Conservation Biology Monday 14:00-15:50
PřF:Bi8370 DISTANCE via msTeams
Jeff Nekola Spring 2021
SYLLABUS
Conservation biology is one of the newest ecological disciplines -- one that is specifically interested
in applying ecological principles to the protection of biological diversity. Although many would
want to claim that this is a well-developed (and even perhaps) mature field, I do not see this as the
case. Instead, I agree with Susan Bratton that our current ability to design and care for nature
reserves is similar to the record of the medical profession in 18th century Vienna, where patients had
a greater chance of dying under a doctor's care than if diseases were let to run their own course.
What is essential if Conservation Biology is to become a benefit (and not drain) on biological
diversity is that all of its practitioners become constantly aware of their lack of understanding of
natural processes, and be able to decide for themselves the relative merits of differing approaches in
the lack of such information. Over the semester I hope to not only provide you with access to the
knowledge needed to make wise conservation choices, but also to foster your ability to
independently think about – and defend – your choices regarding conservation strategies. To do this
we will first overview important ecological principles underlying conservation biology, and then
second will apply these principles to real-world situations. The issue here is not just knowing the
relevant concepts, but also to critically and objectively assess the major theories and paradigms
which underlie this most important of ecological fields.
Expectations & Course Lectures
I will assume that you all have a good understanding of basic ecological principles, such as HardyWeinberg
genetics, various competition models, community assembly theory, and biogeochemical
cycling though ecosystems. I'll also assume that you will have a solid background in high school
algebra. Attendance at lectures is strongly recommended, and is absolutely essential for doing well
in the class. If you do have to miss a lecture, please see me, and try to obtain notes from a friend.
We will not use a textbook, per se, as I have seen no single book which adequately covers the
subject. Rather, we will read the original literature on the subject which I have compiled and has
been made available on the course website on the IS portal. The best way to deal with the readings
is to give them a very quick view before lecture. Then I will walk you through the papers in my
lecture. At that point you will have enough background information to be able to fully understand
the paper. So then commit to carefully reading each paper within a few days after lecture while the
ideas are still fresh. Please keep up with your readings! It will be very easy to fall so far behind that
you will not be able to catch up.
Because of the on-going COVID pandemic, the course will be entirely taught via distance methods.
I did this the last 2/3 of last spring’s course, and it worked fine. However, things can always be
improved. Because perhaps the most essential goal of this course is in developing your ability to
independently assess the literature and then to defend a point of view, it is essential that we break
the 4th
Wall and assist your interaction not only with me but to everyone else in the course. Bára
Winterová, the course teaching assistant for the term, is going to help to make this possible. She has
been introduced to a number of potentially useful on-line platforms that can help catalyze
interactions within a distance environment, as we are going to make use of them throughout the
term. Neither of us have done this before, so expect some hiccups as we figure out what works and
doesn’t.
Evaluation
Course grades will be based on two equally weighted exams. These will be comprehensive, covering
all material presented in the class to that time, and will be based on essay questions, as this is the
only way I have of really determining your basic understanding of the topics covered. Because of
this being a distance course this semester, the exams will consist of short-essay-length responses to a
series of questions in which you apply your readings and additional insights. These essays will be
open book / computer and you will have two weeks to respond. The issue will be sifting through the
available information to make and defend your personal answer. Your score will be based on not
only the accurateness of the science you present, but also how well you integrate these ideas and
defend your position. Yes, I will know if you are plagiarizing. So don’t. You won’t like the
consequences.
IMPORTANT DATES
April 26: Exam 1 due June 7: Exam 2 due
Course Schedule
March 1: Course Introduction; Teambuilding; Introduction to Philosophical Ethics (Cobb,
Leopold, Littlebird, Meyers)
(Course introduction; learn about your classmates and try out some on-line interaction tools;
Overview the main philosophical ethics perspectives including teleological and deontological
approaches.)
March 8: Conservation Ethics
- Cultural Perspectives on Biodiversity
(Consider how cultures vary in their outlook and value of biodiversity and conservation.)
- An Island (McPhee)
(Investigate the different ethical positions held by conservationists and developers through a
class debate centered around Cumberland Island, Georgia.)
