Promising News for Imperiled Species

U.S. researchers have found that many imperiled species live in habitats where conservation appears possible because of sparse human population.

In a study published in the September issue of BioScience — the monthly journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences — the researchers said many threatened species exist in the tropics, on islands and in mountains, places where conservation appears possible because of the sparse human population and large areas of conservation-compatible habitat.

L.J. Gorenflo and Katrina Brandon, authors of the study, used geographic information systems technology to examine close to 4,000 gap locations worldwide, which had previously been identified as places where certain wildlife is vulnerable to extinction — partially due to the areas being unprotected by conservation regulations.

Many of these gap areas were found not to be promising for agriculture. However, other regions — such as some parts of the Andes, Brazil and Africa — showed some agricultural potential.