L2:

What are some ways to mislead readers with data? 

1.)    Biased data

2.)    Lying with averages and the effects of extreme data points

3.)    Spurious correlations

4.)    extrapolation beyond the data

5.)    inappropriate comparisons

6.)    misleading graphics

L2:

When is data biased? 

-          When the data is based on an unbiased, representative selection of all the possible individuals that could have been sampled?

L2:

How can one lie with averages? 

-          There are three different “averages” (mean, median, mode), they can all be very different.

L2:

What is a spurious correlation? 

-          When people assume or state two things actually affect one another just because they are correlated (both change together in some systematic way).

L2:

What is an inappropriate comparison? 

-          When different types of statistics are used in a comparison.

L2:

How  can one extrapolate beyond data to mislead readers? 

-          Often with graphs, the lines of a graph may extend beyond the actual data, and any kind of application of a recorded trend to the future (inappropriately).

L2:

 How can one mislead with graphs?

L3:

What is the current human population and future predicted trends? 

-          Human population is currently at 6.5 billion and not expected to slow until 9 or 10 billion.

L3:

What types of resource needs will the population increase cause? 

a.)    Increased food needs

b.)    Increased water needs

c.)    Increased energy needs

L3:

What is the ecological footprint and what trends is it currently undergoing? 

-          An estimate of humanities impact on the earth, it is on the rise. Currently 2.2 hectares needed per person, 1.8 is available. Must reduce our consumption of materials!

L3:

How much has the temperature changed in the past century?

-          .5 degree Celsius on average in the past 100 years, on mountain peaks it has risen one degree.

L3:

What is the cause for climate change? 

-          Increase CO2 levels (from 316 ppmv to 370 ppmv in the past 50 years), release of other greenhouse gases (methane, CFC’s, nitrous oxide)

L3:

What are some environmental changes that climate change will cause? 

a.)    a.) Average temperatures are expected to increase (but variation… some will cool)

b.)    b.) Precipitation patterns will overall increased (but variation, some places will become drier)

c.)    c.) More flooding and soil erosion in areas of more rainfall, increased need for irrigation in areas where rainfall has declined.

d.)    Ice caps will continue melting, and sea levels will rise.

L3:

What are some biological changes of climate change? 

a.)    Widespread changes in patterns of primary production, perhaps because of less cloud cover over the rainforests and increased solar radiation.

b.)    Growing seasons have grown longer with warm temperatures (eleven days in Europe).

c.)    Geographic ranges of species have shifted in concert with increasing temperatures.

d.)    Conflicting changes in life-history characteristics of species (predator/prey).

L4:

 What are the basic components of biodiversity (there are six)?

1.)    Species diversity

2.)    Genetic diversity

3.)    Population structure

4.)    Communities

5.)    Ecological and abiotic processes

6.)    Biological phenomena

L4:

What is species richness? 

-          The number of species present in an area.

L4:

What is species evenness? 

-          Relative abundance of species.

L4:

What is biodiversity? 

-          Variation in the distribution of species in space.

L4:

What is a keystone species? 

-          Species that play a disproportionate role in influencing the nature of an ecological community. (ex. Otters)

L4:

What is an ecosystem engineer? 

-          Species that play a disproportionate role in influencing the nature of an ecosystem. (ex. Beavers)

L4:

Why is  genetic diversity important to biodiversity? 

-          It is the basis for evolutionary change, and more specifically it is the basis of crop breeding.

L4:

What is a polymorphic gene? 

-          A gene with multiple alleles.

L4:

What is an allele? 

-          one member of a pair or series of different forms of a gene.

L4:

What is heterozygosity? 

-           When a cell has different alleles occupying the gene's position in each of the homologous chromosome. (Aa)

L5:

How many species are currently described, and how many are left to be described? 

-          1.5 million, and 5 – 30 million are left to be described?

L5:

What types of organisms continue to be described? 

-          Mammals (although mostly previously known and not distinguished as their own species), birds, mostly invertebrates.

L5:

Why is it so difficult to calculate the number of organisms that are left to be described? 

-          To make an estimate of the number of undescribed, several other numbers must be described first. Those numbers are then combined (compounded errors).

L5:

What does species richness often correlate with (there are four major things)? 

1.)    Richness increases with habitat diversity.

2.)    Richness increases with habitat patch size.

3.)    Richness decreases with increasing elevation (and increasing depth in water).

4.)    Richness decreases with increasing latitude.

L5:

In what ways is richness predictable? 

1.)    Tropics > temperate.

2.)    More structural complexity > less complexity.

3.)    High productivity > low productivity.

4.)    Mainland communities > island communities.

5.)    Larger area > smaller area

6.)    Ecotones (edges) > interiors.

L5:

Why do conservation biologists often work to identify areas of high species richness? 

-          It is NOT to “maximize” or increase richness, it is to streamline conservation efforts. Work where you can save the most; it is efficiency.

L5:

What is a hotspot and what are some characteristics of them? 

