BIODIVERSITY & CONSERVATION - Tutorial questions in
two sections.
Wilson, E.O. (2000) A global biodiversity map. Science 289, 2279.
Myers, N., R.A. Mittermeier, C.G. Mittermeier, G.A.B. da Fonseca, and J. Kent. (2000) Biodiversity
hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853-858.
Roberts, C.M., McClean, C.J., Veron, J.E., Hawkins, J.P., Allen, G.R., McAllister, D.E., Mittermeier, C.G.,
Schueler, F.W., Spalding, M., Wells, F., Vynne, C., Werner, T.B. (2002) Marine biodiversity hotspots
and conservation priorities for tropical reefs. Science 295, 1280-1284.
SECTION ONE.
Give brief answers to the following questions set for each of the three papers before
you come to the tutorial. I advise you get together after having read the papers
individually.
Please ask your tutor well before tutorial if you do not understand the questions.
Wilson, 2000
1. What does Wilson suggest is one of the major stumbling blocks for conservation
biology? Which species are underrepresented and why?
2. Why do we need to know this information?
3. What does Wilson suggest as a solution?
Myers et al., 2000
1. What are some of the pros and cons of the hotspot approach?
2. How accurate are their assessments?
3. How safe is the assumption of congruence between various taxa?
Roberts et al., 2002
1. What were the taxa chosen and why?
2. Why have marine organisms been thought to be less susceptible to extinction than
terrestrial ones? Did the paper’s authors agree with this assumption?
3. Why would integrating terrestrial and marine hotspots be an effective use of
limited resources?
SECTION TWO.
Each group should also prepare a mini-presentation containing five or six bullet points
on the issues raised by their own particular topic/question as shown in the table
below. This should also be done before tutorial so that the tutor can check what you
have come up with. This answer will be presented by each tutorial group to the class
during Discussion Session 2 on Friday 3rd December. Each group will only have six
minutes; therefore presentations will only be three minutes long so that a few
questions from the audience can be answered. You will have about 15 minutes or so at
the end of the Coral reefs lecture on Thursday 9th December to prepare one
overhead per group which will set out the five or six issues in bullet point format.
This will obviously work best if everyone gets involved and should provide plenty of
ideas for your essays.
Please ask your tutor well before tutorial if you do not understand the questions.
Tutorial group-specific topics/questions.
Tutorial Group Topic/Question
8
2
How were terrestrial and marine hotspots chosen?
How do other priority-setting analyses compare with the
hotspots approach?
Order of
presentation
1
2
6
Congruence between taxa in terrestrial systems
3
7
Congruence between taxa in marine systems
4
3
What are the logistics of protecting terrestrial hotspots?
5
4
What are the logistics of protecting marine hotspots?
6
5
What might be missed by hotspots approach?
7