SCI 1010 Module 3.3

_____ is an ecosystem conservation strategy that seeks specifically to monitor and meet the needs of a suite of species (chosen because they use all the vital areas within an ecosystem) in an attempt to keep the ecosystem fully functional for all species that live there.

Landscape conservation

True or False: Elephant poaching is lower in national parks and game reserves.

True

True or False: Elephants go through a funeral-like grieving ritual for members of their herd that are poached.

True

True or False: Forest elephants are attracted to logged areas that are regrowing, while chimpanzees avoid these areas.

True

Given the number of African elephants in 2016 and the current poaching rate of 35,000 elephants per year, in approximately what year will African elephants go extinct in the wild, assuming that no babies are added to the population?

2026

Which of the following banned ivory trading in 1990?

CITES

The international treaty that regulates global trade of endangered species is:

CITES.

Which of the following is among the methods used to track elephant ivory poachers?

DNA fingerprinting

_____ is to tracking elephant poachers as _____ is to developing careful breeding programs to maximize genetic diversity.

DNA fingerprinting; Species Survival Plans

_____ is/are low-impact travel to natural areas that contribute(s) to the protection of the environment.

Ecotourism

What is the main reason Botswana's forest elephants are doing much better than they are in Kenya and Gabon?

Ecotourism is a thriving industry in Botswana.

How do forest elephants disperse seeds?

Elephants eat fruits and then excrete the seeds elsewhere.

True or False: About 85% of coral reefs have disappeared since the late 1800s due predominantly to overharvesting.

False

True or False: About 85% of coral reefs have disappeared since the late 1800s due predominantly to overharvesting. Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button. Answer choicesTrue

False

True or False: Species dependent on Arctic sea ice (e.g., polar bears) are threatened mainly by invasive species.

False

True or False: The African white rhinoceros is now extinct.

False

True or False: The IUCN's Red List records more extinct species than any other category.

False

True or False: The goal of conservation biology is to understand the natural world and our relationship to it.

False

True or False: The number of protected areas has increased dramatically in recent years and now exceeds the targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity for terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

False

True or False: The tusk print of a confiscated tusk can be compared to the tusk print of known populations to identify where in Africa the tusk (and elephant) came from.

False

Which of the following protected area designations is correct?

National Park is often a designation used for areas that are set aside for human recreation.

Which of the following statements is TRUE about the Red List?

The Red List identifies the conservation status of species on a worldwide basis and species are added to the list when they are at risk of becoming endangered, and removed from the list when their status improves.

Why is the savanna elephant considered a keystone species in the African savanna?

The savanna elephant tramples and grazes young woody vegetation, preventing the area from becoming shrubland.

Using the tools that conservation genetics provides, which of the following decisions regarding ivory trading was made at a 2010 CITES meeting?

Zambia and Tanzania petitioned CITES for permission to sell their stockpiled ivory (from elephants that died naturally) as the ivory was just sitting there and the countries themselves could use the money. Furthermore, they insisted that as poaching had been all but eliminated within their borders, there was no risk of losing elephants to poachers. But when the DNA analysis showed that more than 60% of the ivory seized in Chinese, U.S., and Thai ports that year did in fact come from Tanzania and Zambia, CITES quashed the petition because, clearly, poaching was rampant in those countries.

Buying fair trade, shade-grown coffee and chocolate is:

a good idea as it is a way to promote habitat protection and protect biodiversity in the regions where cacao and coffee are grown.

All of the following are TRUE about CITES EXCEPT:

as a binding international treaty, CITES is saved from the usual practical difficulties and challenges such as political maneuvering and budget shortfalls that hamper these agreements.

A(n) _____ in 2016 killed more than 80% of coral in some stretches of the Great Barrier Reef.

bleaching event

When birders participate in the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count or butterfly enthusiasts assist in catching, identifying, and tagging monarch butterflies, these volunteers are considered _____.

citizen scientists

Scientists recently determined that the forest elephant and the savanna elephant of Africa are two different species. This work falls in the category of:

conservation genetics.

A(n) _____ refers to the preservation of natural areas through funding provided by an agreement in which a wealthy nation forgives part of the debt of a developing nation in return for the developing nation's pledge to put a percentage of that saving toward conservation projects.

debt-for-nature swap

All of the following illustrate the work of conservation genetics EXCEPT:

determining that elephants make good candidates for inclusion in a landscape species suite.

