Threat to the point: improving the value of comparative extinction risk analysis for conservation action

Abstract Few marine taxa have been comprehensively assessed for their conservation status, despite heavy pressures from fishing, habitat degradation and climate change. Here we report on the first global assessment of extinction risk for 300 species of syngnathiform fishes known as of 2017, using the IUCN Red List criteria. This order of bony teleosts is dominated by seahorses, pipefishes and seadragons (family Syngnathidae). It also includes trumpetfishes (Aulostomidae), shrimpfishes (Centriscidae), cornetfishes (Fistulariidae) and ghost pipefishes (Solenostomidae). At least 6% are threatened, but data suggest a mid-point estimate of 7.9% and an upper bound of 38%. Most of the threatened species are seahorses (Hippocampus spp.: 14/42 species, with an additional 17 that are Data Deficient) or freshwater pipefishes of the genus Microphis (2/18 species, with seven additional that are Data Deficient). Two species are Near Threatened. Nearly one-third of syngnathiformes (97 species) are Data Deficient and could potentially be threatened, requiring further field research and evaluation. Most species (61%) were, however, evaluated as Least Concern. Primary threats to syngnathids are (1) overexploitation, primarily by non-selective fisheries, for which most assessments were determined by criterion A (Hippocampus) and/or (2) habitat loss and degradation, for which assessments were determined by criterion B (Microphis and some Hippocampus). Threatened species occurred in most regions but more are found in East and South-east Asia and in South African estuaries. Vital conservation action for syngnathids, including constraining fisheries, particularly non-selective extraction, and habitat protection and rehabilitation, will benefit many other aquatic species.

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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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Extinction risk of narrowly distributed species of seed plants in Brazil due to habitat loss and climate change

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.7333 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e7333 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

José Maria Cardoso da Silva ◽

Alessandro Rapini ◽

Luis Cláudio F. Barbosa ◽

Roger R. Torres

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Seed Plants ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Species Extinction ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation

In a world where changes in land cover and climate happen faster than ever due to the expansion of human activities, narrowly distributed species are predicted to be the first to go extinct. Studies projecting species extinction in tropical regions consider either habitat loss or climate change as drivers of biodiversity loss but rarely evaluate them together. Here, the contribution of these two factors to the extinction risk of narrowly distributed species (with ranges smaller than 10,000 km2) of seed plants endemic to a fifth-order watershed in Brazil (microendemics) is assessed. We estimated the Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI) of these watersheds (areas with microendemics) and projected three scenarios of land use up to the year 2100 based on the average annual rates of habitat loss in these watersheds from 2000 to 2014. These scenarios correspond to immediate conservation action (scenario 1), long-term conservation action (scenario 2), and no conservation action (scenario 3). In each scenario, areas with microendemics were classified into four classes: (1) areas with low risk, (2) areas threatened by habitat loss, (3) areas threatened by climate change, and (4) areas threatened by climate change and habitat loss. We found 2,354 microendemic species of seed plants in 776 areas that altogether cover 17.5% of Brazil. Almost 70% (1,597) of these species are projected to be under high extinction risk by the end of the century due to habitat loss, climate change, or both, assuming that these areas will not lose habitat in the future due to land use. However, if habitat loss in these areas continues at the prevailing annual rates, the number of threatened species is projected to increase to more than 85% (2,054). The importance of climate change and habitat loss as drivers of species extinction varies across phytogeographic domains, and this variation requires the adoption of retrospective and prospective conservation strategies that are context specific. We suggest that tropical countries, such as Brazil, should integrate biodiversity conservation and climate change policies (both mitigation and adaptation) to achieve win-win social and environmental gains while halting species extinction.

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Are guitarfishes the next sawfishes? Extinction risk and an urgent call for conservation action

Endangered Species Research ◽

10.3354/esr00830 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 75-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

ABM Moore

Keyword(s):

Extinction Risk ◽

Conservation Action

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Extinction risk and conservation of critically endangered angel sharks in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsz222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

pp. 12-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Julia M Lawson ◽

Riley A Pollom ◽

Cat A Gordon ◽

Joanna Barker ◽

Eva K M Meyers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

International Management ◽

Conservation Strategy ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Geographic Ranges ◽

Distribution Maps ◽

Management Measures ◽

Global Status ◽

Population Sizes

Abstract Understanding the details of local and regional extinctions allows for more efficient allocation of conservation activities and resources. This involves identifying where populations persist, where populations may still be present, and where populations may be locally extinct. Three threatened angel sharks occur in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea: Sawback Angelshark (Squatina aculeata), Smoothback Angelshark (Squatina oculata), and Angelshark (Squatina squatina). Population sizes and geographic ranges of these species have been reduced due to overfishing and habitat loss, placing them among the world s most threatened chondrichthyans. We revise distribution maps, review global status, and present a Conservation Strategy to protect and restore these angel shark populations by minimizing fishing mortality, protecting critical habitat, and mitigating human disturbance. Updated distributions reveal that a halving of the geographic extent may have occurred for all three species, with potential declines of 51% for Sawback Angelshark, 48% for Smoothback Angelshark, and 58% for Angelshark. While 20 national and international management measures are now in place for Angelshark, only half of these include the other two species. We encourage further conservation action to adopt and develop this Conservation Strategy to restore angel shark populations to robust levels and safeguard them throughout their range.

