In situ conservation means on site conservation. It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, either by protecting or cleaning up the habitat itself or by defending the species from predators.The benefits to in situ Conservation is that it maintains recovering population in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties.
Wildlife conservation is mostly based on in situ conservation. This involves the protection of wildlife habitats. Also, sufficiently large reserves are maintained to enable the target species to exist in large numbers. The population size must be sufficient to enable the necessary genetic diversity to survive within the population.
This approach deals with maintaining species in their natural habitat, which is believed to be the best way to maintain the earth’s process to continue and for species to keep on adapting to their surrounding. However this needs good management particles and controlled land use to ensure the successes of conservation objectives. Thus protected Areas play a very important characteristics: size , number of species contained in preserved areas. The rounder shape minimize edge effects because the perimeter (edge) is smaller relative to areas inside than with other shapes. Connectivity between potential fragments allows members of the same species to immigrate and interbreed . The connections are also called corridors. Buffer zones are another important preserve characteristic.
A buffer zone is moderately utilised land that provides a transition into the unmodified natural habitat in the core preserve where no human. Distribution allowed.
Buffer zones are very important for both psychological and practical reasons and from this zone inhabitants of the areas can derive some benefits from the preserve . by permitting moderate recreational forestry , farming and other activities, buffer zone provides jobs, and income with no ill effect on species in the core preserve . Other types of areas that are important for in situ Conservation of species are:
- National Parks and Sanctuaries
Most national parks are areas of land that have great natural beauty , which are set aside and protected for the conservation of habitat of many plants and animals. In national parks people are allowed to enjoy the scenery and wildlife , but visitor management is often required to reduce conflicts between recreation and conservation.
National Parks are largely natural and unchanged by human activities, but many of them already had existing human impacts before they were designated for protection amd human activites have often been allowed to continue . people have no right in a National Parks.
The first wildlife sanctuary was the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary near Madras , set up in 1878, which merely formalised the traditional protection afforded by villagers for pelicans, herons and other birds breeding at Vedanthanga. Another such sanctuary was set up at Ranaganathittu near Mysore , in 1942. As in 2018 , India has 103 National Parks , 536 wildlife Sanctuaries and 18 biosphere reserve.
- Captive Breeding Programme
Captive breeding does plays an important roel in elephant conservation. Some of the most successful captive breeding programmes are those where elephants are kept under semi natural conditions like in forest camps. In the forest camps in southern India, elephants have been seen to regularly breed in captivity and it has been observed that the elephants population has sustained itself without the addition of any elephant from the wild.
In most forest camps , bulls and cows of all ages are kept together amd are allowed to mingle with each other . they are also left in the forest at night, so that they can feed. Sometimes, the cows have been known to mate with the wild bulls
- Crocodile Conservation
In situ conservation of selected species of birds and reptiles has been fortified through captive breeding programme. The government of India started a crocodile breeding and Management project in 1976 to save the three endangered crocodilian species, the fresh water crocodile , salt water crocodile and the gharial.
Thousands of crocodiles of these three species have been reared at 16 centers and several of these three species in wild . Eleven sanctuaries have been declared specially for crocodile protection including the National Chambal Sanctuary in Madhya pradesh. The endangered white winged wood duck was also bred in captivity and released into protected Areas of the Northeast , in an Indo British Collaborative programme.
