Conservation needs of amphibians in China: A review

The conservation status of all the amphibians in China is analyzed,and the country is shown to be a global priority for conservation in comparison to many other countries of the world.Three Chinese regions are particularly rich in amphibian diversity:Hengduan,Nanling,and Wuyi mountains.Sala-manders are more threatened than frogs and toads.Several smaller families show a high propensity to become seriously threatened:Bombinatoridae,Cryptobranchidae,Hynobiidae and Salamandridae.Like other parts of the world,stream-breeding,high-elevation forest amphibians have a much higher likeli-hood of being seriously threatened.Habitat loss,pollution,and over-harvesting are the most serious threats to Chinese amphibians.Over-harvesting is a less pervasive threat than habitat loss,but it is more likely to drive a species into rapid decline.Five conservation challenges are mentioned with recommendations for the highest priority research and conservation actions.     

Conservation needs of amphibians in China: A review

The conservation status of all the amphibians in China is analyzed, and the country is shown to be a global priority for conservation in comparison to many other countries of the world. Three Chinese regions are particularly rich in amphibian diversity: Hengduan, Nanling, and Wuyi mountains. Salamanders are more threatened than frogs and toads. Several smaller families show a high propensity to become seriously threatened: Bombinatoridae, Cryptobranchidae, Hynobiidae and Salamandridae. Like other parts of the world, stream-breeding, high-elevation forest amphibians have a much higher likelihood of being seriously threatened. Habitat loss, pollution, and over-harvesting are the most serious threats to Chinese amphibians. Over-harvesting is a less pervasive threat than habitat loss, but it is more likely to drive a species into rapid decline. Five conservation challenges are mentioned with recommendations for the highest priority research and conservation actions.     

Mobile Link Organisms and Ecosystem Functioning: Implications for Ecosystem Resilience and Management

Current natural resource management seldom takes the ecosystem functions performed by organisms that move between systems into consideration. Organisms that actively move in the landscape and connect habitats in space and time are here termed “mobile links.” They are essential components in the dynamics of ecosystem development and ecosystem resilience (that is, buffer capacity and opportunity for reorganization) that provide ecological memory (that is, sources for reorganization after disturbance). We investigated the effects of such mobile links on ecosystem functions in aquatic as well as terrestrial environments. We identify three main functional categories: resource, genetic, and process linkers and suggest that the diversity within functional groups of mobile links is a central component of ecosystem resilience. As the planet becomes increasingly dominated by humans, the magnitude, frequency, timing, spatial extent, rate, and quality of such organism-mediated linkages are being altered. We argue that global environmental change can lead to (a) the decline of essential links in functional groups providing pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control; (b) the linking of previously disconnected areas, for example, the spread of vector-borne diseases and invasive species; and (c) the potential for existing links to become carriers of toxic substances, such as persistent organic compounds. We conclude that knowledge of interspatial exchange via mobile links needs to be incorporated into management and policy-making decisions in order to maintain ecosystem resilience and hence secure the capacity of ecosystems to supply the goods and services essential to society. Received 23 April 2001; accepted 17 June 2002.     

Laterality in Maternal Cradling and Infant Positional Biases: Implications for the Development and Evolution of Hand Preferences in Nonhuman Primates

Left-sided maternal cradling has been widely reported in human populations. In this paper, I review the evidence of laterality in maternal cradling and infant positional biases in non-human primates. The review revealed some evidence of population-left sided cradling in great apes but little consistency in bias was found among Old and New World monkeys. Very little data have been reported in prosimians. I further describe how asymmetries in either maternal cradling or infant positional biases may explain individual and species differences in hand preference.     

Conservation of human Y chromosome sequences among male great apes: Implications for the evolution of Y chromosomes

Nine newly described single-copy and lowcopy-number genomic DNA sequences isolated from a flow-sorted human Y chromosome library were mapped to regions of the human Y chromosome and were hybridized to Southern blots of male and female great ape genomic DNAs (Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus). Eight of the nine sequences mapped to the euchromatic Y long arm (Yq) in humans, and the ninth mapped to the short arm or pericentromeric region. All nine of the newly identified sequences and two additional human Yq sequences hybridized to restriction fragments in male but not female genomic DNA from the great apes, indicating Y chromosome localization. Seven of these 11 human Yq sequences hybridized to similarly-sized restriction endonuclease fragments in all the great ape species analyzed. The five human sequences that mapped to the most distal subregion of Yq (deletion of which region is associated with spermatogenic failure in humans) were hybridized to Southern blots generated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These sequences define a region of approximately 1 Mb on human Yq in which HpaII tiny fragment (HTF) islands appear to be absent. The conservation of these human Yq sequences on great ape Y chromosomes indicates a greater stability in this region of the Y than has been previously described for most anonymous human Y chromosomal sequences. The stability of these sequences on great ape Y chromosomes seems remarkable given that this region of the Y does not undergo meiotic recombination and the sequences do not appear to encode genes for which positive selection might occur. Correspondence to: B. Steele Allen     

