CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
I.
Habitat destruction, introduced species, and overexploitation are
the major threats to biodiversity
a. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY  a goal-oriented science that
seeks to counter the biodiversity crisis
b. BIODIVERSITY CRISIS  a rapid decrease in Earth’s great
variety of life
c. Human alteration of habitats poses the single greatest threat to
biodiversity
d. Introduced species (exotic species) is the second greatest threat
II.
Biodiversity is vital to human welfare
a. Reasons to care about biodiversity
i. Aesthetics and Ethics
ii. Food, clothing, shelter, soil fertility
iii. Human survival rests on a stable ecosystems
III.
Technology and the population explosion compound our impact on
habitats and other species
a. Developed nations consume far more resources per person;
overconsumption
b. OZONE LAYER  in the upper atmosphere, protects Earth
from the harmful ultraviolet rays in sunlight
i. Depletion due to the accumulation of CFC’s
ii. Will expose living organisms to more radiation; may
result in increased incidence of skin cancer in humans
c. BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION  the biomass at any
given trophic level is produced from a much larger toxincontaining biomass ingested from the level below
IV.
Rapid global warming could alter the entire biosphere
a. GREENHOUSE EFFECT  molecules that absorb infrared
radiation and slow its escape from Earth, causing atmospheric
warming
b. Naturally it is essential to support life, but humans have
increased the amount of greenhouse gases to unnatural levels
V.
Some locations in the biosphere are especially rich in biodiversity
a. BIODIVERSITY HOT SPOTS  relatively small areas with
an exceptional concentration of species and a large number of
endangered and threatened species
b. ENDEMIC SPECIES  found nowhere else
i. Highly sensitive to habitat degradation
VI.
There are two approaches to studying endangered populations
a. ENDANGERED SPECIES  a species in danger of
extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range
b. THREATENED SPECIES  those that are likely to become
endangered in the foreseeable future
VII. Identifying critical habitat factors is a central goal in conservation
research
VIII. Increased fragmentation threatens many populations: A case study
a. POPULATION VIABILITY ANALYSIS (PVA) 
incorporates as much information on a population’s current
status as available and predicts its chances for long-term
survival
IX.
Sustaining ecosystems and landscapes is a conversation priority
a. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY  the application of ecological
principles to the study of human land use patterns
X.
Edges and corridors can strongly influence landscape biodiversity
a. MOVEMENT CORRIDOR  a narrow strip or series of small
clumps of quality habitat connecting otherwise isolated
populations
XI.
Restoring degraded habitats is a developing science
a. RESTORATION ECOLOGY  uses ecological principles to
develop ways to return degraded ecosystems to conditions as
similar as possible to their natural, pre-degraded state
b. BIOREMEDIATION  the use of living organisms, usually
prokaryotes, fungi, or plants, to detoxify polluted ecosystems
c. AUGMENTATION OF ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES  aiding
the limiting factors to increase ecosystem (environmental)
recovery
XII. Sustainable development is an ultimate goal
a. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT  the long term prosperity
of human societies and the ecosystems that support them
b. By spreading scientific knowledge we will appreciate it more,
and make a more concentrated effort to conserve the biosphere
and its resources