A focus on restoring and protecting biodiversity hotspots suggests a(n) _____ to biodiversity protection.

ecosystem approach

The repair of natural habitats back to (or close to) their original state is called _____.

ecosystem restoration

A conservation biologist would do all of the following EXCEPT:

fine people who are hunting and fishing without a license.

In the single-species approach of biodiversity protection, conservation biologists are likely to focus on _____, while in the ecosystem approach of biodiversity protection, conservation biologists are likely to focus on _____.

flagship species; indicator species

Where will you find microsatellites?

in DNA

According to conservation biologists, the African elephant is endangered for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

introduction of invasive species that compete with elephants for food.

A conservation biologist using the ecosystem approach would be interested in restoring all of the following EXCEPT:

invasive species.

A ________ is a nonprofit organization set up to protect and care for private nonprofit land.

land trust

The World Wildlife Fund and Sierra Club are examples of _____.

nonprofit environmental organizations

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, ________ of all the plants and animals on Earth are now at risk of going extinct.

one-third

All of the following are among the five biggest reasons for biodiversity loss EXCEPT:

predators.

If the United States agrees on a debt-for-nature swap with another country, what does the United States gain?

protection of an ecosystem

All of the following are ways to help conservation EXCEPT:

purchasing exotic pets.

All of the following strategies are a single-species approach to biodiversity conservation EXCEPT:

removing invasive Eurasian watermilfoil from a Wisconsin lake.

Which of the following correctly matches an action with a particular route to conserving biodiversity?

removing invasive species as part of an effort to facilitate habitat restoration

When conservation biologists say that the African elephant is endangered due to road building, what they are really saying is that:

road building results in habitat fragmentation that isolates elephant herds into smaller territories and makes them more accessible to poachers.

Which of the following correctly matches a human activity with the threat it poses to biodiversity?

road building—causes habitat fragmentation

For conservation programs to work, they must protect not only the _____ in question but also the _____.

species; humans that live in the area

Both the recovery of the Kanton Island reef in the South Pacific after a serious coral bleaching event and evidence that the savanna elephant is thriving in the eastern and southern regions of Africa where elephant poaching is lower are evidence of which of the following?

that the designation and management of protected areas are effective in protecting species and habitats and enabling their recovery

Though both are international treaties that protect species and ecosystems, _____ is broader as it supports conservation and sustainable use of all biological diversity, not just endangered species, while _____ is more focused on endangered species and specifically on regulating global trade of endangered species.

the CDB; CITES

All of the following statements describe the ESA EXCEPT:

the ESA has experienced strong political and public support since its passage, and its effectiveness has been reinforced by the availability of adequate funding.

All of the following are TRUE about the ESA EXCEPT:

the ESA mandated a ban on the trade of ivory in 1990.

To bring attention to the problem of threatened species, _____ established the _____, which uses a series of designations to classify the seriousness of threat to a given at-risk species.

the IUCN; Red List

Conservation genetics is:

the scientific field that uses DNA analysis to understand endangered species and their populations.

Which of the following is an example of a flagship species?

tigers

People should be encouraged to avoid purchasing exotic pets (e.g., wild-caught birds or tropical fish), items made from endangered species (e.g., ivory products and animal skins), and collectable specimens (e.g., butterflies under glass) for all the following reasons EXCEPT:

to support fair trade, shade-grown products as a way to promote habitat protection and protect biodiversity.

Droughts in Kenya caused the region's tribes to lose many of their cows and crops and drove them to ivory poaching, as brokers were paying around $20 a pound for raw ivory. In other parts of Africa, the loss of agricultural land to environmental degradation has driven area residents into natural areas to kill wild animals for meat. Both cases diminish wildlife and may even spread zoonotic diseases as more people come in contact with wild animals. Steps to _____ and promote _____ could help the people make a proactive decision to protect wildlife as a crucial sustainable resource for their own long-term survival.

value ecosystem services; ecotourism

In Thailand, the value that a mangrove swamp provides in terms of local harvestable goods and value to offshore fisheries is about six times more than the economic value of shrimp farms that displace the mangroves. If the cost of replacing the mangroves is factored in, shrimp farming would cost money, not produce it. This is an example of _____, which is a way of assessing the monetary value of an intact ecosystem to inform how best to use an area.

valuing ecosystem services