L1:

What four valuable habitats are undergoing massive habitat loss, as
discussed in class?

 

L1:

Why do the estimates for the rate of extinction due to rainforest loss
vary so much?

L1:

What are some non-biological or environmental consequences of coral reef loss?

 

L1:

What are two main reasons that natural habitat is destroyed?

 

L1:

Give three patterns of habitat loss.

 

L1:

Tell me about Rock Creek Park, MD.

 

L1:

What are some effects roads can have on animals living in the habitat the roads are built in?

 

L2:

What are some life-history characteristics that predispose species to be taken advantage of?

-          Large body size.

-          Low reproductive rates.

-          High survival rates.

L2:

“Hunting” applies to many practices other than the traditional sense. What are they?

-          Forestry

-          Harvest of wild mushrooms (?)

-          Trade in rare plants

-          The exotic pet trade

L2:

Does the cultural use of species propose a significant threat? In what situations?

-          Mostly, no, but in some cases, yes: when a species has been threatened and become endangered by other means, cultural use can be threatening.

L2:

What change has made cultural use of species a greater threat than it used to pose?

-          The advancement of hunting technology makes cultural use pose a larger threat: it is much more difficult to kill significant amounts of individuals with a blowpipe/bow and arrow than it is with a gun.

L2:

What are the three very general threats to species in terms of human exploitation?

-          Cultural use of species.

-          Subsistence hunting.

-          Commercial harvest.

L2:

What are the contributing factors to declining gorilla populations in Africa?

-          Subsistence hunting for “bush  meat”.

-          Ebola fever.

L2:

Give examples of situations in which cultural harvesting of species have and have not HISTORICALLY posed a significant threat.

-          Inuit whale hunting: probably had little impact on populations in history, but once populations were reduced by commercial hunting, populations were so low that this mortality could be important.

-          Feathers from birds of paradise in New Guinea: used for headdresses and clothing, clear it has been going on for centuries and there were no adverse effects until deforestation lowered the populations.

-          Feathers from the mamo in Hawaii: Mamo is now extinct. Absurd amounts of the mamo were killed to make ceremonial clothing (80.000 birds for one cape).

L2:

What are the different categories of commercial harvest that are most threatening to animals (six)?

1.)    Traditional medicinal use

2.)    Pet trade

3.)    Bush meat

4.)    Whaling

5.)    Ocean fisheries

6.)    Recreation

L2:

Why is the hunt for bush meat such a significant threat to jungle species?

-          The demand is huge and growing, and hunters that collect meat are unselective: a wide variety of species are taken and at risk.

L2:

How are whale populations calculated/kept track of today, and how does this differ from the past? What new technique is being used to calculate historic populations?

-          Whaling records have provided us with historic estimates of populations.

-          Populations are estimated through combinations of directly counting and identifying known individuals by their body marks.

-          Recently, a study using genetic techniques to estimate the pre-whaling population size by examining genetic diversity.

L2:

What effect has the recent (since the 1980’s) interest in shark had on populations?

-          50 to 90% decline in population size of almost all shark species.

L2:

How significant is the by-catch of commercial fisheries?

L2:

Have there been any attempts to minimize bycatch? What are the results?

-          Yes, a switch from drift nets to longlining: now the bycatch is seabirds! Yesssss (300,000 birds are killed by longlining annually).

L2:

Does recreational hunting pose a significant threat?

-          Sport hunting, probably not. Trophy hunting, probably (targets the biggest/oldest individuals, which upsets populations).

L1:

How can roads change the nature of the adjacent habitat? 

- changes in soil compaction.

- changes in thermal environment (blacktop = HOT!)

- amount of dust (up!)

- chemical pollutants

- noise. 

L3:

Define "native" sp. 

L3:

Define "introduced' sp. 

applies to species that have been moved to a new area (usually byhumans).

L3:

Define "exotic" sp. 

L3:

Define "invasive" sp. (there are two key traits).

species that:

a.) spread rapidly

b.) undergo explosive population increases such that they dominate a community. 

* usually cause some problem from the perspective of humans. 

L3:

What is the fundamental reason that introductions/invasives are problems? How do they cause this problem? 

- they alter species interactions, often to the detriment of native species.

They do this by:

- preying upon native sp.

- outcompeting native sp.

- causing disease.

- indirect method: altering the way in which the ecosystem function (ex. beavers introduces in Chile) 

L3:

In what situations can introductions be beneficial? 

- when rare sp. are introduced to new areas where they fo not face the threats in their native ranges.

- sometimes introduced species provide valuable habitat for threatened native species.

- some species are introduced for very specific reasons that are considered valuable/necessary for humans. 

L3:

Are most introductions successful? 

L3:

What three challenges do species need to overcome to become established invasive species?

1.) it must get somewhere (somehow be transported)

2.) it must become established once it has arrived (conditions must be conducive to avoiding rapid extinction)

3.) it msut undergo explosive population growth. 

L3:

List some important characteristics to successful invasive species. 

L3:

For what reasons do people move species to new areas (six)? 

1.) hunting/fishing

2.) aesthetic reasons

3.) horticulture/agriculture

4.) accidental transport

5.) incidental invasions because of human activity

6.) biological control 

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place for hunting/fishing purposes. 

a.) Nile perch to the lakes of the Rift Valley for food: deletrious results, ate all the cichlids! (Not really, but there were 300 sp. of cichlids before, and now there are less than 100).

b.) European rabbits to Australia as a source of food... now way too many. 

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place for aesthetic purposes.

a.) Eurasian starlings to North America to "populate the new world with species from home". Now too common and compete with native species.

b.) Single pet cat brought to Stephen's Island off New Zealand, wiped out the SI wren completely. 

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place for horticultural/agricultural purposes.

a.) Kudzu and Tamarisk in the Southwestern US.

b.) Purple loosestrife locally, takes over wetlands completely, outcompetes EVERYTHING. 

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place accidentally by humans.

a.) the brown tree snake to Guam in WWII. Literally killed all species of forest birds (some endemic too).

b.) Zebra mussels to LIS via ballast water! 

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place incidentally by humans.

L3:

Give one example of an instance species were introduced to a place for biological control purposes.

a.) mongoose introduced to hawaii to control rats: failure. mongoose are diurnal, rats are nocturnal.

b.) Cactoblastic moth to Australia to control Prickly Pear: successful! 

L4:

What are the two categories of disease that pose threats to species? Which is the larger threat? 

L4:

What threat does disease pose to endangered species (what percent of them are effected by disease, what about rareness makes sp. vulnerable)? 

- 1/10 endangered sp. is effected by disease.

- a smaller population promotes inbreeding, which lowers genetic variability and increases vulnerability.

- lower population causes situations in which captive breeding is used, in these situations animals encounter diseases they would not in the wild. 

L4:

What are some examples of emerging diseases (three)?

1.) West Nile Virus in the Americas.

2.) Avian Pox/Malaria in Hawaiian forest birds: these birds are some of the most endangere groups of birds in the world. Humans brought these diseases to HI.

3.) Chesnut blight and American chesnut trees.

L5:

 What are the two major themes (paradigms) of conservation biology?

Small population paradigm: focuses attention on endangered species and the persistance of populations. Much of the word focuses on extinction prevention. A lot of theory and practical techniques have been developed, but it is a crisis driven approach!

Declining population paradigm: the focus is identifying problems before they develop into crises, before populations are about to disappear. Goals are on keeping ecosystems intact, maintaining abundant populations of more common species, preventing declines, understanding ultimate reasons why sp. are disappearing.  

L5:

What is a MVP?

L5:

Give Shaffer's definition of an MVP. 

L6:

Genetic problems primarily effect ______ populations.

L6:

What is genetic drift? How does it differ from natural selection?

Genetic drift is a random (neutral) process that leads to changes in the genetic makeup of a population.

It results from random variation in birth and death rates year to year.

Drift happens in all populations, but in larger populations the effects are small or neutral. 

L6:

Please give me the equation to determine the change in heterozygosity (the effect of genetic drift) in a population! 

H_t+1 = (1 – 1/2N_e) H_t

H_{t+1 = heterozygosity in the next generation.}

H_{t = heterozygosity in the current generation.}

 N_{e =effective population size.}

L6:

What section of the equation used to calculate future heterozygosity will always be less than one? What does this indicate? 

L6:

What influences the effective population size (three)? 

a.) sex ratio (the more skewed it is, the smaller Ne will be relative to N).

b.) variation in individuals among the number of young produced.

c.) fluctuations in population size. 

L6:

How large is N in respect to Ne (or vice versa)? 

L6:

What are some short term effects of losing genetic diversity? 

Inbreeding depression (ex. Florida panther, Lakeside Daisy)

- Species go extinct 1/3 faster with inbreeding. 

