Biodiversity and Conservation Notes

Practice flashcards based on lecture notes covering topics on biodiversity, conservation, and the impact of human activities on the environment.

Biodiversity

The variety of life on Earth including all genes, populations, species, communities, and biomes.

Anthropocene

The current geological age viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Population Decay

Chronic decline in species population size and geographic range that increases the risk of extinction.

Extirpation

Local extinction of a species population from a biological community, even as populations of the species still exist elsewhere.

Ecosystem services

The benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, such as clean water, pollination of crops, and climate regulation.

Conservation Biology

An interdisciplinary field that brings together experts from natural, social, and physical sciences to protect Earth's biodiversity.

Intrinsic Value

The value of nature that means it is worth protecting regardless of the benefits to humans.

Keystone Species

A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.

Mass Mortality Events

Rapid catastrophic deaths of a population of organisms that can kill 90% or more in a short time.

Crisis Discipline

A term used to describe areas of study that deal with urgent, irreversible problems requiring quick decision-making.

Selective Forces

Environmental factors that influence natural selection, favoring specific traits in a population.

Fortress Conservation

Protected areas created under the myth of pristine wilderness, often excluding Indigenous peoples and their practices.

Biological Uniqueness

The original biological characteristics of ecosystems that are lost when non-native species replace native flora and fauna.

Ecocentric

An ethical view that considers all living organisms and their natural environment as deserving moral consideration.

Allopatric Speciation

The process of speciation that occurs when biological populations become physically isolated.