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biodiversity; bushmeat; chickens; demand elasticities; fish; households; income and wealth; markets; national parks; nationalities and ethnic groups; population; prices; protein sources; villages; wildlife; Tanzania
Abstract:
... Illegal hunting for bushmeat is regarded as an important cause of biodiversity decline in Africa. We use a ‘stated preferences’ method to obtain information on determinants of demand for bushmeat and two other protein sources, fish and chicken, in villages around the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Our study focuses particularly on the impact of price changes, as anticipating and understanding ...
Orcinus orca; acoustics; anthropogenic activities; biodiversity; habitat destruction; habitats; international policy and programs; managers; terrestrial ecosystems; whales; Canada; Pacific Ocean
Abstract:
... Habitat loss is a leading cause of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems. For marine species that rely on acoustic cues to navigate, find food or select mates, sound is a key element of their environment. Chronic forms of human‐generated ocean noise have the potential to mask communication signals over substantial fractions of their functional areas for substantial fractions of the year, whi ...
Musca autumnalis; biodiversity; eagles; extinction; gene flow; genetic variation; life history; population dynamics; population size; risk; salamanders and newts; stochastic processes; viability
Abstract:
... Numerous recent papers have demonstrated a central role for genetic factors in the extinction process or have documented the importance of gene flow in reversing population declines. This prompted one recent publication to declare that a revolution in conservation genetics has occurred. Contemporaneously with this revolution are a series of papers demonstrating long-term population persistence for ...
... Information on the response of herpetofauna to different land uses is limited although important for land‐use planning to support conservation in human‐modified landscapes. Although transformation is dogmatically associated with extinction, species respond idiosyncratically to land‐use change, and persistence of species in habitat fragments may depend on careful management of the human‐modified ma ...
Bombus; biodiversity; chemical composition; data collection; extinction; fauna; genetic markers; government agencies; indigenous species; islands; natural resources conservation; nongovernmental organizations; parents; phylogeny; Corsica
Abstract:
... Many islands are biodiversity hotspots that host numerous endemic species. Unfortunately, insular faunas suffer from high rates of extinction and endangerment, and numerous conservation plans have been developed for their protection. These conservation plans are often assessed on the basis of occurrence and proportion of endemic taxa. However, delimitations of species and subspecies are still conf ...
... This study trials the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) approach to conservation planning on a wide-ranging marine species. We used marine turtle nesting data to test the global thresholds and criteria devised for terrestrial systems and adapted to the marine environment. Data were collated for the Melanesian region and used in the first region-wide marine application of the KBA approach. Using the stan ...
... Artificial light at night (ALAN) is considered as a major threat to biodiversity, especially to nocturnal species, as it reduces availability, quality and functionality of habitats. However, its effects on the way species use landscape elements such as rivers are still largely understudied, especially the effect of crossing infrastructure lighting on bridges. These elements are nevertheless key co ...
Ambystoma; Batrachochytrium; biodiversity; corticosterone; developmental stages; emerging diseases; environmental factors; immune response; mortality; pathogenicity; pathogens; risk; risk assessment; salamanders and newts; stress response; temperature; thyroid hormones; North America; South America
Abstract:
... The emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a major threat to amphibian species worldwide with potential to infect many species if it invades salamander biodiversity hotspots in the Americas. Bsal can cause the disease chytridiomycosis, and it is important to assess the risk of Bsal‐induced chytridiomycosis to species in North America. We evaluated the susceptibility t ...
biodiversity; birds; case studies; developing countries; econometrics; fauna; fund raising; islands; tourism; tourists; Seychelles
Abstract:
... Species selected as flagships to promote conservation activities around the world are typically well known and charismatic mega‐fauna. Unfortunately this limits the scope for applying the concept as some critical areas for biodiversity conservation, such as tropical islands, lack such species. In this study, we explore the potential to apply the concept of ‘tourism flagship species’ to tropical is ...
biodiversity; geographical distribution; protected species; risk; threatened species; vertebrates; Brazil
Abstract:
... Reducing species extinctions and expanding protected areas are key goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). To meet these goals, nations should assure a minimum protection of all ecoregions (Target 11) and preserve the most threatened species (Target 12). While the total extent of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Brazil has increased sharply, little is known about MPAs’ capacity in r ...
... Agricultural intensification over the last 60 decades has been linked to decreases in biodiversity and in the breeding populations of several avian species in farmlands. However, agricultural intensification has not affected all species in the same way and transformed landscapes can still provide suitable habitats for species tolerant to some degree of anthropogenic change. Understanding habitat s ...
