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Fig. 4 in Using Ecological Niche Modeling For Biodiversity Conservation Guidance In The Western Podillya (Ukraine): Amphibians

Fig. 4. Two upper categories ("Moderate" and "High") collapsed to identify areas of predicted presence (dark gray shading) for B. variegata in the study area.

Fig. 1 in Using Ecological Niche Modeling For Biodiversity Conservation Guidance In The Western Podillya (Ukraine): Amphibians

Fig. 1. Response of Bombina variegata to Bio 11: x-axis — mean temperature of coldest quarter (°C x 10); y- axis— logistic output (probability of presence).

Fig. 3 in Using Ecological Niche Modeling For Biodiversity Conservation Guidance In The Western Podillya (Ukraine): Amphibians

Fig. 3. Response of Triturus cristatus to the Human Footprint: x-axis — Human Footprint; y-axis — logistic output (probability of presence).

Fig. 2 in Using Ecological Niche Modeling For Biodiversity Conservation Guidance In The Western Podillya (Ukraine): Amphibians

Fig. 2. Response of Pelobates fuscus to Bio 3: x-axis — isothermality; y-axis — logistic output (probability of presence).

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Present and future distribution of bat hosts of sarbecoviruses: implications for conservation and public health

Global changes in response to human encroachment into natural habitats and carbon emissions are driving the biodiversity extinction crisis and increasing disease emergence risk. Host distributions are one critical component to identify areas at risk of viral spillover, and bats act as reservoirs of diverse viruses. We developed a reproducible ecological niche modelling pipeline for bat hosts of SARS-like viruses (subgenus Sarbecovirus), given that several closely-related viruses have been discovered and sarbecovirus-host interactions have gained attention since SARS-CoV-2 emergence. We assessed sampling biases and modeled current distributions of bats based on climate and landscape relationships and project future scenarios for host hotspots. The most important predictors of species distributions were temperature seasonality and cave availability. We identified concentrated host hotspots in Myanmar and projected range contractions for most species by 2100. Our projections indicate hotspots will shift east in Southeast Asia in locations greater than 2 °C hotter in a fossil-fueled development future. Hotspot shifts have implications for conservation and public health, as loss of population connectivity can lead to local extinctions, and remaining hotspots may concentrate near human populations.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Balancing carnivore conservation and sustainable hunting of a key prey species: a case study on the Florida panther and white-tailed deer

1. Large carnivore restoration programs are often promoted as capable of providing ecosystem services. However, these programs rarely measure effects of successful restoration on other economically and ecologically important species. In South Florida, while the endangered Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) population has increased in recent years due to conservation efforts, the population of its main prey, the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), has declined in some regions. The extent to which panther predation has affected deer populations has been difficult to assess because several other factors have changed during this period, including hydrology and hunting regulations. 2. We collected known-fate survival data on 241 GPS-collared adult deer (156 females and 85 males) from 2015 to 2018 in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, USA, to assess effects of panther predation on the deer population, while also evaluating the impacts of hunting and hydrology. 3. Predation was the primary cause of death (110 of 134 mortalities), and 87% of predation events were attributed to panthers, a much greater rate than reported by studies conducted before the panther genetic restoration effort initiated in 1995. One deer was legally harvested, and two were likely killed by poachers. Increasing water depth decreased female survival but had little impact on male survival, and drowning was never a cause of mortality. 4. Females had greater survival probability than males, except during fawning season. From 2015 to 2018, annual survival rates increased from 0.61 (0.52-0.70) to 0.86 (0.79-0.91) for females, and from 0.45 (95% CI: 0.33-0.58) to 0.79 (0.69-0.86) for males. 5. Synthesis and applications – High predation rates, coupled with previous evidence of low recruitment of deer in South Florida, suggest that it will be challenging to meet society's competing demands for large predator restoration and sustainable deer harvest. Deer hunting in the area must remain tightly controlled, for now, if it is to be sustainable, and managers should seek to mitigate effects of high waters and improve deer habitat quality to increase deer population viability. Future work should closely monitor the deer population to assess if management actions can increase vital rates and abundance in the context of high predation rates.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Data from: Evaluating staging habitat quality to advance the conservation of a declining migratory shorebird, Red Knot Calidris canutus

Identifying where and when population "bottlenecks" occur is critical to the conservation of migratory species, many of which are declining precipitously worldwide. Especially challenging is the evaluation of changes to staging sites. These sites are indispensable links in the migratory cycle but are typically used only briefly. We devised a field-based approach to assess the quality and carrying capacity of a critical staging site in Nanpu, China, for the declining, migratory Red Knot (Calidris canutus rogersi & C. c. piersmai) during northward migration. The Nanpu tidal flat supports 50,000-100,000 Red Knots annually, and while there, the knots feed almost exclusively on the bivalve Potamocorbula laevis. We simultaneously monitored changes in the abundance of Red Knots and bivalves across the entire staging site in spring 2018. After taking into account potential competition with other shorebird species, we estimated that the Nanpu tidal flat was capable of supporting approximately 1.46-1.70 times the current observed level of usage of the site by Red Knots, and therefore is operating below, but close, to carrying capacity with respect to food resources for Red Knots. This result suggests that any further development of this site could harm the EAAF Red Knot population. Synthesis and applications: Quantitative monitoring and evaluation of habitat quality of staging sites are essential to successfully conserve declining migratory species. In particular, researchers and conservation practitioners should incorporate both population size and staging duration in order to more accurately assess the importance of different sites and to quantify how changes in staging habitat quality may translate into changes in migrant population sizes at both local and global scales.

Figure 4 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 4 Holotype of Andrias jiangxiensis sp. nov. (KIZ 037731) in preservative A–C: Holotype of A. jiangxiensis sp. nov., in dorsal (A), lateral (B), and ventral (C) views. D, E: Dorsal (D) and ventral (E) views of head of holotype of A. jiangxiensis sp. nov. F, G: Ventral view of the left hand (F) and left foot (G) of the holotype of A. jiangxiensis sp. nov. Photos by Chen-Qi Lu.

Figure 7 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 7 The habitat of Andrias jiangxiensis sp. nov. in Daqi Mountain, Jing'an County, Jiangxi, China A, B: Summer (A) and winter (B) scene of 8–10 meters-wide stream with excellent vegetation coverage. C: Abreeding cave for A. jiangxiensis sp. nov. found in a backwater bay of the stream. Red arrow indicates the exit of the cave. D: Enlarged area near the exit of the cave. Dashed circles in cyan indicate six larvae of A. jiangxiensis sp. nov., and the ones in white indicate the co-occurring shrimps and fishes. Photos by Mu-Rong Yi.

Figure 3 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 3 Genetic distinctiveness of CGS from clade U2 found in Jing'an County, Jiangxi, China A: Asimplified phylogeny based on COI of mtDNA modified from Yan et al. (2018), in which clade U2 represents haplotypes found in Jing'an County, Jiangxi. The clade to which A. davidianus belongs remains uncertain. Clade Dindicates the haplotypes of A. sligoi according to the analyses by Turvey et al. (2019). B: Maximum Likelihood (ML) network based on genomic SNPs for six clades. Light purple background marks the 28 individuals of clade U2. C, D: PcoA plots based on genomic SNPs for six clades. E: Genetic clustering (K=2–8, best K=7) based on genomic SNPs from six clades by ADMIXTURE analysis. Asterisks label 18 wild-caught individuals including larvae, juveniles, and adults from Daqi Mountain, diamonds in light purple indicate 10 farm-bred individuals. Colors in all figures correspond with the mtDNA clades.

Figure 2 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 2 Results of field-monitoring surveys in Daqi Mountain, Jiangxi Jiulingshan National Nature Reserve (Sep. 2020–Mar. 2022) A: Capture per person-hour of juveniles and adults during Sep. 2020–Mar. 2022. B, C: Activity periods of newborn larvae displayed by capture per person-hour in 2021 and 2022.

Figure 6 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 6 Ontogenetic variation in coloration pattern A: Coloration of dorsum with spotted pattern in a juvenile with body length of ~20 cm. B: Coloration of dorsum having larger patch patterns in an adult with body length over 50 cm. Photos by Mu-Rong Yi.

Figure 5 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 5 The holotype of Andrias jiangxiensis sp. nov. (KIZ 037731) in life A–C: Coloration of dorsum of whole body (A), head (B), and enlarged view (C) of left periocular area. Photos by Chen-Qi Lu.

Figure 1 in Discovery of a wild, genetically pure Chinese giant salamander creates new conservation opportunities.

Figure 1 Map of survey localities in Jing'an County, northwest of Jiangxi, China The west part of black dashed line displays the historical distribution areas of CGS, upstream of River Liao. Red dashed line circles Daqi Mountain, which is closed to the public. Grey triangles indicate 16 sites surveyed without detection of individuals, while the red triangle and red line display the searching sites with detections.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2022View details →

Assessing the impacts of conservation volunteering on participant wellbeing: a review protocol

Original search titles for the review :  Assessing the impacts of conservation volunteering on participant wellbeing: a review protocol

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Predicting potential distributions of large carnivores in Kenya: An occupancy study to guide conservation

Aim: Species distribution maps are frequently the foundation upon which species-specific conservation strategies are developed, however, mapping species distribution is challenging, especially across large spatial extents. Our aim was to use a novel empirical approach to predict the national distribution for all six large carnivore species found in Kenya to guide conservation and management decisions by identifying knowledge and conservation gaps. Location: Kenya Methods: Data on carnivore presence and absence were collected through questionnaires and sightings-based surveys. These data were combined and analysed using single-season false-positive occupancy models, which account for imperfect detections and false positives. To inform conservation strategies, we used the occupancy outputs to make predictions for unsampled areas and create occupancy-based distribution maps, where ψ>0.50, to (1) quantify differences with IUCN Red List range maps, (2) quantify overlap with wildlife areas and (3) identify areas of high carnivore richness. Results: Large carnivore occupancy was associated with land conversion, habitat, and prey availability. Our results suggest that all six species are widely distributed across Kenya and reveal substantial differences in distribution maps compiled by the IUCN Red List. More specifically, our occupancy-based distribution maps predict a much larger distribution for African wild dog (5.09X), lion (4.77X), and leopard (1.46X), similar distribution for cheetah, and smaller distribution for spotted hyaena (0.84X) and striped hyaena (0.65X). For all large carnivores, the vast majority (~80%) of their predicted distribution falls outside wildlife areas and northern Kenya is predicted to have the highest large carnivore richness. Main conclusions: Our results are encouraging as large carnivores may be widely distributed across Kenya, in some cases potentially more so than previously acknowledged. However, much of this range lies outside wildlife areas and represents areas of concern both for conservation and human livelihoods illustrating the challenges of conserving large carnivores across their range.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

