Animal Conservation最新文献

The barbary sheep Ammotragus lervia (locally called Laroui or Aoudad) and the dorcas gazelle Gazella dorcas (locally called Adam or Affrii) are endemic bovines (Wacher et al., 2002), living in north African Sahara (Irzagh et al., 2022). Both species are listed as a vulnerable (IUCN status) and indexed in CITES appendix II and III respectively (https://iucn.org). Their populations undergo intensive selection because of hunting (human-wildlife conflict) and the numbers of these two species are decreasing drastically. Many cases of illegal hunting of both barbary sheep and dorcas have been recorded in the Algerian Sahara which cause a significant level of wildlife losses, and McKinney (2001) found that the threat level on wildlife (such as Bovidae) is significantly related to human population size.

Most information published on these two Bovidae have rarely been disclosing the alarming situation of the barbary sheep and the dorcas. It is known that diverse motivation underlies this hunting activity. But the main motivation in Algerian Sahara is a traditional ritual of exploiting these two threatened Bovidae as a source of meat for traditional feasts.

In August 22nd 2024, during a scientific expedition to the Algerian Sahara (El Menia desert), my colleagues and I recorded a dramatic case of illegal barbary sheep and dorcas gazelle hunting. Four dorcas gazelles and one barbary sheep were slaughtered in a secret location situated in the western sand sea (see Fig. 1). Our discussion with these hunters revealed that this heartless act is generally practiced either late in the evening or at night, in a location kept secret by the hunters. This practice is banned and so the identity of the hunters is kept hidden, which can hamper the conservation actions for these two species.

This conservation news is made prominent here in order to raise public awareness and emphasis the importance of the conservation of these species. For example, in Tunisia there is a collaborative government project between Italy and Tunisia called “Geo Med GIS 19/96—2019” aiming to classify the distribution range of the dorcas gazelle as a protected area (see www.dahargmg.info). These types of initiatives are also needed in Algeria.

These multi-faceted actions would carry out more efficient protection of these two endemic species and a more sustainable future for the local biodiversity.

Amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is associated with declines in ~500 amphibian species globally. Decades after initial disease outbreaks, the trajectory of impacted species varies substantially; while some species continue to decline, there are instances of natural recovery, such as the whistling tree frog, Litoria verreauxii, in south-eastern Australia. The decline and subsequent recovery of this species have been quantified through repeated surveys of historically occupied sites over the past 30 years; however, the underlying mechanisms driving this recovery remain unknown. In this study, we investigate the potential factors facilitating the recovery of L. verreauxii by examining Bd prevalence and intensity in both adults and tadpoles. Specifically, we addressed the following hypotheses: (1) Bd prevalence in tadpoles would be lower compared to adults at the same breeding sites, (2) Bd prevalence in tadpoles would decrease over the spring breeding season due to the increasing availability of warm water microhabitats where tadpoles could potentially avoid or clear Bd infections and (3) there would be a negative correlation between Bd prevalence in tadpoles and the abundance and diversity of microfauna, which may consume Bd zoospores. Our findings indicate that tadpole infection prevalence remained consistently low at 1.36% (95% CI: 0.6–2.47%) throughout our spring sampling period, across different developmental stages. Adults had moderate to high prevalence within the same ponds at 50.53% (95% CI: 43.19–57.84%). No effect of temperature or microfauna diversity and abundance was apparent. While the mechanisms driving the recovery of this species remain unknown, low infection prevalence in tadpoles is likely a key component to the species' recovery. Our results emphasize the need for comprehensive investigations in Bd dynamics across all life history stages within recovering and declining amphibian species.

Marine and freshwater mammals are increasingly threatened due to human activity. To improve conservation practice, decisions should be informed by the available evidence on the effectiveness of conservation actions. Using a systematically collated database of studies that test the effectiveness of actions to conserve marine and freshwater mammals, we investigated the gaps and biases in the available scientific evidence base. While there is a growing evidence base covering actions to address key threats (e.g. fisheries and bycatch) to marine and freshwater mammal populations, we identified large geographic and taxonomic biases. There was no relationship between the number of studies and marine mammal species per ecoregion and we found biases towards coastal areas of the Global North, with many regions and species having little or no evidence available. The number of studies per species did not correlate with (1) the threat level, (2) evolutionary distinctiveness or (3) the public ‘popularity’ of the study species. We also found a mismatch between actions tested and the actions suggested as needed in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Several of these gaps and biases likely reflect the feasibility of researching marine mammal populations; many species can be difficult to access, with limited baseline information on populations and threats, and testing actions can require costly long-term monitoring. Prioritizing the most cost-effective conservation strategies for marine and freshwater mammal species will require a comprehensive evidence base on the effects of actions. Continuing to build the necessary baseline data, and focusing future research and funding towards the priority gaps identified in this study will be important to deliver this target.

Climate change is known to have a range of impacts on the marine environment, including the continuous variation of the distribution of species, and can cause significant challenges in planning conservation measures. This study focuses on the current and future habitat suitability of the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Mediterranean Sea. We integrated data collected in the Mediterranean Sea between 2009 and 2021 from official National and International research programs with public datasets and considered Earth Observation variables from the Copernicus Programme. We applied an ensemble of Species Distribution Models to predict their current and future potential distribution at the Mediterranean subregional scale under two climate change scenarios in the 2045–2055 period. Results suggest a reduction in suitable habitat for the three species. The fin whale and the bottlenose dolphin would be forced outside large portions of their current range and would have to deal with new conditions outside their ‘range of tolerance’. For the striped dolphin, the loss of a portion of suitable habitat would be compensated by the potential colonization of new suitable areas. This work draws attention to the dynamism of species distribution under shifting climatic conditions, a usually underestimated aspect, and highlights the importance of potential future patterns of species distribution in addressing the MSFD D1C4 and D1C5 criteria. This will support decision-makers in planning long-term sustainable management of European Seas.

Control of introduced predators is essential for conserving many threatened species, but species range in vulnerability. Therefore, efficient conservation management requires estimating the vulnerabilities of different threatened species to introduced predators. Here, we quantify population responses of reintroduced toutouwai (Petroica longipes), popokatea (Mohoua albicilla) and tīeke (Philesturnus rufusater) to incursions of stoats (Mustela erminea) and cats (Felis catus) to a 588-ha predator-fenced sanctuary in Aotearoa New Zealand. There were fewer than 0.5 detections per year for both predator species from 2004 to 2016, but stoat detections increased >10-fold from 2017 to 2019 and cats >30-fold from 2020 to 2021. We estimated the growth and persistence of each bird population pre- and post-2017. This involved fitting integrated population models to survival, reproduction and count data for toutouwai and tīeke, and fitting a variation of the Moran–Ricker model to 5-min point counts for popokatea. We used these models to derive λ_max, the finite rate of increase at zero density, which must be >1 for a population to persist. Popokatea showed no sign of impacts, with λ_max estimated to be 1.68 (95% CRI 1.49–1.97) up to 2017 and 1.87 (1.42–2.62) after 2017. Toutouwai had tentative decreases in survival and reproduction, dropping the estimated λ_max from 1.28 (1.10–1.51) to 1.06 (0.83–1.41). Tīeke survival dropped dramatically from 2017 to 2019, but returned to pre-2017 levels when stoats were reduced, but recruitment was reduced and remained low, presumably due to cats. λ_max was estimated to be 1.74 (1.04–2.70) on pre-2017 rates; 1.14 (0.80–1.71) if only recruitment were predator-affected; and 0.79 (0.36–1.36) if both adult survival and recruitment were predator-affected. Our results therefore indicated that this level of stoat and cat incursion was inconsequential for popokatea, tentatively reduced toutouwai persistence from safe to marginal, and would have driven tīeke to extinction.

Armed conflicts are recognized to significantly impact wildlife, as they are particularly prevalent in biodiversity hotspot areas. Understanding these impacts on biodiversity is important for comprehending the indirect consequences for ecosystem processes and promoting their rehabilitation. Although the impact of warfare on protected areas (PAs) has been a target of research, its understanding remains limited. Additionally, the influence of armed conflicts on biodiversity in non-protected lands has been largely overlooked and underexplored. We aim to assess the impact of almost 40 years of armed conflicts on intermediate- and large-sized mammals in two communities in southern Angola: a National Park with limited management capacity—Bicuar National Park (BNP)—and a recently established private ecotourism reserve, without legal protection—Cuatir Conservation Area (CCA). Specifically, we compared contemporary species richness, occupancy probabilities and evenness-weighted diversity between the two areas, and contextualize it relative to historical records. Our results reveal a significant loss of species compared to known mammal species richness prior to the civil unrest, with some remaining species persisting at very low occupancy levels. Furthermore, our findings suggest equivalent contemporary biodiversity levels in both study areas, albeit with distinct community compositions and structures. Although both areas retained a relatively intact small- and intermediate-sized mammal community, the PA better conserved the larger species community. Furthermore, occupancy probabilities of endangered and threatened species were higher in the PA than in the non-PA. Our results underscore the critical role of PAs in conserving threatened species, even amidst limited law enforcement capacity and rehabilitation measures. Additionally, we highlight the significance of the non-PA in conserving wildlife species and ecological processes on a larger scale. Our results support the idea that well-preserved non-PAs often harbor crucial wildlife nuclei and facilitate connectivity between populations, thereby aiding natural recolonizations. As such, these areas should be the focus of policies encouraging restoration and facilitating functional connections with protected areas.

