In the spring of 1988 Peggy Fiedler organized a Seminar Series (Conservation Biology, Bio 877) at San Francisco State University. I was her teaching assistant. One of the results of this seminar was a collection of over 200 questions, focusing on different aspects of conservation biology. These questions were intended to stimulate discussions during our seminar and I hope that they continue to do so.
These questions were initially given solely to the participants of the seminar, in the form of a HyperCard™ stack. Here they are for general consumption.
Larry D. Harris. University of Florida (February 3, 1988) Habitat Fragmentation: Consequence and Conservation
Robert Lacy. Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield Zoo (February 10, 1988) Genetics of Zoo Populations?
Stuart L. Pimm. University of Tennessee (February 17, 1988) Community Stability and Structure: Theoretical Applications in Great Britain and Hawaii
Michael E. Gilpin. University of California, San Diego (February 24, 1988) Population Vulnerability Analysis: The Concho Water Snake
Bruce Wilcox. Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford Univerisity (March 2, 1988) A Global Perspective on Tropical Deforestation: Strategies to Protect Biological Diversity
Peter S. Ashton. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University (March 16, 1988) Site-Related Patterns of Tropical Forest Species in Light of Current Theories for the Maintenance of Species Richness
Peggy L. Fiedler. San Francisco State University (March 9, 1988) Hierarchies of Cause and Consequence: Toward an Understanding of Rarity in Vascular Plant Species
- References
- Fiedler, P. L. Concepts of rarity in vascular plant species, with special reference to the genus Calochortus Pursh (Liliaceae). Taxon 35:502-518; 1986.
- Kruckeberg, A. R.; Rabinowitz, D. Biological aspects of endemism in higher plants. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 16:447-479; 1985.
- Grene, M. Hierarchies in biology. Amer. Sci. 75:504-510; 1987.
- Questions
- Ecological hierarchies and taxonomic hierarchies are structured with smaller units fitting into larger units (enzyme, cell, organism..., species, genus, family...). How do these nested sets relate to rarity in plant species?
- Is evolutionary history a separate hierarchical level from geologic history? If so, can we ever know the evolutionary history of a taxon?
- How do botanists know the evolutionary history of neoendemics? Of species distributions in the recent past (since the Pleistocene?) How can the discern the age of a plant taxon?
- "... rarity is the precursor to extinction." - Darwin. Does the view, the "competitive incompetence" of rare species, negate the idea of there being, on an evolutionary time scale, persistent rare species?
- Is rarity for plant species different from rarity in animal species. Is rarity really a multifaceted concept that is a little different for each of the major taxa?
- Is there tension between rarity as a concept and rarity as a management tool? Is it appropriate for ecologists to carry the burden of resolving this conflict?
- How can the conflict in needs between plant and animal conservation be resolved?
- Are hierarchies that describe causes of rarity across a broad range of time and space scales just a convenient classification or do we gain new insights from this approach?
- We often hear that studies done at the level of populations are important for the sake of conservation. Since managers are dealing with mappable areas filled with interacting populations, would it be more pragmatic to focus on the community dynamics at the ecosystem level?
- How often does low "observability" (ie., a species occurring in habitats or locations rarely visited) cause rarity?
- Can extinction be avoided without understanding the causes of rarity? Is it enough for managers to know the resultant type of rarity (ie., Rabinowitz's seven forms of rarity)?
- Introgressive hybridization is one of the ways in which plant populations acquire their variability. Many plant species are said to have originated through hybridization followed by allopolyploidy. Some states, e.g., North Carolina, afford protection to rare hybrids (Tennessee bladder fern). Should more efforts be made to protect rare varieties?
- What are some frameworks for study that can be transferred from plant conservation biology to animal conservation biology? What, if any, are the major paradigms from animal conservation biology that lead to erroneous generalizations when applied to plant conservation biology? Should there be more emphasis on two distinct "subdisciplines" or should conservation biology strive for comprehensive and broad unity?
Miguel Altieri. University of California, Berkeley (March 23, 1988) The Role of Peasant Agriculture in Crop Plant Conservation
Lyndon C. Lee. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia (April 6, 1988) Cumulative Impact Assessment in Wetland and Riparian Ecosystem of the American West
Peter F. Brussard. Montana State University (April 13, 1988) Assessment and Monitoring of Biological Diversity
Subodh K. Jain. University of California, Davis (April 20, 1988) Population Genetics and Demography in Rare Plant Protection
Fred W. Allendorf. University of Montana (April 27, 1988) Heterozygosity and Fitness in Natural Animal Populations
C. Ron Carroll. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia (May 4, 1988) Sensitive Habitats: Threats to and Management of a Nature Reserve System
Mary Pearl. New York Zoological Society (May 11, 1988) Conservation Biologists in the Human Realm
Seminar Participants
conservation questions