The Direct Contributions of Behavioral and Other Animal Research in Zoos and Aquariums to In-Situ and Ex-Situ Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

With the recent declaration by the IUCN that zoos and aquariums are critical partners in biodiversity conservation (https://iucn.org/resources/commission-statement/iucn-commission-statement-role-botanic-gardens-aquariums-and-zoos), this Special Issue will highlight the opportunities zoos and aquariums provide to obtain key behavioral and other data on animals to assist in their conservation in the wild or to fortify existing insurance colonies of animals where the wild population is, or nearly is, extinct. While we want to highlight behavioral research derived from zoo and aquarium animals, we will consider other types of research on zoo and aquarium animals that directly benefit the conservation of the species involved.  More descriptive papers describing care and management practices as part of propagation efforts are also encouraged, though these should focus on true insurance colonies of animals where the wild population is or is nearly extinct and a formal conservation plan has identified the need for an insurance colony in human care. 

Before submitting their articles, interested authors should contact any member of the editorial team to discuss how their work fits the Special Issue theme.  Authors should articulate the conservation status of the species in the wild (IUCN threat level, estimated wild population size) and what key behavioral or other data the paper would provide that would be directly applicable to in situ conservation. For papers related to ensuring the viability of insurance colonies, please detail what data the authors can provide that would benefit captive population viability; we will consider insurance colonies as those that have been identified as being needed in a formal, published conservation plan. 

Dr. David Powell
Prof. Jennifer Tobey
Dr. Emily Lynch
Dr. Chase LaDue
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biodiversity conservation
• zoos
• aquariums
• wildlife conservation