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Wildlife conservation.

Wildlife conservation aims to protect plant and animal species as the human population encroaches on their resources.

Biology, Ecology, Conservation, Storytelling, Photography

Asian Elephant Family

Filmmakers and photographers are essential to conservation efforts. They take the photographs, such as these Asian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus), and the films that interest others in protecting wildlife.

Photograph by Nuttaya Maneekhot

Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting plant and animal species and their habitats . Wildlife is integral to the world’s ecosystems , providing balance and stability to nature’s processes. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure the survival of these species, and to educate people on living sustainably with other species. The human population has grown exponentially over the past 200 years, to more than eight billion humans as of November 2022, and it continues to rapidly grow. This means natural resources are being consumed faster than ever by the billions of people on the planet. This growth and development also endangers the habitats and existence of various types of wildlife around the world, particularly animals and plants that may be displaced for land development, or used for food or other human purposes. Other threats to wildlife include the introduction of invasive species from other parts of the world, climate change, pollution, hunting, fishing, and poaching. National and international organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the United Nations, and National Geographic, itself, work to support global animal and habitat conservation efforts on many different fronts. They work with the government to establish and protect public lands, like national parks and wildlife refuges . They help write legislation, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 in the United States, to protect various species. They work with law enforcement to prosecute wildlife crimes, like wildlife trafficking and illegal hunting (poaching). They also promote biodiversity to support the growing human population while preserving existing species and habitats. National Geographic Explorers, like conservation biologists Camille Coudrat and Titus Adhola, are working to slow the extinction of global species and to protect global biodiversity and habitats. Environmental filmmakers and photographers, like Thomas P. Peschak and Joel Sartore, are essential to conservation efforts as well, documenting and bringing attention to endangered wildlife all over the world.

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• Published: 22 February 2023

Public interest in individual study animals can bolster wildlife conservation

• Christine E. Wilkinson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5462-0086 1  

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume  7 ,  pages 478–479 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Scientists have long debated the potential benefits and detriments of assigning names to individual study animals 1 . Motivated by the goal of maintaining scientific objectivity, some researchers shy away from labelling study subjects with proper names or from publicizing such names 1 . On the other hand, naming animal study subjects can boost researcher empathy 2 , and assigning identities to individual study animals is both necessary and customary in behavioural, population and conservation-related studies 3 , 4 . Beyond the practical value of naming individual study animals, narratives around animal names have the power to engage the public with conservation initiatives.

There is an increasing body of evidence that demonstrates the power of narrative in shifting people’s attitudes and behaviours around critical environmental topics such as climate change 7 . This aligns with decades of research that connects people’s emotions with their desired and implemented actions towards environmental management 8 . Anthropomorphism, meanwhile, has been associated with holding mutualist values towards wildlife — such as an aversion to lethal removal 9 . Naming individual study animals and creating public-facing narratives around them is one potential method of harnessing relevant positive attitudinal correlates of anthropomorphism and associated human emotional connections.

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January 10, 2019

The Biggest Issues for Wildlife and Endangered Species in 2019

It’s going to be a rough year, but we’ll also see some progress

By John R. Platt

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Wildlife didn’t have an easy go of it in 2018. We lost  the last male northern white rhino , the vaquita porpoise continued its slide toward extinction, poachers kept targeting pangolins and other rare creatures, and through it all the Trump administration kept trying to whittle away at key protections for endangered species.

So with that rough bit of recent history, what does 2019 hold?

Well, in most cases it won’t be pretty. There will be more blood, more habitat loss, more legislative attacks and more extinctions—but at the same time, there will also be signs of hope and progress on many levels.

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Here are some big issues that experts say we should be watching in 2019:

Climate Chaos

Of course, climate change will continue to threaten species around the world in 2019.

“The impacts of climate change aren’t showing signs of slowing, and this administration refuses to recognize it,” says  Charise Johnson  of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Water temperatures are rising, increased flooding, deforestation, fires, storms—these are all things that affect a species’ existence.”

And new threats continue to emerge. “There’s been a lot of discussion about how global climate change affects ocean acidification, and now there’s emerging evidence that the even greater threat is reduced oxygen levels,” says noted conservationist  William Laurance  of James Cook University. A study published last month found that ocean  deoxygenation could have a major impact on zooplankton , one of the building blocks for the ocean food web. Deoxygenation also causes increased algal growth, like the red tides that choked the coasts of Florida this past year and killed  hundreds of manatees and  tens of thousands of fish .

“Changes in ocean composition will be a large-scale driver of mortality,” Laurance says. “Some people are calling this ‘the great dying.’ ”

A related issue in the Arctic also appears to be another emerging threat. According to the just-released “ Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues for Global Conservation in 2019 ” (the  tenth annual edition of this study ), climate-change induced release of carbon from polar ice will further worsen global warming, while the release of mercury from thawing permafrost will create a toxic threat for animals, plants and soil.

Meanwhile, on top of the obvious weather-related changes, climate change could create an additional unexpected threat to some species: wildlife trafficking.

“Some species will undoubtedly decline as a result of climate change, making them rarer and thus potentially even more desirable by those who trade in them,” explains Richard Thomas, global communications coordinator for  TRAFFIC , the anti-wildlife-trafficking organization. “Addressing wildlife trade issues and promoting sustainable harvesting are likely to become more important than ever,” he says.

The (tiny) bit of good news related to climate change? Because so many scientists are studying it, we’re learning more and more about its effects.

“I think research showing when, where and how species are able to adapt to some changes is promising,” says amphibian biologist  Karen Lips  of the University of Maryland. The more we know about exactly how climate change threatens certain species—or about how they can adapt to it—the better we can do at protecting them from extinction.

Politics in the Trump Era—and Beyond

Among the greatest threats to wildlife are the Trump administration and similar politicians around the world, such as Brazil’s new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who took office last week and immediately moved to  undermine indigenous rights in his country .

“The new president in Brazil could unravel 50 years of progress for species, tropical forests and indigenous people,” says Lindsay Renick Mayer, associate director of communications for  Global Wildlife Conservation . That could be devastating to one of the world’s most biodiverse regions on the planet, which is often referred to as the “lungs of the Earth.”

Mayer adds that the recent election in Madagascar could be just as bad. Former president Andry Rajoelina, whose previous tenure was marked by a  dramatic increase in illegal logging, deforestation  and  biodiversity loss , was reelected last month, although as of press time the election remains mired in  protests  and  accusations of fraud . “The risk of losing the amazing biodiversity of Madagascar is always a big story and it could get worse now,” Mayer says.

Getting back to the Trump administration, many experts worried about how things will play out for this country’s wildlife in the year ahead.

“The federal government is shirking its duty to protect species and commit to conservation programs,” says Johnson of the Union of Concerned Scientists, who points to  three potential rule changes would diminish the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act  and other conservation regulations, among many other attacks against the laws. “This, in addition to funding cuts for species listings, will put a strain on conservation efforts,” she says.

Johnson expects funding to remain an issue in 2019, as will further attacks against the Endangered Species Act.

Others echoed those thoughts and fears about the ESA. “I think our current administration has shown that the environment and conservation are not high priorities,” says Lips. “I think that has a dampening effect on the actions of the federal agencies.”

There’s a potential positive side to this, she adds: “I have heard, however, that historically this produces increased donations to NGOs and increased activism by citizens.”

Indeed, that may have also helped inspire last November’s “ blue wave ,” the newly elected officials from which took office this month. Many of our experts expressed cautious optimism about these new government representatives.

“I think one of the biggest stories of the year is going to be what Democratic House oversight of the Trump administration can do for environmental policy,” says shark scientist  David Shiffman . “Each individual thing they do will be very subtle and maybe you won’t even know what’s happening on time, but the aggregate effect, I think, will be slowing down a lot of the harmful decisions made by this administration.”

Roads to Ruin, But a Push to Preserve

But outside of Washington, things are speeding up. New road and infrastructure projects, many backed by Chinese investment, are currently being carved into critical habitats in Indonesia, Africa, the Amazon and other regions. Much of this stems from China’s  Belt and Road Initiative , a development strategy to build extractive industries in 70 nations around the globe along with overland roads, ports, railways and pipelines to exploit them.

“We’re experiencing an avalanche of new infrastructure projects,” says Laurance, who points out that the Initiative has at least 7,000 developments planned or underway. One of the most notorious projects is a gigantic hydroelectric dam that  could wipe out the newly discovered Tapanuli orangutan  (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Sumatra.

Meanwhile, a similar—if not even more extensive—proliferation of illegal roads is being constructed around the world by loggers, miners, poachers and other extractive industries. These activities threaten everything from elephants and tigers to insects and rare plants.

One big problem is that conservationists don’t always know where these roads—legal or otherwise—are being built, and without that information it’s impossible to protect species from development.

“It’s actually really difficult to try to get even basic maps of where roads are,” Laurance says. Right now he and his team pore over satellite images by hand, looking for signs of new disturbance—not an easy prospect when images vary by surface, shadowing and other factors. “Our group has spent something like a thousand hours trying to map these roads,” he says.

Their results of their labor-intensive work are rather shocking: “For every kilometer of legal road, we’ve mapped around three kilometers of illegal roads,” Laurance says. “That’s a very rough average, but it gives you an idea of the magnitude of the problem.”

Laurance has issued a call for help to develop a software tool to automate the road-discovery process. “We’ve got an urgent need to detect the roads and tell governments, look, here’s where there’s illegal activity,” he says.

Without that, conservation—and species—will lose ground every day. “The bottom line is we need to be able to keep track of roads in real-time, on a global scale, and especially in developing countries,” he says.

As this road-building goes on, governments around the world face a tight deadline to protect some of their most pristine wildlife habitats—or at least say they’re doing so. The signatories to the  Aichi Biodiversity Targets  have until 2020—next year—to meet 20 conservation goals, including conserving “at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services.”

Most countries haven’t come close to that goal yet. Many of the experts we spoke with expressed hope that the tight deadline will result in some good, quick land and water protection that could protect countless species, but cautioned that these efforts should be watched carefully to make sure they truly protect key habitats and that they offer connectivity between disparate species populations.

The oceans will also be a big part of the Aichi targets. “You’ll probably see a lot of new, large marine protected areas established in the next year,” says Shiffman. He cautions, though, that some of these could be established in places where there’s no fish or other species to protect, or no system in place in which to protect what’s there. “They could end up being paper parks—parks in name only,” he says.

A Host of Other Issues

Here are a few more factors predicted to play a big role in 2019. First, we continue to learn more about how plastic waste affects wildlife and the environment. Most recently, a study found that  100 percent of sea turtles had plastic  or microplastics in their digestive systems. With  more and more plastic being produced every day , this will be a major focus of research and conservation the coming year.

