For Diamond (1975):

(1) Overview Diamond’s basic argument.  What are his stated (and unstated) assumptions?

            How important would violating them be in to his overall argument?

(2) How convincing do you find the use of ‘land bridge’ islands to prove that ‘relaxation’ of
richness

            occurs following fragmentation?  Give your reasons!.

(3) Given the prior readings, critique his reserve design criteria.  Do you agree with his

            recommendations?  Why or why not?


                                 For Simberloff & Gotelli (1983):

(4) What pattern does the Theory of Island Biogeography attempt to explain?  Is it the same as the

            Species Area Relationship?  Why must one control for the SAD when investigating

            the utility of various reserve designs?

(5) How did Simberloff & Gotelli try to control for SAD before investigating the impact of prairie

            remnant size on the number of encountered species?  Overview their basic approach?

(6) How useful are a network of small reserves for protecting grassland plant biodiversity?  What

            ecological reasons likely underlie this pattern?

(7) Compare and contrast the arguments made and analyses presented to support these two papers.

            Which do you find more convincing and why?  What would you suggest as the best
approach?


                                          For Noss (1987)

(8) What are the principle arguments in favor of investment of conservation resources in the
creation of

            corridors?

(9) Do you agree that “habitat fragmentation is the most serious threat to biological diversity and
is the

            cause of the present extinction crisis”?


                                   For  Simberloff et al. (1992)

(10) How strong is the biological evidence that supports the concept that habitat isolation and

            fragmentation is a principle driver of biodiversity loss?  Do you find the analyses
presented

            here, or those by Noss (1987) and Diamond (1975) more compelling?  Give you reasons
why.

(11) What are the principle arguments against investment of conservation resources in the creation
of

            corridors?

(12) How often do species actually use corridors to enable movement?  How convincing are the

            analyses which are used to support the various positions in the debate?


                                       For  Harrison (1991)

(13) How wide of a corridor is actually needed to promote large mammal movement between reserves?

            What does this suggest about the utility of most corridor plans?

(14) Compare and contrast the arguments made and analyses presented on both sides of the corridor

            debate.  Which do you find more convincing and why?  What would you suggest as the best

            approach?