Zoos through the lens of the IUCN Red List: a global metapopulation approach to support conservation breeding programs.

ABSTRACT: Given current extinction trends, the number of species requiring conservation breeding programs (CBPs) is likely to increase dramatically. To inform CBP policies for threatened terrestrial vertebrates, we evaluated the number and representation of threatened vertebrate species on the IUCN Red List held in the ISIS zoo network and estimated the complexity of their management as metapopulations. Our results show that 695 of the 3,955 (23%) terrestrial vertebrate species in ISIS zoos are threatened. Only two of the 59 taxonomic orders show a higher proportion of threatened species in ISIS zoos than would be expected if species were selected at random. In addition, for most taxa, the management of a zoo metapopulation of more than 250 individuals will require the coordination of a cluster of 1

SUBMITTER: Conde DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3859473 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature