1
Q
What are there three main conservations strategies?
A
- protected areas
- connectivity and conservation on productive lands
- species management (ex translocations, rescue)
- protected areas are the most cost effective and efficient
2
Q
What is a protected area?
A
- clearly defined geographical space managed for purpose of conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values
- created by gov, indigenous people and traditional societies, private individuals, conservation authorities and research institutes
3
Q
Very broadly, describe the IUCN protected area categories
A
- I - IV are strictly protected
- V and VI are considered multiple use / multi-managed sites with the goals of conservation and of producing natural resources
L> often much larger than I to VI areas
L> may contain many or even most of the original sp
L> often adjoin surround other PA (can be buffers
4
Q
Describe Terrestrial Protected Areas (PA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPA).
A
- PA: accounts for 13% of the total land surface. Much variation in proportion of land protected between countries (42% Germany -> 1% of Haiti, Iraq, Syria, Uruguay)
- MPA: ~2% of total marine environment. ~6% of coastal areas are protected. Goal of international organizations: protect 10% by 2020. Most areas are small and not properly regulated or funded. ie exist only on paper
5
Q
What are the mechanisms involved for creating new protected areas?
A
- Government action (national, regional or local level)
- Land purchases / easements by private individuals or conservation organizations
- Actions of indigenous peoples and traditional societies
6
Q
What is Nature Conservancy of Canada’s role in developing protected areas?
A
- private non profit conservation organization
- works with local landowners, corporations, other conservation groups
- aim: purchase land or establish long term conservation easements for protecting sensitive biodiversity areas.
7
Q
What are the three main considerations for conservation targets?
A
- Relative uniqueness of species / habitat (or irreplaceability)
- Degree of risk species / habitat is facing vulnerability
- Utility of species / ecosystems (ones with present/ future monetary or cultural value often given priority)
8
Q
What are irreplaceable sites? (alliance for zero extinction sites)
A
- this a site designation when endemic spa re present and it contains either large portion of the pop or is important for their life history. It also applies to EN or CR.
- only designated if is sole location for all or vast majority of populations for an EN or CR sp, or for one life history segment (eg breeding ground) for an EN or CR sp
L> irreplaceability is a key driver for cost effective planning
L> picking sites for high irreplaceability decreases area needed within protected area system
9
Q
What is UNESCO?
A
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
10
Q
What are UNESCO World heritage Sites?
A
- diverse sites with overwhelming natural or cultural significance, deemed to be incredibly value or irreplaceable
11
Q
How are priority areas identified?
A
-there are two complementary approaches:
1. Conserve individual species or groups of species
2. Conserve habitats and landscapes
- prioritize based on species richness and endemism
L> goal : protect rare species and not the overall biodiversity of an area.
12
Q
Explain the surrogate species approach to protected areas.
A
- protect a species’ habitat, which can protect an entire biological community and its associated ecosystem processes
- focal species: provides impetus to protect an area/ecosystem
13
Q
What are the requirements for the surrogate species approach to protected areas?
A
- Co-occurrence with other species
- needs to be found many palaces (some degree of ubiquity)
- this approach generally relies on development of some sort of species survival plan
14
Q
What are the four types of focal species under the surrogate species approach.
A
- Keystone species
L> species that exerts a large influence on a community - Indicator species
L> species associated with an endangered biological community or a set of unique ecosystem processes - Flagship species
L> charismatic sp that can be sued to represent its community/ rats funds (eg top carnivores, large mammals) - Umbrella species
L> protected sp (eg flagship, indicator) whose protection extends to other species and communities
15
Q
You are designing a protected area to protect the endangered red wolf
of Ontario. This wolf is all that remains of an ancient N. American wolf
species that used to be more widespread, and that acts as an
ecosystem engineer in the communities where it is still found because
of its impact on deer populations.
It is a charismatic species, which makes it easier for you to attract
public interest. Protecting its habitat will also protect the populations of
other species in its community. Based on this description, your focal
species is a ____________ species.
A. Keystone
B. Indicator
C. Flagship
D. Umbrella
E. More than one of the above
A
E - Keystone (large effect on community structure) + Flagship + Umbrella
**Indicator does not apply….has to be a unqiue feature only found there. Wolves move around a lot so they are not tied to one specific community necessarily
16
Q
What is the Northern Spotted Owl an example of?
