A process for assessing and prioritizing species conservation needs: going beyond the Red List

AbstractConservation resources are limited, yet an increasing number of species are under threat. Assessing species for their conservation needs is, therefore, a vital first step in identifying and prioritizing species for both ex situ and in situ conservation actions. Using a transparent, logical and objective method, the Conservation Needs Assessment process developed by Amphibian Ark uses current knowledge of species in the wild to determine those with the most pressing conservation needs, and provides a foundation for the development of holistic conservation action plans that combine in situ and ex situ actions as appropriate. These assessments allow us to maximize the impact of limited conservation resources by identifying which measures could best serve those species requiring help. The Conservation Needs Assessment complements the IUCN Red List assessment, and together they provide a more holistic guide to conservation priorities and actions. Conservation Needs Assessments generate national prioritized lists of species recommended for conservation action. These can subsequently be used to assist in the development of species recovery plans and national action plans, or to inform national conservation priorities better. Additional tools that will evaluate the recommendations for ex situ rescues, to determine the best candidates for conservation breeding programmes, are currently under development.

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The Role of Zoos in Tree Kangaroo Conservation: Connecting Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation Action

Tree Kangaroos ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-814675-0.00026-9 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 329-361

Author(s):

Karin R. Schwartz ◽

Onnie Byers ◽

Philip Miller ◽

Jacque Blessington ◽

Brett Smith

Keyword(s):

In Situ Conservation ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Conservation Action

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Drilling down hotspots of intraspecific diversity to bring them into on-ground conservation of threatened species

10.1101/419788 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mauro Zampiglia ◽

Roberta Bisconti ◽

Luigi Maiorano ◽

Gaetano Aloise ◽

Antonino Siclari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Threatened Species ◽

Management Practices ◽

In Situ Conservation ◽

Intraspecific Diversity ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Global Changes

AbstractUnprecedented rates of biodiversity loss rise the urgency for preserving species ability to cope with ongoing global changes. An approach in this direction is to target intra-specific hotspots of genetic diversity as conservation priorities. However, these hotspots are often identified by sampling at a spatial resolution too coarse to be useful in practical management of threatened species, hindering the long-appealed dialog between conservation stakeholders and conservation genetic researchers. Here, we investigated the spatial and temporal variation in species presence, genetic diversity, as well as potential risk factors, within a previously identified hotspot of genetic diversity for the endangered Apennine yellow bellied toad Bombina pachypus. Our results show that this hotspot is neither a geographically homogeneous nor a temporally stable unit. Over a time-window spanning 10-40 years since previous assessments, B. pachypus populations declined in large portions of its hotspot, and their genetic diversity levels decreased. Considering the demographic trend, genetic and epidemiological data, and models of current and future climatic suitability, populations at the extreme south of the hotspot area still qualify for urgent in-situ conservation actions, whereas northern populations would be better managed through a mix of in-situ and ex-situ actions. Our results emphasize that identifying hotspot of genetic diversity, albeit essential step, does not suffice to warrant on-ground conservation of threatened species. Hotspots should be analysed at finer geographic and temporal scales, to provide conservation stakeholders with key knowledge to best define conservation priorities, and to optimize resource allocation to alternative management practices.

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The Role of Zoos in Cheetah Conservation: Integrating Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation Action

Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-804088-1.00023-x ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 323-334

Author(s):

Karin R. Schwartz ◽

Markus Gusset ◽

Adrienne E. Crosier ◽

Lars Versteege ◽

Simon Eyre ◽

...

Keyword(s):

In Situ Conservation ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Conservation Action

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An analysis of Species Conservation Action Plans in Guinea

10.1101/2020.01.27.920751 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte Couch ◽

Denise Molmou ◽

Sékou Magassouba ◽

Saïdou Doumbouya ◽

Mamadou Diawara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Threatened Species ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Iucn Red List ◽

Red List ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Action Plans ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Threatened Plant ◽

