Conservation of Laysan Duck
The Laysan Ducks are listed as critically endangered species by the IUCN Red List. They are endemic species therefore they are only found in one specific place. If these species were continually killed they will become extinct and may not be ever seen forever. To prevent the extinction of Laysan Ducks, Scientists are carrying out conservation activities.
Setting up a research centre and conservation area:
“The Laysan island is also designated as a Research Natural Area where state and federal biologists work closely together to ensure the well being of the island ecosystem.”[3] Scientists are working to increase the population of Laysan Ducks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a group that conserves the population of Laysan Ducks. They protect the Laysan Ducks and they keep an eye on it. Scientists create a captive or semi-captive breeding programme to save the species from extinction.
Preventing habitat loss:
One of the main problems of Laysan Ducks is habitat loss. The Laysan Duck Midway Translocation Team is a group of people that relocate and restore their habitats. “The Laysan Duck Midway Translocation Team is dedicated to the conservation and recovery of the endangered Laysan duck.”[5] They monitored the ducks using a radio transmitter to study their habitats. “Habitat restoration is broadly defined as the act, process, or result of returning a degraded or former habitat to a healthy, self-sustaining condition that resembles as closely as possible its pre-disturbed state.”[8]
The habitat restoration helps the ducks from being endangered because they could live in their natural habitats. Without their natural habitat Laysan ducks might find it difficult to adapt into new habitat and this can cause extinction. Restoring the habitat can also restore biodiversity.
Captive breeding:
Most endangered species goes through the process of captive breeding to preserve them. Captive breeding programmes can increase the number of individuals of the species if it’s low. According to our visit on London Wetland centre, they also perform a captive breeding programme to maintain genetic diversity within the captive population. There are many advantages of captive breeding and I think it is very important to the environment.
In order to perform a captive breeding programme, Scientists needs a place where they will do the captive breeding programme and that is Laysan Island. First they study the Laysan duck, do some research about them and count its population. Then they provide food to feed the ducks and make artificial nests for them or locate its natural nests. The next step is to use artificial incubator or Leave the eggs with the parents for them to hatch. “Non-sibling juvenile ducks were selected for translocation to maximize genetic variability of the Midway population.”[4] Scientists transfer the baby ducks to another place and they attached radio transmitters to them in order to monitor their behaviour, movements and survival.
Monitoring behaviour:
The scientists monitor the Laysan Ducks and their habitats. They do this because they need to study the behaviour of Laysan Ducks so they can set a conservation plan to it. This plan contains wild translocation and the successful captive or semi-captive breeding program using wild source eggs. If the scientist accomplish this then the Laysan Ducks could be taken out as endangered species in the future.
After the translocation of Laysan Ducks, Scientist attaches a radio-transmitter to monitor their behaviour, movements, reproduction and survival. To avoid any disturbance to the duck, Scientists also use spotting scopes to monitor them. Monitoring the Laysan Ducks can add new information about their behavioural, physiological and anatomical adaptation.
Figure 2. Estimated Laysan Duck population according to USFWS and USGS.
http://biology.usgs.gov/pierc/Native_Birds/Laysan_ducks.htm
The Graph shows the estimated population of Laysan Ducks. This graph is achieved by monitoring and counting the Laysan Ducks population. During early 1990’s, the population of Laysan ducks nearly reached the extinction and then the population increases again in early 2000’s. “In 1993, the population crashed during El Niño drought conditions”.[4] This condition affects the food of Laysan Ducks. During 2004, there were about 600 Laysan Ducks on the island. This increase of population was caused by captive breeding programmes and habitat restoration.
Issues
There is an environmental issue about the cause of decreased on population of the Laysan Ducks because of introducing new predator. Rats were introduced to island and Laysan Ducks aren’t use to this type of predator. If they didn’t introduced rats in the island then Laysan Duck’s population could be higher compare to now. This introduced species damages the ecosystem of the island.
Another environmental issue that nearly causes extinction to the Laysan Duck was food competition to other species. “Introduced brought the duck to the brink of extinction in 1912, with an all-time low population of 7 adults and five juveniles”. [1] These rabbits destroyed the island’s vegetation and without plants Laysan Ducks had a little food availability. Food competition is a natural environmental process but they introduce the Rabbits in the island, it appears that Laysan Ducks suffered from this new introduced species.
There is some ethical issue during captive breeding programme. Scientists should not hurt the Laysan Ducks and they should treat them well. Economic is also another issue because conserving wildlife can cost a lot of money. Researches, facilities, equipments and other can be expensive to afford.
Benefits and risks
The benefit of conserving a species to human and other organisms is it has a contribution to biodiversity. Each of the species is unique and each one of them has an effect to the ecosystem therefore Laysan Duck must be conserve. Conserving species and biodiversity can benefit us in many ways and it can have a contribution to the medicine industry.
Human can also benefit by using Laysan Ducks or other animals that prey on certain crop pests and it is less expensive than any chemical. “This process of agricultural method of controlling pest is called biological pest controls”.[6]
The disadvantage of conserving species is it could cost a lot of money to do a research and to preserve them. Preserving a species can be expensive because of its facilities, foods and daily maintenance.
I learn that scientist have a huge part of saving the Laysan Duck from extinction. I also learn that introducing new species could have disadvantages as well to the species around them. There is also an effect of each individual species in our ecosystem therefore if one species will be extinct then it could have an affect to other species in different ways.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]http://www.fws.gov/Pacific/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/LaysanDuckTeam.htm
[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control
[7]
[8] http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eoeeaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Air%2C+Water+%26+Climate+Change&L2=Preserving+Water+Resources&L3=Water+Habitat+Restoration&sid=Eoeea&b=terminalcontent&f=eea_water_habitat_restoration&csid=Eoeea
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity#Human_benefits
- Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology for Edexcel AS Biology student book, ISBN: 978-1-4058-9607-8
- Habitat Conservation Planning, ISBN: 978-0292708068
- Waterfowl Ecology and Management, ISBN: 978-0471597704
- Notes from the visit to London Wetland centre
Validity of sources:
The sources above provide general information about Laysan ducks, habitats, conservation of species and environmental implication. The information is supported by authorities. The websites are all working and reliable.
