De-extinction: Introduction to the assignment

The course up to this point in the semester has reviewed many of the major physiological, behavioral, and ecological concepts that wildlife biologists rely on in forming conservation and management decisions.  One out of the box way of thinking about wildlife biology is to think about the recent hot topic of de-extinction (i.e. bringing back extinct species).

This topic was recently the focus of a TEDx series and a National Geographic cover story.  Further, wildlife professionals have been divided on the potential genetic, philosophical, economic, and ecological costs and benefits of bringing species back from extinction.  For example, the prominent conservation biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University has written a blog post about the pitfalls of de-extinction.  By contrast, others have come out for the adoption of de-extinction.  As you look through the National Geographic website on the topic and watch the TEDx series, you will hear and read of a variety of different view-points that make this a really fascinating discussion.

As scientists and wildlife biologists, we can take an additional look at this topic strictly from the perspective of a field wildlife biologist.  That is, not worrying about the genetic or philosophical concerns, but focusing on what we do best, trying to understand the biology of species and provide recommendations to managers.

With this in mind, the goal of this project is to synthesize what we have learned in the class about wildlife biology to provide restoration recommendations for reintroducing one of five different species back to the wild.  Put aside genetic and philosophical road-blocks, and imagine that a surplus of captive stock is available and ready for release.  Your job is to tell us what needs to happen on the ground to make this restoration work.

The species you have to choose from are the following:

1. Stellar's sea cow
2. Carolina parakeet
3. Thylacine
4. Gastric brooding frog
5. Woolley mammoth
6. Ivory-billed woodpecker
7. Passenger pigeon

Once your group decides on a species, you will have to work through the following five phases of the project.

Part 1:  Overview of existing knowledge

You first need to research what is known about the biology of your species.  In class I will hand out a table that you will need to complete by the end of class that we will use to outline our current understanding of your species' traits in relation to: reproduction, physiology, habitat and temperature tolerance, disease, food and other attributes.  Do not be afraid to say you cannot find information on a particular topic for your species.  This is to be expected, after all, the species is extinct!  We will fill in the blanks using part 2 below.

Part 2: Overview of closely related species

What are the missing behavioral/physiological/ecological pieces from Part 1?  You likely have a few blanks spots as a result of your exhaustive literature review.  Now you need to go about filling in those knowledge gaps with a closely related species. 

This may seem odd, but wildlife biologists often use patterns observed in one species to make inference to another.  Just as we often use scientific findings from one population to make inference to others, we sometimes try to use knowledge regarding closely related species to develop hypotheses and management objectives for our species of concern.  The challenge of course is finding the right species to use as a surrogate. 

For this portion of the project you will need to identify a closely related species and fill in the table I hand out to you in class similar to Part 1.  These tables will be due by the start of class on Thursday, May 2nd.

Part 3:  Restoration Plan

Now we need to start putting the pieces together.  You need to start thinking about how this will all play out in a real life situation.  Where would you release the animals?  How would you release these critters back?  Fences?  Food supplementation?  Human outreach?  These are all concerns you will need to consider and potentially address in your restoration plan.  Further, there are basic behavioral and physiological problems like we have discussed in class such as stress, thermoregulation, navigation, and many others.  Not to mention the changes that have likely occurred to their former range through climate change and human disturbance.

I will provide a handout in class on Thursday, May 2nd that contains details on what issues I expect you to consider.  It is up to your group to provide solutions and draft an outline for your restoration plan for the species.  This outline will be due by the end of class Thursday, May 2nd.

Part 4:  Write a blog post/essay

Now that you have the technical bits worked out, lets prepare a statement for the public.   As a group you will have to draft a blog post that summarizes your findings and recommendations.  I will provide a handout in class on what I expect in this post, and your group is welcome to come up with an original format/structure of your own, but at a minimum I expect it will address these 5 themes: 

1. Natural history: why it went extinct and the hook as to why I want to read further
2. Species biology
3. Surrogate species biology (fill in the missing pieces)
4. Obstacles to overcome
5. Final management recommendation: where, how many, what type of management, monitoring, research, etc.

This post will be due to me by 8 PM, May 8th and I will post it shortly thereafter.


Part 5:  Peer-evaluation

You have been working in the same groups on class questions for a little over a month and now it is time to evaluate participation.  You will need to fill out the peer-evaluation ranking form and email it to Pete by 8 PM, May 8th.  In your scoring, please take into account contributions during this project (both in class discussions and writing of the blog post) as well as the group work you have been doing over the past month with your assigned peers.