Movement and Demography of At-Risk Butterflies: Building Blocks for Conservation

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl B. Schultz ◽  
Nick M. Haddad ◽  
Erica H. Henry ◽  
Elizabeth E. Crone
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Movement Behavior ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Vital Rates ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Conservation Decisions

The number of insect species at risk of population decline and extinction is increasing rapidly. Yet we know almost nothing about the ecology of these species, except for at-risk butterflies. A growing body of literature shows how butterfly vital rates, including demography and movement, are essential for guiding conservation and recovery. History has shown us that without these data, conservation decisions often weaken, rather than enhance, population viability. This is especially true in changing landscapes. We review knowledge of vital rates across all at-risk butterflies. We have information on movement for 17 of 283 butterfly species and information on demography for 19 species. We find that habitat-specific movement behavior is key to understanding how to connect populations, and habitat-specific demography is central to managing habitats. Methods and analyses worked out for butterflies can provide a scaffold around which to build studies for the conservation of other at-risk insects.

scholarly journals Identifying the critical habitat of Canadian vertebrate species at risk

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lemieux Lefebvre ◽  
M. Landry-Cuerrier ◽  
M.M. Humphries
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
Habitat Occupancy ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
The Right

Identification of critical habitat is central to major conservation laws protecting endangered species in North America and around the world. Yet the actual ecological research that is required to identify which habitats are critical to the survival or recovery of species is rarely discussed and poorly documented. Here we quantitatively assess the information and methods used to identify critical habitat in the recovery strategies of 53 vertebrates at risk in Canada. Of the critical habitat identifications assessed, 17% were based on habitat occupancy information, 28% on habitat characteristics and (or) functions, and 40% assessed habitat suitability by linking functional use and biophysical characteristics. However, only 15% of the recovery strategies we evaluated examined relationships between habitat and population viability, abundance, individual fitness, or survival. Furthermore, the breadth of evidence used to assess critical habitats was weaker among long-lived taxa and did not improve over time. Hence, although any approach used to identify critical habitat is likely to be a step in the right direction in minimally protecting and maintaining habitats supporting critical life-cycle processes, there is a persistent gap between the widely recognized importance of critical habitat and our ability to quantitatively link habitats to population trends and individual fitness.

“What Does the Fox Say” – A Review of the Grey Fox in Canada and its Current Status as a Threatened Species

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Deere
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Road Mortality ◽  
The Us ◽  
Species At Risk Act

In Canada, the grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is found with certainty in Ontario and Manitoba, but has also been sighted in other provinces. Interestingly, there is little Canadian research on the grey fox, despite its status as “threatened” on both the Ontario Species at Risk list and on the Canadian Species at Risk Act. Possible reasons that the grey fox has not received as much attention as other at-risk species in Canada include its lack of economic value and its high abundance in the United States (US). It is believed that the grey fox was once as widespread as the red fox (Vulpes Vulpes) in Southern Ontario, but today that is no longer the case. It is currently believed that less than 250 individuals are found in Canada and the fate of their population is unknown. This change in population abundance shows the importance of gaining more information on the grey fox’s current distribution in Canada. Within the US, the primary threat to this species is excessive hunting; while in Canada, by-catch, deforestation, and road mortality represent greater dangers. The focus of this presentation will be to summarize current knowledge on Canadian populations of the grey fox with some reference to populations in the US in order to highlight the importance of this trans-boundary species within Canadian ecosystems. I will provide recommendations to both the Federal Government of Ontario and the Municipality of Peelee Island, while outlining possible conservation solutions for the population decline of the grey fox in Canada.

Global population trends in shorebirds: migratory behaviour makes species at risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Koleček ◽  
Jiří Reif ◽  
Miroslav Šálek ◽  
Jan Hanzelka ◽  
Camille Sottas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Migratory Behaviour ◽  
Global Population

Measuring grassland structure for recovery of grassland species at risk

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xulin Guo ◽  
Wei Gao ◽  
John Wilmshurst
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Grassland Species

Low recruitment not mortality limits growth of peripheral populations of Silene spaldingii

Botany ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 340-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lesica
Keyword(s):  
Population Viability ◽  
Plant Population ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
Peripheral Populations ◽  
Vital Rates ◽  
Plateau Region ◽  
Columbia Plateau ◽  
Central Population ◽  
Variable Recruitment ◽  
Eastern Washington

Populations at the periphery of a species range are thought to be less viable than those in the center because they are at the limit of their ecological tolerances. Plant population viability is determined primarily by mortality and recruitment, thus knowing differences in vital rates between central and peripheral populations is key to understanding range limits. Silene spaldingii S. Watson is a long-lived iteroparous plant that occurs throughout the eastern Columbia Plateau region of eastern Washington and adjacent Idaho and Oregon and is disjunct in northwest Montana. I recorded the fate of mapped S. spaldingii plants annually for 10 years in four populations, two from eastern Washington and two from Montana. Recruitment averaged three times higher and relatively constant at two central populations in Washington compared with two peripheral sites in Montana. Mortality was three times higher at one of the central populations compared with the remaining three sites due to vole predation. Vole activity was observed at the second central population but came too late in the study to be certain that it resulted in mortality. Vole predation was not observed in the peripheral populations. My results suggest that peripheral populations of S. spaldingii may only be able to persist as long as predation or other sources of mortality remain low and that intrinsic low and variable recruitment rates coupled with predation may help define the eastern range margin of this species.

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