Biological and extrinsic correlates of extinction risk in Chinese lizards

Abstract China is a country with one of the most species rich reptile faunas in the world. However, nearly a quarter of Chinese lizard species assessed by the China Biodiversity Red List are threatened. Nevertheless, to date, no study has explicitly examined the pattern and processes of extinction and threat in Chinese lizards. In this study, we conducted the first comparative phylogenetic analysis of extinction risk in Chinese lizards. We addressed the following three questions: 1) What is the pattern of extinction and threat in Chinese lizards? 2) Which species traits and extrinsic factors are related to their extinction risk? 3) How can we protect Chinese lizards based on our results? We collected data on ten species traits (body size, clutch size, geographic range size, activity time, reproductive mode, habitat specialization, habitat use, leg development, maximum elevation, and elevation range) and seven extrinsic factors (mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, mean annual solar insolation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), human footprint, human population density, and human exploitation). After phylogenetic correction, these variables were used separately and in combination to assess their associations with extinction risk. We found that Chinese lizards with small geographic range, large body size, high habitat specialization, and living in high precipitation areas were vulnerable to extinction. Conservation priority should thus be given to species with the above extinction-prone traits so as to effectively protect Chinese lizards. Preventing future habitat destruction should also be a primary focus of management efforts because species with small range size and high habitat specialization are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss.

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A review of the relation between species traits and extinction risk

10.1101/408096 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Filipe Chichorro ◽

Aino Juslén ◽

Pedro Cardoso

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Species Traits ◽

Small Range ◽

Biogeographical Regions ◽

Habitat Breadth ◽

The Many ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

The Relationship

ABSTRACTBiodiversity is shrinking rapidly, and despite our efforts only a small part of it has been assessed for extinction risk. Identifying the traits that make species vulnerable might help us to predict the outcome for those less known. We gathered information on the relations of traits to extinction risk from 173 publications, across all taxa, spatial scales and biogeographical regions, in what we think it is the most comprehensive compilation to date. Vertebrates and the Palaearctic are the most studied taxon and region because of higher accumulation of data in these groups. Among the many traits that have been suggested to be good predictors, our meta-analyses were successful in identifying two as potentially useful in assessing risk for the lesser-known species: regardless of the taxon, species with small range and habitat breadth are more vulnerable to extinction. On the other hand, body size (the most studied trait) did not present a consistently positive or negative response. In line with recent research, we hypothesize that the relationship between body size and extinction risk is shaped by different aspects, namely body size is a proxy for different phenomena depending on the taxonomic group.

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Habitat specialization, distribution range size and body size drive extinction risk in carabid beetles

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-019-01724-9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 1267-1283 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Dorothea Nolte ◽

Estève Boutaud ◽

D. Johan Kotze ◽

Andreas Schuldt ◽

Thorsten Assmann

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Range Size ◽

Distribution Range ◽

Carabid Beetles ◽

Habitat Specialization

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Why do bugs perish? Range size and local vulnerability traits as surrogates of Odonata extinction risk

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2019.2645 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1924) ◽

pp. 20192645 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Maya Rocha-Ortega ◽

Pilar Rodríguez ◽

Jason Bried ◽

John Abbott ◽

Alex Córdoba-Aguilar

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Large Body ◽

Geographic Range ◽

Range Size ◽

Volcanic System ◽

Thermal Limits ◽

Geographic Range Size ◽

Insect Decline ◽

Local Extirpation

Despite claims of an insect decline worldwide, our understanding of extinction risk in insects is incomplete. Using bionomic data of all odonate (603 dragonflies and damselflies) North American species, we assessed (i) regional extinction risk and whether this is related to local extirpation; (ii) whether these two patterns are similar altitudinally and latitudinally; and (iii) the areas of conservation concern. We used geographic range size as a predictor of regional extinction risk and body size, thermal limits and habitat association as predictors of local extirpation. We found that (i) greater regional extinction risk is related to narrow thermal limits, lotic habitat use and large body size (this in damselflies but not dragonflies); (ii) southern species are more climate tolerant but with more limited geographic range size than northern species; and (iii) two priority areas for odonate conservation are the cold temperate to sub-boreal northeastern USA and the transversal neo-volcanic system. Our approach can be used to estimate insect extinction risk as it compensates for the lack of abundance data.

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The effects of geographic range size and abundance on extinction during a time of “sluggish”’ evolution

Paleobiology ◽

10.1017/pab.2020.52 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Michelle M. Casey ◽

Erin E. Saupe ◽

Bruce S. Lieberman

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Geographic Range ◽

Range Size ◽

Late Paleozoic ◽

The North ◽

Geographic Range Size ◽

The Relationship ◽

Habitat Tracking

Abstract Geographic range size and abundance are important determinants of extinction risk in fossil and extant taxa. However, the relationship between these variables and extinction risk has not been tested extensively during evolutionarily “quiescent” times of low extinction and speciation in the fossil record. Here we examine the influence of geographic range size and abundance on extinction risk during the late Paleozoic (Mississippian–Permian), a time of “sluggish” evolution when global rates of origination and extinction were roughly half those of other Paleozoic intervals. Analyses used spatiotemporal occurrences for 164 brachiopod species from the North American midcontinent. We found abundance to be a better predictor of extinction risk than measures of geographic range size. Moreover, species exhibited reductions in abundance before their extinction but did not display contractions in geographic range size. The weak relationship between geographic range size and extinction in this time and place may reflect the relative preponderance of larger-ranged taxa combined with the physiographic conditions of the region that allowed for easy habitat tracking that dampened both extinction and speciation. These conditions led to a prolonged period (19–25 Myr) during which standard macroevolutionary rules did not apply.

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Measuring insect rarity: practical issues, pragmatic approaches

Journal of Insect Biodiversity ◽

10.12976/jib/2013.1.10 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 1 (10) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Simone Fattorini ◽

Andrea Di Giulio ◽

Leonardo Dapporto

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Short Review ◽

Species Traits ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Literature Information ◽

Invertebrate Conservation ◽

Species Vulnerability ◽

Museum Data ◽

Data Field

Rarity is often considered an indication of species extinction risk, and rarity measures are used as important tools to predict species vulnerability and hence to establish conservation priorities. For these reasons, rarity is among the most important issues involved in conservation programs. A number of studies have attempted to investigate relationships between rarity and extinction risk in plants and vertebrates, whereas only few papers have investigated similar issues in invertebrate taxa. This has limited the use of standardized rarity measures in invertebrate conservation studies. Assessing rarity is especially important when other pieces of information are difficult, or even definitively impossible, to obtain, as commonly found for most insects. Four broad categories of rarity are commonly recognized: geographical, ecological, population and phylogenetic rarity. On the basis of this framework, we present here a short review of the rarity forms most frequently investigated in insect studies, and their relationships with the main species traits related to extinction risk (such as body size, mobility, trophic level, host specificity, larval and adult behaviours, etc.). We discuss what they mean, how they can be measured, which type of data (field collections, museum data, literature information) are needed and how to avoid the most common pitfalls associated with rarity studies, with indications for pragmatic approaches in data analysis.

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Biotic influences on species duration: interactions between traits in marine molluscs

Paleobiology ◽

10.1666/09010.1 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 204-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

James S. Crampton ◽

Roger A. Cooper ◽

Alan G. Beu ◽

Michael Foote ◽

Bruce A. Marshall

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Large Range ◽

Geographic Range ◽

Range Size ◽

Biological Traits ◽

Data Set ◽

Marine Molluscs ◽

Larval Type ◽

Feeding Type ◽

Life Mode

We analyze relationships among a range of ecological and biological traits—geographic range size, body size, life mode, larval type, and feeding type—in order to identify those traits that are associated significantly with species duration in New Zealand Cenozoic marine molluscs, during a time of background extinction. Using log-linear modeling, we find that bivalves have only a small number of simple, two-way associations between the studied traits and duration. In contrast, gastropods display more complex interactions involving three-way associations between traits, a pattern that suggests greater macroecological complexity of gastropods. This is not an artifact caused by the larger number of gastropods than bivalves in our data set. We used stratified randomized resampling of families to test for associations between traits that might result from shared inheritance rather than ecological trait interactions; we found no evidence of phylogenetic effects in any associations examined. The relationships revealed by our study should serve to constrain the range of possible biological mechanisms that underlie these relationships. As previously observed, two-way associations are present between large geographic range and increased duration, and between large geographic range and large body size, in both bivalves and gastropods. In gastropods, planktotrophic larval type is associated with large range size through a three-way interaction that also involves duration; there is no direct association of larval type and geographic range. Gastropods also display two-way associations between duration and life mode, and duration and feeding type. We note that in gastropods, an infaunal life mode is associated with large range size, whereas in bivalves infaunality is associated with reduced range size.

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A latitudinal signal in the relationship between species geographic range size and climatic niche area

10.22541/au.162816719.91311556/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tad Dallas ◽

Andrew Kramer

Keyword(s):

Species Traits ◽

Geographic Range ◽

Range Size ◽

Large Set ◽

Climatic Niche ◽

Residual Variation ◽

Geographic Range Size ◽

Environmental Space ◽

Niche Area ◽

Null Expectation

Species with broader niches may have the opportunity to occupy larger geographic areas, assuming no limitations on dispersal and a relatively homogeneous environmental space. While there is general support for positive \textit{geographic range size – climatic niche area} relationships, a great deal of variation exists across taxonomic and spatial gradients. Here, we use data on a large set of mammal ($n$ = 1225), bird ($n$ = 1829), and tree ($n$ = 341) species distributed across the Americas to examine the \textbf{1}) relationship between geographic range size and climatic niche area, \textbf{2}) influence of species traits on species departures from the best fit geographic range size – climatic niche area relationship, and \textbf{3}) how detection of these relationships is sensitive to how species range size and climatic niche area are estimated. We find positive \textit{geographic range size – climatic niche area} relationships for all taxa. Residual variation in this relationship contained a strong latitudinal signal. Subsampling the occurrence data to create a null expectation, we found that residual variation did not strongly deviate from the null expectation. Together, we provide support for the generality of \textit{geographic range size – climatic niche area} relationships, which may be constrained by latitude but are agnostic to species identity, suggesting that species traits are far less responsible than geographic barriers and the distribution of land area and available environmental space.

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