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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Wildlife conservation and reproductive cloning.

Reproductive cloning, or the production of offspring by nuclear transfer, is often regarded as having potential for conserving endangered species of wildlife. Currently, however, low success rates for reproductive cloning limit the practical application of this technique to experimental use and proof of principle investigations. In this review, we consider how cloning may contribute to wildlife conservation strategies. The cloning of endangered mammals presents practical problems, many of which stem from the paucity of knowledge about their basic reproductive biology. However, situations may arise where resources could be targeted at recovering lost or under-represented genetic lines; these could then contribute to the future fitness of the population. Approaches of this type would be preferable to the indiscriminate generation of large numbers of identical individuals. Applying cloning technology to non-mammalian vertebrates may be more practical than attempting to use conventional reproductive technologies. As the scientific background to cloning technology was pioneered using amphibians, it may be possible to breed imminently threatened amphibians, or even restore extinct amphibian species, by the use of cloning. In this respect species with external embryonic development may have an advantage over mammals as developmental abnormalities associated with inappropriate embryonic reprogramming would not be relevant.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

An investigation into the source and spread of foot and mouth disease virus from a wildlife conservancy in Zimbabwe.

African buffalo were introduced into a wildlife conservancy in the southeast of Zimbabwe in an effortto increase the conservancy's economic viability, which is primarily based on eco-tourism. The buffalo were infected with SAT serotypes (SAT-1, SAT-2 and SAT-3) of foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus, and in order to isolate the conservancy and prevent the transmission of FMD to adjacent populations of domestic livestock, the conservancy was surrounded by a double-fence system, 1.8 m in height. The intention was to prevent the movement of both wildlife and domestic animals across the perimeter. However, two years after the buffalo were introduced, FMD occurred in cattle farmed just outside of the conservancy. Using serological and molecular diagnostic tests, epidemiological investigations showed that it was most likely that antelope (impala or kudu), infected through contact with the buffalo herd within the conservancy, had jumped over the fence and transmitted the virus to the cattle.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

The relationship of political party affiliation to wildlife conservation attitudes.

Species conservation via the Endangered Species Act is highly politicized, yet few data have been gathered to illustrate the relationship of political party affiliation to species conservation perspectives. We conducted a nationwide public opinion survey and found that Democrats value species conservation more highly than do Republicans, and that Democrats are also more strongly supportive of the Endangered Species Act. Republicans place higher value on property rights than do Democrats, but members of both parties value economic growth as highly as wildlife conservation. The results imply that the Democratic propensity to value species conservation reflects a biocentric perspective that does not bode well for practical conservation efforts. Species conservation will depend upon the success of academicians and progressive political leaders in educating students and members of all parties about the fundamental conflict between economic growth and wildlife conservation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

The foot-and-mouth disease risk posed by African buffalo within wildlife conservancies to the cattle industry of Zimbabwe.

Quantification of the risk that African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) (isolated within wildlife conservancies in Zimbabwe by a double fencing system) would infect cattle outside the conservancies with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus was assessed by scenario-pathway analysis. Of the five scenarios considered, the greatest annual risk (1:5000) for cattle would be from antelope jumping over the outer perimeter fence of the conservancy and infecting cattle on the outside. The other transmission scenarios (including air-borne transmission) had a FMD risk that was low to very low. Risk management would include means to prevent the escape of antelope from the conservancies and restriction of cattle density in the proximity of the perimeter fence.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Irrigated Agriculture and Wildlife Conservation: Conflict on a Global Scale.

/ The demand for water to support irrigated agriculture has led to the demise of wetlands and their associated wildlife for decades. This thirst for water is so pervasive that many wetlands considered to be hemispheric reserves for waterbirds have been heavily affected; for example, the California and Nevada wetlands in North America, the Macquarie Marshes in Australia, and the Aral Sea in central Asia. These and other major wetlands have lost most of their historic supplies of water and some have also experienced serious impacts from contaminated subsurface irrigation drainage. Now mere shadows of what they once were in terms of biodiversity and wildlife production, many of the so-called "wetlands of international importance" are no longer the key conservation strongholds they were in the past. The conflict between irrigated agriculture and wildlife conservation has reached a critical point on a global scale. Not only has local wildlife suffered, including the extinction of highly insular species, but a ripple effect has impacted migratory birds worldwide. Human societies reliant on wetlands for their livelihoods are also bearing the cost. Ironically, most of the degradation of these key wetlands occurred during a period of time when public environmental awareness and scientific assertion of the need for wildlife conservation was at an all-time high. However, designation of certain wetlands as "reserves for wildlife" by international review boards has not slowed their continued degradation. To reverse this trend, land and water managers and policy makers must assess the true economic costs of wetland loss and, depending on the outcome of the assessment, use the information as a basis for establishing legally enforceable water rights that protect wetlands from agricultural development.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1981

Evaluation of benefits from amenity and wildlife conservation.

