Biology – Conservation | e-Consult

Zoos: Zoos play a crucial role in conservation through captive breeding programmes. This helps to increase the population size of endangered species and provides a safety net against extinction. They also offer opportunities for research into animal behaviour, health, and reproduction, which can inform conservation efforts in the wild.

Strengths: Can significantly increase population numbers, provides a controlled environment for breeding, facilitates research.

Weaknesses: Captivity can lead to a loss of natural behaviours, genetic diversity can be limited, and the cost of maintaining large captive populations can be high. Reintroduction to the wild can be challenging.

Botanic Gardens: Botanic gardens are vital for conserving plant biodiversity. They house a wide range of plant species, including many that are rare or threatened. They also conduct research into plant propagation, habitat restoration, and the genetic conservation of plants.

Strengths: Provides a secure habitat for rare plants, facilitates research into plant conservation, can be used for propagation and reintroduction programmes.

Weaknesses: Can be limited in space, may not accurately represent natural habitats, and can be vulnerable to pests and diseases.

Conserved Areas (National & Marine Parks): These areas provide protected habitats for a wide variety of species. National parks protect terrestrial ecosystems, while marine parks protect marine ecosystems. They help to maintain natural populations and prevent habitat loss.

Strengths: Protects large areas of habitat, allows species to thrive in a natural environment, provides opportunities for research and education.

Weaknesses: Can be expensive to establish and maintain, may face conflicts with human activities, and can be difficult to manage effectively.

'Frozen Zoos' (Cryopreservation): Cryopreservation involves freezing sperm, eggs, and embryos of endangered species. This provides a genetic backup that can be used to restore populations in the future.

Strengths: Preserves genetic material, provides a potential source of individuals for reintroduction programmes, relatively low cost compared to maintaining live animals.

Weaknesses: Not all species can be successfully cryopreserved, the technology is still developing, and there are ethical concerns about the use of frozen material.

Seed Banks: Seed banks store seeds from a wide range of plant species. This provides a valuable resource for plant conservation, as seeds can be used to propagate plants and restore habitats.

Strengths: Preserves genetic diversity of plants, relatively inexpensive to maintain, can be used to propagate plants and restore habitats.

Weaknesses: Seeds can lose viability over time, and some species are difficult to propagate from seed.