L6:

What are some of the long term effects of losing genetic diversity? 

L7:

Please give me the PVA equation. 

N_t+1 = N_t + births – deaths + immigrants - emigrants

L7:

What is the key element of a PVA? 

- it should provide information about the potential variability of the system.

- the inherent stochasticity of the system is provided by a stochastic computer model (the model is told not to use a single number for each part of the equation, but to pick a number from a range of possible numbers. 

L7:

What are the four major sources of variation that influence the future of a species? 

a.) genetic stochasticity

b.) demographic stochasticity

c.) environmental stochasticity

d.) natural catastrophes 

L7:

What is a sensitivity analysis? Give one instance (a sp. in which one was conducted). 

A test to varify if PVA results are legit. Can determine how much specific data in the formula effects the outsome data.

ex. Hawaiian stilt missing data for survival rates, data was "borrowed" from similar sp. 

L7:

What is the 50/500 rule? What are the problems with it's interpretation by many people? 

Applies to inbreeding depression and developed from an MVP project. The idea: that atleast 50 individuals are needed to protect a species from short term inbreeding effects, 500 needed to protect a species from long term inbreeding effects.

problems:

a.) people saw 50 as what to shoot for: THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM!!!!!!!!!

b.)  50 and 500 are effective population, not census! 

L7:

So, how big do populations need to be? Include answers for genetic considerations, generic population dynamics, and PVA.

Genetic considerations: 50/500 rule and the estimation that Ne is usually 1/5 to 1/10 of N: 2500 to 5000.

Generic population dynamics: atleast 500 to last longer than 100 years.

PVA: mean MVP is 7300, median is 5800. 

L8:

Define in situ conservation vs. ex situ conservation. 

in situ: conservation activities occur where the species naturally occurs in the wild.

ex situ: actions are taking place that involve removing the species from its natural setting.

L8:

 What seven techniques in captive breeding are often practiced in zoos (seven)?

1.) cross-fostering/double-clutching

2.) humans raise young

3.) artificial insemination

4.) embryo transfer to surrogate mothers.

5.) cryogenics, cloning

6.) pedigrees, studbooks

7.) moving animals around. 

L8:

Give examples of both a.) double-clutching/humans raise young examples and b.) cryogenics/cloning examples given in the lecture. 

a.) whooping crane are brought up by humans wearing crane outfits.

b.) the guar; clone ebryo implanted in a surrogate cow mother.

L8:

What are the problems associated with captive breeding (seven)? 

1.) they are expensive.

2.) they are inefficient(one sp. at a time, captive setting, fails to address [failing?] ecosystem).

3.) they have limited capacity (cannot maintain big populations).

4.)  populations are concentrated.

5.) adaptation to artificial conditions.

6.) behavior (fail to learn key behaviors for survival).

7.) logistic concerns (long term commitment!). 

L8:

Does captive breeding work? Give a success.

Yes!

the Mauritius kestrel, down to 4 individuals in 1974 (habitat loss/DDT), removed from the endangered list in 2000 (400 individuals). 

L8:

What are the three types of release programs practiced after captive breeding?

1.) reintroduction: release of individuals into a habitat from which they have been extirpated.

2.) augmentation: release of captive bred individuals into a population that is in danger of going extinct.

3.) introduction program: move individuals away from their native range to a new site.

L8:

What makes a successful release program(seven)? 

1.) removal of the threat.

2.) "soft" release.

3.) population size.

4.) correct genetic stock.

5.) release in core of original range.

6.) post-release monitoring.

7.) public education! (pink pigeons) 

L9:

What percent of earth's land and marine environment is protected? 

Land: 11.5 (4% is strictly)

Marine systems: 1%

L9:

Why aren't U.S. National Parks effective biodiversity conservers? 

Many are created to preserve scenic land; stunning ice and rock predominate! Biodiversity and ice/JAGGED ROCK do not correlate often.

L9:

Are most endangered/vulnerable species protected well? 

L9:

 How is land selected for protection (five)? 

a.) biological criteria

b.) existing protection

c.) economics

d.) availability

e.) accessibility 

L9:

What are the biological criteria used to determine what land should be protected? 

a.) areas with high species richness.

b.) areas with a lot of endemic species.

c.) focal species: sometimes indicator species, which in some way indicate that an area is of high conservation priority (northern spotted owls).

d.) flagship species: give efforts a high profile, attract support. 