Vague statement concerning the desirability of conserving trees, old buildings, wildlife, or other assets, which contribute to public welfare without increasing the Gross National Produce, are commonplace; but they are not, in themselves, precise enough to facilitate decision-taking in particular instances or in the general allocation of funds or resources in the economy. There is, therefore, a need for the adoption of valuation procedures, similar to those outlined, together with a more sensible approach towards the discounting of future values, and a closer consideration of the sort of environment and life-style towards which we are striving.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2004

The spatial extent of contaminants and the landscape scale: an analysis of the wildlife, conservation biology, and population modeling literature.

Many contaminant releases to the terrestrial environment are of small areal extent. Thus, rather than evaluating the ecological impact on species in the immediate vicinity of the release, it may be more ecologically meaningful to determine if population impacts occur at the landscape level. In order to do this, the cumulative impact of all releases in the landscape under consideration must be evaluated. If the release sites are viewed as localized areas that are no longer available for use by ecological receptors (i.e., no longer part of the habitat), this can be thought of as a form of habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation is typically viewed as the loss of large areas of habitat within a landscape, leaving small isolated patches of intact habitat within a hostile matrix. Small-scale contaminant releases, on the other hand, result in small uninhabitable areas within a primarily intact habitat. With this consideration in mind, we analyzed the wildlife and conservation biology literature to determine if information on habitat size requirements such as home-range or critical patch size could inform us about the potential for impact at the landscape level from release sites based on the size of the release alone. We determined that evaluating the impact of release size had to be conducted within a contextual basis (considering the existing state of the landscape). Therefore, we also reviewed the population modeling literature to determine if models could be developed to further evaluate the impact of the spatial extent of chemical releases on the landscape. We identified individual-based models linked to geographic information systems to have the greatest potential in investigating the role of release size with respect to population impacts at the landscape level.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2004

Which reproductive technologies are most relevant to studying, managing and conserving wildlife?

The advent of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer in the 1970s led to speculation about the potential value of these and other 'reproductive technologies' to conserving endangered species. So far, and for the most part, assisted breeding techniques that are routine in domesticated species are not easily adapted to wildlife. Species differences in reproductive form (anatomy/morphology) and function (mechanisms regulating reproductive success) limit the practical applicability for offspring production. Thus, the limiting factor is the lack of basic knowledge about thousands of unstudied species, the foundation that is essential to allowing reproduction to be enhanced and/or controlled. There now is excellent evidence that reproductive technologies are most useful as tools for studying how different species reproduce, especially defining novel and unique mechanisms. The present paper reviews the status and relevance of various reproductive technologies that are useful or have potential for wildlife. Modern examples of progress are provided indicating how these tools are being used to understand ways that wildlife species reproduce and, in some cases, how such knowledge has been used for successful assisted breeding, improved management and conservation.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Microsatellite DNA and recent statistical methods in wildlife conservation management: applications in Alpine ibex [Capra ibex(ibex)].

We evaluated the usefulness of microsatellites and recently developed statistical methods for the conservation management of fragmented and reintroduced populations, using the alpine ibex (Capra ibex) as a model species. First, we assessed the effects of past reintroduction programmes on genetic diversity and population differentiation considering different population sizes and histories. We show that genetic variability in ibex populations (HE 0.13) is among the lowest reported from microsatellites in mammal species, and that the Alpi Marittime-Mercantour population has suffered from a severe genetic bottleneck associated with its reintroduction. Second, using a computer-simulation approach, we provide examples and rough guidelines for translocation programmes concerning the number and origin of individuals for future reintroductions and for the reinforcement of populations with low genetic variability. Finally, we use the ibex microsatellite data to assess the usefulness of several published statistical tests for detecting population bottlenecks and assigning individuals to their population of origin. This study illustrates that microsatellites allow: (i) evaluation of alternative translocation scenarios by simulating different numbers and origins of migrants; (ii) identification of bottlenecked populations (especially using the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test); and (iii) population assignment with a high certainty (P < 0.001) of almost 100 of the individuals (or trophies or carcasses) from two distant populations (especially using stucture or whichrun software).

Animals↗