Conservation (Plants and Animals)
Plant and animal conservation (also known as wildlife conservation) deals with protecting, preserving, promoting, managing and studying wildlife and their resources. As a result of growing plant and animal extinction rates and the ensuing degradation their environmental services, wildlife conservation has become increasingly important. The conservation movement is critical in ensuring the future success of our planet as a whole. The purpose of this annotative bibliography is to provide a brief introduction to the main causes of plant and animal extinction (e.g. Koopowitch and Kaye, McKinney, World Wildlife Fund), various conversation methods (e.g. Brooks et al., du Toit, Forsyth et al., Tisdell, et al.), the challenges and limitations of conservation efforts (e.g. Vié, Hilton-Taylor & Stuart), and local to global action plans for both the individual and community (e.g. Government of Canada, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Wildlife Fund). A myriad of nongovernmental organizations and wildlife welfare groups exist for the sole purpose of wildlife conservation, and yet extinction rates continue to increase at an astonishing rate. Currently, the literature lacks a thorough discussion of the interconnectedness of multiple systems impacting conservation (e.g. ecosystems, financial systems, medical systems, industrial systems, etc.). The focus of this annotative bibliography is to understand the need for wildlife conservation and explore methods for setting both individual and community conservation priorities.
Brooks, T.M., Mittermeier, R.A., da Fonseca, G.A.B., Gerlach, J., Hoffmann, M., Lamoreux, J.F., ...Rodrigues, A.S.L. (2006). Global Biodiversity Conservation Priorities. Science, 313(58), 58-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1127609
One of the major challenges in conservation planning is the efficient allocation of financial resources to regions that will maximize the good for the greatest number of species. The purpose of this article is to better understand nine institutional templates of global conservation prioritization methods classified under the ‘irreplaceability/vulnerability approach’ to conservation in terms of efficiency in allocating funding to ‘geographically flexible wildlife conservation planning’.
The nine global conservation prioritization templates presented are similar in that they are largely executed in partnership with nongovernmental organizations, but differ in that they place emphasis on different aspects of the irreplaceability and vulnerability continuum. The varying direct measures and factors used along the continuum (e.g. plant endemism, special units, habitat loss, land tenure, etc.) are explored. To some extent the subjective nature of the measures inherently limits the reliability of the conservation frameworks. In addition, graphical representations of the nine global wildlife biodiversity conservation priority areas reveals that no two frameworks yield similar results, again limiting the reliability of such frameworks. When the graphical representations are overlapped, the authors attempt to extract the regions of highest and lowest priority in terms of irreplaceability and vulnerability. Lastly, such prioritization frameworks are used to raise awareness for financial needs of conservation planning and simultaneously influence global donors to contribute and commit to both local and global conservation efforts.
du Toit, J.T. (2010). Considerations of scale in biodiversity conservation. Animal Conservation, 13, 58-61. Retrieved from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ 123371604/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Biodiversity conservation, as a crisis discipline, faces the challenge of “weighing the urgency for action against the need for sustainable long-term solutions” (p. 229). Conservation planning experts struggle to weigh the costs to create a sustainable conservation plan to manage risk factors associated with the natural dynamics of the species. du Toit believes this struggle is largely due to a missing question that is crucial to the conservation planning process: “has the conservation problem been examined across multiple scales? [local, regional, mutli-regional/dimensional]” (p. 229). This article explores the effects of the neglected factor of scale on the endangered region and species in question. The importance of scale considerations in conservation planning becomes evident, as du Toit concludes by suggesting a new scale-incorporated approach to conservation planning. This approach evaluates the urgency for action and the need for long-term solutions on a 3-part probability of success equation: project effectiveness, opportunity costs and cost efficiency. du Toit presents a simple decision making diagram to assist in the evaluation of the combined probability of success model.
