Conservation BIOL

• Instrumental values include:

  • direct use
  • indirect use
  • non-use
  • option values
• Relational values emphasize eudaimonia -> that nature is essential to human fulfillment
• Pluricentralism = "oneness" with nature
• Ecocentrism = intrinsic values applied to landscapes and ecosystems
• Biocentrism = intrinsic values and animal welfarist perspectives
• Anthropocentralism = the belief that humans are the most important species on Earth and that they have the right to exploit and control other species
• Taxonomists can describe and catalogue species through:

  • Morphologies
  • Biological Species concept
  • Synonymies
  • Evolutionary concepts
  • DNA barcoding
  • eDNA
• Extrapolation of the species-area curve states that as sampled area increases, number of species found increases
• α = species diversity within units
• β = species diversity among units
• γ = species diversity between all units
• Rarefaction can be used to compare diversity between sites through looking at species abundance
• Monitoring is a trade-off between:

  • effort
  • amount of detail
  • extent
  • size of region
  • grain
  • frequency of sampling
• Biomes are broad classifications of ecosystems

  Ecoregions are more specific
• Characteristics that create diversity in ecosystems are:

  • Trophic interactions
  • Mutualisms
  • Keystone species and engineers
  • Resistance and resilience to disturbance
• Genetic diversity should be conserved due to its evolution potential and relatedness of heterozygosity to fitness
• What does the IPCC say we need to do?

  • Achieve net zero
  • Enhance ecosystem resilience
  • Switch to clean energy sources
• Climate adaptation:

  • responding to crisis
  • minimising impacts
• Climate mitigation:

  • addressing the cause
• Indicators of biodiversity decline are:

  • increased vertebrate extinctions
  • decreased ecosystem intactness
  • decreased agro-diversity
  • decreased abundance
• Anthropogenic indirect drivers influence direct drivers of decline

  i.e. economy and demography drive land use change
• Biotic interactions of alien species:

  • empty niche
  • novel weapons
  • enemies release
  • novel environment
  • anthropogenic 'simplified landscapes'
• Consequences of invasive alien species:

  • homogenization
  • ecosystem transformation
  • endemic species extinction
  • agriculture and health impacts
• Ecosystem services are categorised into:

  • provisioning
  • regulating
  • cultural
  • supporting
• We can encourage people to care for ecosystem services through creating a market, which includes public payments, private payments, tax incentives, and certification programs
• Regression is used to make predictions and see trends by looking at the relationship between variables and the response variable.
• AIC compares the fit of a regression line of a hypothesis

  • lower AIC = better fit = better model