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Lincoln Park Zoo isn’t just the most visited cultural institution in Chicago. It’s also a center for scientific research that advances conservation knowledge. One of the science centers based here is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Population Management Center, which celebrated 25 years last year.
AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums often talk about Species Survival Plans®, which use science and data to analyze and manage animal populations—including creating breeding and transfer recommendations. SSPs are designed to help these zoos and aquariums cooperatively manage species in a way that prioritizes individual animal welfare, gene diversity, demography, and the future of animal populations under our care.
To achieve these goals, the AZA PMC was created in 2000 to centralize scientific management expertise and streamline the process of managing species in zoos and aquariums. The PMC at Lincoln Park Zoo advises SSPs and other AZA animal programs to help make population management decisions for more than 300 species.
Over the years, the PMC has seen so many changes, including technological developments that allow for more advanced and efficient digital data analyses. Check out these 25 significant achievements:
The AZA Population Management Center started in 2000 with two population biologists, one based at Lincoln Park Zoo and the other at Brookfield Zoo Chicago. Now, it has eight full-time staff members.
The PMC now collaborates with nine consulting and adjunct population biologists to advise SSPs and other crucial population initiatives across AZA.
The PMC team at the 2022 AZA annual meeting.
3. Currently, the PMC advises almost 600 populations. This includes SSPs, AZA SAFE programs, larval programs for aquaculture, and international programs with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
4. The PMC has created 3,304 Breeding and Transfer Plans for SSP and SAFE Programs to date. These include reintroductions, headstart programs, and analyses for animals from black-footed ferrets to Vietnam pheasants.
5. From mailing printed reports back in the day to now using electronic templates and Lincoln Park Zoo-created apps for distribution, the PMC has initiated changes in technology that have made population management more collaborative and efficient.
6. The PMC facilitates planning meetings every one to three years for each SSP and SAFE program, allowing the PMC to learn how animals are doing, analyze the studbook data, create new management strategies, and develop breeding and transfer recommendations. To date, this has totaled 3,083 meetings and counting.
7. Lincoln Park Zoo and Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute created MateRx as a genetic modeling tool that helps zoos and aquariums make decisions about which animals to breed.
8. The PMC has created Survival Statistics Reports, calculating median life expectancy for more than 500 species, enabling zoos and aquariums to understand animals’ life spans and provide appropriate care for various life stages.
9. In collaboration with Lincoln Park Zoo’s Alexander Center for Population Biology, PMC staff maintain and support PMCTrack. PMCTrack is a website that supports and improves the management of SSPs by providing the tools and data to understand, monitor, and improve the long-term viability of populations. PMCTrack originally launched in 2011. To date, PMCTrack has documented more than 680,000 breeding and transfer recommendations.
10. The PMC supported the migration of 535 AZA Studbooks to a new software, ZIMS for Studbooks, that allows zoos and aquariums to maintain studbooks and receive updates in real time.
11. The PMC collaborates with the Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative to further develop critical software that it uses daily to help organizations do conservation planning and assess risks for species.
12. The PMC supported the Alexander Center in creating 172 Population Viability Analyses for most SSPs. PVAs are a tool used by biologists to understand extinction risks and strategically manage endangered populations.
13. PMC staff act as members, liaisons, and advisors to nine of AZA’s Scientific Advisory Groups, providing scientific expertise and helping outline research priorities for accredited zoos and aquariums.
A PMC meeting with population biology colleagues in Budapest.
14. The AZA PMC collaborated with WAZA to create and support its 2027 Population Management Goal, ensuring that it is science based, focuses on animal welfare, and includes professional capacity building.
15. PMC staff are members and leaders in an international group working to advance the science of managing plants and animals that live in groups.
16. Colleagues at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative are looking into how to help manage plant populations. For example, researchers are considering how to leverage pedigree information and population data, now widely used in zoo communities, to increase gene diversity in plants.
18. Staff members have trained over 1,100 colleagues on aspects of population management including maintaining a studbook, gathering high-quality data, and other essential skills.
19. The PMC has hosted several large, multi-day working meetings with the Small Population Management Advisory Group at Lincoln Park Zoo. SPMAG promotes best-practice applications of population biology to the management of all populations impacted by AZA’s membership.
20. Staff have presented 90+ talks at conferences ranging from sharing research to applying science, which all advance the science and communication around population management.
The PMC’s John Andrews gives a presentation to colleagues in Indonesia.
21. PMC staff have presented more than 90 talks to zoo visitors and young learners at zoo camps and special events.
22. The PMC has presented numerous research posters at AZA and other global conferences, highlighting topics such as egg data management.
23. PMC staff have published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and book chapters, adding to the body of knowledge regarding population management.
24. From a 2018 60 Minutes episode and a 2018 special issue of Animal Keepers’ Forum to several AZA Connect magazine articles and numerous species-specific articles focusing on population management, the PMC has been spreading the word about its work and the impact on species.
25. Overall, the PMC has supported over 685 different species in some way since 2000!