A
- endangered sp that acts as forest indicator for Pacific Northwest
17
Q
Explain the Hotspot approach to protected areas.
A
- protect areas with high levels of species richness (especially endemics) that are facing a high degree of habitat loss
- this approach utilizes biodiversity indicators, aka organisms / groups of organisms to identify hotspots when information about the whole ecosystem is unavailable.
- areas with high BD often have high endemism too
- protecting indicator sp also protects endemics
** a single island does not meet the criteria of a number of sp
18
Q
Explain the ecosystem approach to protected areas.
A
- ensure that representative sites of as many type so f ecosystems as possible are protected to maintain valuable ecosystem services
- focuses on protecting ecosystems and bio communities, rather than the sp themselves. (ie coldsot approach)
- representative sites = sites that include species and environmental conditions characteristic of the target ecosystem
- ## biomes : broad categories of terrestrial ecosystems definite bye structure and characteristics of veg
19
Q
Under the ecosystem approach, wheat areas have the greatest cons priority?
A
- temperate grasslands, Mediterranean forests, tropical seasonal forests, which re all under sig threat, with only a small % of area protected.
20
Q
What are some difficulties with designing protected areas?
A
- small tropical islands -> high level fo endemism, high risk of evolution but are not sp rich (hotspot approach does not prioritize these areas)
- patterns of sp richness differ between taxa
- difficult to manage reserves to meet needs of all sp involved (surrogate approaches can help with this by reducing number of variables involved )
- political corruption and money often barriers to PA establishment even if identify good target areas.
21
Q
A protected area is set up to conserve a rare bird species that is representative
of pristine grassland habitat in central North America (a habitat that has largely
vanished due to agricultural and pastoral practices). This bird species is
charismatic, and has caught the attention of the public as a result. Protecting
its habitat also protects other species that are found within these forests.
Based on this information, which of the below statements is CORRECT?
A. This is an example of a surrogate species approach towards
conservation
B. This bird is acting as an indicator species
C. This bird is acting as a flagship species
D. This is an example of an ecosystem approach towards conservation
E. More than one of the above
A
E. A, B and C are correct.
** Protecting the sp not the habitat in this case.
22
Q
What problem exists with current protected areas, especially wrt climate change?
A
- protected area boundaries are fixed but species ranges are dynamic
- climate change can result in range shifts out of protected areas and range shifts into protected areas
23
Q
Explain the significance of rear edge of habitat ranges and climate change
A
- edges of ranges closet to tropics have been the most stable in past ice age cycles
- these areas acted as refuges during ice ages
- species expanded out of these refuges during interglacial periods
- genetic richness typically highest in rear edge populations due to longer evolutionary history / larger population sizes
24
Q
Which populations of species are predicted to be at greatest risk to climate change?
A
- rear edge pops that persisted during glacial periods by trailing edge pops in places like Mediterranean (places closest to equator) are predicted to be the most at risk due to future changes in cc
25
What is the importance of multiple protected areas?
- protected areas are most efficient when they maximize suitable habitat for species now AND account for impacts of climate change in future
- 1000+ sp will move out fo reserves by 2050,
- adding more reserves can reverse this trend
- but it is hard to pick areas to protect multiple sp at once (sp responses to climate change differ)
26
Explain protected-area system design and climate change.
- designing protected area systems for climate change is part of planning for persistence
- plans need to include pattern and process targets
L> pattern targets = species / habitat types that preserve pattern of landscape
L> process targets= capture temporal phenomena
- climate change impacts pattern and process
L> pattern impacts: species distribution patterns altered, endemism can shift , patterns of irreplaceability can be impacted
L> processes impacted by change sin phenology
27
Describe traits associated with resistant and resilient sp/ sites.
- resistant: sp/sites less damaged by climate change. Like species with broad physiological tolerances OR sites that are sheltered in unique microclimate
- resilient sp/sites: recovers well from damaged; species with high reproductive potential or good dispersal ability
L> sites with high speed rain that allows ants to establish.
28
How are areas prioritized with respect to climate change?
- if two areas have similar irreplaceability under consideration -> protection more effective if focus on more resistant/resilient area
L> exceptionalities: areas with 100% irreplaceability (endemics) need to be prioritized
29
A site that is RESILIENT is one that …
A. Contains some level of endemism
B. Resists damage due to climate change
C. Recovers quickly from damage due to climate
change
D. Is sheltered from the effects of climate change in
some way
E. Both B and D
C
30
Explain planning for persistence with MPAs for coral.
