The first global assessment of amphibians provides new context for the well-publicized phenomenon of amphibian declines. Amphibians are more threatened and are declining more rapidly than either ...birds or mammals. Although many declines are due to habitat loss and overutilization, other, unidentified processes threaten 48% of rapidly declining species and are driving species most quickly to extinction. Declines are nonrandom in terms of species' ecological preferences, geographic ranges, and taxonomic associations and are most prevalent among Neotropical montane, stream-associated species. The lack of conservation remedies for these poorly understood declines means that hundreds of amphibian species now face extinction.
The changing fates of the world's mammals Hoffmann, Michael; Belant, Jerrold L.; Chanson, Janice S. ...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences,
09/2011, Letnik:
366, Številka:
1578
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A recent complete assessment of the conservation status of 5487 mammal species demonstrated that at least one-fifth are at risk of extinction in the wild. We retrospectively identified genuine ...changes in extinction risk for mammals between 1996 and 2008 to calculate changes in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI). Species-level trends in the conservation status of mammalian diversity reveal that extinction risk in large-bodied species is increasing, and that the rate of deterioration has been most accelerated in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. Expanding agriculture and hunting have been the main drivers of increased extinction risk in mammals. Site-based protection and management, legislation, and captive-breeding and reintroduction programmes have led to improvements in 24 species. We contextualize these changes, and explain why both deteriorations and improvements may be under-reported. Although this study highlights where conservation actions are leading to improvements, it fails to account for instances where conservation has prevented further deteriorations in the status of the world's mammals. The continued utility of the RLI is dependent on sustained investment to ensure repeated assessments of mammals over time and to facilitate future calculations of the RLI and measurement against global targets.
An essential foundation of any science is a standard lexicon. Any given conservation project can be described in terms of the biodiversity targets, direct threats, contributing factors at the project ...site, and the conservation actions that the project team is employing to change the situation. These common elements can be linked in a causal chain, which represents a theory of change about how the conservation actions are intended to bring about desired project outcomes. If project teams want to describe and share their work and learn from one another, they need a standard and precise lexicon to specifically describe each node along this chain. To date, there have been several independent efforts to develop standard classifications for the direct threats that affect biodiversity and the conservation actions required to counteract these threats. Recognizing that it is far more effective to have only one accepted global scheme, we merged these separate efforts into unified classifications of threats and actions, which we present here. Each classification is a hierarchical listing of terms and associated definitions. The classifications are comprehensive and exclusive at the upper levels of the hierarchy, expandable at the lower levels, and simple, consistent, and scalable at all levels. We tested these classifications by applying them post hoc to 1191 threatened bird species and 737 conservation projects. Almost all threats and actions could be assigned to the new classification systems, save for some cases lacking detailed information. Furthermore, the new classification systems provided an improved way of analyzing and comparing information across projects when compared with earlier systems. We believe that widespread adoption of these classifications will help practitioners more systematically identify threats and appropriate actions, managers to more efficiently set priorities and allocate resources, and most important, facilitate cross-project learning and the development of a systematic science of conservation.
La Asociación Americana de Colegios Médicos predice que es probable que haya una escasez de entre 6.300 y 16.400 médicos de atención primaria cuando yo me gradúe del postgrado de Medicina Familiar ...en el año (2017). (1) Esta escasez se agrava por la tendencia de los médicos a ejercer su profesión en las grandes ciudades; aunque una cuarta parte de los estadounidenses viven en zonas rurales, sólo el 10% de los médicos optan por una práctica rural. (2) Las explicaciones son variadas: los programas urbanos no preparan a los médicos para trabajar con una población rural, los médicos rurales trabajan más horas, y atienden pacientes de bajo recursos económicos que tienen menos acceso al tratamiento recomendado.
Pass. is endemic to the Mediterranean region where it is holocyclic, forming galls on its primary host,
and alternating over a 2-year period between
and secondary hosts, principally species of ...Gramineae. This aphid is widely distributed in Australia and New Zealand on the roots of the common forage grasses, ryegrass (
spp.) and tall fescue (
) where it exists as permanent, anholocyclic, parthenogenetic populations. Previous studies have indicated that infestations of
significantly reduce plant growth and may account for differences in field performance of
infected with different strains of the fungal endophyte
var.
