Collin Glaser

Mrs. Meyers

AP Biology, Period D

03 May 2018

AP Biology Pre-Discussion Questions: Interactions 6- Conservation Biology

1. Why is conservation important from an ethical perspective?

Many of the conservation efforts needed to restore biodiversity to different regions are

apparent due to human activity. The presence of humans to the environment has had detrimental

effects on the biodiversity that came before us. This makes it our responsibility to restore the

biodiversity in areas through conservation efforts.

2. Why is conservation important from a scientific perspective?

Traditionally, ecologists have measured biodiversity, a general term for the variety present

in the biosphere, by taking into account both the number of species and their commonness.

Biodiversity can be estimated at a number of levels of organization of living things. These

estimation indexes, which came from information theory, are most useful as a first step in

quantifying biodiversity between and within ecosystems; they are less useful when the main

concern among conservation biologists is simply the loss of biodiversity. However, biologists

recognize that measures of biodiversity, in terms of species diversity, may help focus efforts to

preserve the biologically or technologically important elements of biodiversity.

3. Why is conservation important from a quality of life perspective?

Conservation of a declining population of organisms can help the quality of life to not just

that population but many populations of the same ecosystem. The restoration of a population

help the quality of life of all involved in that food chain.

 4. Explain why conservation does not equal environmentalism.

A "conservationist" is seen as a person wishing to preserve both nature and physical

amenities such an archeological site. A skilled conservationist would be degree educated,

particularly because field surveys would make the person more authoritative. An

"environmentalist" is concerned to keep the environment as free as possible from pollution. This

implies that a degree of scientific knowledge is required.

5. How does the decline of a population increase the likelihood of its extinction?

A decline in the population will mean less likelihood of reproduction between speices. This

will lower the number of organisms produced every year until there are no breeding pairs left and

the species becomes extinct.

6. Why is it impossible to understand the totality of the interactions among organisms in the

biosphere?

There are too many interactions in the biosphere to observe and most observations would

change the very thing being observed.

7. Explain the major phases of conservation (monitoring, planning, and action), and provide

examples of each in action.

Monitoring is when threatened species and ecosystems are identified, studied, and monitored.

This can take many forms. A local example is the tagging of white sharks in cape cod to track

their location. Planning is when the information from monitoring informs resource allocation and

protective structures. An example would be a corridor connecting two habitats separated. By a

highway. Action is when monitoring and planning are put in action when determining how to

conserve a species/ecosystem.