Endangered species

The ENDANGERED SPECIES is the one that is threatened with Extinction.

The Best way to conserve any species is to keep it in its natural habitat.

Maintaining the nautral habitat means that all life support systems are provided.

National parks are areas of lands that are controlled by the government of a country and protected by legislation. Agriculture, buildinng, mining and other industrial activities are strictly controlled.

Alien species are removed and invasive plants are dug up and destroyed.There are restriction on human activities in national parks.

Tourism brings money to pay for the maintainance of the park, and also helps to inform people about how conservation takes place. This raises awareness of important issues and can elictsupport from the public.

Local people can also benefit from national parks: use some areas of the park for herding their animals or growing crops, employ them as rangers  or wardens.

Marine parks conserve fragile ecosystems and areas at risk of overfishing, dredging, pollution.

Wetlands habitats for eg salt marshes, estuatries and mangrove froests are ecosystems with biodiversity are also conserved and protected against threats as building development and extraction of minerals

Zoos provide enjoyement and intrest for visitors who can see and study animals but also provide protection for endangered and vulnerable species.

Captive breeding programmes which help to reintroduce animals to their natural habitats.

Problems:

•  A problem with breeding animals from small populations is inbreeding.
• Some animals simply refuse to breed in captivity. Often, it is not possible to create suitable habitat for them so they cannot be returned to wild.
• Even if a habitat exists, it is very difficult for the animal to adapt to living in it after being cared for in a zoo.
• Some captive-bred animals dont know how to aviod predators, find food or rear their own young.

Zoos also have an important role in research, especially in trying to gain a better understanding of breeding habitats, requirementand ways to increase genetic diversity and solution in inbreeding problems

Seeds/cuttings are collected from species in the wild and are used to build up a population of plants that can one day be reintroduced into the wild.

Sample of cells grown on agar (in sterile conditions) :

•  cells divide by mitosis to give a mass of cells which can be cloned 
• cells transferred to a medium contain an appropriate mixture of plant hormones 
• grow stems, roots 
• transferred to soil so that they can grow in it

• Protect endangered plant species that are threatened in the wild by environmental degradation and climate change.
• Research methods of reproduction and growth so that species cultivated in botanic gardens can be grown in appropriate conditions and be propagated.
• Research conservaton methods so plants  can be introduced to new habitats if their original habitat has been destroyed.
• Reintroduce species to habitats where they have become very rare or extinct.
• Educate the public in the many roles of plants in ecosytem and their economic value.

Seeds of the same species are collected from different sites, so that the stored samples contain a good proportion of the total gene pool of that species --> genetic diversity is not lost "Recalcitrant" seeds cannot be dried and frozen. These include seeds of economically important tropical species e.g.: rubber, coffee, cocoa. The only ways to keep the genetic diversity of these species are to:

• collect seeds and grow successive generations of plants  
• keep as tissue culture

 Seeds can be stored for a long time with little maintenance, anywhere in the world
 Seeds are germinated every few years to:

• check if seeds are still viable 
• produce new plants to collect new seeds  
• find conditions for breaking seed dormancy

Problem:Small samples are taken from rare plants so such such samples are unlikely to contain all the genetic diversity. Solution: is to put as large and diverse a sample as possible in to store at first place.