With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track ...progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one-third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Australasia and among gastropods. Threat levels were higher in lotic than lentic systems. Pollution (chemical and physical) and the modification of natural systems (e.g. through damming and water abstraction) were the most frequently reported threats to freshwater molluscs, with some regional variation. Given that we found little spatial congruence between species richness patterns of freshwater molluscs and other freshwater taxa, apart from crayfish, new additional conservation priority areas emerged from our study. We discuss the implications of our findings for freshwater mollusc conservation, the adequacy of a sampled approach and important next steps to estimate trends in freshwater mollusc extinction risk over time.
The conservation of evolutionary history has been linked to increased benefits for humanity and can be captured by phylogenetic diversity (PD). The Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered ...(EDGE) metric has, since 2007, been used to prioritise threatened species for practical conservation that embody large amounts of evolutionary history. While there have been important research advances since 2007, they have not been adopted in practice because of a lack of consensus in the conservation community. Here, building from an interdisciplinary workshop to update the existing EDGE approach, we present an "EDGE2" protocol that draws on a decade of research and innovation to develop an improved, consistent methodology for prioritising species conservation efforts. Key advances include methods for dealing with uncertainty and accounting for the extinction risk of closely related species. We describe EDGE2 in terms of distinct components to facilitate future revisions to its constituent parts without needing to reconsider the whole. We illustrate EDGE2 by applying it to the world's mammals. As we approach a crossroads for global biodiversity policy, this Consensus View shows how collaboration between academic and applied conservation biologists can guide effective and practical priority-setting to conserve biodiversity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Phylogenetic diversity measures are increasingly used in conservation planning to represent aspects of biodiversity beyond that captured by species richness. Here we develop two new metrics that ...combine phylogenetic diversity and the extent of human pressure across the spatial distribution of species - one metric valuing regions and another prioritising species. We evaluate these metrics for reptiles, which have been largely neglected in previous studies, and contrast these results with equivalent calculations for all terrestrial vertebrate groups. We find that regions under high human pressure coincide with the most irreplaceable areas of reptilian diversity, and more than expected by chance. The highest priority reptile species score far above the top mammal and bird species, and reptiles include a disproportionate number of species with insufficient extinction risk data. Data Deficient species are, in terms of our species-level metric, comparable to Critically Endangered species and therefore may require urgent conservation attention.
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Redlist assessments rely on published data and expert inputs, and biases can be introduced where underlying definitions and concepts are ...ambiguous. Consideration of climate change threat is no exception, and recently numerous approaches to assessing the threat of climate change to species have been developed. We explored IUCN Red List assessments of amphibians and birds to determine whether species listed as threatened by climate change display distinct patterns in terms of habitat occupied and additional nonclimatic threats faced. We compared IUCN Red List data with a published data set of species' biological and ecological traits believed to infer high vulnerability to climate change and determined whether distributions of climate change-threatened species on the IUCN Red List concur with those of climate change-threatened species identified with the trait-based approach and whether species possessing these traits are more likely to have climate change listed as a threat on the IUCN Red List. Species in some ecosystems (e.g., grassland, shrubland) and subject to particular threats (e.g., invasive species) were more likely to have climate change as a listed threat. Geographical patterns of climate change-threatened amphibians and birds on the IUCN Red List were incongruent with patterns of global species richness and patterns identified using trait-based approaches. Certain traits were linked to increases or decreases in the likelihood of a species being threatened by climate change. Broad temperature tolerance of a species was consistently related to an increased likelihood of climate change threat, indicating counterintuitive relationships in IUCN assessments. To improve the robustness of species assessments of the vulnerability or extinction risk associated with climate change, we