March 15: Humans and Biological Diversity
--Negative Impacts (Baker et al., Kirch)
(How exploitative human cultures have altered communities, species diversity, and ecosystem
processes in the U.S. Midwest and Polynesia)
-Positive Impacts (Harlan, Pistrick, Williams, Brush et al.)
(Development and maintenance of food plant and animal diversity; fate of cultural biodiversity;
centers of domestication.)
March 22: Population Genetics (Frankel & Soulé, Ehrlich )
(Processes which effect genetic diversity, and the relationship between genetic diversity, fitness, and
extinction)
Population Biology (Krukeberg & Rabinowitz, Ehrlich & Murphy )
(Structure of populations and meta-populations; the factors leading to population endemicity; the
seven forms of rarity).
March 29: Minimum Viable Populations (Gilpin & Soulé, Menges)
(Definition of minimum viable populations; equilibrium and non-equilibrium methods to determine
this number for various circumstances)
Spatial Scale (Wiens, Palmer & White)
(Role of spatial scale in the observation of ecological process and pattern; scale vs. richness.)
April 5: Easter Monday Holiday
April 12: Disturbance Ecology
-Small Scale (Sousa, White)
(Types of disturbances, patch dynamics, exogenous vs. endogenous disturbance regimes; return
interval and intensity; impact on sessile and mobile organisms.)
-Large Scale (Romme & Knight, Turner et al.)
(Landscape diversity; quasi- vs. non-equilibrium landscapes; disturbance-diversity relationships;
disturbance in the Yellowstone ecosystem.)
April 19: Habitat Fragmentation
-Short-term effects (Bierregaard et al., Robinson et al.)
(Effect of habitat fragmentation on organism abundance and movement; thresholds to response;
relaxation in species richness)
-Long-term effects (Carlquist, Nekola)
(Evolutionary response of organisms to isolation; community responses to isolation; neo- and
paleo-refugia.)
EXAM 1 (distributed at end of class)
April 26: Single Large or Several Small (SLOSS) Debate (Diamond, Simberloff & Gotelli)
(Should reserves be made few and large or many and small?)
Corridors Debate (Noss, Harrison, Simberloff et al.)
(Should reserves be connected by corridors?)
EXAM 1 (due no later than 17:00)
May 3: Dynamic Systems and Reserve Design. (Dolan et al., Pickett & Thompson)
(How to design [and manage] reserves which protect constantly changing communities.)
Reserve Integrity (Schonewald-Cox, Peters, Romme & Turner )
(How do processes outside of reserve boundaries affect biodiversity within reserves?)
May 10: Ex-situ vs. In-situ Conservation (Falk & McMahan, Hamilton)
(Should species be protected in artificial environments?)
Species Reintroduction (Cade, Bangs & Fritts, Allen)
(When, if ever, is reintroduction of species appropriate?)
May 17: Community Restoration (Jordan, Zedler, Bradshaw, Diamond)
(Can and should we attempt to recreate entire communities?)
Game Management (Rudolph & Hunter, Christman, Alverson et al., Kaufman)
(How have deer, duck, and fish management impacted total biodiversity?)
May 24: Exotic Species Problems and Responses. Vitousek, Bland & Temple, Carlton &
Geller, Nuzzo, Scheffer
(How have exotic species introductions altered biodiversity? What can be done to fix things?)
EXAM 2: distributed at end of class May 24; returned no later than 17 on June 7
Articles:
March 8:
Cobb, J.B. Jr. 1986. A Christian view of biodiversity. pages 481-485 in Wilson, E.O. & F.M.
Peter (eds), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Leopold, A. 1948. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press, New York. pages 201-226.
Littlebird, L. 1986. Cold water spirit. pages 476-480 in Wilson, E.O. & F.M. Peter (eds),
Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
McPhee, J. 1971. Encounters With the Archdruid. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Press, New York.
pages 79-150.
Meyers, N. 1983. By saving wild species we may be saving ourselves. Nature Conservancy News.
pages 7-13.
