CONSERVATIONISTS who simply follow the number of animals in an endangered population may be failing to spot species that are heading for oblivion. The number of animals remaining from a threatened species may actually rise as it approaches the brink of extinction.
This surprising conclusion comes from a mathematical analysis by theoretical ecologist Peter Abrams. It is unclear whether animal numbers boom then bust this way in the wild, but Abrams says conservationists should take his findings as a warning that they should change the way they monitor the health of populations.
Abrams says the phenomenon can be understood by…
