wildlife conservation exam 2

Before man : 11,500 BC

Megaherbavores and megacarnivores - iceage creating land bridge allowing humans into north america

History of wildlife in North America :

Before man, Pre europian era, era of abundance, era of overexploitation, era if protection, era of game management, era of enviromental management, era of conservation biology

Pre europian era : 1500

Clovis tribe were first to move into america, hunting wildlife - extinction of all mega herbivores and carnivores - early explorers arrive

Pleistocene overkill (pre europian era) :

humans spreading across america, hunting mega herbivores - because much larger and have low reproductive rates due to K selection are more vulnurable to extinction → creates a chain reaction with all other mega carnivores and birds

death of native americans (pre europian era) :

when colombus and early explores arrive they brought diseases that the native americans were not yet exposed to → killed ovwr 90% of the native amercian populations

era of abundance : 1500 - 1850

less people on the contenint - abundance of wildlife (60 million byson, 230 million ducks, passenger pidgons, salmon) - due to abundance of wildlife, humans assume supply of creatures would be infinite

era of overexpliotation : 1850 - 1900

developing cities, farms and roads - increase in human population, new technologies of industrial era, and demand of market economy cause wildlife populations to decrease immensly - birds being hunted for on comercial scale for feathers - preadtor bounties placed out of fear - nature seen as something that is in the way

species that went extinct in era of overexpoitation :

passenger pidgon, carolina parakeet, stellars seacow, labrador duck

passanger pidgon (overexpliotation era) :

went extinct due to human expliotation becuase they were easy to hunt - last one died in 1914

Byson (overexpliotation era) :

thought to be inexaustable - hunted for food, leather used for machine belts, hide used for clothing - removed byson to limit native americans - last free roam byson was shot in 1894

Stellar seacow (overexpliotation) :

hunted to extinction, this only took 27 years to become extinct - meat was known to be better than beef

Labrador duck (overexpliotation era) :

hunted for commercial exportation and market hunting : kill off wildlife to sell on the market for economic benifit

Henery david tho ( overexpliotation era) :

in 1855 he wrote in his journal about how humans have overexpliotated their resources and compares the enviroment to one in 1633

Charles darwin (overexpliotation era) :

In 1859 he publised orgin of speices that stated how we are not above nature, explaining how humans have a large impact on wildlife and the extinction of them

End of overexpliotation era :

the start to protecting wildlife - game commissioners were formed, some states created bag limits ( how many individuals are allowed to be hunted), hunting liscence created in some states, yellowstone national park was formed.

era of protection : 1900 - 1930

most still oblivious to the enviormental deteriation - some realize the damage from the uncontrolled hunting that was elimintating populations of species - scinece lacks - still have preadtor control that had preators being trapped and shot to improve numbers of game species - golden age of conservation

The lacey act : 1900 (era of protection)

limits trade of illigal wildlife across state boundries which stopped interstate commercial sale of feathers

Teddy roosevelt ( era of protection) :

he was president in 1901 - recognized the importance of wildlife conservation to be able to continue to hunt - moved us into protection - trippled the size of national forrests, created the forrest service, establshed forrst national wildlife refuge, set aside coal reserves

Gifford pinchot (era of protection) :

coined the term conservation - was the head of the forrest service - believed in sustained use of resources

John muir (era of protection) :

founder of sierra club which was a non profit that works to conserve wildlife - preserved yosemite and attempted but failed to preserve hetch hetchy which is now a reseviour

era of game management : 1930 - 1966

improvement in scientific understanding within wildlife population decline and ecosystem decline - focused on improving wildlife and fish populations to satisfy the increasing demand for resources - protection for other speices not just game animals - parks more restricted

Aldo Leopold (era of game management) :

drove the era of game management - father of wildlife management - first professor of game management - reported of the commete of north amaerca gsme policy and made strong recomodations for better reasearch - establsuhed the wildlife society with bob marshal in 1935 - founder of university of wisconsins depaertmen tof wildlife management - published book game managment which influenced the birth of wildlife biology as a profession

Wilderness act : 1964 (era of game management)

allowed for creation of wilderness areas on US forrest service and bureau of land management lands

Pittman robertson act : 1937 (era of game management)

places taxes on all amo and guns which then went towards wildlife managment funding

Dingell johnson act : 1950 (era of game management)

placed taxes on fishing which went towards funding for wildlife management

Rachel carson (era of game management) :

wrote silent spring in 1962 which pushed the public into seeing that the benifits brought by pesticides were having a terrible effects on the enviroment causing the loss of species

Era of enviromental management : 1966 - 1979

increased national awareness within the public, biologists, and other scientists - politicians began to reluctantly listen to the demands for envioromental protection - endangered speices act (1966) - envioromental protection agency formed (1970) - earth day was created (1970) - National enviormental quality act was passed (1969) - over 2 dozen legislations were passed

era of conservation biology : 1979

an evolutionary ecological perspective - ronald regan was president and was very anti enviromental policies - human populations still growing at an exponential rate, the atmosphere is warming, rainforrests being cut, seroius pollution occuring, but humans are more aware than thry have ever been - awareness = easier to fix problem = recognition

overexpliotation :

living off the land or sea in a manner that can not be sustianed - collection of natural resources by hunting, fishing, trapping at unsustainable levels - species that are slow maturing and slow reproducing (K selected) can not sustain current harvest levels

overexpliotation leads to…

extinction on a global scale → there is enough on this planet for everyones needs but not everyones greed

expliotation :

living off the land or sea - we have to do this to survive

Temperete terrestrial systems in the US :

