1. Compare and contrast preservation and conservation.

2. Distinguish conservation biology from both basic biology and natural resource management.

3. Why is the distinction between type I and II error important in conservation biology (Hint: how is this distinction relevant to making decisions in spite of limited data).

4. Should species alone be the targets of conservation efforts. In your answer, consider species concepts, management strategies, and definitions of biodiversity. The best answers will include specific examples (Hints: consider the biological species concept with respect to asexual taxa or the distinction between wolves and coyotes, and management of northern vs. southern wolf populations or eastern vs. western monarch butterfly populations). 

5. Define deterministic, stochastic, and hybridization risks of extinction. Give real world examples for each of these and consider whether these factors are likely to act independently.

6. Describe the marine regression, glaciation, volcanic eruption, and asteroid impact hypotheses for mass extinctions. Identify how each of these hypotheses may be related to global climate change.

7. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the extinction of most of the world's large herbivores 11,000 years ago. What are the hypotheses?  How does the "Keystone Herbivore Hypothesis" integrate these hypotheses? How does research on the extinction of Genyornis help to resolve this debate?

8. If we know that there are 10,000 spp. of "wombots", and 100 have gone extinct in the last century, what is the current rate of extinction for "wombots". How does this compare to the background rate of "wombot" extinction (The average life of a "wombot" species, based on the fossil record, is 1 million years).
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9. Are we in, or on the verge of, a mass extinction? Defend your answer.

10. Using the species-area relationship (S = cA^z), calculate the expected proportion of species that will be lost from tropical forests if 75% of remaining forests are destroyed (assume z = .25).
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11. What are some problems with using species-area relationships to estimate extinction rates. Relate these problems to calculating extinction rates for eastern N.A. forest birds.

11. List three ways in which humans may cause species / population extinctions and give real world examples.

12. Give two examples of a disease that affects both wildlife and humans. How might habitat fragmentation increase the risk of Lyme disease for humans?

13. Use the example of heath hens to demonstrate how multiple factors may combine to drive a species / population to extinction.

14. List three traits that may make a species / population especially susceptible to extinction.

15. If the population size of wreath wrens is 2 in 1998, 4 in 1999, 7 in 2000, and 12 in 2001, calculate the mean (average) r and lambda for this population.
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16. Draw a graph with "Density" on the x-axis and "Growth Rate" on the y-axis to illustrate the concepts of density-independent vs. density-dependent growth, and Allee effects.

17. How are the concepts of density-dependent population growth and Allee effects important to conservation biology? You may want to consider carrying capacity and threshold densities in your answer.

18. You have a job managing a population of endangered Golden Bamboo Lemurs in the 6,000 hectare Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. These lemurs live in groups averaging 4.0 individuals and occupy non-overlapping territories averaging 80 hectares. These lemurs are polygamous and each group contains three breeding individuals, a male and two females. Females live to 8 years of age and produce an average of 0.8 infants/year. What is the carrying capacity of the park for lemurs (HINT: Some of this information is unnecessary)?
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