Establishing New

Populations
and Ex Situ
Conservation
Establishing and Reinforcing Populations
• Conservation translocation –
deliberate placement of
organisms to achieve
“measurable conservation
benefit at the levels of a
population, species, or
ecosystems”
Establishing and Reinforcing
Populations
• Reintroduction program –
releasing captive-bred or wild-
collected individuals at an
ecologically suitable site within
their historical range where the
species no longer occurs
• Main purpose is to create a new
pop in its original environment &
help restore damaged ecosystem
• Sometimes: pops can be under
new threat in current location
Establishing and Reinforcing Populations
• Reinforcement program –
releasing individuals into an
existing population to:
• Increase its size and/or gene pool
• Adjust age or sex ratios
• Also referred to as restocking or
augmentation
• Individuals may be captive bred or
wild collected
Establishing and Reinforcing Populations
• Introduction program – moving
captive-bred or wild-caught
animals or plants to areas
suitable for the species outside
their historical range (aka
assisted colonization)
• Important when natural range is
no longer suitable
• Too degraded
• Factor causing decline is still
present
Important considerations for translocations
• 1) Threats must be understood • 3) Genetics of the species and
& addressed released individuals must be
• Original cause for decline sufficiently understood
• Future threats identified & • Captive breeding includes
managed potential loss of genetic diversity
• 2) The ecology of the species • Prevent inbreeding depression
must be sufficiently understood
• Important for site selection &
identifying threats
Important considerations for translocations
• 4) There must be enough viable • 5) Ecological risks must be
habitat available to support a assessed and accounted for
population • All translocations contain some
• Minimum dynamic area (for now risk for the species, & ecosystem
& future) • Managed to prevent damage to
• Including to maintain genetic ecosystem or other species
diversity (ex. cheetahs in fenced • Food webs
reserves) • Competition
• Predation
• Hybridization
• Diseases
Important considerations for translocations
• 6) Human concerns must be • 7) In the event of a failure, it
addressed must be possible to remove or
• People nearby could be affected destroy all offspring of the
• Public support is important released individuals
• Easier with larger species
• Harder with small & highly
dispersible species
• Rodents, insects, some plants
Special considerations for animal programs
• Establishing new populations is: • Most translocations are of
• Expensive charismatic birds & mammals
• Difficult • Recent study found popularity
• Requires serious long-term was as important as threat
commitment status for which species were
• Capture, raise, release, & selected for translocation (Diaz
monitor of sea turtles, peregrine et al. 2018)
falcons, whooping cranes
• Millions of $
Special considerations for animal programs
• Many times translocations are • Critical to have local public buy-
criticized in
• Too expensive • Sometimes more helpful if
• Who cares? program provides incentives or
• Intrusive compensation to affected
• Unethical people rather than rigid
restrictions
• However, these programs are • Can be helpful to increase public
the best option for the enthusiasm for conservation
preservation of some species
• Educational value
Special considerations for animal programs
• Disease
• Released animal → wild pop
• Wild pop → released animal
• Soft release
• Can increase chances of survival
• May provide food & shelter
• May confine them initially
• Help them become familiar with
sights, sounds, smells, etc.
• Examine their behavior & identify
individuals who may not be able to
survive
• Human contact kept to minimum
Special considerations for animal programs
• Hard release
• No assistance
• More likely to succeed with wild-
caught individuals
• Head starting
• Raised in captivity during young
vulnerable stages then released
• Ex. sea turtles, kakapo
 Special considerations for animal programs
• All of this requires monitoring
• Crucial to determine whether
programs are achieving their goals
• Often must be done for many
years
• May initially seem successful but
fails years later
• Have released individuals
survived?
• Are they breeding?
• Increasing in range?
Behavioral ecology of released animals
• Behavioral ecology – study of
animal’s behavior in the context of
its environment & considers the
adaptive significance of those
behaviors
• Social animals
• Many mammals & birds
• Socialize properly
• Find food
• Avoid predators
• Limit contact
• Raise & expose to wild animals in
captivity
Establishing plant populations
• Immediate microsite of planting is
essential
• Plants can’t move!
