Wildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation protects and manages wild species and their habitats to maintain biodiversity and prevent population declines and extinctions.
Protected area: A geographically defined area managed to conserve nature and its associated values. Protected areas safeguard habitat by limiting damaging activities within designated boundaries.
Biodiversity: The variety of life, including diversity within species, among species, and across ecosystems. Conservation seeks to maintain this variety at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.
Endangered species: Species facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild under a defined assessment system. Preventing their extinction is a direct priority of wildlife conservation.
Animal welfare: The condition of an individual animal in relation to its health, needs, and lived experience. Welfare focuses on individual animals, while conservation often evaluates populations and ecosystems.
Wildlife corridor: A strip or network of habitat that connects separated wildlife populations or habitat patches. Corridors help animals move between protected habitats and maintain population connectivity.
Habitat: The natural environment in which an organism lives and obtains resources for survival and reproduction. A species' survival depends on habitat that supplies food, shelter, and breeding sites.
Habitat fragmentation: The division of continuous habitat into smaller, isolated patches, often by human land use. Fragmentation isolates populations and can make otherwise suitable habitat harder to reach.
Animal rights: A philosophical and political view that animals possess moral rights limiting their treatment by humans. Rights-based arguments can oppose some population-management methods used in conservation.
Wildlife reintroduction: The deliberate release of a species into part of its former range where it has disappeared. Reintroductions can restore populations where habitat and threats are suitable.
Population viability analysis: A method for estimating a population's extinction risk under specified conditions and assumptions. It helps assess how population size, threats, and management affect persistence.