Abstract
As the number of threatened species increases, and as we understand more about the extent of the problem, the need for effective and efficient means of identifying endangered species and populations becomes more pressing. However, recognizing that a species has a problem is only a first step — a second crucial stage is to be able to assess accurately the situation and to devise an appropriate management plan to aid recovery. Population viability analysis (PVA) is the methodology invoked to address these problems, and can be used in a variety of contexts (e.g. see Gilpin and Soulé, 1986). In this paper we show how different kinds of analysis are appropriate at different stages of devising a conservation management plan, and for different kinds of problem. If PVA is really to play a valuable role in the recovery of many species, close attention must be paid to the assumptions underlying different methods and to the biology of the species being considered (Caro and Durant, in press).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Beudels, R., Durant, S.M. and Harwood, J. (1992) Assessing the risks of extinction for local populations of roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus). Biological Conservation, 61, 107–16.
Caro, T.M. and Durant, S.M. (in press) The importance of behavioural ecology for conservation biology: examples from studies of Serengeti carnivores, in Serengeti II: Research, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem (eds A.R.E. Sinclair and P. Arcese), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Dobson, A.P., Mace, G.M., Poole, J. and Brett, R.A. (1992) Conservation biology: the ecology and genetics of endangered species, in Genes in Ecology (eds R.J. Berry, T.J. Crawford and G.M. Hewitt), Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 405–30.
Durant, S.M. (1991) Individual variation and dynamics of small populations: implications for conservation and management. Ph.D. Thesis, Cambridge University.
Durant, S.M. and Harwood, J. (1992) Assessment of monitoring and management strategies for local populations of Monachus monachus, the Mediterranean monk seal. Biological Conservation, 61, 81–92.
Durant, S.M. and Harwood, J. (in press) The effects of social organisation on the genetics and extinction dynamics of small populations of Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) and mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla berengei). Conservation Biology.
Durant, S.M., Harwood, J. and Beudels, R. (1992) Monitoring and management strategies for endangered populations of marine mammals and ungulates, in Wildlife 2001 (eds D.R. McCullough and R.H. Barrett), Elsevier Applied Science, New York, pp. 252–61.
Franklin, I.R. (1980) Evolutionary change in small populations, in Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary—Ecological Perspective (eds M.E. Soulé and B.A. Wilcox), Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass, pp. 135–49.
Gerodette, T. and Gilmartin, W.G. (1990) Demographic consequences of changed pupping and hauling sites of the Hawaiian monk seal. Conservation Biology, 4(4), 423–30.
Gilpin, M.E. and Soulé, M.E. (1986) Minimum viable populations: processes of species extinctions, in Conservation Biology — the Science of Scarcity and Diversity (ed. M.E. Soulé), Sinauer Associates, Michigan pp. 19–34.
Goodman, D. (1987) The demography of chance extinction, in Viable Populations for Conservation (ed. M.E. Soulé), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK., pp. 11–34.
Groves, C.R. and Clark, T.W. (1986) Determining minimum population size for recovery of the Black-footed ferret. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs, 8, 150–9.
Harcourt, A.H., Fossey, D. and Sabater-Pi, J. (1981) Demography of Gorilla gorilla. Journal of Zoology, London, 195, 215–33.
Harris, R.B. and Allendorf, F.W. (1989) Genetically effective population size of large mammals: an assessment of estimators. Conservation Biology, 3(2), 181–91.
Joubert, S.C.T. (1974) The social organisation of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) and its influence on the spatial distribution of herds in the Kruger National Park, in The Behaviour of Ungulates and its Relation to Management (eds V. Geist and F. Walther), IUCN, Morges pp. 661–75.
Lande, R. (1988) Genetics and demography in biological conservation. Science, 241, 1455–60.
Lande, R. and Orzack, S.H. (1988) Extinction dynamics of age-structured populations in a fluctuating environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 85, 7418–21.
Mace, G.M. (1988) The genetic and demographic status of the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) in captivity. Journal of Zoology, London, 216, 629–54.
Mace, G.M. and Lande, R. (1991) Assessing extinction threats: toward a reevaluation of IUCN threatened species categories. Conservation Biology, 5(2), 148–57.
Marchessaux, D. (1989) The biology, status and conservation of the monk seal (Monachus monachus). Report to the Council of Europe. Nature and Environment series No. 41, Palais de l’Europe, Strasbourg.
Pimm, S.L., Jones, H.L. and Diamond, J.M. (1988) On the risk of extinction. American Naturalist, 132, 757–85.
Ralls, K., Ballou, J.D. and Templeton, A. (1988) Estimates of lethal equivalents and the cost of inbreeding in mammals. Conservation Biology, 2, 185–93.
Reed, J.M., Doerr, P.D. and Walters, J.R. (1988) Minimum viable population size of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Journal of Wildlife Management, 52(3), 385–91.
Reijnders, P.J.H. and Ries, E.H. (1989) Release and radio-tracking of two rehabilitated monk seals in the marine park ‘Northern Sporades’, Greece, Research Institute for Nature Management, The Netherlands.
Schaller, G.B. (1963) The Mountain Gorilla, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Shaffer, M.L. (1981) Minimum population sizes for species conservation. Bioscience, 31, 131–4.
Shaffer, M.L. (1983) Determining minimum viable population sizes for the grizzly bear. International Conference on Bear Research and Management, 5, 133–9.
Soulé, M.E. (1980) Thresholds for survival: maintaining fitness and evolutionary potential, in Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary-Ecological Perspective, (eds M.E. Soulé and B.A. Wilcox), Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass pp. 151–69.
Soulé, M.E. and Mills, L.S. (1992) Conservation genetics and conservation biology: a troubled marriage, in Conservation of Biodiversity for Sustainable Development (eds O.T. Sandlund, K. Hindar and A.H.D. Brown), Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, pp. 55–69.
Thompson, G.G. (1991) Determining minimum viable populations under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA Technical Memorandum, F/NWC-198, US Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia.
Weber, A.W. and Vedder, A. (1983) Population dynamics of the Virunga gorillas: 1959–1978. Biological Conservation, 26, 341–66.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Durant, S.M., Mace, G.M. (1994). Species differences and population structure in population viability analysis. In: Olney, P.J.S., Mace, G.M., Feistner, A.T.C. (eds) Creative Conservation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0721-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0721-1_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4311-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0721-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive