📝 Exam Summary: Conservation & regeneration
Key Idea: We protect biodiversity for aesthetic, ecological, economic, ethical and social reasons — using in situ and ex situ strategies.
🏞️ In situ vs ex situ
- In situ = protect species in their natural habitat (national parks, reserves, MPAs) — keeps whole ecosystems & behaviours
- Ex situ = protect outside the habitat (zoos, botanic gardens, seed/gene banks, captive breeding) — a last-resort insurance population
🗺️ Reserve design
- Large + compact (low edge-to-area ratio) → smaller edge effects, bigger core
- Buffer zones around a protected core
- Wildlife corridors connect reserves → gene flow & range shifts as climate changes
🤝 Tools & values
- Rewilding – reintroduce keystone/apex species
- CITES (trade) & the CBD (UN treaty)
- Economic incentives – ecotourism, payments for ecosystem services
- Your EVS (ecocentric / anthropocentric / technocentric) shapes which strategy you choose
Tip: For the [9] EVS essay: name all three value systems, link each to named conservation strategies, balance them, and end with a clear conclusion.