Meanwhile many experts also expressed fear about emerging diseases, like those affecting  bats , frogs and salamanders.

“Emerging diseases are increasing in numbers, impacts, and in incidents, and are likely to cause greater losses of species,” says Lips. “They don’t often get the attention that climate change does, and the time scale is accelerated.”

Lips also noted that it’s often hard to get funding and other support for these growing problems because they’re less in the public eye. “People and the media tend to focus on the current emergencies rather than the slow, long-term problems because we are not very good at maintaining focus and attention,” she says.

The threats of poaching, snaring and wildlife trafficking will also remain significant around the world, as the forests of southeast Asia and the plains of southern Africa became emptied of their animal life and as “valued” species such as tigers, rhinos and pangolins face ever-increasing pressures.

Right now this activity is all illegal, but that could change in the blink of a pen stroke. “We need to watch out for the pro-trade agenda” like this past year’s attempt by China to  legalize the medicinal trade in rhino horns and tiger parts , cautioned Rhishja Cota, founder of the wildlife advocacy organization  Annamiticus . This may also mean keeping an eye out on the Trump administration’s continuing efforts to promote big-game hunting and resulting trophy imports by its wealthy patrons.

Finally, as habitats shrink and poaching and other threats take their toll, a growing number of species are likely to benefit from last-gasp captive breeding, either to boost their wild populations or to keep them alive once their habitats have disappeared. The red wolf and Florida grasshopper sparrow captive-breeding programs may save those species from extinction in 2019. 

Another species starting the year off on better footing is one of the world’s rarest birds, a duck called the Madagascar pochard ( Aythya innotata ), just returned to the wild after 15 years thanks to a captive-breeding program in Scotland, of all places. Other incredibly rare species likely to benefit from similar programs this year include the Sumatran rhino ( Dicerorhinus sumatrensis ) and maybe even the rarely seen saola ( Pseudoryx nghetinhensis ).

“We haven’t had a camera trap photo of saola since 2013 and no biologist has ever seen one in the wild,” says Mayer from Global Wildlife Conservation. “But the Saola Working Group and partners are hoping to detect saola and begin to catch them next year f

or a conservation breeding program in Vietnam. Next year could be the year we rediscover this species and work toward breeding it.”

The Countdown Begins

The year 2019 has just barely begun, but experts warn us that the opportunity to make a difference on these issues is already running short. “I don’t want to sound too bleak, but time is literally running out for the world as we know it,” say TRAFFIC’s Thomas. “The Earth simply can’t take the punishment of relentless over-exploitation of its natural resources, poisoning of its atmosphere and pollution of its oceans. We need to put aside political differences and work together to do something about this catastrophic situation—and quickly.”

Which of these threats to wildlife and endangered species do you worry about most in the coming year—or which additional threats do you think also need to be discussed? Share your thoughts online using the hashtag #Wildlife2019 .

This post first appeared on The Revelator on January 7, 2019.

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Mark S. Boyce

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Ecologists are increasingly actively involved in conservation. We identify five key topics from a broad sweep of ecology that merit research attention to meet conservation needs. We examine questions from landscape ecology, behavioral ecology, ecosystem dynamics, community ecology, and nutrient cycling related to key topics. Based on literature review and publication trend assessment, consultation with colleagues, and roundtable discussions at the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology, focused research on the following topics could benefit conservation while advancing ecological understanding: 1. Carbon sequestration, requiring increased linkages to biodiversity conservation; 2. Ecological invasiveness, challenging our ability to find solutions to ecological aliens; 3. Individual variation, having applications in the conservation of rare species; 4. Movement of organisms, integrating ecological processes across landscapes and scales and addressing habitat fragmentation; and 5. Trophic-level interactions, driving ecological dynamics at the ecosystem-level. Addressing these will require cross-disciplinary research under the overarching framework of conservation ecology.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-013-0410-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Introduction

Today more than ever, scientists are expected to provide solutions to global, regional, and local conservation challenges. A compilation of 100 scientific questions that, if answered, would benefit conservation practice and policy (Sutherland et al. 2009 ) provided an extensive list of research topics grouped in 12 sections, a design that resulted in a seemingly daunting set of tasks with less-than-clear overarching research needs. Three horizon scans (Sutherland et al. 2010 , 2011 , 2012 ) identified potentially pressing issues but did not expand on the relevance of each issue to conservation, provided little factual information on ‘current knowledge’ and did not give direction on prospective research pathways. Although these were useful exploratory exercises, a condensed, but informative, list of ‘hot’ topics is needed to focus the attention of researchers and public.

Long lists of research needs may be perceived with cynicism. Information overload can discourage the public, leading to knowledge uncertainty because of apathy (McKinney and Schoch 2003 ), attentional fatigue, fatalistic attitudes and even feelings of helplessness (Stokols et al. 2009 ), or disbelief over the usefulness of conservation efforts (Lorenzoni et al. 2007 ), thus clearly working against conservation goals. Because understanding human influences within the ecosphere will aid environmental mitigation of anthropogenic effects, our intention is to highlight possible priority topics for research with conservation relevance. We provide concise background and suggestions for further research needs on topics that we identified and filtered through peer input and publication trend analysis, targeting ecologists and conservation scientists at all career stages. Certainly, tomes could be written on each topical research area, but our examination will necessarily be cursory (i.e., not comprehensive), in accordance with the intention of being succinct. We recognize that given our research experience in animal ecology, the topics probably have an animal bias, which we attempted to attenuate by incorporating plant aspects/examples for each topic.

Methodology

Based on a broad literature overview we formulated a list of candidate ‘hot’ topics that were then presented to 15 academic colleagues at the University of Alberta with the purpose of bounding the list to five major issues, a number decided upon a priori and in line with our aim to be concise (details in Electronic Supplementary Material ). We used an easily and broadly implementable means of assessing research trends on selected topics of interest by performing a keyword search in an online peer-reviewed publication database, analysing publication records with simple regression statistics (details in Electronic Supplementary Material ).

We presented the five topics at the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (2010). Round table discussions with audience members following the presentation revealed overall agreement and we recorded constructive feedback regarding chosen topics.

The topics are: carbon sequestration, invasiveness, individual variation, movement, and trophic (predator–prey) dynamics. During discussions at ICCB it became apparent that these topics could be relevant to early-stage researchers such as young professors or graduate students trying to identify those directions that might best make a difference, as well as ecology program directors trying to decide on new hires. Societal interest and funding opportunities will ultimately determine whether specific research endeavours will take place, and presenting focal topics such as those identified herein to a wide and diverse audience affords opportunities for feedback. Conservation-focused research filtered through a critical readership would not only help to advance the sciences of conservation and ecology, but also meet society’s expectations of science delivering realistic solutions to the biodiversity crisis.

Because of absence of priority ranking for the Sutherland et al. ( 2009 ) 100 questions, we were unable to effectively contrast the five topics against their ‘most important’ topics. Three of our topics [selected without prior inspection of Sutherland et al. ( 2009 )] are also clearly present in their list. Individual variation is absent, and invasiveness is not explicitly identified. Although non-native species management is addressed, not all non-natives are invasive, highlighting possible gaps in the list of 100 questions.

Our literature search revealed a yearly rate of increase in the number of peer-reviewed publications on the five topics that exceeded that for ecology and conservation during 2006–2010 (Fig.  1 ; Table S1 in the Electronic Supplementary Material ). For each topic, we report the three journals that included the largest number of publications, revealing a mix of conservation, ecology, and management journals (Fig.  2 ).

Slopes of trends in number of peer-reviewed publications included in the Thomson Reuters ISI Database for 2006–2010: Carbon sequestration ( black diamond ), Invasiveness ( dark gray square ), Individual variation ( light gray triangle ), Movement ( gray diamond ), Trophic dynamics ( black triangle ), and all Ecology and Conservation ( white disk ). The graph was generated based on number of publication records obtained by performing a search by key topic versus all ecology and conservation topics

Peer-reviewed journals which published papers on five ‘hot’ topics for ecological research relevant to conservation during 2006–2010. The keyword search occurred across all journals in the Thomson Reuters ISI Database, but only the top three journals for each topic as ranked by frequency of publication (%) are provided per topic: Carbon sequestration ( lined gray ), Invasiveness ( light gray ), Individual variation ( dark gray ), Movement ( black ), Trophic dynamics ( sandy gray ). As a reference, the three journals with the highest number of papers in ecology and conservation are in white at the disk periphery

Carbon Sequestration

In the long term, conservation efforts for many species will fail if climate change is not properly addressed. Changes in temperatures and moisture regimes and increases in the incidence of chance events such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes could wipe out isolated populations of threatened species. Also, species invasions can be facilitated by climatic changes, and warming can have enormous consequences for carbon fluxes in forested ecosystems (Peltzer et al. 2010 ).

Some species, especially homeotherms, likely will adapt to temperature changes, but others are less equipped to cope with such fluctuations and may go extinct. Future efforts to predict the impacts of climate change on species should recognize the importance of inter-specific interactions, because species with narrow niches that compete strongly with each other are more affected (Urban et al. 2012 ). Heterotherms are particularly vulnerable because they rely on ambient conditions to regulate body temperature, and some have temperature-dependent sex determination.

Reducing energy use, switching to non-carbon fuels, and carbon sequestration are potential ways to decrease global warming and all have the common denominator of reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere (Schrag 2007 ). While the first two require societal shifts, carbon sequestration can be addressed more readily with biotic and abiotic technologies [terminology sensu Lal ( 2008 )].

Biotic (natural) approaches involve conserving grasslands, forested areas, wetlands and peatlands, while recognizing their role as long-term carbon sinks. Biotic strategies typically lead to a ‘win–win’ outcome by merging the objectives of carbon retention, habitat conservation, and food security (Lal 2008 ). While we know that biodiversity conservation generally benefits ecosystem services (Macfadyen et al. 2012 ), the challenge is to search for agricultural practices that achieve both. In forested environments, carbon sequestration is balanced against plant respiration and approaches equilibrium as communities mature. Afforestation with tree monocultures involving fast rotation tree planting can provide carbon retention, but preserving native forests is in most cases a better compromise because non-native monocultures typically harbour lower levels of biodiversity than native forests, can reduce stream flows, and acidify and salinize soils (Jackson et al. 2005 ). Additional research is needed to show how compatible carbon retention and conservation of biodiversity are across various ecosystems, and more importantly to find ways in which targeted outcomes can be maximized for both.

Effective biotic strategies rely on plants as carbon retention agents but also on the substrate on which plant growth and development occur. Land-use change from natural ecosystems to tillage agriculture results in up to 60 % depletion of soil organic carbon in temperate regions, and 75 % in tropical regions (Lal 2004 ). Organic carbon loss decreases productivity of agricultural lands but can be addressed through agroforestry, rotation of plant cultures and use of organic rather than chemical fertilizers (Lal 2004 ). Conserving original habitats and restoring disturbed ones such as returning marginal cropland to rangeland/grassland are some of the best biotic tactics to sequester carbon into the soil (Booker et al. 2013 ). For land used as pasture, high stocking density can result in substantial soil carbon loss, more so for livestock than for native herbivores (Bagchi and Ritchie 2010 ). Comparing soil carbon loss from livestock versus native grazers across ecosystems would provide a broader perspective on how ranching impacts carbon budgets.

Abiotic (engineering) options involve physical manipulation of carbon such as injection of carbon underground or into oceans, and precipitation of carbonates (Lal 2008 ). While abiotic approaches are potentially effective at storing considerable amounts of carbon, large-scale technological tests are necessary before wide implementation because of high costs of these engineering methods and the risk of carbon leakages (Schrag 2007 ; Lal 2008 ). Quantifying biohazard potential of abiotic schemes and researching ways to minimize environmental impact will require study at the interface between ecological engineering, restoration ecology, and conservation biology. Preliminary evidence shows that injection of carbon on ocean floors into ‘carbon lakes’ may have adverse effects on deep sea biota (Seibel and Walsh 2001 ).

More than a decade into the twenty-first century, we urgently need better understanding of the carbon sequestration consequences of land-management alternatives. Meanwhile, some areas require urgent attention and may provide multifaceted conservation opportunities. For example, forest protection for carbon sequestration and maintenance of biodiversity is needed immediately in Brazilian Amazonia, where 70 % of deforestation is caused by cattle ranching for human consumption (Malhi et al. 2008 ). A strategic approach to the conservation of North American prairies can enable carbon storage, minimize the ongoing decline of grassland birds, and address depletion of the Ogallala aquifer caused by ground-water pumping for irrigation (McGuire 2011 ).

Ecological Invasiveness

Despite recent “eco-bigotry” criticism and attempts to downplay the effects of invasives on native species (Davis et al. 2011 ), biological invasions lead to extinctions (Clavero and Garcia-Berthou 2005 ) and threaten biodiversity on a global scale (see replies to Davis et al. 2011 in Nature ). Invasive species transform ecosystems, with effects being most pervasive when invasives exhibit attributes that are absent or poorly developed in native species (Wardle et al. 2011 ). Attributes that make many invasive species highly successful include rapid growth, high mobility and potential for colonization, large body sizes, absence of predators and parasites, high tolerance to environmental stressors, and ability to survive with few resources.

Habitats subjected to low nutrient levels and extreme climates generally are less susceptible to invasions than habitats with high nutrients, or that have been modified by humans (Chytry et al. 2008 ). Islands can be more exposed to invasions because of small sizes compared to mainland, which facilitates colonization by invasives, once these have reached the island system (Gimeno et al. 2006 ).

Spread of invasives incurs high costs to native ecosystems and country economies. In the United States, alien species are a main cause of extinction and result in control costs in excess of $120 billion annually (Pimentel et al. 2005 ). Ballast water carried by commercial ships is emptied in harbours around the globe and contains many non-native species. Ballast water exchange where a ship’s ballast tanks are emptied and refilled in mid-ocean between the home and destination ports can reduce propagule pressure and invasion risk (Wonham et al. 2005 ). The South American red imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) decreases the richness and density of native North American ant species at small-scales and reduces density at biogeographic scales (Gotelli and Arnett 2000 ).

Important disease vectors such as Anopheles sp. mosquitoes transmitting malaria also may be spreading in association with global warming, and the controversy over this topic (Lafferty 2009 ) calls for research that accounts for the complexity of potential confounding effects.

Most success stories of invasive-species control are of vertebrate invaders managed on islands, such as feral cats eradicated from small islands (Nogales et al. 2004 ). However, complete removal of invasives sometimes triggers unanticipated effects, such as spread of previously undetected exotic plants following removal of invasive herbivores (Zavaleta et al. 2001 ). Communication gaps and differences in social pressures and expectations for ecologists compared to general public generate controversy over control of invasives (Shine and Doody 2011 ). Questions on ecological and economical feasibility, as well as ethical issues surrounding lethal control, will result in different views depending on target species and personal background, belief system and interests.

Once invasion has occurred, control can be difficult to achieve, underlining the need for predictive spread models to facilitate limiting invasions. The urgent need for data and predictive models on invasions creates an exciting context for ecological research of conservation relevance especially given that, despite common belief, disturbance may be a poor predictor of invasions (Moles et al. 2012 ).

The spread of invasive species can be forecasted with diffusion models incorporating human-mediated transport and climate-based niche models. Typically, models focus on the spread, establishment, or control stages of invasions for single species; models have yet to be developed for invasive hybrids, which can have higher impacts on the environment than the parental species (Hall and Ayres 2009 ). Density-dependent, stage-structured approaches that model population-level response of invasives to attempted control can bring insights into compensatory effects and instabilities (Zipkin et al. 2009 ), and testing such effects using empirical data across species can help guide control. Investigating differences in traits linked to performance is a promising way to forecast invasions for plant species (Van Kleunen et al. 2010 ) and should be further tested on animals.

Studies combining experimental and simulation work could prevent unwanted side effects of controlling invasives and post-control monitoring should be part of any invasion management program (Zavaleta et al. 2001 ). In particular, predictive power could be improved by merging phenomenological and mechanistic models (Gallien et al. 2010 ). Additional work is necessary to delineate native taxa most vulnerable to ecological invasions, given that some native and invasive species are able to evade extinction through precipitated coevolution (Leger and Espeland 2010 ). More research is needed on whether species with significant ecological effects are the ones that also trigger major impacts on ecosystem services (Pejchar and Mooney 2009 ).

Comparative research on behavior and trophic interactions in native and invasive ranges can identify potential functional roles of invasives in the systems they have invaded and can guide control (Withgott 2004 ). And given the number of invasions caused inadvertently by humans through world-wide travel and commerce (Pejchar and Mooney 2009 ), we should not neglect the social component of dealing with invasiveness, such as findings effective ways to inform people about invasions and getting them to avoid accidental introductions.

Individual Variation

At the end of the twentieth century, ecological modeling of populations started to incorporate individual variation (Judson 1994 ), recognizing that individuals are different, whether by genetics, environment, or both. Individual-level niche variability is important in ecology and conservation because of its influence on competitive interactions and population stability (Bolnick et al. 2003 ). However, most studies in wildlife conservation and management still treat conspecifics as biologically equivalent, ignoring the fact that variability within populations is at the core of natural selection.

Focusing on variation in behavior reveals unequal resource partitioning among individuals and ultimately brings insights into individual and population-level fitness (Clutton-Brock and Sheldon 2010 ). Some individuals may be key to population survival by providing defense against intruders, promoting group cohesion, or because they are able to find and exploit novel opportunities associated with landscape change. Social hierarchy and territoriality are examples where knowledge of individual behavior should be part of research agendas aimed at conserving species especially when only few individuals persist. In some species individual immigrants to a population are responsible for sexually selected infanticide, a reality which needs to be taken into consideration when designing relocation programs. While the above examples pertain to the animal world, individual variation also has been observed in plants, opening research avenues into plant “foraging behavior” (McNickle et al. 2009 ).

Perhaps of greater relevance to conservation are the roles of learning, memory, and familiarity in the life history and “personality” of individuals. Because personality can be subject to natural or sexual selection (Reale et al. 2007 ), studying personality has relevance to ecology and conservation. For example, “bold” individuals might be more aggressive and reproductively successful than “shy” ones but boldness also might result in spatial overlap with humans potentially leading to conflicts. The maladaptive consequences of being attracted to risky areas (ecological traps) occur because human-caused habitat change often is too rapid or complex for a timely, beneficial evolutionary response of wildlife (Schlaepfer et al. 2002 ). Ecologists should embrace a behavioral approach to identifying ecological traps, with potential application on anthropogenically modified landscapes (Robertson and Hutto 2006 ).

Although some concern exists on whether they are general enough to be applicable, individual-based models (IBMs) can account for inter-individual variability, by simulating populations as being composed of discrete agents that represent individual organisms, with sets of traits that vary among the agents (DeAngelis and Mooij 2005 ). Individual variation also can be incorporated into statistical models, creating separate models for each individual. In a two-stage approach, models are fit to data from individual animals and then averaged to obtain responses at the population-level (Fieberg et al. 2010 ). This is easily applicable to resource selection functions (RSFs), which may be more suitable than IBMs at characterizing resource use/distribution at large spatial scales (Fieberg et al. 2010 ), especially when coupled with geographic information systems (GIS). Alternatively, applying random-effects modeling to the entire dataset incorporates individual variability while accounting for unequal sample sizes. This approach showed that the population-level response by elk ( Cervus elaphus ) to residential and agricultural areas of high mortality risk was not characteristic of individual-level responses, with only 58 % of elk that died selecting proximity of human-made structures (Dzialak et al. 2011 ).

Behavior coding and experimental designs that exclude non-target behaviors are fundamental approaches that enable personality measurements in behavioral ecology (Carter et al. 2012a ). Data on individual as well as spatial variation should be included in Population Viability Analysis (PVA) to account for increased risk taking by some individuals and, conversely, to the rescue effect by individuals with different demographic tactics in changing environments (White 2000 ).

Modeling individual-level variability would benefit from explicit accounting for variation in genetic traits (Bolnick et al. 2011 ). Beyond simply describing occurrence of personality variation/behavioral differentiation, real data input into predictive models is necessary to substantiate how personality influences a variety of ecological aspects including life history, dispersal, habitat use, density, and even speciation (Wolf and Weissing 2012 ), thus ultimately affecting population persistence. Personality differences exist within as well as among species, and more variation in behavioral type generally is associated with better ability to cope with varied ecological contexts (Sih et al. 2012 ).

Non-invasive sampling methods using remote monitoring techniques such as camera traps can be used to study individuals of high conservation concern such as tigers ( Panthera tigris ), which are uniquely identifiable based on coat patterns (Carter et al. 2012b ). Species reintroductions are an obvious example of situations when conservation can benefit from information on personality differences (Reale et al. 2010 ). Knowledge about individuals also would be helpful for species considered at risk of extinction from environmental stochasticity. Such species might sometimes be at higher risk of extinction from demographic variance (Melbourne and Hastings 2008 ).

