New Online Resource on the 3Rs Principles of Animal Research for Wildlife Biologists, Ecologists, and Conservation Managers

Miriam A Zemanova

doi:10.3390/conservation1020009

Miriam A Zemanova

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation1020009

Copy DOI

Abstract

The Earth’s biodiversity is in crisis. Without radical action to conserve habitats, the current rate of species extinction is predicted to accelerate even further. Efficient species conservation requires planning, management, and continuous biodiversity monitoring through wildlife research. Conservation biology was built on the utilitarian principle, where the well-being of species, populations, and ecosystems is given priority over the well-being of individual animals. However, this tenet has been increasingly under discussion and it has been argued that wildlife researchers need to safeguard the welfare of the individual animals traditionally subjected to invasive or lethal research procedures. The 3Rs principles of animal use (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement) have become the cornerstone of ethical scientific conduct that could minimize the potential negative impact of research practices. One of the obvious strategies to implement the 3Rs in wildlife studies is to use non-invasive or non-lethal research methods. However, in contrast to toxicological or pharmacological research on laboratory animal models, up to now no 3Rs databases or online resources designed specifically for wildlife biologists, ecologists, and conservation managers have been available. To aid the implementation of the 3Rs principles into research on wildlife, I developed an online resource whose structure is outlined in this paper. The website contains a curated database of peer-reviewed articles that have implemented non-invasive or non-lethal research methods that could be used as a guideline for future studies.

Highlights

The importance of preserving nature has been recognised for a long time, the accelerating impact of anthropogenic activities on ecosystems during the last decades has prompted an upsurge in efforts to mitigate the so-called sixth mass extinction [1,2,3]
As guidelines onanimal animalexperimentation experimentation that focus primarily on laboratory aniAs guidelines on that focus primarily on laboratory animals mals are insufficient for wildlife research due to vast differences between species are insufficient for wildlife research due to vast differences between species and and research methodology, the goal of this project was to create an overview of how the research methodology, the goal of this project was to create an overview of how the 3Rs
The informational website 3Rs Principles in Wildlife Research is freely accessible at https://3RsWildlife.info (Figure 2; accessed on 15 May 2021)

Summary

Introduction

The importance of preserving nature has been recognised for a long time, the accelerating impact of anthropogenic activities on ecosystems during the last decades has prompted an upsurge in efforts to mitigate the so-called sixth mass extinction [1,2,3]. Mammals are currently one of the most endangered taxa, with 25% of species for which we have sufficient data to assess their conservation status classified as endangered or declining [4,5]. In order to protect and manage animal species and populations, we need to understand their role and interactions within the ecosystem [6,7,8,9] and their responses to anthropogenic activities [10,11,12]. How many animals are being used in conservation biology research is difficult to estimate. For example, within the EU Member States several thousands of vertebrate and cephalopod species are used in species preservation research every year (Table 1)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion