Conservation Summarized Biology Notes

Learning Objectives

- define conservation as maintaining the environment and natural resources in a state that maintalins biodiversity.
- give reasons for the need to conserve non-renewable resources with reference to fossil fuels.
- define sustainable development as development providing for the needs of increasing human population while preserving the environment.
- state how forests and fish stocks can be sustained using education, legal quotas and re-stocking.
- outline how sewage is treated to make water safe and returned to the environment for human use.
- explain why organisms become endangered or extinct limited to dlimate change, habitat destruction, pollution and hunting with reference to poaching.
- describe how endangered species can be conserved limited to monitoring and protecting species, habitats, education and captive breeding programmes and seed banks.
- discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tourism for conservation.
- explain the reasons for having conservation programmes.

What is conservation?
Conservation can be defined as maintaining the environment and natural resources in a state that maintains biodiversity. Many habitats are being destroyed. To make space available for growing crops or building houses and roads, for example, many large areas of forest are being removed. As each habitat is destroyed, many plants and animals are killed. In some habitats, there are so few individuals of certain species that they are in danger of extinction. Some species have already died out and become extinct. We also remove and use large quantities of wood, coal, oil and metals. Competition between humans and other living organisms means that many species have declined in number or are about to disappear due to loss of habitat, commercial exploitation and pest control.

 Conservation means all of the following:
- taking care of our environment
- trying not to damage the environment
- actively working to make sure that the habitats of living things are not destroyed
- trying to ensure that as many different kinds of animals and plants as possible can live on the Earth.

Conservation is important, because:
- it improves tourism, and therefore has economic value
- it conserves species for future generations; if organisms go extinct, those genes are lost forever
- organisms can also breed in zoos and botanical gardens, but if the natural
- environment is destroyed, they can never be released into the wild again it keeps food webs intact.

Who is responsible for conservation?
People all over the world are becoming more aware that if we damage our environment the quality of our lives is also damaged. In South Africa, there are various laws protecting endangered species. CapeNature manages various conservation projects, such as conservation of the African (jackass) penguin. In Namibia, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism focuses on the development of new conservation ideas and management practices. Many different international organisations also help to carry out conservation, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the International Whaling Commission (WC). International agreements have been signed between countries.

Conservation should occupy the hiqhest priority in the thoughts and actions of:
- governments the constitutions of all southern African countries promise to protect the environment
- educators every teacher and pupil should be a conservationist
- the general public it is up to every individual to be involved in conservation and care for the environment.
Conservation needs to be concerned with:
- conservation of species and their habitats
- conservation of natural resources.

Conservation of species and their habitats
The impact of human activities on the environment, such as deforestation, farming and pollution, has caused tremendous changes to the habitats of many organisms. The greatest hazard to wildlife is humans who have exterminated a great many species
This has happened by:
- clearing land for agriculture, which destroys habitats
- building factories, which destroys the environment and causes pollution
- hunting, which has wiped out some species completely
- introducing alien species, which have competed with indigenous species.
We should try to maintain a large number of different species in any one area. Many different species mean complex, stable food webs. If one species becomes extinct, then others that rely on it for food will also die.

 Conservation of natural resources
Natural resources, such as fossil fuels and water, also need to be conserved. As demands for more and more energy increase, so does the pressure to find alternative sources of energy. Most of our energy supplies come from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas. These fossil fuels have taken millions of years to form and cannot be replaced. They are called non-renewable resources. Fossil fuels, such as coal, Oil and natural gas, are used as an energy source for heating homes, for cooking and for generating electricity. Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources trom the remains of living things. Non-renewable energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas cannot be recycled or reused. Fossil fuels are available only in limited quantities and cannot be replenisnea, at least the near future. Therefore, wise utilisation of these resources is very important. by using fossil fuels more conservatively, you can also help reduce the amount of dangerous chemicals in the atmosphere, renewable energy resources, such as solar energy, hydro-electric power and wind energy, must be better developed so that the use of fossil fuels is reduced. Water Circulates freely. However, many parts of Southern Africa have low, seasonal rainfall. Water is not freely available and these areas suffer from drought. Ways of conserving water are to:
- capture as much run-off rain water as possible in dams and reservoirs
- plant indigenous trees and shrubs, which require less water than alien species
- use drought-resistant varieties of crops
- restrict the use of hosepipes and sprinklers not leave taps dripping
- reuse waste household water from baths and washing
- ensure that sewage is treated and the waste water is purified and recycled harvest fog.

Conservation of our environment
We have just learnt that the practice of farming, especially monoculture and the adoption of new agricultural methods, have an effect on the environment. When we talk about the environment, we mean more than just the soil. We mean the plants and animals on the land, the minerals below it, the rivers and the air, and the climate. All these things are aftected by the activities of people both in rural and urban areas. It is important that people should understand how to go about conserving the environment, so that it is not damaged, and find ways to sustain the environment. Sustainable development is development providing for the needs of increasing human population while preserving the environment. With rising populations in developing countries, more and more land is cleared for fields and houses and there is increasing over-fishing.
 Over-fishing
If the number of fish removed from a population exceeds the number of fish reaching maturity, then the population will decrease. Over-fishing has severely reduced stocks of many fish species, tuna and tuna-like species.
Through Namibia's Marine Resources Policy, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources emphasises conservation of stocks so as to:
- maintain and/or rebuild marine resources to levels where they can each support long-term sustainable yields.
- develop and implement fishery management plans.
- develop and implement national plans of action in support of the various Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) international plans of action relating to seabirds, illegal, unreported and unregulated ((UU) fishing, fishing capacity, and sharks.
- continue to control fishing eftforts through the existing system of fishing rights, tota allowable catches, quotas, effort restrictions, spatial and temporal closures, and other management measures.
- allow stocks to be fished on a sustainable basis.
- Protect Juvenile fish through management measures, such as minimum allowable net mesn Sizes, minimum allowable fish sizes in catches, closed areas and seasons, and selectivity devices.
- develop and implement an ecosystem-wide approach to fisheries management, including multi-stock management where research reveals stock interdependence, and including shared and straddling stocks with countries that share borders with Namibia, and relevant international fisheries management organisations.
- Implement management measures to protect marine fish stocks and fisheries from possible negative effects of other activities impacting on the sea or the seabed implement management measures to reduce incidental by-catch species on all fisheries.
- ensure a high level of compliance with fisheries management and control measures through a system of monitoring control and surveillance, including satellite-based vessel monitoring systems implement measures to constrain marine pollution.

 Management measures for commercial fisheries
The main management measures for commercial fisheries, including hake, in Namibia are:
1. Limitation of effort - through access rights and vessel licensing. The backbone of Namibian fisheries management is the right of exploitation. The main purpose of fishing rights is to limit entry to the fisheries sector in order to protect the fisheries resources and maintain sustainable operations. Anyone not holding an exploitation right is strictly forbidden from commercially fishing in Namibian waters. All vessels are required to obtain a licence in order to fish Within Namibia's 200-mile exclusive economic zone - this way a vessel can only target the fish species it is licensed for, limiting by-catch of other species
2. The management of the commercial fisheries in Namibia consist of a combination of: exploitation rights; total allowable catches (TACs); individual quotas (Qs issued to fishing concessionaires with a right to only catch that specific seafood species; quota fees, by-catch fees; and a comprehensive monitoring and control (MCS) and observer system.
3. Limitation on the catch - through setting of total allowable catches. These are determined annually and are based on the best Scientific evidence available on the size and structure ot stocks as determined by the fisheries scientists employed by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources. TACS aim to ensure sustainable fishing operations; that the level of fishing eftort does not undermine the status of each stock.
4. Research fund levies are applied to all fish caught; the amount for each species is set based on the final market value for the species. This money is utilised to finance fisheries research by the government.
5. by-Catch levies are applied to fish caught, which is not part of the specific commerdial exploitation right being utilised. By-catch levy rates are based on the value of the rates, and are set ata punitive rate to stop any targeting of species other than those associated with the exploitation right.
6. 200-metre depth restriction, inside which trawl and longline vessels may not is along the whole of the Namibian coast, is to protect juvenile and spawning parts other fish stock.
7. AIl vessels must be fitted with automatic location communicators as part of the vesse monitoring system (VMS).
8. There is a ban on transshipment at sea. All commercial species caught by industrial fisheries are only offloaded at two ports, Walvis Bay and Lüderitz, and therefore catch landings are tightly controlled.
These measures are enforced by a team of fisheries observers and fisheries inspectors, employed by the Fisheries Observer Agency and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine resources, respectively.

Recycling of materials
Many of the raw materials used in the manutacture ot everyday goods, such as paper, glass and water, are now being recycled. The principle of recycling involves collecting used materials and treating them in some way that enables them to be used again. Such a procedure will be used only if it is cheaper than the alternative, which is to use up more and more of the available resource. We will look at two examples of recycling the recycling of water from sewage the recycling of paper.

The recycling of water and sewage treatment
Much waste water, such as sewage, is recycled. Each day, in developed countries, 250 litres of sewage, including waste washing water and industrial waste water, are treated for every person. Treatment of sewage depends on the action of bacteria to break down waste organic material.

What is sewage?
Sewage iIs a mixture of waste solids and liquids from toilets, sinks, washing machines and the water that runs through the gutters in streets. This sewage is mostly water, but also contains chemicals, detergents, faeces, urine, paper and other rubbish that washes into drains. Untreated sewage is called raw sewage. If it is allowed to flow into streams and rivers; it can cause pollution and be very harmful.

 Treatment of sewage
 Raw sewage should be treated for the following reasons:
- It is a health risk; faeces and urine contain many harmtul bacteria, such as those that cause cholera, typhoid and dysentery.
- If people drink, or swim in, water that has been contaminated by sewage, they may become infected by these diseases.
- The large amount of organicC material in raw sewage provides food for large numbers of bacteria in the rivers; the bacteria use up the oxygen in the water, so there isn't much lett over for other animals.
- It has an unpleasant smel, even over large distances.
- It is mostly water, a valuaole resource that cannot be wasted.
- A large amount of sewage is produced and it cannot be disposed of. Figure below shows a summary or the main processes in the treatment of sewage.

