This one is for the HL students in Option G: Ecology and Conservation.

Essential Biology: G4 Conservation of Biodiversity

Interesting articles:

“Should Pandas be left to go extinct?” from the Guardian.

Are tigers less important than warblers? by Madhusudan Katti

1/3 of all plant species face extinction, from the Guardian.

Recovery of ‘extinct’ fur seal populations, from the Guardian

Back BioDiversity 100, save our wildlife, from Monbiot

The longest-running, largest experiment in habitat fragmentation – since 1976 in Brazil – is a great example of real cology in action. Read about it here. What are the real impacts of breaking up habitats?

Resources:

Use the CITES database to search for threatened species in your own or home country. What are the factors that threaten them? Do you know what active conservation measures (if any) are taken to help them?

In this TED Talk, John Kasaona describes how activation of some the biggest stakeholders on the land in Namibia – the poachers – turned a huge problem into an effective in-situ conservation effort that acts as a role model for active management to the rest of the world. Inspiring and true, this is well worth 18minutes of your time:

In this TED Talk, Willie Smits tells the inspiring story of their project to revive some devastated Borneo rainforest made great use of local people in active management and has provided a habitat for the orang-utans to return. You can also read about it here.

This short TED Talk highlights the importance of seed banks as ex-situ conservation:

https://ted.com/talks/view/id/556

————————————————————————–

Key Terms: in-situ, ex-situ, active management, extinction, biogeographical, conservation