Exam 15: Conserving Biodiversity: Community and Ecosystem Ecology

-According to this species-area curve for reptiles and amphibians on a West Indian archipelago, how will the number of species living in the area change if the original area was decreased by 50%?

Many species have innate preferences for the habitat to which they're most adapted. These species show signs of stress when placed in a habitat different from that in which they naturally occur. Is there any evidence that humans might have innate habitat preferences that match the environment in which humans evolved?

What type of curve is depicted in a graph of the relationship between the size of a region and the biodiversity that it can support?

Which group of organisms has the greatest percentage of species in danger of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)?

Life on Earth has experienced several mass extinctions. What likely caused one or more of these extinctions?

The entire species of North American right whales currently consists of less than 400 individuals. Through genetic testing, it has been determined that at some point in the past, probably around the time they were first protected in the beginning of the twentieth century, the population had only three reproducing females. All individuals that exist today are thought to be descendants of those females. As a result, why is this species vulnerable?

Global climate change is likely to increase the rate of extinction worldwide. What pollutant is most implicated in this problem?

During the 1980s, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park after decades of absence due to attempted extermination in the early part of the twentieth century. Within 20 years, not only had the wolf population increased, but there was also a dramatic increase in other species, such as aspen, cottonwood, and willow trees, beavers, warblers, insects, and fish. These changes in Yellowstone Park are examples of how important a(n) ________ can be to an ecosystem.

What would all individuals of all species living within an area of interest represent?

A population of snakes lives in a valley. This population of snakes is 30% black and 70% brown in coloration. A dam is built to flood part of the valley, separating the snakes into two populations. West of the human-made lake, there's a very small population of all black snakes, while east of the lake, the population is much larger and retains the same percentage of black and brown coloration as before the dam was built. What process applies to this example?

What is the estimated background rate of extinction, as calculated by scientists?

Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, is situated on land that was once a fen, a kind of wetland. The replacement of the fen is an example of