Forsyth, L.D., Sinclair, D.M., Freemark, A.R.E., Moore, K., Barrett, T.W., Pressey, R. & White, D. (2004). Species distribution, surrogacy, and important conservation regions in Canada. Ecology Letters, 7, 374-379. doi: 10.1111/j.1461 0248.2004.00590.x
Providing a comprehensive endangerment classification of all species in Canada is a rigorous task. This article introduces the concept of ‘surrogacy’ as a less-time consuming alternative to the traditional endangerment evaluations. Surrogacy techniques involve using conservation evaluations of an animal or plant species on a particular site to determine the ability of that plant or animal to survive in another region. There are two purposes of this article: first, discuss a research study that tests the validity and usefulness of surrogacy conservation evaluations; second, to use the surrogacy approach to determine the most important conservation areas in Canada. Accordingly, the study introduces the use of two surrogacy methods, summed irreplaceability and species richness in combination with mathematical models evaluating similarities among five sample animal groups (i.e. birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and listed endangered species). First, the study proved that surrogacy evaluations are reliable. Both methods of species richness and summed irreplaceability had significant, positive correlations among all five animal groups, although species richness had a stronger correlation. Second, southern prairies, southern British Columbia and southern Ontario were identified as the three sites in Canada with the highest species richness and summed irreplaceability among all five animal groupings. The article suggests that these three regions would serve as successful sites for the surrogacy of endangered species in Canada.
Government of Canada. (2007). Species at Risk Public Registry. Retrieved from http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/default_e.cfm
The Canadian Government’s conservation motto is “Recovery is everyone’s responsibility,” thus this site is tailored to the general public in order to help the everyday person better understand Canada’s approach to wildlife conservation. This website is the Canadian government’s version of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List which serves as a public registry providing a database of current events, news and documents related to species at risk in Canada.
In the ‘Our Approach’ section, Canada’s federal and provincial legislative agreements and acts on endangered species and conservation are listed (e.g. Species at Risk Act (SARA), the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, Canada Wildlife Act and the Cooperation Agreement for the Preservation of Species at Risk). This section also serves as a central hub for all federal and provincial habitat stewardship programs, wildlife management boards, non-governmental organizations and international organizations in which Canada partners or supports. The ‘SARA Component Section’ provides a detailed A-Z list of all species at risk in Canada, their location, their endangered status, the classification criteria used for assessment, the specific plant or animal’s conversation progress and current recovery action plans being implemented. The ‘Get Involved’ section provides various opportunities for all stakeholders (i.e. general public, companies, scientists, etc) to get involved in Canada’s conservation efforts. This website is a great starting point for both small and large scale conservation initiatives.
Koopowitch, Dr.H. and Kaye, H. (1983). Plant Extinction: A Global Crisis. Washington, U.S.A.: Stone Wall Press, Inc.
Koopowitch and Kaye believe “very few people are concerned about the plants, and yet the plant kingdom faces a far greater extinction crisis than that occurring in the animal kingdom” (p. 5). The book is divided into four sections addressing the global crisis of plant extinction and the importance of its preservation.
The first section highlights the necessity of plants for the survival of the human species. Plants serve a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, medicine, nutrition, industrial/consumer manufacturing, leisure and art. The second section discusses the main reason for conservation initiatives, unnatural extinction. The third section describes one method of plant conservation, a ‘technological ark’, which creates a gene bank by freezing seeds and pollen in order to preserve them. Gene banking is promoted as a simple conservation method that requires little disciplinary knowledge or special equipment. The fourth section discusses the role plant hobby groups play in plant conservation efforts. Although these groups have the common goal of creating awareness for the value of wild plants they are described as a ‘double-edged sword’ where some greedy efforts to save the rarest plants are done at the risk of other plants. This book stresses the importance of plant conversation organizations such as the IUCN to push against the ignorant and unrealistic expectations of national governments. Animal and plant conservation work hand-in-hand in determining the future of our world.
