Conservation Bio Quizzes

Invasive species pose issues for the ecosystems they are introduced to. Which of these are the major threats of invasive species on ecosystems? Competition for resources Predation and parasitism Predator release hypothesis Changes in ecosystem processes Alteration of abiotic conditions

1, 2, 4, 5

Which of the below describe characteristics of "climate losers" 1. Specialists 2.. Low mobility 3. High genetic diversity 4. K-selected species 5. Small populations

1, 2, 4, 5

Traditional ecological knowledge differs fundamentally from current conventional resource management because it is based on:

1. A world view that integrates humans as an inseparable component of ecosystems 2. The intrinsic qualitative approach used by many traditional societies 3. The use of feedbacks of resource and ecosystem change to direct management 4. Long term stewardship versus short term exploitation

Tamarisk beetles being introduced to the deserts of the Southwestern U.S. to control the spread of the invasive Tamarisk tree is an example of:

1. Animal restoration 2. Successful biological control

Ex-situ conservation is required when in-situ conservation cannot take place. Although it is sometimes necessary, which of the below are drawback(s) to ex-situ conservation?

1. Changes in behavioral ecology 2. Small populations leading to genetic drift 3. Single species focus

When considering an ex-situ conservation action what are some factors that should be considered before starting?

1. Education value 2. Investment time 3. Emotional response from communities 4. Spread of disease from captive to wild

Examples of extrinsic factors that may increase the rate of extinction are:

1. Emergence of infectious disease 2. Floods, droughts, and hurricanes

Which of the below are ways that habitat fragments differ from the original habitat

1. Fragments have greater amount of edge per area of habitat 2. Fragments host smaller populations than larger areas of habitat 4. The center of a habitat fragment is closer to an edge

Unusually high rates of juvenile mortality, small clutches/litters and sperm abnormalities are all potential symptoms of:

1. Genetic drift 2. Inbreeding depression Small, connected populations

The example of the Heath Hen provides what important lesson for managing small populations

1. Genetic drift is more powerful in small populations and can lead a species to extinction 2. Intensive management is successful for bringing back species from the brink of extinction 3. Allee effects can make managing a small population very difficult 4. Understanding the factors that make a population small are more important than the factors that ultimately drive it to extinction

The topic of de-extinction is a relatively new conversation in the world of conservation biology. Bringing back extinct species has the potential to restore ecosystem services that may have been lost when species went extinct. If it has the potential to restore ecosystems why should conservation biologists be wary of de-extinction?

1. Negative shift in public perception of endangered species protection 2. Shift priority away from extant species

When mangrove habitat is lost, what is at risk of being lost along with it?

1. Protection from storm surges and income from commercial fisheries 2. Approximately 40% of species that live in mangroves 3. Protection from storm surges 4. Income from commercial fisheries

The total proportion of land and ocean area that we have designated as protected areas is approximately:

15% (land); 3% (ocean)

The IUCN has multiple categories for protected areas including strictly protected areas. What percentage of the protected areas in existence are categorized as strictly protected?

30%

According to the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas there are how many protected area categories? How many of those are not considered strictly protected?

6 categories; 2 not strictly protected

When considering the SLOSS debate, small protected areas may be better than large when they exhibit the Frodo effect. The Frodo effect is described as:

A protected area containing important small natural features such as keystone resources

What does the 10/50 rule describe?

A ten-fold increase in area correlates to double the number of species

A biosphere reserve is an example of:

A zoning approach

We might describe the Resource Conservation ethic in more contemporary terms as:

Adaptive management

A species of carnivores relies on cooperative hunting. When the population reaches a critical minimum the success of their hunts decreases, reducing the survival and reproduction of the species. What term best describes this example.

Allee Effect

A species of reptiles breeds in large colonies in desert habitats. When the population reaches a critical minimum the reptiles do not perform courtship behaviors, reducing the reproduction and survival of the species. What term best describes this example.

Allee Effect

Imagine that a small population of polar bears has reached a density at which the growth rate changes from a positive to a negative growth rate. This change from positive to negative growth is a result of:

Allee threshold

The aesthetic, recreational appeal assigned to a natural area can be described as:

Amenity value and indirect use value

The term "biophilia" can be defined as:

An innate human reverence for nature

The theory of island biogeography is most closely related to which pattern of species richness:

Area

Which of these are true of Beta diversity

Beta diversity is high when individual sites have different species

As Europeans began to colonize the world in the 1600's, large scale island extinctions were recorded. The most impacted taxonomic group affected early on in this period of extinctions was:

Birds

Out of the taxa below which has the highest number of species threatened (CR,EN, and VU) by invasives:

Birds

Which of the U.S. states is reported to have the highest biodiversity? The highest proportionate endemism?

