The importance of collaboration in Conservation Science
- josiemcp
- Oct 23, 2021
- 2 min read
As species extinctions continue at a unprecedented rate, conservationists are increasingly on the look out for new innovations to prevent the loss of species and their habitats. In this blog post, I will argue that sometimes these innovations may already exist, but just are being used in a different context, and therefore that interdisciplinary collaboration should be essential in conservation.
I think that this point is illustrated by examples of interdisciplinary collaboration leading to innovation in conservation. A couple of my favourite examples are the use of engineering to lessen air pollution, and the application of archeological practices to help locate polar bear dens.
The example of engineers helping provide answers to air pollution is 'The Tyre Collective'. Tyre wear is the second largest source of microplastic pollution in our ocean, and is responsible for half of air particle emission from road transport. Both of these endpoints result in huge damage to the health of both humans and other animals. A device has been developed that collects tyre wear before it is emitted, ensuring it can be disposed of responsibly. But, was this developed by conservationists? No, the device was developed by the 'The Tyre Collective', which was founded by students of Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. This device was designed using the principles of electrostatics, which many conservationists are far from experts in. Therefore, this illustrates how sometimes innovations can only be developed with the help of other expertise.
Furthermore, insights of archeology have been coopted for polar bear conservation. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been developed to look for Genghis Khan's tomb. It works by penetrating layers of forest canopy to try and identify burial structures. Tom Smith, an associate professor in plants and animal sciences at the Brigham University, serendipitously heard about this on the radio and got thinking about how this technology could be applied to finding polar bear dens. SAR technology tests have already provided promising results for locating dens. The current technology for detecting dens is less than 50% effective. The data on where dens are is invaluable to knowing what land is important to set aside for polar bears. In combination, this means that currently half of all polar bear dens are being ignored in crucial decisions regarding their conservation. This new technology may massively change this. However, this technology would perhaps never have been applied to conservation except for a lucky accident, resulting in poorer conservation for polar bears. Hence, I believe that the rate of these 'accidents' needs to be increased by increasing collaboration of conservationists with those of different expertises.
These examples illustatre to me how many of the problems conservationists are trying to answer perhaps have a wealth of answers that would never even be considered by conservationists. These answers may only be accessed by talking to experts in other fields. With shortfalls in time and money to answer conservation problems, we cannot afford to only focus on ideas from conservationists, and collaboration is the only way to broaden the expertise available to us.
Sources:
Polar bear dens:
The Tyre Collective:
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