McKinney, M.L. (2002). Urbanization, Biodiversity and Conservation. BioScience, 52(10),883-890. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/ stable/pdfplus/1314309.pdf
A multitude of threats to biodiversity exist increasing extinction rates in both plants and animals around the world. Urban development (or urbanization) has surfaced as the greatest contributor to wildlife extinction by way of habitat loss. Urbanization takes many forms: farming, logging, recreation, agriculture, and infrastructure development. The article presents two main challenges wildlife conservation efforts face as a result of urbanization. First, urbanization allows for the replacement of native species with non-native species inherently decreasing the biological uniqueness of an ecosystem. Second, as a result of the first, there is a decreasing availability of natural environmental services which the human population so readily depend on. This is caused by the imbalance growth rate of urban and suburban land occupation compared to that of land preserved for national parks and conservation areas. The article highlights the relationship between urbanization and native ecosystems through the comparison of local habitat loss, biodiversity, extinction rates, wildlife adaptation and exploitation abilities, and the success of conservation and restoration strategies for both plants and animals in rural and urban regions. The article reveals that both species richness and composition severely decreases as one moves towards urban centers. The author concludes with three action plan suggestions for both urban developers and ecological leaders to improve the conservation of native species: incorporate biodiversity preservation methods into urban planning; introduce re-vegetation efforts into previously developed areas in order to promote ecological succession and improved biodiversity of native species; and increase public awareness through ecological education.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature. (2010). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world’s largest and oldest international environmental network that supports multi-national scientific research, manages international field projects and connects 160 countries, governments, non-government organizations, all United Nations agencies, corporations, and 11,000 scientists and local communities. The IUCN acts to “influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable” (IUCN, 2010).
One of the IUCN’s initiatives is to maintain a comprehensive record of the global conservation status of all plants and animals, known as the Red List. The Red List, published in 2008, is divided into nine categories: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Data Deficient, and Not Evaluated. The degree of plant and animal extinction is determined by five biological factors: rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, degree of population and population distribution fragmentation. In addition to the comprehensive list of engendered plants and animals, the Red List provides information on the location of the species, the cause of extinction and recommends conservation initiatives for that particular species. Through the publication of the Red List the IUCN hopes to provide information to the aforementioned stakeholders in order to generate an awareness, appreciation and concern for biodiversity as a crucial component of both human and non-human livelihoods. Following the review of this website it is recommended that one consult Vié, Hilton-Taylor & Stuart’s (2009) Wildlife in a Changing World: An analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species for a critical review of the Red List.
Tisdell, C., Swarna Nantha, H., & Wilson, C. (2006). Endangerment and likeability of wildlife species: How important are they for payments proposed for conservation? Ecological Economics, 60, 627-633. Doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.01.007
There is debate within the scientific community regarding the importance of the likeability of an individual species and the perceived level of endangerment of that particular species when determining an individual or community’s commitment to wildlife conservation. This article uses the economic principles of commodity to extract the main factor influencing the public’s demand for conserving wildlife.
The article is presented in four sections: introduction, methodology, results and discussion. The introduction outlines the scientific debate in detail. The methodology used consisted of two serial survey questionnaires given to a sample size of 204 participants in sampling locations of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and twenty-four Australian wildlife species. The two surveys presented the same questions, but the first without any additional information on the species and the second with an accompanying wildlife presentation. This section also details the execution and sequence of the questionnaires and the rational for such methodology. The results section reveals that the “provision of greater knowledge about the species increased the relative importance of the endangerment of species as a determinant of the allocation of funds for their conservation” (p.629). The discussion section reveals greater statistical significance between the level of commitment to wildlife conservation and the degree of endangerment over the likeability of a species. This section exposes the study’s weakness in that the provision of more information between each questionnaire may have also affected the participants’ relative likeable in addition to the awareness of the level of endangerment. The importance of this study is to emphasize the need for the public to be provided with accurate information about endangered species when influencing the public’s interest and support for wildlife conservation.
Vié, J.C., Hilton-Taylor, C. & Stuart, N.S. (Eds). (2009). Wildlife in a Changing World: An analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Retrieved from http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ wildlife_in_a_changing_world.pdf
This publication is a follow-up companion to the IUCN’s Red List created in preparation for ‘The International Year of Biodiversity’ in 2010. It serves two purposes: first, to provide a critical review and understanding of the endangered species lists through the analysis of examples of successful conservation initiatives in various species and locations; second, to provide insight into the translation of such lists in achieving a successful transition from ‘patchwork conservation’ to a new all-encompassing and ‘sustainable ecosystem approach’ to biodiversity conservation.
