The global refugee crisis is one of the most pressing humanitarian emergencies of our time. According to the United Nations, in 2022, over 100 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide (UNHCR 2024; https://www.unhcr.org/, last accessed on January 26, 2025). This unprecedented movement of people poses immense challenges across many of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are intended to address climate change and the preservation of oceans and forests (United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals, last accessed on January 26, 2025). Climate change is the number one global crisis which is leading to conflicts between people and even nations. However, the refugee crisis is systematically toppling the SDGs. While the human tragedy of displacement rightfully commands global attention, its less acknowledged but critical implications for SDG 15—the preservation of biodiversity—demand urgent action.
Globally, we are witnessing a refugee crisis, with refugee populations more than doubling in the past 10 years (UNHCR 2024; https://www.unhcr.org/, last accessed on January 26, 2025). In Africa, Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees with about 1.5 million persons in 2023 (https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/uga, last accessed on January 31, 2025), with the overall refugee population in the region rapidly expanding from 1.8 million in 2012 to over 5.5 million in early 2023 (Kyeyune 2023). It is estimated that there are 17,500 new refugees entering Uganda daily (Kyeyune 2023). The consequences to the biodiversity of these regions are unprecedented and difficult to comprehend unless witnessed in person. Many of the settlements hosting these refugees are concentrated along rivers in the northern region, particularly near the Nile River, which is a critical artery of life and biodiversity. However, insufficient funding for basic necessities, including underfunding by the UN agencies (Kyeyune 2023) for food and cooking fuel, has led to a cascade of environmental degradation in the areas where refugee settlements are formed (e.g., Behangana, Katumba, et al. 2024; Behangana, Babyesiza, et al. 2024; Walde et al. 2024). This is amplified by the fact that most refugee settlements tend to become permanent over time and continue to increase in population size: for instance, according to the UNHCR data, in the West Nile region of Uganda, daily arrivals average at 191 people from South Sudan, and in western Uganda over 242 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, rising to over 400 and 600 per day, respectively, in the periods of hottest crisis (https://data.unhcr.org/en/dataviz/68?sv=0&geo=220, last accessed on January 28, 2025). Associated with these settlements, there is large scale removal of all vegetation types for cooking fires and constructing huts for shelter, resulting in a denuded landscape for at least 3–15 km aroun
Many endangered species are specialists of threatened habitats with poorly understood species–habitat relationships. Hence, knowledge of their habitat selection becomes vital for effective conservation management. We investigated habitat selection of the endangered hispid hare Caprolagus hispidus using a hierarchical multiscale analysis, from geographical range to microsites. We conducted surveys in eight protected areas (PAs) covering the entire Terai region along the foothills of Indian Himalayas. We examined the effects of climatic, landscape, topographic, and anthropogenic variables on the species' occurrence using ensemble presence-only models at range level and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) at population and microsite levels. We examined the effects of the above variables alongside grass-species assemblage, height, and cover on hare habitat use at microsite level using GLMM. We found that hispid hare distribution is highly fragmented and restricted to tall successional grasslands within the PAs. At the range level, the percentage of tall grassland cover, fire intensity, distance from a PA, and mean temperature influenced hare occurrence. At the population level, habitat selection was scale-dependent: occurrence probability responded unimodally to fire intensity at a broad scale (700 m), positively to the percentage of tall grassland cover and negatively to human footprint at finer scales (100 m). At the micro-sites, the species selected tall grass-species assemblages dominated by Narenga porphyrocoma (syn: Saccharum narenga). Our findings on the species–habitat relationships for the hispid hare emphasize the need for rotational (instead of complete) burning, eradication of invasive weeds, and regulation of cattle grazing for the restoration of the remaining habitats of hispid hare, totalling ~300 sq.km area. Finally, (trans)national policies on hydroelectric projects, which shape riverine grassland communities, need to accommodate the conservation needs of grassland obligatory fauna, including the endangered hispid hare.
Understanding how habitat quality affects wildlife is one of the fundamental questions of conservation biology and ecology. Across the tropics, habitat loss and degradation threaten arboreal species, such as primates. To establish well-founded, species-specific conservation management plans, it is crucial to have an adequate understanding of a species' diet, behaviour, habitat, ecology and physiology. Measuring physiological stress in these species offers exclusive insight into how they cope and adapt within their environment. Here, we evaluated the influence of habitat quality on cortisol levels in black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus), an endangered frugivorous–faunivorous primate endemic to the state of São Paulo, Brazil. We compared hair cortisol concentrations among six different black lion tamarin populations inhabiting forest fragments of varying quality. We adopted a patch-landscape approach and measured forest cover to estimate habitat availability for each population. To estimate forest quality in each study, we calculated total tree basal area, a proxy for forest structure and maturity that is positively correlated to fruit availability. Our model revealed that cortisol levels increased as the amount of available habitat and tree basal area decreased. Lower forest cover may alter resource acquisition and disrupt ranging patterns of black lion tamarins, as well as increase the degree of anthropogenic disturbances. Furthermore, forests with smaller trees might impair their movement and decrease fruit and sleeping site availability. Given that small, unprotected fragments and riparian forests represent important habitats in its geographic range, protecting such areas, while increasing inter-fragment connectivity and limiting human encroachment, is crucial for the conservation of this species.
The widespread use of online platforms and social media has undoubtedly facilitated the expansion of the illegal wildlife trade into global markets. Given the increase of evidence of jaguar (Panthera onca) trade through online platforms in Mexico, our objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of online trade of jaguar and other wild felid parts. Our study focused on researching four main aspects related to the online trade of wild felids. First, we evaluated the scale of the online trade of jaguars and other wild felid species in Mexico. Second, we explored the locations where this activity is taking place and potential routes used for trade. Third, we analyzed the use given to the felid's parts. Finally, we estimated the potential number of animals traded through online platforms. We found 713 posts that included elements of wild felids trade in Mexico, with 60 locations and 157 users. Nine species were identified, including five native species to Mexico and four non-native species. Our findings strongly assert that the trade of jaguars and other wild felid species parts through online platforms poses an imminent threat to these species. Data collected indicate that the online trade of these species has evolved into a widespread activity that is not solely opportunistic or locally focused. This suggests the existence of a more complex network in which online platforms facilitate communication between traders in Mexico and potential buyers in other countries. Online illegal trade of wild felids in Mexico was estimated to have involved at least ~$2,000,000 USD over the last 10 years. It is crucial to encourage local authorities to implement online platform monitoring and develop intervention strategies to prevent this activity from reaching unsustainable levels that could significantly impact the wild populations of these species.
In many mountain regions, tourism represents one of the main sources of income. Winter sports are often prevalent and, in the last decades, infrastructures linked to the ski industry have expanded worldwide in mountain ranges. Mountains are dramatically suffering the effects of climate change, many species are contracting or declining and ski-pistes are predicted to shrink towards higher elevations. For high-elevation ecosystems and species, the construction of ski-pistes is a major issue, impacting on species such as alpine birds already threatened by climate change. Here, by assessing the ultimate drivers of habitat selection during the breeding season, we investigated the impacts of ski-pistes in the Dolomites on the foraging behaviour of the white-winged snowfinch Montifringilla nivalis, an iconic alpine bird highly threatened by climate change. Our results show that snowfinches, during the critical period of nestling rearing, prefer to forage on snow patches and short grass on medium slope, characteristics frequently found on the studied ski-pistes. We also observed a marked effect of the temperature-solar radiation interaction: snowfinches forage in sunlit areas when ambient temperature is low, while under higher temperatures they prefer shady zones, probably due to specific physiological/thermoregulatory requirements. Foraging snowfinches and ski-pistes are associated with some shared environmental characteristics. This implies that the impact of ski-pistes could be mitigated by adequate management targeted at maintaining short-sward alpine grassland (e.g., through avoidance/reduction of machine grading and controlled grazing) and residual snow patches (preventing the complete levelling of the slope and maintaining shallow depressions in areas with lower solar radiation). Such strategies could contribute to reducing the ecological footprint of current and future ski resorts on alpine ecosystems.
Studying declining and rare species is inherently challenging, particularly when the cause of rarity is emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Tracking changes in the distribution of pathogens that cause EIDs, and the species made scarce by them, is necessary for conservation efforts, but it is often a time and resource intensive task. Here, we demonstrate how using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect rare species—and the pathogens that threaten them—can be a powerful tool to understand disease dynamics and develop effective conservation strategies. Amphibian populations around the world have undergone rapid declines and extinctions due to the emerging fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). We developed and validated a qPCR assay using eDNA sampling methods for some of the most imperiled amphibian species, harlequin frogs (Atelopus varius, Atelopus zeteki, and Atelopus chiriquiensis), and applied this assay in concert with a standard qPCR assay for Bd in rainforest streams of Panamá. We confirmed the presence of Atelopus at sampling locations across three regions. In addition, we used genomic analysis of eDNA samples to show that Bd in Panamá falls within the Global Panzootic Lineage, a lineage associated with disease-induced declines. We detected Bd DNA in most of our historic sites, and its concentration in water samples correlated with stream characteristics and the pathogen load of the local amphibian community. These results suggest that some populations of Atelopus persist in their historic localities. They also show how eDNA analysis can be effectively used for monitoring species presence, pathogen concentrations, and the distribution and spread of pathogen lineages. EIDs are a growing threat to endangered species around the world. Simultaneous detection of rare and declining host species and their pathogens with eDNA will help to provide key insights for effective conservation management.
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