Threatened Plant Species

AbstractTo achieve conservation success, we need to support the recovery of threatened species. Yet, <5% of plant species listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List have Species Conservation Action Plans (CAPs). If we are to move from a Red List to a Green List for threatened plant species, CAPs need to be devised and implemented. Guinea is one of the most botanically diverse countries in West Africa. Recent research found that nearly 4000 vascular plants occur in Guinea, a 30% increase from previous estimates. 273 of these plant species are now assessed as threatened with global extinction. There is increasing pressure on the environment from the extractive industry and a growing population. In parallel with implementation of an Important Plant Area programme in Guinea, CAPs were developed for 20 threatened plant species. These plans elaborate conservation efforts needed first to safeguard threatened species both in situ and ex situ and then to support their recovery. We document the approach used to assemble the Species Conservation Action Plans, and we discuss the importance of having up to date field information, IUCN Red List assessments, and use of a collaborative approach. The need for these plans is increasingly important with recent calculations suggesting a third of African plants are threatened with extinction. This paper outlines initial detailed plant conservation planning in Guinea and offers a template for conservation practitioners in other tropical African countries to follow.

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Status of the Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation of Brazilian Crop Wild Relatives of Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, and Finger Millet: Filling the Gaps of Germplasm Collections

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11040638 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 638

Author(s):

Marcelo B. Medeiros ◽

José F. M. Valls ◽

Aluana G. Abreu ◽

Gustavo Heiden ◽

Suelma Ribeiro-Silva ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Finger Millet ◽

Ex Situ Conservation ◽

Gap Analysis ◽

In Situ Conservation ◽

Germplasm Collection ◽

Crop Wild Relatives ◽

Wild Relatives ◽

Ex Situ ◽

The Status

This study presents the status of ex situ and in situ conservation for the crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet in Brazil, and the subsequent germplasm collection expeditions. This research is part of a global initiative entitled “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Species of the primary, secondary, and tertiary gene pools with occurrences reported in Brazil were included: Oryza alta Swallen, O. grandiglumis (Döll) Prod., O. latifolia Desv., O. glumaepatula Steud., Eleusine tristachya (Lam.) Lam., E. indica (L.) Gaertn., Solanum commersonii Dunal, S. chacoense Bitter, Ipomoea grandifolia (Dammer) O’Donell, I. ramosissima (Poir.) Choisy, I. tiliacea (Willd.) Choisy, I. triloba L., and I. cynanchifolia Meisn. The status of the ex situ and in situ conservation of each taxon was assessed using the gap analysis methodology, and the results were used to plan 16 germplasm collection expeditions. Seeds of the collected material were evaluated for viability, and the protocols for seed germination and cryopreservation were tested. The final conservation score, resulting from the gap analysis and including the average of the ex situ and in situ scores, resulted in a classification of medium priority of conservation for all the species, with the exception of I. grandifolia (high priority). The total accessions collected (174) almost doubled the total accessions of these crop wild relatives incorporated in Embrapa’s ex situ conservation system prior to 2015. In addition, accessions for practically absent species were collected for the ex situ conservation system, such as Ipomoea species, Eleusine indica, and Solanum chacoense. The methods used for dormancy breaking and low temperature conservation for the Oryza, Eleusine, and Ipomoea species were promising for the incorporation of accessions in the respective gene banks. The results show the importance of efforts to collect and conserve ex situ crop wild relatives in Brazil based on previous gap analysis. The complementarity with the in situ strategy also appears to be very promising in the country.

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Gap analyses of priority wild relatives of food crop in current ex situ and in situ conservation in Indonesia

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-021-02225-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Wiguna Rahman ◽

Joana Magos Brehm ◽

Nigel Maxted ◽

Jade Phillips ◽

Aremi R. Contreras-Toledo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Protected Area ◽

In Situ Conservation ◽

Wild Relatives ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Area Network ◽