California; California

Multiple-use or multi-management protected areas are valuable for which of the following reasons?

Conserve biodiversity and produce natural resources

The Replacement Cost Approach is used when evaluating

Consumptive use value

Desertification is a phenomenon that results in:

Conversion of habitat to a wasteland through degradation practices

The relationship between development and the protection of biodiversity can be described as:

Countries with GDP of $10,000 per captia per year or greater have stable or increasing forest areas

Redundancy, resiliency, representation, and reality are factors that need to be considered when:

Creating protected areas

Higher mammal diversity on the west coast of the U.S. compared to the east coast of the U.S. can be explained by:

Differences in structural complexity of the environment

Urban development and deforestation are prime examples of human-induced habitat fragmentation. The resulting landscape generally presents a reduction in biodiversity, which correlates with:

Disruption of predator-prey interactions and abiotic changes in patch habitats

When setting priorities for conservation we can choose a species centric approach focusing on DUE. DUE is an acronym for:

Distinctive Utility Endangerment

The per captia influence a group of people has on both the surrounding environment and locations across the globe is described by what term

Ecological footprint

The number and distribution of species along with the quality of relationships between those species is known as:

Ecosystem diversity

When forests are fragmented, microenvironments that are different than the forest interior may result. Changes in light, humidity, wind and temperature are known as:

Edge effects

A normative discipline describes a field that

Embraces certain values and applies scientific methods to achieve those values

One of the most commonly used techniques in restoring disturbed areas is the augmentation of native species and elimination of invasive species, rather than a return to historical conditions. This approach is known as:

Enhancement

Random variations in predators, pathogens, or food supply that impact a population are examples of:

Environmental stochasticity

______________ is generally more important than random demographic variation in increasing the probability of extinction in populations of small to moderate size.

Environmental stochasticity

The process of degradation in aquatic environments caused by nitrogen and phosphorous pollution and characterized by algal blooms and oxygen depletion is best known as:

Eutrophication

The presumed eventual loss of species following habitat destruction and fragmentation is known as:

Extinction debt

Edge effects are impacts that affect an entire habitat fragment in a uniform manner.

False

Ex-situ and in-situ conservation are mutually exclusive of one another.

False

Mainland species are more impacted by invasive species than island species.

False

In an area along a creek bed, that has experienced habitat degradation due to human activity, biologists planted willow trees to help stabilize the creek bed and also attract birds and other native fauna back to the area in order to restore the ecosystem. This is an example of what type of restoration?

Foundation Species

Coral reef gardening to enhance or replace degraded coral reefs is considered which type of restoration project

Foundation species

When setting priorities for selecting protected areas ecosystem-centric approaches include which of the following:

Global 200 Conservation Risk Index Hotspots

Despite our best rescue efforts, some species are overwhelmed by the combination of threats to their habitat and reduced population viability. Pick out the species for which global extinction was the ultimate result:

Guam rail Dusky seaside sparrow European bison Speke's gazelle Przewalski's horse

Of the following, which is the biggest threat to biodiversity:

Habitat destruction

Disease transmission in wildlife increases under which circumstance(s):

Habitat destruction Habitat fragmentation Increased population density

The piping plover in New York is an example of a population that:

Has benefited from extreme weather events

Conservation biologists in some management programs will take eggs laid by wild sea turtles, incubate them in a laboratory, then release them when they are a few days or weeks old at the same beach from which the eggs were originally collected. Once released, the scientists provide no help whatsoever to the baby turtles. Which of the following best describes this management program?

Head starting; hard release

Tropical areas can be generally described to have:

High alpha, beta, and gamma diversity

The problem with the conservation of the tiger salamander in California is a result of:

Hybrid vigor

How would the minimum viable population value need to be adjusted if there is a low effective population size to total population size ratio (Ne:N)?

Increased

Ecological models that incorporate a species' present range with predicted changes in climate allow us to calculate:

Indicates which factors are most important in declines

Which of the following threats to biodiversity is the most difficult to reverse:

Invasive species

The Global Gap Analysis project determines priority sites for protection by examining which two factors:

Irreplaceability and threat

There has been an observed decline in extinction rates since the 1950s. Why might this observed rate give a false sense of hope?

It can take decades before a species is declared extinct, and "Living dead" species can exist for centuries

Humans dominate the global ecosystem in which three ways:

Land surface, nitrogen cycle, atmospheric carbon cycle

What are the attributes of Madagascar that contribute to its status as a biodiversity hotspot?