-          Locations of high biodiversity. Most are tropical/areas of rainforest, but also some Mediterranean climates (California, Cape of South Africa), some are temperate (New Zealand), and there are marine hotspots too (between S.E. Asia and Australia).

L5:

Do areas of species richness ALWAYS coincide across taxonomic groups? 

-          NO, often do not.

L5:

Do zones of endemism often contain zones of endemism or high numbers of rare species? 

-          No, often do not! But some areas that do coincide are the South African Cape, Madagascar, coastal Brazil.

L6:

Define extinction. 

Extinction: no members of the species alive

L6:

Define local extinction.

Local extinction: gone from a particular area

L6:

Define extirpation. 

Extirpation: local extinction

L6:

Define extinct in the wild. 

Extinct in the wild: individuals remain, but only in captivity/under cultivation.

L6:

Define ecologically extinct. 

Ecologically extinct: still persists, but is so rare that its ecological role is negligible.

L6:

Define extant. 

Extant: not extinct

L6:

Define endemic. 

Endemic: restricted to a certain small area.

L6:

When did the five mass extinctions occur? 

-          Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, Cretaceous.

L6:

What theory has served in helping to estimate current and future extinction rates?

L6:

What is the island biogeography theory equation? 

-          S = cA^z

-           S = # of sp, A = area of an island, z = constant describing the slope of the line relating s to A when the data is on a log scale, c is another constant (z/c vary according to islands/animals of interest).

L6:

What does E.O.Wilson's estimation using the island biogeography theory say? 

-          34 species go extinct daily; tens of thousands in the next few decades.

L6:

When using the island biogeography equation model to estimate extinction rates, the following assumptions were made by E.O. Wilson. 

1.)    so many sp. occur in the rainforests that we can basically ignore other habitats.

2.)    there are about 5 million species total.

3.)    z = .15

4.)    rainforest is lost at about 1% per year.

5.) all species are specialists.

6.) marine species are not important. 

L7:

Define extinction debt.

L7:

what are some important results of Brook et. all's investigation on singapore? 

a.)    Extinction rates varied throughout the different habitats studied.

b.)    Extinction rates varied among the different taxonomic groups studied.

c.)    The majority of the species on Singapore have gone extinct in the past 200 years.

d.)    Large species were especially likely to have gone extinct.

e.)    Many of the remaining species are in reserves.

L7:

What makes species vulnerable to extinction? 

1.)    Small populations

2.)    Small geographic range

3.)    Population size fluctuates a lot

4.)    Habitat specialists

5.)    Species in symbiotic relationships

6.)    Large species

7.)    Species with low reproductive rates

8.)    Species with complex life-histories

9.)    Species that are poor dispersers

10.)   Species that live on islands

L7:

What characteristics make small populations vulnerable to extinction? 

-          Rare in the classic sense: there are not many individuals in the population.

-          Random events are likely to have a greater effect.

-          Less genetic variation.

L7:

Define "chain of extinction". 

-          When one species involved in a symbiotic relationship becomes extinct, the other species in the relationship is destined to go extinct as well.

L7:

Why are low reproductive rates a reason for vulnerability to extinction? Isn't this a natural characteristic of some species? 

-          Usually, low reproductive rates are just a characteristic of some species, and is not disadvantageous until: an outside influence causes the species survival rates to drop.

L7:

Please tell me about the passenger pigeon. 

-          Once speculated to be the most numerous species of land bird on earth; flocks of 2 billion birds reported in the 1800’s. In 200 years, they have gone extinct: hunting for food, killed because they were seen as crop pests, and died because their homes (forests) were cut down.

L8:

Please tell me about the heath hen. 

-          Very common when Europeans first began inhabiting America, began declining as people used them for food. By 1907, there were 50 left on Martha’s Vineyard. A reserve was made, and there were 2000 birds in eight years. In 1916, a fire, terrible weather, and influx of predators (goshawks) as well as the spread of disease (from turkeys) made them go extinct (extinctions take time to occur!).

L8:

Why do species decline in numbers (there are NINE)? 

1.)    Isolated catastrophic events.

2.)    Long-term ecological change.

3.)    Loss of species integrity.

4.)    Habitat destruction.

5.)    Habitat fragmentation.

6.)    Used by humans.

7.)    Disruption of behavior.

8.)    Increased genetic homozygosity.

9.)    Pollution.

L1:

Describe two ways in which conservation biology is similar to medicine. 

- there is a lot of uncertainty in both fields.

- science is often influenced by political/social agendas.

E1:

Which of the following statements about the species that remain to be described by scientists are true?

a.) at least 2/3 of the earths species remain to be described.

b.) species that remain are all in the tropics.

c.) new species continue to be found in the US.

d.) new species of mammals continue to be described.

e.) most species that remain are vertebrates.

f.) most species that reman are plants. 

CIRCLE:

a.), c.) and d.) 