Complementarity Analysis ◽

Ex Situ Collections ◽

Conservation Actions

AbstractConservation programmes are always limited by available resources. Careful planning is therefore required to increase the efficiency of conservation and gap analysis can be used for this purpose. This method was used to assess the representativeness of current ex situ and in situ conservation actions of 234 priority crop wild relatives (CWR) in Indonesia. This analysis also included species distribution modelling, the creation of an ecogeographical land characterization map, and a complementarity analysis to identify priorities area for in situ conservation and for further collecting of ex situ conservation programmes. The results show that both current ex situ and in situ conservation actions are insufficient. Sixty-six percent of priority CWRs have no recorded ex situ collections. Eighty CWRs with ex situ collections are still under-represented in the national genebanks and 65 CWRs have no presence records within the existing protected area network although 60 are predicted to exist in several protected areas according to their potential distribution models. The complementarity analysis shows that a minimum of 61 complementary grid areas (complementary based on grid cells) are required to conserve all priority taxa and 40 complementary protected areas (complementary based on existing protected areas) are required to conserve those with known populations within the existing in situ protected area network. The top ten of complementary protected areas are proposed as the initial areas for the development of CWR genetic reserves network in Indonesia. It is recommended to enhanced coordination between ex situ and in situ conservation stakeholders for sustaining the long term conservation of CWR in Indonesia. Implementation of the research recommendations will provide for the first time an effective conservation planning of Indonesia’s CWR diversity and will significantly enhance the country’s food and nutritional security.

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Conservation Status of Marine Biodiversity in Oceania: An Analysis of Marine Species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Journal of Marine Biology ◽

10.1155/2011/247030 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Beth A. Polidoro ◽

Cristiane T. Elfes ◽

Jonnell C. Sanciangco ◽

Helen Pippard ◽

Kent E. Carpenter

Keyword(s):

Threatened Species ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Marine Species ◽

Iucn Red List ◽

Red List ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Conservation Action

Given the economic and cultural dependence on the marine environment in Oceania and a rapidly expanding human population, many marine species populations are in decline and may be vulnerable to extinction from a number of local and regional threats. IUCN Red List assessments, a widely used system for quantifying threats to species and assessing species extinction risk, have been completed for 1190 marine species in Oceania to date, including all known species of corals, mangroves, seagrasses, sea snakes, marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, sharks, and rays present in Oceania, plus all species in five important perciform fish groups. Many of the species in these groups are threatened by the modification or destruction of coastal habitats, overfishing from direct or indirect exploitation, pollution, and other ecological or environmental changes associated with climate change. Spatial analyses of threatened species highlight priority areas for both site- and species-specific conservation action. Although increased knowledge and use of newly available IUCN Red List assessments for marine species can greatly improve conservation priorities for marine species in Oceania, many important fish groups are still in urgent need of assessment.

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Soil seed bank and vegetation dynamics in Sahelian fallows; the impact of past cropping and current grazing treatments

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467404001786 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 20 (6) ◽

pp. 683-691 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Bruno Hérault ◽

Pierre Hiernaux

Keyword(s):

Seed Bank ◽

Management Practices ◽

Soil Seed Bank ◽

Residual Effects ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Phosphorus Fertilizer ◽

Wet Season ◽

Seed Extraction ◽

The Impact

The soil seed bank in a 5-y-old Sahelian fallow was studied through seed extraction and compared with germinations recorded either in controlled conditions, ex situ in a glasshouse, or in the field. The influence of phosphorus fertilizer and mulch application during the preceding crop period, and that of seasonal grazing regimes applied the last 2 y of fallowing, were assessed on the composition of the seed stock. Ctenium elegans, Fimbristylis hispidula, Merremia pinnata and Phyllanthus pentandrus accounted together for 75% of extracted seeds, 72% of ex situ, and 62% of in situ seedlings. Mulch treatment was correlated with the first axis of the canonical correspondence analyses performed on the seedling datasets. Mulch and phosphorus fertilizer treatments held similar responses, as they both favoured the seed bank of erect dicotyledons such as P. pentandrus and Cassia mimosoides. On the whole, the effects of grazing remained modest compared with the residual effects of past crop management practices. However, seedling densities increased as a result of dry-season grazing, while the soil seed bank decreased with wet-season grazing. Grazing also reduced the spatial heterogeneity of the seed bank rather than the overall number of species.

