Conservation Biology Mt 1

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Conservation Biology utilizes principles and findings from the basic sciences

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Principles (natural sciences) -> Plan (using conservation biology) -> Implement (using social sciences)

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Yellowstone Ecological Management Problem

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1. Original goal: manage for game and kill the wolves (they had a bad rep) So they were replaces with coyotes.
Coyotes can't kill elk or bison.

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The result of having too many bison...

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It converted woodland to grassland.

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When the wolves returned...

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Woodland came back! Trophic Cascade

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Trophic Cascade

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(find)

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Fire Management results in
(Ecological Management Problem)

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The suppression policy. Policy of suppression led to devastating 1988 fire.

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1988

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Was the driest year in park history. (36% of the park was burned)9 of 42 fires human caused. Mature tress last.

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Political vs. Natural Boundaries
(ecological Management Problem)

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g

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Visitation

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Ecological Management Problem
Ecotourism

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Philosophical Issues

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Ecological Economics vs. Absolute Protection
Stresses environmental sustainability and economic benefits

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Ethical Issues

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Ecological and ethical concerns depends on developers and environmentalists acting in godo faith
(Mary Hampton and Richard Ambrose)

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Mary Hampton and Richard Ambrose

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Malibu ocean refuge, 27 miles long and 3 miles wide, exclude commercial fishing and allow sports fishing. Ambrose- test effects of reserve exclude all fishing from two 4.5 mile smaller reserves

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What are the components of biodiversity?

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Composition, structural and functional

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Compositional

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Relating to the Biological parts
genes-> special, populations -> communities, ecosystems -> landscape types

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Structural

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relating to the physical and biological characteristics of each part, e.g. habitat locations and connections

genetic structure -> population structure -> physiognomy, habitat structure -> landscape patterns

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Functional

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relating to the physical and biological forces that sustain biodiversity e.g dispersal, birth, and death rates.

genetic process -> demographic processes, life histories -> interspecific interactions, ecosystem processes -> landscape processes and disturbances, land use trends

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The Business Analogy
Compositional

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People, computers, desks, etc. and divisions into marketing, accounting, and product development.

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The business Analogy
Structural

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The physical organization on different floors and the connections between them (e.g. elevators, corridors)

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The Business Analogy
Functional

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the interaction of people with each other, with machines and computers to produce a product.

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Preservation of biodiversity is more than just the preservation of population and species

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1. It involves the Preservation of the entire system- its interacting components and the physical and biotic structure which sustains the diversity of species.
2. It involves the capacity for an Evolutionary response- allowing for the preservation of sufficient diversity so the population to respond to changes in environmental conditions

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Characteristics of Conservation biology

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1. Value-laden science
(mission - to preserve biodiversity) Directed at a single goal.
2. Crisis discipline
Triage mentality Directed at pressing problems
3. Inexact Science: Decisions made given uncertainty- Global warming Prospective vs. retrospective science
4. Science with an evolutionary time scale
5. Science of eternal vigilance

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The shifting baseline and the Law of Diminishing Expectations

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future generations expect less because of nature’s shifting baseline each generation

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Kelp forest example

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Removal of sea urchin predators results in ecosystem collapse

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Before vs. After fishing

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Removal of grazing herbivores (large fish, urchins) allowed macroalgae to take over.
Similarly, removal of seagrass grazers (turtles, manatees) resulted in the decline of seagrass habitat

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Why preserve biodiversity?

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Utilitarian vs. Intrinsic Values

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Romantic-Transcedental Conservation Ethic

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Stage 1
Founders are Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman
They all wrote poetry, books etc. They talked about the aesthetics of why conserving is good!

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The Resource Conservation Ethic

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Stage 2
Founder was Pinchot
This ethic was more on the utilitarian side.
Pinchot realized all the goods that nature can provide us..but wanted to make sure there was government regulation so modernizing is done right!

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The Stewardship Land Ethic

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Founded by Aldo Leopold.
Founder of the Wilderness Society
A science of conservation needed that incorporated ecological and ecosystem concepts rather than just maximum yield and economics.
Intrinsic vs. Instrumental value
Wrote The Sand County Almanac - this led to a new environmental ethic (restored a degraded farm)

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The Modern Era

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Rachel Carson
Wrote the Silent Spring
Advocated that pesticides was horrible for pollution! (DDT) She shows the resistance to pesticides evolves quickly.
Experimentally tested hypothesis

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William O'Douglas

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Supreme Court Justice &
Outdoor enthusiast

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Paul Erlich

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Hoping there will be government regulation.

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Barry Commoner

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j

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Michael Soule
Thomas Lovejoy
EO Wilson

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The Journal of Conservation Biology: The Science of Conservation, 1987- present

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Amazon Basin

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Worlds Largest Tropical forest

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Tall Forest have led to...

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the evolution of "flying" vertebrates.

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Adapting to tropical rain forests

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Biomechanics of supporting massive trees
(still roots, buttresses, york cathedral)
-Draining water off of leaf surfaces;
CO2does not diffuse well through water

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How does one study tropical forest canopies ?

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Tree climbing, canopy walkways, canopy crane, canopy rafts

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Lianas

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Woody vines climb trees; form up to 30% of canopy leaf mass in tropical rainforests; found in many plant families

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Strangler figs

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Begin life as epiphytes, aerial roots extend to the soil, and then it gradually grows around and strangles the host tree

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Sloths

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Green algae lives on the sloths. You can say that this green algae is an endemic to the sloth.
Sloth can be a keystone species in this case.

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Figs

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Keystone species

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Concept of Biodiversity Hotspots

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•Conservation community decision in late 1990s to focus on the most critical areas of the world
•Define regions with >1500 endemic plant species, and with < 30% of its area remaining natural as hotspots
•Originally included 25 global regions, but this now increased to 34 regions
•These regions include 16% of the world land surface, but their remnant natural areas include only 2.3% of world land surface
•50% of all world plant species are endemic to these regions, and 77% of all terrestrial vertebrate species are included.
(Madagascar, Tropical Andes, Guinean Forests, Indo-Burma region, Philippines, and New Caledonia)

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Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems

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Mild Rainy Winters and Warms Dry Summers.
Med basin, is between Spain and Morocco
California, Cape Region, South Africa fynbos, Central Chile and SW Australia
Highly significant biodiversity

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Threats for Mediterranean Type

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Deforestation, Recreation, Urbanization, Invasive species, and over grazing

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How many species are there in the world, described and still undescribed?

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- high end calculations
•most species are insects
•most insects are beetles
•most insect species occur in the tropics
•most tropical insects live in tree canopies

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Tropical Insects

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40% of insect species are beetles•Canopy insects are twice as diverse as terrestrial insects•163 species of beetles are known from the canopy of Luehea•There are 50,000 species of tropical trees
50,000 tree species x 163 beetle species = 8,150,000 beetle species
8,150,000 / 0.40 (% beetles) = about 30 million tropical insect species

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Patterns of Species Diversity. (more diversity trend)

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Gradients of species diversity occur both elevation, latitude, and with aridity.

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Island Patterns of Biogeography

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Species diversity on islands is correlated with both the size of the island and the distance from the source mainland
(increase area means increase number of species)

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The intermediate disturbance hypothesis

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Predicts that species diversity will be highest at moderate levels of disturbance

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Soil Fertility Trend of species

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THe highest number of species found in areas with lowest soil fertility

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What are ecosystem services produced by biodiversity?

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1.Hydrologic flow: runoff, infiltration, transpiration
(regulation of sediment transfer through steambank protection, dune stabilization, and erosion control)
2. Biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen
3. Organic matter and carbon cycles
4. Stabilization of ecological communities (via trophic cascade)

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Trophic Cascade

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dramatic changes in community structure may occur if a trophic level is removed

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Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability
-two extremes of views

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Rivet Model and Redundancy Model

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Rivet Model

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incremental changes
occur with rivet losses, followed at some point by a catastrophic failure

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Redundancy Model

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evolution develops adaptations conservatively, and similarly communities have redundant species.

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Keystone species

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a species whose ecological and/or ecosystem significance far outweighs its numerical abundance or biomass

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Keystone predator examples

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Starfish, once they are gone then there will be a strong dominance by mussels and only 6 species present
Sea otter- eat sea urchins and clams but the sea urchins will be over populated and not allow kelp to live

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Ecosystem Engineer examples

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beaver- dramatic effect on forest ecosystems by creating dams
African Elephant- large populations of elephants can totally change their habitat from woodland to scrubland or open savanna
nitrogen-fixing plants - fix atmospheric nitrogen and permanently alter soil nutrient conditions

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Ecological Guild

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a group of species operating with the same feeding niche, even though they may be phylogenetically unrelated

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Granivores

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unrelated organisms share the same feeding niche; seeds of desert annuals
(example, mouse, harvester ant, and desert finch: seeds)

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Alpha diversity

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species richness in small, ecologically homogeneous areas

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Beta diversity

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turnover of species in moving between habitats

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Gamma diversity

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turnover of species moving between stands of the same habitat type across a landscape gradient

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How are species abundances distributed
within communities?

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The more/less abundancy the fewer the amount of species. Moderate abundancy will lead to more species

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Forms of rarity

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Geographic Range (narrow & wide)
Habitat (narrow or range)
Population (small or large)

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Why do we need to worry about species lost?

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The services that the ecosystem provides benefits us dramatically.

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Mangrove ecosystem

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•nursery and adult fishery habitat
•fuelwood & timber
•carbon sequestration
•traps sediment
•detoxifies pollutants
•protection from erosion & disaster

(housing, shrimp, and crops)

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Ecosystem Impact on poor and marginalizes

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Poor people are the most dependent on ecosystem services and most vulnerable to degradation of the services

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Food Supply

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Twenty crop species provide 90% of the world’s food supply

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Genetic Diversity of Farm Animals

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In the developed countries you can see an increase in endangered, extinct and at risk species.

