Week 1 & 2

Question 1

If the population of a species is greater than its carrying capacity for a long time, what can that do to available resources in its ecosystem?

Answer 1

Deplete them completely

Question 2

True or false:

Keystone and foundation species have strong effects on the ecosystems. The difference between a keystone and foundation species is that foundation species are relatively rare, while keystone species are relatively abundant.

Answer 2

False. Keystone species are more rare, while foundation species are more abundant

Question 3

When looking at a habitat, what do limiting factors do?

Answer 3

Regulate how many organisms live in an ecosystem

Question 4

True or false:
Ongoing discussions about the new buy-out plans to address the Dutch Nitrogen crisis, reflects the governance challenge of contested knowledge.

Answer 4

False: This particular policy discussion strongly reflects the challenges of decision making and implementation as well as multiple values at stake since it will have a huge impact on Dutch farmers.

Question 5

Relational value

Answer 5

Reflect the qualities of the relationships between humans and nature, such as care, social bonding, place attachment and spiritual meanings

Question 6

Instrumental value

Answer 6

The value of ecosystems as merely means to an end and are often measured in monetary terms (how humans value $$ nature)

Question 7

Intrinsic value

Answer 7

The value that is independent of potential usefulness of biodiversity for human beings
(Nature has a value of its own, independent of people)

Question 8

Keystone species

Answer 8

A species whose importance is disproportionate to itsabundance (e.g., wolves, beavers)

Question 9

Foundation species

Answer 9

Form the foundation of an ecosystem (e.g. coral reef, kelp forest)
- they offer protection, usually
- abundant

Question 10

Ecosystem engineer

Answer 10

Species that change the (a)biotic environment/ecosystems
- e.g. Mussels: they create substrate > mussels attach together and protect themselves against waves, thus fish can lay their eggs and create an ecosystem for other species
- beavers are another example

Question 11

α / alpha diversity

Answer 11

mean species diversity in sites or habitats at a local scale (i.e. within a site; richness)

Question 12

β / beta diversity

Answer 12

the differentiation in diversity among those habitats (i.e. compositional heterogeneity)
((diversity bewtween communities))

Question 13

γ / gamma diversity

Answer 13

the total species diversity in a landscape as a whole (i.e. the multiplication of α-diversity and β-diversity, assuming that they are independent from each other)

Question 14

Understanding α diversity: why can multiple species co-occur?

Answer 14

Species diversity and functional diversity at a site (or α-diversity) is presumed to be determined by the number of niches available at a location. Can have different species with different niches.
→ Niche = the combination of factors describing the environmental space within which a species can occur

Question 15

What is this an example of? Explain

Answer 15

• Niche partitioning
  → Birds with varying neck and head shapes and beak size that allow themco-exist together in on ecosystem but everyone has its own environmentalniche.

Question 16

Understanding α diversity: limiting similarity

Answer 16

The niche concept also predicts that co-occurring species will differ in their traits, called the concept of limiting similarity, sometimes called competitive exclusion principle.

Question 17

True or fasle:
In deserts (due to abiotic filter) there is a low productivity but in rainforest there is high productivity

Answer 17

True

Question 18

BD: Biotic interaction Filter

Answer 18

• Trophic interactions - Competition & predation
• Mutualistic interactions - Positive interactions(facilitation)

Question 19

BD: Regional Filters

Answer 19

• Regional biogeography
• Regional species pool
• Dispersal
• Colonisation

Question 20

BD: Environmental Filters

Answer 20

Only species with appropriate traits can pass through the filter

Question 21

Productivity - biodiversity relationship

Answer 21

→ If the productivity of an area is low i.e., in a desert, than you get a high number of environmental filters (so only a small number of species cansurvive there), than biodiversity is low

→ If the productivity is high i.e., high temp, high rainfall, great conditions, then you see a lot of biotic filtering and competition is high (you can sometimes get a monoculture and thus biodiversity is low).

• There is the optimum balance between the two where many speciescan co-exist

Question 22

Productivity – biodiversity relationship

Answer 22

Alpha (local) > the number of species/BD they find is highest at intermediate levels of productivity

Question 23

Productivity – biodiversity relationship

Answer 23

→ Gamma (regional ) > increased species/diversity with productivity (highest diversity at highest productivity)

→ Why? Because as beta diversity goes up as you move to higher productivity levels
- Higher productivity = groups are dissimilar
- Lower productivity > groups are similar > low productivity the environmental filtering is larger so lower number of species can exist in the area.

