Conservation Science and Practice最新文献

Australia's offset framework requires that permitted development impacts on nationally threatened species should be fully counterbalanced using biodiversity offsets. The current offsets framework was established in 2012, the same year that the iconic koala Phascolarctos cinereus was listed as threatened. We examined every development impact on koala habitat that was permitted under national biodiversity laws (the EPBC Act 1999) from 2012 until the end of 2021, shortly after which the koala was uplisted from vulnerable to endangered (n = 98). We analyzed the application of the national environmental offset framework in each case. In this period, more than 25,000 hectares of koala habitat were approved for removal, most in the state of Queensland (96%) and for mining (76%). Although most clearing of koala habitat is attributable to agricultural activity and ostensibly requires approval under the EPBC Act, we found zero referrals for agricultural clearing. A total of 62 projects included offset requirements for koalas, but for only 14 projects could we find details used in the offset calculation. All but one appeared to include implausibly optimistic assumptions or logical errors that inflated the estimated benefit from the offset. After modifying the calculations to align with best practice guidance, we found only two of the 14 projects were likely to fully offset their impacts on koalas (average 55% of impact offset). The most common issues were overestimated benefits from averted losses and double-counting of benefits. We conclude transparency around offset requirements is generally poor, and most biodiversity offsets for koalas are unlikely to fully counterbalance losses. Despite sound, long-established policy, poor implementation means that even offsets for impacts on a highly valued species, for which offsets are ecologically plausible, are prone to failure.

Much of the annual cycle of threatened migratory shorebirds is spent in non-breeding areas, but there have been few studies on how that habitat is used at fine-scale. Tracking data from 13 endangered far eastern curlews at three Australian non-breeding locations revealed that home range size and maximum daily displacement varied substantially among study areas and between years. Home range overlap also varied with tidal cycle, generally being lower at low than high tide, though there was considerable variability across time and between sites. Variation in site fidelity may indicate behavioral flexibility but may also suggest that resources critical to survival vary between years. If the latter is the case, protection of what appears to be critical habitat in 1 year may not be adequate in subsequent years, necessitating a precautionary approach to the conservation of habitat extent over the long term. For species like the far eastern curlew, which are exceptionally hard to capture and highly threatened, tracking data should be analyzed from as many perspectives as possible to justify the cost to both researchers and birds. In this study, use of tracking data previously analyzed to reveal migration routes has yielded important insights into their ecology and optimal management.

Most European rewilding initiatives are based on the recovery of large herbivores, particularly European bison Bison bonasus, aiming at restoring ecosystem processes and increase trophic complexity. The growing support for the release of bison as a wild species, and change its legal status, in Spain, as an ecological analogue of the extinct steppe bison Bison priscus, makes it an excellent example to reflect the limits of a rewilding biogeographically advisable. We discuss if this initiative could be justified from ecological, biogeographical, ethical, and legal reasons. Besides remarkable taxonomic and functional differences between both bison species, the Mediterranean environment, under the present and future climatic scenarios, does not suit the European bison. Furthermore, there is no evidence to support the presumption that the European bison was ever present in the Iberian Peninsula, with legal implications. We expect that our approach will be inspirational for similar assessments on rewilding initiatives globally.

Reintroductions are increasingly being used as a conservation tool to restore species to areas where they once existed. Unfortunately, many reintroduction projects fail to establish viable populations. Climate suitability at release sites is thought to be important in determining reintroduction outcomes, and future climate change is an essential consideration for effective reintroduction planning. Climate change threatens species in a variety of ways, such as by impacting life history traits or causing spatial and temporal distribution mismatches of interdependent species. Hibernating species, such as the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), may be particularly susceptible to changes in climate. For example, milder winters may increase the number of interbout arousals during hibernation, which are energetically costly. Timing of food availability may also be impacted by changing climates, potentially causing mismatches between activity and feeding opportunities. Here, we use species distribution models (SDMs) to map climate suitability for dormice in the UK. We also investigate the impact of climate suitability on a long-running dormouse reintroduction programme, providing the first such investigation for a reintroduced mammal. We find that higher levels of current climate suitability increase the probability of reintroduction success. We find no effect of climate suitability on adult dormouse counts at reintroduction sites, but dormouse counts decline with time since reintroduction. Future projections predict that climate change may lead to more widespread climate suitability for dormice in the UK, reflecting predicted changes in seasonality, winter temperature and precipitation. Our work demonstrates the importance of understanding changing climate suitability for reintroduction planning, with potential widespread applications of SDMs for conservation projects of low-dispersing mammals.

Cost benefit analysis (CBA) is used in many fields to ensure efficient allocation of scarce resources but is rarely applied in conservation. By using a common metric to evaluate projects in complex social-ecological systems, CBA can help to maximize the impact of conservation funding. It can also help to interrogate issues of distributional equity, plan for effective community-based conservation, and inform future research and strategic priorities. We demonstrate this using the example of the Nyerere Selous-Udzungwa Wildlife Corridor in Tanzania, a wildlife corridor aiming to restore connectivity between two protected areas to enhance African elephant (Loxodonta africana) conservation outcomes and mitigate human–elephant conflict. We combine novel data on elephant crop depredation with crop price and productivity data, elephant valuation methods, and ecosystem service values to analyze corridor costs and benefits from contrasting global and local community perspectives. From the global perspective, we find benefits to outweigh costs by at least 4.6:1. From the communities' perspective, we find that while substantial benefits should secure buy-in to the project, continued subsidy will be required to cover the costs. Our findings support generalized recommendations for application of CBA across diverse systems and conservation priorities.

The potential harm inflicted by forearm bands on bats has been debated for decades. To aid in decision-making regarding bat marking, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of banding injuries using recapture data from a long-term overwintering study in Georgia, USA, involving 776 banded tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) with 284 recaptures. Most recaptured bats showed no visible injuries (77.8%); however, 22.2% of bats presented varying degrees of band-related injuries. Although <25% of tricolored bats exhibited banding-related injuries, sublethal effects of injuries are unknown and could add additional stressors to bat populations already facing multiple threats, including mortality from white-nose syndrome. Thus, we recommend that banding bats, especially species that have experienced white-nose syndrome-related population declines, be appropriately justified and their use carefully considered. Our study contributes valuable knowledge to aid in informed decision-making on the use of capture-mark-recapture methods in the research and management of bat communities.

Dynamic ocean management (DOM) is a critical approach for protecting highly migratory species amid environmental variability and change. We conducted an adapted systematic review to assess how animal movement and environmental data are used in DOM applications, identifying key data traits, barriers, and research priorities. Animal tag data inform initial assessments of species distributions, development of habitat models, near real-time model inputs, and iterative model evaluation for dynamic management. In documented examples, effective translation of scientific insights into dynamic management products has resulted from early communication between researchers and stakeholders, integration of environmental and fisheries-dependent data into advanced habitat modeling approaches, and reformatting of outputs for interdisciplinary needs. However, challenges persist around data gaps, science-policy translation, and technical capacity limitations. Our findings highlight the importance of intentional, collaborative data collection, translation, and sharing to enable dynamic, climate-resilient management of migratory species. We demonstrate DOM's adaptability and provide guidance for researchers and practitioners to contribute and use impactful data that informs responsive management decision-making.

Conserving species from extinction requires risk assessment and ranking for conservation priorities. The IUCN criteria of extinction risk are currently accepted globally, but only a small fraction of species were evaluated. When assessing species' extinction risk, sufficient information, in particular rate of population decline, is often partial or missing. Here we utilized the red list of Israeli endangered plant species, which prioritizes them for conservation, and evaluated their local extinction risk using IUCN criteria for local assessment. We found a relatively high similarity between the Israeli red number value and the IUCN assessments. Most pronouncedly, the habitat vulnerability index, used in the Israeli method, is correlated with the IUCN parameter of extinction rate in the last decade. We conclude that in the case of Israel, prioritization ranking of endangered species based on locally available information is a powerful tool for conservation even when some species information is lacking, facilitating local decision-making. This finding may apply also to other countries using a local assessment system.

A debate in conservation genomics centers on whether to conserve small, fragmented populations independently or blend them through translocations from larger populations. Translocations of red grouse (Lagopus scotica) from Great Britain to supplement the Irish population have been suggested. We incorporate a variety of genetic datasets to address this. We used genome wide data from 23 contemporary and historic red grouse from Great Britain and Ireland. We also investigate microsatellite data, sequence candidate pigmentation genes, and assess phenotypic color variation. Genomic data indicate higher inbreeding in Irish grouse relative to an English population and significant divergence for genomic (F_ST = 0.095) and microsatellite (F_ST = 0.03) markers. Contemporary N_e was seven times smaller in the Irish population compared to the English. We identified divergent regions linked to pigmentation, immune response, and food intake. We show phenotypic differences in plumage color and sequence divergence among coding regions in the melanin pathway including MC1R (F_ST from genomic data of 0.3). The two populations thus appear locally adapted and this divergence between the source and target population when used for conservation translocations can swamp locally adapted alleles and/or introduce maladapted genotypes, leading to outbreeding depression. While it is important to avoid inbreeding by sustaining larger populations, our research emphasizes the need for practitioners to consider population divergence and local adaptation. We advocate against translocations between Ireland and Britain as a conservation strategy in this particular case and underscore the importance of prioritizing local populations where possible.

Wildlife-vehicle collisions have significant consequences for both humans and animals, including injuries, deaths, and vehicle damage. Therefore, analysis of accident data is important for planning countermeasures and appropriate wildlife management. In this research field, roadkill incidents have been extensively studied in many taxa, while railway accidents have received less attention despite their obvious impact on wildlife. Here we applied a Bayesian state-space model to 31 years of collision data, both on railways and on roads, collected by the Ministry of the Environment in Hokkaido prefecture, Japan, to reveal the spatiotemporal dynamics of accidents for white-tailed eagles, Steller's sea eagles, and red-crowned cranes, for which over hundred accidents were reported in the data. Our analysis suggested that the mean annual number of individuals collected per collision site across Hokkaido increased 47,377-fold in the white-tailed eagle, 40,277-fold in the Steller's sea eagle, and 50,584-fold in the red-crowned crane between 1991 and 2021. There have been concerns about the impact of traffic accidents on the population dynamics of these endangered birds, but no formal analyses have been conducted. Our analysis showed numerically that the negative impact has been increasing annually. These results suggest that long-term data accumulation over large spatial scales allows us to understand the dynamics of accidents and predict potential factors underlying collision risks.