Movement of Organisms

Turchin ( 1998 ) defined movement to be the process by which individual organisms are displaced in space over time. Movement can add or subtract individuals from a population, influences inter- and intra-specific interactions, facilitates gene flow, and can rescue populations from extinction. A special issue of PNAS formally introduced the study of movement as a critical component of ecological and evolutionary processes with relevance to habitat fragmentation, climate change, and biological invasiveness (Nathan 2008 ). The relevance of movement ecology was reinforced by a review of GPS telemetry for measuring movement (Cagnacci et al. 2010 ).

Quantitative analyses of movement range from calculating simple movement metrics such as step length or turning angle, to models incorporating habitat (step selection functions; SSFs, Fortin et al. 2005 ) or behavioral states (state-space models; SSMs, Patterson et al. 2008 ). Conceptually simple ways of investigating animal movement include separating movement by season or time of day, or splitting movement into foraging and searching bouts. Foraging areas can be detected by area-restricted search behavior, such as herbivores decreasing step lengths and increasing turning angles in areas with dense food patches.

Modern satellite-based telemetry yields unprecedented opportunities to document fine-scale movement paths of individual animals and long-range movements of marine mammals and turtles, while isotopic signatures have been used to document bird migrations. Understanding determinants and mechanisms of movement (e.g., behavior), and tracking long-distance dispersal are necessary to design effective corridors. Identifying corridors based on landscape resistance to movement is facilitated by a variety of methods (Zeller et al. 2012 ), with RSFs offering promise by characterizing patterns of habitat and landscape selection by animals (Chetkiewicz and Boyce 2009 ).

One concern is that by increasing connectivity, corridors might channel spread of invasive plant and animal species (Hulme et al. 2008 ), and also could serve as pathways for disease transmission (Hess 1996 ). Pushing knowledge boundaries for the ecology of movement in the context of connectivity is important given that fragmentation is a major driver of extinction, aggravating the impacts of habitat loss especially at low proportion of available habitats (Swift and Hannon 2010 ).

Expansion of human-made features such as roads, seismic lines, or wind farms motivate research needs on animal orienteering and navigation, and how these developments might interfere with survival and fitness. Road developments can alter animal movements, with many species being negatively affected (through direct mortality and effective habitat loss), while others being relatively unaffected, or even positively influenced (Fahrig and Rytwinski 2009 ).

Sun, stars, magnetic, and olfactory gradient maps as well as landmarks are used by a variety of vertebrates in long-range homing movements and travel within familiar areas, respectively (Phillips et al. 2006 ). Because relocated ‘problem animals’ such as large predators or megaherbivores can home into their original ranges (Massei et al. 2010 ), insights into travel distances and movement choices can result in effective relocation, preventing conflict reoccurrence at the site of origin, as well as along the return paths.

Movement is not solely an attribute of the animal kingdom, e.g., dispersal of propagules influences plant distributions. Some plants rely on wind or animals for dispersal, and therefore conserving the latter requires conserving the animal dispersal agent as well. Less commonly, taxa such as coconut palms ( Cocos nucifera ) use water as dispersal agent, with propagules being carried thousands of km by ocean currents until being washed ashore where they can germinate. Shifts in ocean currents associated with human-induced climate change may influence dispersal patterns leading to changes in species distributions. In terrestrial systems, investigations on seed dispersal across large spatial extents that encompass fragmented environments will be necessary to make informed conservation decisions (McConkey et al. 2012 ). In particular, research must disentangle the role that humans have as dispersers of invasive plants, or facilitators of connectivity for native plant species (Auffret 2011 ).

Researchers should focus on better understanding the non-arbitrary scale at which animals choose resources during movement, and be aware that human activity can modify inferences on space use (Harju et al. 2011 ). Viewing dispersal as a product of integrating movement ecology and biogeography (Cumming et al. 2012 ) enables conservation decisions at regional/continental-level. A broad-scale approach is particularly relevant given the mounting need for species to track climate-induced habitat changes across landscapes that are increasingly modified by humans (e.g., Vos et al. 2008 ). At a fine scale, we are only beginning to understand the complexity of movement, and modeling this process is a challenge that requires models incorporating behavior into movement predictions. Irrespective of scale, ensuring species persistence requires maintenance of landscape permeability for organism movement, which is achievable only if strategic policies embody the needs of animals and plants as well as humans (Kostyack et al. 2011 ).

Trophic-Level (Predator–Prey) Interactions

Persistence of food webs is an important long-term goal largely because of its relevance to maintaining biodiversity in the face of habitat degradation (Stouffer and Bascompte 2010 ). In turn, biodiversity can be essential for ecosystem stability (MacDougall et al. 2013 ), with stability being maintained by interactions occurring within food webs (Rooney and McCann 2012 ). Preserving links between interacting species is thus important for ecosystem-level conservation (Tylianakis et al. 2009 ).

Paine ( 1980 ) coined the term ‘trophic cascade’, defining it as a series of interactions that “cascade through the community, transmitted by a chain of strongly interacting links”. Examples of dynamics across multiple trophic levels are relatively sparse in literature (however, see Sergio et al. 2008 ) and surrounded by controversy over the general applicability of the ‘trophic cascade’ concept (Polis et al. 2000 ).

Nonetheless, the predicted collapse of world marine fisheries, which has already occurred for many species, is an example of top-down control in which humans are the top predator driving trophic-level dynamics. Also in marine systems, variation in CO 2 can result in behavioral modifications in predator–prey interactions (Ferrari et al. 2011 ), and such effects should be investigated experimentally for other species given their direct conservation relevance. In terrestrial systems, cottonwood ( Populus sp.) and oak ( Quercus sp.) recruitment are negatively affected by the removal of large carnivores from the USA Great Plains, resulting in increased browsing pressure by domestic livestock and wild ungulates (Ripple and Beschta 2007 ).

Eradication of top predators not only leads to changes in prey and vegetation composition, but also facilitates expansion of medium-sized carnivores, through mesopredator release (Prugh et al. 2009 ). Restoration of top predators can benefit biodiversity by alleviating the effects of mesopredators on prey (Ritchie and Johnson 2009 ), but recent evidence suggests that once predators have been removed, ecosystems can require a long time to recover even when predator reintroductions are successful (Marshall et al. 2013 ). However, ecosystem recovery rates must be assessed in other systems in order to allow generalization. Quantifying biodiversity at sites with versus without top predators, and measuring biodiversity and herbivory before versus after top-predator reintroduction could provide ecological context for predator importance to biodiversity conservation.

Some organisms can be involved in trophic cascades that traverse ecosystem boundaries. Dragonflies and frogs have complex life histories that make them vulnerable to predation as aquatic larvae, whereas adults are consumers in terrestrial habitats. The magnitude of predation by adults in terrestrial habitats is likely influenced by mortality of larval stages in aquatic habitats (Knight et al. 2005 ).

Under the influence of global warming, trophic interactions occurring between species can modify species abundances (Van der Putten et al. 2010 ), and a combination of empirical studies and modeling is necessary to generalize the direction of change in abundances to inform conservation. At a broad scale, shifts in phenology associated with climate change can be harmful by interfering with trophic dynamics (Thackeray et al. 2010 ), but further assessments are necessary to highlight such effects at finer scale.

By controlling competing invaders, native predators can facilitate native prey persistence (Juliano et al. 2010 ), but more compelling evidence is needed on the role of predator richness in maintaining stability and functioning of ecosystems. Complications arise because multiple predators may have additive, antagonistic, synergistic or at times null effects on prey assemblages (Cardinale et al. 2006 ). Future studies on the effects of predator diversity in ecosystems should simultaneously consider non-trophic interactions and spatial effects of predators in addition to their direct effects of prey consumption (Leroux and Loreau 2009 ). Studies of the “ecology of fear” provide opportunities for testing behavioral and evolutionary hypotheses with relevance to conservation, such as non-consumptive effects of predators on prey (Brown et al. 1999 ). In some situations, prey may be endangered or threatened, in which case understanding predator–prey interactions would allow conservation strategies that enable prey persistence (Ward et al. 2012 ).

And while we know some of the direct effects that the ‘human predator’ has in many of Earth’s ecosystems, much still needs to be explored about indirect effects, such as what type and level of human activity is perceived by animals as a threat, and how human presence helps prey escape predators. For example, although large areas with minimal human disturbance are generally necessary for persistence of wide-ranging mammals, ecologists are learning that it is possible for mammalian carnivores to persist in areas with humans (Carter et al. 2012b ). Conversely, when predators do not tolerate humans, prey can use human presence as a safety refuge (Muhly et al. 2011 ), with implications for the ecology of trophic-level interactions. In urbanized areas, the strength of predator–prey interactions is mediated by human-originated foods, which can limit predation (Rodewald et al. 2011 ). While these are fascinating examples of animal adaptations to human-use landscapes, a wider array of empirical evidence is necessary and must be disseminated strategically (e.g., with the help of social scientists), to facilitate public acceptance of conservation strategies that foster human–wildlife coexistence.

Conclusions

As ecologists and conservation scientists we are privileged to live in a time when our work can affect the future of conservation. Focused approaches on applied problems can generate science-based solutions for a rapidly changing world. Analyses should strive to increase predictive abilities for species response to change under alternative scenarios, thereby serving conservation goals accordingly. Efforts will be most productive if ecologists collaborate with other researchers; working with social scientists can be critical for successful conservation. Public consultations and clear presentation of research findings will go a long way towards gaining public trust.

Spatially structured models incorporating multiple species will facilitate increasingly realistic projections on the spread of invasives. Designing more robust tests of animal cognition such as learning, memory, and navigation can help in the conservation of species with low population numbers. Understanding the way animals and plants move will require more mechanistic models that can incorporate movement decisions and influences on dispersal, respectively, rather than making gross assumptions or accepting high degrees of uncertainty. Investigations of trophic-level dynamics and non-consumptive effects of predators on prey will shed light on the role of top predators in structuring ecosystems and influencing biodiversity. Conservation of undisturbed habitats and responsible land-use can facilitate carbon sequestration while simultaneously fostering biodiversity conservation. But perhaps the biggest value for the money spent will come from the restoration of economically marginal croplands that can sequester carbon. If based on sound economics and because of the high prices imposed on carbon emissions, we can exploit the economic system to achieve conservation.

Efforts of conservation ecologists will be most effective when incorporating animal behavior into research programs (Caro 2007 ) and if choosing applied questions that span key topics or can accommodate them. For example, by monitoring individual animals to understand wildlife response to human activities and human-induced habitat change, we also can gain insights into their movement and discern individual variation. Data on trophic dynamics also can be collected, and properly designed sampling can reveal study subject invasiveness, or effects on invasive species. Such an integrative approach would enable suggestions for conservation or restoration that simultaneously enable maintenance of biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

Acknowledgments

We thank CC St. Clair for putting forward the idea for this review and the many colleagues and attendants at the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology for their willingness to discuss ecological topics relevant to species management. Special thanks to E. Cameron, S. Ciuti, A. Derocher, L. Foote, M. Lewis, S. Mayor, G. Stenhouse, and anonymous referees for providing helpful comments and reviewing drafts of the manuscript. We also thank M. Bacon, M. Erickson, K. Knopff, S. Miller, A. Morehouse, J. Northrup, K. Teichman, L. Vors, and G. Yates for discussions. BC was supported by the Alberta Ingenuity Fund and the Alberta Conservation Association.

