Notes
“Principles of Conservation Biology”
Discussion Questions
1.
Who wrote this article?
2.
What was their audience?
3.
What do they hope to achieve by writing this article?
4.
Is C.B. just another specialty field? Why would you need to know about C.B. outside of college?
5.
Are these principles empirical facts or value-laden beliefs? (Just before Theme 1)
6.
How is the article organized?
7.
What are the goals of conservation biology?
8.
What is biodiversity? How is it measured?
9.
What is ecological integrity?
10.
What is ecological resiliency (aka ecological health) and how is it different from integrity? How is it measured?
11.
Why do the authors talk about values in Theme II? What are the different values they discuss? What is the difference between intrinsic and instrumental value or nature?
12.
Which value to identify with the most?
13.
What are the some of the concepts necessary to understanding the importance of the goals of C.B.?
14.
Why would taxonomical hierarchies be important?
15.
What species concept are the authors using? Are there other species concepts your familiar with? Why is species concept important?
16.
What sorts of populations are good for conservation of a species?
17.
What is a metatpopulation?
18.
Why is this a good thing in preserving a species?
19.
What is your understanding of the word community? How do the authors define it?
20.
What do the authors have to say about extinction?
21.
What are some of the threats to C.B. as outlined by the authors?
22.
Which of these do you think is the greatest? Is it irreversible?
23.
The authors suggest ecological reserve systems and restoration as possible solutions. Do you think either is better, why or why not?
24.
What is the “ultimate” change that must take place?
25.
What are some questions that need to be considered when doing restoration ecology?
26.
Has this article changed your opinion about what C.B. is?
27.
Some definitions not above: genes, populations, demes, species, taxonomic levels, habitat, ecosystem, ecosystem services, stochasticity, non-native species, biomimicry