Geo 2156 Final

6th extinction spasm

warning of ecological armageddon after dramatic plunge in insect numbers (insectageddon)

extinction spasm

background rate of extinction has greatly accelerated

paleolithic

major period in human development using stone tools (stone age)

pleistocene

* overlaps with paleolithic
* living through an ice age
* increased weaponry
* big game hunting
* new strategies
* hunting prowess + mitigation = big impacts on large animal species

holocene

relatively warm and stable global climate

neolithic

* rise of agriculture
* stead expansion of human population and increasing encroachment on animal habitats

pleistocene megafauna extinctions

* debates relative impact of hunting, cold climate and disease
* clear evidence in fossil record

full assemblage of pleistocene megafauna

africa

dodo

first animal driven to extinction in modern era

invasive species

some were intentional and some weren’t

* rats (not intentional)
* cats
* pigs (intentional)

biggest driver of population losses and extinction rates

habitat loss and fragmentation

barriers to movement problematic for large terrestrial mammals

* populations become too small and isolated therefore higher chance of interbreeding
* reduces ability to produce fertile offspring
* declining genetic diversity
* reduced population in health

ocean factors

* overharvesting
* overfishing + pollution + climate change = evidence of change much faster than expected
* greater mass of plastic in ocean than the biomass of all fish in the ocean is predicted to happen in our lifetime

birds

more adaptable to fragmentation and changing habitat

defaunation

* the loss of both species and populations of wildlife as well as local declines in abundance of individuals
* extinction threats are important but only small part of actual loss of biodiversity
* major drive of global ecological change

empty forest syndrome

tropical forests look intact but there is major loss of animals and wildlife

traffic wildlife trade specialists

to reduce the pressure of illegal and unsustainable trade on biodiversity and enhance the benefits to wildlife conservation and human well being

centrality of parks to the survival of endangered species

* loss of biodiversity resonates most powerfully through animals and birds
* growing attention to threats from poaching and trade for some charismatic megafauna
* most large mammals facing dramatic range contractions and population declines

project tiger

* huge decline across asia from tropics to siberia
* helps reverse decline in india
* big pressures since 90s

CITES

* multilateral conservation agreement
* aim to regulate or stop international trade where it is a major part of over exploitation
* appendix 1
* trade ban
* appendix 2
* monitored trade
* appendix 3
* some regulation
* permits

ivory sales

mainly a problem in africa

southern white rhinos

mostly endangered in south africa

illegal wildlife trade

one of the largest illegal trades in the world

struggles within and beyond parks

* increasing presence of international crime syndicates
* major front of conservation advocacy

increasing militarization of parks

* high tech surveillance
* limited budgets
* more violent

ZSL

* world leader in wildlife conservation science and education
* guide and enable others
* protecting, educating, inspiring and working for wildlife

modern public zoos emerge

* late 18th and 19th century
* strong links to colonialism and menagerie style enclosures
* vienna had first modern zoo

rothfels

* leading figure in capture and transport of exotic animals and training for circuses
* capturing and exhibiting indigenous people

hagenbeck animal park

in 1907, animals displayed in natural landscapes rather than cages

present zoos

* 10,000 zoos globally
* large majority are still menagerie style
* population sinks
* continuing reliance on extraction and trade

private roadside zoos

* worst case scenario
* absence of monitoring and regulation
* part of surging wild animal trade and auctions

elephants in zoos

* intense boredom and loneliness
* stifled social, emotional and behavioural needs
* climatic disjuncture

elephant needs

* deeply rooted desires to move and explore environments
* sustain multigenerational familial relations
* seek out mates

zoochosis

* coined in 1992 by bill travers
* obsessive repetitive behaviours (pacing, bobbing)
* self harm (excessive grooming, rubbing enclosures)
* extensive use of antidepressants
* sudden aggressive outbursts
* appearance of bored or depressed animals can undercut entertainment value

reforms

* leading to enhanced enclosures
* aesthetics (less fencing and barriers more social interactions and natural environment)
* stimulation for animals
* goals are to:
* mitigate tedium
* reduce stereotypical behaviours
* give appearance of more autonomy

problems in zoos

* stimulation
* space and mobility
* many climatic disjunctures
* mating and socialization

are zoos reformable?

