Ex situ conservation (off-site preservation) is the maintenance of individual community in an artificial condition under human supervision normally involving outside natural habitat whilst In situ conservation (on-site preservation) is the preservation of natural communities in the wild or at its own natural environment

The ex-situ conservation usually is required when particular communities (species) are in danger of going extinct in the wild, over-exploitation, habitat loss and many etc.

 

Common examples of ex-situ conservation:

1)      Animals: Zoos, aquaria (marine) and captive breeding centers

Zoos:

•          Most commonly available in most countries (both terrestrial and aquatic animals)

•          Some may also include the modern techniques of veterinary medicine such as artificial incubation of eggs (turtles, fishes, birds and amphibians) artificial insemination (suitable for animals that have low mate fertility) embryo transfer induced hibernation, cross species hybridization and cross fostering that applied to increase the reproductive rates of endangered animals.

Aquaria:

•          Conservation for affected marine mammals & aquatic invertebrates (concern for extinction species) including coral reefs and freshwater mollusks

•          Also act for research and educational purposes of display and showcase any unusual, unique and attractive marine wildlife

 

 

2)      Plants: Botanical gardens, arboreta and seed banks

Botanical gardens and Arboreta:

•          Mainly establish to display beautiful and unique flora plant species (besides assisting in propagation for agriculture, horticulture, forestry and landscaping)

•          Priority for conservation facility especially in rare and endangered plant species (with high sensitive and vulnerable to be climatic change)

•          Various types of specialized plant collections – tropical, temperate, climatic and functional plant species

•          Kew Garden in UK is the World?s largest botanical garden that has more than 25,000 plant species - about 10% of world flora collection

•          Arboreta is the additional conservation activities that often collect extensive variety of plants - cultivated for scientific, educational and ornamental purposes

 

 

Agricultural Seed Banks

•          Collection of all types of seeds that developed and cultivated by mainly the national and international research institutes for future use

•          Storing under small space with minimal supervision and low cost - for long period of time under cold and dry conditions

•          Collections storage attempts to preserve the range of genetic variability present in a species

•          Preserving vital seeds of agricultural crops – cash crops like maize, wheat and rice

•          International Rice Research Institute – IRRI in Los Banos, Philippines has over 86000 rice collections and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre – CIMMYT in Mexico City, Mexico with more than 12000 samples of maize and 100000 samples of wheat collections

 

    Importance of ex situ conservation:

1)      Help to preserve endangered and threatened species in the wild (role of conservation)

 

2)      Increase population size of specific species

 

3)      Lower the probability of population extinction

 

4)      Allow species living in captivity to regain ecological and evolutionary roles

 

5)      Protection from disaster (both natural and man-made)

 

6)      Ex situ conservation areas can be useful for both research and public education purposes

Limitation of ex-situ conservation:

1)      Low adaptation ability

Population may undergo genetic adaptation to the artificial conditions and may not able to survive upon returning back to the wild (after completed the ex situ conservation)

 

2)      Reduced learning power (survival skills)

Populations may be incompetent due to lack of natural environment skills and may not survive in the wild

 

3)      Large (over-size) population

Large population size may not be suitable in zoos, captive breeding centers and botanical gardens

 

4)      Vulnerable to all form of destruction

Entire populations are prone to be destroyed/affected if and only if due to lack of protective measures of impromptu accidents such as fire-outbreak and outbreak of diseases

 

5)      Funding continuity

Insufficient supports from donor agency/institution can directly inhibit the conservation activities

            

Photo credit from: www.ocoutdoorethics.org