1. Conservation Biology
Chapter 55
BCOR 12
6 March, 2009

2. Conservation biology is the study and protection of biological diversity

3. -- Vermont Biodiversity Project
“The diversity of life in all its forms and at all levels of organization, with all of its interactions”
-- Vermont Biodiversity Project
Genes
Species
Communities
Ecosystems
And what is biological diversity? It is the diversity of life in all its forms, from the genetic level to the ecosystem level.

4. Loss of Species Diversity
Extinction rates are 1000 times higher than at any time in the past 100,000 years, and may climb much higher if trends continue

5. Is this a crisis?
The Center for Plant Conservation estimates that 200 of the 20,000 known plant species in the U. S. have become extinct since records have been kept, and another 730 are endangered or threatened.
The International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources (IUCN) reports that 13% of the known 9,040 bird species are threatened with extinction. That is 1,183 species!

6. Threats to biodiversity
habitat destruction
introduced species
overexploitation
food chain disruption

7. Habitat Destruction Sandplain Forests in Vermont:
Sandplain remnant
Sandplain Forests in Vermont:
4.5% (650 acres of a former 15,000) remains
Balance is now housing, urban areas, parks, and cemeteries

8. Habitat Destruction
World Resources Institute

10. Introduced species
Brown snake - Accidentally introduced to Guam after WWII. Since then, 12 species of birds and 6 species of lizards on which the snakes prey have been driven to extinction.

11. Over-exploitation
Goldenseal
Threatened by overcollecting

12. The dodo, extinct since 1681 as a result of over-
hunting

13. Disruption of food chains

14. Conservation at the Population and Species Level
Fairy Slipper Orchid
Calypso bulbosa

15. Legislation:
United States Endangered Species Act of 1973: 370 plants listed (3 occur in Vermont)
Vermont Endangered Species Act of 1981: 153 plants listed

16. Biology:
Small populations -
the extinction vortex

17. Minimum viable population size (MVP)
Minimum viable population size is the minimum number
of individuals sufficient to perpetuate a population.

18. The recovery of the prairie
chicken from the extinction
vortex.

19. Conservation at the Landscape Level

20. A landscape is a regional assemblage of interacting ecosystems

21. Biodiversity hot spots - areas with exceptional concentrations of
endemic species and a large number of threatened or endangered species
Most biodiversity hotspots are located in tropical areas and/or on islands.

22. Reserve Design Nature Reserves are considered successful if:
They contain viable populations of all native species
They allow for movement of plants and animals across the landscape
They contain the full diversity of communities and ecosystems
They encompass all climatic zones

23. A Biodiversity Reserve System
Working Farms
Stewardship Lands
Natural Areas
Reserves
Connections
Let me put the idea of ecological reserves in context here. The terms “ecological reserve” and “core area” are used interchangably here to mean areas where natural ecological processes are dominant, and where human use is minimal – usually nothing more than passive, non-mechanized recreation. Ecological reserves can do only part of the job of conserving biodiversity. Well managed forests have always played a huge role in conservation, and they will surely continue to do so. In addition, more intensively used lands, like farms and urban areas, can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity as well. The zoned approach shown here is a conceptual idea, common in the conservation biology literature, of how ecological reserves can interact with these other kinds of uses. Note that the idea of corridors is essential to this model. ONE THING I WOULD LIKE TO STRESS HERE IS THAT THERE ARE NO SACRIFICE ZONES. ALL LAND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY.

24. Hope for Tomorrow: a love for wild nature
Caila on Plum Island, MA
Costa Rican children in a forest reserve

25. Biophilia is ‘the innate tendency [of human beings] to focus on life and lifelike process. To an extent still undervalued in philosophy and religion, our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit is woven from
it, hopes rise
on its currents.’
Dr. E. O. Wilson

26. Good luck on the
exam!