Journal Article

An emerging role of zoos to conserve biodiversity

Conde Ovando, D. A., Flesness, N., Colchero, F., Jones, O. R., Scheuerlein, A.
Science, 331:6023, 1390–1391 (2011)

Abstract

At the October 2010 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, delegates discussed a plan to reduce pressures on the planet's biodiversity. Key targets include expanding coverage of protected areas, halving the rate of loss of natural habitats, and preventing extinction of threatened species (1). For species whose habitat is severely threatened, however, the outlook is so bleak that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and the CBD (Article 9) recognize that in situ conservation actions (i.e., in the species' natural habitat) will need to be combined with ex situ approaches, such as captive breeding in zoos, aquariums, and so on (2, 3).
Keywords: World
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.