EX SITU

CONSERVATION

R.R.BHARATHI
2ND YR BIOCHEMISTRY
Definition: Ex-Situ

 means literally, "off-site conservation“

 the process of protecting an endangered
species of plant or animal outside of its
natural habitat; for example, by
removing part of the population from a
threatened habitat and placing it in a
new location, which may be a wild area
or within the care of humans.
Purpose

 Rescue threatened species of plants or animals.

 Produce material for conservation
biology research.
 Supply material for various purposes to remove or
reduce pressure from wild collecting.
 Make available material for conservation
education
and display.
 Produce material for reintroduction,
reinforcement, habitat restoration and
management.
 Methods of Ex-Situ Conservation

Zoo
 One of the most conventional methods of ex-situ
conservation.
 Generally they are used for public enjoyment and
education
 But since there are fewer animals in the wild,
they also have the additional capabilities for
building up numbers through captive breeding
programs.
 Methods-cont’d
Aquaria
Initially their role has largely been
for display and educational purposes
But due to growing threats of
aquatic species they are now used
for ex-situ breeding programs.
 Methods- cont’d
Plant Collections
 Plants are much easier to maintain
artificially than animals. They need less
care and their requirements for habitat
conditions can be provided more readily.
 It is also much easier to breed plants in
captivity.
 Examples of these are botanical gardens
and seed banks or germplasm banks.
 Cryopreservation
 The storage of seeds, pollen, tissue, or embryos
in liquid nitrogen.
 This method can be used for virtually indefinite
storage of material without deterioration over a
much greater time-period relative to all other
methods of ex situ conservation.
Cryopreservation is also used for the
conservation of livestock genetics through 
Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources.
 Seed banking
 The storage of seeds in a temperature and
moisture controlled environment.
 This technique is used for taxa with
orthodox seeds that tolerate desiccation.
 Seed bank facilities vary from sealed boxes
to climate controlled walk-in freezers or
vaults.
 Field gene banking
 An extensive open-air planting used
maintain genetic diversity of wild,
agricultural, or forestry species.
 Typically species that are either difficult
or impossible to conserve in seed banks
are conserved in field gene banks. Field
gene banks may also be used grow and
select progeny of species stored by
other ex situ techniques.
 Cultivation collections
 Plants under horticultural care in a constructed landscape,
typically a botanic garden or arboreta. This technique is
similar to a field gene bank in that plants are maintained
in the ambient environment, but the collections are
typically not as genetically diverse or extensive. These
collections are susceptible to hybridization, artificial
selection, genetic drift, and disease transmission.
 Techniques for animals
 A tank of liquid nitrogen, used to supply a cryogenic freezer
(for storing laboratory samples at a temperature of about −150
°C).
  Animal species can be preserved in gene banks, which
consist of cryogenic facilities used to store living sperm, eggs,
or embryos. For example, the Zoological Society of San
Diego has established a "frozen zoo" to store such samples
using cryopreservation techniques from more than 355
species, including mammals, reptiles, and birds.
 
 A potential technique for aiding in reproduction
of endangered species is interspecific pregnancy,
implanting embryos of an endangered species
into the womb of a female of a related species,
carrying it to term. It has been carried out for the 
Spanish ibex.
 Examples
 Showy Indian clover, Trifolium
amoenum, is an example of a species
that was thought to be extinct, but
was rediscovered in 1993.in the form
of a single plant at a site in western 
Sonoma County. Seeds were harvested
and the species grown in ex
situ facilities.
 The Wollemi pine is another example
of a plant that is being preserved
via ex situ conservation, as they are
being grown in nurseries to be sold to
the general public.
 The Philippine crocodile (Crocodylus
mindorensis), also known as
the Mindoro crocodile, the Philippine
freshwater crocodile, the bukarot[ in 
Ilocano,, is one of two species of 
crocodiles found in the Philippines; the
other is the larger saltwater crocodile
 (Crocodylus porosus).
  The guar is an endangered wild ox
from Asia. Researchers have used the
species to develop and experiment
with many of the techniques
described. In 2001, the first cloned
guar was born. This individual was
implanted into a surrogate mother of
a different species (a cow).
 Drawbacks of Ex-Situ Conservation

 This is rarely enough to save a species

from extinction and would have to be
used as a last resort or as a
supplement for in- situ conservation
because it cannot recreate the habitat
as a whole.
 The species’ natural evolution and
adaptation processes are either halted
temporarily or altered by introducing
the specimen in an unnatural habitat.
Drawbacks- cont’d

 Ex-situ conservation techniques are often

costly and sometimes slowly drain the
financial resources of the government or
the organization.
 Pests or diseases foreign to the species
may cripple protected plants and/or
animals as they have no natural defense
against it.
Drawbacks- cont’d

Reintroducing the species to the wild may

cause the following problems:
 Behavior: captive-bred species lack the in-situ
learning of their wild relatives and can be a
disadvantage to the species once they had been
released into the wild.
 Genetic Races: reintroduced populations may
have an entirely different genetic make up to
the original population.
 Habitat: it must be present for reintroduction to
take place. In cases of destroyed habitats, those
areas had to be restored first to allow the captive
populations to be reintroduced.
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