scholarly journals Integrating behaviour and ecology into global biodiversity conservation strategies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Tobias ◽  
Alex L. Pigot
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Conservation Practice ◽  
Latent Extinction ◽  
Conservation Assessments ◽  
And Migration

SummaryInsights into animal behaviour play an increasingly central role in species-focused conservation practice. However, progress towards incorporating behaviour into regional or global conservation strategies has been far more limited, not least because standardised datasets of behavioural traits are generally lacking at wider taxonomic or spatial scales. Here we make use of the recent expansion of global datasets for birds to assess the prospects for including behavioural traits in systematic conservation priority-setting and monitoring programmes. Using IUCN Red List classification for >9500 bird species, we show that the incidence of threat can vary substantially across different behavioural syndromes, and that some types of behaviour—including particular foraging, mating and migration strategies—are significantly more threatened than others. When all factors are included in a combined model, behavioural traits have a weaker effect than well-established geographical and ecological factors, including range size, body mass and human population pressures. We also show that the association between behavior and extinction risk is partly driven by correlations with these underlying factors. Overall, these results suggest that a multi-species approach at the scale of communities, continents and ecosystems can be used to identify and monitor threatened behaviours, and to flag up cases of latent extinction risk, where threatened status may currently be underestimated. Our findings also highlight the importance of comprehensive standardized descriptive data for ecological and behavioural traits, and point the way forward to a deeper integration of behaviour into quantitative conservation assessments.

scholarly journals Integrating behaviour and ecology into global biodiversity conservation strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1781) ◽  
pp. 20190012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Tobias ◽  
Alex L. Pigot
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Conservation Practice ◽  
Latent Extinction ◽  
Conservation Assessments ◽  
And Migration

Insights into animal behaviour play an increasingly central role in species-focused conservation practice. However, progress towards incorporating behaviour into regional or global conservation strategies has been more limited, not least because standardized datasets of behavioural traits are generally lacking at wider taxonomic or spatial scales. Here we make use of the recent expansion of global datasets for birds to assess the prospects for including behavioural traits in systematic conservation priority-setting and monitoring programmes. Using International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List classifications for more than 9500 bird species, we show that the incidence of threat can vary substantially across different behavioural categories, and that some types of behaviour—including particular foraging, mating and migration strategies—are significantly more threatened than others. The link between behavioural traits and extinction risk is partly driven by correlations with well-established geographical and ecological factors (e.g. range size, body mass, human population pressure), but our models also reveal that behaviour modifies the effect of these factors, helping to explain broad-scale patterns of extinction risk. Overall, these results suggest that a multi-species approach at the scale of communities, continents and ecosystems can be used to identify and monitor threatened behaviours, and to flag up cases of latent extinction risk, where threatened status may currently be underestimated. Our findings also highlight the importance of comprehensive standardized descriptive data for ecological and behavioural traits, and point the way towards deeper integration of behaviour into quantitative conservation assessments. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.

scholarly journals How many bird extinctions have we prevented?

Oryx ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart H.M. Butchart ◽  
Alison J. Stattersfield ◽  
Nigel J. Collar
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Additional Species ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Declining Populations ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Principal Actions

Considerable resources and efforts have been directed at biodiversity conservation in recent years, but measures of the success of conservation programmes have been limited. Based on information on population sizes, trends, threatening processes and the nature and intensity of conservation actions implemented during 1994–2004, we assessed that 16 bird species would have probably become extinct during this period if conservation programmes for them had not been undertaken. The mean minimum population size of these 16 species increased from 34 to 147 breeding individuals during 1994–2004. In 1994, 63% of them had declining populations but by 2004, 81% were increasing. Most of these species (63%) are found on islands. The principal threats that led to their decline were habitat loss and degradation (88%), invasive species (50%) and exploitation (38%), a pattern similar to that for other threatened species, but with exploitation and invasive species being relatively more important. The principal actions carried out were habitat protection and management (75% of species), control of invasive species (50%), and captive breeding and release (33%). The 16 species represent only 8.9% of those currently classified as Critically Endangered, and 1.3% of those threatened with extinction. Many of these additional species slipped closer to extinction during 1994–2004, including 164 that deteriorated in status sufficiently to be uplisted to higher categories of extinction risk on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2006). Efforts need to be considerably scaled up to prevent many more extinctions in the coming decades. The knowledge and tools to achieve this are available, but we need to mobilize the resources and political will to apply them.

scholarly journals Conservation status of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) in relation to projected sea-ice declines

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 20160556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric V. Regehr ◽  
Kristin L. Laidre ◽  
H. Resit Akçakaya ◽  
Steven C. Amstrup ◽  
Todd C. Atwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Polar Bear ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Arctic Sea Ice ◽  
Polar Bears ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Conservation Assessments ◽  
Global Population

Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is the primary threat to polar bears throughout their range. We evaluated the potential response of polar bears to sea-ice declines by (i) calculating generation length (GL) for the species, which determines the timeframe for conservation assessments; (ii) developing a standardized sea-ice metric representing important habitat; and (iii) using statistical models and computer simulation to project changes in the global population under three approaches relating polar bear abundance to sea ice. Mean GL was 11.5 years. Ice-covered days declined in all subpopulation areas during 1979–2014 (median −1.26 days year −1 ). The estimated probabilities that reductions in the mean global population size of polar bears will be greater than 30%, 50% and 80% over three generations (35–41 years) were 0.71 (range 0.20–0.95), 0.07 (range 0–0.35) and less than 0.01 (range 0–0.02), respectively. According to IUCN Red List reduction thresholds, which provide a common measure of extinction risk across taxa, these results are consistent with listing the species as vulnerable. Our findings support the potential for large declines in polar bear numbers owing to sea-ice loss, and highlight near-term uncertainty in statistical projections as well as the sensitivity of projections to different plausible assumptions.

scholarly journals The dynamics underlying avian extinction trajectories forecast a wave of extinctions

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 20190633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Monroe ◽  
Stuart H. M. Butchart ◽  
Arne O. Mooers ◽  
Folmer Bokma
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Critically Endangered Species ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Risk Categories

Population decline is a process, yet estimates of current extinction rates often consider just the final step of that process by counting numbers of species lost in historical times. This neglects the increased extinction risk that affects a large proportion of species, and consequently underestimates the effective extinction rate. Here, we model observed trajectories through IUCN Red List extinction risk categories for all bird species globally over 28 years, and estimate an overall effective extinction rate of 2.17 × 10 −4 /species/year. This is six times higher than the rate of outright extinction since 1500, as a consequence of the large number of species whose status is deteriorating. We very conservatively estimate that global conservation efforts have reduced the effective extinction rate by 40%, but mostly through preventing critically endangered species from going extinct rather than by preventing species at low risk from moving into higher-risk categories. Our findings suggest that extinction risk in birds is accumulating much more than previously appreciated, but would be even greater without conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Regional Red List assessment of tree species in upper montane forests of the Tropical Andes

Oryx ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Tejedor Garavito ◽  
Adrian C. Newton ◽  
Sara Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Tropical Andes ◽  
Conservation Assessment ◽  
Distribution Maps

AbstractThe Tropical Andes are characterized by a high level of endemism and plant species richness but are under pressure from human activities. We present the first regional conservation assessment of upper montane tree species in this region. We identified 3,750 tree species as occurring in this region, of which 917 were excluded because of a lack of data on their distribution. We identified a subset of 129 taxa that were restricted to higher elevations (> 1,500 m) but occurred in more than one country, thus excluding local endemics evaluated in previous national assessments. Distribution maps were created for each of these selected species, and extinction risk was assessed according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria (version 3.1), drawing on expert knowledge elicited from a regional network of specialists. We assessed one species, Polylepis microphylla, as Critically Endangered, 47 species as Endangered and 28 as Vulnerable. Overall, 60% of the species evaluated were categorized as threatened, or 73% if national endemics are included. It is recommended that extinction risk assessments for tree species be used to inform the development of conservation strategies in the region, to avoid further loss of this important element of biodiversity.

scholarly journals Making extinction calculable

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 849-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Cuckston
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ecological Relations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in achieving biodiversity conservation and preventing the extinction of species. The Red List is a calculative device that classifies species in terms of their exposure to the risk of extinction. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on theorising in the Social Studies of Finance literature to analyse the Red List in terms of how it frames a space of calculability for species extinction. The analysis then traces the ways that this framing has overflowed, creating conditions for calculative innovations, such that assemblages of humans and calculative devices (i.e. agencements) are constructed with collective capabilities to act to conserve biodiversity and prevent species extinctions. Findings This paper has traced three ways that the Red List frame has overflowed, leading to calculative innovations and the construction of new agencements. The overflow of relations between the quality of “extinction risk”, produced by the Red List, and other qualities, such as location, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of formulating conservation strategies. The overflow of relations between the identity of the “threatened species”, produced by the Red List, and other features of evaluated species, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of impelling participation in conservation efforts. The overflow of ecological relations between species, discarded by the Red List’s hierarchical metrology of extinction risk classifications, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of confronting society with the reality of an extinction crisis. Originality/value The paper contributes to the accounting for biodiversity literature by addressing its fundamental challenge: explaining how accounting can create conditions within society in which biodiversity conservation is made possible.

scholarly journals A data-driven geospatial workflow to improve mapping species distributions and assessing extinction risk under the IUCN Red List

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Dario Palacio ◽  
Pablo Jose Negret ◽  
Jorge Velásquez-Tibatá ◽  
Andrew P. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Distance Weighted ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment

