The Dilemma of Conservation Biology

The People Come First

Mostly everyone wants what is best for wildlife and nature, but keep in mind, the well being of humans will always come first. In this post, I am going to be talking about some of the ethical issues conservation biology faces with scientists and the public, as well as problems scientists face with themselves when trying to come up with the best conservation plan for a certain situation or area.

Although there is disagreement regarding the proper human relationship toward the rest of the natural world, most conservationists agree that biological diversity is valuable and that the extinction of species should be avoided where possible (Cafaro and Primack 2001). With our ever increasing population, conservationists’ are pushed even harder to consider nature along with the needs of people. People require the extraction of resources at an alarming rate. You can just about imagine what kind of controversy this could bring up. Conservationists’ have to find the perfect median, to protect wildlife and ecosystems the best they can, while keeping the needs of the people first. Resources need to be harvested at a rate that benefit humans, while trying not to cause overexploitation. Overexploitation, is the harvest of natural resources faster than they can naturally recover. A code of Ethics Statement: “Recognize that uncertainty is inherent in managing ecosystems and species and encourage application of the precautionary principle in management and policy decisions affecting biodiversity.” (SCB 2017). Once a conservation method is set into place, it can generally be irreversible. Scientists’ must think it out in full beforehand.

Not Everyone Can Agree With Conservation Today

An article states that some will say that conservation as a whole does more harm than good. Some will have disregard for current environmental factors. Some will say damage is inevitable, this may be true. Rosaleen Duffy, a world expert on the ethical dimensions of wildlife conservation and management has a book, ‘Nature Crime’ and infers that we are getting conservation wrong. While she does not have complete disbelief in conservation, she thinks the way it is being handled is wrong.

Dilemma Between Types of Conservation 

While this is old news, it is still important and still thought of today when conducting conservation practices. Should conservation practices focus on the strategy of a network protected areas, or should we concentrate on changing the attitude to the entire biosphere (worldwide sum of all ecosystems) and adopt an environmental ethic? In this article, two well known conservationists’ each have a standing of their own on these two ideas.

Where Do I Stand?

I think both types of conservation mentioned by Leopold and Pinchot are important. It is very difficult to pick a side on the matter. I feel that having the world adopt environmental ethics as whole is a very difficult matter and is only becoming more difficult. In the long run, I do think Leopold’s idea is the best idea. Having everyone with environmental morals. I think this because I think of the big picture, one day we might not even have the land for nature preserves. Short term, I love the idea of natural preserves, they do a great job of keeping biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Ideally, I think both together are good.

Militarized Conservation

I think conservation definitely does more good than harm, we hurt the earth a whole lot more than we’re hurting ourselves. An article, talks about conservation and human well being. Do some conservation interventions impact human well being? Yes, I do believe so, but I do not think it is significant. While there is some militarized conservation efforts happening, and lives being taken, I believe it is for the greater good of honest people and wildlife. However, some conservation practices around the world may need to be revised. Perhaps Duffy’s support of Ecotourism.

 

It will help us all to learn more about this matter so, please leave any comments or questions you may have regarding this blog or topic. Thank you!

 

 

Drones for Conservation

Dronezon

Drones and Endangered Species

As most will already know, drones are becoming extremely popular today, and are becoming more accessible. They have a wide variety of uses and are extremely efficient, saving time, money, and being more precise than traditional approaches of manned aircraft. “Drones are going to change the way that data is collected,” says Leanne Hanson, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist who has used them to count migrating Sandhill Cranes.

Drones used for conservation are equipped with high quality cameras that provide an unprecedented and close up look at hard to reach places.

Conservation Drones

A small drone hovers over an orangutan nest. Orangutans are currently endangered. These close up observations can give biologists valuable intel about the animals and help in predicting more accurate population counts.

Drones Are Saving Lives

Light-aircraft crashes are the No. 1 killer of wildlife biologists. Between 1937 and 2000, 91 biologists and other scientists died in the field, according to a 2003 study in the Wildlife Society Bulletin. Flying at low altitudes for means of surveying is an extremely dangerous task. A sudden burst of wind, or on object not clearly visible can be a tragedy for rotary winged aircraft. Drones are eliminating deaths every year, and are less expensive to operate than a traditional aircraft. Manned aircraft surveying may one day be a thing of the past, as drones can do it all and some.

 The Fight Against Poachers

Poaching, perhaps the biggest crisis endangered species face. Every year thousands of animals are poached, or illegally killed. Animals like rhinos and elephants are endangered because of poachers who kill the animals just to make a profit off ivory and hides. With the help of drones, security is drastically increased and is beginning to slow poaching all over the world. The Tanzanian Army is using drones for anti-poaching operations, and monitor people entering Tanzanian National Parks. An article explains how drones can be used to track animals with ID tags using radio frequency. Highly threatened animals are often tagged, and closely monitored using drones, which then often leads to finding poachers.

