Biological Biodiversity Assignment
Pick two groups (1, 2, 3, …) of questions each from three of the four sections (A, B, C, D) below. Copy the questions to a text file and provide the answer right below each question. Your total page count should be no more than 1.5 pages.
A. Threats to Biodiversity: Biological Impacts of Global Warming
1) What effect does elevated atmospheric CO2 have on the amount of the CO2 dissolved in the ocean’s waters? When CO2 levels change in the ocean what happens to the acidity of the oceans? What effects does elevated acidity have on certain groups of ocean life? Which types of organisms are most effected and why?
2) What is an organism’s climate envelope? What are the three possible responses by a plant or animal population in area where average yearly temperatures are moving outside the optimum of its climate envelope?
3) What is the difference between acclimatization and adaptation? How does this relate to the effects of global warming on biodiversity?
4) What is asynchronous dispersal? What negative consequences could asynchronous dispersal have for biodiversity?
5) What type of range shifts have we already seen in plants and animals that may be a result of global warming? Why are range shift problematic for some mountain top species?
6) What effects could global warming have on the life cycle timing of organisms? What are some examples where we have already seen changes in life cycle timing in birds and plants?
7) Are there any examples of organisms that have already lost habitat due to global warming? If the planet continues to warm, what other types of habitat may be lost and why?
8) How does global warming affect the sighting of future conservation reserves and how might it affect current reserves?
B. Species Level Conservation
1) What is the relationship between population size and extinction risk? What is the mechanism(s) of this relationship?
2) What are the demographic extinction risk factors in a small population? What are the genetic extinction risks in a small population? Explain the steps in an extinction vortex?
3) What factors can decrease the size of a population? Provide examples.
4) What is the link between the factors that decrease the size of a population and the population dynamics of a plant or animal population?
5) What factors might you mange that would have an effect on the parameters of a BIDE model? Include a real word example.
6) What is a population viability analysis (PVA)? What is the relationship between a PVA and a species recovery plan?
C. Community Level Conservation
1) Based on the concepts of landscape ecology, what are some basic guidelines of good conservation reserve design?
2) Describe, the core, buffer and transition model of reserve design. What is the function of each of these three components?
3) What is a gap analysis? How is a Gap analysis useful for community level conservation?
4) What is a landscape corridor? Why are they an important tool in conservation biology?
D. Protected Areas and Sustainable Development
1) How much of the planet does the IUCN consider protected? Of that how much is protected in their category 1 to 4 level?
2) Why are federal lands uniquely suited for biodiversity conservations? What are the geographic constraints on using federal lands to protect biodiversity?
3) What is an indicator species? What is a flagship species? How are these species used to protect other species?
4) What is community-based conservation?