Saturday 15 September 2012


An introduction of the non-conservation kind

My name is Sarah Dalrymple and I'm a conservation ecologist working in Northern England, UK.  I have a background in plant ecology and after attempting a reintroduction of small cow-wheat (Melampyrum sylvaticum) I became interested in conservation translocations and whether they really could be a viable tool for reversing the decline of threatened species.

I have recently been part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Task Force charged with revising their Guidelines for Reintroduction and Other Conservation Translocations.  The membership reflected the double edge of deliberate movements of plants and animals being drawn from both the IUCN Re-introductions Specialist Group and the Invasive Species Specialist Group.

My current research is trying to identify examples of translocations both within and beyond a species' indigenous range in order to assess the effectiveness of interventions such as assisted colonisation when compared to within-range translocations such as reintroduction.  (If I've already confused you with the terminology, please see the definitions page.) I am building a database of conservation translocations and offering to assess the habitat suitability of translocations for practitioners who are willing to share their data - please see the project page for more details.

Finally, if you would like me to blog about any aspect of your translocation work, feel free to contact me:
s.e.dalrymple@gmail.com.

Looking forward to working with you,
Sarah

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