March 15:
Baker, R.G., Schwert, D.P., Bettis, E.A. III, and C.A. Chumbley. 1993. Impact of Euro-American
settlement on a riparian landscape in northeast Iowa, USA: an integrated approach based on
historical evidence, floodplain sediments, fossil pollen, plant macrofossils, and insects. The
Holocene. 3:314-323.
Brush, S.B., Carney, H.J., and Z. Huamén. 1981. Dynamics of Andean potato agriculture.
Economic Botany. 35:70-88.
Harlan, J.R. 1975. The Americas. pages 225-236 in: Crops and Man. American Society of
Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
Kirch, P.V. 1983. Man's role in modifying tropical and subtropical Polynesian ecosystems.
Archeology of Oceania. 18:26-31.
Pistrick, K. 1995. Maramures and Muntii Apuseni -- crop plant diversity and living past in Rumania.
Seed Savers 1995 Summer Edition. Pages 61-79
Williams, J.T. 1986. Identifying and protecting the origins of our food plants. pages 240-247 in
Wilson, E.O. & F.M. Peter (eds), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
March 22:
Ehrlich, P.R. 1983. Genetics and the extinction of butterfly populations. pages 152-163 in
Schonewald-Cox, C.M., Chambers, S.M., MacBryde, B., and Thomas, L. (eds), Genetics and
Conservation. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., Menlo Park, California.
Ehrlich, P.R. and D.D. Murphy. 1987. Conservation lessons from long-term studies of checkerspot
butterflies. Conservation Biology. 1:122-131.
Frankel, O.H. and M.E. Soul_. 1981. Conservation and evolution. Cambridge University Press, New
York. pages 31-77.
Krukeberg, A.R. and D. Rabinowitz. 1985. Biological aspects of endemism in higher plants. Annual
Review of Ecology and Systematics. 16:447-479.
March 29:
Gilpin, M.E. and M.E. Soulé. 1986. Minimum viable populations: processes of species extinction.
Pages 19-34 in: Soul_, M.E. (ed), Conservation Biology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland,
Massachusetts.
Menges, E.S. 1986. Predicting the future of rare plant populations: demographic monitoring and
modeling. Natural Areas Journal. 6:13-25.
Palmer, M.W. and P.S. White. 1994. Scale dependence and the species-area relationship. American
Naturalist. 144:717-740.
Wiens, J.A. 1989. Spatial scaling in ecology. Functional Ecology. 3:385-397.
April 12:
Romme, W.H. and D.H. Knight. 1982. Landscape diversity: the concept applied to Yellowstone
Park. Bioscience. 32:664-670.
Sousa, W.P. 1984. The role of disturbance in natural communities. Annual Review of Ecology and
Systematics. 15:353-391.
Turner, M.G., Romme, W.H., and R.H. Gardner. 1994. Landscape disturbance models and the longterm
dynamics of natural areas. Natural Areas Journal. 14:3-11.
White, P.S. 1987. Natural disturbance, patch dynamics, and landscape patterns in natural areas.
Natural Areas Journal. 7:14-22.
April 19:
Bierrgaard, R.O. Jr., Lovejoy, T.E., Kapos, V., Augusto dos Santos, A., Hutchings, R.W. 1992. The
biological dynamics of tropical rainforest fragments. Bioscience. 42:859-866.
Carlquist, S. 1974. Island biology. Columbia University Press, New York. pages 487-508.
Nekola, J.C. 1999. Paleorefugia and neorefugia: A biogeographic analysis of isolated habitats in
northeastern Iowa. Ecology. 80: 2459-2473.
Robinson, S.K., Thompson, F.R. III, Donovan, T.M., Whitehead, D.R., Faaborg, J. 1995. Regional
fragmentation and the nesting success of migratory birds. Science. 267:19871990.
April 26:
Diamond, J.M. 1975. The island dilemma: lessons of modern biogeographic studies for the design of
nature reserves. Biological Conservation. 7:129-146.
Harrison, R.L. 1991. Toward a theory of inter-refuge corridor design. Conservation Biology. 6:293-
295.
Noss, R.F. 1987. Corridors in real landscapes: a reply to Simberloff and Cox. Conservation Biology.
1:159-164.
