School of Natural Sciences, Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Conservation Science Alliance, Species360, 7900 International Drive, Suite 1040, Bloomington, MN, 55425, USA.
Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 4;11(1):584. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14303-2.
Zoos contribute substantial resources to in situ conservation projects in natural habitats using revenue from visitor attendance, as well as other sources. We use a global dataset of over 450 zoos to develop a model of how zoo composition and socio-economic factors directly and indirectly influence visitor attendance and in situ project activity. We find that zoos with many animals, large animals, high species richness (particularly of mammals), and which are dissimilar to other zoos achieve higher numbers of visitors and contribute to more in situ conservation projects. However, the model strongly supports a trade-off between number of animals and body mass indicating that alternative composition strategies, such as having many small animals, may also be effective. The evidence-base presented here can be used to help guide collection planning processes and increase the in situ contributions from zoos, helping to reduce global biodiversity loss.
动物园利用游客收入以及其他来源，为自然栖息地的就地保护项目提供大量资源。我们使用了一个由 450 多家动物园组成的全球数据集，建立了一个模型，研究动物园的组成和社会经济因素如何直接和间接影响游客人数和就地保护项目的活动。我们发现，拥有大量动物、大型动物、高物种丰富度（特别是哺乳动物）、与其他动物园不同的动物园吸引了更多的游客，并为更多的就地保护项目做出了贡献。然而，该模型强烈支持动物数量和体重之间的权衡，表明采用多种小型动物等替代组成策略也可能是有效的。这里提出的证据基础可以用来帮助指导收藏规划过程，并增加动物园对就地保护的贡献，有助于减少全球生物多样性的丧失。