Folk Classification,Perception, and Preferences of Baobab Products in West Africa: Consequences for Species Conservation and Improvement

Folk Classification, Perception, and Preferences of Baobab Products in West Africa: Consequences for Species Conservation and Improvement.The present study is a component of a baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) domestication research program being undertaken in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Senegal. Surveys conducted on a total of 129 women and 281 men of different ages included questions on perceptions and human/cultural meaning of morphological variation, use forms, preferences (desirable/undesirable traits), and links between traits. Local people in the four countries use 21 criteria to differentiate baobab individuals in situ. According to them, the easier the bark harvesting, the tastier the pulp and leaves; the slimier the pulp, the less tasty it is; the more closely longitudinally marked the fruit capsules, the tastier the pulp. This study shows that farmers are able to use preferred combinations of traits as a guide in collecting germplasm from trees. This can allow the selection of trees that would be candidates for propagation, and planning for a domestication program based on the indigenous knowledge.     

Recommendations for Integrating Restoration Ecology and Conservation Biology in Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Southwestern United States

Over the past century, ponderosa pine–dominated landscapes of the southwestern United States have been altered by human activities such as grazing, timber harvest, road building, and fire exclusion. Most forested areas within these landscapes now show increased susceptibility to stand‐replacing fires, insect outbreaks, and drought‐related mortality. Recent large wildfires in the region have spurred public interest in large‐scale fuel reduction and restoration programs, which create perceived and real conflicts with the conservation of biodiversity. Conservation concerns include the potential for larger road networks, soil and understory disturbance, exotic plant invasion, and the removal of large trees in treated areas. Pursuing prescribed burning, thinning, or other treatments on the broad scale that many scientists and managers envision requires the reconciliation of ecological restoration with biodiversity conservation. This study presents recommendations from a workshop for integrating the principles and practices of restoration ecology and conservation biology, toward the objective of restoring the composition, structure, and function of dry ponderosa pine forests. Planning on the scale of hundreds of thousands of hectares offers opportunities to achieve multiple objectives (e.g., rare species protection and restoration of ecological structures and processes) that cannot easily be addressed on a site‐by‐site basis. However, restoration must be coordinated with conservation planning to achieve mutual objectives and should include strict guidelines for protection of rare, declining, and sensitive habitats and species.     

Research Priorities for Conservation of Metallophyte Biodiversity and their Potential for Restoration and Site Remediation

Plants that have evolved to survive on metal‐rich soils—metallophytes—have key values that must drive research of their unique properties and ultimately their conservation. The ability of metallophytes to tolerate extreme metal concentrations commends them for revegetation of mines and metal‐contaminated sites. Metallophytes can also be exploited in environmental technologies, for example, phytostabilization, phytoremediation, and phytomining. Actions towards conserving metallophyte species are imperative, as metallophytes are increasingly under threat of extinction from mining activity. Although many hundreds of papers describe both the biology and applications of metallophytes, few have investigated the urgent need to conserve these unique species. This paper identifies the current state of metallophyte research, and advocates future research needs for the conservation of metallophyte biodiversity and the sustainable uses of metallophyte species in restoration, rehabilitation, contaminated site remediation, and other nascent phytotechnologies. Six fundamental questions are addressed: (1) Is enough known about the global status of metallophytes to ensure their conservation? (2) Are metallophytes threatened by the activities of the minerals industry, and can their potential for the restoration or rehabilitation of mined and disturbed land be realized? (3) What problems exist in gaining prior informed consent to access metallophyte genetic resources and how can the benefits arising from their uses be equitably shared? (4) What potential do metallophytes offer as a resource base for phytotechnologies? (5) Can genetic modification be used to “design” metallophytes to use in the remediation of contaminated land? (6) Does the prospect of using metallophytes in site remediation and restoration raise ethical issues?     