L9:

What are the basic steps of GAP analysis (to decide what new sites should be added to an existing reserve system)?

1.) identify what is an area.

2.) determine the conservation goals.

3.) determine what is already protected.

4.) determine which sites do the best job of filling in any "gaps" in protection.

5.) target these areas.

6.) go back and repeat process until goals are met. 

L9:

What are the aspects of organisms to be protected that must be considered when one tries to calculate their MPA (minimum protected area)? 

- the MVP.

- amount of land each individual/pair needs.

-  amount of overlap in home ranges.

E2

What were the key conceptual advances made with the MVP 1981 definition?

a.) suggest a VP shoudl have 99% chance of persisting

b.) suggest a Vp should have 90% chance of persisting

c.) suggest that env't stochasticity is a bigger threat than genetic stochasticity

d.) suggest that viability should be expressed over a fixed time frame

e.) it explicitly identified the different types of uncertaintly that can contribute to extinction

f.) included the idea that extinction risk should be expressed as a probibility 

CIRCLE

a.), d.), e.), f.) 

E2

Which of these statements about the equation

Ht+1 = (1-1/2Ne) Ht

 are true?

a.) Ne is the number of individuals in the population.

b.) Ht is a measure of the amount of genetic variation in the population.

c.) Ht+1 is always smaller than Ht.

d.) an increas in Ht+1 always causes Ne to decline.

e.) the equation describes the effect of genetic drift on a population.

f.) the equation describes changes in genetic diversity in the population. 

CIRCLE

b.), c.), e.), f.) 

E2

Which of the following are characterists of the declining population paradigm?

a.) development of techniques helpful in captive breeding settings.

b.) well developed theory.

c.) a focus on conservation genetics

d.) a focus on keeping common species common

e.) a focus on dealing with crises.

f.) a focus on the ultimate causes of biodiversity loss 

CIRCLE

d.), f.) 

E2

which of the following statements on overharvest are true?

a.) the annual harvest of millions of mourning doves is sustainable.

b.) trophy hunting minimizes the impact on a population because it only targets a small proportion of the individuals.

c.) harvest of a sp. for cultural uses in history has not caused species to become endangered.

d.) bushmeat is widely exported from Africa for profit

e.) species with high reproductive rates are most vulnerable to overharvest.

f.) overharvesting tends to affect plants more than animals. 

CIRCLE

a.), d.) 

E2

which of these activities are important parts of the GAP analysis?

a.) identification of areas that are protected.

b.) accurately estimating birth and death rates

c.) repeating the process.

d.) determine what biodiversity is present in the area

e.) habitat restoration

f.) determining what aspects of biodiversity should be protected. 

CIRCLE

a.), c.), d.), f.) 

E2

Which of the following traits tend to be more comon in species that are successful invaders than in those that do not succeed?

a.) long generation times

b.) symbiotic

c.) narrow diets

d.) highly inbred

e.) extreme habitat specialists

f.) avoid areas with humans 

CIRCLE

NONE! 

E2

Which of these statements about habitat loss are true?

a.) most habitat loss is cause by urbanization

b.) loss of coral reef habitat has slowed suggesting that conservation efforts are successful

c.) habitat loss/degradation affects more endangered species than any other threat.

d.) more than 90% of wetlands in the US has been lost in the past 200 years.

e.) The area of rainforest destroyed each year is about the size of CT.

f.) much of the native grassland habitat that remains in mid-western states is found in cemetaries. 

CIRCLE

c.), f.) 

E2

Why is it easier to set up a captive breeding program for plants than animals?

a.) genetic drift is more severe in animals than plants.

b.) plants generally require less specialized breeding conditions than animals.

c.) plants usually require less space than animals.

d.) people have been growing plants in ex situ settings for longer than they have been keeping animals in captivity.

e.) plants can persist with much smaller population sizes than animals.

f.) technological methods for breeding plants are more sophisticated than for animals. 

CIRCLE

b.), c.) 

E2

in class I talked about a study of the different threats faced by endangered species in the US. which of the following statements about that study are correct?

a.) invasive species are the primary cause of endangerment for most species.

b.) plants are more vulnerable to pollution than animals.

c.) overexploitation affects very few species.

d.) habitat loss/degradation tends to affect animals but not plants. 

e.) most species face threats from multiple sources

f.) disease appeared to be unimportant for plants and inverts, but the data may be biased. 

CIRCLE

e.), f.)