* space limits vs range
* visitor presence and need for visibility
* enriched tasks vs real behaviour

zoos role in conservation

* education
* research
* breeding
* reintroduction programmes

prezewalksi’s horse

* captive breeding and reintroductions
* now mostly live in reserves

american bison

* 1st great success story
* some bison shipped west and helped repopulate national bison range and some national parks

california condor

* captured all 6 left
* over 170 today and wild release

golden lion tamarains

* once down to 200 in wild
* 3500 today in protected areas

mexican grey wolf

* down to 7 and they were all captured
* 11 reintroduced
* today 150 in protected areas and over 200 in captive breeding

born free

* keep wildlife in the wild
* goal is to end all zoos

sanctuaries and wildlife parks

* impossibility of return to wild
* where rescued animals from zoos, poaching, and labs can go

habitat loss and fragmentation

* large animals have lost much of former range
* increasing barriers to movement

yellowstone

* first national park in 1872
* banff was canada’s first in 1885

growth in scale of protected areas

* 17% of varying quality
* increasing incursions
* increasing development pressure beyond = landscape fragmentation and isolation patches

large animals

* tend to be first lost
* problems of isolation
* inbreeding becomes an issue
* greater vulnerability to hunting, disease and climate variability

keystone species

* term introduced in 1960s to indicate species whose impact is far greater than relative numbers
* if they are removed the whole structure collapses

top predators

regulate constellation of species and populations far beyond those they directly interact with

pillars of rewilding: the 3 C’s

1. cores
2. connectivity
3. carnivores

1. cores

* large strictly protected ecosystems
* even big parks are too small for large animals
* 1, 10 and 100 ha fragments
* found edge effects generally further than expected
* major changes in biophysical conditions further in from new forest edge
* clear evidence that large animals tend to disappear quickly within small patches and need very big core habitats

2. connectivity

* migration corridors
* dispersal needed for genetic viability of populations
* monitoring animals on migration routes and movement between patches

3. carnivores

* large and other keystone species
* cores need top predators
* carnivores depend on cores and connectivity

de extinction

* woolly mammoth resurrection
* bring back things from extinction
* where would they go? / is there a point to bring species back if they are just gonna live in confinement forever?

1st domesticated animal

from grey wolves in asia

criterion of a species

* inability to successfully breed with another animal
* subspecies are capable of interbreeding

did dogs transform themselves?

* they actively sought out human presence and came to understand tendencies quick
* clear indication of ability to read human emotional states and respond to human commands

key role of dogs in herding

* contribution to livestock domestication
* skilled as herders

multifunctionality of dogs

* enhanced hunting
* herding
* guarding
* companionship

multifunctionality and coevolution

* humans affecting animal behaviour and physiology
* domesticated animals affecting pathways of human civilization

neolithic revolution

* organization of more reliable food supplies
* foundation of permanent settlements and rise of new classes
* new inter species beliefs in cultures

fertile crescent

* 1st place to combine annual seed planting with domestication of herd animals
* western asia and north africa

key possible mechanisms of domesticated animals

* adopting some orphaned youth from common prey species
* sparing of pregnant females
* targeting of more docile individuals

key mechanisms of domesticated animals

* rearing young away from parents/community
* ongoing interventions in breeding, artificially selecting for new non wild traits
* centrality of castration
* decrease in brain size

