1. What do in situ and ex situ mean? What are the merits and shortcomings of ex situ conservation?

In situ In situ means "on site", so in situ conservation is the conservation of species diversity within normal and natural habitats and ecosystems. In-situ conservation means "on-site conservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, either by protecting or cleaning up the habitat itself, or by defending the species from predators. Ex situ Ex-situ conservation means literally, "off-site conservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered species of plant or animal 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. Advantages of ex situ: Efficient and reproducible Feasible for medium and long-term secure care Easy access for characterization, evaluation and utilization. Easy public access for conservation education

Disadvantages of ex situ: Problems keeping of recalcitrant species Freezes evolutionary development Genetic diversity may be lost with each regeneration cycle

Need to develop individual maintenance protocols for most species Relatively high level technology and maintenance costs Material is susceptible to diseases and vandalism Involves large areas of land, but even then genetic diversity is likely

to be restricted Space limit the number and genetic diversity of the species

conserved Vulnerable to natural and man-directed disasters Appropriate management regimes poorly understood Requires high level of active supervision and monitoring

In-situ In-situ conservation means "on-site conservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, either by protecting or cleaning up the habitat itself, or by defending the species from predators. One benefit to in-situ conservation is that it maintains recovering populations in the surrounding where they have developed their distinctive properties. Another is that this strategy helps ensure the ongoing processes of evolution and adaptation within their environments. As a last resort, ex-situ conservation may be used on some or all of the population, when in-situ conservation is too difficult, or impossible.