🎒 Base knowledge and understanding

✅ Tasks

🌿 Content

🔑 Key terms

Phase 1

Which reserve would you choose?

Imagine you are a conservation planner. You have been given a budget to protect a rare species of forest bird. You must choose between two options:

Option A: Two small, isolated patches of forest (each 50 ha), separated by 20 km of farmland, located 5 km from a major city.

Option B: One large block of forest (200 ha), roughly circular, surrounded by a mix of low-intensity farmland and woodland, located 40 km from the nearest town.

Which option would you choose and why? Write 2 to 3 sentences justifying your decision.
List two factors that you think would affect the effectiveness of a conservation area. We will return to these at the end of the lesson.

Phase 2: Active management

Protection vs active management

3.3.5 Habitat conservation strategies protect species by conservation of their natural environment. This may require protection of wild areas or active management.

Include one example of a habitat where active management has been required and one example of the establishment of an ecosanctuary using pest-exclusion fencing. Surrounding land use for the conservation area and distance from urban centres are important factors for consideration in conservation area design.

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Some habitats can be conserved simply by protecting them from human interference and allowing natural processes to continue. The Swiss National Park, which you studied in the previous lesson, is an example of this approach: the core zone operates under a strict non-intervention policy.

However, many habitats only exist in their current form because of particular types of human activity. If that activity stops, natural succession will change the habitat into something different, and the species that depend on the current state will be lost. These habitats require active management to maintain them.

Active management can include controlled burning, selective grazing by livestock, mowing, scrub removal, water level manipulation and even selective culling. The key idea is that the habitat is a community held at a particular stage of succession by ongoing human intervention. (HL students: the term for this is a plagioclimax community.)

Two important factors affect the success of any conservation area:

Surrounding land use: agricultural runoff, roads, light and noise pollution, pesticide drift, and invasive species from adjacent farmland or urban areas can all undermine conservation efforts within the reserve.
Distance from urban centres: reserves close to cities face greater pressure from development, recreation, air pollution and disturbance, but may also benefit from higher public awareness and volunteer support.

Explain what is meant by a community held at a particular stage of succession by human activity. (HL: use the term plagioclimax.)
State two forms of active management that might be used to prevent succession in a habitat.
Explain how surrounding land use could negatively affect a conservation area.

🎒 Base knowledge and understanding

✅ Tasks

🌿 Content

🔑 Key terms

Phase 1

Which reserve would you choose?

Which option would you choose and why? Write 2 to 3 sentences justifying your decision.

List two factors that you think would affect the effectiveness of a conservation area. We will return to these at the end of the lesson.

Phase 2: Active management

Protection vs active management

Explain what is meant by a community held at a particular stage of succession by human activity. (HL: use the term plagioclimax.)

State two forms of active management that might be used to prevent succession in a habitat.

Explain how surrounding land use could negatively affect a conservation area.

Case study: La Grande Cariçaie, Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland