Deck 12: Conservation

Question 1

Mild habitat disturbances:

A) Have similarly deleterious effects on all primates
B) Appear to benefit primates with specialized diets
C) Appear to benefit primates with generalized diets
D) Have similarly beneficial effects on all primates

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Concerns with the effects of habitat fragmentation on primate populations:

A) Reflect the risks of allopatric speciation
B) Focus on the loss of genetic diversity
C) Involve the higher mutation rates isolated populations experience
D) Justify intensified logging in continuous tracts of forest

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The bushmeat market:

A) Has increased in parts of the world where logging operations are making remote forests accessible
B) Has increased in response to more stringent export regulations
C) Is a unique phenomenon in recent history because primates were not hunted by humans in the past
D) Is an effective way to eliminate the health risks that primates pose to humans

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Sustainable forest management:

A) Has been highly effective in conserving primate habitats
B) Involves the total protection of existing ecosystems without use of forest products
C) Is more costly to implement and yields lower profits than one-time, unsustainable logging
D) Has gained wide acceptance as the conservation strategy of the future

Question 5

Eco-tourism can be an effective part of conservation programs:

A) For all primates in all parts of the world
B) For large primates that are capable of defending themselves from humans
C) For primates that have never been studied by humans
D) For charismatic primates in politically stable regions of the world

Question 6

Nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs:

A) Are primarily concerned with zoonoses
B) Can serve as effective liaisons between researchers and policy makers
C) Are development organizations concerned with profits
D) Rarely include people from primate habitat countries

Question 7

The relevance of taxonomy to primate conservation:

A) Is ignored by scientists inclined to "split" variant populations into separate species
B) Is important in identifying conservation priorities
C) Involves identifying species most closely related to humans
D) Provides insights into population viabilities

Question 8

Stable isotope analyses:

A) Are risky because they require blood samples
B) Provide noninvasive ways of understanding basic features of primate reproductive biology
C) Are limited to hair taken from museum specimens
D) Can be used to distinguish primates living in open versus closed forest habitats

Question 9

Fecal steroid analyses:

A) Provide noninvasive ways of assessing fertility in wild primates
B) Have shown that steroid hormones are excreted in the feces at the same rate in all species
C) Can be conducted without concern over whether the steroids deteriorate over time
D) Are useful in distinguishing primate habitat preferences

Question 10

Hair samples for genetic analyses:

A) Can be obtained from all primates without resorting to invasive techniques
B) Have been obtained by capturing wild chimpanzees and other apes
C) Can be collected from the sleeping nests that some primates construct
D) Are rarely useful because of the small amount of DNA found in the hair follicles

Question 11

Involving local people in conservation efforts:

A) Increases their interest in hunting
B) Is an essential component of programs to protect primates and their habitats
C) Does not require a long-term commitment
D) Rarely succeeds

Question 12

Sclater's guenons:

A) Are the most endangered guenons today
B) Are protected by unviolated hunting taboos throughout their range
C) Are prime targets as bushmeat
D) Are considered important trophy species in the international wildlife trade

Question 13

Since 1990, deforestation rates in the Amazon have:

A) Shown annual declines
B) Remained constant
C) Continued to fluctuate
D) Steadily increased

Question 14

Which of the following statements about rhesus macaques is false?

A) They often live in close proximity with humans
B) Their contributions to human biomedical research include the Salk polio vaccine
C) Declines in wild populations led to more stringent regulations on their importation
D) They are now thought to harbor the HIV-1 strain that infects humans

Question 15

Conservation efforts on behalf of the world's endangered primates:

A) Cost money, which is still in short supply compared to need
B) Are economical, especially if they rely on noninvasive methods
C) Have diminished because of financial limitations
D) Are money-making enterprises

Question 16

People who hunt primates are at great risk because:

A) Many primates carry respiratory diseases that can be transmitted to humans.
B) Hunting is likely to increase the retaliatory attacks of primates against villagers.
C) Hunters can be exposed to lethal pathogens when they come into contact with the blood of primates through open wounds during the butchering process
D) Primate meat not a good source of protein.

Question 17

List three of the major threats to primates today.

Question 18

Discuss the ecological and demographic factors that affect the viability of primate populations in small, isolated forest fragments. Include specific examples of primates in your answer.

Question 19

For each of the following conservation initiatives, explain the rationale behind them and the obstacles that can undermine their effectiveness:
A. Sustainable forest management
B. Eco-tourism
C. Captive breeding

Question 20

Select one example of noninvasive research methods, and describe how results from such studies can contribute to both advances in our understanding of primate behavioral ecology and conservation efforts on behalf of endangered species.

Question 21

Conservation biologists disagree over whether the best way to protect endangered species is by setting aside a single large (=SL) area that contains suitable habitat versus several small (=SS) areas that contain suitable habitat but are not connect to one another. (a) Using your knowledge of evolutionary ecology and conservation biology, discuss the arguments for and against each of these positions for primates in general.
(b) Then, using your knowledge of primate behavioral ecology, discuss how characteristics such as body size, reproductive rates, and degree of ecological specialization might influence the effectiveness of one type of approach over the other. Be sure to give examples of particular primates in your answer.