Conservation Biology

Conservation Biology

Technological innovations in Conservation Biology.

Berger‐Tal, O., & Lahoz‐Monfort, J. J. (2018). Conservation technology: The next generation. Conservation Letters, 11(6), e12458.

Technology innovations in the field of biology typically implies any indication of man-made action applied to handle preexisting issues and surviving as a species. A notable difference can be established in the design and manufacture of physical equipment, devices, and machinery, in the modern world, electronic gadgets and more applicable techniques such as mathematical algorithms, statistical techniques or computer programs are often essential (Ellwood, Wilson, & Addison, 2007). Ecology experts and conservation specialists play a significant responsibility in developing these technological innovations (Berger & Monfort, 2018). The technological innovation context of this paper, however, focuses on a limited outline of technological innovation, as stated by Oxford Dictionary: “Machinery and devices manufactured from scientific knowledge” (Oxford Living Dictionary Online 2017). How technological innovations in modern conservation biology is utilized has revolutionized drastically over the last couple of decades.

The essence of advancements in Technology Innovations is based on its significance tools used in the collection of more accurate and reliable data hence improving the monitory of wild animals’ ecosystems and dangers facing their habitats, helping in making more informed management decisions. Ecosystem Monitoring is regarded as a central role in biodiversity-related international policy conventions like the Aichi Biodiversity Aims of the policy on Biological Diversity and a few UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Technological innovations additionally provide techniques that aid in acts of conservation in the fields, such as combating unlawful operations that endanger the ecosystem or cause a decrease in pollution rates. This kind of innovative equipment is instrumental in biological conservation within organizations and to the administrative management systems mandated with formulation and implementation of related policies such as combating illegal harvesting and trafficking (CITES)

There are several technological innovations applied in conservation biology abound. Geographical Positioning Systems and other telecommunication systems, such as the sensor tags and camera traps, are applicable in monitoring both preexisting and reinitiated organism populations providing detailed data (Berger-Tal & Saltz 2014; Hussey et al. 2015; Kays et al. 2015). Remote sensing, by use of satellites or drone aircraft, has been largely utilized in monitoring wild Ecosystems, land topography, consolidation, and division and also used as a control tool (Berger & Monfort, 2018). The current development innovation is in biotechnology and bioengineering, which is rapidly revolutionizing the methods of species conservation. Pembient2, a technological technique, is devising a bio representation of wild products such as rhino horns and shark fins, this is intended to curb poaching. By the years 2050, the New Zealand administration is anticipating to utilize genetically enhanced methods such as CRISPR/Cas9 in attempts to completely alleviate the entire predatory organisms (Berger & Monfort, 2018), although the cloning technology has been termed as a way of species degeneration. These are just a few of instances and methods that indicate how technology is inevitably essential in conservation biology in our modern world, as well as crucial in strategizing future conservation biology patterns.

Technological innovations enhancing small-scale innovation has also started taking shape, from a small scale but progressing (Ellwood, Wilson, & Addison, 2007). A lot of conservation biology research studies have assessed the preexisting technological tools and attempted to design new and innovative methods to handle more specific needs addressing small scale firms. It has started by utilization of simple but significant equipment such as the smart nest box monitoring systems to complex systems such as the large-scale full-time monitoring of elephant mobility and ecosystem, Unsupervised Aerial System to automatically identify radio-spotted wild animals and their ecosystems. These kind methods often incorporate the responsibility of highly disciplined and trained teams of conservation biologists, ecologists, and engineers or computer scientists. To be a conservation biologist and come up with technological innovations, coordinated interactions, and partnerships between the conservationists on the ground and innovation technologists are essential to successfully develop and implement and apply new techniques and solutions.

Technology and innovation practices should not be entirely considered as elite and resource-intensive. Local communities should be ready to learn technological skills essential for nature care and to help them restore their control and role over environments and set themselves free from the bonds of neoliberal conservation (Ellwood, Wilson, & Addison 2007). Example of these basic technological skills includes the simple prototyping and innovating tools such as the microcontrollers: Arduino and single-board computers like Raspberry Pi), and also the easily accessible online purchase of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and cheap consumer-oriented 3D printers. This remarkable change has resulted to development of several initiatives aimed at

reinforcing regional populations and personnel to build and innovate own technological devices to handle various issues like the TReND4 (Teaching and Research in Natural Sciences for Development) and their Open Labware program (Ellwood, Wilson, & Addison, 2007); ExCiteS5 (Extreme Citizen Science); and Sapelli6 – wide scope program developing a mobile data collection medium where information is shared. It is designed to help unlearned users lacking any technological skills. Mobile phones technological innovation is therefore among the largest growing method used in conservation biology technologies as it provides communities in the most informal and underdeveloped parts of the world with technology, through access to GPS and internet, and also the standardized conservation biology applications such as CyberTracker7 or iNaturalist

References.

Berger‐Tal, O., & Lahoz‐Monfort, J. J. (2018). Conservation technology: The next generation. Conservation Letters, 11(6), e12458.

Conservation Biology by Bradley J. Cardinale, Richard B. Primack, and James D. M       Murdoch. Sinauer Associates/Oxford University Press, USA. 2020.

Ellwood, S. A., Wilson, R. P., & Addison, A. C. (2007). Technology in conservation: a b  boon but with small print. Key topics in conservation biology, 105-119.