. These obligate biotrophs protect their host grasses from herbivory via the production of alkaloids. To confirm the hypothesis that growth of
is associated with the effect of different endophyte strains on aphid populations, herbage and root growth were measured over time in two pot trials that compared three fungal endophyte strains with an endophyte-free control. In both pot trials, aphid numbers were lowest on plants infected with endophyte strain AR37 at all sampling times. In plants infected with a common toxic strain naturalized in New Zealand, aphid numbers overall were lower than on uninfected plants or those infected with strain AR1, but numbers did not always differ significantly from these treatments. Populations on AR1-infected plants were occasionally significantly higher than those on endophyte-free. Cumulative foliar growth was reduced in AR1 and Nil treatments relative to AR37 in association with population differences of
in both trials and root dry weight was reduced in one trial. In four Petri dish experiments survival of
on plants infected with AR37 declined to low levels after an initial phase of up to 19 days during which time aphids fed and populations were similar to those on plants without endophyte. Aphids on AR37-infected plants became uncoordinated in their movement and developed tremors before dying suggesting a neurotoxin was responsible for their mortality. Results support the hypothesis that differences in
populations due to endophyte infection status and strain affects plant growth.
Respiration rate (RR) is a common measure of cattle health and welfare. Traditionally, measuring RR involves counting flank movements as the animal inhales and exhales with each breath. This method ...is often considered difficult, labour-intensive and impractical. We validated the use of infrared thermography (IRT) as an alternative method of non-invasively measuring RR in young calves. RR was simultaneously recorded in two ways: (1) by observing flank movements from video recordings; and (2) by observing thermal fluctuations around the nostrils during inhalations and exhalations from infrared recordings. For each method, the time taken to complete five consecutive breaths (a breath being a complete inhalation/exhalation cycle) was recorded and used to calculate RR (breaths/min). From a group of five calves, a total of 12 video recordings and 12 infrared recordings were collected. For each procedure, 47 sets of five consecutive breaths were assessed. The RRs measured from video recordings of flank movements and thermal fluctuations around the nostrils from infrared recordings were highly correlated (R
= 0.93). Validated as a suitable method for recording RR, future research can now focus on the development of algorithms to automate the use of IRT to support its integration into existing automated systems to remotely monitor calf health and welfare.
•Dairy cows consumed less water when it was contaminated with manure.•When given the choice, cows drank more clean than manure contaminated water.•Cows can detect and avoid manure concentrations as ...low as 0.005% in the water.
Water intake is closely related to feed intake and its reduction associated with negative welfare and production implications. This study aimed to assess the intake and preference for drinking water of different quality; clean (tap water), and water contaminated with either 0.05 mg (Low) or 1 mg (High) fresh manure/g water. Water and feed intake of 18 non-lactating, pregnant cows were monitored in individual, indoor pens. Each cow was given one of the three water treatments for 5 days, then a different treatment for a second 5-day period (no choice), and finally access to both in a choice test (5 days). Data were analysed using REML and paired t-tests. Contamination of water significantly affected intake in the no choice phase (P < 0.001). Cows provided with Low or High contaminated water had 10 and 28%, respectively, lower water intake than those provide with clean water (Clean: 37.0 L/day, range: 28.4–53.6; Low: 33.2 L/day, range: 26.0–44.9; High: 26.6 L/day, range: 13.6–37.8). Feed intake was not influenced by water treatment. During the choice test, cows showed a clear preference for clean water over water contaminated with manure (Clean vs. Low: 19.8 vs. 6.5 L, P = 0.014, SED: 3.60 L; Clean vs. High: 29.8 vs. 0.21 L, P < 0.001, SED: 1.82; and Low vs. High: 27.2 L vs. 0.29 L, P < 0.001, SED: 1.70). Cows only consumed 1% of their daily water intake from the High treatment when they had another option. In conclusion, dairy cattle can detect low levels of manure contamination in their drinking water, and avoid drinking it if possible. The preference to drink clean water was particularly clear. This study highlights the importance of providing cattle with clean drinking water.
