Zoos Exotics and Endangered Species Exam 1

What is biodiversity?

The variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from genes and bacteria to entire ecosystems

When would we not want biodiversity?

When it threatens extinction

What are the greatest risks to extinction?

1. Endemic

2. Indigenous

3. Non-native

4. Invasive

Define endemic species

They are species that are unique to a specific geographic location (lake island, etc)

What is an indigenous species?

a native species found in multiple locations (North American Black Bear

What is a non-native species?

they are not naturally found in an area, but unlikely to cause harm (tomato plants)

What is an invasive species

not tative and LIKELY to cause harm

What are the two relationships between animals and each other that explain Interdependence?

1. Mutualistic and commensalism parasite relationships

2. Predator prey relationships (lion zebra)

What are monphagous animals?

These are animals that eat one specific plant (or type of food)

What is a keystone species?

An organism that defines an ecosystem: ecosystem engineer, predators, and mutualists (ex. sea star, elephants, grizzly bears, Siberian tiger)

What is a flagship species?

people are attracted to and can be used to persuade people to be environmentally friendly

What is an umbrella species?

if we can protect butterflies because people care about butterflies, then it will benefit the entirety of the butterfly ecosystem

What causes biodiversity loss?

Deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, climate change, people

Why do some people not believe in a sixth mass extinction?

1. IUCN shows no difference in the current rate of species loss from the background rate (because they only focus on mammals)

2. Increased extinction in a natural trajectory

3. The rate of evolution is increasing - this will balance extinctions

What the IUCN and what is the red list?

IUCN stands for International Union for Conservation of Nature

The red list aims to asses extinction risk

Name some already extinct species?

Tasmanian tiger, Golden toad, and bramble caye rat (2019)

What does functionally extinct mean?

The species is still alive but will soon go extinct because the existing members cannot reproduce, so when they die the species will be extinct

ex. the Northern white rhinos

What are some examples of species saved from extinction?

1. Golden lion tamarin

2. California condor

3. European bison

4. Black footed ferret

5. Peregrine falcon

6. Przewalski’s Horse

What is deforestation?

The purposeful clearing of forest land

What causes deforestation?

1. Agriculture (animal and crops)

2. Timber production

3. Urbanization

4. Mining

5. Wildfires

What amazon species are effected by deforestation?

1. Jaguar

2. River dolphins

3. Giant otters

4. Uakari Monkey

5. Poison Dart frog

Describe some important characteristics of Jaguars

• Apex predators

• Keystone, flagship and ubrella species

• Requires large territories to survive

• strong swimmers

• The highest densities are in the exact area that are under the biggest human threats

What is a PA?

It is a protected area or conservation areas that are located which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Human presence or the exploitation of natural resources are limited

Why did we talk about the Uakari Monkey?

Because they are the rarest of amazon primates due to illegal hunting, and deforestation. They are extreamly important for seed dispersal in the amazon

What are two byproducts of deforestation

Increase in GHG emissions and soil erosion, flooding, pollution, and landslides

What are two contributors to deforestation?

Palm oil production and slash and burn

Are there any Javan Rhinoceros in zoos?

No

What are POPs

Persitant organic pollutants

Who is most likely to accumulate microplastics?

Apex predators through bioaccumulation

What are fishing problems (3 of them)

Overfishing, bycatch, illegal fishing

What are the most polluted counties

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan

What are some examples of indicator species?

river dolphins and river otters

What is the diference in global warming and climate change?

Global warming is the long term heating of the earth’s surface

climate change is the long term change in our weather patterns

What are the GHG’s

CO2, methane, NO, Fluorindated gases, water vapor

Which animals that we talked about are most impacted by climate change

Polar bear, Adelie penguin, Asian elephants

What is zoonotic disease?

a diesease that can spread between people and animals

What drives disease spread?

air travel, urbanization, wet markets, pet trade, poaching and global warming

What is a big threat to African Wild dogs

Canine distemper virus

What is chytrid

It is caused by a fungus, spread by human activity and mainly infects frog

What is an invasive species?

An organism that is not native to a particular area and is likely to cuase environmental harm

What is the problem with invasive species

they out compete native species, introduce disease, have no natural predators

What are examples of invasive species

Cane toad, zebra mussel and burmese python

Describe the Cane toad vs Quoll

• The cane toad was purposefully brought over to eat vegetation

• Quolls were already endangered

• Quolls would eat the cane toad and die because the cane toad’s skin is poisonous

• Quolls were then fed these toad meat sausages with a nausea drug, this then taught them not to eat the toad

What is poaching

Illegal hunting or killing of animals (or their parts) for profit

Bushmeat

meat from wild animals hunted (maybe illegally) for profit