- prioritize MPAs with biological value and irreplaceability
- bleaching resistance / resilience also important
- tourism / fishing bans and damaged reefs -> aid in recovery
- lack of proactive management -> shift to algae food webs / loss of coral reef systems
*ex: zoning map for great barrier reef marine park, exclude tourism from these areas, allows damaged areas to recover and incorporates cc.
31
Explain how climate change is influencing speckled Eider and walruses.
- retreat of sea ice leads to many ecological changes
- more productive food webs in water column
- loss of energy and nutrients entering benthic region
- mollusks replaced by brittle stars
- Speckled Eider and Walrsuses feed on benthic community (brittle stars are less nutritional)
- loss of sea ice = more energy required (swimming in water/foraging deeper to find mollusks)
- both pops are declining
L> 96% in Speckled Eiders AND young walruses are found on open ocean sea ice 1000s of miles from mums
- BUT there is still cold water near St. Lawrence Island, once gone, ground fish will eb able to travel in and compete for benthic for sources. Bottom trawling will follow, n increasing the loss of mollusks. MPAs need to eb established to protect these habitats and maintain walrus and eider food sources. Especially since sea loss cannot be reversed.
32
What is an important component of adaptation responses for climate change?
- increasing the number of protected areas to compensate for protection loses
- many sp we have enough sci knowledge to identify future areas and make new management plans
- other sp we have a good awareness of risk factors as a starting point
- also need to increase connectivity and manage landscapes, as well as manage sp for persistence over long term
33
What are the four Rs for reserve design?
1. Representation
2. Resiliency
3. Redundancy
4. Reality
34
Four Rs of Reserve Design:
1. Representation?
- protected areas should include as many feature of biodiversity as possible
35
Four Rs of Reserve Design:
2. Resiliency?
- protected areas must be sufficiently large to maintain all aspects of biodiversity in healthy condition for foreseeable future, including effects of climate change
36
Four Rs of Reserve Design:
3. Redundancy?
- protected areas must include enough examples of each aspect of biodiversity to ensure its long term persistence in face of future uncertainties
37
Four Rs of Reserve Design:
4. Reality
- there must be sufficient funds and political will to acquire / protect and regulate manage protected areas
38
Explain the SLOSS debate
- protect a single large area or several small areas???
- Single large area: large circular areas minimize edge effects but may not contain all aspects of landscape. Large reserves can support large pop sizes, more pops and more habitats
- Several small areas: well placed smaller reserves can included wide variety of ecosystems, more populations of rare focal species. This might be only option for conserving sp with restricted habitats (eg coastal salt marshes ) -> small reserves important for protecting specific sp/ecosystems
39
How do we improve connectivity?
- habitat corridors
L> strips of protected land running between protected areas
- stepping stones
L> scattered patches of habitat that can facilitate movement between PA, aid migration between seasonally used patches
- improved connectivity ban patches
- increases likelihood of maintain metapopulation structure (rather than isolated pops in different PAs)
40
What are the four types of connectivity levels in a protected area?
1. Total: corridors that connect two protected areas
2. Partial: managing human use areas to provide connectivity
3. Intensive: narrow corridors of connection
3. Extensive: broad landscapes of conservation friendly managed areas that connect multiple protect areas
41
Why establish connectivity ?
- protects area demanding sp
- increase gene flow ban protected populations
- allows for future range shifts (also disperse to new areas
42
Whats the current issue with connectivity and human activity?
- most landscapes are impacted by us
- it is unlikely for sp in future to find corridors not impacted by human activity
- problem avoided if we mitigate climate change
43
What is the situation with edge habitat and corridors?
- corridors have more edge to core habitat
- land near corridors tends to be disturbed by us
- avenues for invasive edge sp/ disease/ pests
44
How can we minimize edge and fragmentation effects?
- round parks reduce edge effects, while long, linear parks have the most edge habitat
- need to avoid internal fragmentation with infrastructure
45
Ex of connectivity in a PA?
- increased internal connectivity by making wildlife corridors as overpasses and underpasses
- fences used to funnel animals to corridors (96% reduction in large mammal collisions one roads)
46
What is landscape ecology?
