The wild relatives of domesticated crops possess genetic diversity useful for developing more productive, nutritious and resilient crop varieties. However, their conservation status and availability ...for utilization are a concern, and have not been quantified globally. Here, we model the global distribution of 1,076 taxa related to 81 crops, using occurrence information collected from biodiversity, herbarium and gene bank databases. We compare the potential geographic and ecological diversity encompassed in these distributions with that currently accessible in gene banks, as a means to estimate the comprehensiveness of the conservation of genetic diversity. Our results indicate that the diversity of crop wild relatives is poorly represented in gene banks. For 313 (29.1% of total) taxa associated with 63 crops, no germplasm accessions exist, and a further 257 (23.9%) are represented by fewer than ten accessions. Over 70% of taxa are identified as high priority for further collecting in order to improve their representation in gene banks, and over 95% are insufficiently represented in regard to the full range of geographic and ecological variation in their native distributions. The most critical collecting gaps occur in the Mediterranean and the Near East, western and southern Europe, Southeast and East Asia, and South America. We conclude that a systematic effort is needed to improve the conservation and availability of crop wild relatives for use in plant breeding.
•The assessment is based on the exact location and size of each habitat and threat.•Quality and Degradation class categorizations were defined for habitats valuation.•An overview on management ...actions for the most threatened habitats is presented.•The model approach may be a useful tool for further protected areas implementation.•The defined methodology seems to be consistent for the whole Azores Archipelago’s assessment.
A methodological approach for the conservation status assessment of Azorean natural habitats in Pico Island (Portugal) is presented, using the InVEST Habitat Quality model. This spatial analysis-based study was focused on a selected group of 33 endemic plant species occurring in Pico Island and protected under the Habitats Directive’s Listed Habitats for Macaronesia Region. The InVEST model combines information present in a Land Cover map with data on threats to habitats and habitats response, producing habitat quality and degradation maps as outputs, both represented in a score ranging from 0 to 1. Results showed that at higher altitudes habitats present better quality status, mostly due to the absence of the main threats such as Invasive Alien Species and Pasturelands. The study also showed that most areas with higher conservation quality are covered by the Pico Island Natural Park (a set of protected areas). Habitat patches showing higher degradation levels are located outside of the protected areas, supporting the increasing need for an integrated island-based conservation approach. This model valuation scheme might be used as an effective decision-support tool to prioritise areas for conservation actions and management in all nine Azorean Island Natural Parks, as well as in other small Macaronesian islands.
Aim
After environmental disasters, species with large population losses may need urgent protection to prevent extinction and support recovery. Following the 2019–2020 Australian megafires, we ...estimated population losses and recovery in fire‐affected fauna, to inform conservation status assessments and management.
Location
Temperate and subtropical Australia.
Time period
2019–2030 and beyond.
Major taxa
Australian terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates; one invertebrate group.
Methods
From > 1,050 fire‐affected taxa, we selected 173 whose distributions substantially overlapped the fire extent. We estimated the proportion of each taxon’s distribution affected by fires, using fire severity and aquatic impact mapping, and new distribution mapping. Using expert elicitation informed by evidence of responses to previous wildfires, we estimated local population responses to fires of varying severity. We combined the spatial and elicitation data to estimate overall population loss and recovery trajectories, and thus indicate potential eligibility for listing as threatened, or uplisting, under Australian legislation.
Results
We estimate that the 2019–2020 Australian megafires caused, or contributed to, population declines that make 70–82 taxa eligible for listing as threatened; and another 21–27 taxa eligible for uplisting. If so‐listed, this represents a 22–26% increase in Australian statutory lists of threatened terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates and spiny crayfish, and uplisting for 8–10% of threatened taxa. Such changes would cause an abrupt worsening of underlying trajectories in vertebrates, as measured by Red List Indices. We predict that 54–88% of 173 assessed taxa will not recover to pre‐fire population size within 10 years/three generations.
Main conclusions
We suggest the 2019–2020 Australian megafires have worsened the conservation prospects for many species. Of the 91 taxa recommended for listing/uplisting consideration, 84 are now under formal review through national processes. Improving predictions about taxon vulnerability with empirical data on population responses, reducing the likelihood of future catastrophic events and mitigating their impacts on biodiversity, are critical.
► We mapped indicators for biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe. ► We compared these maps with the conservation status of protected habitats. ► Habitats in favourable conservation status ...supplied more ecosystem services. ► Habitats in favourable conservation status had higher biodiversity.
In the European Union (EU) efforts to conserve biodiversity have been consistently directed towards the protection of habitats and species through the designation of protected areas under the Habitats Directive (92/43/ECC). These biodiversity conservation efforts also have the potential to maintain or improve the supply of ecosystem services; however, this potential has been poorly explored across Europe. This paper reports on a spatial assessment of the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem services, and conservation status of protected habitats at European scale. We mapped at 10km resolution ten spatial proxies for ecosystem service supply (four provisioning services, five regulating services and one cultural service) and three proxies for biodiversity (Mean Species Abundance, tree species diversity and the relative area of Natura 2000 sites). Indicators for biodiversity and aggregated ecosystem service supply were positively related but this relationship was influenced by the spatial trade-offs among ecosystem services, in particular between crop production and regulating ecosystem services. Using multinomial logistic regression models we demonstrated that habitats in a favourable conservation status provided more biodiversity and had a higher potential to supply, in particular, regulating and cultural ecosystem services than habitats in an unfavourable conservation status. This information is of utmost importance in identifying regions in which measures are likely to result in cost-effective progress towards both new biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services targets adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.
Legislation for the preservation of biodiversity has been instrumental to the recovery of multiple species and habitats. The European Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC is one of the strongest legal tools ...in nature conservation. This Directive seeks to achieve its biodiversity goals by requiring EU Member States to take measures to reach or maintain favorable conservation status (FCS) of natural habitats and species in Europe. FCS is a legal concept, but must be understood and applied by scientists, managers, and policy makers, and therefore a proper interpretation of this concept is crucial for biodiversity conservation and wildlife management. However, its definition contains several aspects that can lead to misinterpretation, forming the core of controversies in determining whether or not populations have reached FCS. In this review, we provide legal and ecological clarifications of the most contested aspects of FCS that have not yet been conclusively settled by analyzing and weighing a variety of sources.
Use of extensive but low‐resolution abundance data is common in the assessment of species at‐risk status based on quantitative decline criteria under International Union for Conservation of Nature ...(IUCN) and national endangered species legislation. Such data can be problematic for 3 reasons. First, statistical power to reject the null hypothesis of no change is often low because of small sample size and high sampling uncertainty leading to a high frequency of type II errors. Second, range‐wide assessments composed of multiple site‐specific observations do not effectively weight site‐specific trends into global trends. Third, uncertainty in site‐specific temporal trends and relative abundance are not propagated at the appropriate spatial scale. A common result is the propensity to underestimate the magnitude of declines and therefore fail to identify the appropriate at‐risk status for a species. We used 3 statistical approaches, from simple to more complex, to estimate temporal decline rates for a designatable unit (DU) of rainbow trout in the Athabasca River watershed in western Canada. This DU is considered a native species for purposes of listing because of its genetic composition characterized as >0.95 indigenous origin in the face of continuing introgressive hybridization with introduced populations in the watershed. Analysis of abundance trends from 57 time series with a fixed‐effects model identified 33 sites with negative trends, but only 2 were statistically significant. By contrast, a hierarchical linear mixed model weighted by site‐specific abundance provided a DU‐wide decline estimate of 16.4% per year and a 3‐generation decline of 93.2%. A hierarchical Bayesian mixed model yielded a similar 3‐generation decline trend of 91.3% and the posterior distribution showed that the estimate had a >99% probability of exceeding thresholds for an endangered listing. We conclude that the Bayesian approach was the most useful because it provided a probabilistic statement of threshold exceedance in support of an at‐risk status recommendation.
