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Lecture 28, 04 Dec. 2008Conservation in Practice

Conservation BiologyECOL 406R/506R

University of ArizonaFall 2008

Bonine & Epps

506 meet at 1505h today

ReadingsToday 04 Dec: Primack Ch7-8, Kellerman et al. 2008, Donlan et al. 2005Tues 09 Dec: Primack Ch9, Chan 2008; Lackey 2007; Noss 2007 Q9 & Q10 posted on 02 Dec

LAB: Fri 05 Dec, bring $2 506?

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WOW!

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Conservation in Practice

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Recognized as the birthplace of restoration ecology, we heal the land and restore native species.

http://uwarboretum.org/about/history/

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Though they may not have anticipated it at the time, the University of Wisconsin's Arboretum committee's foresight resulted in the Arboretum's ongoing status as a pioneer in the restoration and management of ecological communities. In focusing on the re-establishment of historic landscapes, particularly those that predated large-scale human settlement, they introduced a whole new concept in ecology: ecological restoration -- the process of returning an ecosystem or piece of landscape to a previous, usually more natural, condition. Madison was a fast-growing city in the 1920's. Fortunately, some leading citizens recognized the need to preserve open space for Madison's residents. Most of the Arboretum's current holdings came from purchases these civic leaders made during the Great Depression. In addition to inexpensive land, the Depression brought a ready supply of hands to work it. Between 1935 and 1941, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps were stationed at the Arboretum and provided most of the labor needed to begin establishing ecological communities within the Arboretum.Efforts to restore or create historic ecological communities have continued over the years, with the result that the Arboretum's collection of restored ecosystems is not only the oldest but also the most extensive such collection. In addition to these native plant and animal communities, the Arboretum, like most arboreta, has traditional collections of labeled plants arranged in garden-like displays. These horticultural collections, featuring trees and shrubs of the world, are the state's largest woody plant collection.

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12http://wendt.library.wisc.edu/archive/Arboretum/SlideColl.htm

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Curtis Prairie post fire, UW Arboretum

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http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WebZ/FETCH?sessionid=01-46781-65444227&recno=241&next=html/nfbrief.html&bad=error/badfetch.html&entitytoprecno=241&entitycurrecno=241&resultset=2&numrecs=12&format=B&fmtclass=gallery&entityScanReferral=FALSE

Curtis Prairie in bloom, UW Arboretum

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Hurricane Katrina $89.6 billion (2008 dollars) damage

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Hurricane Katrina

Why is New Orleans below sea level?

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http://www.pbs.org/now/science/delta.html

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Over the last century, the river-dominated Mississippi delta has received increasing attention from geoscientists, biologists, engineers, and environmental planners because of the importance of the river and its deltaic environments to the economic well-being of the state of Louisiana and the nation. Population growth, subsurface resource extraction, and increased land-water use have placed demands on the delta’s natural geologic, biologic, and chemical systems, therefore modifying the time and spatial scales of natural processes within the delta and its lower alluvial valley. As a result, the combined effects of natural and human-induced processes, such as subsidence, eustatic sea level rise, salt water intrusion, and wetland loss, have produced a dynamically changing landscape and socioeconomic framework for this complex delta.

COLEMAN, J.M.; ROBERTS, H.H., and STONE, G.W., 1998. Mississippi River Delta: an Overview. Journal of Coastal Research, 14(3), 698-716. Royal Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

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Mountain-Top Removal(e.g., West Virginia)

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Valley-Fill

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Biological/Ecological Issue? Social Issue?

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http://arizona.sierraclub.org/rincon/tumahigh.htmlhttp://www.tumacacoriwild.org/default.phphttp://www.icmj2.com/RecentNews/Tumacacori.htmhttp://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h3287_ih.xmlhttp://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t13t16+6792+0++%2716%20USC%2

SkyIslandAlliance

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Pima CountyBrian Powell

• Inventory• Monitoring• Adaptive Management

List of Vital SignsVital Signs in (parentheses) are not currently monitored by SODN, but may be monitored by individual Parks or other agencies.