Simberloff, D. and N. Gotelli 1983. Refuge design and ecological theory: lessons for prairie and
forest conservation. Pages 61-71 in R. Brewer (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth North
American Prairie Conference. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Simberloff, D., Farr, J.A., Cox, J., and D.W. Mehlman. 1992. Movement Corridors: conservation
bargains or poor investments? Conservation Biology. 6:493-504.
May 3:
Dolan, R., B.P. Hayden, and G. Soucie. 1978. Environmental dynamics and resource management in
the U.S. National Parks. Environmental Management. 2:249-258.
Peters, R.L. II. 1988. The effect of global climate change on natural communities. Pages 450461 in
E.O. Wilson (ed.), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Pickett, S.T.A. and J.N. Thompson. 1978. Patch dynamics and the design of nature reserves.
Biological Conservation. 13:27-37.
Romme, W.H. and M.G. Turner. 1991. Implications of global climate change for biogeographic
patterns in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Conservation Biology. 5:373-386.
Schonewald-Cox, C.M. 1988. Boundaries in the Management of nature reserves. Bioscience.
38:480-486.
May 10:
Allen, W.H. 1994. Reintroduction of endangered plants. Bioscience. 44:65-68.
Bangs, E.E. and S.H. Fritts. 1993. Reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and
central Idaho. Endangered Species Technical Bulletin. 18:1,18-20.
Cade, T.J. 1988. Using science and technology to reestablish species lost in nature. Pages 279287 in
E.O. Wilson (ed.), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Falk, D.A. and L.R. McMahan. 1988. Endangered plant conservation: managing for diversity.
Natural Areas Journal. 8:91-99.
Hamilton, M.B. 1994. Ex-situ conservation of wild plant species: time to reassess the genetic
assumptions and implications of seed banks. Conservation Biology. 8:39-49.
May 17:
Alverson, W.S., Waller, D.M., and S.L. Solheim. 1988. Forests to deer: edge effects in northern
Wisconsin. Conservation Biology. 2:348-358.
Bradshaw, A.D. 1990. The reclamation of derelict land and the ecology of ecosystems. Pages 53-74
in W.R. Jordan III, M.E. Gilpin, and J.D. Aber (eds.), Restoration Ecology. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Christman, S.P. 1984. Breeding bird response to greentree reservoir management. Journal of
Wildlife Management. 48:1164-1172.
Diamond, J. 1990. Reflections on goals and on the relationship between theory and practice. Pages
329-336 in W.R. Jordan III, M.E. Gilpin, and J.D. Aber (eds.), Restoration Ecology.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Jordan, W.R. III. 1988. Ecological restoration: reflections on a half-century of experience at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. Pages 311-316 in E.O. Wilson (ed.),
Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Kaufman, L. 1992. Catastrophic change in species-rich freshwater ecosystems. Bioscience. 42:846-
858.
Rudolph, R.R. and C.G. Hunter. 1964. Greentrees and greenheads. Pages 611-618 in J.P. Lindusky
(ed.), Waterfowl Tomorrow. U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.
Zedler, J.B. 1988. Restoring diversity in salt marshes: can we do it? Pages 317-325 in E.O. Wilson
(ed.), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
May 24:
Bland, J.D. and S.A. Temple. 1993. The Himalayan Snowcock: North America's newest exotic bird.
Pages 149-155 in B.M. McKnight (ed.), Biological Pollution: the Control and Impact of
Invasive Exotic Species. Indiana Academy of Science, Indianapolis.
Carlton, J.T. and J.B. Geller. 1993. Ecological roulette: the global transport of nonindigenous
marine organisms. Science. 261:78-82.
Nuzzo, V. 1993. Distribution and spread of the invasive biennial Allaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard)
in North America. Pages 137-145 in B.M. McKnight (ed.), Biological Pollution: the Control
and Impact of Invasive Exotic Species. Indiana Academy of Science, Indianapolis.
Scheffer, V.B. 1993. The Olympic goat controversy: a perspective. Conservation Biology. 7:916-
920.
Vitousek, P.M. 1988. Diversity and biological invasions of oceanic islands. Pages 181-189 in E.O.
Wilson (ed.), Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.