What is conservation?
Understanding the ecology of species is critical to informing our efforts for their preservation.
Listen to Dr. Callum Macgregor discussing the many faces of conservation, from protecting single species to preserving habitats and the connections between them at a landscape scale. We discuss how each type of conservation is underpinned by ecological research, from understanding the habitat requirements of single species and the effectiveness of conservation actions to interpreting the processes that maximise biodiversity in nature reserves and over larger regions.
Here are some questions to consider while you’re watching the video. We’d be happy to hear from you in the comments once you’ve watched the video.
- Is conserving a single species the most efficient use of limited funding for conservation?
- Under what circumstances might it be more or less important to conserve a single species?
- Why do you think different species of butterflies (and other animals) prefer habitats at different stages of succession?
- How do multiple habitat patches provide better insurance against human pressures and a changing environment rather than one single patch?
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