Question

Describe ex-situ conservation of biodiversity.

Answer 1

Ex situconservationliterally means,"off-siteconservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety orbreed, 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, which may be a wild area or within the careof humans.[1][2]The degree to which humans control or modify 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 situmanagement can occur within or outside a species' natural geographic range. Individuals maintainedex situexist outside anecological niche. This means that they are not under the same selection pressures as wild populations, and they may undergoartificial selectionif maintainedex situfor multiple generations.

Answer 2

The description of the ex situ kind of conservation is -

This is the kind of conservation where the threatened or endangered animals as well as plants are protected in special sites and are cared.

Examples of such conservation includes :

i) Zoological Parks.

ii) Botanical Gardens.

iii) Wildlife Parks.

In plants, we can see this kind of conservation in the tissue culture method.

Also, by this system of conservation, we can even protect gametes by tissue culture, by establishment of seed banks and banks of gene.