conservation across scales and biomes Flashcards
(52 cards)
1
Q
marine conservation principles - human impacts
A
- land based impacts
- habitat destruction
- commercial activity
2
Q
coastal development
A
- 40% of the worlds population live within 100km of the coast
- hard engineering
3
Q
habitat destruction
A
- mangroves - 20% lost between 1980-2005
- sea grass - 29% declines since 1879 (7% a year)
4
Q
commercial activity
A
- oil rigs, offshore renewables, communication pipelines
- shipping - collisions, invasive species, pollution
5
Q
what is acute pollution
A
single high pollution events that make headline news
e.g. oils spills
6
Q
what is chronic pollution
A
prolonged and continuous pollution
e.g. litter pollution into sea
7
Q
marine plastics
A
- everywhere in the sea they are found
- biological and ecological impacts are unclear
8
Q
effect of climate change on the sea
A
- increase water temperature
- sea level rise
- sea chemistry changes - acidification
- regime changes in plankton
9
Q
impacts of sea temp increasing
A
- north sea fish go deeper to stay within their thermal tolerances
- coral bleaching as cannot migrate to stay in their climatic envelope
10
Q
impacts of sea chemistry changes
A
- 25% of annual anthropogenic co2 emissions absorbed
- 530 billion tonnes of co2 disposed in sea since industrial revolution
- co2 reacts with h20 to produce carbon acid = lower pH - reduced the amount of carbonate available for calcifying marine organisms
11
Q
why is history important in marine conservation
A
- aim is for environment to change back to its natural state - history is needed to know what this is
- very hard because humans have exploited the sea from before data was collected
- need to know what species should have smaller populations
12
Q
species past and current value
A
- species of high conservation value used to be commodities
- species of high commercial value today were worthless in the past
13
Q
shifting baselines
A
- fisheries records only started recently in 20th century but exploitation in the north sea started over 1000 years ago
- makes it hard to estimate past population levels
14
Q
consequences of fishing
A
- decline in individual target species
- declines in functional groups
15
Q
fishing in the high seas
A
- 4 countries account for 20% of all landing on high seas (taiwan, SK, china, spain)
- vessels from these countries are increasing their mean distance from land and time on sea
- fish often export from areas of low food security to regions of higher food security
16
Q
why is fishing not equitable
A
- to get productive fish stock more powerful and advanced boats are needed
17
Q
effects of by catch on ecosystems
A
- as no fishing gear is perfectly selective a large number of non target species are caught by accident and killed
- in everyone’s interest to reduce this as it benefits no-one
18
Q
how to reduce by catch
A
- fishing at night to prevent birds from being caught
- having streamers at the back of boats to deter birds until bait is sunk
19
Q
ways to manage marine ecosystems
A
- fisheries management
- fishery science
- catch control
- effort control
- effectiveness of management
20
Q
fisheries management
A
- first concerns raised in 1880s by fishermen
- Thomas Huxley believes that the seas were inexhaustible and infinitely bountiful so went against this
- was a naive view
21
Q
fishery science
A
- helped understand the fundamental questions that were previously raised
- has important role in quantitative population ecology
22
Q
catch control
A
- total allowable catches
- there is a set limit on the population that can be caught - based on MSY
- can be divided into individual quotas - limits each boat to a set amount
- allocation of quotas between boats and countries has caused lots of drama as they are a global common
23
Q
effort control
A
- artificially limit the amount of fish that can be caught
- limits the numbers of boats or fishing gear that can be used
- limits in seasons - closes in breeding season
- some areas permanently closed for fishing - marine protected area
24
Q
effectiveness of management
A
- many examples of failed fishery management exists
- common in EU policies where politics and short term economic gain ahead of scientific advice
25
successful fisheries management
- 50% of fish stocks are scientifically assessed
need to:
- understand what management practices work
- understand why some stocks have improved faster than others
- learn how to identify and implement the most appropriate form of management
26
marine protected areas
- set aside for long term conservation aims
- different MPAs have different levels of protection
- larger fish benefit most to these
- as fish numbers and SR increase, density increases by 40%
however designation does not equal protection
27
downsides of MPAs
- need 4/5 NEOLI characteristics to be effective
- if they only have 1-2 they are indistinguishable from unprotected areas
- problem as only 10% have 4/5 NEOLIs - this is mainly due to money constraints
NEOLI - no take, enforce, old, large, isolated
28
different acts for marine conservation
- UN STGs
- EU MSFD (marine strategy framework directive)