Biographies

was recently awarded a doctoral degree in Ecology from the University of Alberta, Canada. His particular interest is in applied ecological research with conservation relevance.

is a professor of Biological Sciences in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, Canada, and Alberta Conservation Association Chair in Fisheries and Wildlife. His research interests include various ecological modeling approaches for conservation and management.

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How to help protect endangered species

As you read this, countless species are on the brink of extinction. We live in an era where global biodiversity faces threats that are caused in large part by human actions.

But there are things we can do to help. Individuals committed to conservation can take collective action to protect endangered species from extinction. Here we explore some practical strategies that you can implement in your daily life to protect endangered wildlife.

16 things you can do to help endangered species

Conservation efforts don’t just have to be spearheaded by large organizations—individuals can make a difference, too. The choices we make in our day-to-day lives can have a positive impact on threatened species. 

Buy products from sustainable sources

Choosing cruelty-free alternatives helps reduce the demand for goods that contribute to the endangerment of species. Avoid buying products made from animal skins, scales, ivory, or other endangered animal products. 

Though it can seem like a personal choice that only affects you, you directly contribute to wildlife conservation by actively purchasing from sustainable sources. 

If enough people make these choices, businesses will be encouraged to adopt ethical practices and invest in more sustainable alternatives. 

Advocate for conservation

Using your voice to bring attention to the plight of endangered species educates others and builds support for conservation causes.

This can be as simple as talking to your friends and sharing resources or links on social media, along with attending events, signing petitions, and writing to elected officials.

Not sure where to start? We have a list of active petitions that you can sign to help ensure your voice is heard—from helping to save North Atlantic right whales from extinction to forming a national biodiversity strategy. 

Avoid plastic use and littering, and recycle properly

Ensuring that you properly dispose of waste and recyclables can play a huge part in protecting the environment and animal populations. Recycling plays a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of plastic pollution by diverting materials from landfills and ensuring that plastics don’t end up endangering wildlife through ingestion or entanglement.

Beyond proper recycling, try to use alternatives to plastic products (especially single-use plastics). Products like metal straws instead of plastic ones, beeswax wraps instead of cling film, and reusable water bottles can all make a difference. 

Learn more about wildlife and educate others 

Empower yourself through knowledge. By learning more about wildlife and endangered species —and then sharing that knowledge with others—you can create a ripple effect of awareness.

IFAW is all about educating, sharing knowledge, and promoting collective action. Our blog is a great place to start if you want to learn more about conservation and endangered species. Learn more about endangered wildlife in Africa , Europe , Asia , Australia , North America , and South America , or take a look at our list of the world’s most endangered mammals or birds .

Support conservation organizations 

Supporting conservation organizations is a great way to protect endangered species. Donations provide crucial funding for research, habitat protection, wildlife rescue, and species recovery programs.

If you’re not in a position to provide financial support, there are other ways you can support conservation efforts. Identify organizations dedicated to causes you to care about, follow them on social media, and reshare their posts. This helps to amplify their reach and spread awareness. You can also look for volunteering opportunities at conservation organisations and wildlife centres in your local community.

Through these actions, you can support the collective effort to safeguard endangered species. 

Support policy initiatives that help animals

One of the most effective ways to protect endangered species is through policies prioritizing animal welfare and conservation. Many animals are already protected by law, and the more we can introduce legislation to protect threatened species, the better.

You can stay informed about relevant legislation and advocate for stronger protections for endangered species. Or try engaging with your local elected officials by expressing concerns and providing input on wildlife-related policies. You can also join or support organizations lobbying for effective conservation policies. 

Protect wildlife habitats

Individuals play a crucial role in protecting endangered species by safeguarding their habitats. Simple actions can make a significant impact, for example: 

• Letting your lawn grow provides a haven for important pollinating insects and small animals. 
• Planting native trees (and not cutting down existing ones) helps restore natural ecosystems. 
• Setting up water sources in your yard or garden aids local wildlife, especially during dry periods. 
• Planting native flowers supports pollinators, which is essential for the reproductive success of many species. 

You should also refrain from disturbing wildlife in your community. If you see a wild animal that appears orphaned or distressed, contact your local wildlife rehabilitation center for help. 

Participate in park, roadside, or beach cleanups

Participating in park, roadside, or beach cleanups is a direct action that can help you contribute to the protection of endangered species. Have a look to see if there are any community- or council-led cleanups in your area. 

Removing litter and waste preserves natural ecosystems, prevents harm to wildlife, and raises public awareness about the impact of pollution on endangered species and their habitats.

Host a community fundraising event

Organizing events like charity walks, auctions, or educational seminars can raise funds for conservation efforts. These events not only generate financial support but also help spread the word about the importance of biodiversity and conservation. 

Your event’s funds can be given directly to conservation organizations to support their efforts to conserve biodiversity.

Volunteer with an animal shelter or sanctuary that rehabilitates wildlife

Volunteering at a shelter is a hands-on way to directly contribute to protecting endangered species. 

Find an organization near you dedicated to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and inquire if they’re open to volunteers. By dedicating your time and skills to these organizations, you can help with the care of animals while also learning more about the cause. 

Use alternatives to pesticides

If you have a garden, avoid using pesticides on your plants and vegetables. Opting for natural and eco-friendly pest control methods helps maintain a balanced ecosystem without harming non-target species. Planting native vegetation that attracts natural predators can also reduce the need for chemical interventions.

For more information, you can speak with workers at your local garden center to find a solution that will protect your harvest without harming native wildlife around your home. 

Travel sustainably and support wildlife-friendly tourism

The next time you take a trip, avoid booking a package holiday and instead think a bit more deeply about ways you can travel sustainably to help reduce the negative impact of tourism on ecosystems.

This can include wildlife tourism, like safaris or whale watching, but make sure you look into tour operators that prioritize conservation and animal well-being.

Here are some ideas to make your trips more sustainable:

• Opt for eco-friendly accommodations and tour operators that prioritize conservation practices.
• Choose destinations with responsible wildlife tourism guidelines, ensuring minimal disturbance to natural habitats. 
• Participate in educational programs and eco-tours that raise awareness about endangered species and their conservation needs. 
• Respect local wildlife regulations, keeping a safe distance from animals in their natural habitats. 

Follow vessel speed rules on the ocean

If you’re a boat owner or driver, it’s essential to always follow vessel speed rules. This isn’t just for your safety—it also protects marine life below the surface. 

Strict ocean speed limits help protect whales and dolphins, whose navigation and communication can be disrupted by loud ocean traffic . Faster speeds are also linked to vessel strikes, which can be fatal for animals in the ocean. 

Support habitat connectivity 

Urbanization of natural habitats may be inevitable in some places, but it can cause habitat fragmentation for already vulnerable wildlife populations. For example, fences that mark land boundaries can become obstacles to animals looking to move around their habitats. 

You may not realize that individuals can take action to help prevent fragmentation or even reconnect habitats. For example, you can plant hedges or native trees in your yard instead of building fences. 

Make your home wildlife-friendly

Making your home as wildlife-friendly as possible is especially important if you live in a rural or suburban area. You can do many small things that will have a big impact on local wildlife. For example, you can:

• Keep your cats inside, especially at night.
• Secure garbage in bins with locking lids.
• Stick decals on windows to deter bird collisions.
• Place bird baths outside, and replace the water often to avoid disease transmission.
• Add native plants to your garden, along with plenty of wildflowers for pollinators.

Visit a national park

Next time you have a day or a long weekend off, take the time to visit a national park, wildlife refuge, or protected area. These places provide safe habitats for thousands of endangered species. While you get the chance to experience and enjoy nature, you’re also financially supporting the park, helping them continue their good work. 

Plus, the more people who visit these parks, the more likely governments are to fund them. 

Help IFAW protect endangered species

Protecting endangered species is necessary for the ongoing health of our planet’s ecosystems.

Organizations like IFAW need help from people like you who are committed to helping endangered animals. Embracing sustainable practices, helping us advocate for policy change, and supporting our conservation efforts are ways you can help endangered species worldwide.

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Wildlife Dissertation Topics

Published by Owen Ingram at December 29th, 2022 , Revised On August 11, 2023

Animals, plants, and microorganisms that can live in their natural habitat and are not domesticated or cultivated are considered wildlife. A wide range of animal and plant species are included in wildlife, including uncultivated mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish.

Numerous studies have been conducted in this area over the last couple of decades due to the continuously declining wildlife. Research on wildlife conservation, in particular, has received substantial funding. If you are thinking about the possible wildlife topics for writing a dissertation , our team has compiled many appealing wildlife dissertation topics that are sure to inspire you.

So without further ado, here is our selection of trending and focused wildlife thesis topics and ideas for your consideration whether you are an undergraduate, Master or PhD student.

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40 Excellent Wildlife Dissertation Topics

• The impact of avian migration patterns on illness transmission in seasonal host bird populations
• A study of the conservation efforts for the Himalayan snow leopard
• An investigation on how building railroads has affected the choice of habitat for moose in rural Canada
• Studying Wildlife Tours in Protected Areas: A Review of the Security Protocols & Procedures
• Optimizing Wildlife Management on Crop Farms using Site-Specific Modeling
• Protecting Wildlife Herbivores on Private Game Ranches in Africa
• A research project on avian ecology and protection in monsoon environments
• Researchers investigate the impact of shifting weather patterns on the migration patterns of Asian geese
• A review of the impact of selective annual hunting licenses on Pakistani markhor conservation
• A study of the successful rehabilitation of the declining markhor communities in northern Pakistan under communal ownership
• Structure of the Network and Perceived Legitimacy in Collaborative Wildlife Management
• Costs of the Transaction Private versus Public Wildlife Management Trade-offs
• Considering Tax Policy Ideas to Support Nongame Wildlife Programs
• A research project is looking at how beaver dams impact fish biodiversity
• How many other wildlife species are still undiscovered? Theory and proof
• A review of flagship species’ significance to conservation efforts
• A study of how politics affects the conservation of the African rhino. Are our concerns about doing business with China preventing us from saving rhinos?
• A study of how politics affects whale conservation. Does the imperative protect the whale trump our political worries about Japan?
• The results of aggressive initiatives for animal rights. How does it impact conservation efforts?
• Relationships between Humans and Wildlife: Coronavirus Evolution
• Possibilities for Interdisciplinary Science to Reduce Bio-security Risks from Illegal Wildlife Trade and Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens
• Opposition to animal testing. What progress has been made during the past 50 years?
• The impact of imprisonment on a grey wolf’s mating habits
• An investigation of the behavioural similarities and differences between domestic dogs and wolves kept in captivity
• Grey wolves’ responses to various confinement conditions focused on their mating habits
• The impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on local wildlife habitat and ecology
• The conservation efforts of commercial zoos
• The impact of industrial waste on the preservation of wildlife
• Global legislative impact of animal conservation
• The impact of climate change on the preservation of animals
• What Can Integrated Conservation and Development Projects Achieve in Tourism, Poaching, and Wildlife Conservation Areas?
• Increased tourist support for nature conservation, both financially and in other ways, including wildlife-based tourism
• Supporting Wildlife Tourism-Based Sustainable Livelihoods
• Urban Wildlife Health Surveillance Developing into Intelligence for Monitoring and Mitigation of Pests
• The Identification and Evaluation of Potential Wildlife Habitat Corridors
• What are some of the things that prevent the wildlife sector of the economy from growing?
• How can wildlife be improved so that people and various animals can species benefit?
• Why shouldn’t these animals be handled gently and with respect by everyone?
• What is the impact of tourists on the poor performance of wildlife sections in developing nations?
• Is it permissible for the government to use different types of trees and animals for scientific research?