1. The raw sewage is passed through screens to remove any large objects.
2. The sewage is allowed to settle so that stones, grit and even tin cans can sink down and be removed.
3. The sewage is passed to the primary settlement tank so that the sludge sinks down and separates from the liquid.
4. In the aeration tank, the liquids are sprayed over a filter bed of porous rocks covered with bacteria. The spraying allows plenty of air into the liquid so that the bacteria break down the liquid part of the sewage into nitrates. The liquid, known as effluent, passes to the secondary settlement tank. Any solids are allowed to settle and removed as sludge. After treatment, the sludge is sometimes used as fertiliser or dumped at sea.
5. The clean effluent is passed out through a fine mesh, and discharged into a river.

Recycling of paper

Paper is made from trees.. Huge numbers of trees have to be cut down each day to produce the raw materials for paper and cardboard. In some countries, forests are grown pecically to provide wood for paper making. When trees are harvested, new trees are planted. The number of trees being cut down can be reduced if waste paper is recycled. Waste paper is one of the most important materials used in the manufacture of paper. We can put old newspapers, magazines and waste paper in a recycling bin. These bins are often found at schools that are trying to raise money by Collecting as much waste paper as possible to sell to a recycling factory.

How paper is recycled
The paper is mixed with water in huge machines to form a pulp. The pulp is rinsed to remove the treatment chemicals and may be bleached. It is then rolled into sheets and used for making paper products, such as paper bags and packaging material.

How species can be conserved
An 'endangered' species is any species in danger of extinction through all or a significant portion of its range.
As examples, the brown hyaena, Hartmann's mountain zebra and black rhino are endangered and may become extinct. A species can become endangered for several reasons, including:
- the number of available habitats falls below a critical level.
- the population of the species falls below a critical level.
For example, the Hartmann's mountain zebra is a type of zebra that became endangered because of hunting. A species may even be at risk of becoming extinct if there is not enough genetic variation in the population. This can happen even if the population is still quite large. A number of species are being threatened by industrialisation, overhunting, or reckless population management practices. Many species are killed for their fur (leopard), for supposed medicinal uses (rhino and pangolin), ivory (elephants), or asa food source (bush meat).

Advantages and disadvantages of tourism for conservation
 Advantages
You are probably aware that the tourism industry is the backbone of the Namibian economy, together with mining and agriculture. Conservation of natural resources attracts tourists, which has the folloWing benefits to the economy of the country:
- International tourists bring strong foreign currencies into the country through payment for facilities and services, such as accommodation, transport and entertainment, and to maintain wildlife parks.
- The tourism industry creates employment opportunities in the form of tour guides, lodges, hotels, restaurants, recreational places and the like.
- The government earns more revenue from tourists who pay taxes and visa fees.
- Tourism helps prevents extinction of species.

Disadvantages
While it is beneficial for a country such as Namibia to allow tourists to visít areas of natural beauty and wildlife, if these natural resources are not utilised in a Sustainable manner, tourism may pose a threat to the ecosystem in the following ways:
- here may be damage to species and their habitats by road networks, vehicles and camping sites.
- Extra noise and human movement could disturb wildlife.
- Pollution by non-biodegradable materials (plastics, cans and bottles) and chemicals may harm wildlife.
- Increased competition in space between human and animals may force wild animals are damage to crops, homesteads, water supplies and livestock.
-Criminals may take advantage of tourists and rob them of their belongings.
- Illegal immigration, smuggling of goods and drug traficking may increase.

 Why conservation programmes are important
It is important to conserve the variety of living things on Earth. Not only do we have moral and cultural reasons for conserving endangered species, but conservation:
- maintains the future possibility that plant species might be identified for medicines
- keeps damage to food chains and food webs to a minimum
- protects our future food supply.
Some species in Namibia are endangered, including the brown hyaena, Hartmann's mountain zebra, pangolin (Manis temmincki), African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), the dwarf python (Python anchietae), the spotted rubber frog (Phrynomantis affinis) and the Damara dik-dik. They could be helped by Conservation measures, such as:
- education programmes
- captive breeding programmes
- legal protection and protection of their habitats
- making artificial ecosystems for them to live in.
Plant species can also be endangered. Seed banks are a conservation measure for plants. Seeds are carefully stored so that new plants may be grown in the future.
There are different ways of conserving species:
- Know what species in your area are endangered.
- Volunteer your time to protect the wildlite in your area.
- Plant native flora.
- Do not use toxic herbicides or pesticides.
- Do not purchase illegal products that Come from endangered species.
- Support zoos and other wildlife parks.
- Donate to organisations that are working to help endangered species.
- Reduce your water consumption.
- Reduce the amount of pollution that you cause. - Join a conservation organisation.

The end, posted by Mrs Smith Merlin.