基于生物生态因子分析的长序榆保护策略

长序榆是我国二级重点保护的濒危植物,对研究榆属、榆科植物的系统发生有重要意义,并且具有潜在的经济价值。研究长序榆的生境特点,对该种的引种、科学保护有重大意义,通过对分布在我国的长序榆近两年的踏查发现,长序榆主要集中在我国的安徽、浙江、江西和福建等省,长序榆生境已经严重片段化,自然干扰和人为干扰是造成其濒临灭绝的主要原因。长序榆多分布在海拔600—900 m的阳坡或半阳坡上,其中最大的种群分布在浙江开化和遂昌,分布区的特殊地势使其成为长序榆的冰期避难所。对18项生物学、生态学指标的主成分分析结果表明,影响长序榆生存的主要环境因子是:光照、土壤养分、坡向和海拔。对浙江松阳、江西武宁和福建南平数量极少的种群需优先进行迁地保护,积极引种栽培;而对于安徽歙县、浙江临安、开化和遂昌等大种群分布区,应该扩大核心保护区面积,避免人为破坏。     

Conservation threats and future prospects for the freshwater fishes of Ecuador: A hotspot of Neotropical fish diversity

Freshwater fish communities in Ecuador exhibit some of the highest levels of diversity and endemism in the Neotropics. Unfortunately, aquatic ecosystems in the country are under serious threat and conditions are deteriorating. In 2018–19, the government of Ecuador sponsored a series of workshops to examine the conservation status of Ecuador's freshwater fishes. Concerns were identified for 35 species, most of which are native to the Amazon region, and overfishing of Amazonian pimelodid catfishes emerged as a major issue. However, much of the information needed to make decisions across fish groups and regions was not available, hindering the process and highlighting the need for a review of the conservation threats to Ecuador's freshwater fishes. Here, we review how the physical alteration of rivers, deforestation, wetland and floodplain degradation, agricultural and urban water pollution, mining, oil extraction, dams, overfishing, introduced species and climate change are affecting freshwater fishes in Ecuador. Although many of these factors affect fishes throughout the Neotropics, the lack of data on Ecuadorian fish communities is staggering and highlights the urgent need for more research. We also make recommendations, including the need for proper enforcement of existing environmental laws, restoration of degraded aquatic ecosystems, establishment of a national monitoring system for freshwater ecosystems, investment in research to fill gaps in knowledge, and encouragement of public engagement in citizen science and conservation efforts. Freshwater fishes are an important component of the cultural and biological legacy of the Ecuadorian people. Conserving them for future generations is critical.     

Conservation regulation: a backward step for biodiversity?

An analysis, particularly from the UK and European Community perspectives, of the way in which the law dealing with the conservation of species and habitats has the potential effect, in some cases, of frustrating the comprehensive preservation of biological diversity. It is proposed that this state of affairs may have come about through the emphasis of one species to the detriment of others or through the failure to address comprehensive inter-species and habitat relationships. One of the propositions is that the application of protection to specific species, through conservation and wild animal welfare provisions, has been implemented in an arbitrary manner in the context of biodiversity preservation or in terms of an animal's level of sentiency or position on the phylogenetic scale. Another proposition is that the law has failed to protect and preserve the 'commonplace' in biodiversity and thus risks losing key components of ecosystems. Finally, the analysis examines the way in which traditional practices such as hunting with hounds may contribute to or frustrate biodiversity preservation.     

Demographics of Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina): Implications for Conservation and Management of Long-lived Organisms

SYNOPSIS. A study of common snapping turtles conducted from1975 through 1992 in southeastern Michigan provided sufficientdemographic data to examine how life history characteristicsmay constrain population responses of long-lived organisms.Females reached sexual maturity between 11 and 16 years of age.Minimum reproductive frequency was less than annual (0.85),and nest survivorship over 17 years ranged from 0 to 64% andaveraged 23%. Survivorship of yearlings had to be estimatedsince hatchlings can pass through the mesh on traps. Actualsurvivorship of juveniles was over 0.65 by age 2 and averaged0.77 between the ages of 2 and 12 years. Annual survivorshipof adult females ranged from 0.88 to 0.97. A life table forthe population resulted in a cohort generation time of 25 years.Population stability was most sensitive to changes in adultor juvenile survival, and less sensitive to changes in age atsexual maturity, nest survival or fecundity. An increase inannual mortality of 0.1 on adults over 15 years of age withno density-dependent compensation would halve the number ofadults in less than 20 years. The results from the present study indicate that life historytraits of long-lived organisms consist of co-evolved traitsthat severely constrain the ability of populations to respondto chronic disturbances. Successful management and conservationprograms for long-lived organisms will be those that recognizethat protection of all life stages is necessary. Without protectionof adults and older juveniles, programs that protect nests andheadstart hatchlings have a low probability of success. Carefullymanaged sport harvests of turtles or other long-lived organismsmay be sustainable; however, commercial harvests will certainlycause substantial population declines     