The publication is divided into seven sections. First, the importance and necessity of the Red List as conservation tool in a ‘species rich world’ is reviewed. An individual perspective of each animal and plant family (e.g. birds, amphibians, mammals, conifers and cycads) is provided in the second section discussing geographical implications, habitat and threats. The third section indicates the Red List’s weakness of providing proper coverage and inclusion of freshwater species, their conservation needs and potential implications on human beings, development and conservation planning. The fourth section highlights the role of the most crucial habitat for plant and animal conservation – oceans. A further analysis of the conservation of marine life is detailed highlighting the progress of sharks, rays, groupers, reef-building corals, seabirds, marine mammals, and marine turtles. The fifth section echoes that of the third section in that the publication highlights the limited coverage of endangered species in the Red List. The sixth section attempts to translate the information provided in the Red List into terms relatable to climate change. The relationship between climate change and extinction are discussed as a two-way street, both effecting one-another. The final section echoes that of the fourth section, highlighting the crucial role of the Mediterranean habitat in sustainable conservation development. In addition to the seven detailed sections, the publication concludes with a series of informative charts and tables summarizing the highlights and interconnectedness of each section in conservation development. Prior to consulting this resource, it is recommended that one reviews The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (2010) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species website in for a better understanding of the concept and purpose of the Red List.
World Wildlife Fund. (2010). Wildlife Conservation, Endangered Species Conservation. Retrieved from http://www.worldwildlife.org/
One of the world’s leading and most well known conservation organizations is The World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This website serves as a hub of information providing a historical, financial, political and visionary background of the WWF. The WWF works with 100 countries and five million members globally to achieve its goal of conserving “nineteen of the world's most important natural places and significantly chang[ing] global markets” (WWF, 2010) in pursuit of its vision to protect the future of nature. The site details the WWF’s comprehensive approach to conservation and the partnerships, operations, and progress involved in its conservation science, finance, legislative, and community and expert initiatives. Such initiatives are presented under the WWF’s priority conservation regions (e.g. Arctic, Amazon, Congo, etc.) and species (e.g. tigers, dolphins, marine turtles, etc.). Through this website the WFF attempts to raise awareness for the importance of wildlife conservation through a presentation of the interconnectedness of climate and conservation on both an individual, local scale and a community, global scale. This interconnectedness is discussed through the basics of climate change to the impacts and adaptation required by all world stakeholders. Without fail, within each section of the website, the WWF encourages others to take on their own conservation initiatives by providing numerous conservation opportunities to: individuals, families, and communities (e.g. back to school programs); business and industry (e.g. carbon-cutting programs); and elected official and government (e.g. WWF membership). The WWF’s website provides both an urgent and optimist outlook on wildlife conservation through its unforgiving critical analysis of priority regions and species and its local-global action steps to mitigate the effects of wildlife conservation.
Other resources to consider:
Movies:
Eugen Schuhmacher (1967): The Last Paradises: On the track of rare animals. Translated by Gwynne Vevers and Winwood Reade. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., Natural History Press.
Metacafe. (2009). Planet Earth – Trailer. Retrieved from http://www.metacafe.com/watch/ 456861/planet_earth_trailer/
Youtube. (n.d.). Wildlife Conservation Films Channel. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ user/WLCFilms
Websites:
Wildlife Conservation Society. (2010). Saving Wildlife, Saving Wild Places. Retrieved from http://www.wcs.org/
Books:
Given, D.R. (1994). Principles and Practice of Plant Conservation. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press.
Hamilton, A. & Hamilton P. (2006). Plant Conservation. London, England: Earthcan.
Articles:
Berkes, F. (2004). Rethinking Community-Based Conservation. Conervation Biology, 18(3), 621-630. Retrieved from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/ journal/118784267/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Groves, C.R., Jensen, D.B., Valutis, L.L., Redford, K.H., Shaffer, M.L., Scott, J.M., Baumgartner, J.V., …Anderson, M.G. (2002). Planning for Biodiversity Conservation: Putting Conservation Science into Practice. Bioscience, 52(6), 499-512. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/sici?origin=sfx%3Asfx&sici=0006 3568%282002%2952%3A6%3C499%3APFBCPC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