We recommend you pick more than one topic and conduct a little research on all of them. You can use the internet or your local library to gather sources that were created on issues similar to your selection.

If you do not find enough information on one topic, move to the next option. Researching multiple issues will help you collect enough data for various dissertation topics and choose the one you found the most information on. 

Take inspiration from our list of wildlife dissertation topics, and get started with your dissertation without any further delay. You can also order a professional dissertation writing service from our expert writers, so you focus on other areas of life. 

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To discover wildlife dissertation topics:

• Research conservation challenges.
• Explore biodiversity hotspots.
• Analyze habitat or species concerns.
• Review scientific journals.
• Consult experts or professors.
• Select a topic aligning with your passion and field of study.

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How much Fear? Exploring the Role of Integral Emotions on Stated Preferences for Wildlife Conservation

AbstractScientific evidence suggests that emotions affect actual human decision-making, particularly in highly emotionally situations such as human-wildlife interactions. In this study we assess the role of fear on preferences for wildlife conservation, using a discrete choice experiment. The sample was split into two treatment groups and a control. In the treatment groups the emotion of fear towards wildlife was manipulated using two different pictures of a wolf, one fearful and one reassuring, which were presented to respondents during the experiment. Results were different for the two treatments. The assurance treatment lead to higher preferences and willingness to pay for the wolf, compared to the fear treatment and the control, for several population sizes. On the other hand, the impact of the fear treatment was lower than expected and only significant for large populations of wolves, in excess of 50 specimen. Overall, the study suggests that emotional choices may represent a source of concern for the assessment of stable preferences. The impact of emotional choices is likely to be greater in situations where a wildlife-related topic is highly emphasized, positively or negatively, by social networks, mass media, and opinion leaders. When stated preferences towards wildlife are affected by the emotional state of fear due to contextual external stimuli, welfare analysis does not reflect stable individual preferences and may lead to sub-optimal conservation policies. Therefore, while more research is recommended for a more accurate assessment, it is advised to control the decision context during surveys for potential emotional choices.

Social Repercussion of Translocating a Jaguar in Brazil

The translocation of “problem-animals” is a common non-lethal strategy to deal with human-wildlife conflict. While processes of wildlife translocation have been widely documented, little is known about the social repercussions that take place once the capture and the return of a problem-animal to its natural habitat fail and it has to be permanently placed in captivity. We investigated how the public, an important stakeholder in wildlife conservation, perceived the translocation of a female jaguar to a wildlife captivity center. The objectives were to (1) assess the public's perceptions (e.g., attitudes, emotions, awareness) toward the jaguar and its translocation process, and (2) how these psychological constructs are related. We used the social media profiles of the three institutions involved in the process (one responsible for the jaguar rescues, one that supported its recovery, and the one responsible for the jaguar's final destination) and analyzed the comments left by their followers on posts related to the jaguar and the translocation itself during 25 days. A total of 287 comments were analyzed through coding, a categorizing strategy of qualitative analysis; 33 codes were identified. Results showed high admiration for the work done, positive attitudes and emotions, and concern toward the animal. Lack of awareness about the translocation process was high, with comments of curiosity toward the situation being one of the most commonly found. To a lesser extent, people felt sad for the jaguar not being able to return to the wild and criticized the need for translocation. Admiration for the work had a strong relation with gratitude and broader positive perceptions toward the jaguar's story. Criticism related to concern, which was also related to a need for more information and curiosity. Our findings suggest that the public who engaged with those institutions through their Instagram accounts were grateful for seeing the jaguar safe, but were not aware of the complexity of the operation nor about the nature of the conflict with farmers. The public can either reinforce a particular action or jeopardize an entire operation, depending on their perceptions of the matter. In the case of this jaguar, the public held a positive view; however, we acknowledge the limitations of our sample and recommend further analyses of social repercussions among people who are not followers of these organizations. Furthermore, we recommend engaging other stakeholders to fully understand the human dimensions of translocating this jaguar. Finally, for social acceptance, we highlight the importance of transparency and reliability of the organizations operating the translocation.

A Review of Human-Elephant Ecological Relations in the Malay Peninsula: Adaptations for Coexistence

Understanding the relationship between humans and elephants is of particular interest for reducing conflict and encouraging coexistence. This paper reviews the ecological relationship between humans and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the rainforests of the Malay Peninsula, examining the extent of differentiation of spatio-temporal and trophic niches. We highlight the strategies that people and elephants use to partition an overlapping fundamental niche. When elephants are present, forest-dwelling people often build above-the-ground shelters; and when people are present, elephants avoid open areas during the day. People are able to access several foods that are out of reach of elephants or inedible; for example, people use water to leach poisons from tubers of wild yams, use blowpipes to kill arboreal game, and climb trees to access honey. We discuss how the transition to agriculture affected the human–elephant relationship by increasing the potential for competition. We conclude that the traditional foraging cultures of the Malay Peninsula are compatible with wildlife conservation.

Staff perceptions of COVID‐19 impacts on wildlife conservation at a zoological institution

Community-based tourism and local people's perceptions towards conservation.

Uganda is among the most bio-diverse countries and a competitive wildlife-based tourism destination in the world. Community-based tourism approach has been adopted in the country's conservation areas as a strategy to ensure that local communities benefit and support wildlife conservation. This chapter analyses local communities' perceptions of conservation and the benefits they get from tourism in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area. The study reveals that local communities were concerned about loss of protected resources and support their conservation irrespective of the benefits they get from tourism in the conservation area. There is need to design conservation programmes that focus on local community-conservation-benefits nexus which take into consideration the perceived conservation values, strategies for benefit sharing and incorporation of indigenous knowledge systems.

KONSERVASI HUTAN PADA JURNAL BIOLOGI INDONESIA PERIODE 2010-2020: SEBUAH STUDI BIBLIOMETRIK

A bibliometric analysis was carried out on the Indonesian Biology Journal for the period 2010 – 2020, with the aim of knowing 1) the distribution of keywords to see the description of the research published in the Indonesian Biology Journal 2010-2020; 2) article classification; 3) distribution of articles by year; 4) distribution of articles by issue number; 5) authorship pattern; 6) the most prolific writer; 7) affiliations of authors who contribute to the Indonesian Biology Journal; 8) the type of document used as a reference in the Indonesian Biology Journal 2010-2020. The bibliometric method was used, and the data was taken from the Indonesian Biology Journal from 2010 to 2020, which was downloaded via the address https://e-journal.biologi.lipi.go.id/index.php/jurnal_biologi_indonesia. Furthermore, the analysis of the distribution of articles based on keywords, distribution of class numbers, distribution of articles by year, distribution of articles by number of publications, pattern of authorship, most productive authors, pattern of authorship affiliation was carried out. Based on the results and discussion, it can be concluded that during 2010-2020, 315 article titles have been published and there are 1,343 keywords. Of the 50 most keywords, the keyword Biodiversity often appears 21 times (1.56%) then Genetic variation and Wildlife conservation each 20 times (1.48%), then Animal population 18 times (1.34 %), followed by Plant conservation 17 times (1.19%) and Animal conservation 16 times (1.19%). Next is Feeds and Plant growth substances each with 15 (1.11%), then In vitro culture and Plant diversity each with 14 (1.04%). Next, Vegetation is 13 (0.90%), followed by Habitat conservation and Plant species, each with 11 (0.82%). On the order of 50 keywords Drought resistance, with a total of 4 (0.29%). The highest class is class 635 with a frequency of 35 (11.11%). Articles written by a single author (71 titles; 22.54%) and articles written by collaboration (244 titles; 77.46%). the least number of articles published is in 2020, which is 1 article title (3,17). For issue number 1 starting from volume 6 to volume 16, 164 article titles have been published (52.06%). As for number 2 with the same volume, there were 151 article titles (47.94%). The most prolific writer is Hellen Kurniati with 13 writings, followed by Wartika Rosa Farida with 12 writings and then Witjaksono with 11 writings. Then Andri Permata Sari, Niken Tunjung Murti Pratiwi, NLP. Indi Dharmayanti, Tri Muji Ermayanti with 10 each, followed by Didik Widyatmoko and Risa Indriani with 9 each, Atit Kanti and Yopi with 7 each and Dwi Astuti, Eko Sulistyadi, Ibnu Maryanto, Inna Puspa Ayu each. 6 posts. LIPI is the first institution that contributes the most articles, with a frequency of 260 times. It is known that 7,354 document titles are used as references and the journal is in the first order of cited documents, with 4,591 titles (62.42%).

Fauna diversity in the southern part of the Kon Ka Kinh National Park, Gia Lai province

Kon Ka Kinh National Park (KKK NP) is a priority zone for biodiversity protection in Vietnam as well as ASEAN. In order to survey the current fauna species diversity in the southern part of the KKK NP, we conducted camera trapping surveys in 2017, 2018, and 2019. 28 infrared camera traps were set up on elevations between 1041 to 1497 meters. In total, there were 360 days of survey using camera trap. As result, we recorded a total of 27 animal species of those, five species are listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2020). The survey results showed a high richness of wildlife in the southern park region, and it also revealed human disturbance to wildlife in the park. The first-time camera trap was used for surveying wildlife diversity in the southern region of the KKK NP. Conducting camera trap surveys in the whole KKK NP is essential for monitoring and identifying priority areas for wildlife conservation in the national park.

The Growing Importance of Sustainable Wildlife Tourism in India and Involving Indian Youth in Promoting Wildlife Conservation

Federal funding and state wildlife conservation, human-wildlife conflict and community perceptions towards wildlife conservation in and around wof-washa natural state forest, ethiopia: a case study of human grivet monkey conflict.

Abstract Background: Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is predicted to increase globally in the vicinity of protected areas and occurs in several different contexts and involves a range of animal taxonomic groups whose needs and requirements overlap with humans. Human-monkey conflict exists in different forms more in developing countries and ranks amongst the main threats to biodiversity conservation. Grivet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops aethiops) are any slender agile Old-World monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus. This study was conducted to investigate the status of human grivet monkey conflict and the attitude of local communities towards grivet monkey conservation in and around Wof-Washa Natural State Forest (WWNSF), Ethiopia from September 2017 to May 2018. Questionnaire survey (143) was used to study the human-grivet monkey conflict and its conservation status. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the responses were compared using a nonparametric Pearson chi-square test. Results: Majority of respondents from both gender (male= 67.1%; female= 74.1%) were not supporting grivet monkey conservation due to its troublesome crop damaging effect. There was significant difference in respondents perceptions towards grivet monkey conservation based on distance of farmland from the forest (χ2= 12.7, df =4, P = 0.013). There was no significant difference in the techniques used by villagers to deter crop raiders (χ2= 14.73, df =15, P = 0.47). There was significant difference in respondents expectations on the mitigation measures to be taken by government (χ2= 40.01, df =15, P = 0.000). Based on the questionnaire result, 42.5 ± SD 8.68 of respondents in all villages elucidated that the causes of crop damage was habitat degradations.Conclusion: The encroachment of local communities in to the forest area and exploitation of resources that would be used by grivet monkey and enhanced crop damage by grivet monkey exacerbated the HGMC in the study area. As a result grivet monkeys have been killed relentlessly as a consequence of crop damage. This was due to negative energy developed in human perspective. Thus, awareness creation education program and feasible crop damage prevention techniques need to be implemented.

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Jacksonville Zoo on a mission: conservation of wildlife and wild places at home and abroad

The birth of three critically endangered Malayan tiger cubs at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens underscores the nonprofit institution's crucial but lesser-known role in global, national and state conservation efforts to save animals considered at risk of potential extinction.

Recently named Mina, Machli and Beppy, the cubs are the latest species survival success story at the zoo in North Jacksonville that's home to more than 1,500 exotic and rare animals along with 1,000 plant species.

Approximately 38 percent of the zoo's animal species are designated as critically endangered, endangered, threatened or vulnerable in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as well as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) or Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

"We are a conservation organization. We're here to make a difference in the world and to help ensure that future generations can experience wildlife and wild places," Jeff Ettling, president and CEO of Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, told the Times-Union.

The Jacksonville Zoo is among 239 accredited members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which sets standards for animal welfare and facility operations as well as oversees multiple species conservation/survival programs.

The bottom line: the Jacksonville Zoo — an AZA-accredited member since 1987 — is more than an entertaining place to spend an afternoon looking at animals.

"When people come and spend a day with us they are helping to make a difference in the world for wildlife and wild places," Ettling said.

Species survival plan

The Jacksonville Zoo participates in AZA's Species Survival Plan (SSP) as well as its Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) programs. Those programs involve working with other AZA-accredited zoos to focus on preserving the population of endangered and threatened species by using genetics, husbandry, demographics, and other scientific data.

"So between SAFE and SSP, we create an opportunity, No. 1 to maintain viability in our populations, which is probably our first opportunity to make a connection with guests. And through those connections and opportunities for them to make a difference in the world around us," said David Hagan, chief zoological officer for the Jacksonville Zoo.

It's about making a positive change for the planet as a whole, not just animals, he said.

"We're all interconnected. We can't survive unless the animals survive and the plants collectively. So, we all have to find a way to co-exist," Hagan said.

Animal ambassadors

Ettling said the SSP programs focus on the breeding of animals with different genetic lines to help stabilize species populations. Genetic material is exchanged between the parent animals — generally living at separate AZA zoos. But sometimes the potential parents live at the same zoo.

The three Malayan tiger cubs — two girls and a boy born Nov. 5 — and their parents, Cinta and Bashir , are the most recent Jacksonville Zoo species survival success stories.

The tiger family is among a combined total of 76 species in the zoo's SSP program. That program lists 43 as "signature species," while 33, including the Malayan tigers, are among 33 listed as "provisional species."

Born in April 2023, Banks was the first jaguar cub born at the Jacksonville Zoo in a decade. His parents, Babette and Harry, also live at the zoo but not together. Jaguars listed as a near-threatened species by IUCN are among 10 species in the zoo's SAFE program.

Other successes include two Eastern Bongo calves born last year. Designated by the IUCN as critically endangered, the Eastern bongos are among the signature SSP species at the zoo.

Animals some might consider less than cute — such as the Puerto Rican crested toad — also are a focus of the Jacksonville Zoo's species survival efforts. In May, the zoo repatriated 8,272 of the small amphibians back to Puerto Rico.

That was the largest group of Puerto Rican crested toads raised and released by the zoo. Its second-highest release was 3,720, but on average, the zoo typically releases about 1,000 annually.

Manatees a priority

Nursing critically sick and injured manatees back to health to be returned to the wild also is a Jacksonville Zoo priority. The zoo has released 35 since opening its Manatee Critical Care Center in 2017.

Manatees are designated a threatened species. Multiple conservation organizations are pressing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the iconic gentle marine animals as endangered.

Boat strikes, starvation and cold stress are the leading causes of Florida manatee deaths. A total of 556 manatees died last year, preliminary FWC data show.

The Jacksonville Zoo's Manatee Critical Care Center is one of only three such institutions in Florida. It's also the smallest but is expanding.

Manatees will be the first animals that zoo visitors see after they walk through a new 50-foot-high entranceway when an ongoing $70 million expansion project is completed in 2025.

J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver, former owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, donated $3 million for the new Manatee River exhibit that will expand significantly the existing Manatee Critical Care Center.

Craig Miller, curator of mammals, said currently they can handle five or six manatees, depending on their condition, at the care center. The zoo also has its own Marine Mammal Rescue Team that aids FWC personnel rescue injured and sick manatees.

"We'll be able to handle at least 15 in the new facility along with the current facility so we'll be looking at about 20 animals potentially," Miller said. "I think if you build it they will come. Unfortunately, even if the manatee population increases, that is just more animals that will get injured or sick."

Ettling said the new Manatee River exhibit "will be front and center," exemplifying the zoo's emphasis on conservation.

Conservation partners worldwide

Ettling said $1 from every single zoo admission and about $4 from every membership helps support the animals.

Jacksonville Zoo has a conservation strategic plan — an AZA requirement — which is regularly updated, said John Lukas, curator of wildlife conservation. Lukas and his staff work with about 40 conservation partners at home and abroad.

The plan has three components: global biodiversity, local/regional projects and a staff-driven program connecting zoo personnel with field projects, he said.

The zoo is a longtime partner with the University of Florida to support the conservation work of Rupununi Wildlife Research Unit in Guyana regarding jaguars, giant otters, giant anteaters and giant armadillos.

The zoo also works with Elephants for Africa — a Botswana-registered non-government organization focused on the conservation of African Savannah Elephants in Botswana.

In addition, the zoo supports the work of Lola ya Bonobo , which is the only bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Here at home, the zoo works with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regarding manatees and other wildlife.

Education key to species survival

The Malayan tiger cubs as well as other rare and exotic species at the zoo have a story to tell and lessons to teach as "ambassadors for the wild species," zoo officials said.

The zoo shares those stories via a variety of educational programs.

The zoo, Ettling said, is "kind of the last vestige of nature for a lot of kids." Pro-environmental behavior is formed at an early age so zoos and aquariums play a pivotal role in introducing kids to nature, he said.

Leading the zoo's education initiatives is free admission to every student in Duval County. Its Zoo Teens and Junior Volunteers programs also offer youth a chance to learn more about the animals and share that knowledge.

"Hopefully, they will go on to be good stewards of the planet as they get older," Ettling said.

For all ages, the zoo's Live Animal Cams — currently focused on the tiger cubs — introduces online viewers to the zoo's animals.

Exhibit honored: Jacksonville Zoo earns national recognition for Land of the Tiger exhibit

Rezoovenation boost: CSX donates $1 million to Jacksonville Zoo for new train station

And the Manatee River exhibit with the Manatee Critical Care Center is another showcase for the ongoing species survival efforts.

"… What we all envision, basically, is a world through our work where all people, respect, value and conserve wildlife and wild places," he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is home to hundreds of animals designated as endangered, threatened or vulnerable species. The designations come from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Some species have multiple designations. By the numbers, here are those species.

• 13 species IUCN Critically Endangered Species including the Blue-Eyed Black Lemur, Eastern Bongo, Western Lowland Gorilla, Puerto Rican crested toad and Malayan tiger
• 23 species IUCN Endangered Species including the Florida manatee, African elephant, Giant otter and Komodo dragon
• 26 species IUCN Vulnerable Species including the Reticulated giraffe, African lion, Asian small-clawed otter and Giant anteater
• 12 species IUCN Near-threatened Species including the Southern white rhinoceros, jaguar, African straw-colored fruit bat, Marbled teal and Bluntnose Stingray
• 19 species USFWS Endangered Species including the Black-and-white ruffed lemur, Giant otter, Malayan tiger, bonobo and Cotton-top tamarin
• 11 species USFWS Threatened Species including the African elephant, Puerto Rican crested toad, Florida manatee, Eastern indigo snake and Grevy's zebra
• 3 species FWC Threatened Species including the Florida manatee, Eastern indigo snake and Gopher tortoise

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Emerging Technologies Aid Conservation and Management

Climate change and biodiversity losses pose extraordinary challenges for the sustainability of natural ecosystems and the species that inhabit them.

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) supports research, education and Extension to advance the sustainability of agricultural, forest and range production systems. NIFA uses a variety of programs to support these priorities, including competitive grant programs and capacity funds such as Evans-Allen, McIntire-Stennis, Hatch and Smith-Lever.

Land-grant Universities are developing and applying emerging technologies that can help to more efficiently, accurately and safely monitor, measure and precisely manage these systems with minimal environmental impact.

Here are some examples of NIFA-supported projects.

• Arkansas Extension worked with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to map and monitor aquatic plant growth using submersible, remote-controlled drones to verify the growth of endangered aquatic vegetation. This will guide future management decisions in restoring the ecosystem of microbes, invertebrates and vertebrates needed to sustain native populations of black bass and crappie. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff  project is supported by 1890 Extension funds. 
• Washington researchers used unpiloted aerial systems to improve detection and quantification of forest disturbance by collecting fine-scale spectral signatures of tree mortality and disease and damage by wildfire and insects. This provides critical information for forest ecosystem management. The Washington State University project is supported by McIntire-Stennis funds. 
• Researchers in Tennessee are studying the effects of increased soil temperatures on microbial decomposition of organic matter and amount of carbon dioxide released. In a long-term experiment, they collected data from artificially heated soils to develop simulation models, increasing the accuracy and efficiency of predictions of how soil can retain carbon in a changing climate. This Tennessee State University project is supported by Evans-Allen funds. 
• Monitoring streamflow under extreme conditions is essential for understanding how environmental stresses affect freshwater ecosystems, but equipment to collect data can be expensive to install and maintain. Arkansas researchers adapted a low-cost system typically used to measure streamflow in human-made waterways to monitor natural channels of smaller watersheds and collect essential data to understand changes in hydrology in natural disturbances like floods and drought. The University of Arkansas project is supported in part by Hatch funds. 
• Inefficient water usage, including both over- and under-irrigation, can affect production costs and environmental quality as well as crop yield and quality. Researchers in Pennsylvania developed a low-cost, easily implemented, internet-connected automatic irrigation-scheduling system that conserves water while increasing crop production. This Penn State project is supported by Hatch and other USDA competitive funds. 
• Florida Extension and Master Gardener volunteers augmented physical demonstration gardens by launching a website to share information on the plants that cannot be included on traditional signage. These virtual demonstration gardens give visitors more detailed information about plants and can help gardeners make sustainable decisions about plant selection, establishment and care. They also improve the experience of visitors by being ADA compliant and accessible online. The University of Florida project is supported in part by Smith-Lever (3b&c) and county funds. 
• Connecticut scientists created a public-facing water quality mapping tool for the Long Island Sound watershed by compiling publicly available water quality data for streams, rivers and groundwater. This interactive map will help multiple audiences understand water quality and make improvements. The University of Connecticut project is supported by Hatch funds. 
• University of California researchers developed a sensitive fiber that can detect neonicotinoids in the nectar and sap of live, flowering plants.
• Washington State University scientists developed a low-cost, minimally invasive sensor that can rapidly quantify multiple biomarkers associated with even very low pesticide exposures. 
• Ohio State University researchers created a simplified way to measure the toxicity of compost samples.

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Study considers ways to increase accessibility for all wildlife enthusiasts

O ne in three birders experiences accessibility challenges to participation in birding, according to Virginia Tech researchers Emily Sinkular and Ashley Dayer.

"I like to think of our research as blending together two previously unconnected fields: disability studies and wildlife recreation," said Sinkular, a Ph.D. student and lead author of the study published March 26 in the journal Human Dimensions and Wildlife . "There's been quite a lot of research on disability and lots of research on birding, but very few researchers have combined these two topics together."

The researchers used a nationwide survey of U.S. wildlife viewers to compare the challenges and needs of birders with and without disabilities. Along with co-authors Freya McGregor, research associate in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and Morgan Karns, they analyzed open-ended responses using models of disabilities, or different frames of reference, to understand better how to talk about and think about disability so it resonates with disabled people.

Dayer's Human Dimensions Lab has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Multistate Conservation Grant Program to increase research on wildlife viewers with disabilities and to support state fish and wildlife agencies in learning how to support these populations better. Her lab specializes in enhancing conservation success through applying social science to engage people effectively and works to ensure that all voices are represented in research and conservation.

Dayer, an affiliated faculty member of Fralin Life Sciences Institute's Global Change Center, said she hopes the work broadcasts a message of both inclusion and hope.

"My message for neurodiverse or disabled people: you are not alone in experiencing a desire to access nature and also facing additional challenges to doing so," Dayer said. "And your challenges are increasingly being seen and addressed."

"We suggest agencies and organizations reflect on how to make their programs more accessible and train staff or volunteers to do so as well," said Dayer, associate professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. "Acknowledging that the responsibility to support the participation of disabled birders rests on society and institutions, not on disabled people themselves, is essential."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four Americans has a disability, and that number is expected to rise with an aging population. Evidence further shows that people with disabilities are also historically underserved in wildlife-related recreation, including birding.

While the researchers found that birders with disabilities experienced more constraints than their peers, including lack of accessible features, safety concerns, and crowds at birding sites, commonalities in their needs for support of their recreational activity were also shown.

Birders with and without disabilities expressed interest in access to more high-quality birding locations and information about where and when to view wildlife. This suggests strategies to improve wildlife viewing opportunities can benefit both groups.

"This shows us that agencies or organizations making changes to better include birders with disabilities can actually benefit everyone," said Sinkular, who is also a student in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation.

Ultimately, studying and planning for including people with disabilities in recreation will support broader social inclusion for this large population. The benefits of birding are multifaceted, including mental well-being, social connections, and, ultimately, conservation actions. This research helps to bring these benefits to people with disabilities.

More information: Human Dimensions of Wildlife (2024)

Provided by Virginia Tech

Innovative Cloning Advancements for Black-footed Ferret Conservation

DENVER — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its genetic research partners announce the birth of two new black-footed ferret clones – known as Noreen and Antonia – and are providing an update on their latest efforts to breed previously cloned black-footed ferret, Elizabeth Ann .   

Noreen was born at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado, while Antonia resides at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. Both were cloned from the same genetic material as Elizabeth Ann. They are healthy and continue to reach expected developmental and behavioral milestones. The Service and its research partners plan to proceed with breeding efforts for Noreen and Antonia once they reach reproductive maturity later this year. This scientific advancement to clone the first U.S. endangered species is the result of an innovative partnership among the Service and critical species recovery partners and scientists at Revive & Restore, ViaGen Pets & Equine, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The application of this technology to endangered species addresses specific genetic diversity and disease concerns associated with black-footed ferrets. The Service views this new potential tool as one of many strategies to aid species recovery alongside efforts to address habitat challenges and other barriers to recovery. Elizabeth Ann remains healthy at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado, exhibiting typical adult ferret behavior. Planned efforts to breed Elizabeth Ann were unsuccessful due to a condition called hydrometra, where the uterine horn fills with fluid. Her other uterine horn was not fully developed, which is not unusual in other black-footed ferrets and therefore not believed to be linked to cloning. Elizabeth Ann otherwise remains in excellent health, symbolizing the early progress in biotechnology for species conservation.   

Elizabeth Ann, Noreen and Antonia were cloned from tissue samples collected in 1988 from a black-footed ferret known as Willa and stored at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo. These samples contain three times more unique genetic variations than found on average in the current population. Introducing these currently unrepresented genes into the existing population would significantly benefit the species’ genetic diversity. All black-footed ferrets alive today, except the three clones, are descendants of the last seven wild individuals. This limited genetic diversity leads to unique challenges for their recovery. Besides genetic bottleneck issues, diseases like sylvatic plague and canine distemper further complicate recovery efforts. Cloning and related genetic research could offer potential solutions, aiding concurrent work on habitat conservation and reintroducing black-footed ferrets into the wild. Continuing genetic research for black-footed ferrets includes efforts to breed offspring from Noreen and Antonia, which would significantly increase the species’ genetic diversity. Collaborative work among partners also aims to achieve other long-term goals, such as developing resistance to sylvatic plague and potentially other diseases. Ongoing collaboration with innovative partners is driving scientific progress, underscoring the crucial role of conservation partnerships in safeguarding and improving American biodiversity. The Service will continue to provide updates as the research progresses. This research does not in any way supplant or diminish the Service’s efforts to recover the species in the wild. Those efforts, including reintroduction and monitoring of extant populations across the Great Plains, are ongoing, and the Service continues to collaborate with many partners working to conserve habitat for the species. More information about black-footed ferret conservation and biology is available from the Service’s National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center and additional Questions and Answers related to this announcement.

________________________________________________________ Media contacts: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Joe Szuszwalak, [email protected] Smithsonian: Annalisa Meyer, [email protected] San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: Jake Gonzales, [email protected]   AZA: Betsy Hildebrandt, [email protected]   Revive & Restore: Kika Tuff, [email protected]   ViaGen Pets: Lauren Aston, [email protected]  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, visit  www.fws.gov  and connect with us on social media: Facebook ,  Instagram ,  X (formerly known as Twitter),  LinkedIn ,  Flickr , and  YouTube . Revive & Restore is the leading wildlife conservation organization promoting the incorporation of biotechnologies into standard conservation practice. The Sausalito, California nonprofit was formed in 2012 with the idea that 21st century biotechnology can and should be used to enhance genetic diversity, build disease resistance, facilitate adaptation and more. Its mission is to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species. www.reviverestore.org/bff   ViaGen Pets & Equine is the worldwide leader in cloning the animals we love. We provide the option of hope through DNA storage of your unique dog, cat or horse. Then through our amazing cloning technology we provide joy to clients all over the world with a genetic twin to their original animal. Our team is dedicated to providing outstanding service, quality animal care and a love that lasts forever. ViaGen Pets and Equine is dedicated to conversation through partnership efforts with the San Diego Zoo and Revive & Restore. www.viagenpets.com   San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is a nonprofit conservation leader, inspiring passion for nature and collaboration for a healthier world. The Alliance supports innovative conservation science through global partnerships. Through wildlife care, science expertise and collaboration, more than 44 endangered species have been reintroduced to native habitats. Annually, the Alliance reaches over 1 billion people, in person at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and virtually in 150 countries through media channels including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers television program in children’s hospitals in 13 countries. Wildlife Allies – members, donors, guests – make success possible. www.sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) leads the Smithsonian’s global effort to save species, better understand ecosystems and train future generations of conservationists. Its two campuses are home to some of the world’s most critically endangered species. Always free of charge, the Zoo’s 163-acre park in the heart of Washington, D.C., features 2,100 animals representing 400 species and is a popular destination for children and families. At the Conservation Biology Institute’s 3,200-acre campus in Virginia, breeding and veterinary research on 250 animals representing 20 species provide critical data for the management of animals in human care and valuable insights for conservation of wild populations. NZCBI’s more than 300 staff and scientists work in Washington, D.C., Virginia and with partners at field sites across the United States and in more than 30 countries to save wildlife, collaborate with communities and conserve native habitats. NZCBI is a long-standing accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. https://nationalzoo.si.edu   The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) , founded in 1924,is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, animal wellbeing, education, science, and recreation. AZA is the accrediting body for the top zoos and aquariums in the United States and 12 other countries. Look for the AZA accreditation logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. The AZA is a leader in saving species and your connection to helping animals all over the world. www.aza.org

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