Nonmaterial benefits obtained from ecosystems

• Recreation

• Ecotourism

• Spiritual and religious

• Cultural heritage

Supporting (ecosystem service)

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

• Nutrient recycling

• Decomposition

• Biomass production

• Resource capture

Existence value (non-use)

The benefit people receive from simply knowing the goods and services exist

Bequest value (non-use)

The value that the current generation places on ensuring the availability of species, wildlife habitats, wilderness areas, or other resources for the benefit of future generations

What two things determine the human impact?

• Total human population size

• Per capita resource use (resources used per person)

Ecological footprint

The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources

Carbon footprint

Part of the ecological footprint; total emissions or per capita emissions

Biocapacity

Ability of the environment to produce resources and absorb waste

Global overshoot day

When we exceed the resources the earth has for us

Definition of population

Multiple individuals of the same species in the same general geographic location

R-selected species

Can produce a lot of offspring quickly and are able to reproduce at young ages

K-selected species

Have a few young, not very often, and take a long time to reach sexual maturity

What determines a population?

• Birth rate

• Death rate

• Immigration

• Emigration

Open-population

all 4 factors acting on the population (birth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration); more genetic diversity

Closed-population

No individuals moving in and out; only birth rate and death rate acting on the population; found mostly on islands and isolated populations

Meta-population

Group of populations separated by space but consist of the same species

Genetic rescue

A conservation strategy that introduces new genetic variation into small, isolated or inbred populations to increase their genetic diversity

Species accumulation curve

Tells us when we have reached our saturation point for finding new species

• By the rate of which it is increasing, we can determine how many species there are

4 patterns of species richness

• Latitude

• Area

• Structrual complexity

• Isolation

Latitude pattern of species richness

At lower latitudes (closer to the equator), there is more biodiversity. Rainforests are typically at lower latitudes and contain 50% of species event though they only take up 6% of land area

Area pattern of species richness

All else being equal, larger areas have more species than smaller areas

Structural complexity pattern of species richness

How complex the plant structure/habitat structure is determines the amount of species. The more complex, the more species.

Isolation pattern of species richness

The more isolated, the more endemic and unique species found nowhere else.

Rapoport’s rule

Geographic range sizes of species generally increase with higher latitudes

Island Biogeography Theory

• The closer to the mainland, the more species

• The bigger the island, the more species

3 Goals of conservation biology

• Document biodiversity

• Examine human impact

• Prevent extinction of species

Species richness

total number of species in an area

Species evenness

How even are the populations distributed

Species diversity

Measures both species richness and species evenness; how many species are there, are are they equally distributed?

Alpha diversity

Species diversity in a particular community

Beta diversity

Change in diversity of species from one community to another

• Gamma/Alpha

Gamma diversity

Total diversity over geographic scales