BIOA02H3 Chapter 57: Chapter 57 text notes
25 Apr 2011
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Conservation biology: an applied scientific discipline devoted to preserving the diversity of life on. Difference in conservation biology now: (i) multidisciplinary, (ii) doesn"t only concentrate on species that benefit us. Conservation biology is a normative scientific discipline. Normative = the embracing of certain values and the application of the scientific method in order to achieve these values. Conservation biology is a normative scientific discipline; not neutral. Humans depends on other species for food, fibre and medicine. Humans derive aesthetic pleasure from interacting with other organisms. Causing the extinction of other species raises serious ethical issues. Extinctions make the study of ecological relationships and species interactions difficult: more species lost/extinct, the harder it is to understand the structure and the functioning of ecological communities and ecosystems. Species-area relationship = a well-established mathematical relationship between the size of an area and the number of species that area contains.
