Chapter 8 Chapter Quiz

Establishing New Populations and Ex Situ Conservation

. In 2014, conservation groups, state and federal agencies, and biologists from Florida and Georgia held a meeting to discuss the placement of endangered Florida panthers into their historic habitat in the Okefenokee Swamp and surrounding areas. Placement of panthers in this area would best be described as

. The stellar eider is a sea duck that breeds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Its populations have plummeted in the past several decades, but scientists are unsure why. Some scientists think there is more predation by owls and foxes. Others cite lead pellets in eiders’ gizzards and lead in blood samples. There is a plan to introduce captive-bred birds into a former nesting ground. Based on this information, this reintroduction might be unsuccessful because it violates which IUCN guideline?

. Rewilding involves restoring land to its previous natural state, including reintroduction of animals that have been exterminated or driven from the area. In the espinal, a savanna in central Chile, this means reintroduction of the guanaco, a relative of the llama. The dominant plant is a thorny acacia, the espino, which grows more when pruned. Scientists think that in the past, pruning was done by guanacos. Well-managed espinals are used to graze sheep, goats, and cattle. Guanaco wool is also a valuable product. This conservation project involving guanaco reintroduction appears to be most focused on which aspect of the IUCN guidelines?

. A group of conservationists carry out translocation of both plant and animal populations in the same region. What factor do they have to consider when translocating plant populations that is not a problem when translocating animal populations?

. A conservationist creates a plan to grow and maintain a plant using both in situ and ex situ methods. The conservationist is likely maintaining the plant in which combination of areas?

. Which factor, if present, would prevent an animal species from being saved by in situ conservation methods alone?

. In 2004, the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California created a new branch called Center for the Future of Oceans. Its goals were to promote implementation of marine protected areas, to promote sustainable seafood, and to conserve and restore key marine wildlife species in their care (including sea otters, tunas, and sharks). Several years later, a survey showed that people saw the aquarium primarily as a conservation organization and a trusted authority. This suggests that the role of organizations such as zoos and aquariums can be

. Zoos are important in the process of ex situ conservation because they perform all these functions except

. Scientists from Harvard and other locations are working on the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth. Using DNA from mammoths recovered from the Arctic, they are trying to reconstruct the mammoth genome. They hope to insert long sequences of mammoth DNA into the genes of a close relative, the Indian elephant. Some elephant genes will also be altered to resemble mammoth genes. Resulting egg cells will be implanted into elephants, producing offspring with both mammoth and elephant DNA. This method of de-extinction is called

. Passenger pigeons once inhabited North America in flocks so gigantic, they took hours to pass over a single spot. They took over whole forests, feeding on acorns and beechnuts. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914, hunted to extinction by humans. Scientists hope to reconstruct the pigeon by changing the genes of its relative, the band-tailed pigeon. People are both for and against this reconstruction and the passenger pigeon’s reintroduction into the wild. Which of these statements represents a reason in favor of reintroduction?

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