thumb|upright=1.35|[[Tiger as flagship species for a campaign in Tamil Nadu, India]]
In conservation biology, a flagship species is a species chosen to raise support for biodiversity conservation in a given place or social context. Definitions have varied, but they have tended to focus on the strategic goals and the socio-economic nature of the concept, to support the marketing of a conservation effort. The species need to be popular, to work as symbols or icons, and to stimulate people to provide money or support.
Species selected since the idea was developed in 1980s include widely recognised and charismatic species like the black rhinoceros, the Bengal tiger, and the Asian elephant. Some species such as the Chesapeake blue crab and the Pemba flying fox, the former of which is locally significant to Northern America, have suited a cultural and social context. Although animal species that can be described as "charismatic megafauna" are frequently the flagship species for a protected ecosystem, large, dominant plant species sometimes serve this role as well, for example, several United States national parks, including Redwood National and State Parks, Joshua Tree National Park, and Saguaro National Park, are named for the flagship plant species for those protected areas. Butterfly species, such as the monarch butterfly, have also served as flagship species in some contexts. Several definitions have been advanced for the flagship species concept and for some time there has been confusion even in the academic literature. Most of the latest definitions focus on the strategic, socio-economic, and marketing character of the concept. Some definitions are:
- "a species used as the focus of a broader conservation marketing campaign based on its possession of one or more traits that appeal to the target audience"
- "popular, charismatic species that serve as symbols and rallying points to stimulate conservation awareness and action"
History
The flagship species concept appears to have become popular around the mid 1980s within the debate on how to prioritise species for conservation. The first widely available references to use the flagship concept applied it to both neotropical primates and African elephants and rhinos, in the mammal-centric approach that still dominates how the concept is used. although members of other taxonomic groups have occasionally been used.
thumb|upright|[[Bald eagle as flagship for forests in the United States]]
Flagship species projects have sometimes been successful in saving the species and its habitat, as with the American bald eagle and the manatee.
Choosing species
thumb|upright|[[Ruddy shelduck|Ruddy Shelduck, Flagship species of Arjan International Wetland ]]
Chosen flagship species are often charismatic, well-known species: see the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris), the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), the Golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia), the African elephant (Loxodonta sp.) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). However, because flagship species are selected according to the audience they are hoping to influence, these species can also belong to traditionally uncharismatic groups if the cultural and social content is right. Less charismatic but locally significant species include the use of the Pemba flying fox as a flagship in Tanzania, The Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) is used a flagship species for the Arjan International Wetland in Iran, selected through a participatory process to reconnect local people with the wetland's biodiversity.
Some flagship species are keystone species, like the African lion, a top predator: it used to control the populations of large herbivores, protecting ecosystems across the entire landscape. However, the lion's ability to serve as a keystone species is decreasing as its population and range decline. The WWF uses flagship species as one of its species classification categories, along with keystone and indicator species. It chooses between these when selecting a priority species to represent the conservation threats facing a certain region.
thumb|upright|[[Eurasian lynx as flagship for a protected area in Poland]]
Flagship species can represent an environmental feature (e.g. a species or ecosystem), cause (e.g. climate change or ocean acidification), organization (e.g. NGO or government department) or geographic region (e.g. state or protected area). This is illustrated by the differences in recommendations made for flagship species selection targeting different target audiences such as local communities
Limitations
thumb|5000 Tanzanian shillings bank note with [[Black rhinoceros as flagship for the country's wildlife]]
The use of flagship species has some limitations:
- The management of different flagships can conflict.
- Most conservation practices for flagship species tend to be costly and difficult to maintain
Leaving aside the impact on other species, charisma does not seem to protect even charismatic species against extinction. All ten of the most charismatic groups of animal identified in a 2018 study, namely tiger, lion, elephant, giraffe, leopard, panda, cheetah, polar bear, wolf, and gorilla, are currently endangered; only the giant panda shows a demographic growth from an extremely small population. The researchers suggest that the widespread use of images of these animals has given the public the impression that the animals are abundant, obscuring their high risk of imminent extinction. They note that this remains true despite the intense focus of conservation efforts on these particular species. A major challenge for the utilization of several flagship species in non-Western contexts is that they may come into conflict with local communities, thereby jeopardizing well-intended conservation actions. This has been termed "flagship mutiny", and is exemplified by the Asian elephant in countries where there is human-elephant conflict.
See also
- Keystone species
- Indicator species
- Charismatic megafauna
- Umbrella species