• Determine effectiveness of
treatment to enhance
establishment
• Burn, removing competing
vegetation, dig up ground, exclude
grazers
• Best to sow seeds, plant adults or
seedlings?
• How many to plant?
• PVA
The status of new populations
• Many reintroduction plans are set • Mitigation
up by gov’t • Compensate habitat in exchange
• Important for conservation for where it will be lost due to
biologists to be able to explain development
benefits & address legitimate • 1) adjustments to the development
concerns plan to reduce damage
• Establishment of new pops does • 2) establishment of new pops &
not reduce need to preserve habitat for what was lost
existing pops
• 3) enhancement of pop & habitat
that remain after development
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies
• In situ conservation
• “In the wild”
• Best strategy for long-term
protection of biodiversity
• Ex situ conservation
• Off-site conservation
• In place of, or as a compliment to,
in situ
• 5 ways to benefit conservation
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies
• 5 ways to benefit conservation
• 1) as an opportunity for research
• Gain insight on biology, physiology, genetics, diseases
• 2) by addressing threats
• Provide a voice for education, legislation
• 3) by offsetting impacts of stochastic demographic and/or
environmental impacts
• Protect vulnerable life stages & facilitate gene flow
• 4) as a way of “buying time’ for populations facing significant decline
• Rescue vulnerable pops, create insurance pops
• 5) by restoring populations after threats have been mitigated
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies
• 2016 in situ & ex situ
conservation communities
brought together to coordinate
conservation efforts
• Facilitated by IUCN
• “One Plan Approach”
• Some programs involve both
• Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits
• Don’t breed well in captivity
• Kept in fenced enclosures
• Sometimes offspring released
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies
• Problems:
• Extremely expensive
• Only in natural biological
communities does natural
selection occur
• (in terms of adapting wild
populations to wild conditions)
• Captive pops are still generally
small pops = less genetic
diversity
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Zoos
• Participate in both in situ & ex situ
conservation
• Frequently partner with
conservation organizations,
universities, governments
• Advocate for animals
• Educate public
• Get $$$
• Visitors
• $ is spend on ex situ & in situ
conservation
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Zoos
• Expert knowledge & facilities
• Captive breeding
• Cross-fostering
• Artificial incubation
• Artificial insemination
• Embryo transfer
• Genome resource banking (GRB)
• Freezing DNA, eggs, sperm, embryos
for future breeding
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Zoos
 Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Zoos
• Ethical questions:
• 1) How will establishing an ex situ population benefit the wild
population?
• 2) Is it better to let the last few individuals of a species live out their days
in the wild or to breed a captive population that may be unable to adapt
to wild conditions?
• 3) Does a population of a rare species consisting of individuals that have
been raised in captivity and do not know how to survive in their natural
environment really represent preservation of the species?
 Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Zoos
• Ethical questions:
• 4) Are rare individuals being held in captivity primarily for their own
benefit, for the benefit of their entire species, for the economic benefit
of zoos, or for the pleasure of zoo visitors?
• 5) Are the animals in captivity receiving appropriate care based on their
biological needs?
• 6) Are sufficient efforts being made to educate the public about
conservation issues?
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies - Aquariums
• Fish breeding
• More recent
• Marine mammals & birds &
turtles
• Aid for injured or orphaned
individuals
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies – Botanical gardens
• Arboretum – specialized
botanical garden for trees
• Contain a variety of plants
• Increasingly focusing on
cultivating rare & endangered
species
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies – Seed banks
• Not the same as seed banks in reference
to the wild
• Store dried & frozen seeds
• Most species can be stored for a long time
as seeds
• Back-up for living collections
• Also store domesticated varieties
• Modern agriculture has switched to a few
high yield species
• Preserved diversity

• Shaw Nature Preserve focuses on Missouri