Climate change and natural land conversion are causing dramatic shifts in species distribution. Amphibians and reptiles, ectothermic animals with limited dispersal ability, and Mediterranean mountain ranges, which are home to numerous locally adapted taxa, are especially vulnerable to these threats. This is the case with Cilento, a highly biodiverse yet under-investigated area in the southern Apennine Mountains that is protected by a National Park and 30 Natura 2000 sites. We used bias-corrected species distribution models and area of habitat (AOH) maps to assess the potential combined impact of climate and land-use change on 11 amphibians and 16 reptiles in the Park and overlapping Natura 2000 sites. The former estimates species climatic suitability (CS) by correlating species presence to climatic characteristics, whereas the latter classifies the land-use types based on species–habitat relationships. We estimated CS and AOH for current conditions and two climate and land-use/cover change scenarios: one of sustainability (SSP1-2.6) and one of fossil-fueled development (SSP5-8.5). Under both scenarios, most species showed significant CS loss, with the greatest declines estimated for amphibians and under SSP5-8.5. Highland species appear to be the most vulnerable, whereas lowland species may gain CS. Given the widespread renaturalization of agricultural land under both scenarios, most species did not show declines in AOH due to land-use change. However, all species were projected to face significant shifts in CS under both scenarios, presenting a crucial challenge to their survival. These findings offer valuable insights for climate mitigation initiatives aimed at securing the long-term protection of herpetofauna within Cilento's protected areas.

Forest management is an important component of global change as more than half of the world's forests are managed for human use. Although the effect of forest management on taxonomic diversity is well-studied, we do not fully understand its impact on functional diversity. Understanding this is important to better predict how ecosystem processes will respond to global change scenarios and to implement efficient conservation actions. We conducted two large-scale (~81 800 km²) research projects over 4 years in temperate forests of the northeastern USA to investigate how the functional structure of bird and mammal communities are affected by forest disturbance. We surveyed 85 bird species distributed in 115 sites using point counts, and 14 mammal species across 197 sites using camera traps. For each species, we selected functional traits that summarize key features of their biology, and for each site, we collected data on the level of forest disturbance based on forest loss events. We found that functional richness increased with forest disturbance for mammals but not for birds. Our results also showed that niche breadth (diet), morphological (body mass and wing length), and physiological (litter size) factors were the main determinants of the functional structure of both groups. These findings emphasize the complexity of making predictions about responses to forest management given the heavy dependence on the context and taxa studied. Overall we observed a limited response of functional diversity to forest management, which might indicate that the environmental changes generated by forest management in this region are less extreme than deforestation or conversion of natural forest to plantations of exotic species. Nonetheless, our results underscore the importance of investigating the effects of forestry on individual traits to develop strategies for managing for ecosystem functions.

Land-cover change is a major driver of species extinction risk and the overarching loss of biodiversity. However, the impact of such change is nuanced, varying among species due to the mediation of life-history traits and the timing of land transformation. While diverse studies have pinpointed ecological and life-history attributes linked to the decline of bird species, the combined effects of past and recent land-cover change often present a complex picture. In this study, we undertook a modelling approach to assess extinction risk in New Zealand's endemic birds based on life-history traits and past (1996–2008) and recent (2008–2018) land-cover change. Our results suggested specific variables driving extinction risk in endemic New Zealand birds. Notably, incubation length emerged as the most influential factor, trailed by past land-cover change, body size and clutch size. This indicates that past land-cover change in combination with large body sizes and slow life histories, characterized by low fecundity and extended incubation periods, collectively elevates the extinction risk of endemic birds in New Zealand. These results shed light on the conservation priorities for species with specific biological traits potentially exposed to the negative effects of land-cover change.