Case Study: Nene

Established in 1972 the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been trying to save species from extinction. An example we have learned is about the Aleutian Cackling Goose, the Layasan Teal, and the Nene.
Here we will discuss the Nene. In 1967 (even before the ESA was established) the Nene was considered as endangered. The once very endangered Nene, has now been listed as "vulnerable" rather than near extinction. This, in itself, means a lot for conservation biology, a success story. Although it is not totally out of the woods for extinction, it is one step closer to being a self-sustaining population once again. But what were the initial causes of decline for this population?

1. Exploitation of the early Europeans
2. Habitat degradation due to leisure activities or agriculture 
3. Predators introduced (rats, mongoose)

In sum, humans have caused this near extinction of the Nene. This story, however, has shown that reintroduction of a species can work. With a population at one time being 17 birds in the wild, the population has now reached about 2000 birds in the wild, attributed to reintroduction. A recovery plan was created for the Nene in 1949 and is now the longest conservation effort in the world. Birds were captive bred at the Wildfowl Wetlands Trust in Europe and brought to Hawaii to be released. Some issues with captive breeding, however, it is very expensive and most times fail. Reasons that it could potentially fail with the Nene is: the Nene has lost cultural aspects of its life, such as foraging and social skills were inept. This could cause issues with ensuring a long-term sustaining population. Is it work it to invest all this time? We discussed this in class and had a slight debate about what we believed to be feasible and if we thought it was right to spend all of this time and money trying to conserve one species even if it didn't seem like it was going to work. But having a population that was only at 17 at one point and now has reached 2000 means that there is hope yet and with new innovations we can find ways to save these populations more effectively. Refer to the Conservation topic in Element 2 to see more of the discussions we had.
There is still a long way to go with this bird, it is not out of danger yet. Paying attention to this topic will be important to help us determine how effective reintroduction could be for species.