Transcript Reserve design

Reserves
• Maintain high diversity and abundance
• Attract human populations
• Why?
Bushmeat
• In Africa, forest referred to as “the bush”
• Meat derived from wildlife = bushmeat
• Subsistence, trading: multi-billion $/yr in
Africa
– ↑ human population, poverty, food insecurity
– Private extractive industries facilitate access
– Low government capacity for enforcement
• Studies show majority is unsustainable,
threatens conservation goals
Project for Ecosystem Management of the
Peripheral Zone of the Nouabalé-Ndoki
National Park (PROGEPP)
• Government of Congo – WCS Congo – Private
timber company – Communities
• No snare hunting
• No hunting of legally protected species
• No bushmeat export
Wildlife Trade
• Trade and exchange of wildlife and wildlife
products made from them
• Not all sustainable: leads to quick decline of many
species
• Since 1970, 90% of world’s rhinos gone
– Horns for medicinal purposes or dagger handles
• 12,000 African elephants killed annually for
domestic markets
Annual World Trade in Selected Wildlife & Plants
Product
Primates (live)
Birds (live)
Ornamental fish
Furs
Reptile skins
Reptiles (live)
Coral (raw)
Cacti
Orchids
(Henley 1995)
At least
40,000
3,000,000
350,000,000
40,000,000
20,000,000
100,000,000
1,000 tons
10,000,000
2,000,000
Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species (CITES)
• Aim: to ensure international trade of
species does not threaten their survival
• 1975 – IUCN
• Voluntary
• Listed species decided upon by
member countries
– Spp threatened with extinction
• Spp may be threatened through trade
– Spp not globally threatened but member
country asked for help in protection
Why are Some Species Rare?
• Body Size
• Trophic position
• Geographic distribution
– islands
– endemics
• Degree of ecological
specialization
– niche width
• Reproductive rate
• Recentcy speciation
Why are Rare Species Prone to
Extinction?
• Demographic Stochasticity
– By chance alone population fluctuates in growth
rate and hence change in size from one year to
the next
– When population is small, extinction can occur
with relatively high probability even if chances
of survival and successful reproduction are high
Why are Rare Species Prone to
Extinction?
• Environmental Stochasticity
– random series of environmental changes
– a couple of bad years in a row can be especially
devastating to rare populations
• El Niño and Alala
– Poor reproduction, even in captivity
– Compounding effect of predators (Io)
» specializing on crows more?
Why are Rare Species Prone to
Extinction?
• Genetic Problems
– Difficulty Finding Mates
– Genetic Drift – chance alterations in small
populations: bottlenecks and founder effects
• Inbreeding Depression
– Close relatives breed, heterozygosity goes down
because they share many alleles, semilethal recessives
are expressed more frequently
– Random Changes in Phenotype
– Decreased Genetic Variance
What is the historical pattern of
extinction?
Shallows
Mostly
Marine
Loss of
Dinos
(Myers 1997)
• Five major mass extinctions through geologic time
– Late Permian--formation of Pangea, loss of shallows,
many marine organism extinctions (Schopf 1974)
Causes of Historic Extinctions are Varied
• Meteors
• Continental Drift
• Humans
– Pattern of extinctions
during last 30,000 years
(late Pleistocene)
closely matches pattern
of human colonization
Human Occupation of Earth
(Diamond 1998--Guns, Germs, and Steel)
So, Extinction is Natural, but Current
Episode is Unusual
• Estimated to be 10 - 50 million species on
earth
– This present extinction rate is 10,000x greater
than background rate through geologic time (Nott
et al. 1995)
How Many Extinctions Have Been
Documented in last 400 years?
Total of 611 species completely extinct
(30 more extinct in the wild but survive in captivity)
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Mammals
86 (3)
Birds
104 (4)
Reptiles
20 (1)
Amphibians
5 (0)
Fishes
81 (11)
Molluscs
230 (9)
Crustaceans
9 (1)
Insects
72 (1)
Other inverts
4 (0)
Current extinction risk
(Pimm et al. 1995; Chapin et al 2000)
Distribution of Imperiled Species by Ecoregion
Number of
Species
Number of
Endemic Imperiled Species
1-20
1-10
21-50
11-50
51-150
51-150
> 150
> 100
6-5
Source: Precious Heritage (2000) © TNC, NatureServe
Vulnerable Orders
• Loss of all representatives of an
Order would be extreme
pruning of tree of life
• Mammal orders at risk
– e.g. elephant, monotremes
• Bird orders at risk
– e.g. cranes
• Reptiles
– e.g. tuatara
Endangered Species Conservation
Federal Level
Endangered Species Preservation Act (1966)
• 1st attempt to address species endangerment comprehensively
• Determined the wildlife facing extinction in the U.S. and
sponsored research on those species
• “Taking” of endangered species prohibited only on NWR
• Take = harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct
• Relatively weak legislation but good foundation
Endangered Species Conservation
Federal Level
Endangered Species Conservation Act (1969)
• Expanded 1966 Act: includes all vertebrates and some
invertebrates in danger of “worldwide extinction”
• Prohibits importation or sale of endangered species or
their products
• Addition of foreign species to the U.S. list
• Leads to the formation of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES, 1973)
Endangered Species Conservation
Federal Level
Endangered Species Act (ESA, 1973)
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Extends protection to plants
Stresses maintaining integrity of the ecosystems
Goal = “recover” listed species
Prohibits federal agencies from authorizing, funding,
or carrying out any action that would jeopardize a
listed species or destroy or modify its "critical habitat"
• Distinctions made between threatened and
endangered
• Day to day implementation falls to USFWS and
NOAA
Endangered Species Act
• Endangered species: an animal or plant species
in danger of extinction throughout all or a
significant portion of its range
• Threatened species: an animal or plant species
likely to become endangered within the
foreseeable future throughout all or a
significant portion of its range
Endangered Species Act
Steps in Classification and Conservation
• Petition Process
• Classification
• Recovery Team
• Recovery Plan
• Critical habitat
• Implement Recovery Plan
• Monitor populations
• Re-classify or de-list
So, What Do We Do?
Use Scientific Method to Identify Threat
Determine Spatial Extent
of Protection
?
Set up
Reserves
REMOVE THREAT
Release Probe
to Test if Threat
is Removed
Captive
Breeding
Restock
Manage
in situ
Monitor
Recovery
Removing threat of conservation reliant
species
Modify habitat
• Control of invasives
• Use of prescribed fire to maintain suitable habitat
• Restrict grazing or public access
Modify interactions
• Predator control
• Limited translocations to maintain genetic diversity
Constraints on Endangered Species
Management
Political
Considerations
Limited
Breeding
Population
Endangered Species
Management
Land
Use
Limited
Habitat
Biological
Knowledge
Competition
With Other Wildlife
and People
Legal
Constraints