Monitoring and Maintaining the Environment

• What organization classed over 16,000 species as threatened with extinction in 2007?


  The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)
• Why might the number of threatened species be considered a serious underestimate?

  Only about 43,000 of the estimated 1.9 million species have been assessed
• What are the reasons for conservation?

  • Ethical reasons: All species have a right to exist
  • Aesthetic reasons: Enjoyment of diverse ecosystems
  • Economic reasons: Tourism and financial benefits
  • Ecological reasons: Interdependence of species and habitat loss effects
• What ethical reason supports conservation efforts?

  All species have a right to exist and humans have a responsibility to protect them
• How do aesthetic reasons contribute to conservation?

  Diverse ecosystems attract tourists and provide visual pleasure
• What economic benefits can arise from conservation sites like zoos and safari parks?

  They can have a major positive impact on local and national economies
• What does the term 'interdependence' refer to in ecosystems?

  No species exists in complete isolation; they are all interconnected
• What is a potential consequence of habitat loss in ecosystems?

  It can have a dramatic, widespread, and unpredictable destabilizing ecological effect