About PMCTrack
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plans (SSPs) are cooperative programs
which pool animals across AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums to manage them as populations. Common
goals of SSP programs are to maintain sustainable populations to serve as insurance for wild
populations and to meet the conservation and education goals of AZA member facilities. SSP
programs are coordinated by a Species Coordinator and advised by the AZA Population Management Center
(PMC), a group of scientific advisors based at Lincoln Park Zoo, and PMC Adjunct Advisors based at zoos
across the country. The PMC regularly (often annually) analyzes a population’s demographics and genetics
and works with the Species Coordinator to develop a breeding and transfer plan that includes detailed
recommendations for each individual within the population. The plan is finalized after a draft
comment period and distributed to the facilities cooperating in the SSP, who then act upon the
recommendations in the following months.
Since 2000, the PMC has issued hundreds of thousands of recommendations to hundreds of institutions; however before PMCTrack there was no systematic evaluation of the recommendation outcomes. Was an animal actually transferred? Was the pair put together to breed? If a recommendation wasn’t carried out, was it because of logistical issues, communication problems, or reproductive problems with the animals themselves? To address these issues, scientists at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the PMC developed PMCTrack with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). PMCTrack is a website designed to collect feedback and evaluate the outcomes of breeding and transfer recommendations. PMCTrack provides the data necessary to make informed changes and improvements in AZA’s population management strategies.
PMCTrack compiles data on all published final plans. This historic data provides an understanding of the baseline rates of recommendation fulfillment. As more plans are completed in the future, PMCTrack will be used by Species Coordinators and the PMC to pinpoint management challenges that need to be addressed with more research, to track whether rates of recommendation fulfillment improve over time, and to understand more about each SSP, as well as how the AZA management system works across programs.
PMCTrack provides restricted access to specific users involved in SSP management; the types of information each user can view is based on their role and program affiliations, which ensures the privacy and appropriate use of the information gathered within the monitoring system. PMC staff, Species Coordinators, Institutional Representatives, Institutional Liaisons, and Taxonomic Advisory Group (TAG) Chairs use PMCTrack to monitor and better understand the status of cooperatively managed programs. PMCTrack provides users with these exciting features:
PMCTrack provides the necessary tools and data to understand, monitor, and improve AZA’s cooperative population management system and, ultimately, the long-term population viability for species across AZA institutions. We look forward to your involvement with PMCTrack!
If you have any further questions, please contact us at pmctrack@lpzoo.org
Since 2000, the PMC has issued hundreds of thousands of recommendations to hundreds of institutions; however before PMCTrack there was no systematic evaluation of the recommendation outcomes. Was an animal actually transferred? Was the pair put together to breed? If a recommendation wasn’t carried out, was it because of logistical issues, communication problems, or reproductive problems with the animals themselves? To address these issues, scientists at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the PMC developed PMCTrack with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). PMCTrack is a website designed to collect feedback and evaluate the outcomes of breeding and transfer recommendations. PMCTrack provides the data necessary to make informed changes and improvements in AZA’s population management strategies.
PMCTrack compiles data on all published final plans. This historic data provides an understanding of the baseline rates of recommendation fulfillment. As more plans are completed in the future, PMCTrack will be used by Species Coordinators and the PMC to pinpoint management challenges that need to be addressed with more research, to track whether rates of recommendation fulfillment improve over time, and to understand more about each SSP, as well as how the AZA management system works across programs.
PMCTrack provides restricted access to specific users involved in SSP management; the types of information each user can view is based on their role and program affiliations, which ensures the privacy and appropriate use of the information gathered within the monitoring system. PMC staff, Species Coordinators, Institutional Representatives, Institutional Liaisons, and Taxonomic Advisory Group (TAG) Chairs use PMCTrack to monitor and better understand the status of cooperatively managed programs. PMCTrack provides users with these exciting features:
- Role-based dashboards: Everyone involved with a particular SSP program has a personalized
dashboard. Dashboards provide a quick snapshot of current program status and summarized statistics.
- Reports: Detailed reports are tailored to each person’s role within a managed program – e.g.
Institutional Liaisons will be able to view information on their institution’s participation in SSPs and SSP
Coordinators will be able to view information on their program’s management. Reports give summary
information about the SSP programs and their planning history, and recommendation outcomes for
SSPs. Reports include filtering capabilities as well as Excel export for further analysis or printing.
- “Wants/Needs Survey”: An updated and standardized “Wants/Needs Survey” can be used to collect
important information from Institutional Representatives and collates the data for Species Coordinators to
use while planning with the PMC.
- “Outcomes Survey”: The new “Outcomes Survey” collects feedback from Institutional Representatives about the outcomes of the previous breeding and transfer recommendations. The reasons for the unfulfilled outcomes are collated for Species Coordinators and the PMC to consider and make informed management decisions.
PMCTrack provides the necessary tools and data to understand, monitor, and improve AZA’s cooperative population management system and, ultimately, the long-term population viability for species across AZA institutions. We look forward to your involvement with PMCTrack!
If you have any further questions, please contact us at pmctrack@lpzoo.org