- study of patterns of physical environment, ecological communities, ecosystems processes, human ecosystem interactions at local and regional scale
47
what is a landscape?
repeated patterns of landforms or ecosystems,
with each type of ecosystem in a landscape having
distinctive vegetative structure / species composition.
48
What is the goal of landscape ecology in park design?
- include as much landscape variation as possible within protected area, especially refuges.
49
Explain the example of the jaguar and landscape species concept.
- Need to take into account all habitat types focal species requires
within landscape, including refuges that are seasonally important (or
only important in harsher years)
- Connectivity between all aspects of required habitat, and between
different populations of animals (e.g. to find mates) essential
**typically uses only sections of its range during certain aspects of life history
50
How do connectivity issues differ between species?
- Larger animals need connectivity between sites
-Smaller organisms / plants need connectivity within a site,
between site and its unprotected periphery
-Within site / between site and periphery connectivity far
more cost effective (requires less area)
51
What does cost effective connectivity require that we focus on?
- connectivity needs now and in future
- Need to ensure connection between present and future
populations
52
What is the Y2Y ecoregion?
- Yellowstone to Yukon ecoregion proposed to link national parks and government lands along rocky mountains
- goal is to maintain sufficient habitat (with connectivity) to support larger mammals
eg grizzles and wolves
53
Why are area-demanding species like bears are of concern with
regards to connectivity?
A. These species migrate, and so require stepping stone habitats
to allow them to rest / feed on their journey
B. It is important to protect periphery habitat around protected
zones so these organisms can have room to range shift in the
future
C. These organisms require connectivity on a large scale, which is
harder to do in a landscape impacted by human use
D. They are likely to be impacted by phenological changes that
might change the timing with which they use stepping stone
habitats
E. Both A and D
C is correct. They have large home ranges so they require a lot of space
54
A protected area has recently been proposed based
on the fact that it contains a rare species of amphibian that is representative of a rare ecosystem
that is considered unique and at risk. Based on this
description, what approach towards PA planning is
being used here?
A. Surrogate species approach
B. Indicator species approach
C. Hotspot approach
D. Ecosystem approach
E. Both A and B are correct
E. Surrogate species approach and Indicator species approach
55
What is climate blowback?
- habitat loss due to changing human land uses as a result of climate change -> secondary effect (blow back)
* us moving bc of climate change and adapting a new habitat could further effect other sp !
* also revolves around the idea that as climate change happens, areas that were once suitable to us may no longer be but new areas will be so as we move to establish more agricultural lands, will increase the pressure on a habitat regardless of if they are protected or not
56
What is the biggest concern with climate blowback?
- shifts in agriculture to track optimal conditions = more stress son ecological systems as well as increases in habitat loss
57
Explain climate blowback and vineyards
- as climate change shifts suitable habitat, vineyards may become barriers to wildlife movement
- in addition, new areas will become suitable for growing grapes/other areas may become unsuitable
58
Explain climate blowback and range restricted birds and agriculture
- cc will reduce suitable habitat for crop areas as well as for many sp
- studies have shown that by 2050 many areas where both corp habitat and range restricted bird habitats will decline
- areas now suitable for range restricted birds may become suitable for goops in future...ex of competing demands for space
- collaborative planning between conservationists and agriculturalist may help avoid climate blowback
59
Which of the following statements is INCORRECT regarding
climate blowback?
A. Shifts in agriculture into new areas of suitable habitat can
lead to water stress in nearby ecosystems
B. Blowback has the potential to put more species at risk of
extinction than the direct effects of climate change
C. One risk of blowback is that shifts in land use can cause
connectivity to break down between existing protected
areas
D. Collaborative planning between conservationists and
farmers or agriculturalists is probably the best way to help
prevent blowback in the face of climate change
E. None of the above (A-D are all correct)
E. All of these are correct risks
Conservation Biology
flashcards
Decks in class (13)
# Cards
-
Introduction29
-
Global Biodiversity Patterns22
-
Extinction - Why do small population have an increased risk?26
-
Extinction - What makes a species vulnerable to extinction?36
-
Extinction - Mass Extinction Events15
-
Habitat Loss52
-
Invasive Species31
-
Overexploitation53
-
Conserving Species at Risk57
-
Protected Areas59
-
Conservation outside of Protected Areas40
-
Restoration Ecology49
-
Sustainable development60
