Managing Tropical Rainfores
This management strategy involves governments creating laws to limit deforestation, control logging, and protect endangered rainforest species.
What is legislation
This threat occurs when large areas of rainforest are cleared, breaking habitats into smaller, isolated patches that reduce biodiversity.
This conservation strategy protects entire ecosystems so that many species can survive, rather than focusing on just one endangered organism.
What is habitat conservation?
this is the process of breeding animals in controlled environments, such as zoos, wildlife reserves, or special breeding centers, with the goal of increasing population numbers of endangered species.
What is Captive breeding?
Define native and invasive species.
Native: naturally found. Invasive: non-native, disrupts ecosystems.
An international agreement such as CITES helps manage rainforest impacts by regulating this activity involving endangered plant and animal species.
What is regulation of international trade in endangered species (CITES)?
In many tropical regions, trees are cut down for this purpose to provide materials for cooking, heating, and construction.
This IUCN tool classifies species into categories such as Least Concern, Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered.
What is the IUCN Red List?
Describe and evaluate CITES
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulates international trade in wild animals and plants to ensure it does not threaten their survival.
✅ Successes: Protected thousands of species from overexploitation; raised global awareness.
⚠️ Limitations: Difficult to enforce, especially in countries with limited resources; illegal trade still occurs.
How do invasive species impact biodiversity?
They outcompete native species and disrupt food webs.
This strategy allows resources like timber to be removed at a rate that maintains forest structure and biodiversity, making it more environmentally sustainable than clear-cutting.
What is sustainable harvesting (sustainable forestry/selective logging)
The conversion of rainforest land into farms, cattle ranches, or plantations—such as palm oil or soy—is known as this major driver of rainforest loss.
agricultural expansion
This conservation strategy increases rhino populations by breeding them in protected environments, but it is expensive, low reproductive success, limits genetic diversity, and does not address poaching or habitat loss in the wild.
What is captive breeding of rhinos?
What are human impacts on Antarctica?
Pollution, tourism, climate change., ozone depletion; overfishing; future mineral and oil extraction; scientific research
What are benefits of conserving biodiversity?
Stability, medicine, ecosystem services, food security.
In this strategy, wealthy countries reduce the debt of developing nations in exchange for protecting rainforest land, but its success depends on long-term enforcement and political stability.
What is debt for nature swaps?
This threat involves removing valuable resources like gold, bauxite, or oil from beneath the rainforest, often causing pollution and large-scale habitat destruction.
mineral extraction
This conservation approach protects a species by using laws, captive breeding, anti-poaching efforts, and habitat protection, but its success depends on long-term funding and effective enforcement.
Answer:
What is conserving individual species?
How do we manage human activity on Antarctica?
Solutions: The Antarctic treaty 1959, protected areas; fisheries regulation, prohibit mineral extraction; protect against invasive; monitoring tourism and use of permits, waste limits.
What are human impacts on tropical rainforests?
Deforestation leading to fragmentation, loss of species, climate change; timber/fuelwood collection; agricultural expansion; mineral extraction; HEP; climate change;
Although national parks and reserves reduce deforestation and protect biodiversity, critics argue this strategy can fail if enforcement is weak or if local communities are excluded from decision-making.
What is the creation of protected areas (national parks and reserves)?
This global threat increases temperatures, alters rainfall patterns, intensifies droughts and fires, and makes rainforests more vulnerable to species loss and ecosystem collapse.
climate change
This international agreement regulates the conservation of whales and has banned commercial whaling since 1986, though some countries still object.
Answer:
🛎️ What is the International Whaling Commission (IWC)?
Describe and explain EDGE
EDGE stands for Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered. It’s a conservation approach that prioritizes species based on two main factors:
Evolutionary Distinctiveness – species that have few or no close relatives and represent a large amount of unique evolutionary history.
Global Endangerment – species that are at high risk of extinction.
✅ Benefits:
Protects unique biodiversity.
Encourages research and funding for overlooked species.
Highlights the importance of evolutionary history in conservation.
⚠️ Challenges:
Less public appeal than charismatic species like pandas.
Requires global cooperation and long-term commitment.
How can we manage deforestation?
Solutions: protected areas; reforestation; conservation zones; legislation and international agreements; debt for nature swaps; sustainable harvesting