Biodiversity and Conservation Flashcards
7 cards from real Ecology practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Biodiversity and Conservation flashcards as text
Debt-for-nature swaps in conservation finance work by:
Answer: A creditor nation cancels part of a debtor nation's debt in exchange for the debtor investing in local conservation
In debt-for-nature swaps, a portion of a developing country's foreign debt is forgiven in return for commitments to fund conservation programs domestically.
Which of the following correctly describes primary productivity's role in supporting biodiversity?
Answer: Productivity sets the energy base that determines how many trophic levels and species a system can sustain
Primary productivity determines the total energy entering an ecosystem, which constrains the number of trophic levels and the total biomass—and thus species diversity—the system can support.
What distinguishes a 'wildlife corridor' from a simple nature reserve?
Answer: Corridors connect isolated habitat patches to facilitate animal movement and gene flow
Wildlife corridors are strips of habitat linking fragmented patches, enabling dispersal, recolonization, and genetic exchange between otherwise isolated populations.
Phylogenetic diversity (PD) in conservation prioritization values species based on:
Answer: The evolutionary history they represent, measured by branch lengths on a phylogenetic tree
PD captures the evolutionary uniqueness of species by summing phylogenetic branch lengths; protecting species with long independent branches preserves the most evolutionary history.
Which of the following is the correct definition of an 'ecological trap'?
Answer: A habitat that appears attractive to organisms but reduces their survival or reproduction
An ecological trap is a habitat where organisms preferentially settle based on misleading cues, yet suffer reduced fitness—often caused by human landscape changes.
The intermediate disturbance hypothesis predicts maximum species diversity when disturbance is:
Answer: At moderate frequency and intensity
Moderate disturbance prevents competitive exclusion while still allowing recovery, maintaining a mix of early- and late-successional species and maximizing richness.
Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs compensate landowners primarily for:
Answer: Maintaining or restoring natural habitats that provide services like water filtration or carbon storage
PES programs create financial incentives for landowners to conserve ecosystems by paying them for the services—clean water, biodiversity, carbon sequestration—those ecosystems provide.