Week 12 - Biogeographic Change

Question 1

What is biodiversity essentially about?

Answer 1

We are essentially talking about variability.

Question 2

What is the relationship between biodiversity and environmental change?

Answer 2

Higher genetic diversity means more resilience to change.

Question 3

What are the three levels of biodiversity?

Answer 3

Genetic, species (most common), ecosystems.

Question 4

What is biodiversity?

Answer 4

The variability among living organisms, including diversity within species, between species, and among ecosystems.

Question 5

How many passenger pigeons were there?

Answer 5

3-5 billion; the arrows of Xerxes.

Question 6

What were bison skulls used for?

Answer 6

Bone meal and fertilizer.

Question 7

What are some forms of human induced evolution?

Answer 7

Pesticide resistance, antibiotic resistance, spread by gene flow, and imposex.

Question 8

What is the prime focus of biogeographic change?

Answer 8

Human induced extinction.

Question 9

How many species are there?

Answer 9

This is basically unknown, although there are many estimates.

Question 10

Which type of animals are particularly problematic when attempting to estimate number of species?

Answer 10

Insects.

Question 11

When talking about species extinction, what kind of animals do we have reasonable historical records for?

Answer 11

Birds and mammals.

Question 12

Why is there a huge bias toward marine fossils?

Answer 12

Because of the way sediment preserves remains.

Question 13

Where are you going to find insect fossils?

Answer 13

Swamps.

Question 14

What are the five major extinction events?

Answer 14

Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (KT extinction)
Triassic–Jurassic extinction event
Permian–Triassic extinction event
Late Devonian extinction
Ordovician–Silurian extinction events.

Question 15

When was the KT extinction event?

Answer 15

About 66 Ma

Question 16

When was the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event?

Answer 16

About 220 Ma

Question 17

When was the Permian–Triassic extinction event?

Answer 17

About 251 Ma

Question 18

When was the Late Devonian extinction?

Answer 18

About 375 - 360 Ma

Question 19

When was the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events?

Answer 19

About 450 - 440 Ma

Question 20

Are we in a sixth extinction event?

Answer 20

Some scientists believe so.

Question 21

What makes a species vulnerable to extinction?

Answer 21

Endemic species, low reproduction rate, larger species, poor dispersal, need for a stable environment, migration, dangerous to people.

Question 22

What does IUCN stand for?

Answer 22

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Question 23

What are the top three causes of extinction?

Answer 23

Habitat destruction, followed by hunting, then introduced species.

Question 24

Geographically, where would you find more species extinction threats?

Answer 24

In developing countries

Question 25

What is the problem with habitat fragmentation?

Answer 25

Isolated patches of good habitat mean small populations that are prone to extinction.

Question 26

What are three kinds of conservation efforts?

Answer 26

Protected areas, hunting and trade controls, and captive breeding (zoos, etc.)

Question 27

What is a biodiversity hotspot?

Answer 27

A region with high biodiversity and high threat.

Question 28

How many biodiversity hotspots are there in the world?

Answer 28

There are 25 regions.

Question 29

What is the difference between conservation and preservation?

Answer 29

Conservation means that you attempt to conserve resources, whereas preservation means that you try to protect nature. (Literally: conserve or preserve)

Question 30

What does "overlapping consensus" mean?

Answer 30

We don't need to agree on values, just an end result.

Question 31

What are the challenges faced in species protection?

Answer 31

Governance issues, private land, which species make the grade, whether to protect a species or its habitat, and politicization.

Question 32

What is the main causes of biodiversity loss in the rain forest?

Answer 32

Agricultural expansion, population pressures, and in Asia corruption.

Question 33

What is paleoecology?

Answer 33

The study of past relationships between species and environment.

Question 34

What is the key evidence for paleoecology?

Answer 34

Fossils and the sediments or rocks that surround them.

Question 35

What is palynology?

Answer 35

The study of pollen.

Question 36

What does palynology show?

Answer 36

The population of various plant species, and therefore the climate of that time.

Question 37

What species are commonly used in Quaternary paleoecological studies?

Answer 37

Beetles; coleoptera.

Question 38

What is pleistocene refugia?

Answer 38

Location of an isolated or relict population of a once more widespread species

Question 39

When does the Anthropocene begin?

Answer 39

No exact date, but generally speaking, it begins with the industrial revolution.

Question 40

Why do we have biodiversity hotspots?

Answer 40

So that we can better focus our conservation efforts on what's important.

Question 41

How does palynology work?

Answer 41

Pollen fossils show the quantity and type of fauna; the sediment and rocks around it show us at time period; together this shows us the climate at various time periods.