recap

58.3 recap

Ecologists use scientific theory, empirical data, and tools from a variety of disciplines to help inform socioeconomic and institutional sectors in the protection and management of biodiversity. To achieve these biodiversity conservation goals, various strategies are employed, including creating protected areas, restoring degraded habitat, breeding endangered species in captivity, ending trade of endangered species, controlling species invasions, and making biodiversity a marketable commodity.

learning outcomes

You should be able to:

  • List guiding principles behind establishing protected areas and explain the reason for each principle.

  • Discuss the benefits and limitations of captive breeding programs as a method for preserving endangered species.

Question 1

Given the principles of reserve design and an understanding of how global warming can affect the distribution of species, design the best possible but realistic protected area for the conservation of terrestrial biodiversity today and in the future.

Reserve design relies on three important principles: first, identify a large enough area that is relatively undisturbed and can serve as the core for protection; second, include a buffer zone around the core area that has some features required by the species of concern but is less restrictive to human use; and third, have habitat connectivity that keeps populations from becoming isolated from the greater metapopulation and thus subject to extinction. Taking into account global warming in terrestrial systems, the protected area should have similar protected areas, potentially connected by corridors of land, to the north (or south in the southern hemisphere) that could serve as a refuge from warming temperatures. An example is the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative discussed in the chapter.

Question 2

Using the example of the California condor, describe how species recovery is dependent on the integration of ecological information, socioeconomic interests, and institutional authority.

The California condor declined in its native range (British Columbia to Mexico) because of lead poisoning from carcasses containing lead shot, electrocution from power lines, the effects of pesticides on eggshell thinning, and hunting (ecological information). To save the California condor from extinction, the Endangered Species Act (institutional authority) was invoked and the species was removed from the wild in 1983 and subsequently bred in captivity. Although the breeding program was successful, ecological information indicated that birds could not be released into the wild until the threats that caused their decline were mitigated. In 2008, the Ridley–Tree Condor Preservation Act was passed to require California hunters to use non-lead bullets when hunting in the condor’s range. Along with passage of the act, public awareness was raised for hunters and cattle ranchers who mistakenly believed that condors killed livestock (socioeconomic interests).