Objectives
To determine the prevalence of retinal lesions and describe the fundoscopic findings of retinopathy in Greyhound dogs in the Manawatu/Whanganui region of New Zealand. To examine possible ...associations between sex, age, and racing variables with retinopathy in the study population. To describe retinal histologic findings in seven Greyhounds with retinopathy in New Zealand.
Methods
Two hundred Greyhound dogs from the Manawatu/Whanganui region of New Zealand underwent fundoscopy and fundic photography to identify and score the degree of retinopathy. Associations between retinopathy and age, sex, as well as racing variables, were examined. Histologic examination of the retina was undertaken on the eyes of seven Greyhounds from the Manawatu and Canterbury regions previously diagnosed with retinopathy by fundoscopy.
Results
Fifty dogs (25.1%) were identified with retinopathy of varying degrees of severity. In at least one eye, 7.5% of dogs had mild retinopathy, 11.6% moderate retinopathy, and 6.0% severe retinopathy. Males were more likely to be affected in both eyes and with moderate or severe grades, than females. Increasing age was not associated with increased prevalence of retinopathy, nor increased grade of severity. Retinal histology identified multifocal retinal detachment in 5 of the 7 cases examined and other common lesions included choroidal necrosis and outer to full‐thickness retinal atrophy in the absence of significant inflammation.
Conclusions
Retinopathy is prevalent in Greyhounds in the Manawatu/Whanganui region of New Zealand, but more research is required to elucidate the etiopathogenesis. Consideration should be made to include mandatory eye health examination in racing Greyhound dogs.
The world's governments have committed to preventing the extinction of threatened species and improving their conservation status by 2020. However, biodiversity is not evenly distributed across ...space, and neither are the drivers of its decline, and so different regions face very different challenges. Here, we quantify the contribution of regions and countries towards recent global trends in vertebrate conservation status (as measured by the Red List Index), to guide action towards the 2020 target. We found that>50% of the global deterioration in the conservation status of birds, mammals and amphibians is concentrated in <1% of the surface area, 39/1098 ecoregions (4%) and eight/195 countries (4%) - Australia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and the United States. These countries hold a third of global diversity in these vertebrate groups, partially explaining why they concentrate most of the losses. Yet, other megadiverse countries - most notably Brazil (responsible for 10% of species but just 1% of deterioration), plus India and Madagascar - performed better in conserving their share of global vertebrate diversity. Very few countries, mostly island nations (e.g. Cook Islands, Fiji, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Tonga), have achieved net improvements. Per capita wealth does not explain these patterns, with two of the richest countries - United States and Australia - fairing conspicuously poorly. Different countries were affected by different combinations of threats. Reducing global rates of biodiversity loss will require investment in the regions and countries with the highest responsibility for the world's biodiversity, focusing on conserving those species and areas most in peril and on reducing the drivers with the highest impacts.
Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by standards, governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms. Considerable resources are ...dedicated to developing and maintaining knowledge products for biodiversity conservation, and they are widely used to inform policy and advise decision makers and practitioners. However, the financial cost of delivering this information is largely undocumented. We evaluated the costs and funding sources for developing and maintaining four global biodiversity and conservation knowledge products: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Protected Planet, and the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas. These are secondary data sets, built on primary data collected by extensive networks of expert contributors worldwide. We estimate that US$160 million (range: US$116-204 million), plus 293 person-years of volunteer time (range: 278-308 person-years) valued at US$ 14 million (range US$12-16 million), were invested in these four knowledge products between 1979 and 2013. More than half of this financing was provided through philanthropy, and nearly three-quarters was spent on personnel costs. The estimated annual cost of maintaining data and platforms for three of these knowledge products (excluding the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems for which annual costs were not possible to estimate for 2013) is US$6.5 million in total (range: US$6.2-6.7 million). We estimated that an additional US$114 million will be needed to reach pre-defined baselines of data coverage for all the four knowledge products, and that once achieved, annual maintenance costs will be approximately US$12 million. These costs are much lower than those to maintain many other, similarly important, global knowledge products. Ensuring that biodiversity and conservation knowledge products are sufficiently up to date, comprehensive and accurate is fundamental to inform decision-making for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Thus, the development and implementation of plans for sustainable long-term financing for them is critical.
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