Evaluating the Contribution of North American Zoos and Aquariums to Endangered Species Recovery

Judy P Che-Castaldo,Lisa J Faust,Shelly A Grow

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-27806-2

Judy P Che-Castaldo, Lisa J Faust + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27806-2

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jun 28, 2018
Citations: 19	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Abstract

The challenge of recovering threatened species necessitates collaboration among diverse conservation partners. Zoos and aquariums have long partnered with other conservation organizations and government agencies to help recover species through a range of in situ and ex situ conservation projects. These efforts tend to be conducted by individual facilities and for individual species, and thus the scope and magnitude of these actions at the national level are not well understood. Here we evaluate the means and extent to which North American zoos and aquariums contribute to the recovery of species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), by synthesizing data from federal recovery plans for listed species and from annual surveys conducted by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. We found that in addition to managing ex situ assurance populations, zoos frequently conduct conservation research and field-based population monitoring and assessments. Cooperatively managed populations in zoos tend to focus on species that are not listed on the ESA or on foreign listings, and thus it may be beneficial for zoos to manage more native threatened species. Our results highlight the existing contributions, but also identify additional opportunities for the zoo community to help recover threatened species.

Highlights

Zoos and aquariums are becoming more broadly recognized as important partners for conserving threatened species[2,3]
One study has evaluated the impacts of a subset of in situ conservation projects branded by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums[16], and another summarized the number of breeding and reintroduction projects for threatened species conducted by four Canadian zoos[12]
Our analysis consisted of three parts: (1) Summarize the management actions for which zoos are the responsible parties, based on data from federal recovery plans for listed species; (2) Summarize the recent conservation activities reported by AZA-accredited facilities in responses to the association’s annual field conservation and research surveys; and (3) Quantify the number of listed species that currently have managed populations in AZA facilities in order to identify additional opportunities for species conservation

Summary

Introduction

Zoos and aquariums (hereafter, “zoos”) are becoming more broadly recognized as important partners for conserving threatened species[2,3]. In the U.S, all institutions accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) include species conservation as a key part of their missions, in accordance with accreditation standards To fulfill this part of their missions, zoos carry out an array of in situ and ex situ initiatives[4], and collaborate with other conservation organizations and government agencies. This includes the agencies [U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries] that implement the U.S Endangered Species Act (ESA), which was enacted in 1973 to protect threatened species through both extinction prevention and recovery actions[17]. Due to the scope of our study, we did not aim to quantify the impacts of these conservation activities, it would be a valuable assessment that could be implemented following the methods of Mace et al.[18]

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Conclusion