Written by: Yoevelyn Rodriguez/Contributing Writer
Environmental science researchers at the FIU Tropical Conservation Institute are working to prevent the extinction of a small bird that inhabits the prairies of central Florida.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow population, a federally endangered bird found nowhere else in the world, continues to decline in Fla., according to Audubon Florida, an organization dedicated to conserving and restoring natural ecosystems.
The University partnered with the Rare Species Conservation Foundation, a non-governmental organization that seeks to “address the critical issues driving wildlife to extinction,” according to the TCI’s website.
“TCI is a wonderful marriage between FIU and an international conservation NGO,” said Paul Reillo, who co-directs TCI along Michael Maunder, associate dean of FIU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
The NGO was founded 25 years ago by Reillo.
According to him, the partnership is not only meant to broaden the work that conservation biologists are doing, but it is also meant to help train the next generation of conservation scientists.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the sparrow’s population was widespread in the sub-central Florida area.
But, by the early ‘80s, a survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revealed that only 250 adult birds were counted during a period of four years.
Based on the information generated by this survey, the USFWS listed the sparrow as an endangered species in 1986.
USFWS said that “the principal reason for this decline is habitat loss or degradation.”
A number of programs have been developed and implemented to help manage the sparrow’s natural habitat and stop its decline, like the Fire Regime Program and the Invasive Species Eradication Program said Reillo.
But the sparrow’s population continued to decline.
“We simply do not know precisely what is driving the downward trend in populations,” said Reillo. “But [we] believe that multiple factors are working in concert.”
Reillo has been working on the development of a captive-breeding program for the past three years, due to a request by the USFWS.
The captive-breeding program is part of the overall recovery effort.
The program features a working group of 35 environmental science professionals from different disciplines in the field, helping in the development of a recovery plan to aid the sparrow’s population.
Some animals rights groups, like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, consider captive-breeding a controversial topic.
But some students applaud Reillo’s approach, calling it “novel” and “ingenious”.
“He is one of the first people doing this [work] with this specific species,” said David Riera, a graduate student in marine biology at the University. “He is actually pioneering the methods.”
Riera said that most people believe species are released into the wild after being in captivity and then forgotten. He thinks the majority of people aren’t aware that captive-breeding programs account for a process of reintegration into the wild.
Barbara Pazos, a graduate student in environmental science, thinks that the necessity to use the methods of breeding endangered species in captivity depends on the species at hand.
“Sometimes there is no way for a certain species to survive on its own,” said Pazos. “They do need to be managed in a way.”
Reillo is aware of the controversy of captive-breeding and said that everything the institute does is ethical.
“You can imagine that there is some scientific debate as to what would be the best way forward,” said Reillo. “What we do here at TCI and RSCF is to make sure that our positions are scientifically defensible, that they are ethical.”
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