Question 24

Productivity – biodiversity relationship
How do we get to this graph?

Answer 24

beta = alpha/gamma

Question 25

How to conserve/restore nature/biodiversity?

Answer 25

- Remove pressures (HIPCO) - Restore state: abiotic environment, foundation species, keystone species - Remove dispersal barriers

Question 26

Assigning personhood rights to nature

Answer 26

- has legal origins - highest level of protection - reflects relational value

Question 27

What are some challenges with assigning personhood rights?

Answer 27

▪ Example: Bangladesh - rulings can make riverside communities vulnerable to evictions ▪ Purely symbolic?: Ecuador & Bolivia- Extractive industries (oil, mining) continue ▪ Mixed legal results: not always in favour of nature (e.g. Ecuador) ▪ Ambiguous language -> Misuse by extraction companies ▪ Transboundary issues: e.g. Ganges ▪ Liability issues: e.g. Industrial impact on Climate change

Question 28

In regard to nature protection, institution refers to and provides...?

Answer 28

- refers to: rules - provides: structure and guidance

Question 29

In regard to nature protection, governance refers to and provides...?

Answer 29

- refers to: process - provides: who's involved and how decisions are taken

Question 30

In regard to nature protection, management refers to and provides...?

Answer 30

- refers to: substance - provides: what is done

Question 31

What are the different challenges with the governance of BD?

Answer 31

- different stakeholders are involved and interact with this policy field - transnational issues i.e., nitrogen emissions coming from other countries, therefore need for collaboration - multiple value stakes; different actors, economic sectors and policy fields can put forward multiple policy rationales and values for different ways of managing ecosystems. - multiple policy objectives i.e., besides primary environmental objectives, policy instruments often target non-environmental (side) objectives such as social equity, rural development and sustainable economic growth - finding an appropriate mix of policy instruments through employing direct regulation, agreements, cooperation or other policy approaches is a major challenge - decision making & implementation; There’s a difference in where decisions are made (The Hague, EU, UN) and where decisions have to be implemented (local level) - Contested knowledge; contesting other groups calculations or scientific knowledge (need for scientific rigour), people don’t always believe.

Question 32

Nation states to networks

Answer 32

* Trend towards international agreements and conventions * More transnational networks * More emphasis on policy-making in supranational institutions

Question 33

Shift from direct regulation to market forms of governance

Answer 33

- beginning of the 20th century: protection of nature was the responsibility of nation states. emphasis on direct regulation & instrumental values. - shift after the 1980s: New incentive-based economic policy instruments such as market-based instruments for conservation and payments for ecosystem services schemes are increasingly being implemented from global to local levels

Question 34

DPSIR - explain what each stand for

Answer 34

- Drivers: overarching economic and social goals and policies - Pressures: mechanism thru which an activity has an effect on the ecosystem - State change: changes in the state of the natural environment (to ecological characteristics) - Impact: effects of state changes on human well-being - Response: societal response to impacts thru policy measures

Question 35

Habitat characteristics: abiotic factors

Answer 35

light, temperature, water, nutrients, building materials

Question 36

Habitat characteristics: biotic factors

Answer 36

resources (food, breeding sites), intraspecific interactions (competition, mutalism)

Question 37

Carrying capacity

Answer 37

→ Biotic and abiotic factors (i.e. the availability of resources in the environment) limits the size of the population that can b e supported in a certain area. → The carrying capacity is the theoretical equilibrium population size at which a particular population in a particular environment will stabilize when its supply of resources remains constant.

