3.4 Conservation of biodiversity Notes

Biodiversity conservation

Species-Based Conservation

Conservation strategies that focus on protecting individual species at risk of extinction. It can be in-situ or ex-situ. The in-situ strategy is the conservation of species in their natural habitats, ensuring that they continue to evolve and adapt within their ecosystems. The ex-situ strategy is the conservation of species outside their natural habitats, often as a last resort when in situ methods are not sufficient. Sometimes a mixed conservation approach is adopted where both species and habitats are concerned.

• Approaches:
  1. Captive Breeding Programs: Breeding endangered species in controlled environments to increase population numbers (e.g., California Condor).
  2. Reintroduction Programs: Returning captive-bred or rescued species to their natural habitats (e.g., Arabian Oryx).
  3. Legislation and Protection: Enacting laws to protect species from poaching and trade (e.g., CITES for elephants and rhinos).
  4. Species Action Plans: Developing specific strategies for species recovery (e.g., Tiger Recovery Program).

Habitat Conservation Strategies

Habitat conservation strategies focus on protecting ecosystems and habitats to ensure the survival of multiple species.

Methods:

• Protected Areas: National parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature reserves (e.g., Yellowstone National Park).
• Habitat Restoration: Reforestation, wetland restoration, and coral reef regeneration.
• Sustainable Land Use: Balancing agricultural, urban, and conservation needs.

EVS and conservation strategies

Environmental Value Systems can influence the choice of conservation strategies. Ecocentric perspectives may approach conservation for the intrinsic values of biodiversity and focus on low-intervention in situ strategies. They may look to opt sacrificial lifestyle to lower demand and thus the degradation of the ecosystem. More anthropocentric and technocentric perspectives may be driven by the economic and societal value of biodiversity and focus on more scientific interventions like gene banks and ecotourism.

Edge Effect and Wildlife Corridors

The edge effect is defined as the changes population and biodiversity undergo at the boundary between ecosystems. It can disrupt biodiversity through increased predation, invasion by non-native species and habitat fragmentation. It can disrupt the biodiversity of a habitat by decreasing connectivity

The edge effect can be limited by creating wildlife corridors. Wildlife corridors are the pathways connecting fragmented habitats to allow the movement of species between them.

Rewilding and Regeneration

Natural processes in an ecosystem can be regenerated by rewilding. Rewilding can be defined as returning ecosystems to their natural state by reintroducing native species and restoring ecological processes. Rewilding methods can include the reintroduction of apex predators and other keystone species, the re-establishment of connectivity of habitats over large areas and the minimization of human influences through ecological management.