Chapter 55 – Conservation Biology Goal oriented science seeking to counter the biodiversity crisis.

I. Biodiversity Crisis Rapid decrease in the Earth’s variety of life.

A. Loss of Genetic Diversity Reduction in genetic diversity leads to detriment of overall adaptive prospects

B. Loss of Species Diversity Less types of species Endangered vs. threatened Local vs. global extinction Loss of species = loss of genes

C. Loss of Ecosystem Diversity Each ecosystem has an effect on the entire biosphere

D. 4 Major Threats to Biodiversity 1.Habitat Destruction 2.Introduced Species 3.Overexploitation 4.Disruption of Food Chains * Examples of each?

II. Conservation at the Population and Species Level

A. Small-Population Approach 1.Small populations are susceptible to inbreeding and genetic drift 2.Extinction vortex

B. How Small is Too Small? 1.MVP – minimum viable population size / use computers to determine 2.PVA – population viability analysis / use MVP to predict population survival chances 3.N e – effective population size / based on breeding potential - N e = 4N f N m / N f + N m - Use family size, maturation age, genetic relatedness, gene flow, population size, etc. - low N e = inbreeding, bottlenecking, reduced heterozygosity

C. Declining Population Approach 1.Diagnosis a. Confirm decline b. Determine environmental requirements c. Determine possible cause / hypothesize d. Predictions for each hypothesis e. Test most likely hypothesis f. Apply results

III. Conservation at the Community, Ecosystem, and Landscape Level

A. Edges and Corridors 1.Edge – boundaries of ecosystems - have their own communities - sites of speciation 2.Movement Corridors – strips or clumps of quality habitat connecting patches / riparian areas - promote dispersal and reduce inbreeding

B. Preserving Ecosystems 1.Biodiversity Hot Spot - small area with lots of endemic, endangered, and threatened species - make national parks here / too small 2.Zoned Reserves - large area - several undisturbed areas surrounded by human changed areas

C. Restorative Ecology Is all damaged land “reclaimable”? 1.Bioremediation – use of biological organisms to detoxify polluted ecosystems 2.Biological Augmentation – use of organisms to add essential materials to degraded ecosystems

D. We NEED to Reassess Our Priorities