Charismatic species are often used as flagship species in conservation programs, as they are supposed to affect people's feelings more.[2] However, being charismatic does not protect species against extinction; all of the 10 most charismatic species are currently endangered, and only the giant panda shows a demographic growth from an extremely small population.[3]
Beginning early in the 20th century, efforts to reintroduce extirpated charismatic megafauna to ecosystems have been an interest of a number of private and non-government conservation organizations.[5] Species have been reintroduced from captive breeding programs in zoos, such as the wisent (the European bison) to Poland's Białowieża Forest.[6]
These and other reintroductions of charismatic megafauna, such as Przewalski's horse to Mongolia, have been to areas of limited, and often patchy, range compared to the historic ranges of the respective species.[7]
Environmental activists and proponents of ecotourism seek to use the leverage provided by charismatic and well-known species to achieve more subtle and far-reaching goals in species and biodiversity conservation.[8] By directing public attention to the diminishing numbers of giant panda due to habitat loss, for example, conservation groups can raise support for the protection of the panda and for the entire ecosystem of which it is a part.[citation needed]
Taxonomic bias
Charismatic megafauna may be subject to taxonomic inflation, in that taxonomists will declare a subspecies to be a species because of the advocacy benefits of a unique species, rather than because of new scientific evidence.[9] The public's preference to identify with species sold through the ecotourism industry may be a factor for creating taxonomic inflation.[9] In the public perception, ecotourism may be about seeing species, and the number of unique species increases the perceived biodiversity and tourism value of an area.[10][11] A correlation may exist between the taxonomic bias in biodiversity datasets and the charisma of terrestrial megafauna, with the more charismatic species being largely over-reported.[12] However, reports that charismatic megafauna are more engaging to the public than other species have been questioned.[13]
Miller, C. R.; Waits, L. P.; Joyce, P. (2006). "Phylogeography and mitochondrial diversity of extirpated brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations in the contiguous United States and Mexico". Molecular Ecology. 15 (14): 4477–4485. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03097.x. PMID17107477. S2CID7336900.
Mysterud, A.; Bartoń, K. A.; Jędrzejewska, B.; Krasiński, Z. A.; Niedziałkowska, M.; Kamler, J. F.; Yoccoz, N. G.; Stenseth, N. C. (2007). "Population ecology and conservation of endangered megafauna: the case of European bison in Białowiez'a Primeval Forest, Poland". Animal Conservation. 10 (1): 77–87. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00075.x. S2CID73668421.
Rugenstein, Dustin R.; Rubenstein, Daniel I.; Sherman, Paul W.; Gavin, Thomas A. (2006). "Pleistocene Park: Does re-wilding North America represent sound conservation for the 21st century?". Biological Conservation. 132 (2): 232–238. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.04.003.
Higham, James (2007). Critical Issues in Ecotourism: understanding a complex tourism phenomenon. Butterworth-Heinemann. pp.76–77. ISBN978-0-7506-6878-1.
Monsarrat, S.; Kerley, G.I.H (2018). "Charismatic species of the past: Biases in reporting of large mammals in historical written sources". Biological Conservation. 223: 68–75. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.04.036. S2CID90055484.
Petersen, Shannon (1999). "Congress and charismatic megafauna: a legislative history of the Endangered Species Act". Environmental Law. 29.
Leader-Williams, N.; H. T. Dublin (2000). "Charismatic megafauna as 'flagship species'". In Entwistle, A. and N. Dunstone (ed.). Priorities for the Conservation of Mammalian Diversity: Has the Panda had its Day?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.53–81. ISBN0-521-77279-6.
Goodwin, H.; N. Leader-Williams (2000). "Tourism and protected areas – distorting conservation priorities towards charismatic megafauna?". In Entwistle, A. and N. Dunstone (ed.). Priorities for the Conservation of Mammalian Biodiversity: Has the Panda had its Day?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.257–275. ISBN0-521-77279-6.
Barney, Erin C.; Mintzes, Joel J.; Yen, Chiung-Fen (January 2005). "Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and behavior toward charismatic megafauna: The case of dolphins". The Journal of Environmental Education. 36 (2): 41–55. doi:10.3200/JOEE.36.2.41-55. S2CID144728270.
Share this article:
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Charismatic_megafauna, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.