2: Definitions

Question 1

Conservation bio has goals to…**

Answer 1

• document biodiversity
• understand human impacts on it
• prevent its loss

Question 2

During European settlement of NA, why was there limited conservation ethics

Answer 2

1. shifting economic priorities
2. myth of superabundance
3. national policies of expansion
4. Christian belief systems

Question 3

Decline in passenger pigeon was due to…

Answer 3

habitat loss and hunting (10 million in 1 year)
Bigger impact was that surviving birds abandoned their nests, and they only lay 1 egg, and not every year

Question 4

What is the allee effect? E.g.

Answer 4

Positive density dependence. Fitness of individuals is lower at lower population densities.
e.g. Pigeons failed to breed at low densities, large colony beh provided some unknown benefit

Question 5

Why did we destroy the bison (5)

Answer 5

• could not be domesticated
• breakdown/loss of indigenous hunting territories
• force native people onto reserves
• economic market of hides for robes and bones for fertilizer
• value of bison habitat for wheat and cattle

Question 6

Two early visionaries of conservation bio who were canadian, describe

Answer 6

James Harkin: father of national parks (founded EINP), connect human wellbeing with conservation, increased tourism

Group of seven: landscape painters

Question 7

What are Soule’s Organizational Values (5)

Answer 7

1. Biological diversity has intrinsic value
2. Untimely extinction of species should be prevented
3. diversity of spp/complexity of biological communities should be preserved
4. science plays critical role in understanding ecosystems
5. collaboration among scientists, managers and policy makers is necessary

Question 8

What is normative

Answer 8

Establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or norm, especially of behaviour

Question 9

Conservation biologist belief system (5)

Answer 9

1. biological diversity is good
2. unnatural extinction is bad
3. ecological complexity is good
4. continued evolution is good
5. biological diversity has intrinsic value beyond what it provides to humans