E1:

Which of the following is an accurate definition of the word "average"?

a.) the middle value when all values are organized from smallest to largest.

b.) middle value when all values are organized in the order they are collected. 

c.) the sum of all values divided by the number of values.

d.) the most common value.

e.) the mean value.

f.) the sum of all the values divided by the mean. 

CIRCLE:

a.), c.), d.), e.) 

E1

Which of the following statements about hotspots is correct?

a.) a richness hotspot is somewhere that has a lot of very rare species.

b.) Orme et. all found very low congruence between three types of hotspots for birds.

c.) Madagascar, Brazil and Siberia are all hotspots.

d.)  All global hotspots are in the tropics.

e.) Marine hotspots are generally close to terrestrial hotspots.

f.) protecting hotspots would ensure protection of most global biodiversity. 

CIRCLE:

b.) 

E1

In 1989, Wilson estimate that 34 species go extinct daily. Which of the following assumptions does that estimate make?

a.) all species are specialists.

b.) marine species are not important.

c.) there are 5 million species on earth.

d.) all species are in the temperate zone.

e.) the number of species in a habitat does not change as the area of habitat increases.

f.) the number of species in a habitat patch increases quite gradually  as the area of habitat increases. 

CIRCLE

a.), b.), c.), f.) 

E1

In a recent study, Brook et. al. described extinction patterns on theh island of Singapore. Which of the following results came out of that study?

a.) extinction rates were high in all habitats.

b.) extinction rates are very similar for all types of organisms.

c.) the majority of the species that occur on Singapore have gone extinct in the last 200 yrs.

d.) small sp. were very likely to go extinct.

e.) many of the remaining sp. were primarily in reserves.

f.) most remaining sp. are well protected by reserves and not likely to go extinct. 

CIRCLE

c.), e.) 

E1

Which of the following statements about extinction are correct?

a.) since 1500, most extinctions have been in mountainous areas.

b.) since 1500, birds living on islands are more likely to have gone xtinct than those living on mainland.

c.) since 1500, most recorded extinctions have involved amphibians.

d.) most species that have ever lived on earth are extinct.

e.) current extinction rates are typical of those that have gone on through geological time.

f.) current extinction rates are higher than have ever occurred. 

CIRCLE

b.), d.) 

E1

Which of the following are key results of the study on climate change by Root et. al?

a.) sp. at lower altitudes are most affected by climate change.

b.) atmospheric CO2 has increased a lot in the past century.

c.) sea-levels are rising, but slower than predicted.

d.) About four in five of the species that have been studied show effects consistent with climate change.

e.) spring events are shifted late in the year at low latitudes only.

f.) shifts in phrenology are consistent across species. 

CIRCLE

d.) 

E1

Which of the following is a component of biological diversity?

a.) the migration of a monarch butterfly. 

b.) species evenness.

c.) interactions among sp.

d.) species richness.

e.) the smallpox virus.

f.) variation in human DNA.

CIRCLE

a.), b.), c.), d.), e.), f.) 

E1

Which of the following statements correctly link a species with the factors that threaten it?

a.) red cockaded woodpeckers are threatened because thair behavior limits their reproductice rate when habitat is limiting.

b.) puritan tiger beetles are threatened because they have a symbiotic relationship with ants.

d.) many trout populations are threatened with hybridization with other sp. of trout.

e.) flattened musk turtles are threatened because they are naturally rare.

f.) sea turtles are threatened because their habitat has become fragmented. 

CIRCLE:

a.), b.), c.), d.) 

E1

Which of the following statements about species richness are usually true?

a.) islands have higher richness than the mainland.

b.) high elevations have lower richness than lower elevations.

c.) structurally complex habitats have lower richness than simpler habitats.

d.) highly productive areas have higher richness than unproductive areas.

e.) increasing species richness is an important goal of conservation biology.

f.) richness patterns in one taxonomic group are a good sign of richness patterns in all groups. 

CIRCLE

d.) 

L0

TINAMIFORMES 

L0

RHEIFORMES 

L0

STRUTHIONIFORMES 

L0

CASUARIIFORMES 

L0

DINORNITHIFORMES 

L0

PODICIPEDIFORMES 

L0

SPHENISCIFORMES 

L0

PROCELLARIFORMES 

L0

PELECANIFORMES 

L0

ANSERIFORMES 

L0

PHOENICOPTERIFORMES 

L0

CICONIIFORMES 

L0

FALCONIFORMES 

L0

GALLIFORMES 

L0

GRUIFORMES 

L0

CHARADRIIFORMES 

L0

GAVIIFORMES 

L0

COLUMBIFORMES 

L0

PSITTACIFORMES 

L0

COLIIFORMES 

L0

MUSOPHAGIFORMES 

L0

CUCULIFORMES 

L0

STRIGIFORMES 

L0

CAPRIMULGIFORMES 

L0

APODIFORMES 

L0

TROGONIFORMES 

L0

CORACIIFORMES 

L0

PICIFORMES 

L0

PASSERIFORMES