BSC 3052 - CONSERVATION BIOLOGY QUESTIONS
WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
(Clicker question- Lecture 2)
Based on last lecture, what does NOT describe conservation Biology:
A)Concerned with detecting problems.
B)Concerned with evaluating solutions.
C)A multidisciplinary science.
D)An exact science. - Answers - D)An exact science.
(Lecture 2)
Conservation biology is: - Answers - A)Concerned with detecting problems.
B)Concerned with evaluating solutions.
C)A multidisciplinary science.
--> Conservation biology is a "Crisis Discipline." Decisions need to be made quickly and
with limited information.
--> Ecological and Evolutionary data are messy.
--> Waiting for info is an action and might be the wrong one.
(Lecture 2)
Example from class: marine protected areas in southern California - Answers - There is
no perfect information about the species involved.
You have to make a decision about what you are going to do right now one decision
could be to wait 10 years and learn more about the system but effectively you allowing
everyone to keep fishing everywhere for the next ten years.
Summary--> waiting to take action is an action and might be the wrong one.
(Lecture 2)
Thinking of Conservation Biology in terms of Triage (Sorting on the basis of quality) -
Answers - Dying anyway - 'BeyondUrgency'
Can be saved - 'AbsoluteUrgency'
Will live anyway- 'RelativeUrgency'
--> Gained wide use in the battlefield medicine in WWI
-->Are they likely to die but could be saved is the catogory often more concerned with in
conservation biology. (ecosystems, habitats and species)
-where can we do the most good?
,(Lecture 2)
Conservation biology is a"values-laden" science: - Answers - Social: Values, ethics,
culture, policy, beliefs, government, legality
Economic: Supply, demand, $, wealth, poverty
Science: BIOLOGY, ecology, genetics, populations, communities, biogeography,
diseaseTechnology, Engineering,Sustainability
((Lecture 2- Clicker Question)
Based on your reading what is the earliest example of formal biological conservation?
A)The conservation of sacred forests in the song dynasty of china (~960 CE)
B)The seventh generation principle found in the Great law of the Iroquois confederacy
(1142 CE)
C)The creation of Yosemite national park (1890)
D)Formation of the society of conservation biology (1985 CE) - Answers - No clear
answer
--> Conservation and sustainability practices are very old, and are present in human
cultures around the worldThe book does not really do a great job describing this
(SN: details in this question not on test)
(Lecture 2)
Why should we care about the history of conservation and conservation biology? -
Answers - -We are not the first human generation to be concerned about our effects on
the planet.
-Today's conflicts represent very old divisions in how people think about nature.
(Lecture 2)
History of conservation: - Answers - Example: Maya practiced forest conservation -
3,000 years ago
people have studied the history of forests and can get data about forests for pollen
records and can take cores and figure out what the pollen looked like overtime. They
can also figure out the different types of woods used to and most of the ruins in these
cities are mostly what remains is stone, but there is enough wood for us tho see what
they were using in their building
Evidence is that for a long time the Maya were practicing sustainable forest
management. But then over time as they started to build bigger and bigger structures
they started to tap into their sacred groves and so they started cutting larger and bigger
, species of trees and some of the larger trees started disappearing over time out of the
pollen record.
--> this suggests that they cut them all down which changes the hydrological cycle
which leads to more flooding which people think that now contributed eventually to the
collapse of Maya civilization. The collapse is thought to have happened to various
factors partly due to climate shift and in part to the breakdown in sustainable
management of the landscape.
(Lecture 2)
Ways people have thought of Conservation
(Pre-1850) - Answers - Religious ideas of stewardship
Enclosure and preservation of Royal hunting grounds
(Lecture 2)
Religious ideas of stewardship - Answers - Examples:
-Bible-Genesis1:28.
-(Exodus23:10-11)
-Religious author- (Tertullia n160- ~220CE)
-->Sacred groves present in many ancient cultures:
India, West Africa, Europe, Greece
(Lecture 2)
Enclosure and preservation of Royal hunting grounds - Answers - -for nobility and
aristocracy.
--> vital componentofthepolitical culturesof the Middle East, India, CentralAsia, and
China.'
(Lecture 2)
A short history of Conservation Biology (1850-1950) - Answers - Resource conservation
ethic
Transcendental / romantic ethic
(Lecture 2)
Transcendental / romantic ethic - Answers - Henry David Thoreau Walden(1854)
- "In wilderness is the preservation of the world".