Acacia; Herpestidae; biodiversity; cameras; carnivores; conservation areas; cropland; environmental impact; factor analysis; forest reserves; grasslands; habitat preferences; international agreements; issues and policy; land use; mammals; monitoring; national parks; niches; planning; rivers; shrublands; surveys; wildlife; woodlands; Tanzania
Abstract:
... Biodiversity monitoring is critical to assess the effectiveness of management activities and policy change, particularly in the light of accelerating impacts of environmental change, and for compiling national responses to international obligations and agreements. Monitoring methods able to identify species most likely to be affected by environmental change, and pinpoint those changes with the str ...
Noctuidae; biodiversity; body size; color; cost effectiveness; developmental stages; extinction; habitats; host plants; moths; overwintering; prediction; risk; Sweden
Abstract:
... Theory posits that species with inter‐individual variation in colour patterns should be less vulnerable to extinction, compared with species that do not vary in colour. To evaluate this prediction, we explored whether differences in colour pattern diversity was associated with extinction risk, using red‐list status for more than 350 species of noctuid moths in Sweden. We also evaluated six other s ...
European Union; Ursus arctos; biodiversity; carnivores; computer software; coniferous forests; conservation status; data collection; females; global positioning systems; habitat connectivity; habitat conservation; home range; landscapes; males; mixed forests; planning; small fruits; telemetry; winter
Abstract:
... Recovery of large carnivores in the European human‐dominated landscapes has sparked a debate regarding the optimal landscape conditions in which carnivores can thrive and coexist with humans. Here, we use brown bears Ursus arctos in the Romanian Carpathians to test and develop a framework for identifying habitat conservation priorities based on a novel integration of resource selection functions, ...
... Illegal trade and human‐wildlife conflict are two key drivers of biodiversity loss and are recognized as leading threats to large carnivores. Although human‐wildlife conflict involving jaguars (Panthera onca) has received significant attention in the past, less is known about traditional use or commercial trade in jaguar body parts, including their potential links with retaliatory killing. Underst ...
Gorilla; Pan troglodytes; anthropogenic activities; biodiversity; case studies; fauna; forests; habitats; humans; nests; people; research programs; surveys; Cameroon
Abstract:
... Research programmes have been shown to exert a positive impact on faunal communities, but few studies provide empirical evidence. In this study, we surveyed three neighbouring sites, differing in terms of official protection status and level of active management, in the Dja Conservation Complex, southeast Cameroon. We recorded signs of human activity and anthropogenic pressures and found that they ...
... The dilemma of conservation practice lies in weighing the urgency for action against the need for sustainable long-term solutions, with urgent responses incurring the risk of failure and long-term solutions incurring the cost of time. Wisdom of hindsight reveals that sustainable solutions are not achieved when conservation action is initiated at an inappropriate scale. Here, I review recent studie ...
Eucalyptus; Pinus radiata; Scincidae; biodiversity; forest plantations; grazing lands; habitats; land use change; landscapes; lizards; population; surveys; Australia
Abstract:
... The conversion of agricultural land to forest plantations is a major driver of global land‐use change, and considering that large portions of the planet are covered by forest plantations, understanding their impact on biodiversity is a research priority. The aim of our study was to quantify the long‐term response of two lizard species to the transformation of the matrix surrounding remnant habitat ...
... Wild meat is an important source of dietary protein and fat for many indigenous peoples in Amazonia. However, rates of wildlife harvest are often unsustainable, threatening not only biodiversity but also the food security of indigenous peoples. During the last decades, Ecuadorian Amazonia has undergone profound socioeconomic changes which have significantly altered peoples' livelihood strategies. ...
Agrotis; biodiversity; ecosystem engineers; extinction; fire spread; mammals; models; plant litter; New South Wales; South Australia; Western Australia
Abstract:
... Ecosystem engineers directly or indirectly affect the availability of resources through changing the physical state of biotic and/or abiotic materials. Fossorial ecosystem engineers have been hypothesized as affecting fire behaviour through altering litter accumulation and breakdown, however, little evidence of this has been shown to date. Fire is one of the major ecological processes affecting bi ...
Metatheria; biodiversity; biodiversity conservation; case studies; fauna; females; habitat preferences; habitats; issues and policy; males; possums; shrublands; urbanization; wildlife
Abstract:
... Urbanization is one of the biggest global threats to biodiversity. However, urban areas can offer opportunities for biodiversity conservation because of the assortment of resources and numerous taxa that occur in these habitats. While the use of gardens by animals is well documented, the ability of native fauna to exclusively use (i.e. reside in) them is largely uninvestigated and therefore constr ...
Coleoptera; biodiversity; dead wood; deciduous forests; fauna; forest habitats; harvesting; logging; trees
Abstract:
... The decline of many saproxylic species results from the decrease in old‐growth structures in European harvested forests. Among conservation tools, protected reserves withdrawn from regular harvesting and extended rotations have been employed to restore old‐growth attributes in structurally simplified managed forests, even if the effects of such management actions on forest habitats and biodiversit ...
... In arid environments, ecological refuges are often conceptualised as places where animal species can persist through drought owing to the localised persistence of moisture and nutrients. The mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) predicts that reduced abundance of top-order predators results in an increase in the abundance of smaller predators (mesopredators) and consequently has detrimental impact ...
biodiversity; birds; case studies; deforestation; forestry; forests; land use change; prediction; Japan; South East Asia
Abstract:
... Because the effects of land-use change on biodiversity have primarily been examined at or below the regional scale, it remains unclear whether such effects scale up to the macroecological scale (i.e. nationwide or continental scale). In Japan, forests have become more mature since the cessation of most forestry efforts in the 1970s. At a nationwide scale, this forest maturation may lead to reducti ...
Alectoris rufa; agricultural land; biodiversity; field experimentation; foxes; game animals; habitat conservation; land use; landscapes; models; nontarget organisms; partridges; predator control; questionnaires; spring; steppes; summer; wildlife; Spain
Abstract:
... In Europe, hunting and game management are centuries‐old activities that have had profound effects on the landscapes and the biodiversity they support. Game management is a potentially important tool to enhance game populations and may also affect other wildlife. We investigated the relationship between red‐legged partridge Alectoris rufa game management and steppe‐bird abundance in central Spain. ...
... Effective biodiversity conservation requires an understanding of the drivers of natural resource use. Few studies, however, have examined how motivations of natural resource users and attributes of local social organizations affect resource extraction over time. We aimed to identify which characteristics of individuals (taboos, food security, resource‐related income), groups (village size, ease of ...
biodiversity; biodiversity conservation; camping; conservation areas; cultural values; ecotourism; fauna; funding; land use; landscapes; markets; models; national parks; planning; tourists; travel; wilderness
Abstract:
... Charismatic species are the main attractor of ecotourists to protected areas, but this narrow interest leads to under‐appreciation of other biodiversity as well as cultural values of protected areas. Many protected areas with high conservation value, but little funding, lack charismatic species. Exploring tourists' preferences alternative to charismatic species may help identify ecotourism markets ...
A. Rosso; P. Aragón; F. Acevedo; I. Doadrio; E. García‐Barros; J. M. Lobo; M. L. Munguira; V. J. Monserrat; J. Palomo; J. M. Pleguezuelos; H. Romo; V. Triviño; D. Sánchez‐Fernández
... The Iberian Peninsula is a major European region of biodiversity, as it harbours more than 30% of European endemic species. Despite a number of studies having evaluated the ability of nature reserves to protect certain taxa, there is still a lack of knowledge on how Iberian endemic fauna are represented in these reserves. We detected biodiversity hotspots of Iberian endemicity and evaluated the ef ...
agri-environmental policy; agricultural land; biodiversity; birds; farms; habitats; intensive farming; land management; landscapes; monitoring; summer; weather; United Kingdom
Abstract:
... Agri‐environment schemes (AES) are the main policy mechanism available for reversing the widespread declines of European farmland biodiversity. We assessed the impact of AES land management on the abundance of bird species whose populations have declined as a consequence of agricultural intensification. The AES involved the deployment of a whole‐farm package of wildlife‐friendly land management op ...
animals; biodiversity; biodiversity conservation; data collection; environmental DNA; threatened species
Abstract:
... Biodiversity conservation is a worldwide concern and proper management of threatened species or communities depends on reliable and accurate data collection. Despite the broad utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for conservation management and the necessity for appropriate biodiversity management in the tropics, eDNA‐based research conducted in tropical regions so far comprises only a small propor ...
... Vegetation clearing has been implicated as a major contributor to biodiversity loss. It therefore stands to reason that developers should face a regulatory requirement to assess potential impacts and to avoid, mitigate and compensate for loss of vegetation wherever proposed infrastructure developments impact on vegetation considered to be habitat for threatened species. Environmental Impact Assess ...
... Fragmented tropical forests can be highly dynamic, with the spatial configuration of forest patches changing through time. Yet, the lack of longitudinal studies limits our understanding of how patch dynamics affect biodiversity, especially when there is a time lag in species extinctions (extinction debt). We assessed how temporal changes in patch size, shape complexity and isolation affect populat ...
Elephantidae; biodiversity; census data; conservation areas; dry season; herbivores; national parks; population dynamics; rain; Zimbabwe
Abstract:
... In some African protected areas, elephant populations have reached high densities causing concern about their influence on other forms of biodiversity, and in particular, other large herbivores. This has led to a debate whether management of elephant populations might need to be implemented. Surprisingly, few studies have focused on the influence of elephants on other herbivores and the existing r ...
... Extreme heat events pose increasing challenges to biodiversity conservation worldwide, yet our ability to predict the time, place and magnitude of their impacts on wildlife is limited. Extreme heat events in Australia are known to kill thousands of flying‐foxes (Pteropus spp.), and such die‐offs are expected to become more frequent and widespread in the future under anthropogenic climate change. T ...
Passeriformes; biodiversity; habitat destruction; habitats; home range; land cover; landscapes; topography; Switzerland
Abstract:
... Habitat loss and fragmentation are key drivers of biodiversity loss. However, they are usually confounded, making it difficult to separate fragmentation effects from those of habitat loss. In addition, it has been shown that often fragmentation negatively affects biodiversity only below a certain threshold of habitat amount. We investigated the separate and interactive effects of habitat amount an ...
... Ample evidence exists that an increase in the inbreeding level of a population reduces the value of fitness components such as fecundity and survival. It does not follow, however, that these decreases in the components of fitness impact population dynamics in a way that increases extinction risk, because virtually all species produce far more offspring than can actually survive. We analyzed the ef ...
biodiversity; breeding; breeding sites; coastal water; ducks; eutrophication; freshwater ecosystems; habitats; lakes; monitoring; natural resources conservation; water birds; wetlands; Finland
Abstract:
... Identification of conservation priorities is a fundamental issue for successful nature conservation. This can be done by looking at population trends of species in different habitats. Boreal zone is the key breeding area for many Eurasian waterbirds. Wetlands of the boreal zone can be roughly classified into two different groups: nutrient‐poor oligotrophic and nutrient‐rich eutrophic water ecosyst ...
Panthera onca; biodiversity; carnivores; forests; habitat connectivity; habitat destruction; issues and policy; land cover; land use; landscape management; models; planning; prioritization
Abstract:
... Habitat loss and fragmentation are among the major threats to the conservation of biodiversity. Improvement of landscape connectivity becomes one of the main strategies for alleviating these threats and is an increasingly used target in management policies worldwide. However, implementation of connectivity principles in local management actions often implies great difficulties derived from the dif ...
... Monitoring of forest biodiversity and habitats is an important part of forest conservation, but due to the impossible task of monitoring all species, indicator species are frequently used. However, reliance on an incorrect indicator of valuable habitat can reduce the efficiency of conservation efforts. Birds are often used as indicators as they are charismatic, relatively easy to survey, and becau ...
biodiversity; dunes; habitats; herpetofauna; humans; politics; Argentina
Abstract:
... Several methods were developed with the aim of prioritizing conservation efforts. However, most of these methods were focused on ranking areas for land protection, without offering alternatives for sites poorly ranked. We propose an alternative method that allows prioritizing conservation efforts independently of the status of a specific area. The conservation priorities method considers data rela ...
anthropogenic activities; biodiversity; biomass; cameras; carnivores; flagship species; humans; livestock; net primary productivity; path analysis; probability
Abstract:
... Carnivores are of high ecological importance and often serve as flagship species for conservation. Yet, the direct and indirect effects of trophic interactions and human disturbance on carnivore communities and the occurrence of their prey in temperate forests remain poorly understood. Here we evaluate the direct and indirect effects of net primary productivity, prey (Muntjac spp) occupancy and hu ...
L. Krüger; J. A. Ramos; J. C. Xavier; D. Grémillet; J. González‐Solís; Y. Kolbeinsson; T. Militão; J. Navarro; M. V. Petry; R. A. Phillips; I. Ramírez; J. M. Reyes‐González; P. G. Ryan; I. A. Sigurðsson; E. Van Sebille; R. M. Wanless; V. H. Paiva
... With increasing pressure on the oceans from environmental change, there has been a global call for improved protection of marine ecosystems through the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Here, we used species distribution modelling (SDM) of tracking data from 14 seabird species to identify key marine areas in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, valuing areas based on seabird species occurr ...
... Understanding the processes related to wildlife recoveries is not only essential in solving human – wildlife conflicts, but also for identifying priority conservation areas and in turn, for effective conservation planning. We used data from a citizen science program to study spatial aspects of the demographic and genetic recovery of brown bears in Greece and to identify new areas for their conserv ...
biodiversity; birds of prey; community structure; ecosystems; mammals; reptiles; vascular plants; Mexico
Abstract:
... Predators have been considered to be good surrogates for measuring biodiversity, and raptors, in particular, have been proposed and used as biodiversity surrogates. This assumption is based on the general idea of concordance between two taxonomic groups that showed a similar spatial/temporal structure, with the aim of using one of the groups as a surrogate of the other. If a surrogate can be ident ...
... The amphibian chytrid fungal pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, henceforth Bd) has had a devastating impact on biodiversity, causing the decline or extinction of over 500 amphibian species. Yet, our understanding of Bd transmission pathways remains incomplete, in particular for host species with weak aquatic associations, and between reservoir and susceptible host species. We examined Bd tr ...
Capra; animals; biodiversity; habitats; males; social behavior; spring; Spain
Abstract:
... Translocation is an important tool in restoring biodiversity, particularly when species have been extirpated from an area. In the period just after release, the main objective of conservation managers is to keep as many of the translocated individuals in the release area as possible, in order to maximize the number of founders of the new population. Environmental and intrinsic factors, release con ...
... Habitat fragmentation is a prevalent threat to biological diversity, and urbanization is a primary agent of fragmentation and a leading cause of species endangerment. Landscape biogeographic and local habitat characteristics can be important determinants of the distribution of species in habitat patches in urban landscapes. However, the specifics of which characteristics are most critical to maint ...
... The golden-headed lion tamarin Leontopithecus chrysomelas occurs in the Atlantic forest of southern Bahia, Brazil, where shade-cocoa agroforestry (known as cabruca) predominates. The economic decline of the cocoa industry has caused many landowners to convert cabruca into cattle pasture or diversify their plantations with other crops. These and prior anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat frag ...
European Union; agricultural land; biodiversity; emerging diseases; forests; fungi; habitats; land use change; landscapes; monitoring; pathogens; ponds; risk; toads; traditional farming; wildlife diseases; Romania
Abstract:
... Wildlife disease is an emerging threat to biodiversity. The amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes the disease chytridiomycosis, has been documented in over 500 amphibian species globally. Understanding conditions under which amphibians are vulnerable to Bd is important for evaluating species risk and developing surveillance strategies. Here, we investigate the ...
altitude; biodiversity; birds; carnivores; coasts; ecological competition; ecosystems; forests; frugivores; habitat destruction; habitats; indigenous species; introduced species; land use; linear models; lowlands; meta-analysis; rain; seeds; Sao Tome and Principe
Abstract:
... Habitat loss and non‐native species are two key drivers of biodiversity decline. The importance of their interactions is widely recognized, but remains poorly understood. We used the endemic‐rich bird assemblage of São Tomé Island to study this type of interactions. We built species‐specific binomial generalized linear models for 33 terrestrial bird species, based on presence–absence data from 239 ...
... In large parts of the biodiversity‐rich tropics, various forest governance regimes often coexist, ranging from governmental administration to highly decentralized community management. Two common forms of such governance are protected areas, and community lands open to limited resource extraction. We studied wildlife occurrences in the north‐east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the Eaglen ...
... Animal movement can be significantly altered in human‐dominated landscapes such as urban and peri‐urban areas, where habitat is often fragmented and/or linear. Knowledge regarding how wildlife respond to anthropogenic change is vital for informing conservation efforts in such landscapes, including the design of nature reserves and wildlife corridors. To better understand how threatened species per ...
agroecosystems; biodiversity; camera trapping; deforestation; forests; habitat destruction; habitats; land cover; landscapes; mammals; mesopredators; wildlife management
Abstract:
... Habitat loss is a significant threat to biodiversity worldwide, and the Argentine Dry Chaco is one of the most active global deforestation hotspots. Medium‐large mammals are especially vulnerable to land‐cover change, and in the Dry Chaco, they are subjected to the combined effect of habitat loss and hunting. In agroecosystems, blocks of natural habitat can contribute to maintaining biodiversity a ...
... Only around a third of the world's remaining forest cover survives in the form of Intact Forest Landscapes (IFL), and that proportion is declining. Loss of intactness could impact on biodiversity in many ways but the relationship between intactness and extinction risk has not been quantified. We created Extent of Suitable Habitat (ESH) maps for all the world's forest‐dependent birds and intersecte ...
... Zoos and related institutions make important contributions to the conservation of global biodiversity. However, resource constraints have led to certain faunal groupings being better represented in ex situ breeding programmes than others. Some broad patterns of faunal representation in zoos have been identified, although finer‐scale differences within taxonomical families remain poorly understood, ...
S. Requena; S. Oppel; A. L. Bond; J. Hall; J. Cleeland; R. J. M. Crawford; D. Davies; B. J. Dilley; T. Glass; A. Makhado; N. Ratcliffe; T. A. Reid; R. A. Ronconi; A. Schofield; A. Steinfurth; M. Wege; M. Bester; P. G. Ryan
Pinnipedia; adults; biodiversity; breeding; islands; marine mammals; planning; seabirds; seamounts; temporal variation; threatened species; Atlantic Ocean; Tristan da Cunha
Abstract:
... Remote oceanic islands harbour unique biodiversity, especially of species that rely on the marine trophic resources around their breeding islands. Identifying marine areas used by such species is essential to manage and limit processes that threaten these species. The Tristan da Cunha territory in the South Atlantic Ocean hosts several endemic and globally threatened seabirds, and pinnipeds; how t ...
... The trade and consumption of bushmeat are a major threat to biodiversity across the tropics. Conservationists have traditionally advocated for stricter regulation and enforcement as a way to control these practices, with less attention given to consumers and the management of the demand. Yet, it is clear that without adequately tackling demand, it is impossible to effectively curb the bushmeat tra ...
Trachemys scripta; biodiversity; biosecurity; breeding; climate; endangered species; invasive species; managers; models; prediction; risk; temperature; turtles; Asia; Europe; New Zealand; North America
Abstract:
... Invasive species threaten biodiversity; hence, predicting where they may establish is vital for conservation. Our aim is to provide a robust predictive model for an invasive species suitable for managers acting at both global and regional scales. Specifically, we investigate one of the world's worst invasive species [the red‐eared slider turtle (RES) Trachemys scripta elegans] and one of the world ...
... Pro‐poor conservation strategies are touted as a panacea for achieving biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction, yet there remains limited evidence for success in achieving these dual objectives. Is this lack of evidence a sign that the approach is failing or an indicator that we are not capturing appropriate measures of success? In this review, we demonstrate that the lack of evidence for ...
... Biodiversity decline and genetic erosion are among the most challenging conservation issues. Genetic admixture, the mixing of two or more genetically differentiated populations, can increase genetic diversity of admixed individuals. However, genetic admixture for conservation purposes is rare due to concerns over outbreeding depression, loss of local adaptations and scepticism regarding the benefi ...
... Artificial nighttime lighting has many effects on biodiversity. A proposed environmental management option, primarily to save energy, is to alter the duration of night lighting. Using the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum as an example of a photophobic species, we explored roadside behaviour patterns throughout the night to assess the potential impact of part‐night lighting. We found ...
agricultural industry; biodiversity; conservation areas; crop damage; human population; human-wildlife relations; income; issues and policy; land tenure; livelihood; national parks; socioeconomic factors; trade; volcanoes; Rwanda
Abstract:
... Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) is an increasingly recognized threat to successful conservation and development efforts through reducing support for conservation effort or threatening the livelihoods of marginalized human populations residing adjacent to protected areas. Although much research is conducted on characterizing these conflicts, such as quantifying crop damage or identifying proximal cau ...
national parks; endangered species; infrastructure; introduced species; rain forests; population density; ecosystems; forest habitats; altitude; biodiversity; indigenous species; forest types; birds; Western Africa
Abstract:
... The importance of the rainforests on the island of São Tomé for biodiversity is well known. However, the area only recently received full legal protection as a National Park and currently few resources are available to enforce that legislation. With rapid economic development forecast for the island, active conservation efforts are essential. Here we study the distribution and density of the islan ...
... Protected Areas (PAs) form a core component of efforts to conserve biodiversity, but are designated for a variety of reasons. We assessed the effectiveness of PAs in covering the ranges of 157 globally threatened terrestrial bird species in mainland Africa and Madagascar. To reduce commission errors, rather than using Extent of Occurrence (EOO) as a measure of distribution, we estimated the Extent ...
... Invasive predators threaten biodiversity worldwide, and generalist invasive predators are often more successful due to their broad diets. Predation patterns can be influenced by prey abundance, prey preference, and climate, and understanding these relationships is integral to conserving native prey species. We examined stomach contents of 2882 feral cats Felis catus from San Clemente Island, Calif ...
Scincidae; biodiversity; body condition; females; introduced species; islands; lizards; models; monitoring; predation; predators; refuge habitats; New Zealand
Abstract:
... Islands are biodiversity hotspots, but their native inhabitants are vulnerable to predation from exotic predators. Conservation of island endemics has often involved translocating captive‐reared populations to predator‐free refugia. However, the long‐term success of these translocations has rarely been assessed. We investigated the traits that maximize post‐translocation survival in a cohort of ca ...
endangered species; grazing; vegetation cover; land use; grasslands; prescribed burning; grazing lands; ecosystems; issues and policy; body condition; fauna; wildland fire management; autumn; woody plants; predation; biodiversity; Vipera ursinii; mortality; grasshoppers; landscapes; snakes; habitats; France; Alps region
Abstract:
... Burning has traditionally been used in the southern French Alps to maintain open lands for grazing. In the context of land use abandonment, prescribed burning may be the only realistic practical tool available to oppose encroachment by woody plants in numerous mountainous landscapes. Although only recently developed as a modern tool for wildfire prevention and management of pastoral grasslands, th ...
... Limitation of disturbing activities around the breeding areas of protected species is not always possible, if these activities are economically important and have, in addition, positive effects on protecting the habitats of those protected species. Searching for optimal solutions making commercial exploitation of natural resources compatible with biodiversity conservation is thus of concern to man ...
... The Mojave Desert is characterized by a unique biodiversity and is an area of particular interest for the development of renewable energy facilities, which could impact habitat quality and population connectivity. To begin understanding current habitat connectivity in a Mojave Desert endemic, we examine population genetic characteristics of the Mohave ground squirrel, Xerospermophilus mohavensis. ...
... Twenty‐five years ago, the snow leopard Uncia uncia, an endangered large cat, was eliminated from what is now Sagarmatha National Park (SNP). Heavy hunting pressure depleted that area of most medium–large mammals, before it became a park. After three decades of protection, the cessation of hunting and the recovery of wild ungulate populations, snow leopards have recently returned (four individuals ...
... We report on land management and protected area management effectiveness in the tiger range. Wild tigers Panthera tigris are found in 13 countries, with habitat that is also important for ecosystem services, biodiversity and a number of other threatened species. Timber production, mineral mining, oil and gas concessions and protected areas are common land-use designations in tiger habitat. Twenty- ...
... The recently emerged fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) causes the lethal skin disease chytridiomycosis in susceptible salamander species and is predicted to emerge within the Americas with devastating consequences. Host responses to Bsal are variable but the factors underlying these differences are unknown. To investigate the role of skin‐associated immune defenses against ...
biodiversity; economic development; ecosystems; genes; gross domestic product; human population; lighting; pollution; population density; statistical models; Europe; Middle East
Abstract:
... The proportion of the Earth's surface that experiences a naturally dark environment at night is rapidly declining with the introduction of artificial light. Biological impacts of this change have been documented from genes to ecosystems, and for a wide diversity of environments and organisms. The likely severity of these impacts depends heavily on the relationship between the distribution of artif ...
Carduelis cucullata; behavior change; biodiversity; endangered species; hybrids; law enforcement; markets; social networks; songbirds; trade; Brazil; Colombia; Spain; Venezuela
Abstract:
... Unsustainable harvest is one of the most important threats to biodiversity, and birds are highly impacted, but avian markets remain poorly understood. When species value and corruption/criminality are high, the “parallel trafficking” hypothesis predicts that illegal animal items will move through networks used for other illicit products. Alternatively, when particular demands, logistical skills or ...
... Many of the world's terrestrial environments are dominated by production land‐uses, making the incorporation of production landscapes into conservation strategies critical for halting global biodiversity declines. Two challenges for developing such strategies are: (1) determining species’ capacity to survive in production land‐uses; and (2) understanding why some species can survive, while others ...
biodiversity; birds; cameras; ecosystems; expert opinion; forests; landscapes; mammals; monitoring; national parks; savannas; time series analysis; trophic relationships; wildlife; Indonesia
Abstract:
... Although recent biodiversity loss has been compared with cataclysmic mass extinctions, we still possess few indicators that can assess the extent or location of biodiversity loss on a global scale. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has mandated development of indicators that can meet the needs of monitoring biodiversity by 2010. To date, many indicators rely on unwarranted assumptions, ...
Bayesian theory; biodiversity; birds; insectivores; intensive farming; land use and land cover maps; land use change; predation; savannas; shrubs; sugarcane; Eswatini
Abstract:
... Land‐cover and land‐use change are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Savannas are experiencing shrub encroachment and land‐use changes that affect animal communities, yet how the effects of shrub encroachment vary with land use remains unclear. We also need to determine which species traits explain the effects of shrub encroachment and land‐use changes to identify potential drivers of com ...
... A recent comprehensive revision of the taxonomy that underpins the global IUCN Red List for birds led to an increase of 10.7% (over 1000 species) in the number of recognized bird species. We assessed the implications for conservation of this revision by (1) comparing extinction risk between newly recognized and unrevised species, (2) calculating the extent to which newly recognized species’ ranges ...
adults; biodiversity; body weight; demography; diet; livestock; males; phenotype; population size; predation; prey species; risk; wildlife; Australia
Abstract:
... Globally, wildlife managers often control predator populations to protect biodiversity, livestock or other valued resources. Most assume that the predation impact of each individual predator is the same and that removing any individual predator produces a benefit to the target species. However, research suggests predation efficacy can vary within a predator species according to phenotypic characte ...
... Disturbance of wildlife by ecotourism has become a major concern in the last decades. In the Mediterranean, sea‐based tourism and related recreational activities are increasing rapidly, especially within marine protected areas (MPAs) hosting emblematic biodiversity. We investigated the impact of ecotourism in the Scandola MPA (UNESCO World Heritage Site, Corsica island), on the population of a con ...
... Recent increases in the magnitude and rate of environmental change, including habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation, have been directly linked to the global loss of biodiversity. Wildlife extinction rates are estimated to be 100-1000 times greater than the historical norm, and up to 50% of higher taxonomic groups are critically endangered. While many types of environmental changes thre ...
European Union; biodiversity; birds; habitats; indigenous species; invertebrates; planning; Spain
Abstract:
... The Natura 2000 network (N2K) was designed using species and habitats annexed in the European Union’s (EU) Directives of Birds (BD) and Habitats (HD). The selection of such species receives increasing criticism, as does the frequent use of design methods not based on Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP). As a result, a proportion of the EU’s biodiversity may remain uncovered by the network, irre ...
... Many key questions remain unresolved about how biodiversity responds to temporal increases in native vegetation cover resulting from extensive restoration efforts. We quantified occupancy and colonization probability of old growth, regrowth and planted woodland patches by arboreal marsupials within Australian agricultural landscapes subject to woodland restoration over an 11‐year period. Our analy ...
... Agri-environment schemes have been introduced in countries throughout the world in an attempt to reverse the negative impacts of agricultural intensification on biodiversity and the environment. There have been some investigations into the effectiveness of such schemes, which show mixed outcomes but little is known with regard to mammals. The hedgehog is a generalist predator and preys on, among o ...
... The relative merits of land sparing versus land sharing are being debated within conservation biology. While the debate is multifaceted, a central issue concerns the ability of biodiversity to actually persist in ‘shared’ human‐dominated landscapes. There is a widespread perception that large predators are synonymous with wilderness and have a low tolerance for human‐modified landscapes. However, ...
... Reintroductions are commonly used to restore the local biological diversity and/or save threatened taxa. In human‐altered landscapes, we may expect that reintroduced species affect taxa already present. In Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (central Apennines, Italy), a 30% decline in the abundance of ‘vulnerable’ Apennine chamois (2005: c. 650 individuals, 2010: c. 450 individuals) has been ...
... The current biodiversity crisis calls for effective conservation measures. However, some measures may have unforeseen negative consequences on individual species. Herding, a management practice currently used in some wildlife species to protect animals from poachers, can cause habituation to humans, which unintentionally might increase their risk of being poached at a later time. Herding could als ...
... Cities harbor biodiversity, which has complex outcomes, both for humans and other animals. The situation is particularly complicated with carnivorous species such as mesopredators, which elicit strong positive and negative responses from urban residents. As cities are dominated by anthropogenic forces, socioeconomic factors likely play a major ecological role that has gone mostly unexplored for ma ...
... Agriculture is one of the primary threats to biodiversity but agricultural land can also provide key resources for many species and, in some parts of the world, agricultural land supports important populations of species of conservation concern. In these cases, it is important to understand species’ use of agricultural land before further expansion or intensification of agricultural activities occ ...
biodiversity; birds; conservation areas; correlation; monitoring; trapping; wildlife; England
Abstract:
... There is an urgent need to develop simple and inexpensive methods for monitoring wildlife populations in resource-poor countries. List-based methods have been advocated as simple yet potentially useful biodiversity monitoring tools, and systems have recently been launched in a number of countries to collect species lists. We attempt to advance the use of systematic list-based monitoring by (1) sug ...
Anolis; Sceloporus; altitude; biodiversity; body temperature; global warming; latitude; lizards; risk; thermoregulation; Argentina
Abstract:
... Climate change and rising global temperatures pose a serious threat to biodiversity. We assessed the vulnerability to global warming of four genera of iguanian lizards whose distributions include a broad range of environments from the Peninsula of Yucatán to southern Patagonia. Original data on body temperatures (Tb), operative temperatures (Tₑ, ‘null temperatures’ for non‐regulating animals), the ...
... Are all species equal in terms of conservation attention? We developed a novel framework to assess the level of conservation attention given to 697 threatened mammals and 100 critically endangered amphibian species. Our index of conservation attention provides a quantitative framework for assessing how conservation resources are allocated, based on the degree to which conservation interventions ha ...
... Amphibians at the global scale are dramatically declining and the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been suggested to be an important driver in this biodiversity crisis. Increasing evidence points towards the global emergence of Bd being a panzootic caused by pathogen pollution. Africa has been suggested to be the origin of the pathogen but remains one of the least‐studied ...
Coragyps atratus; Vultur gryphus; biodiversity; body size; competitive exclusion; extinction; foraging; habitats; human development; humans; indigenous species; introduced species; ovine carcasses; tropics; Argentina
Abstract:
... Understanding the factors underlying species coexistence is a major focus in community ecology. When dealing with competition between native and exotic species, the competitive exclusion of the 'weaker' species can have consequences for biodiversity conservation. We examined interspecific interactions during foraging between black vultures Coragyps atratus and Andean condors Vultur gryphus in Sout ...