chapter 7

Question 1

Establishment and classification of Protected Areas

Answer 1

Most common mechanisms to establish a protected area
-Government action: national, regional and local level
-Land purchases by private individuals and conservation organizations
-Actions of indigenous people and traditional societies
-Development of biological field stations by universities and other research organizations.

-IUCN Protected Areas Designations I-VI

Question 2

Establishment and classification of Protected Areas

Answer 2

At least 180 countries or more, have protected areas

More than 108,000 protected areas in IUCN categories I-VI have been designated worldwide
30 million km2 on land
2 million km2 at sea

= 13% of Earth’s land surface
-Same as the area used to grow crops

Question 3

Marine protected areas

Answer 3

-6% of the world’s territorial seas near costliness
-1% of the total marine environment are included in protected areas
-20% of the marine environment may need to be protected
-Over 5000 marine and costal protected areas have been established, but most are small.
-USA has 1700 marine protected areas, of which 13 are marine sanctuaries covering 46,548 km2.

Question 4

The effectiveness of protected areas

Answer 4

Although the number of species living within a protected area is an important indicator of its potential to protect biodiversity, protected areas need to maintain healthy ecosystems and viable populations of important species.

Question 5

Prioritization: what should be protected?

Answer 5

WHAT? WHERE? HOW?

Criteria to answer the questions:
Distinctiveness or irreplaceability
Endangerment (or vulnerability)
Utility.

Question 6

Species approach:
Ecosystem approach:
Wilderness approach
Hotspot approach:

Answer 6

Species approach:
- Focal species
- Indicator species
- Flagship species
- Umbrella species
Ecosystem approach:
- A representative site
- Rapid biodiversity assessments RAPS
Wilderness approach
- “controls”
Hotspot approach: Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund
- Biodiversity indicators

Question 7

Measuring effectiveness: Gap analysis

Answer 7

1.Data: distribution of species, ecosystems, physical features of the region, etc.: Conservation units.
2.Conservation goals
3.Existing protected areas are reviewed
4.Additional areas are identified
5.Additional areas are protected
6.New areas are monitored

• Use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Question 8

Designing Protected Areas

Answer 8

Four “Rs” must be considered
-Representation
-Resiliency
-Redundancy
-Reality

Specific questions:
-How large must a nature reserve be to effectively protect biodiversity that cannot survive outside the reserve?
-Is it better to have a singly large protected area or multiple smaller reserves?
-What is the best shape for a natural reserve?
-When a network of protected areas is created, should the areas be close together or far apart?

Question 9

Park size implications

Answer 9

1. When a new park is being established, it should be made as large as possible. Keystone resources should be included, in addition to habitat features that promote biodiversity.
2. Whenever possible, land adjacent to protected areas should be acquired in order to reduce external threats to existing parks and to maintain critical buffer zones.
3. The present and predicted effects of climate change will change ecosystems within existing protected areas.

Question 10

Designing Protected Areas

Answer 10

Habitat corridors: strips of land running between the reserves.
Conservation corridors
Movement corridors

Question 11

Landscape Ecology

Answer 11

Landscape ecology investigates repeating patters of habitat type son a regional scale and analyzes their influence on species distribution and ecosystem process.

Question 12

Managing Protected Areas

Answer 12

Management plans area needed that articulate conservation goals and practical methods for achieving them. Management activities can include controlled burns, enforcement of restrictions on human use, and maintenance of keystone resources, specially water.

Key stone resources: Any resource in an ecosystem that is crucial to the survival f many species; for example, a watering hole.

Question 13

Management and people

Answer 13

The involvement of local people is often the crucial element missing form conservation strategies. Local people need to be involved in conservation programs, as participants, employees, and leaders.

Question 14

Zooning

Answer 14

Zooning helps to deal with conflicting demands on protected areas.

Examples: Zoned marine reserves, also known as marine protected areas (MPAs).

Zooning allows the separation of mutually incompatible activities.

Question 15

Biosphere reserves

Answer 15

Protected areas established as part of a United Nations program to demonstrate the compatibility of biodiversity on conservation and sustainable development to benefit local people.

Integrates: human activities, research, protection of natural environment, and sometimes tourism at a single location.

Question 16

Challenges to park management

Answer 16

• STAFF
• FUNDS!!!

Question 17

protected area

Answer 17

is an area of land or sea dedicated by law or tradition to the protection of biodiversity and associated natural and cultural resources (WRI 2003).

Question 18

focal species.

Answer 18

Protected areas are often established to protect individ- ual species of special concern, such as rare species, endangered species, key- stone species, and culturally significant species; species that provide the impetus to protect an area and biological community are known as focal species.

Question 19

indicator species,

Answer 19

a species that is associated with an endangered biological community or set of unique ecosystem processes; for instance, the endangered northern spotted owl is an indicator species in the Pacific Northwest of the United States

Question 20

flagship species,

Answer 20

such as tigers and pandas, which capture public attention, have symbolic value, and are crucial to ecotourism.

Question 21

umbrella species

Answer 21

Flagship and indicator species are also known as umbrella species—protecting them pro- tects other species (Ozaki et al. 2006).

Question 22

representative site

Answer 22

A representative site includes the species and environmental condi- tions characteristic of the ecosystem.

Question 23

biodiversity indicators

Answer 23

Certain organisms can be used as biodiversity indicators when specific data about whole communities are unavailable.

Question 24

endemism,

Answer 24

Further, areas with high diversity often have a high percentage of endemism, that is, species occurring there and nowhere else (Lamoreaux etal.2006).

Question 25

gap analysis,

Answer 25

At the present time, a more systematic conservation planning process, known as gap analysis, issome- times used (Shriner 2006; Margules and Sarkar 2007). The following steps are often taken:

Question 26

Geographic information systems (GIS)

Answer 26

represent the latest development in gap analysis technology—using computers to integrate the wealth of data on the natural environment with information on protected areas and biodiversity (Friedlander et al. 2007).

Question 27

SLOSS debate

Answer 27

An early debate in conservation biology occurred over whether species rich- ness is maximized in one large protected area or in several smaller ones of an equal total area (Soulé and Simberloff 1986; McCarthy et al. 2006), known in the literature as the SLOSS debate (Single Large Or Several Small).

Question 28

habitat corridors

Answer 28

One intriguing suggestion for designing a system of protected areas has been to link isolated protected areas into one large system through the use of habitat corridors: strips of land running between the reserves (Dinerstein et al. 2006; DeFries et al. 2007).

Question 29

conservation corridors or movement corridors,

Answer 29

Such habitat corri- dors, also known as conservation corridors or movement corridors, allow plants and animals to disperse from one protected area to another, facili- tating gene flow and colonization of suitable sites.

Question 30

adaptive management

Answer 30

Managers must continu- ally refine the information they need on conditions inside, or sometimes outside, protected areas and be ready to adjust park management practices in an adaptive manner to achieve conservation objectives, sometimes referred to as adaptive management

Question 31

Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)

Answer 31

One program is the system of 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites established by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Another isUNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere system of Biosphere Reserves

Question 32

keystone resources

Answer 32

In many parks, itmay be necessary to preserve, maintain, and supplement keystone resources on which many species depend. These resources include sources of food, water, minerals, natural shelter, and so forth.

Question 33

Biosphere Reserves

Answer 33

in an attempt to integrate human activities, research, protection of the natural environment, and sometimes tourism at a single location. A desirable feature of Biosphere Reserves is a system in which there are zones delineating varying levels of use