ABSTRACT
Against a background of accelerating biodiversity decline and species extinction threat, conservation breeding and relocation (covering both introductions and reintroductions) support is increasingly necessary for the persistence of populations and even species. Fortunately, a wide range of insect orders have been successfully included in conservation breeding and relocation programmes. A combination of technical ability and relatively modest resource requirements makes insects particularly suitable candidates for receiving such conservation support. However, the vast number of insect species that will increasingly require conservation assistance is ultimately the greatest constraining factor regarding an overall number of species that can be included in such programmes. An additional practical ex-situ conservation action that has the potential of assisting almost all species is cryopreservation, the utilisation of which is likely to become an increasingly urgent species survival measure.
