Conservation Biology Final
United States Regulations that Drive Restoration practice
- Clean Water act 1972 -surface mining control & reclamation act 1977 -endangered species act 1973
What may happen to a species in a comminity if they undergo range shifts?
-can become locally extinct -become novel members of a new community through reassembly and change the original community composition
Would you choose charismatic or habitat specialist to be surrogate, and why?
-charismatic doesnt require as many sites in the reserve system (cheaper, and less land) while a specialist surrogate has higher percentages of all species represented in the system
site assessment
-collecting data of soil type, species, weather, natural disturbance regime -historic (maps, local knowledge) -existing legal restraints -what did the environment look like in the past, and what pressures caused it to get to this poing -reference site
how climate change results in community change?
-community disassembly -new range shifts > members of a new community (reassembly)
Paris Agreement 2015
-first global, comprehensive climate change agreement
What are some technological solutions that could help stabilize global CO2 emissions?
-improve vehicle fuel efficiency, and reducing use -improve building efficiency -improve efficiency of energy production (coal power, gas power) -capture carbon dioxide at production plants -replace coal power with nuclear power, wind power, solar power -reduce deforestation, increase reforestation
cons of captive breeding
-individuals may support parasites not found in the wild -individuals may be inbred
implementation
-labor and money!! -machinery, volunteers -good to include local community and stakeholders, expert scientists
examples of temporal/phenological shifts in response to climate change?
-leafing out and flowering of trees and plants -migration of animals -breeding season of animals ^^all these events are occurring earlier
What are the conservation consequences of current and predicted climate change?
-local or global species extinction -shifts in community composition, changes in local species richness -altered ecosystem processes -climate as a barrier to dispersal, implications for reserve design
restoration design and plan
-multidisciplinary approach (all scientific fields + stakeholders) -target one species, ecosystem functions, trophic levels etc -come up with a plan with experimental design >experimental controls and treatments should be implemented to facilitate evaluation of restoration approach over time
3 purposes of reserve systems
-protected specific species -preserve biodiversity, focusing on areas of high species richness -preserve large and functioning ecosystems and their associated ecosystem services
ecological restoration sub-categories
-rehabilitation -enhancement or augmentation -reclamation -replacement
affects of climate change in in the coming centuries / millennia
-sea level rise due to thermal expansion (in centuries to millennia) -temperature stabilization (a few centuries) -sea level rise due to ice melting (several millennia) -CO2 stabilization : 100 -300 years
monitoring
-should follow sampling design that allows for statistical analysis -vegetation surveys, mark-recapture of target animals, water quality analysis -should occur frequently as funding allows over regular intervals
What are evolutionary and morphological changes within a species in response to climate change?
-smaller in body size
What are some non-biological factors included in the Great Barrier Reed reserve design?
-social preferences for recreational areas -distance of bioregions from urbanized areas -economic limitations -use software MARXAN to generate optimal reserve design configuration -optimal reserve configuration designated one third of the park as excluding commercial fishing
setting goals
-socioeconomic context and constraints -stakeholders acknowledged -may be targeted for a specific function or a specific species
What are the biological consequences of current and predicted climate change?
-species range shifts (spatial) -species phenological (seasonal timing) shifts (temporal) -evolutionary and morphological changes within species (particularly body size) -community disassembly and reassembly
Why is it important to include local community and stakeholders in restoration?
-their involvement will keep their interest and they will possibly keep up with the site
Clean Water Act 1972
-to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's (surface) waters; -requires mitigation
mean global temperatures have increased....?
0.74 C over the last century
IUCN guildelines
1) conduct a feasibility study, including assessment of the biology of the species, availability of individuals for reintroduction, and whether other species at the target site have taken up the ecological role of the candidate species 2) selet sites within the historic range of the species, ensuring that suitable habitat is available and not subject to the same threats that caused the original demise of the population 3) identify and evaluate suitability of stock to be reintroduced, including genetic factors 4) evaluate social, political, and economic conditions at the reintroduction site to ensure that long-term financial and political support will be available 5) plan a well financed reintroduction with approval by all stakeholders, and in coordination with management agencies, make designed experiment 6) post-release monitoring should be adaptive model (ensuring intervention if needed)
Three main goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity
1) conservation of biodiversity 2) sustainable use of the components of biodiversity 3) fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the commercial and other utilization of genetic resources
goals of the paris agreement
1) holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels *pursure efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C 2) increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production
IUCN categories of protected areas
>strict: -category I - IV -nature reserve, national park / monument, species management area >multiple use: -categories V and VI -protected landscape, managed resource protected area
IUCN's definition of protected area
a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values
Surface Mining control & reclamation act 1977
aims to prevent adverse effects of surface mining (coal esp) and requires mining companies to restore mined sites (usually initiated through reclamation)
gap analysis
an approach used to identify gaps or areas of under-representation in the existing reserve system, by comparing the distribution of protected areas with the distribution of species, vegetation types, or other types of biodiversity
protected area
any area of land or sea managed for the persistence of biodiversity and other natural processes in situ, through contraints on incompatible land uses
What is a possibility for species that are relatively sedentary or have a restricted dispersal ability?