John Muir (1838-1914)
-wrote a book (a thousand mile walk to the gulf)
WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
(Clicker question- Lecture 2)
Based on last lecture, what does NOT describe conservation Biology:
A)Concerned with detecting problems.
B)Concerned with evaluating solutions.
C)A multidisciplinary science.
D)An exact science. - Answers - D)An exact science.
(Lecture 2)
Conservation biology is: - Answers - A)Concerned with detecting problems.
B)Concerned with evaluating solutions.
C)A multidisciplinary science.
--> Conservation biology is a "Crisis Discipline." Decisions need to be made quickly and
with limited information.
--> Ecological and Evolutionary data are messy.
--> Waiting for info is an action and might be the wrong one.
(Lecture 2)
Example from class: marine protected areas in southern California - Answers - There is
no perfect information about the species involved.
You have to make a decision about what you are going to do right now one decision
could be to wait 10 years and learn more about the system but effectively you allowing
everyone to keep fishing everywhere for the next ten years.
Summary--> waiting to take action is an action and might be the wrong one.
(Lecture 2)
Thinking of Conservation Biology in terms of Triage (Sorting on the basis of quality) -
Answers - Dying anyway - 'BeyondUrgency'
Can be saved - 'AbsoluteUrgency'
Will live anyway- 'RelativeUrgency'
--> Gained wide use in the battlefield medicine in WWI
-->Are they likely to die but could be saved is the catogory often more concerned with in
conservation biology. (ecosystems, habitats and species)
-where can we do the most good?
,(Lecture 2)
Conservation biology is a"values-laden" science: - Answers - Social: Values, ethics,
culture, policy, beliefs, government, legality
Economic: Supply, demand, $, wealth, poverty
Science: BIOLOGY, ecology, genetics, populations, communities, biogeography,
diseaseTechnology, Engineering,Sustainability
((Lecture 2- Clicker Question)
Based on your reading what is the earliest example of formal biological conservation?
A)The conservation of sacred forests in the song dynasty of china (~960 CE)
B)The seventh generation principle found in the Great law of the Iroquois confederacy
(1142 CE)
C)The creation of Yosemite national park (1890)
D)Formation of the society of conservation biology (1985 CE) - Answers - No clear
answer
--> Conservation and sustainability practices are very old, and are present in human
cultures around the worldThe book does not really do a great job describing this
(SN: details in this question not on test)
(Lecture 2)
Why should we care about the history of conservation and conservation biology? -
Answers - -We are not the first human generation to be concerned about our effects on
the planet.
-Today's conflicts represent very old divisions in how people think about nature.
(Lecture 2)
History of conservation: - Answers - Example: Maya practiced forest conservation -
3,000 years ago
people have studied the history of forests and can get data about forests for pollen
records and can take cores and figure out what the pollen looked like overtime. They
can also figure out the different types of woods used to and most of the ruins in these
cities are mostly what remains is stone, but there is enough wood for us tho see what
they were using in their building
Evidence is that for a long time the Maya were practicing sustainable forest
management. But then over time as they started to build bigger and bigger structures
they started to tap into their sacred groves and so they started cutting larger and bigger
, species of trees and some of the larger trees started disappearing over time out of the
pollen record.
--> this suggests that they cut them all down which changes the hydrological cycle
which leads to more flooding which people think that now contributed eventually to the
collapse of Maya civilization. The collapse is thought to have happened to various
factors partly due to climate shift and in part to the breakdown in sustainable
management of the landscape.
(Lecture 2)
Ways people have thought of Conservation
(Pre-1850) - Answers - Religious ideas of stewardship
Enclosure and preservation of Royal hunting grounds
(Lecture 2)
Religious ideas of stewardship - Answers - Examples:
-Bible-Genesis1:28.
-(Exodus23:10-11)
-Religious author- (Tertullia n160- ~220CE)
-->Sacred groves present in many ancient cultures:
India, West Africa, Europe, Greece
(Lecture 2)
Enclosure and preservation of Royal hunting grounds - Answers - -for nobility and
aristocracy.
--> vital componentofthepolitical culturesof the Middle East, India, CentralAsia, and
China.'
(Lecture 2)
A short history of Conservation Biology (1850-1950) - Answers - Resource conservation
ethic
Transcendental / romantic ethic
(Lecture 2)
Transcendental / romantic ethic - Answers - Henry David Thoreau Walden(1854)
- "In wilderness is the preservation of the world".
John Muir (1838-1914)
-wrote a book (a thousand mile walk to the gulf)
