Conservation & Sustainability Flashcards
7 cards from real CFP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Conservation & Sustainability flashcards as text
Climate change is projected to most directly threaten cold-water fish species such as brook trout in eastern US streams by:
Answer: Raising summer water temperatures above thermal tolerance thresholds and shrinking cold-water refugia
Rising air temperatures increase stream temperatures, pushing cold-water species toward headwaters where groundwater maintains cooler conditions, ultimately reducing available habitat area.
The 'no net loss' policy for wetlands in the United States is implemented primarily through which regulatory mechanism?
Answer: Clean Water Act Section 404 permit program
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires permits for dredge and fill activities in wetlands and waters, and compensatory mitigation must offset unavoidable losses to achieve no net loss.
Thermal refugia in rivers are particularly important during summer low-flow periods because they:
Answer: Provide localized cold-water patches where temperature-stressed fish can survive until conditions improve
Cold groundwater upwelling creates thermal refugia where water temperatures may be 5–10°C cooler, allowing cold-water fish to persist through thermally stressful periods.
Eutrophication in lakes most often threatens fish by causing:
Answer: Hypoxic or anoxic bottom conditions that eliminate hypolimnetic refugia and kill benthic organisms
Excess nutrients fuel algal blooms; decomposing algae deplete dissolved oxygen in the hypolimnion, creating dead zones and eliminating thermal refugia for cold-water species like lake trout.
The Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act to require that Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) be set:
Answer: At or below the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) to prevent overfishing
The 1996 and 2007 reauthorizations require ACLs to be set at or below ABC, which is itself set below OFL, creating a buffer against overfishing.
Which conservation strategy involves setting aside areas where fishing and other extractive activities are prohibited to allow fish populations and habitats to recover?
Answer: Marine Protected Areas / No-Take Zones
No-take MPAs prohibit all extraction, allowing fish populations to recover, age structure to rebuild, and spillover of adults and larvae to replenish adjacent fished areas.
The concept of 'population connectivity' is important in fish conservation genetics because isolated populations are more vulnerable to:
Answer: Inbreeding depression and reduced adaptive potential from loss of genetic diversity
When populations are fragmented by dams or habitat loss, restricted gene flow leads to inbreeding, genetic drift, and loss of diversity needed for long-term adaptive capacity.