Terrestrial Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network

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Home Publications Adaptation Managed Relocation Assisted colonisation is not a viable conservation strategy
Assisted colonisation is not a viable conservation strategy PDF Print E-mail
Managed Relocation, Adaptation
Tuesday, 07 June 2011 10:58

“A potential conservation strategy increasingly discussed by conservation biologists is the translocation of species to favorable habitat beyond their native range to protect them from human-induced threats, such as climate change. Even if preceded by careful risk assessment, such action is likely to produce myriad unintended and unpredictable consequences. Accurate risk assessment is impeded by contingency: the impacts of introduced species vary over time and space under the influence of local environmental variables, interspecific interactions and evolutionary change. Some impacts, such as native species extinctions, are large and irrevocable. Here we argue that conservation biologists have not yet developed a sufficient understanding of the impacts of introduced species to make informed decisions regarding species translocations...”

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.12.006

Riccardi, A. and Simberloff, D. (2008). Assisted colonisation is not a viable conservation strategy. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24(5): 248-253