Question 38

Fundamental Niche (abiotic conditions)

Answer 38

the set of all the states of the environment which would permit the species to exist indefinitely

Question 39

Realized Niche (biotic conditions)

Answer 39

- regards the intersection between abiotic and biotic factors - part of the fundamental niche in which a species has positive population growth rates, given the constraining effects of biological interactions (e.g. competition)

Question 40

Niches: Occupied Area (accessibility)

Answer 40

part of the realized niche that is accessible to the species

Question 41

Niches: Generalists VS Specialists

Answer 41

Generalist species: wide niche, adaptable to many environments, high tolerance, etc - example = racoons, rats Specialist species: narrow niche, more likely to become extinct, uses specific resources - example = pandas, koalas

Question 42

Functional homogenization

Answer 42

Generalists replacing specialist species causing functional homogenization at the community level. → Three mechanisms = 1) habitat changes, 2) generalists may be able to colonize newly emerged niches, and 3) competition induced by changes favors generalists

Question 43

Hollow state

Answer 43

Increasing use of third party, non-governmental actors in the delivery of services in public policy domains → Trend where central government power (and responsibilities) are devolved to lower-levels of government and / or third party actors → Outcome = joint production / collaborative governance

Question 44

collab governance

Answer 44

The processes and structures of public policy decision making and management that engage people constructively across the boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or the public, private and civic spheres to carry out a public purpose that could not otherwise be accomplished.

Question 45

What are some pros/cons of collab governance?

Answer 45

(+) Pro: response to policy gridlock (-) Con: but consensus based processes doesn't mean better decisions (+) Pro: less bureaucratic (-) Con: but weaker form of social action (unlike a monopoly) (+) Pro: more flexibile, adaptable (-) Con: but unstable and less predicitable (+) Pro: builds trust, social captial (-) Con: but coordination & accountability are difficult to achieve

Question 46

Market-based conservation

Answer 46

- assigns a monetary value to nature - quantifies economic values for conservation strats - uses public & private markets to sell/trade value resource and environ. goals - example = green payments, market based env standard/certifications, environ. credits

Question 47

Non-state market driven governance (NSMD)

Answer 47

- defined as deliberative and adaptive governance institutions - designed to embed social and environmental norms in the global marketplace that derive authority directly from interested audiences, including those they seek to regulate, not from sovereign states. (example = better life food label)

Question 48

What are alien species and what sort of role/impact do they have in an ecosystem?

Answer 48

Alien species are species occurring outside its natural range. There is potential for dispersal due to direct or indirect introduction by humans. >> The species might survive and subsequently reproduce. >> We speak of alien invasive species when these species become established, when it is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity. >> This change can also include negative effects on economics or human health.

Question 49

At the local scale, species richness (alpha diversity) is optimum at intermediate productivity. But at the regional scale, biodiversity (gamma diversity) increases with productivity. What is the explanation for this?

Answer 49

Under high productivity, local communities become more different from each other.

Question 50

What are the 3 filters to keep in mind when thinking about high/low BD?

Answer 50

3 important filters: 1) Regional processes (can species actually get to a certain place?): - Regional biogeography - Regional species pool → it is determined by the regional biogeography, meaning: if you want to find a species it has to be present in the larger regional species pool) * Dispersal * Colonization 2) Environmental filters (abiotic factors): - Is the environment suitable? → E.g., is the temperature right? Is the acidity right? pH? Water? Disturbances (like fire, hurricanes…)? Seasonal changes (hot, cold…)? >> Only species with appropriate traits can pass through the filter 3) Biotic interaction filter: - It’s about other species they have interactions with → Trophic interactions (consumption) - There can be competition & predation → Mutualistic interactions - Positive interactions (facilitation) - Example: some pollinators might not be able to live in a certain area because the plants there aren’t suitable for them, they need certain interactions and without those they cannot survive

Question 51

What are 3 factors that affect productivity? (to increase it)

Answer 51

1) Water (rainfall) 2) High temperatures (but not too hot) → sunshine is needed for that (plants grow faster when it’s warmer) 3) Resource availability (nutrients)

Question 52

What are two processes that can influence species richness?

Answer 52

Environmental filtering and competitive exclusion

Question 53

High vs low productivity

Answer 53

- Productivity is the biomass, the amount of growing mass per unit of time → High productivity: something grows quickly → Low productivity: something grows (or reproduces) slowly - Productivity-biodiversity relationship is a plot with diversity on the y axis (abiotic filter) and productivity on the x axis (biotic filter)

Question 54

True of false: Environmental filtering is a type of abiotic filtering and competitive exclusion is a type of biotic filtering

Answer 54

True