Making choices to conserve the world's species: what, where and when?

Chair: Sir John Lawton CBE FRS

Speakers: Professor Georgina Mace FRS, Dr Jonathan Baillie, Professor Hugh Possingham and Dr Mark Avery

Conserving species is becoming more urgent as the pressures on natural areas intensify. There are increasing numbers of threatened species facing different problems in habitats all over the world. Unfortunately, there are many more problems than can be solved with the limited resources available to conservation bodies. So how do conservation biologists go about choosing what to focus on first, or where to invest most conservation funding?

There are both scientific and personal answers to this question. Scientifically-based methods can help to optimally allocate resources given a clearly stated desired endpoint or goal. But there are several alternative kinds of possible goals for species conservation that are not necessarily convergent. This meeting will bring together conservation science professionals from a range of organizations to debate the issues and see if there can be a shared species conservation science.

Proceedings were be chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS, currently Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and between 1999 and 2005 was Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council. He trained as a zoologist in Durham, and has held posts at Oxford, York and Imperial College.

Other panel members include:

Professor Georgina Mace FRS is currently the Director of the NERC Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College London where she is also professor of Conservation Science. Previously she was Director of Science at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London. Her research interests focus on species extinction, the assessment of biodiversity change, biodiversity indicators and the consequences of biodiversity loss for people and environmental processes generally.

Dr Jonathan Baillie is Director of Conservation Programmes at the Zoological Society of London where he oversees field projects in over 50 countries worldwide. Jonathan has played a leading role in the development of global biodiversity indicators including the IUCN Sampled Red List Index, WWF Living Planet Index and WCS/ZSL Wildlife Picture Index.

Dr Mark Avery is the Conservation Director of the RSPB - a conservation charity with more than a million members - and is responsible for the Society's conservation policy and practice.

Profressor Hugh Possingham is Head of the Ecology Centre at the University of Queensland, Australia. He sits on 16 different advisory boards for government and non-government groups and is actively involved in policy.  Work from his lab helped stop land clearing in Queensland and New South Wales securing 1 billion tones of CO2.

Bengal Tiger Panthera tigris tigris

Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength.

There were eight tiger subspecies at one time, but three became extinct during the 20th century. Over the last 100 years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced tiger populations from hundreds of thousands of animals to perhaps fewer than 2,500. Tigers are hunted as trophies, and also for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. All five remaining tiger subspecies are endangered, and many protection programs are in place.

Bengal tigers live in India and are sometimes called Indian tigers. They are the most common tiger and number about half of all wild tigers. Over many centuries they have become an important part of Indian tradition and lore.

Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories to keep their rivals away. They are powerful nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals. Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes). They lie in wait and creep close enough to attack their victims with a quick spring and a fatal pounce. A hungry tiger can eat as much as 60 pounds (27 kilograms) in one night, though they usually eat less.

Despite their fearsome reputation, most tigers avoid humans; however, a few do become dangerous maneaters. These animals are often sick and unable to hunt normally, or live in an area where their traditional prey has vanished.

Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.