Cameron Clay, Betty Huang and Scott Lindquist

Ch. 55 - Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology

What is this?!?• Conservation Biology is the combination of several

sciences brought together in order to conserve biodiversity as efficiently as possible.

• Restoration ecology utilizes many different sciences and ecological principles in order to bring destroyed and damaged ecosystems back to their natural state.

Biodiversity Consists of three levels: 1. Genetic diversity: diversity

of a population's genetic pool, and also comparing this to other populations' relative diversity 

– Species diversity: number of species in a certain ecosystem

– Ecosystem diversity: diversity of ecosystems across a large region, i.e. all of California  

Species Diversity• Endangered Species: a species that is in danger of

extinction in all or most of its current range, i.e. Polar Bears, California Sea Otter, California Condor

• Threatened Species: A species that looks like it will be endangered soon, i.e. African Elephant, Red Panda

Four Major Threats to Biodiversity1.Habitat Destruction: Cutting down trees, mining out

mountains, polluting rivers2.Introduced Species: introducing foreign species, i.e.

plants and animals, that do not naturally occur in that environment: In Encinitas: Eucalyptus, Wild Radish, wild fennel

3.Overexploitation: Harvesting plants and animals to an extreme that threatens their very existence: American Bison in the past, Bluefin Tuna right now

4.Disruption of Interaction Networks: destroying one organism can disrupt the livelihoods of organisms around them: keystone species like Sea Otters, "flying foxes" (pollinators in Pacific Islands)

 Invasive Species

Eucalyptus Tree

All three of these invasive species damage the Southern California environment by stealing water and nutrients from native speciesSome invasive species of Southern California:

Wild Fennel

Wild Radish

Activity: Effect of human-induced pollution on a food chain

• There will be 17 grasshoppers, 8 mice, and 4 hawks.• Grasshoppers have 15 seconds to hunt for food

(Starbursts). They will eat the food (in actuality, just place in paper bag, which is equivalent to a stomach)

• Then, shrew will hunt the grasshoppers for . (two finger tag)

• Then, hawks hunt the shrews. (two finger tag w/ hawk noise)

• Tagged animals must sit down and give their hunter their stomachs (They have been eaten)

• At the end of the game, animals that are still alive regurgitate all their foods for scientists to analyze.

 

Population Size • Small Population Approach: Study of effects of how small groups

go extinct and how to stop this (smallness effect on extinction)• Extinction Vortex: Exponential Decay of small populations• Minimal viable population: Smallest population that can sustain

a specie

• Population viability analysis: Filters out number of individuals unable to breed within a population, which helps calculate MVP and PVA.

                   Ne  =  4(Nf x Nm)

                                   Nf + Nm

o Nf = number of females that can successfully breed 

o Nm = number of males that can successfully breed

o Ne = effective population size

Declining Population• Declining - Population Approach: focused on defending

animals with a population with a declining population, not considering its population size. (focuses on decline factors)

• To help: Assess the species' environmental factors, hypothesize causes for decline, test hypothesis, apply solution to organism. (Conflicts with modern society)

•  Guam Rail: surveys of appearance of Brown Tree Snake vs. the population of Guam Rail: now must remove invasive species to save the Rail

 

Landscape and Regional ConservationLandscape ecology is the understanding how different arrays of ecosystems are arranged in a geographic region. Conservation biologists must understand patterns that have and will occur in these ecosystems to preserve biodiversity.• natural edges

o rivers, wetlands, lakes, forests• unnatural edges

o deforestation *in amazon, roads.

Global Hotspots of Life

• We live in a biodiversity hot spot!- a place that scientists have decided is an extremely high priority for protection, due to its high concentration of endemic species (We live in what's called the "California Floristic Province")

• These and other areas of high biodiversity should be protected with zoned reserves 

• legal boundary vs. biotic boundary • Costa Rica: a global leader in zoned conservation 

Restoration Ecology• restoration of degraded ecosystems to their natural state. • most degradation is from farming and mining, also chemical

and oil spills.Bioremediation is the utilization of living organisms to detoxify polluted ecosystems.

o    prokaryotes, fungi, plants adapted to soils with metallic contents.

Biological Aumentation also uses living organisms to restore ecosystem to their natural state. In contrast, the organisms are meant to add materials to an ecosystem.

Living with Nature, man

• sustainable development seeks to weave human society with nature, by creating houses, utilizing intelligent agriculture

• Often human interests conflict with nature- sustainable development seeks to erase these boundaries, i.e. "green" houses, less destructive agriculture 

• Does not seek to cause fights between • nature and humanity; rather, it seeks to • improve human livelihood by improving • nature and biodiversity

Conclusion

• Biophilia - humans are inclined to love the natural world• If you don't love nature, you lack morals• Conservation is an uphill battle - but possibly the most

inspiring and important one moving into the 21st century

• Small steps in everyone's lives, and large steps on a global scale must be taken to save our planet 

• Biology allows us to understand nature- understanding nature inspires us to admire nature- if we truly admire nature, we must save it