Conservation Science and Practice最新文献

The unsustainable harvest and consumption of wild animals destabilizes both wildlife populations and the human livelihoods that depend upon them. In coastal landscapes, the overexploitation of terrestrial resources can increase pressures on marine ecosystems, and vice versa. We explore populations' ability to mitigate hunting pressure by bolstering marine livelihood strategies, assessing whether Malagasy people (or aggregated households) (1) transfer harvest pressure and consumption from oceans to forests in times of lower fisheries yields and (2) habitually exploit both marine and terrestrial resources. We also evaluate the diversity of fishers' and hunters' methods used and species targeted, as reliance on a limited range of resources elevates sensitivity to perturbations in resource access and forces people to shift across rather than within livelihood strategies when experiencing scarcity. We present data on annual marine and terrestrial wildlife use in western Madagascar, where cyclic droughts and famines exert pressure on local populations, and people depend on wild food sources from adjacent mangrove and dry forests. In a study village outside Kirindy Mitea National Park, we surveyed and interviewed 369 individuals (N = 89 households) and conducted 18 focus groups over 6 months (September 2018 to March 2019). We found that individual people tended to exclusively hunt or fish, and hunters pursued relatively few species with more specialized methods than fishers did. By distributing resource utilization across ecosystems, families likely increase household resilience. Therefore, conservation and alternative livelihood efforts will benefit from a regional-scale, multi-ecosystem approach.

Local support for protected areas (PAs) is necessary for their long-term success and is important for participatory conservation and sustainable management of PAs. However, the support for PAs depends on several factors such as perceived benefits and costs from PAs, and demographic factors. We carried out 845 household surveys in two PAs of Nepal in the Himalayas and in a lowland area (Terai). Overall, local people were supportive of PAs and had high conservation awareness. Decision-tree analyses revealed that perceptions of benefits strongly influenced the support for PAs. Among socio-demographic variables, spatial location, ethnicity, and education status influenced the support for PAs. We recommend focusing on mitigating or reducing costs that arise from the management of PAs while also providing benefits to local people. This should be prioritized for distant communities that provided the least support for PAs.

For globally threatened species, patchy data pose challenges in both establishing historical baselines and assessing current distributions. In the case of sawfishes, much previous research has relied on amputated trophy rostra or historical photographs to fill data gaps in distribution and population estimates. However, the established morphometric models that allow the estimation of total length from rostra are restricted by the data available to generate them, with many constructed solely from juvenile morphometric data, and robust error testing rarely performed. This study generates an independent dataset from citizen science photographs and field measurements, incorporating sawfishes of all life history stages, to test the robustness of previously proposed models for the four Indo-Pacific sawfish species. Rostrum-to-length morphometric models (RLMs) were confirmed for Pristis clavata and Pristis pristis, and a new model was proposed for Pristis zijsron. A key source of error in previous RLMs for Anoxypristis cuspidata was identified as changing rostrum morphology with body size, but there were insufficient measurements in the present dataset to propose a new robust model for this species. This study highlights the problems associated with extrapolating total lengths of animals beyond the size bounds used to produce the original model. For historically exploited species like sawfishes, which are often represented in collections by trophies alone, these methods outline a critical step prior to use in further ecological study.

The conservation of at-risk species increasingly relies on ex situ breeding programs, whose success hinges on producing offspring. Even relatively successful programs can face unseen barriers to reproductive fitness. What may seem like minor choices in husbandry and management can impact reproductive outputs, thereby reducing the effectiveness of recovery efforts. Additionally, given that many endangered species are understudied, there can be unique, fitness-relevant aspects of their reproductive biology which go undetected without further study. Retrospective analyses into long standing conservation breeding programs offer an opportunity to investigate the relative importance of decisions on the reproductive success of at-risk species within an adaptive management framework. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by analyzing the factors driving reproductive stages of copulation, pregnancy, and the production of offspring in a conservation breeding population of the Pacific pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris pacificus), a U.S. federally endangered subspecies. Our findings not only provide detailed insights into the species' reproductive biology but also reveal previously unknown and potentially unique predictors of reproduction in this subspecies. For example, even small differences in the degree of male reproductive readiness influenced the likelihood of successful copulation and pregnancy that resulted from breeding opportunities. By examining husbandry-related factors influencing reproduction, we identified actionable management improvements that will improve future breeding success and support species recovery.

Illegal trade poses a significant threat to African vultures, particularly in Benin, which stands as the second major hotspot for vultures' trade in West Africa. To address gaps in research on distribution, supplying habitat sources and trade dynamics, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 150 sellers in traditional medicine markets (TMM) and surveyed 590 local residents in villages surrounding five protected areas. We used a chord diagram to visually represent the frequency of reports of countries involved in the trade, and mapped local ecological knowledge (LEK)-based geographic distribution of vultures across Benin. Our findings revealed that seven West African countries, as well as Cameroon from Central Africa supplied vulture specimens to TMM. We recorded 491 vultures specimens from various species such as Hooded, white-headed, white-backed, Rüppell's, Egyptian, and lappet-faced vulture. Among the six vulture species recorded in TMM, five were still found in Benin, primarily in the north of the country. Our study provides insights into the supply chain and LEK-based geographic distribution of vultures in Benin. It highlights the pressing need for further research using conventional methods to study the diversity and distribution of vultures in Benin, as well as concerted and coordinated conservation interventions to support vulture populations in the region.

The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is one of the most endangered pythons and is commonly traded in the international pet industry. In addition to wild P. bivittatus, domesticated individuals from farms have been living on Hainan Island for nearly 20 years. The intentional release or accidental escape of farmed P. bivittatus may lead to risks, such as genetic introgression or competition for space and food, owing to the genetic differences between the two populations and limited resources. Our objective was to better understand the genetic background of P. bivittatus and genetic introgression between native and introduced farmed populations. We conducted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing (138 specimens) and whole-genome resequencing (110 specimens) of P. bivittatus from farm and wild populations on Hainan Island. Genetic analysis suggested two highly differentiated clusters (VN and HN clades), Fst = 0.22. The HN clade included samples that originated from southern China and Hainan and represented native individuals of Hainan Island, whereas the VN clade most likely originated from Vietnam, as expected based on the Vietnamese origin of the farm. The results of ADMIXTURE analysis indicated three possible genetic components, one of which can be viewed as the VN clade, and the remaining two genetic components both belong to the HN clade. We identified a small number of shared haplotypes between the farmed and wild populations, indicating that both farmed and wild samples included individuals from VN and HN clades. In addition, only one F1 generation hybrid individual between the two clades was found, suggestive of low gene flow. Thus, the probability of genetic introgression between HN and VN clades is low and poses a low threat to the genetic integrity of the native P. bivittatus on Hainan Island; however, we cannot underestimate the risk of escaped individuals, which should be closely monitored.

Conservation performance payments (CPPs) aim to encourage coexistence between humans and large carnivores by tying payments to species presence or abundance. While there is growing interest in the development of these programs, they remain the subject of little empirical research. Furthermore, there is no literature on CPPs for carnivores in Africa, despite the continent's global importance in carnivore conservation and the fact that multiple such schemes are currently in operation. This research establishes where and how these schemes function and identifies recurring challenges associated with their implementation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of nine conservation performance payment programs operating across five countries in eastern and southern Africa. We find that despite their theoretical simplicity, local complexities, and pragmatism mean there is significant variation in how CPPs operate. This includes differences in monitoring methods, governance, and all aspects of payments. The inclusion of input conditionality (i.e., fines or bonuses for certain actions) in a majority of schemes also challenges the prevailing conceptualization of CPPs as entirely results-based. Recurring challenges include securing long-term funding, setting suitable payment levels, and ensuring equitable governance. Practitioners view performance payments as a promising approach for carnivore conservation, but their roll-out risks moving faster than our understanding of them.

Human activity in the North Sea is intensifying, as emerging uses, such as offshore wind farms (OWFs) and liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals, are added to fishing, freight shipping, and fossil fuel production as traditional forms of resource exploitation. The volume and scale of these additional installations are projected to increase substantially in the coming decades, which amplifies the need to better understand the biological implications of human activities in the ecoregion. Previous studies have identified that offshore wind turbines either pose a physical barrier to flying animals, leading to avoidance and displacements, or act as ecological traps by interfering with sensory input, leading to increased attraction, collision risk, and mortality. Here we aim to characterize the impacts of marine artificial light pollution at night (ALAN) on offshore migratory birds and bats and discuss implications for conservation policy and practice. Considering littoral states aim to multiply the OWF capacity by a factor of eight before the year 2050, a significant increase in the cumulative impacts of ALAN can be expected. In light of these developments, we discuss the potential for scientifically informed, anticipatory, and ecosystem-based marine governance.

Conservation practice is chronically hindered by scarce financial resources. Thus, understanding the relationship between the costs and outcomes of conservation interventions is critical to efficiently maximize conservation benefits. Data on the costs of conservation interventions are necessary for such analyses but are rarely reported at the appropriate scale. To support managers in deciding how to invest in a way that maximizes conservation outcomes, we developed a data management structure that allows managers to pair expenditure records with measurements of intervention outcomes, following a theory of change. To overcome the common issues that conservation scientists and practitioners face when estimating costs and guide the accumulation of data that is appropriate for decision support, we present a new data management system that guides users in incorporating cost data. We demonstrate the application of our approach by applying the data management structure within the red spiny lobster fishery in the Galápagos Marine Reserve. We implement the structure in an Excel workbook that tracks the costs and outcomes of actions prescribed by the theory of change. By synthesizing data in a consistent manner across different interventions, our results help conservation managers to identify ways to minimize cost, justify budgets, and compare strategies over time to make better decisions. Our “data-for-decisions” management system enables the conservation community to efficiently use knowledge of past experiences to inform future decisions that can maximize conservation benefits.

The Endangered Species Act aims to recover imperiled species to the point of delisting; however, few plant species have been delisted due to recovery. Critical to many species' recovery criteria are introductions, yet the long-term success of plant introductions is highly variable and their use in delisting decisions is relatively untested. In this study, we examined the dynamics of eight introduced populations of the recently delisted Chrysopsis floridana (Florida Golden Aster), a fire-dependent perennial plant endemic to Florida scrub habitats. We analyzed 6 years of demographic data (2017–2022) and 10 years of prescribed fire records to assess population trends, fire management effects, and vital rates related to recruitment, survival, and reproduction. Our results show that population densities with regular fire management increased, while unburned populations generally declined. Prescribed fire increased seedling recruitment and survival rates. We estimated a fire-return interval of approximately 5 years is needed for population persistence, shorter than the 10-year interval used in the delisting decision. Our findings suggest that post-delisting monitoring should prioritize fire management to ensure the long-term success of introduced populations. Our work highlights the need for more robust, specific delisting criteria, particularly regarding the role of introductions, long-term monitoring, and post-introduction habitat management. These insights can inform future recovery plans for fire-dependent species and improve the delisting process for plants under the Endangered Species Act.