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What cause the great dying?

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-volcanism?
-breakup of Pangea?
-glaciation?
-asteroid impact?

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What do the scientist believe that ended the Cretaceous period?

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Asteroid

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Problems with Broad Habitat

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no guarantee of survival
A century ago there were eight different subspecies of tigers and over 100,000 wild tigers in the world. Today, there are only five tiger subspecies left and there are fewer than 5,000 wild tigers in the world. The main threats to tigers are poaching, loss of habitat, and population fragmentation.

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Long Lived Species

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delayed reproductive maturity
•low fecundity
•do well in constant environments but may be slow to respond to environmental changes
•once threatened it is difficult to rebuild viable populations

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Short Lived Species

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•often have specialized niches
•generally have high reproductive potential
•subject to catastrophic population extinctions
•life cycles allow for rapid genetic changes

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Top 4 causes of extinction

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1. Habitat alterations
2. hunting for commercial products
3. invasive species
4. hunting

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Reasons for the amphibian population decline

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Habitat loss, herbicides and pesticides, golden toad story, fungal pathogens, and non-native species

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Concerns with invasive species

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•The world's biota is becoming homogenized, with a resulting loss in biodiversity
•Successfully established alien species have a good chance of becoming aggressive, or invasive--they are generally free of controlling biotic interactions
•Invasive aliens can cause extinction, disrupt ecosystem processes leading to a loss of ecosystem services, and cause direct economic loss

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How do invasive species travel?

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-Plant Nurseries (new arrivals originate from a wide source area arrive and in large numbers)
- plantation of forestry
- international trade (products move all around the world)
- ballast (can transport marine organisms in the basket)

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Non-native species

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Species in a given area whose presence is due to intentional or accidental introduction as a result of human activity

synonyms: exotic species, alien species; non-indigenous species.

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Naturalized species

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Non-native species that reproduce successfully (sexually or asexually) and sustain populations over more than one life cycle without direct intervention by humans. Often recruit offspring freely, usually close to adult plants, and do not necessarily invade natural, semi-natural or human-made ecosystems.

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Alien invasive species

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Non-native species that produce reproductive offspring at considerable distances from parent plants, often in very large numbers, and thus have the potential to spread over a considerable area and into nature habitats

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Terminology is a function of perspective

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Weeds (anthropocentric view)
Colonizers (Ecological view)
Invaders (Biogeographical view)

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Invasive plant introductions to California date from the earliest Mission days

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- plants used to make adobe

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Habitat transformers

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invasive species often change the character, condition, form or nature of ecosystems
•crowd out native species
•promote fire
•alter hydrologic conditions
•alter soil fertility
•become aggressive predators
•noxious pests for humans

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Examples of crowding out species

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- ice plants (actually good for dunes)
- European dune grass (good for dunes)
- Killer Algae
- Zebra Mussels (grow on metal or pipes...cause massive economic damage to ships, pipelines, and machinery)

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Problems with grass invasions

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can initiate and maintain a grass-fire feedback system that prevents the regeneration of native woody species

-cheat grass
-destroy woodlands
-red brome (joshua tree)

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Alteration of hydrology

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Invasive tree colonizing Southwestern desert streams; from semi-arid African; lowers water tables, salinizes surface soils, and promotes fire (salt cedar)

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Aggressive Predator

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- Cray fish (widely introduced to streams throughout California; feed on salamander and frog larvae...red legged frog is in trouble)

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What was the effects of DDT?

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Bald Eagle at the fish that were exposed to DDT. Bald eagles died off and allowed the golden eagle to come back over to the island.

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Invasion processes -fundamental phases

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•Introductionto an area by humans
•Population growth (often preceded by a lag phase)
•Spread
•Interaction with local biota / disturbance regime
•Displacement of native elements / impact on ecosystem functioning

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What kind of factors influence invasions rates?

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- anthropogenic habitat change
- mutualism

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Plant invasions -the role of mutualistscan aid or inhibit invasiveness

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Pollination limitation -not a major barrier for alien plants because of generalist pollinators (a few exceptions; Ficus, orchids)
Seed dispersal -vertebrate-dispersed alien plants are seldom limited reproductively by the lack of dispersers (many generalists)
Mycorrhizalfungi -minor barrier for arbuscularmycorrhizalspp.; significant barrier for ectomycorrhizalspp. in some areas
N-fixing bacteria -introductions of symbiontshas radically altered invasibilityin many areas

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Invasibility

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the properties of a community or ecosystem that render it susceptible (or resistant) to invasion by alien species

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Why are islands more susceptible to invasion by aliens than mainland areas?

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•Low species richness (aliens less likely to encounter close competitors)
•Island biotashave evolved in isolation
•Small size means that effects of human-induced disturbance are concentrated
•Many islands were colonized long ago, and have been at the crossroads of inter-continental trade