Large area, Geographic isolation, and tropical latitude

Our predictive ecological models cannot account for all possible random events. A management approach to an ecosystem that is subject to high rates of environmental and/or demographic stochasticity would have a primary focus on

Maintenance of large population sizes

Which of the following can contribute to or be considered a form of air pollution:

NOx Ozone Acid rain Toxic metals

Genetic rescue is becoming an important form of conservation for species that have experienced genetic bottlenecks or small population sizes. As discussed in class Frozen Zoos are becoming a valuable asset in performing genetic rescue, which of the species below have benefit from material maintained in a Frozen Zoo:

Northern White Rhino Black Footed Ferret Przewalski's Horse

Bioprospecting and biopiracy are most closely associated with

Option value

Which of the following are examples of flagship species success stories as discussed in class

Polar bears raising awareness of climate change Manatees and boating speed limits Kiwis and the need for invasive species control

Maximum Sustainable yield (MSY) assumes:

Population growth is fastest at K/2

Habitat corridors are beneficial for mitigating fragmentation and accommodating metapopulation dynamics but can also present risks to wildlife. What are these risks?

Predation Disease Invasive species

The full protection of ecosystems and species from human use can be termed

Preservation

Which of these does not describe the ethic embodied by Gifford Pinchot

Preservation of the U.S. national forests

The single most effective tool for the conservation of biodiversity appears to be:

Protected areas

Environmental stochasticity

Random variations in the environment that directly affect birth and death rates

Green roofs, artificial reefs, and permitting wild animals to make homes within human-dominated landscapes are all examples of

Reconciliation ecology

Prairie chickens of Illinois were found to exist in low numbers, leading to inbreeding depression. Augmenting the Illinois population with individuals from other distinct areas is a conservation solution known as:

Reinforcement

Wild wolves from Canada being translocated and released into Yellowstone National park is an example of:

Reintroduction

Species evenness is a term used to describe

Relative abundance and proportional representation

Placing the highest management priority on cooperation among stakeholders to provide for human needs while maintaining the health of wild species and ecosystems is known as:

Resource conservation

What happened after the First World Parks Congress in 1962:

Rules and regulations for international protected areas were established

When used to predict extinction which component(s) of the island biogeography model is/are most important

Size of island

When considering release of captive bred individuals of a species that is highly social, has a potential for facing threats from natural predation, and impacts from human presence, those individuals would be a candidate for:

Soft release

Using the rate of documented species to estimate how many species are present but not detected generates a(n)

Species accumulation curve

Rapoport's rule attempts to explain the latitudinal biodiversity gradient on the basis that:

Species ranges are generally smaller at lower latitudes than at higher latitudes

When studying establishment programs of common wildlife species/game species to inform establishment programs for endangered species, what has been found?

Success was greater for wild-caught than captive-reared animals

Carrying capacity for Homo sapiens has risen dramatically at different stages of modern history due to various developments. Technological advance resulting in abrupt increase in carrying capacity was particularly significant during:

The green revolution and industrial revolution

Aldo Leopold is known for the development of ideas that support:

The land ethic

The "arc of deforestation" refers to:

The loss of 55% of forest in 6% of total forest area

Although the Eastern and Western Meadowlark look morphologically similar and have ranges that overlap they are considered different species because:

The songs of each species are different, like a foreign language, which interferes with breeding

O'Bryan et al., assessed the level of human pressures on terrestrial vertebrate ranges by overlapping species ranges with the Human Footprint data. Which of these is a major finding from the paper:

Threatened species are disproportionately exposed to human pressures compared to non-threatened species

Hunting for goannas in the Outback of Australia by using controlled burns, which also reduces wildfires, is an example of:

Traditional ecological knowledge

Effective population size is often smaller than the census population. This is significant because it indicates a reduction in genetic variation. Effective population size is measurably influenced by several factors, including:

Unbalanced sex ratios, population fluctuations, and variance in progeny

The flagship approach to prioritizing protection of biodiversity is best described as:

Using a species that has symbolic value or captures public attention to then protect other aspects of biodiversity

Genetic diversity is important for maintaining biodiversity in many ways. Which choice best describes three of these ways:

Utilitarian Value, Loss of Fitness, Utilitarian Value

When considering protecting biodiversity, which of the below approaches are used to prioritize what areas should be protected:

Wilderness Hotspot Ecosystem

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is a prime example of an area designated for many uses, with varying levels of protection. This type of conservation is known as:

Zoning

Romantic Transcendentalism is a movement that focused on:

aesthetic satisfaction, philosophical insight, and spiritual solstice found in nature

A high beta diversity implies (which ones): i. Species have a small range ii. Species are highly specialized for local conditions iii. The habitat is fairly heterogenous iv. There are the same species found at many sites

i, ii, iii