- UK marine and coastal access act
- ODPAR commission
29
UN SDGs marine conservation
goal 14
- conserve and sustainably use the oceans, sea and marine resource
30
EU MSFD
- aim to effectively protect the marine environment across Europe
- range of indicators were developed
- commitment is to ensure all European waters are in a good environmental status
31
UK marine and coastal access act
- legal instrument underpinning the Uks marine spatial planning
- aims to ensure clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse ocean seas
- part of a wider strategy
32
ODPAR commission
- oslo partis convention 1992
- aim to protect and conserve the North East Atlantic resource
- includes north biological diversity and ecosystem level targets
33
what are bioclimate envelope models
- used to understand climate niches and how they may change
1. note where the species of interest lives
2. map current species distribution
3. infer environmental requirements
4. predict species distribution using statistical models
5. predict species distribution with climate change
34
why is it important to understand species climatic requirements
1. food production
2. human disease
3. species extinction
35
can species adapt to rapid climate change
- ability to evolve = natural selection
- will require physiological variability in thermal tolerances
- if evolution matches the rate of cc it is possible
- more likely for species from more varied climates
- species from tropics likely to struggle
36
what is phenotypic plasticity
the ability for a species to adapt their behaviour to changing conditions without evolution
37
changes in breeding times
- predicted changes in optimal breeding times
- lag = optimal phenotype - predicted phenotype
- if there is more than 14 days of mismatch a problem begins
- to stay within this time period evidence suggests both micro-evolution and phenotypic plasticity is needed
38
phenology
the timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants
- e.g. arrival or migrants and breeding times
39
are species changing their phenology?
- Cris and Sparks looked 60 years of data of rare and common species
- showed their is a negative correlation between laying data and temperature (hotter it is the earlier the first laying date is)
40
how does warming affect phenology
- mean arrival date of migrant is earlier and their departure data is later by 2 weeks
41
benefits of the change in phenology
- can exploit favourable climates earlier in the year
- early access to best nest sites and abundance of food
- improved survival of young as ideal weather lasts longer
- potential to make more breeding attempts
42
costs of the change in phenology
- sudden bad weather kills adults or young
- temporal mismatch with food if the migratory species prey does not also migrate earlier - this puts species at risk
43
changing species distribution in the UK
- all species are shifting north apart from amphibians
44
are the predictions for range shifts of species too predictable
- most of the studies only look at temperature - what about precipitation etc.?
- some research shows that this creates a much more complicated patten as species cant just go towards the poles if not adapted to deal with more or less rain
45
what is a microhabitat
- a fine scale feature within a habitat which has its own distinct climate
46
historic extinctions
- 983 animals gone extinct due to humans
- e.g. domestic cats driving the wren to extinction
- can also be due to the introduction of diseases that the animals are not immune to as they would not usually be exposed to it
- hunting
47
how do extinctions affect ecosystem functioning
GUAM
- looked at the introduction of the brown tree snake as they were accidently introduced by sneaking onto boats creating a natural experiment
- within 40 years there was a complete loss of native birds
- this prevented seed dispersal affecting the whole ecosystem
48
how are new species introduced into an environment
- human activity
- deliberate - garden plants
- accidental - sneaked onto ships (creates hotspots around the coast)
49
are all introduced species invasive - why is this a problem?
- NO - but all invasive species are introduced species
- damages environment
- economic costs (cost US$163 billion dollars in 2017)
- human health (is carry disease)
50
are invasive species a problem for conservation
YES
- if invasive can put native species at risk as they will be outcompeted
- this can lead to a loss of biodiversity and a change in species composition
- can have knock on effects, e.g. introduction of nile perch in lake victoria led to deforestation as the fish needed to be smoked
51
how to manage invasive species to prevent consevation loss
1. if noticed immediately eradication
2. if the population has reached its K local control and management is the only feasible option
- these can be very expensive
52
are all nonnatives bad
- gangara pine in Australia outcompeted all native species leading to natural monoculture
- threatened perths natural water supply because it absorbs 38% more water - they wanted to get rid of it
- however, this tree was the perfect habitat for the endangered cockatoo - dilemma