Conservation Drones

Geographic Information

While drones are being used to help endangered species, they also provide geographic information to aid in other conservation efforts. They are capable of gathering immediate data about the land below. Some surveying can be done with using satellite imagery, but other studies require a more immediate day to day data collection. They can be used to monitor water loss, agriculture, and deforestation. Drones are becoming a helpful forestry tool as well when it comes to harvesting (et. al. Ben G. Weinstein).

Fragmentation

How Drones Affect Wildlife

All scientists can agree that drones are an efficient way of acquiring intel, but some also say that it will affect wildlife as well. A study shows that Minnesota’s black bears experienced an increase in heart rate when they saw drones flying in the sky. “A bear may not run when it sees a drone in the sky, but it still may be in distress”, says National Geographic’s Jennifer S. Holland.

 

It will help us all to learn more about this matter so, please leave any comments or questions you may have regarding this blog or topic. Thank you!

Why Conservation?

What is Conservation?

Popular interest in protecting the world’s biological diversity – including its amazing range of species, its complex ecosystems, and the genetic variation within species. It has become increasingly evident to both scientists and the general public that we are living in a period of unprecedented losses of biodiversity (Primm et al. 2014). Biodiversity is the complete range of species and biological communities on earth, as well as the genetic variations within those species. Developed in the early 1980’s, conservation biology was developed to address the loss of Earth’s biological diversity. It is concerned with the long-term viability of whole systems of wildlife and revolves around 3 main goals: 1.) To describe the full range of biodiversity on Earth. 2.) To understand human impact on biodiversity, and to develop practical approaches for preventing species extinctions. 3.) Maintaining genetic diversity, and protecting and restoring ecosystems (Primack, Sher 2016).

 

Endangered Species

Endangered species are species which are at serious risk of extinction. ‘Endangered species’ is a commonly heard phrase today, and that is because of the ever increasing loss of species and the effort of scientists spreading the word. There are a variety of human induced factors that lead to species extinction today including:

• Overharvesting
• Land use and deforestation
• Water management practices that destroy natural habitat
• Introduction of predators
• Ecological damage caused by water, air, and soil pollution
• Human caused global climate change
• Removal of Keystone species

All of these factors ultimately lead to downfall of species population and habitat fragmentation– the emergence of fragmentations in an organisms environment, causing large healthy habitats to be broken down into smaller ones. Common fragmentation causes from humans are new roads, fields, and commercial logging.

Gardenerscoach

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC), there is 23,000 plant and animal species currently threatened or on the “Red List”. Nearly 1,500 species are listed as ‘endangered’ by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The USFWS is the federal agency that decides if a species is endangered. Here you can find the USFWS list of endangered species on the government website.

Humans are not the only reason of extinction of species as it happens naturally as well, but they are a very big effect and it only gets worse with our growing population. According to the United Nations Populations Division the human population now sits at about 7.4 billion. Scientists project the human population to be around 10 billion in 2050.

 

Conservation Practices & Methods

There are many different ways scientists and the general public can help with conservation. There are some practices that help restore and recuperate a declining species population, and there are practices that can help prevent the decline of populations and ecosystems beforehand.

Professional Practices include:

• Creating national parks, sanctuaries, and animal refuges.
• Control of invasive species
• Protection of wildlife through legislation (minimal or banned hunting)
• Establishment of zoos to help for captive breeding and maintenance of exotic animals.
• Habitat restoration (tree planting, tree netting, controlled grass and understory burns)
• Solar and wing energy
• Man made wetlands
• Creation of bird houses and nesting structures

Ways you can help:

• Recycle
• Limit use of motor vehicles
• Use energy efficient light bulbs and turn the lights off when you leave a room
• Don’t put hazardous substances down the drain
• Keep litter out of street gutters and storm drains
• Removal of invasive species

The ways people can help are almost endless. While to some it may seem useless and a waste of time, if everyone did just a little to help the results would be tremendous.

Who Cares?

You should. There is more importance to conservation and the planet’s biodiversity than most people understand. With greater healthier ecosystems species are more sustainable and are more able to recover from a variety of natural disasters (Anup Shah 2014). Species depend on each other to survive. More importantly, a healthy biodiversity offers natural services to humans, such as,

• Protection of water sources
• Climate stability
• Food
• Wood products
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• Recreation
• Cultural values and psychological benefits
• Genetic diversity (large gene pools that prevent extinction)

The cost of replacing habitat and these natural services is very expensive and can potentially come out of your pocket in tax dollars. For some it is very hard to put a dollar amount on nature. Some things are just priceless. People tend to be happier when around wildlife and naturalness. While human needs are always considered first, there are ways we can make less of an impact. Young people are our future, we need more people to take interest in the importance of conservation so our future generations can thrive, we need to be aware of how the earth is changing. For it to work, communication among all parts of conservation communities is necessary.

 

It will help us all to learn more about this matter so, please leave any comments or questions you may have regarding this blog or topic. Thank you!

 

Some Industries, and Agencies Involved 

National Park Service

National Resources Conservation Service

US Department of the Interior

US Geological Survey

US Fish & Wildlife Service

US Forest Service