suggest IUCN adopt a more cohesive approach whereby specific traits highlighted by our results are considered in Red List assessments. To achieve this and to strengthen the climate change-vulnerability assessments approach, it is necessary to identify and implement logical avenues for further research into traits that make species vulnerable to climate change (including population-level threats). Las evaluaciones de la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (IUCN) dependen de datos publicados contribuciones de expertos, y los sesgos pueden introducirse en donde los conceptos y definiciones subyacentes son ambiguos. La consideración de la amenaza del cambio climático no es una excepción, y recientemente se han desarrollado numerosas estrategias para evaluar esta amenaza hacia las especies. Exploramos las evaluaciones de la Lista Roja de la IUCN de anfibios y aves para determinar si las especies enlistadas como amenazadas por el cambio climático muestran patrones marcados en términos del habitat ocupado y las amenazas no-climáticas adicionales que enfrentan. Comparamos los datos de la Lista Roja de la IUCN con un conjunto de datos publicados sobre las características biológicas y ecológicas de las especies que se creen infieren una alta vulnerabilidad ante el cambio climático y determinamos si la distribución de las especies amenazadas por el cambio climático en la Lista Roja coincide con aquellas especies amenazadas por el cambio climático identificadas con la estrategia basada en las características y si las especies que poseen estos rasgos tienen mayor probabilidad de tener al cambio climático enlistado como una amenaza en la Lista Roja. Las especies de algunos ecosistemas (p. ej.:pastizal, matorral) y sujetas a amenazas particulares (p. ej.: especies invasor as) tuvieron mayor probabilidad de tener al cambio climático enlistado como amenaza. Los patrones geográficos de los anfibios y aves amenazados por el cambio climático en la Lista Roja fueron incongruentes con los patrones de la riqueza global de especies y los patrones identificados con el uso de estrategias basadas en las características. Ciertas características estuvieron relacionadas con los incrementos y disminuciones en la probabilidad de que una especie estuviera amenazada por el cambio climático. La tolerancia térmica general de las especies estuvo relacionada constantemente con una mayor probabilidad de amenaza por el cambio climático, lo que indica relaciones contradictorias en las evaluaciones de la LUCN. Para mejorar la robustez de las evaluaciones de la vulnerabilidad o el riesgo de extinción de las especies asociados con el cambio climático, sugerimos que la LUCN adopte una estrategia más cohesiva en la que las características específicas resaltadas por nuestros resultados sean consideradas en las evaluaciones de lista roja. Para obtener esto y para fortalecer la estrategia de evaluaciones de vulnerabilidad por cambio climático, es necesario identificar e implementar vías lógicas para las futuras investigaciones sobre los caracteres que hacen que las especies sean vulnerables al cambio climático (incluyendo amenazas a nivel poblacional).
Overcoming data deficiency in reptiles Bland, Lucie M.; Böhm, Monika
Biological conservation,
December 2016, 2016-12-00, 20161201, Letnik:
204
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We have no information on the risk of extinction of 21% of reptiles listed as Data Deficient on the Sampled Red List Index (SRLI), an indicator developed to track global change in species status. ...Data Deficient species are of high research priority, because they contribute to uncertainty in estimates of extinction risk and are neglected by conservation programmes. We review the causes of data deficiency in reptiles; the likely status of Data Deficient reptiles; and possible solutions for their re-assessment. We find that 52% of Data Deficient reptiles lack information on population status and trends, and that few species are only known from type specimens and old records. We build a random forest model for SRLI species of known extinction risk, based on life-history, environmental and threat information. The final model shows perfect classification accuracy (100%) in ten-fold cross validation. We use the model to predict that 56 of 292 Data Deficient reptiles (19%) are at risk of extinction, so the overall proportion of threatened reptiles in the SRLI (19%) remains unchanged. Regions predicted to contain large numbers of threatened Data Deficient reptiles overlap with known centres of threatened species richness. However, the model shows lower accuracy (79%) on 29 species recently re-assessed in the Global Reptile Assessment. Predictive models could be used to prioritize Data Deficient species and reptiles not included in the SRLI, and new reptile assessments could be used to improve model predictions through adaptive learning.
•We use random forests to predict the extinction risk of Data Deficient reptiles.•We find that 19% of Data Deficient reptiles are likely to be threatened.•Global patterns of threatened species richness are robust to data deficiency.•New information from the Global Reptile Assessment will improve risk models.
