ENVIR ST 260 1st Edition Lecture 13Outline of Last Lecture I. Student Examples from Ecosystem WorksheetOutline of Current Lecture I. Difference Between Conservation and RestorationII. ConservationIII. RestorationCurrent Lecture Clicker Question: What group is the highest priority for conservation and restoration? Pollinators Top predators Large mammals Tropical plants Coral reefs- Most people said pollinators. Keep this question in mind, and we’ll come back to it. We got to think about some major groups and how we prioritize actions.Differences Between Conservation and Restoration Sometimes these terms get tossed around as if they’re the same, but there are some distinctionsbetween the two. Example: You hear about conservation and restoration in art.  There’s a painting in the 16th chapel that’s been conserved. It’s still there. It hasn’t been taken down. Conservation=keeping it from being destroyed.  They can then clean it up a bit and do touch up paint and fill in cracks. Restoration is when you take something that’s already there and enhance it in a way. With an ecosystem it’s a bit more complicated. Conservation Restoration- Maintaining biodiversity- Protecting habitats - Replanting vegetation - Reintroducing species - Returning a site to a “natural” state (removing invasive species)These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Protecting rare species - Natural resource managementConservation Conservation of large areas Yellowstone: We have a hard time doing this on the modern landscape. Setting up a protected area, like Yellowstone, would not happen today. You’d have to buy out a lot of land owners. However, Yellowstone was set up in the 1800s. A lot of the national forests surrounding it were established early on, so there weren’t any land owners there (except for Native Americans).  Everglades: There are a lot of state parks in South Florida. We originally set them aside for the Native Americans because no one wanted to build houses there. Therefore, setting aside the Everglades as a national park was a little easier because the real-estate wasn’t worth very much.  Conservation tends to focus on big landscapes. Setting aside large areas of land is a difficult undertaking, but is highly beneficial. It creates big, intact landscapes where animals can exist. If you divide them with roads and development, the animals couldn’t disperse.  Conservation of species Endangered Species Act in US 1966 first legislation in US Updated in 1973 More modern Endangered Species Act. Goal was to conserve species and habitats Conservation Success Stories Bald Eagles: Their populations have grown in the past thirty years, and have actually been delisted. Black Footed Ferrets: They live in the Dakotas and Great Plains. Their population numbers have increased, all because of the endangered species act. Plants: The Pink Brush Species: You get people who are interested in propagating the species. They collect seeds and plant them and make sure you don’t mow down the fields where they grow. Clicker Question: How successful has the ESA been? Very Somewhat Not very Not at all I don’t know Most people said somewhat Numbers Over 2,000 species of plants and animals are listed as endangered This is just in the US Less than 30 de-listed due to “recovery” Over the past 30 years. Approximately 10 have been delisted due to extinction Competing Priorities Conservation against logging and development can be really difficult, partly because we have a capitalistic society. If people found out that there is endangered salamander on their property, they’re still going to build their houses. We have competing priorities in our society.  A lot of people aren’t interested in conserving plants. It’s mostly large animals or birds that are saved; the charismatic creatures that you want to save. People place more value in creatures that could be cute or majestic, but not so much in plants. How to determine priorities? Rarity A lot people allocate spending to species that are really rare.  Genetic diversity There can be isolated populations with the start of inbreeding and a decline in the genetic diversity. Sometimes conservationist move individuals from one population to another to increase diversity Potential for success You don’t hear people talk about this often. Nobody wants to hear that their favorite animal is a lost cause. You’re not going to hear a lot of people in public talking about potential for success. This goes on behind closed doors Conservation value People try to talk about conservation value. A lot of times things are tied to ecosystem services. By protecting the water shed you have clean water for society, so it’s a conservationvalue. You’re starting to tie money and societal needs into the picture. Which Animals Get Saved Pandas (cute) Symbol for world wildlife foundations. A lot of people would donate to them. Blob fish (ugly) They’re found in deep waters outside of Australia. A lot of times they come up with catches with lobster and crabs and just get thrown overboard. Less people will donate to them. In thinking about how we set priorities… How do we say that the Giant Panda has more conservation value than the blob fish? Why should we take action? Class opinions Humans were the cause of the wolf population declining so maybe we should be the one to fix it. Most of us want wild places and national parks to go camping and be one with nature Professor opinions Wolves in Yellowstone: This is our fault so maybe we should try to fix it.  Extinction rate over geological time: species always go extinct. Things are always falling off. This is because as climates and environments change and species are no longer adapted.  Extinction isn’t the problem, it’s the rate at which species are going extinct that’s the problem. As human population is growing exponentially, the extinction rate is also growing exponentially. They correlate. Restoration The Shack Leopold was working for the forest service in the South West until he got transferred to Madison. He bought this old farm and undertook it as a restoration project. He and