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EXPOSING EXTINCTION RISK ANALYSIS TO PATHOGENS: IS DISEASE JUST ANOTHER FORM OF DENSITY DEPENDENCE?

Ecological Applications ◽

10.1890/04-0880 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 1402-1414 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Leah R. Gerber ◽

Hamish McCallum ◽

Kevin D. Lafferty ◽

John L. Sabo ◽

Andy Dobson

Keyword(s):

Risk Analysis ◽

Density Dependence ◽

Extinction Risk

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Viability and management of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) population in the Endau Rompin landscape, Peninsular Malaysia

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27729 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Abd Rasid Samsudin ◽

Mohd Nawayai Yasak ◽

Melvin Gumal ◽

Salman Saaban ◽

Aris Oziar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Extinction Risk ◽

Action Plan ◽

Population Viability Analysis ◽

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Management Policy ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Elephant Conservation ◽

Elephant Population

The need for conservation scientists to produce research of greater relevance to practitioners is now increasingly recognized. This study provides an example of scientists working alongside practitioners and policy makers to address a question of immediate relevance to elephant conservation in Malaysia and using the results to inform wildlife management policy and practice including through the National Elephant Conservation Action Plan for Peninsular Malaysia. Since ensuring effective conservation of elephants in the Endau Rompin Landscape (ERL) in Peninsular Malaysia is difficult without data on population parameters we conducted a survey to assess the size of the elephant population, used that information to assess the viability of the population under different management scenarios including translocation of elephants out of the ERL (a technique long used in Malaysia to mitigate human–elephant conflict (HEC)), and then assessed a number of options for managing the elephant population and HEC in the future. Our dung-count based survey in the ERL produced an estimate of 135 (95% CI = [80, 225]) elephants in the 2500 km² area. The population is thus of national significance, containing possibly the second largest elephant population in Peninsular Malaysia, and with effective management elephant numbers could probably double. We used the data from our survey plus other sources to conduct a population viability analysis to assess relative extinction risk under different management scenarios. Our results demonstrate that the population cannot sustain even very low levels of removal for translocation or anything other than occasional poaching. We describe, therefore, an alternative approach, informed by this analysis, that focuses on in situ management and non-translocation-based methods for preventing or mitigating HEC; an increase in law enforcement to protect the elephants and their habitat; maintenance of habitat connectivity between the ERL and other elephant habitat; and a new focus on adaptive management.

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Tetrapods on the EDGE: Overcoming data limitations to identify phylogenetic conservation priorities

10.1101/232991 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Rikki Gumbs ◽

Claudia L. Gray ◽

Oliver R. Wearn ◽

Nisha R. Owen

Keyword(s):

Extinction Risk ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Iucn Red List ◽

New Method ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Biodiversity Crisis ◽

Data Limitations ◽

Evolutionary Distinctiveness ◽

Conservation Prioritisation

AbstractThe scale of the ongoing biodiversity crisis requires both effective conservation prioritisation and urgent action. The EDGE metric, which prioritises species based on their Evolutionary Distinctiveness (ED) and Global Endangerment (GE), relies on adequate phylogenetic and extinction risk data to generate meaningful priorities for conservation. However, comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of large clades are extremely rare and, even when available, become quickly out-of-date due to the rapid rate of species descriptions and taxonomic revisions. Thus, it is important that conservationists can use the available data to incorporate evolutionary history into conservation prioritisation. We compared published and new methods to impute ED for species missing from a phylogeny whilst simultaneously correcting the ED scores of their close taxonomic relatives. We found that following artificial removal of species from a phylogeny, the new method provided the closest estimates of their “true” score, differing from the true ED score by an average of less than 1%, compared to the 31% and 38% difference of the previous imputation methods. Previous methods also substantially under- and over-estimated scores as more species were artificially removed from a phylogeny. We therefore used the new method to estimate ED scores for all tetrapods. From these scores we updated EDGE prioritisation rankings for all tetrapod species with IUCN Red List assessments, including the first EDGE prioritisation for reptiles. Further, we identified criteria to identify robust priority species in an effort to further inform conservation action whilst limiting uncertainty and anticipating future phylogenetic advances.

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Matrix condition mitigates the effects of habitat fragmentation on species extinction risk

10.21203/rs.3.rs-340760/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Juan Ramírez-Delgado ◽

Moreno Di Marco ◽

James Watson ◽

Chris Johnson ◽

Carlo Rondinini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Habitat Loss ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Species Extinction ◽

Habitat Amount ◽

Influence Matrix ◽

Terrestrial Mammals ◽

Human Footprint ◽

The Matrix ◽

Matrix Condition

Abstract Habitat loss is the leading cause of global biodiversity decline, but the influence of human pressure within the matrix surrounding habitat fragments remains poorly understood. Here we measure the relationship between fragmentation, matrix condition (measured as the extent of high human footprint levels), and the change in extinction risk of 4,327 terrestrial mammals. We find that the matrix condition and the fragmentation of habitat are strongly associated with changes in species extinction risk. Importantly, we discover that fragmentation is a stronger predictor of risk than species life-history traits, habitat loss, and habitat amount. Moreover, the importance of fragmentation increases with an increasing deterioration of the matrix condition, highlighting the critical influence matrix quality plays on the effects of fragmentation. These findings suggest that restoration measures in habitat matrices may be an important conservation action for mitigating the effects of fragmentation relative to extinction risk of terrestrial mammals.

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