With the accelerating development of direct and indirect anthropogenic threats, including climate change and pollution as well as extractive industries such as deep-sea mining, there is an urgent ...need for simple but effective solutions to identify conservation priorities for deep-sea species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is an effective and well-recognized tool to promote the protection of species and presents an opportunity to communicate conservation threats to industry, policy makers, and the general public. Here, we present the Vent Red List for molluscs: a complete global assessment of the extinction risk of all described molluscs endemic to hydrothermal vents, a habitat under imminent threat from deep-sea mining. Of the 184 species assessed, 62% are listed as threatened: 39 are Critically Endangered, 32 are Endangered, and 43 are Vulnerable. In contrast, the 25 species that are fully protected from deep-sea mining by local conservation measures are assessed as Least Concern, and a further 45 species are listed as Near Threatened, where some subpopulations face mining threats while others lie within protected areas. We further examined the risk to faunas at specific vent sites and biogeographic regions using a relative threat index, which highlights the imperiled status of vent fields in the Indian Ocean while other vent sites within established marine protected areas have a high proportion of species assessed as Least Concern. The Vent Red List exemplifies how taxonomy-driven tools can be utilized to support deep-sea conservation and provides a precedent for the application of Red List assessment criteria to diverse taxa from deep-sea habitats.
Establishing historical baselines of species' populations is important for contextualising present-day population trends, identifying significant anthropogenic threats, and preventing a cultural ...phenomenon known as ‘shifting baseline syndrome’. However, our knowledge of historical baselines is limited by a lack of direct observation data on species abundance pre-1970. We present historical data of species-specific fur harvests from the Canadian government and Hudson's Bay Company as a proxy for estimating species abundance over multiple centuries. Using stochastic stock reduction analysis originally developed for marine species, we model historical population trends for eight mammals, and assess population trends based on two different baseline years: 1850 and 1970. Results show that population declines are significantly greater when using an 1850 baseline, as opposed to a 1970 baseline, and for four species, the population trend shifted from a population increase to a decrease. Overall, the median population change of the eight species changed from a 15% decline for 1850, to a 4% increase for 1970. This study shows the utility of harvest data for deriving population baselines for hunted terrestrial mammals which can be used in addition to other historical data such as local ecological knowledge. Results highlight the need for developing historically relevant population baselines in order to track abundances over time in threatened species and common species alike, to better inform species conservation programs, wildlife management plans and biodiversity indicators.
Customization becomes more and more popular and influences the product development process in apparel industry. In addition to individualized products, the fit of garments is very important for the ...customization. Numerous tools are used to take the right measurements, to transport individual posture information and to implement these data correctly into a product pattern based on a predefined construction system. Unfortunately, in most cases the mass customization process takes place without a fitting session. Usually fit and design will be checked in the last process step, when the product is already manufactured. Virtual product development is a powerful tool to change this process getting an early fit and design check. By using a test population representing the target group, it is possible to check the sizing and to screen the fit of a product on individual bodies and postures in a short time. In a joint project between the Virtual Lab of Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and Avalution GmbH, a practical approach for the implementation of a fitting session to a mass customization product development process was developed. The entire process has a three-level structure: First, the avatar population is built up using garment specific body measurements. Connected to a 3D simulation program, an automatic process of determining the made-to-measure (MtM) values, carrying out the MtM grading and the fitting on the selected avatar are initiated. In a special application, the digital try-ons are finally output as images in different physical aspects for evaluation.
The Convention on Biological Diversity's strategic plan lays out five goals: “(A) address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society; (B) ...reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use; (C) improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity; (D) enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services; (E) enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building.” To meet and inform on the progress towards these goals, a globally coordinated approach is needed for biodiversity monitoring that is linked to environmental data and covers all biogeographic regions. During a series of workshops and expert discussions, we identified nine requirements that we believe are necessary for developing and implementing such a global terrestrial species monitoring program. The program needs to design and implement an integrated information chain from monitoring to policy reporting, to create and implement minimal data standards and common monitoring protocols to be able to inform Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs), and to develop and optimize semantics and ontologies for data interoperability and modelling. In order to achieve this, the program needs to coordinate diverse but complementary local nodes and partnerships. In addition, capacities need to be built for technical tasks, and new monitoring technologies need to be integrated. Finally, a global monitoring program needs to facilitate and secure funding for the collection of long-term data and to detect and fill gaps in under-observed regions and taxa. The accomplishment of these nine requirements is essential in order to ensure data is comprehensive, to develop robust models, and to monitor biodiversity trends over large scales. A global terrestrial species monitoring program will enable researchers and policymakers to better understand the status and trends of biodiversity.
PDF
