Bio Ch.18 Conservation and Biodiversity

What is the key purpose of conservation biology?

-Conservation biology addresses how to preserve the natural resources of earth. -Conservation biology has a main goal of preserving and protecting biodiversity

Generally, it is the case that large animals are more vulnerable to habitat destruction than small animals; however, the opposite can be true. Which of the following explains why small animals might be more vulnerable to habitat destruction than large animals in certain situations?

-Small animals often have smaller habitat range than larger animals. -Small animals often have more specialized requirements for living than larger animals.

Conservation biology is concerned with the conservation of:

-Species -Populations -Ecosystems -Biodiversity

Which of the following attributes of a species might render it especially susceptible to extinction?

it has a narrow geographic range

The most effective nature preserves:

Incorporate areas of high species diversity

How many species do biologists estimate to be currently on earth?

Between 5 million and 100 million

The variety of genes, species, and ecosystems on earth is defined as ________.

Biodiversity

An urban planner wants to build some new homes in a woodland area but wants to do so in a manner that is the least disruptive to its natural biodiversity levels. Which of the following choices is his best mode of action?

Build all the homes on one side of the forest, leaving the majrity of the forest intact

An important conservation strategy is to connect isolated habitat patches with ______________, thus ensuring migration routes for plants and animals.

Corridors

Species diversity:

Decreases as you move away from the equator in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Biodiversity encompasses the number of:

Ecosystems in a region, species in an ecosystem, and genes and alleles in a species.

Which of the following statements about habitat loss is correct?

Fragmented habitats can support only small populations of species living in them

Which statement about current extinction rates and habitat loss is true?

Habitat loss is the chief reason for the recent and impending loss of so many species

Ecosystem services:

Include the ways in which biodiversity and natural ecosystems provide benefits to humans

An endemic species:

Is exclusively native to a place

A species has an increased chance of extinction when:

It has a very low effective populaiton size

Why is the Pacific yew a particularly important species?

It produces a chemical that is used as a cancer drug in humans

Which of the following troublesome exotic species was not introduced intentionally?

The brown tree snake in Guam

Even though there is a carbon cycle, carbon dioxide levels around the world seem to be rising. Which of the following best explains why this is so?

The burning of fossil fuels releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The loss of tropical rain forests causes a decrease in biodiversity because:

Tropical rain forests offer very diverse terrestrial habitats

The ivory-billed woodpecker was rediscovered in 2005 in a swamp in Arkansas after being considered extinct for over 20 years. An important lesson to derive from this episode is that:

We should continue to conserve the habitat of a species, even if there is a high probability that the species is extinct.