Keeping Up With the Jones

It's always nice to have helped someone get a foot-hold in conservation work so it's warming to read about someone I supervised for both his Masters and PhD. Carl Jones has become renowned for his work in Mauritius (home of the Dodo), saving the Mauritius kestrel, Pink pigeon and Echo parakeet (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/its-very-easy-to-save-a-species-how-carl-jones-rescued-more-endangered-animals-than-anyone-else). He has also gone on to do excellent work on the Rodrigues fody and warbler and received the prestigious Indianopolis prize. Carl is now Chief Scientist at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust with responsibilities for both plants and animals. I agree with Carl that conservation often involves difficult choices (such as killing or removing potential dangers for your focus organism) but I am less convinced by his basic claim that "It's very easy to save a species". The trouble is a) there are so many species (think about the hundreds of thousands of beetle species!), sometimes with conflicting needs; b) the locations for conservation are becoming more and more limited; c) humans don't always support (or are even antagonistic to) conservation efforts; d) money for such exercises is very restricted and e) there are some issues (e.g. plastic pollution and climate change) that are not in the hands of the conservationist.