Ok, I know the title is terrible but I have War by Edwin Starr stuck in my head while writing this and I just couldn't resist. Just for the legal requirements, I don't claim any rights to the video or song and am sharing it for the purposes of entertainment only.
This time I'm writing to try and explain why I have decided to dive into the area of conservation, what it's all about, and why it means so much to me. Conservation in a nutshell is the act of preserving nature. There are so many different ways of doing this. For me, I like looking after the animals within an environment but each element of a habitat can be the focus of conservation. The animals, plants, water, soils, just about everything you can think of. Overall, conservation is about protecting different elements to protect the entire whole.
I don't intend on being preachy about the damage of humans to the environment but conservation can't be a topic of conversation (try saying that five times fast..) without acknowledging humans have had a significant detrimental impact on natural environments globally. Extinction is a completely natural mechanism which plays a major part in the evolution and development of new species. Records of extinction can be found throughout the fossil record and currently evidence indicates the existence of five mass extinction events existing in history which eradicated a significant proportion of the Earth's organisms (Jablonski, 2005).
However, conservation has become such a highlighted topic currently since the extinction rate of wild animals and plants has been increasing exponentially since the industrial revolution. We can recognise that humans were able to manipulate and change their environment for hundreds of years prior to the revolution, however the advances made with technology have allowed populations to grow faster, bigger and more stable (Braje and Erlandson, 2013).
Conservation has become a more popular concept in the past decades as society has become more aware of the impact we have as humans on the environment and as researchers and scientists have been able to more effectively communicate results of research to the public. Pressure from public opinion has forced politicians and industry giants to rethink their approaches to business and policy. This has led to the slow build of what I consider an eco-revolution where consumers have begun to take more care including the environmental impact their purchases and activities have.
Behind all of this interest is the intent to reduce our impact on the environment and hopefully even reverse some of the damage that can be caused to natural habitats and the organisms in those habitats. This is the motivation that led me to the line of research I'm pursuing. As part of my PhD I will be helping Fota Wildlife Park with their conservation efforts to protect the Irish populations of natterjack toads (Epidalea calamita).
For several years, Fota have collected natterjack eggs from the wild after breeding season to protect them and allow them to hatch within a safe environment. After allowing them to safely grow for several months they are then brought back to Kerry and released into the wild to boost our native populations of natterjack toads.
My role in this project will be to come on board and examine the survival rates and dispersal patterns of the toads after release back into the wild. This will help us to access the success of the project and to understand whether or not the efforts of those involved in this project are working to save one of Ireland's endangered species. Currently, natterjacks are designated as Endangered within Ireland by IUCN's red list.
This reintroduction method is just one of many techniques employed by researchers when trying to protect a species. Reintroduction has many pitfalls associated with it. Fota and their partners use a relatively simple method with an animal that could be considered to have relatively simple behaviours and life patterns. With animals that are more complex or are threatened by a specific issue in the wild, researchers may be required to do some work pre-release to train the animals about what dangers to avoid.
One of the best examples of this that I have found was a study conducted in Australia. The study aimed to reintroduce the native species of quoll (Jolly et al., 2018). Since colonisation, Australia has been plagued by invasive species which have devastated the native wildlife. One of the most well known species are cane toads (Rhinella marina) which were introduced with the intention to control the cane beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum). Unfortunately... the cane toad has no natural predator in Australia and contains a toxic compound which can kill smaller predators while making larger predators seriously ill.
That's a topic for another day however. Bringing it back to the research conducted by Jolly et al. Quolls are one species that would predate on cane toads and subsequently fall ill and possibly die, leading to severe decreases in their numbers. Jolly et al wanted to see if exposing young quolls to cane toads meat, before releasing them back into the wild, would boost their chances at surviving. They did this by feeding the quolls sausages. The sausages were made from cane toad meat that was processed to remove the toxin. The toxin was replaced with a mild medication to make the quolls mildly ill after eating the sausage that had the flavour and scent of cane toads.
The idea was that if these young animals got sick after eating the sausages then they would associate the taste and smell of cane toads with that experience and avoid them in the wild. And amazingly, it seemed to work! Quolls trained in this manner seemed to survive far longer in the wild post-release. This is the perfect example of a successful research project leading to a positive outcome.
But not all conservation needs to be done at such a large scale. I find one of the biggest barriers in the way of conservation is the attitude of ''Well, what can I do? I'm only one person.'' I know we're all busy and trying to juggle the numerous time consuming daily activities it takes to be a functional member of society can make it seem impossible to do anything significant. I like to think though, that doing the small things leads to us all adding together to do something significant.
For example, did you wash out that milk carton before putting it in the bin so it could be properly recycled? Or do you have a small patch in your garden where you could plant some wildflowers for bees? How about that extra fiver you were looking to donate to charity? Could that go to a nature fund/charity? There are dozens of small things that could all add up if we each did even one small thing a day or a week. A quick search on Google would provide dozens of lists of options to browse through and I'm sure there would be something you could enjoy doing. Put up a few bird feeders and enjoy your Sunday morning coffee watching the birds in your garden!
I don't want to come across patronising but I do truly believe that it is the little things that count and by incorporating the small things into our daily lives then we will take steps towards the bigger goals. A fantastic lecturer once told me that history has shown when a third of the population begins moving in a direction then society tends to follow. I reckon we are well on our way to having that third and I look forward to seeing the advances we make with regards to protecting our natural world in the years to come.
I'll keep you all updated on how my little efforts go and what I find out in my attempts and I hope to hear from any of you if you'd like to share what little thing you are going to try to bring into your routine.
References
Braje T.J. and Erlandson J.M. (2013), “Human acceleration of animal and plant extinctions: A Late Pleistocene, Holocene, and Anthropocene continuum”, Anthropocene, Vol. 4, pp. 14–23.
Jablonski D. (2005), “Mass extinctions and macroevolution”, Paleobiology, Vol. 31 No. sp5, pp. 192–210.
Jolly C.J., Kelly E., Gillespie G.R., Phillips B. and Webb J.K. (2018), “Out of the frying pan: Reintroduction of toad‐smart northern quolls to southern Kakadu National Park”, Austral Ecology, Vol. 43, pp. 139–149.