ABSTRACTSpecies distribution maps are essential for assessing extinction risk and guiding conservation efforts. Here, we developed a data-driven, reproducible geospatial workflow to map species distributions and evaluate their conservation status consistent with the guidelines and criteria of the IUCN Red List. Our workflow follows five automated steps to refine the distribution of a species starting from its Extent of Occurrence (EOO) to Area of Habitat (AOH) within the species range. The ranges are produced with an Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation procedure, using presence and absence points derived from primary biodiversity data. As a case-study, we mapped the distribution of 2,273 bird species in the Americas, 55% of all terrestrial birds found in the region. We then compared our produced species ranges to the expert-drawn IUCN/BirdLife range maps and conducted a preliminary IUCN extinction risk assessment based on criterion B (Geographic Range). We found that our workflow generated ranges with fewer errors of omission, commission, and a better overall accuracy within each species EOO. The spatial overlap between both datasets was low (28%) and the expert-drawn range maps were consistently larger due to errors of commission. Their estimated Area of Habitat (AOH) was also larger for a subset of 741 forest-dependent birds. We found that incorporating geospatial data increased the number of threatened species by 52% in comparison to the 2019 IUCN Red List. Furthermore, 103 species could be placed in threatened categories (VU, EN, CR) pending further assessment. The implementation of our geospatial workflow provides a valuable alternative to increase the transparency and reliability of species risk assessments and improve mapping species distributions for conservation planning and decision-making.

scholarly journals Assessing extinction risk from geographic distribution data in Neotropical freshwater fishes

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor A. Tagliacollo ◽  
Fernando Cesar Paiva Dagosta ◽  
Mário de Pinna ◽  
Roberto E. Reis ◽  
James S. Albert
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Freshwater Fishes ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Distribution Data ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Conservation Assessments

Abstract The IUCN Red List (RL) provides high-quality conservation assessments for individual species, yet the rate and scale of environmental deterioration globally challenges the conservation community to develop expedited methods for risk assessment. Here we compare threat assessments for 3,001 species of Neotropical freshwater fishes (NFF) in the IUCN–RL using readily accessible data types as proxies for extinction risk: geographic range, elevation, and species publication date. Furthermore, using geographic and taxonomic data alone, we generated preliminary conservation assessments for 2,334 NFF species currently awaiting IUCN assessment, identifying an additional 671 NFF species as potentially threatened. This number of potentially threatened species represents an increase of 59% over the number of species currently assigned to threat categories by the IUCN–RL. These results substantially expand the number of threatened NFF species from 422 currently on the IUCN RL to 1,093 species as threatened or potentially threatened, representing about 18% of all NFF species. Extinction risk is greater in species with smaller geographic ranges, which inhabit upland rivers, and which were described more recently. We propose the Central and Southern Andes, and Eastern Guiana Shield as priorities in the upcoming IUCN RL assessment of NFF species conservation risk.

Conservation genetics of native and European-introduced Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Putman ◽  
Nicholas Dunn ◽  
Endi Zhang ◽  
Min Chen ◽  
Christian Miquel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Source Population ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Chinese Water

Abstract Sufficient genetic variation is vital for the long-term survival of a population. The adaptive potential and reproductive fitness of a population is generally enhanced by greater levels of genetic diversity, while loss of genetic variation in small populations may increase extinction risk due to disease susceptibility and decreased reproductive fitness. Determining levels of genetic diversity in threatened species can, therefore, help inform conservation strategies. The Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is classified as Vulnerable in its native range on the IUCN Red List, and populations in Korea and mainland China have declined drastically in recent years. However, the species was introduced to Europe about a century ago and populations there now make up over 40% of global numbers. To infer the population genetic structure and genetic diversity of Chinese water deer both in their native China and in populations introduced to the UK and France, variation in mitochondrial DNA was investigated for over 100 individuals (92 cytochrome b and 106 control region sequences). Our results reveal lower levels of genetic diversity in the British populations, differentiation between native and introduced populations, and that the source population of British deer is likely to be extinct. Recommendations are made for the conservation of populations.

scholarly journals The Sampled Red List Index for Plants, phase II: ground-truthing specimen-based conservation assessments

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1662) ◽  
pp. 20140015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Brummitt ◽  
Steven P. Bachman ◽  
Elina Aletrari ◽  
Helen Chadburn ◽  
Janine Griffiths-Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Conservation Assessments

The IUCN Sampled Red List Index (SRLI) is a policy response by biodiversity scientists to the need to estimate trends in extinction risk of the world's diminishing biological diversity. Assessments of plant species for the SRLI project rely predominantly on herbarium specimen data from natural history collections, in the overwhelming absence of accurate population data or detailed distribution maps for the vast majority of plant species. This creates difficulties in re-assessing these species so as to measure genuine changes in conservation status, which must be observed under the same Red List criteria in order to be distinguished from an increase in the knowledge available for that species, and thus re-calculate the SRLI. However, the same specimen data identify precise localities where threatened species have previously been collected and can be used to model species ranges and to target fieldwork in order to test specimen-based range estimates and collect population data for SRLI plant species. Here, we outline a strategy for prioritizing fieldwork efforts in order to apply a wider range of IUCN Red List criteria to assessments of plant species, or any taxa with detailed locality or natural history specimen data, to produce a more robust estimation of the SRLI.

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