Conservation or Preservation?

Human Population Growth and the Pressure on the Natural World

The global human population is rising at an unprecedented rate.
More people means more food, more land, more energy, more housing — and inevitably less space for everything else.

From an A-Level Biology perspective, this raises a critical question:

Should we aim for conservation, or preservation?

They sound similar. They are not.

🐘 Preservation: Leaving Nature Alone

Preservation is about protecting nature by minimising or eliminating human interference.

No exploitation
No resource extraction
Minimal access
Ecosystems left to function “naturally”

In theory, preservation offers the greatest protection for biodiversity.
In practice, it is increasingly difficult.

Why?

Because humans already dominate:

Land use
Climate systems
Nutrient cycles
Food webs

Even areas labelled “untouched” are affected by climate change, pollution, and invasive species.

👉 Preservation assumes we can step back.
👉 Modern ecology shows we are already embedded in the system.

🌱 Conservation: Managing Nature to Protect It

Conservation accepts a harder truth:
Humans are not leaving — so ecosystems must be managed.

Conservation involves:

Sustainable use of resources
Controlled breeding and reintroduction programmes
Habitat restoration and rewilding
Balancing human needs with biodiversity

This is not about exploiting nature freely — it’s about damage limitation.

Examples students often study:

Managed fishing quotas
Woodland regeneration
Predator reintroduction
Conservation farming

👉 Conservation is interventionist, but often necessary.

⚖️ The Ethical Tension (Exam Gold)

Here’s the real exam-level thinking:

Preservation is ethically attractive
Conservation is often biologically realistic

With 7+ billion humans, doing nothing is rarely neutral.
Non-intervention can allow:

Invasive species to dominate
Ecosystems to collapse
Extinction to accelerate

Ironically, protecting nature now often requires human control.

That’s a difficult idea — but a powerful one for evaluation questions.

🧠 A-Level Takeaway

For Population Studies and Ecology questions:

✔ Define both clearly
✔ Compare strengths and limitations
✔ Link to human population pressure
✔ Use real ecological consequences
✔ Finish with a balanced judgement

A strong conclusion might be:

In a world already shaped by humans, conservation may be the only practical route to preserving biodiversity.

A-Level Psychology: Smarter Ways to Memorise Case Studies (Using Psychology Itself)

One of the biggest complaints I hear from A-level Psychology students is:

“There’s just so much to remember.”

Case studies. Researchers’ names. Procedures. Findings. Strengths. Weaknesses.
It can feel like endless rote learning — but here’s the good news:

👉 Your Psychology course already teaches you how memory works.
And if you use that knowledge properly, memorising case studies becomes far easier and more reliable.

Let’s practise what Psychology preaches.

1. Use Elaborative Rehearsal, Not Rote Learning

Simply rereading a case study is maintenance rehearsal – it keeps information short-term but doesn’t stick.

Instead, aim for elaborative rehearsal:

Explain the study in your own words
Link it to real-life examples
Compare it to another study

Example:
Instead of memorising Loftus & Palmer, explain how leading questions could affect eyewitnesses after a car accident you’ve seen on the news.

👉 Meaning creates memory.

2. Chunk Case Studies Into Predictable Sections

Your exam questions follow patterns – so should your notes.

Break every case study into the same chunks:

Aim
Method
Sample
Key findings
Conclusion
Evaluation points

This reduces cognitive load and helps working memory cope under exam pressure.

Think of it as turning a long paragraph into a mental filing cabinet 📂

3. Dual Coding: Words + Pictures

Your brain remembers images better than text alone.

Try:

Flow diagrams of procedures
Stick figures showing experiments
Mind maps instead of paragraphs

Even rough sketches work – this activates visual and verbal memory stores together.

More routes in = easier recall out.

4. Retrieval Practice Beats Rereading

Testing yourself feels harder than rereading notes – but it works better.

Close the book and try:

Writing everything you remember about a study
Answering a 4- or 6-mark question from memory
Explaining the study out loud as if teaching it

This strengthens memory pathways and reduces exam anxiety.

👉 Struggle now, succeed later.

5. Use Spacing (Your Hippocampus Will Thank You)

Cramming feels productive… but it’s deceptive.

Instead:

Revisit each case study briefly over days or weeks
Mix topics rather than blocking them

Spacing improves long-term memory consolidation and reduces forgetting.

Short, repeated exposure > one long painful session.

6. Turn Evaluation Into Stories

Evaluation points are often the hardest part to remember.

Try turning them into mini-stories:

“This study lacks ecological validity because…”
“The sample was biased because…”

Stories create emotional hooks – and emotional content is remembered better.

Final Thought

A-level Psychology isn’t just about learning research –
it’s about understanding how people learn.

If you revise like a psychologist, not a parrot,
case studies stop being a memory nightmare and start making sense.

02 February 2026