Conservation Biology Study Guide
Be aware, this review document is meant to guide your preparations and may not be all inclusive of the material on the exam.
The exam will be a mixture of matching, definitions, short answer, essay, and ‘other’ questions.
Suggestions on where to focus your preparations are given below:
• What are the 2 major forms of modern overexploitation? o Overfishing ▪ Fishery- fishing for a specific species • Populations have dropped so significantly that fisheries are stopping o Bushmeat ▪ The killing of tropical terrestrial animals for their meat and then selling this meat ▪ Usually takes place in rural, third world areas so it is hard to enforce laws on. ▪ With exploitation rates rising, these targeted species face the potential for extinction • List and describe the types of overexploitation o Commercial ▪ Selling wildlife for profit ▪ Market for wild products ▪ Wealth, money changing hands, more wildlife to sell = more $ • i.e. rhino horn sold for ivory ▪ domestic substitutes not as desirable • wild caught salmon more desirable than farm raised ▪ increasing rarity increases value ▪ wild resources are communal- tragedy of the commons ▪ wild resources are remote- difficult to police a lot of acres of native ▪ capital to purchase technology- enterprises has $ to make them more efficient at harvesting resources ▪ currency disparities • resource is cheap in one country but can sell it for more in another, can make a lot of money o Subsistence ▪ Hunt because you need to live off of it (i.e. Eskimos hunting whales) • Most rural folk do this to an extent ▪ Subsistence
The exam will be a mixture of matching, definitions, short answer, essay, and ‘other’ questions.
Suggestions on where to focus your preparations are given below:
• What are the 2 major forms of modern overexploitation? o Overfishing ▪ Fishery- fishing for a specific species • Populations have dropped so significantly that fisheries are stopping o Bushmeat ▪ The killing of tropical terrestrial animals for their meat and then selling this meat ▪ Usually takes place in rural, third world areas so it is hard to enforce laws on. ▪ With exploitation rates rising, these targeted species face the potential for extinction • List and describe the types of overexploitation o Commercial ▪ Selling wildlife for profit ▪ Market for wild products ▪ Wealth, money changing hands, more wildlife to sell = more $ • i.e. rhino horn sold for ivory ▪ domestic substitutes not as desirable • wild caught salmon more desirable than farm raised ▪ increasing rarity increases value ▪ wild resources are communal- tragedy of the commons ▪ wild resources are remote- difficult to police a lot of acres of native ▪ capital to purchase technology- enterprises has $ to make them more efficient at harvesting resources ▪ currency disparities • resource is cheap in one country but can sell it for more in another, can make a lot of money o Subsistence ▪ Hunt because you need to live off of it (i.e. Eskimos hunting whales) • Most rural folk do this to an extent ▪ Subsistence