• hunting is mostly well controlled and managed

• managed hunting is nesecary to limit disease and predator species and is concedered expliotation

• prerie dogs are overexplioted in us - are a keystone speices - hunted becuase are concidered a pest

• rattle snakes are overexpliotated is us - collect rattlesnakes and collects their venom - is very unregulated

Temperate terrestrial systems in counties outside of the US :

• sometimes well managed hunting but worse than the us

• hard to enforce regulatons within small villages and are often dependent on hunting animals to survive = retubution killing

• big in wildlife trading

• cyprus bird poaching - use nets that are banned in the us

overexpliotation in Tropical terrestrial systems :

• contain 40 - 60% of people and arehas the most diverse and fast growing populations leading to a high demand for resources

• a lot of timber extraction which allows for increased overexpliotation

• harvest of animal parts for the medical trade - led to vulture decline and extinction of black rhinos

• laege pet trade within these areas, reptiles being the most popular trade

tropical terrestrial areas : the bushmeat trade

collecting animals to sell at regional markets - cannot handle the pressures of feeding non locals - specifically in asia and africa and effects monkeys and apes - reduced mammal populations then lead to reduced abundance of fruits

tropical terrestrial areas : empty forrest syndrome

a forrest appearing healthy and green but lacks animal species inside the forrest

tropical terrestrial areas : defaunation of tropical forrests

wildlife pipulations unable to keep up with the growing populations

tropical terrestrial areas : agouti

when the population of these decline it affects the forrest density as well becuase these are seed dispersers

overexpliotatoin in Marine ecosystems :

• most overexpliotated system and is very well documented

• we fish down the food web

• sea food will be gone by 2050

• factory trawlers and large factory ships fishing to sell at local and global markets - catch a lot of unsellable crratures as well and killing them

• used to underfish a lot of species that are now overfished - this is because once we overfish one speices, we move onto the next

marine ecosystems : swim bladder

a 99% decline in population due to fishing and selling - greater than the price of gold

marine ecosystems : ghost fishing

thousands of animals die from entanglement in dumped or abandonded fishing gear

marine ecosystems : tragedy of commons

fishers have little to no motiviation to listen to the restraint of fishing when they do not own the fishary → resulting in overexpliotation

terrestrial animals :

overexpliotated as a source of food, garments, jewlery, medicine, or pets

Habitat :

area where a species csn survive and meet basic needs to reproduce

generalist species :

species finds in relativly easy to move to new areas

Specialist speices :

those that can only survive within a narroe range of enviromental conditions

areas with the least natural vegitation :

areas with hugh urbanilization and agriculture

The largest threat to biodiversity and animal extinction is :

habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation

Habitat degradation :

impacts many but not all speices

habitat degration examples :

• chemical dumping - could kill some but not all animals in the area

• live stock grazing - wiping out vegitation where cattle is - dosent effect whole habitat since removal of cattle will allow regrowing

• invasive species - could lower plant diversity

Habitat fragmentation :

reduction in the area covered by habitat, a change in configuration - division of a larger habitat into smaller patches - smaller patches mean less population stability and less biodiversity

Habitat fragmentation example :

large areas of land being cut into smaller sections due to roads, farm feilds, and towns

Island biogeography theory :

the number of speices in a patch is dependent on the rate of immigration and rate of extinction - an island close to a source of large biodiversity will have lower rates of extinction and higher rates of biodiversity → small isleand = high rate of extinction and low rates of immigration

edge effect :

• something diffrent occuring along the edge of our habitat (dense woods and forrests)

• not every edge is the same

• smaller patches means more edge and less interior (inside)

• irregular shapes have more edge and less interior

edge effect example :

florida panthers → roads and highways break their habitat into smaller areas with more edge and less interior than before - lawering the population (32 killed by cars in 2016)

Habitat loss :

impacts are so severe that almost all speices are effected - outright destruction of natural ecosystems → is an inevetable consequence of expandinf human populations and human activities - habitat cannot go back to what it was even woth restoration efforts

The urban sprawl :

the unplanned and uncontrolled spreading of urban developments to areas adjoining edges of the cities

Wildlife diseases are connceted to :

• conservation of threatned/endangered species

• recreational use of wildlife

• public health

• livestock/agriculture

Disease :

a disturbance of the normal function of an organsim

Epizootic :

a disease that apprears at an unexpected rate - like an epidemic within humans

Example of epizootic diseases :

West white nose syndrome in bats - effects hibernation and is largly due to humans