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The importance of the turbulent ship wake regime for pollutant fate and transport

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11011 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Amanda T. Nylund ◽

Rickard Bensow ◽

Mattias Liefvendahl ◽

Arash Eslamdoost ◽

Anders Tengberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fate And Transport ◽

In Situ Measurements ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Turbulent Regime ◽

Near Wake ◽

Ship Wake ◽

Spatiotemporal Scales ◽

The Impact

This interdisciplinary study with implications for fate and transport of pollutants from shipping, investigates the previously overlooked phenomenon of ship induced mixing. When a ship moves through water, the hull and propeller induce a long-lasting turbulent wake. Natural waters are usually stratified, and the stratification influences both the vertical and horizontal extent of the wake. The altered turbulent regime in shipping lanes governs the distribution of discharged pollutants, e.g. PAHs, metals, nutrients and non-indigenous species. The ship related pollutant load follows the trend in volumes of maritime trade, which has almost tripled since the 1980s. In heavily trafficked areas there may be one ship passage every ten minutes; today shipping constitutes a significant source of pollution.To understand the environmental impact of shipping related pollutants, it is essential to know their fate following regional scale transport. However, previous modelling efforts assuming discharge at the surface will not adequately reflect the input values in the regional models. Therefore, it is urgent to bridge the gaps between the spatiotemporal scales from high-resolution numerical modeling of the flow hydrodynamics around the ship, mixing processes and interaction of the ship and wake with stratification, and parameterization in regional oceanographic modeling. Here this knowledge gap is addressed by combining an array of methods; in situ measurements, remote sensing and numerical flow modeling.A bottom-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler was placed under a ship lane, for in-situ measurements of the vertical and temporal expansion of turbulent wakes. In addition, ex-situ measurements with Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor were used to estimate the longevity and spatial extent of the thermal signal from ship wakes. The computational modelling was conducted using well resolved 3D RANS modelling for the hull and the near wake (up to five ship lengths aft), a method typically used for the near wake behaviour in analysing the propulsion system. As this is not feasible to use for a far wake analysis, the predicted wake is then used as input for a 2D+time modelling for the sustained wake up to 30min after the ship passage. These results, both from measurements and numerical models, are then combined to analyse how ship-induced turbulence influence at what depth discharged pollutants will be found.This first step to cover the mesoscales of the turbulent ship wake is necessary to assess the impact of ship related pollution. In-situ measurements show median wake depth 13.5m (max 31.5m) and median longevity 10min (max 29min). Satellite data show median thermal wake signal 13.7km (max 62.5km). A detailed simulation model will only be possible to use for the first few 100m of the ship wake, but the coupling to a simplified 2D+time modelling shows a promising potential to bridge our understanding of the impact of the ship wake on the larger scales. Our model results indicate that the natural stratification affects the distribution and retention of pollutants in the wake region. The depth of discharge and the wake turbulence characteristics will in turn affect the fate and transport of pollutants on larger spatiotemporal scales.

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Quantitative assessment and status of ethnomedicinal plants of Sheen Ghar Valley, Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Plant Science Today ◽

10.14719/pst.2020.7.1.625 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 17-22

Author(s):

Shariat Ullah ◽

Lal Badshah ◽

Asghar Ali ◽

Noor Muhammad

Keyword(s):

Hypericum Perforatum ◽

In Situ Conservation ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Current Status ◽

Importance Value ◽

Plant Family ◽

Medicinal Uses ◽

Whole Plants ◽

Family Importance Value

This study was conducted from March 2017 to August 2018, to enumerate the quantitative attributes and current status of medicinal plants of Sheen Ghar Valley, District Dir Lower, Pakistan. A total of 51 species were documented for their medicinal uses. These plants belonged to 31 families. Results of this study revealed that leaves were the frequently used part (50%), followed by whole plants (only 30%) in curing different ailments. Many plants were found to be having multiple uses. Based on family importance value (FIV), Lamiaceae was the leading plant family (126.30) followed by Violaceae (55.81), while highest relative frequency of citation (RFC) was noted for Viola canescens (0.558) followed by Olea europaea (0.523). Conservation study revealed that 24 species (47%) were vulnerable, 22 species (43%) were rare and 4 species (8%) were noted as infrequent. Following IUCN standards for conservation, one species i.e. Hypericum perforatum was declared dominant. This study recommends immediate ex-situ and in-situ conservation programme for protecting the plant wealth of the locality.

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