A Conservation Institution for the 21st Century: Implications for State Wildlife Agencies

ABSTRACT The wildlife conservation institution (Institution) needs to reform to maintain legitimacy and relevancy in the 21st century. Institutional reform is inherently slow. Limitations resulting from historical and resource dependencies between state wildlife agencies and hunters have left the Institution poorly positioned to meet changing ecological and social complexities. In this paper, we suggest that an ideal Institution would have the following 4 components: broad-based funding, trustee-based governance, multidisciplinary science as the basis of recommendations from professional staff, and involvement of diverse stakeholders and partners. Our suggestions reflect the fundamental tenets of the Public Trust Doctrine, which we believe is the foundation of the Institution. In bringing forth these ideas, we hope to encourage discussion about how the Institution should reform to meet the changing needs of society.     

Impact evaluation to communicate and improve conservation non-governmental organization performance: the case of Conservation International

The rising prominence of more rigorous approaches to measuring conservation outcomes has included greater adoption of impact evaluation by conservation non-governmental organizations (CNGOs). Within the scientific literature, however, little consideration has been given to the unique and specific roles of CNGOs in advancing impact evaluation. We explore these issues in the context of one CNGO—Conservation International (CI)—and its experiences producing, using and funding impact evaluations over the past decade. We examine the contributions of impact evaluation to CI''s mission at three different stages of CI''s strategy: innovation, demonstration and amplification. Furthermore, we review incentives and barriers encountered by CI in its 10+ years'' experience in impact evaluation. More coordinated and strategic use of impact evaluation by CNGOs would facilitate learning and promote accountability across the conservation community.     

Evolution and Conservation of Central African Biodiversity: Priorities for Future Research and Education in the Congo Basin and Gulf of Guinea

The tropical forests of the Congo Basin and Gulf of Guinea harbor some of the greatest terrestrial and aquatic biological diversity in the world. However, our knowledge of the rich biological diversity of this region and the evolutionary processes that have shaped it remains limited, as is our understanding of the capacity for species to adapt or otherwise respond to current and projected environmental change. In this regard, research efforts are needed to increase current scientific knowledge of this region's biodiversity, identify the drivers of past diversification, evaluate the potential for species to adapt to environmental change and identify key populations for future conservation. Moreover, when evolutionary research is combined with ongoing environmental monitoring efforts, it can also provide an important set of tools for assessing and mitigating the impacts of development activities. Building on a set of recommendations developed at an international workshop held in Gabon in 2011, we highlight major areas for future evolutionary research that could be directly tied to conservation priorities for the region. These research priorities are centered around five disciplinary themes: (1) documenting and discovering biodiversity; (2) identifying drivers of evolutionary diversification; (3) monitoring environmental change; (4) understanding community and ecosystem level processes; (5) investigating the ecology and epidemiology of disease from an evolutionary perspective (evolutionary epidemiology). Furthermore, we also provide an overview of the needs and priorities for biodiversity education and training in Central Africa.     

Taxic Richness Patterns and Conservation Evaluation of Madagascan Tiger Beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)

Distributional ranges of 17 genera and 172 species of Malagasy tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae) have been compiled to determine patterns of species richness and endemism. These patterns reveal large sampling gaps, and potential priority areas for conservation action. Northern and south-western parts of the island are richer in genera, whereas eastern and especially northern parts of the rainforest show higher species richness, due to extensive radiations within the genera Pogonostoma and Physodeutera. A set of 23 areas are identified in this study as priority foci for tiger beetle conservation, and six general regions are bioinventory priorities.     

Ecological Diversity and Biodiversity as Concepts for Conservation Planning: Comments on Ricotta

Ricotta argues against the existence of a unique measure of biodiversity by pointing out that no known measure of α-diversity satisfies all the adequacy conditions that have traditionally been set for it. While that technical claim is correct, it is not relevant in the context of defining biodiversity which is most usefully measured by β-diversity. The concept of complementarity provides a closely related family of measures of biodiversity which can be used for systematic conservation planning. Moreover, these measures cannot be replaced by summary statistics but must rely on inventories of biodiversity surrogates at candidate sites for conservation.     