Communicable :

infectious diseases that are capable of being spread from one to another through direct OR indirect contact

pathogen :

a disease causing agent - virus, bacterium, fungus, parasite

agent :

thing that causes the disease

infectious :

viruses caused by bacteria, fungi, or parasites - things that can be transmitted - caused by direct effects of a pathogen

non infectoius :

cannot be transmitted

example of non infectoius :

Murcury : is a heavy metal toxin and a product of coal and other fossil fuels

Bio accumulation :

accumulation over time of metals/pollutiants living in an organism over time - the longer you are alive, the more you are absorbing things

Bio magnification :

The higher on the food chain, the more heavy metals/pollutiants to be had

Reservoir :

any living or nonliving substances that may perpetuate a pathogen in nature - a place where the pathogen can live and grow

Reservior host :

a host that acts as a reservior for the pathogen, but does not suffer ill effects from that disease

Host :

an organism on or in which another organsim lives - where the disease ends up and who the disease is effecting

Host range :

Viruses only able to infect the cells of one or few species of an organism - wide host ranges are not common

Vector :

an organsim that carries pathogens from one host to another, or from reservior to host - moves pathogen from place to place

Biological vector :

transfered from inside body - usually blood transfer or bite

Mechanical vector

transfered from outside of body - through physical contact

Diseases within agriculture:

reservior hosts transfer diseases to our cattle - leading to infected agricultural cattle - avian influenza

Disease and endangered species :

common loon causing a toxic algea bloom, invasive fish species then eat the dead aglea filled with infectoius bacteria → birds eat these dead fish and are then infected with the bacteria as well

Increasing disease emergence :

have been seeing diseases happening more regularly → human populations inclining at a very fast rate, leading to more habitat altercations, leading to more stress on animals, allowing for increase in disease

increasing disease emergence example :

an oil spill in alaska causoing stress on sea otters, becuase of stress their immune systems are lowered causing an outbreak of latenet herpes

Zoonotic diseases :

disease transfered from animals to humans

Zoonotic diseases examples :

• lyme disease : caused by a bacteria, deer tics are the vectors

• west nile virus : caused by a virus, culex mosquitos are the vectors

• avian influenza : passed to people when humans come into direct contact with infected bird

human impact of wildlife diseases :

• humans expose native species tp harmful organisms that they have not previously encountered, having no developed coping mechanisms allows for spread of disease easily

• humans indirectly facilitate transmission and spread of pathogens by confining wildlife to small areas which are more vulnerable to disease spread due to stress

human impact on wildlife diseases examples :

• chytrid fungus in amphibians : spread through trade of african clawed frogs and effects frogs ability to absorb water properly - one of the largest threats to amphibans currently

• canine distemper : disease transmission occurs when humans, pets, and livestock interact with wildlife

When are introduced species not bad :

industrialized agriculture needs introduced species - lots of money in the US comes from agriculture animals

unplanned introductions :

not always sucessful, ones that are all have some kind of ecological impact → some more dramatic than others - then become invasive

What percent of endangered species are threatned by introduced species :

20%

invasive species example :

zebra muscles : invasive to the great lakes, up to 15,000 mucles per square meter - cause algee blooms that effect the native muscle populations

Introduced predators :

invasive brown tree snake :

• arrive by boat, slowly spread

• caused power outtages from the snakes climbing power poles

• are responsible for extirpating 15 speices of birds and 5 subspeices endemic to guam went extinct

• attempted to remove by dropping dead mice filled with tylonol to poison snakes

Introduced competitors :

Zebra muscles : are not directly preying on the native muscles, yet still have an effect on their population - 75% of native muscles

Invador interacting to increase the effect of another invador :

humans have declined the population of cod, allowing their food source which is sea urchins to increase → the increase of sea urchins killed a large population of the kelp → removal of sea urchins did not bring back the kelp becuase of new invasive speices that was invited by the prevoius invador

Invador reducing the effects of another invador :

a type of jelly was released into the black sea that had highly reduced the population of zooplankton → a new speices of jelly was introduced that eats other jellies to reduce the population of zooplankton eating jellies

morphological and behavioral impacts of introduced species :

invasive species can cause native species to change their behavior or morphology

morphological and behavioral impacts of introduced species example :

• invasive crabs cause snails to increase their thickness of their shell due to the prescance of the predator - a morphological change

• invasive flowering plants cause honeybees to visit native plants less frequently - behavioral change

genetic and evolutionary impacts of introduced species :

hybridization of species can affect genetics of a species

genetic and evolutionary impacts of introduced species example :

Mallard ducks who are very closly related to other species of ducks genetically allowing for hybridization - causing genetic diffrences that result in a decreases in the non hybrid population of ducks

ecological impacts of introduced species :

invadors have ecological impacts, some much larger than others

ecological impacts of introduced species example :

nutria that have escaped from fur farms eat natural vegitation and contribute to erosion

Criteria for an invasive species :

• have a pathway to invasion - transpertation methods

• high reproduction, low mortality, ( R species characteristcs)

• generalist speices

• novelty - nothing for the species to have to directly compete with

• luck - genetics could somehow benifit them in certian enviroments

unintentional introductions of species :

all transpertartion methods tend to be accidental → soil ballets move things around in the soil unintentionally