Air Quality and Climate (Ozone)Wet and Dry DepositionVisibility and Particulate Matter(Broad-Scale Climate)Meso-Scale Climate

Geology and Soils Channel Morphology(Upland Soil Movement)Biological Soil CrustsSoil Aggregate StabilitySoil CompactionSoil Cover(Soil Organic Matter Content)(Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Content)

Water Quality and QuantityGroundwater DynamicsSurface Water DynamicsCore Water Quality ParametersNutrient LoadingPollutant MetalsMicroorganismsAquatic Macroinvertebrates and Algae(Carcinogens and Toxins)(Suspended Sediments)

Biological Integrity: Flora and Fauna Exotic Plants - Early DetectionExotic Plants - Status and TrendsPhenologyVegetation Life Form AbundanceVegetation Community StructureBird Community DynamicsFish Community Dynamics(Specific Species Monitoring)

Landscape Pattern and Processes and Human UseIllegal Roads and TrailsVisitor ImpactsVisitor UseLandscape Dynamics(Fire and Fuel Dynamics)(Net Primary Productivity)

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Ecosystem Complexity

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29Van Dyke 2003

Northern Spotted Owl

-Old Growth Forests

-Thomas Report 1990

-towards anEcosystem Approach

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Ecosystem ManagementCh10 Van Dyke text

“...land management system that seeks protect viable populations of all native species, perpetuates naturaldisturbance regimes on the regional scale, adopts a planning timeline of centuries, and allows human useat levels that do not result in long-term ecological degradation”

Ecosystem: -energy and nutrient processing system with physical structure and function that circulates matter and energy.

Definitions are debatable…

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31Van Dyke 2003

…production

DOD!

NPS - ????

DOE!

Sustainable?

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Coffee Berry Borer

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Restoration/ConservationDiscussion

The only known population of a rare beetle species exists in several small patches of privately owned scrub within a large city. In what ways could the landowner be convinced to protect and manage this land for conservation?

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Pleistocene Rewilding(Donlan et al.)

Proactive Solution?

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Should conservation biologists manage

extinctions or restore natural processes?

(restore to what?)

42azDailyStar_23Feb2007

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Pleistocene Rewilding

extant

extinct

Late Pleistocene

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Barely Extinct Mammals of the SW

• If you go to Southern Africa you will find many habitats like South Western US and Mexico:

• Deserts, grasslands, woodlands, tropical dry forests with many species of plants that look similar to ours.

• But you will also see elephants, lions, rhinos, zebras, and many deer and antelope.

(Thanks to Larry Venable via Kathy Gerst)

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Barely Extinct Mammals of the SW

• North America was like that until only 12,000 years ago.

• Our pronghorns probably run so fast because they evolved alongside the American Cheetah.

• Horses and camels evolved in America before moving to the old world.

• We got ripped-off (by our Clovis hunter predecessors)!

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Barely Extinct Mammals of the SW• Bison latifrons

(longhorn bison)• Camelops• Hemiauchenia• Horse• Euceratherium

(shrub ox)• Nothrotheriops

shastensis (Shasta ground sloth)

• Tapirus (tapir)

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Barely Extinct Mammals of the SW

• Mammuthus columbi(Mammoth)

• Mammut (Mastodon)

• Panthera (jaguar)

• Panthera leo atrox(American lion)

• Canis dirus (dire wolf)

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Re-wilding of North America

• Start with non-threatening herbivores:

• The 50-kg Bolson tortoise (Gopherusflavomarginatus) – still in Mexico

• Feral horses (Equus caballus) and asses (E. asinus), critically endangered Asian asses (E. hemionus) and Przewalski'shorse (E. przewalskii).

• Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus), now on the verge of extinction in the Gobi desert.

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Re-wilding of North America• Then bring in the big guys on private

property:

• small numbers of African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), Asian (Elephasmaximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants, and lions (Panthera leo).

• Eventually create 'ecological history parks', covering vast areas of economically depressed parts of the Great Plains.

• Perimeter fencing would limit the movements of otherwise free-roaming ungulates, elephants, and large carnivores.

• (like parks in Africa)

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Rubenstein et al. 2006

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Reactive vs. Proactive?