Resumen
El uso de datos extensivos, pero de baja resolución, de la abundancia es una práctica común en la evaluación del estado de riesgo de una especie con base en los criterios cuantitativos de declinación establecidos por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) y la legislación nacional sobre especies en peligro extinción. Dicha información puede ser problemática por tres razones: primero, el poder estadístico para rechazar la hipótesis nula de ningún cambio es frecuentemente bajo debido a un tamaño pequeño de la muestra y a la elevada incertidumbre del muestreo, lo que resulta en una frecuencia elevada de errores de tipo II; segundo, las evaluaciones de amplia variedad compuestas de varias observaciones específicas de sitio no sopesan efectivamente las tendencias específicas de sitio dentro de las tendencias globales; y tercero, la incertidumbre en las tendencias temporales específicas de sitio y en la abundancia relativa no se propagan a la escala espacial apropiada. Un resultado común del uso de esta información es la propensión a subestimar la magnitud de las declinaciones, y por lo tanto equivocarse en la identificación del estado de riesgo apropiado para la especie. Usamos tres estrategias estadísticas, de simples a más complejas, para estimar las tasas de declinación temporal para una unidad designable (UD) de trucha arcoíris en la cuenca del río Athabasca al oeste de Canadá. Esta UD es considerada una especie nativa por razones de listado debido a su composición genética, caracterizada como >0‐95 de origen nativo de frente a la continua hibridación introgresiva con poblaciones introducidas a la cuenca. El análisis de las tendencias de abundancia de 57 series de tiempo con un modelo de efectos fijos identificó 33 sitios con tendencias negativas, pero sólo dos fueron estadísticamente significativas. En contraste, un modelo lineal mixto de jerarquías sopesado por abundancia específica de sitio proporcionó una estimación de declinación en toda la UD de 16.4% año−1 y una declinación a tres generaciones de 93.2%. Un modelo bayesiano de jerarquías produjo una tendencia de declinación a tres generaciones de 91.3% y la distribución posterior mostró que el estimado tuvo una probabilidad >99% de exceder los umbrales para la categorización como especie en peligro. Concluimos que la estrategia bayesiana fue la más útil porque proporcionó una afirmación probabilística de la superación del umbral a favor de una recomendación de categorizar el estado como en riesgo.
Article impact statement: Based on definition of Athabasca rainbow trout designatable unit and estimated decline rate, this species should be listed as endangered.
Insect declines and their drivers have attracted considerable recent attention. Fireflies and glowworms are iconic insects whose conspicuous bioluminescent courtship displays carry unique cultural ...significance, giving them economic value as ecotourist attractions. Despite evidence of declines, a comprehensive review of the conservation status and threats facing the approximately 2000 firefly species worldwide is lacking. We conducted a survey of experts from diverse geographic regions to identify the most prominent perceived threats to firefly population and species persistence. Habitat loss, light pollution, and pesticide use were regarded as the most serious threats, although rankings differed substantially across regions. Our survey results accompany a comprehensive review of current evidence concerning the impact of these stressors on firefly populations. We also discuss risk factors likely to increase the vulnerability of certain species to particular threats. Finally, we highlight the need to establish monitoring programs to track long-term population trends for at-risk firefly taxa.
Recent research efforts have significantly advanced our knowledge on Asian freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionida) diversity and distribution. Here we provide a modern consensus of the diversity, ...biogeography and conservation of Unionida in the region comprising East and Southeast Asia (excluding Wallacea) and Asian Russia. A data review confirmed the presence of 228 native and 3 non-native Unionida (98% Unionidae, 2% Margaritiferidae), rendering the region a global hotspot of freshwater mussel diversity. Species richness was highest in China (particularly Yangtze basin) in absolute numbers and Cambodia when correcting for country area, and decreased gradually towards the south and steeply towards the north and east. Six of the seven unionid subfamilies are native to the region, with species richness peaking in Southeast Asia for Rectidentinae, Gonideinae, Parreysiinae and Modellnaiinae, China for Anodontinae and Unioninae, and Asian Russia for Margaritiferidae. Conservation status and data collected after 1980 were not available for 61 and 24% of species, respectively. Dams, deforestation and pollution are likely the major threats to mussels in the region, though data in this respect are scarce. The Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia are among the countries with the poorest data availability and urgently require research.
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