assisted migration BUT its controversial because introducing a non native species could be detrimental to the already established community
Where are greenhouse effects amplified on the earth?
at the poles, weakest in the tropics -ice and snow reflect radiation, as it melts less is reflected (positive, warming feedback) that is not seen at the equator
what constitutes a well-designed reserve system?
it facilitates connectivity (species dispersal) among reserves -minimizes edge effects
climate change
global rises in mean yearly temperature of the past 50 yrs were primariliy due to gobal rises in anthropogenically produed greenhouse gases and that the rate of temperature change will itself accelerate over the coming century
category IV protected area
habitat/ species management area -hunting -timber
natural green house effect
heat is retain within our atmosphere -70% of UV wavelengths pass through atmosphere -UV waves are transformed in infrared waves
How is a community before and after replacement ecological restoration?
historically different than the community replaced in an ecosystem
assisted migration
human-assisted migration of species to suitable habitat and climate
mitigation
if unavoidable impacts to waters and wetlands occur, those responsible must restore / re-create comparable ecosystems elsewhere
augmentation
improves a few ecosystem functions in a site from its degraded state -less involved and less costly
rehabilitation
improves a site from its degraded state
association of zoos and aquariums - species survival plans
initiated species-specific captive breeding programs for a number of threatened species
What are the biggest constraints of restoration?
labor and money -policy
conservation policy
laws, regulations, and agreements that are concerned with the regulation of human activites that affect the environment, the continues existence of biodiversity and all of its forms and levels of organization, and the support of human welfare through ecosystem services
human enhanced greenhouse effect
less heat escapes into space, while trapping more heat in our atmosphere
on average, what is spatial variability in rainfall over past 50 yrs?
less rainfall
escape corridors
link reserve to reserve so species may migrate and respond to track climate change
category VI protected area
managed resource protected area; mainoly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems -sustainable resource extraction
systematic conservation planning
maximizes biodiversity representation in the reserve system at a fixed cost
translocation
moving of individuals to a target site *within or outside of the species geographic range)j sometimes to a site that species has never before lived
category II protected area
national park; mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation
category III protected area
natural monument; conservation of specific natural features or resource
category I protected area
nature reserve / wilderness area/ "wildlife sanctuary"/ mainly for scientific research or wilderness protection
Where are species ranges predicted to shift?
northward following latitudinal increases in warming -vertebrates, invertebrates and plants
reclamation
often associated with mines or waste dumps, in which the initial goal i detoxification and terrain stabilization
key difference between management and restoration of an ecosystem
physically changing the landscape to recover the area
ecological restoration
practice of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed; or assisting the recovery of threatened/endangered populations
global climate models (GCMs)
predict future climate based on processes by which atmospheric greenhouse gases affect global climate -varying parameters : human population growth, overall greenhouse gas emissions, and introduction of more efficient technology
Success of the restoration approach?
should be continually evaluated and plans modified when progress is not sufficient to meet stated restoration goals >adaptive management cycle
replacement
specifies a novel community type for the site to achieve a particular conservation goal; often to improve ecosystem processes/function
gradient corridor
type of escape corridor, typically nonlinear path follows temperature gradient
surrogate species
umbrella, keystone, indicator, and flagship species -choice of a surrogate will depend on both the presumed effectiveness of the surrogates available and the amount of time, cost and effort required to develop alternative ones -provide one approach to reserve design planning
reference site
undisturbed reference sites help to understand how similar ecosystems evolved in the absence of human disturbance -provides a restoration target -ideally in the same geographic region
What were the first formal protected areas? and why?
unique landscape features -yosemite national park - 1864 -yellowstone -1872 -royal national park, aus - 1879 - kruger national park, SA 1892
bioremediation
use of certain species of plants and bacteria that accumulate heavy metals and other toxins to help restore soil health and ecosystem function
adaptive management
using data generated from the monitoring program, the restoration design and implementation approach can be revisited and modified if necessary >Plan, act, monitor evaluate
What is the first ever global agree to protect biodiversity?
