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41-651: The Springfield Park District's Henson Robinson Zoo began as an advocacy act by contractor Henson C. Robinson of Springfield. In 1967, the Springfield City Council set aside and donated a tract of land to the Springfield Park District. Construction of the zoo began in 1968 and on August 29, 1970, the Henson Robinson Zoo was officially opened on land owned by the Park District. Over the years,

82-510: 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. Species that cannot be conserved by other ex situ techniques are often included in cultivated collections. Plants are under horticulture care, but

123-558: A particular emphasis on social media and school-group activities and visits. The Zoo conducts frequent consultations with Springfield's School District #186 in the teaching of conservation and biology through hands-on animal experiences. This annual spring event has an emphasis on the diverse specializations required in veterinary care . Temporary veterinary clinics provide education on everything from surgery to preventive care to radiology on site while keeper chats, farrier demonstrations, and animal encounters provide more interaction. As

164-489: A profit but instead slowly drain the financial resources of the government or organization determined to operate them. Seedbanks are ineffective for certain plant genera with recalcitrant seeds that do not remain fertile for long periods of time. Diseases and pests foreign to the species, to which the species has no natural defense, may also cripple crops of protected plants in ex situ plantations and in animals living in ex situ breeding grounds. These factors, combined with

205-446: A small number of founders. In large, outbreeding populations, the frequencies of most deleterious alleles are relatively low, but when a population undergoes a bottleneck during the founding of a captive population, previously rare alleles may survive and increase in number. Further inbreeding within the captive population may also increase the likelihood that deleterious alleles will be expressed due to increasing homozygosity within

246-698: A species' survival in the first place. They are the most publicly visited ex situ conservation sites, with the WZCS (World Zoo Conservation Strategy) estimating that the 1,100 organized zoos in the world receive more than 600 million visitors annually. Globally there is an estimated total of 2,107 aquaria and zoos in 125 countries. Additionally many private collectors or other not-for-profit groups hold animals and they engage in conservation or reintroduction efforts. Similarly there are approximately 2,000 botanical gardens in 148 counties cultivating or storing an estimated 80,000 taxa of plants. Plant cryopreservation consist of

287-571: A zoo professional under the guidance of an elected management committee) for a certain species. This document sets ex situ population goals and other management recommendations to achieve the maximum genetic diversity and demographic stability for a species, given transfer and space constraints. As of 2023, there are 290 species that are a part of the Species Survival Plan program. Ex situ conservation Ex situ conservation ( lit.   ' off-site conservation ' )

328-650: A zoological setting. This has also led to AZA species reintroduction programs, examples of which include the black-footed ferret , the California condor , the northern riffleshell , the golden lion tamarin , the Karner blue butterfly , the Oregon spotted frog , the palila finch , the red wolf , and the Wyoming toad . An SSP master plan is a document produced by the SSP coordinator (generally

369-449: 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 Orange-bellied parrot , with a wild population of 14 birds as of early February 2017, are being bred in a captive breeding program. The captive population consists of around 300 birds. Ex situ conservation, while helpful in humankind's efforts to sustain and protect our environment,

410-521: Is another method of reducing adaptations to captivity, but it is important to find a balance between an environment that minimizes adaptation to captivity and an environment that permits adequate reproduction. Adaptations to captivity can also be reduced by managing the captive population as a series of population fragments. In this management strategy, the captive population is split into several sub-populations or fragments which are maintained separately. Smaller populations have lower adaptive potentials, so

451-433: Is guided by Taxon Advisory Groups, whose sole objective is to curate Regional Collection Plans for the conservation needs of a species and how AZA institutions will cooperate to reach those needs. Today, there are almost 300 existing SSP programs. The SSP has been met with widespread success in ensuring that, should a species population become functionally extinct in its natural habitat, a viable population still exists within

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492-411: Is primary used for clonal propagation of vegetative tissue or immature seeds. This allows for the proliferation of clonal plants from a relatively small amount of parent tissue. Endangered animal species and breeds are preserved using similar techniques. Animal species can be preserved in genebanks , which consist of cryogenic facilities used to store living sperm , eggs , or embryos . For example,

533-594: Is rarely enough to save a species from extinction. It is to be used as a last resort, or as a supplement to in situ conservation because it cannot recreate the habitat as a whole: the entire genetic variation of a species, its symbiotic counterparts, or those elements which, over time, might help a species adapt to its changing surroundings. Instead, ex situ conservation removes the species from its natural ecological contexts, preserving it under semi-isolated conditions whereby natural evolution and adaptation processes are either temporarily halted or altered by introducing

574-403: Is taken randomly from each mating individual. The mean kinship value is the average kinship value between a given individual and every other member of the population. Mean kinship values can help determine which individuals should be mated. In choosing individuals for breeding, it is important to choose individuals with the lowest mean kinship values because these individuals are least related to

615-451: Is the process of protecting an endangered species , variety, or breed of plant or animal outside its natural habitat. For example, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, an artificial environment which is similar to the natural habitat of the respective animal and within the care of humans, such as a zoological park or wildlife sanctuary . The degree to which humans control or modify

656-593: The American Species Survival Plan , the endangered-species-oriented operating plan that governs most U.S. professional zoos. The Survival Plan urges zoos to concentrate on the creation and maintenance of socially healthy groups of geographically separated animals so that they can breed and perpetuate their genetic heritage without inbreeding. The Zoo's 501-c-3 arm, the Springfield Zoological Society, concentrates on juvenile outreach, with

697-465: The Spanish ibex . Captive populations are subject to problems such as inbreeding depression , loss of genetic diversity and adaptations to captivity. It is important to manage captive populations in a way that minimizes these issues so that the individuals to be introduced will resemble the original founders as closely as possible, which will increase the chances of successful reintroductions . During

738-472: The effective population size can decrease the loss of genetic diversity by minimizing the random loss of alleles due to genetic drift . Minimizing the number of generations in captivity is another effective method for reducing the loss of genetic diversity in captive populations. Selection favors different traits in captive populations than it does in wild populations, so this may result in adaptations that are beneficial in captivity but are deleterious in

779-454: The Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoo community. AZA accredited zoos and AZA conservation partners that are involved in SSP programs engage in cooperative population management and conservation efforts that include research, conservation genetics, public education, reintroduction , and in situ or field conservation projects. The process for selecting recommended species

820-495: The Zoo's ‘last blast of the season,’ the late-September Fling is focused on educating visitors on the changes animals make to prepare for cold weather. The Zoo is transformed for the holiday season with lights, food vendors, visits with Santa Claus, and photo booths. Species Survival Plan The American Species Survival Plan or SSP program was developed in 1981 by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure

861-500: 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

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902-516: The allele due to its presence in unaffected heterozygotes . In this case, the best option is to attempt to minimize the frequency of the allele by selectively choosing mating pairs. In the process of eliminating genetic disorders, it is important to consider that when certain individuals are prevented from breeding, alleles and therefore genetic diversity are removed from the population; if these alleles are not present in other individuals, they may be lost completely. Preventing certain individuals from

943-447: The breeding also reduces the effective population size, which is associated with problems such as the loss of genetic diversity and increased inbreeding. 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

984-893: The cryopreservation of many species, but cryobiology is a field of active research, and many studies concerning plants are underway. 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. Taxa with recalcitrant seeds that do not tolerate desiccation are typically not held in seed banks for extended periods of time. 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. Plants under horticultural care in

1025-451: The environment is managed to near natural conditions. This occurs with either restored or semi-natural environments. This technique is primarily used for taxa that are rare or in areas where habitat has been severely degraded. Somatic tissue can be stored in vitro for short periods of time. This is done in a light and temperature controlled environment that regulates the growth of cells. As an ex situ conservation technique tissue culture

1066-410: The individual with the high mean kinship value. This genetic management technique requires that ancestry is known, so in circumstances where ancestry is unknown, it might be necessary to use molecular genetics such as microsatellite data to help resolve unknowns. Genetic diversity is often lost within captive populations due to the founder effect and subsequent small population sizes. Minimizing

1107-490: The initial growth phase, the population size is rapidly expanded until a target population size is reached. The target population size is the number of individuals that are required to maintain appropriate levels of genetic diversity, which is generally considered to be 90% of the current genetic diversity after 100 years. The number of individuals required to meet this goal varies based on potential growth rate, effective size, current genetic diversity, and generation time. Once

1148-429: The loss of genetic diversity within the captive population is an important component of ex situ conservation and is critical for successful reintroductions and the long term success of the species, since more diverse populations have higher adaptive potential. The loss of genetic diversity due to the founder effect can be minimized by ensuring that the founder population is large enough and genetically representative of

1189-475: The most conventional sites for ex situ conservation, housing whole, protected specimens for breeding and reintroduction into the wild. These facilities provide not only housing and care for specimens of endangered species, but also have an educational value. They inform the public of the threatened status of endangered species and of those factors which cause the threat, with the hope of creating public interest in stopping and reversing those factors which jeopardize

1230-399: The natural dynamics of the managed population varies widely, and this may include alteration of living environments, reproductive patterns, access to resources, and protection from predation and mortality. Ex situ management can occur within or outside a species' natural geographic range. Individuals maintained ex situ exist outside an ecological niche . This means that they are not under

1271-435: The population fragments are less likely to accumulate adaptations associated with captivity. The fragments are maintained separately until inbreeding becomes a concern. Immigrants are then exchanged between the fragments to reduce inbreeding, and then the fragments are managed separately again. Genetic disorders are often an issue within captive populations due to the fact that the populations are usually established from

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1312-461: The population. The high occurrence of genetic disorders within a captive population can threaten both the survival of the captive population and its eventual reintroduction back into the wild. If the genetic disorder is dominant , it may be possible to eliminate the disease completely in a single generation by avoiding breeding of the affected individuals. However, if the genetic disorder is recessive , it may not be possible to completely eliminate

1353-420: The rest of the population and have the least common alleles. This ensures that rarer alleles are passed on, which helps to increase genetic diversity. It is also important to avoid mating two individuals with very different mean kinship values because such pairings propagate both the rare alleles that are present in the individual with the low mean kinship value as well as the common alleles that are present in

1394-432: The same selection pressures as wild populations, and they may undergo artificial selection if maintained ex situ for multiple generations. Agricultural biodiversity is also conserved in ex situ collections. This is primarily in the form of gene banks where samples are stored in order to conserve the genetic resources of major crop plants and their wild relatives . Botanical gardens , zoos , and aquariums are

1435-529: The specimen to an unnatural habitat. In the case of cryogenic storage methods, the preserved specimen's adaptation processes are (quite literally) frozen altogether. The downside to this is that, when re-released, the species may lack the genetic adaptations and mutations which would allow it to thrive in its ever-changing natural habitat. Furthermore, ex situ conservation techniques are often costly, with cryogenic storage being economically infeasible in most cases since species stored in this manner cannot provide

1476-407: 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 . Technical limitations prevent

1517-456: The survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums , most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild. SSP programs focus on animals that are near threatened, threatened, endangered, or otherwise in danger of extinction in the wild, when zoo and zoology conservationists believe captive breeding programs will aid in their chances of survival. These programs help maintain healthy and genetically diverse animal populations within

1558-409: The target population size is reached, the focus shifts to maintaining the population and avoiding genetic issues within the captive population. Managing populations based on minimizing mean kinship values is often an effective way to increase genetic diversity and to avoid inbreeding within captive populations. Kinship is the probability that two alleles will be identical by descent when one allele

1599-401: The wild population. This is often difficult because removing large numbers of individuals from the wild populations may further reduce the genetic diversity of a species that is already of conservation concern. An alternative to this is collecting sperm from wild individuals and using this via artificial insemination to bring in fresh genetic material. Maximizing the captive population size and

1640-426: The wild. This reduces the success of re-introductions, so it is important to manage captive populations in order to reduce adaptations to captivity. Adaptations to captivity can be reduced by minimizing the number of generations in captivity and by maximizing the number of migrants from wild populations. Minimizing selection on captive populations by creating an environment that is similar to their natural environment

1681-411: The zoo has grown and expanded with the addition of several new animals as well as exhibits. The zoo is now home to animal native to Australia, Africa, Asia and North and South America. Over 80 species of native and exotic animals are housed amongst their naturalistic exhibits. Since 2019, staff began rewriting the zoo's master plan. The new plan will maintain the zoo's membership in and compliance with

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