Racing Stripes II: Escaping Extinction

Shifting Baselines, Refugees, and Conservation: Can we Identify and Predict Declines?

Dr Susanne Shultz

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences 

The University of Manchester

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Dr Shultz has worked on social evolution in primates, fish, and cetaceans and has a background in anthropology. She also has a PhD based on Ecology and Evolution and has worked as a Conservation Biologist with the RSPB.

Her seminar covered two main areas about her current projects;

1. To understand how we can better predict declines

2. To develop tools that can enable us to understand how we can manage endangered species, particularly those in fragmented habitats.

Over the years, the amount of land being protected or conserved has increased manifold to reduce the loss of biodiversity. However, despite these land protection acts, the rate of extinction is surprisingly still on the rise. 

Dr Shultz explained how the conservation of inferior land has led to many animals living within a Refugee Species Concept, where a species is pushed from its historic optimal habitat into a new one that is undesirable.

The areas that are pristine, and untouched, and natural are those areas that have low economic value for people.

One such refugee species is the Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra). 

The Case of the Cape Mountain Zebra

A small cluster of Cape Mountain Zebra stand around a muddy waterhole, seeking reprise from the relentless African sun. Photographer unknown.

The smallest and most geographically restricted of all existing zebra species, this striped equid is currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.

Subjected to urbanisation, these iconic animals were pushed to the very brink of extinction, and were brought back thanks to conservation. However, many conservationists, including Dr Shultz noted that even with increased numbers, most the Cape Mountain Zebra was still suffering from high levels of stress and were not reproducing quickly enough. 

The culprit, conservation of these zebras on land that was not optimal for them. Once found along large expanses of coastal grasslands, the Cape Mountain Zebra were now living in thorny scrublands which do not provide adequate sustenance, thus resulting in low birth levels, and extreme stress.

However, armed with the new knowledge of the zebras’ historic range and environment, conservation biologists such as Dr Shultz and her team can target areas that are suitable for the Cape Mountain Zebra and start relocation projects to these optimal areas. With that shift being down, perhaps the downward trend in the extinction crisis can then be successfully reversed. 

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Reflection

In some parts of Ontario’s boreal forests, logging companies have experimented with a variety of special clearing configurations. The forest, which contains a wide variety of birds and their insect prey, is highly threatened by habitat fragmentation. Photo: Per Breiehagen

While habitat fragmentation is a concept I am familiar with, conservation of areas poor in diversity to make up for habitat loss was new to me. The extinction crisis is a very real threat to many species around the world, and the risk is not declining even with land protection, and habitat conservation. 

Through the case study of the Cape Mountain Zebra, I have also discovered the importance of conducting a historical study to know more about a species’ biology and historical range and habitat. With anthropogenic disturbances becoming common, more species are at a risk of being refugees in substandard habitats and would continue down the extinction path unless measures are taken to protect their optimal habitats.

With more organisations carrying out proper studies and mitigating damaging effects on endangered species, the downward trend of extinction baselines can be hopefully reversed.

 

The Writing of a Business Plan

Armed with the business-selling knowledge from our ‘Dragons’ Den’ workshop, the students were tasked with writing up their own business plan. Since we had the options of continuing with our initial idea from the workshop, or with a brand new idea, I chose to pick a fresh idea to plan and built for this assignment.

As opposed to planning it out based on our experiences from the ‘Dragons’ Den’ workshop, we were asked to craft and enter our ideas and plans on the Simply Do Ideas page.  

Simply Do Ideas is designed to make teaching enterprise and entrepreurship easy, following a well-structured, researched approach that can easily be embedded in curriculum – either business-related or otherwise. 

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The Business Plan – ‘The ReWilders’

As with the business planning for the workshop, this business was also built upon the six ‘C’s.

• CASH

• CONCEPT

• CONTENTS

• CUSTOMERS

• COMPETITORS

• COMPATIBILITY

Named ‘The ReWilders’, my business is largely built upon ecotourism based on the reintroduction of locally extinct species such as beavers, while encouraging the providence of ecosystems goods and services brought about by these animals. While the ecotourism would act as a means of profit for my company, the benefits brought by the reintroduced species would allow the government to save millions of pounds in their attempts to mimic the ecosystem services.

Although starting a business is not one of my aspirations, I took the time to research and plan out a business close to my areas of interest: conservation and reintroductions. During the research process, I discovered that there were very few businesses that were built around reintroduction and that the majority of them were non-profit organisations.

With that, I followed the template and was able to create a working business plan. Due to the nature of my business largely based on ecotourism, my finance plans were not as strong as a conventional business. Moreover, without any prior business experience, I would have probably overestimated or underestimated prices and object values.

A screengrab of my cashflow plan for ‘The ReWilders’ from the Simply Do Ideas website.

The full business plan for ‘The Rewilders’ can be found here.

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My Reflection

With the template on Simply Do Ideas, the business plan was easier to do than I had anticipated. While I did run into some initial trouble with the site, it got easier as I went along. I think that this site is a great way for students to learn business planning and management skills. 

While the ‘Dragons’ Den’ workshop only showed the business pitching, planning out this business showed me the complex workings, planning, and input that goes into making a business work. 

While I do not plan to run a business, the writing of this business plan has certainly imparted some crucial skills that would be useful to me on my career path.