Ecological Interactions Involving Feral Horses and Predators: Review with Implications for Biodiversity Conservation

For many ecosystems, feral horses are increasingly becoming an important if not dominant component of ungulate biomass and hence influence on community dynamics. Yet we still know little of how horses contribute to key ecological interactions including predator-prey and indirect competitive relationships at a community level. Notably, feral species like horses can exhibit life-history traits that differ from that of native (mainly artiodactyl) herbivore competitors. Artificial selection for traits like increased, early, or extended reproduction that have yet to be reversed by natural selection, coupled with naturally selected differences in anatomy and behavior, in addition to unique management objectives for horses compared to other species, means that the dynamics of feral horse populations are not likely to align with what might be expected of other large herbivores. Unexpected population dynamics and inherent biological asymmetries between native ungulates and feral horses may therefore influence the former via direct competition for shared resources and through enemy-mediated interactions like apparent competition. In several localities feral horses now co-exist with multiple native prey species, some of which are in decline or are species at risk. Compounding risks to native species from direct or indirect competitive exclusion by horses is the unique nature and socio-political context of feral horse management, which tends towards allowing horse populations to be limited largely by natural, density-dependent factors. We summarize the inherent asymmetries between feral horse biology and that of other ungulate prey species with consequences for conservation, focusing on predator-prey and emerging indirect interactions in multi-prey systems, and highlight future directions to address key knowledge gaps in our understanding of how feral horses may now be contributing to the (re)structuring of food webs. Observations of patterns of rapid growth and decline, and associated skews in sex ratios of feral horse populations, indicate a heightened potential for indirect interactions among large ungulate prey species, where there is a prevalence of feral horses as preferred prey, particularly where native prey are declining. In places like western North America, we expect predator-prey interactions involving feral horses to become an increasingly important factor in the conservation of wildlife. This applies not only to economically or culturally important game species but also at-risk species, both predators (e.g., wolves [Canis lupus], grizzly bears [Ursus arctos]) and prey (e.g., woodland caribou [Rangifer tarandus caribou]), necessitating an ecological understanding of the role of horses in natural environments that goes beyond that of population control. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.     

人类活动影响下的生物多样性保护:中欧的植被演化及其启示

对历史时期欧洲中部地区植被历史的研究表明,人类活动不仅破坏了自然、导致植被的单一化,同时也对植被与景观的丰富度(多样性)产生影响。人类或家畜的干预使得一些半自然、高多样性的生境类型及相应的植被类型得以保持和发展;但过度的干扰势必造成植被的单一化和贫乏化,威胁生物多样性的保存和保护。当今的中欧植被格局总体上是近几个世纪,某些地区甚至是上千年来,人为干扰叠加在气候变化影响之上的综合产物。中欧大部分地区的潜在植被多为森林,如果没有人为活动的强烈影响,除了岩石、水体、海滩、林线以上的高山以及高位沼泽等特定生境的分布区域以外,当今中欧的大部分地区应当仍覆盖着郁闭的阔叶林,而不会表现出今天的多样性景观。因此,自然保护的对象不应当仅仅是纯自然植被,保护手段也不仅仅是清除人为干扰。在保护多样性思想的指导下,各种典型植被类型都是值得保护的,除了高自然度的自然生态系统外,栽培植被也应当被保存和保护,否则,它们会随着特定耕作或管理方式的消失而消失。同时,既应保护当前植被,也要恢复潜在植被,使目前多样的景观类型、植被类型和栖息地类型得以维持和发展。本文结论为解决当前欧洲自然保护中的争议性问题提供了依据,也可以为中国的生物多样性保护战...     

两种濒危水韭植物迁地保护居群的基因流动态及回归重建保育遗传管理策略

采用微卫星分子标记对中华水韭（Isoetessinensis）安徽休宁、浙江建德和东方水韭（I.orientalis）浙江松阳三个孑遗居群的迁地保护居群开展了遗传多样性检测与遗传结构分析。7对多态性微卫星引物在36个迁地保护亚居群的720个样本中共检测到59个等位基因,每位点平均等位基因数（A）为8·43。迁地保护亚居群均维持很高的遗传多样性,多态信息含量（PIC）平均为0·707。迁地保护亚居群间遗传分化较低,遗传分化系数GST仅为0·070,居群间具有较大基因流（Nm=3·59）。单因素方差分析发现水韭孢子或孢子体在沿主要水流方向上的长距离传播能力要强于弱水流方向上的短距离传播能力,水流动态对水韭植物的基因流有重要影响。这与UPGMA聚类分析中迁地保护亚居群按邻近位置或水流相通程度优先聚类的结果相一致,水流所带动的强大基因流导致了不同孑遗居群来源的迁地保护亚居群间的遗传混杂。建议在开展水韭植物的迁地保护或回归自然重建时,对具有地方适应分化或者显著性进化的水韭植物居群应相互隔离而不宜配置在一起,以避免远交衰退的遗传风险。