Convention on biological diversity
What are the six fundamentals of gap analyses?
1) maps existing begetation 2) maps predicted distribution of native species 3) maps land ownership for public lands and land management status for all lands 4) shows the current distribution of protected areas 5) compares distribution of any species, group of species or vegetation types of interest with the conservation network 6) provides an objective data set for local, regional, state and national interests to make decisions regarding conservation of species and ecosystems
goals of restoration
1) restore natural ecosystem processes 2) re-establish native species and their functional roles to restore the landscape at large 3) remove/control/monitor exotic species 4) other goals - species or ecosystem specific
steps in designing and implementing ecological restoration
1) site assessment 2) setting goals 3) design/plan 4) implementation 5) monitoring 6) adaptive management
methane
100 x stronger in its heat retention capabilities than carbon dioxide, but a shorter retention time to break down in the atmosphere -one decade
endangered species act
1973 designed to protect endangered and threatened species, and their habitat with the ultimate goal of delisting species
IPCC - Intergovernmental panel on climate change
1988 coordinates research and analysis of climate change, generate global climate models
Kyoto protocol
1997; global policy -set target reduction levels of greehouse gases by country depending on their degree of industrialization and observed emissions -the united states and canada did not sign
What percentage of increase of CO2 levels since 1910? ?
36%
what is the percent of the total extent of the world's protected area? which IUCN category?
40% of worlds protected area is category IV -protected areas with sustainable use of natural resources
CBD biodiversity targets 2011-2020
5 goals with 20 targets
Which federal agencies implement the endangered species act ?
NOAA and US Fish and Wildlife
What is the last resort of restoration of a species?
banking and cloning of genetic information -storing DNA to allow for species reintroduction at a future date
carbon dioxide
biggest contributor to the green house effect -remains in the atmosphere for 100 years
What causes increases in greenhouse gases?
burning of fossil fuels, greenhouse gases increased by 30%
What do the greenhouse gases do to infrared waves?
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide dont allow 30% of infrared waves to escape into space
IUCN reintroduction specialist group
charged with monitoring and planning reintroduction actions for some of the world's most threatened species (group of biologists) -created guidelines for the practice of reintroduction
what does a systematic conservation planning acknowledge when creating a design for a reserve system?
comprehensiveness, representativeness, adequacy, cost efficiency, flexiblity, risk spreading associated with landscape connectivity, site irreplaceability, landscape connectivity, protected area shape, minimization of fragmentation
Are the changes over the past century any different from changes observed over longer time scales (geologic time)? How do we measure?
evaluate carbon dioxide in air bubbles within ice sheets - reveal composition of the atmosphere at time of ice formation -use ratio of two stable isotopes of oxygen, temperature can be calculated from these same air bubbles
Will we be able to change the effect of greenhouse gases in this century?
even if all greenhouse gas emissions ended immediately, the rise in atmospheric CO2 that has already taken place will continue to warm the earth for a century
What is one of the most effective tools available for conserving biodiversity?
protected areas
Biosphere reserves
protected areas of all category levels -adopts an interdisciplinary research agenda to maintain relations between humans and the environment, especially within each designated reserve
category V protected area
protected landscape / seascape, desgined to protect the historical interaction of people and nature -historic / cultural linkages
role of captive breeding
provides source stock to reintroduce back into the wild
climate envelope
range of suitable climatic conditions for a species
aim of IUCN reintroduction specialist group
re-introductions are both justifiable and likely to succeed, and that the conservation world can learn from each initiative, whether successful or not
What did parties at the convention of biological diversity commit themselves to do by 2020?
reducing the rate of biodiversity
What serves as a control for restoration practices?
reference site -undisturbed or similarly disturbed
What are biosphere reserves typically dedicated for?
research, monitoring, training, demonstration and conservation -designed to create one or two areas of low intensity human uses surrounding a strictly protected area at the core
Aichi Biodiversity Targets (5 goals)
strategic goals: A) address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss of mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society B) reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use C) improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems species and genetic diversity D) enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services E) enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge, management and capacity building
reintroduction
the reestablishment of a plant or animal population that has become locally extinct
What is a risk of translocation of species?
they could become invasible; esp. because they are often large, charismatic vertebrate, top predators
United Nations Climate Change conference's objective
to achieve a binding and universal agreement on climate from all nations of the world -reduce greenhouse gas emissions -limit the global temperature increase to 2 C above current levels -US did sign
