Conservation Biology Introduction & Biodiversity Basics

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the fundamental principles of conservation biology, ethical frameworks, and scientific metrics used to measure biodiversity as discussed in the lecture notes.

Irrevocable harm

A term used in conservation to describe damage to the environment that is essentially permanent.

Aldo Leopold

An important middle $20\text{th}$ century conservation ethicist, scientist, and author of the book "A Sand County Almanac."

Intelligent tinkering

A precautionary principle coined by Aldo Leopold stating that "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Crisis discipline

A description of conservation biology highlighting that researchers often realize a problem at the last minute and must act quickly before a species goes extinct.

Intrinsic value

The internal or inherent worth of nature and living things, which exists independently of any external judgment or human utility.

Intergenerational debt

The ethical idea of leaving a healthy environment and a home in "good working order" for future generations.

Ecological services

Processes or phenomena that naturally occur in ecosystems which human civilization benefits from, such as clean water, air filtration, and pollination.

Ecological integrity

The condition of an ecosystem that is in good working order, characterized by biodiversity abundance and ecosystem stability.

Rivet popping

A concept developed by Paul and Mary Ehrlich that likens an ecosystem to an airplane held together by species (rivets); losing too many rivets eventually compromises the system's integrity.

Alpha diversity

A metric of biodiversity defined as the number of species present in a specific area.

Extirpation

A local scale extinction event where a population is lost from a specific area, but the species continues to persist in other populations elsewhere.

Biological species concept

A definition of a species as a group of organisms that interbreed and produce offspring that are fertile and able to reproduce.

Species richness

A term used interchangeably with alpha diversity to describe the total number of species present in a given area.

Biological phenomena

Large scale events involving biodiversity, such as the transglobal migration of species.

Evenness

A measure of biodiversity that looks at the distribution of individual numbers (population size) across multiple species in a study area.

Shannon diversity index

A classic approach to quantifying diversity that is easy to use but often biased and sensitive to small sample sizes.

Simpson's index

A mathematical index used to quantify biodiversity by taking multiple data points (like richness and evenness) and combining them into a single value.