Straight Vocab

net reproductive rate R0

average number of offpsring produced by a female

generation time G

average time from birht of a female to the birth of her first offspring

intrinsic rate of increase r

the rate at which the population is increasing

Market Hunting

• commercialization of wildlife

• harvesting the animal to sell to somebody else

• assisted by the industrial revolution

  • telegraph, railroads, weapons

Tragedy of the commons

• if you have a resource that is free, and there is no regulation on the resource, it is likely to be abused

  • the community resource is destroyed and used up

William Hornaday

• (Director of the NY Zoological Society—Bronx Zoo)-

• “predators are the root of considerable evil”

  • placing animals in categories of good or evil (or no one cares)

Roosevelt

• conservation through wise use

• there can be no greater issue than conservation in this country

• influence of game management

  • Recognized landscapes, water, vegetation & animals as an ecosystem

  • Conservation through wise use

  • Science is the cornerstone of conservation

John Muir (1901)

• Preservationist ethic—spiritual and artistic value over exploitation for material needs

• Nature has intrinsic value (value in and of itself)

• believed that all species have equal value to humans

Gifford Pinchot

• 2 time governor of PA

• first head of the US forest service

  • father of forestry

• the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time

  • serve as many people for as long as possible the best as possible

• coined the term conservation

  • advocating a middle ground between total preservation and total exploitation

• Philosophy was “sustainable” use

Aldo Leopold

• sought middle ground between utilization and preservation

• took Roosevelt's three concepts and formed the principles of wildlife management 

  • called the evolutionary ecological land ethic

    • ecosystems are not static, they evolve

    • we need to consider this as we plan to manage

• ecosystem management

  • the highest priority is maintaining species and ecosystems 

    • biodiversity 

• father of wildlife management

• helped found the wilderness society 

“to keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering”

• if you're fixing a watch, you should keep all of the pieces

• you need to keep all of the pieces

• species are the parts, losing them will have impacts on the entire system

• need biodiversity

George Bird Grinnell

• anthropologist, naturalist

• editor of Forest and Stream

  • the plight of Yellowstone

• Founding member Audubon Society

• Founding member Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo)

• Influential in founding of Glacier National Park

• Adviser to Teddy Roosevelt

Ellen Swallow Richards

• taught first course in ecology at MIT

• interested in water quality

Rachel carson

• Silent Spring

• DDT

Public Trust Doctrine

• Establishes a trustee relationship of government to hold and manage natural resources for the benefit of the resource and for the public (today and for future generations)

• Citizens own resource, not the government

• Recognizes that natural resources are universally important in the lives of people

• Trustees manage assets owned by the people

• PTD requires accountability of government for actions

• Public has legal rights to enforce accountability—typically through litigation or through elections

• North American Wildlife Conservation Model - Seven Sisters of Conservation

• The Public Trust 

• Prohibition on Commerce of Dead Wildlife

  • Conservation laws and their strong enforcement in the United States and Canada saved wildlife from slaughter. 

• Democratic Rule of Law

• Hunting Opportunity for All

• Non-frivolous Use

• International Resources 

  • Wildlife and fish migrate freely across boundaries between states, provinces and countries.

• Scientific Management

  • The right information helps us make good decisions and become better stewards of wildlife.

lacey act - 1900

• essentially eliminated market hunting

• Prohibits importation of wild vertebrates and other animals injurious to humans, agriculture, and wildlife resources

• Prohibits violation of federal, state or foreign laws

the basis of how we govern endangered species in the US

• endangered species act

• marine mammal protection act

• international trade convention (CITES)

migratory bird treaty act - 1918

• stopped market hunting of waterfowl

• migratory birds are not property of any country 

marine mammal protection act - 1972

• Moratorium of marine mammal harvesting

• Exceptions: research & indigenous peoples

  • people abuse the research exception 

green amendment - 1971

• in the 70s, the public is right behind conservation efforts

• overwhelmingly popular policy among people

• The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people

endangered species act -1973

• we are responsible to maintain species for the future

• critical habitat and recovery plants requires

• ICUN

  • red list

CITES - 1974

• convention on international trade in endangered species

• establishes import/export procedures for endangered species

• conventions are an agreement, not legally binding

• three appendices 

  • on CITES 1? oh yeah you can’t do anything with this animal

michael soule

birth of conservation biology

ecologist who organized the first international conference on conservation biology

modern father of conservation biology

looked at as being different than other research areas

it is a crisis discipline

ecosystem

• biotic and abiotic 

• several kinds of communities

  • streams, mature forests

communities

• identifiable association of plants and animals living in a finite physical environment

• each species in the community plays a role

biosphere

• hundred of meters below the ground to several kilometers into the atmosphere

biomes

• regions with similar abiotic and biotic characteristics 

mutualism

• both benefit

• lichen

obligate mutualism

• required for survival

  • coral and algae

facultative mutualism

• not required for survival

solitary

• individual home ranges

• may or may not overlap with others

social

• found in social groupings

• why

  • predator avoidance

  • food

  • reproduction