4 main characteristics of domesticated livestock

* human controlled breeding
* artificial selection moving away from wild traits
* increased tameness
* provision of a product or service (utility)

domestication

a fluid and non linear process that may start, stop or reverse course with no clear or universal threshold that separates the wild from domestic

multifunctionalty of livestock

* on farm labour
* movement over space
* hides, wool
* condensed nutrients
* protein factors
* don’t command much arable land

turning animals into obedient working animals

* alter natural instincts and sever social ties
* contain aggression and sexuality
* curtail freedom of movement

domestication and disease

* cattle
* measles
* smallpox
* tuberculosis
* pigs and chickens
* influenza
* plague and cholera

horses

* most influential event in human history
* 1st ancestor about 55 million years ago in north america

cats

* semi domesticated
* greater ability to become feral
* big problem for birds

rats

* successful invaders
* black rats: india
* brown rats: central/east asia
* fast reproduction
* predation and competition for food
* campbell island (NZ) eradication
* 2001: largest rat hunt

columbian exchange

* to columbia:
* maize, potato, tomato, cacao, tobacco
* to americas:
* wheat, barley, oats, sugar, cotton, coffee, soy
* cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, chickens
* influenza, smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, malaria, chicken pox

tenochtitlan

* capital of aztec empire
* one of the biggest and richest cities in the world at the time

the great dying

* 1492
* catastrophic waves of epidemics and mortality
* indigenous cultures gone by 1500s
* drastic labour shortage
* transatlantic slave trade
* introduces diseases

slavery

dogs and horses were important for tracking and hunting escaped slaves and instilling fear

gauchos

* initially cow and horse hunters
* eventually became herders

in pampas

* cattle ranching becomes more organized
* increasing scale of ranching and grain farming

animals on/as resource frontiers

* crucial role enabling resource extraction and remaking landscapes
* harvested from the wild and pushed into new areas as populations depleted
* both connect to indigenous expulsions

bison capture

* in decline but still populous and widespread
* one of the greatest mammal killing sprees in the world
* bones were ground into fertilizer
* hides widely used in textile mills
* 1870s capture the last wild bison on southern plains
* 1900 less than 1000 wild bison

commercial bison

* selecting for docility and rapid weight gain and breeding
* beefalo
* breeding with cattle

union stockyards

* 1865
* massively expands the scale of slaughter and packing
* explosion of rail
* decreased animal labour in transport
* decreased proximity between raising, slaughtering and consuming animals
* but preceded by porkopolis

wild boars today

* growing population
* widening ranges
* limited predation
* very destructive and invasive species

problems with wild boars

* predation
* damage to crops, native vegetation and wetlands
* human and pet conflicts
* zoonotic diseases

animals as forced labour

* transport
* mills
* forestry
* urbanization

fur trading

* sea otter and northern fur seal were most important
* forced seals to cusp of extinction
* major factor in shaping geography of canada
* major impacts on:
* ways of life
* cultures and attitudes towards animals

whales

* hunted for long time
* important lubricant in factories
* regulation of whaling
* ban on whaling in canadian waters since 1972
* japan is biggest whaler
* norway and iceland continue issuing own quotas for traditional whaling under objection
* russia also a notable opponent

global land area

command half of all habitable land

cattle

* greatest land area and biomass
* leading source of global methane emissions
* india has most cattle and buffalo
* brazil is biggest cattle exporter (and argentina)

deforestation and pasture in amazonia about more than cattle

* government subsidies and tax concessions
* entwined with resource speculation
* landholding elites use cattle to demonstrate occupation
* increasing exports
* among lowest stocking densities in the world
* surging soy frontier

the big 3

1. poultry
2. cattle
3. pigs

metification of diets

* increasingly industrial livestock
* by 2050 more than 50 kg of meat eaten per person per year

animals killed

by 2050: 120 billion animals killed

continual pressures of sales of livestock

* reduce costs per animal
* accelerate life cycles and reproductive outputs
* artificial insemination
* specialized breeding sites
* genetic changes

barriers of livestock production

* reproductive limits
* metabolic losses
* stress
* disease risk

fur farming

* lead a lot of animals to brink of extinction
* fur was a major focus of animal advocacy

* from: extensive extraction
* harvesting animals as resource frontiers

* to: farming/ranching
* dense populations
* capital intensive spaces
* extreme controls over animal lives

greenwash

* heritage
* natural fibre
* environmental friendly vs synthetics