Data from: Diversity among rare and common congeneric plant species from the Garry oak and Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystems in British Columbia: implications for conservation

Using universal non-coding chloroplast DNA markers (cpDNA), we investigated genetic diversity and genetic structure in four rare and common plant species pairs inhabiting threatened ecosystems (Garry Oak and Okanagan shrub-steppe) in British Columbia. The species found in the Garry oak ecosystem are: Sanicula bipinnatifida (purple sanicle; Apiaceae; rare), Sanicula crassicaulis (Pacific sanicle; Apiaceae; common), and Balsamorhiza deltoidea (deltoid balsamroot; Asteraceae; rare). The species found in the Okanagan shrub-steppe ecosystem are: Balsamorhiza sagittata (arrowleaf balsamroot; Asteraceae; common), Orthocarpus barbatus (Grand Coulee owl-clover; Orobanchaceae; rare), Orthocarpus luteus (yellow owl-clover; Orobanchaceae; common), Phacelia ramosissima (branching phacelia; Hydrophyllaceae; rare), and Phacelia linearis (thread-leaved phacelia; Hydrophyllaceae; common). Eight cpDNA regions were sequenced for each study species. Sequences were aligned and concatenated within each species, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to analyze patterns of regional genetic diversity and phylogeographic structure within genera and species. Results include: total gene diversity (Ht), nucleotide diversity (π), number of private alleles, haplotype networks, isolation by distance, and analysis of molecular variance.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2021View details →

Maps and R code from: Marginality indices for biodiversity conservation in forest trees

This dataset provides the raster map of marginality indices for eight European tree species as described in the article "Marginality indices for biodiversity conservation in forest tree". It also provided the R code to compute the marginality indices. The eight species are the following: <ul> <li>Abies alba Mill. (silver fir)</li> <li>Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech)</li> <li>Picea abies (L.) H.Karst. (Norway spruce) </li> <li>Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine)</li> <li>Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold (black pine)</li> <li>Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine) </li> <li>Pinus pinea L. (stone pine)</li> <li>Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine)</li> </ul> For each species, a 7z archive of a multi-layered image of the raster maps of the marginality indices is given. Each image has 12 layers: <ul> <li>Layer 1: distribution map of the species</li> <li>Layer 2: map of the probability of being marginal according to the Maxent model using eight marginality indices and countries as predictors</li> <li>Layer 3: map of the environmental marginality index, defined as the z-transform of the suitability of each location as predicted by a species distribution model using climatic variables as predictors</li> <li>Layer 4: map of the segmented distribution according to morphological spatial pattern analysis</li> <li>Layer 5: map of the area index</li> <li>Layer 6: map of the gravity index</li> <li>Layer 7: map of the centroid index</li> <li>Layer 8: map of the edge index</li> <li>Layer 9: map of the isolation index</li> <li>Layer 10: map of the second nearest core index</li> <li>Layer 11: map of the north/south index</li> <li>Layer 12: map of the east/west index</li> </ul>

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Genomics‐informed delineation of conservation units in a desert amphibian

Delineating conservation units (CUs, e.g., evolutionarily significant units, ESUs, and management units, MUs) is critical to the recovery of declining species because CUs inform both listing status and management actions. Genomic data have strengths and limitations in informing CU delineation and related management questions in natural systems. We illustrate the value of using genomic data in combination with landscape, dispersal, and occupancy data, to inform CU delineation in Nevada populations of the Great Basin Distinct Population Segment of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris). R. luteiventris occupies naturally fragmented aquatic habitats in this xeric region, but beaver removal, climate change, and other factors have put many of these populations at high risk of extirpation without management intervention. We addressed three objectives: (1) assessing support for ESUs within Nevada; (2) evaluating and revising, if warranted, the current delineation of MUs; and (3) evaluating genetic diversity, effective population size, adaptive differentiation, and functional connectivity to inform ongoing management actions. We found little support for ESUs within Nevada but did identify potential revisions to MUs based on unique landscape drivers of connectivity that distinguish these desert populations from those in the northern portion of the species range. Effective sizes were uniformly small, with low genetic diversity and weak signatures of adaptive differentiation. Our findings suggest that management actions, including translocations and genetic rescue, might be warranted. Our study illustrates how a carefully planned genetic study, designed to address priority management goals that include CU delineation, can provide multiple insights to inform conservation action.