Prioritize Conservation Actions Research Articles

Using niche modelling and human influence index to indicate conservation priorities for Atlantic forest deer species

To prioritise conservation actions and management strategies for threatened forest deer species at the Atlantic forest, we aimed to identify and describe the most suitable habitat areas for forest deer species and to indicate conservation measures for state agents and local communities. We adopt an approach based on ecological niche modelling, key variable thresholds and spatial analyses. In addition, we associated our approach with a human influence index, an invasive species dataset of occurrences, protected area cover and IUCN category. We indicate 2 % (484 km2) of the Atlantic forest cover as conservation priority areas (CPAs). Of these, 56.8 % are outside protected areas, 20.7 % are inside IUCN categories i, ii and iii protected areas, 19.9 % are inside IUCN categories iv, v, and vi protected areas, and 2.6 % are inside indigenous areas. Also, we indicate the most relevant protected areas for deer conservation in the Atlantic forest. The CPAs were classified into more human-influenced areas (MHIA) and less human-influenced areas (LHIA), and we identified 21 significant (greater than120 km2) continuous CPAs outside protected areas. We highlight actions in several perspectives of human influence, governance levels and law protection that would rationalise the use of funds and human resources.

How to prioritize species recovery after a megafire.

Due to climate change, megafires are increasingly common and have sudden, extensive impacts on many species over vast areas, leaving decision makers uncertain about how best to prioritize recovery. We devised a decision-support framework to prioritize conservation actions to improve species outcomes immediately after a megafire. Complementary locations are selected to extend recovery actions across all fire-affected species' habitats. We applied our method to areas burned in the 2019-2020 Australian megafires and assessed its conservation advantages by comparing our results with outcomes of a site-richness approach (i.e., identifying areas that cost-effectively recover the most species in any one location). We found that 290 threatened species were likely severely affected and will require immediate conservation action to prevent population declines and possible extirpation. We identified 179 subregions, mostly in southeastern Australia, that are key locations to extend actions that benefit multiple species. Cost savings were over AU$300 million to reduce 95% of threats across all species. Our complementarity-based prioritization also spread postfire management actions across a wider proportion of the study area compared with the site-richness method (43% vs. 37% of the landscape managed, respectively) and put more of each species' range under management (average 90% vs. 79% of every species' habitat managed). In addition to wildfire response, our framework can be used to prioritize conservation actions that will best mitigate threats affecting species following other extreme environmental events (e.g., floods and drought).

Quantifying the resilience of coldwater lake habitat to climate and land use change to prioritize watershed conservation

AbstractManaging ecological systems for resilience can increase their capacity to maintain key functions even under global change. Oxygenated coldwater (oxythermal) habitat in lakes is an important ecological resource that is threatened by both climate change and eutrophication. Here, we quantify the resilience of oxythermal habitat in over 10,000 glacial lakes in the upper Midwestern United States to climate change and watershed disturbance and classify lakes for conservation prioritization based on their current conditions and resilience. Oxythermal habitat was predicted by lake morphometry, July air temperatures, and watershed land use. Temperatures are projected to increase by mid‐century, and the magnitude of warming, its effect on oxythermal habitat, and the uncertainty surrounding that effect varied among lakes. Under mid‐century climate conditions, the number of lakes containing suitable coldwater habitat was predicted to decline by 67%, while the number of lakes with unsuitable habitat was predicted to increase by over 200%. Lakes varied in the amount of temperature increase that they could sustain without a resultant change in habitat tier (i.e., their climate resilience). Median climate resilience was 4.3°C, with some lakes capable of remaining in their habitat tier even with temperature increases up to 14°C. Changing watershed land use was predicted to influence oxythermal habitat in 24% of lakes (n = 2391). We used the magnitude of increase in watershed development that a lake could sustain while remaining in its current habitat class as a measure of its resilience to watershed disturbance. Conversely, decreased watershed development may improve oxythermal habitat conditions and push a lake into an improved condition, and this value represented a lake's restoration potential. We classified lakes into seven management classes based on their current oxythermal habitat conditions and the resilience of oxythermal habitat to climate and watershed disturbance. To facilitate management on individual lakes, we also assessed the vulnerability and resilience of individual lakes and the uncertainty surrounding these estimates. By quantifying the resilience of lakes and how it is influenced by local action across a multistate region, we can prioritize conservation action across multiple scales to maintain the critical habitat and ecosystem function of glacial lakes.

Prioritising conservation actions for extremely data-poor species: A risk assessment for one of the world's rarest marine fishes

Effective prioritisation of research and conservation action for threatened species requires understanding the relative importance of the various pressures they face. This can be difficult for rare, cryptic, and data-deficient species, particularly when drivers of population decline are complex and indirectly impact one another. We developed a risk assessment-based approach that accounts for cascading ecological changes and indirect impacts between human and environmental pressures for threatened species, for application when data-dense assessment approaches are not possible. We applied this framework to the Critically Endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus), one of the rarest and most threatened fishes in the world, currently only known from two highly localised populations in Australia's south-east. Our approach identified the unique life history strategy of handfishes, coastal warming, indirect ecological pressures caused by recreational fishing, urban development, and poaching as the greatest current threats to the persistence of the species. Mitigation options identified to have the greatest immediate reduction in extinction risk include an ex situ captive population and release program to bolster numbers in the wild, and engagement with the commercial sea urchin fishery to help reduce impact within critical habitat. Our risk assessment process may provide a useful framework for allowing managers to make more informed and supported decisions for other species that are similarly data-poor, and when decisions would otherwise necessarily rely on best guesses that do not consider their broader ecological, environmental and anthropogenic contexts.

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

For prioritizing conservation actions, it is vital to understand how ecologically diverse species respond to environmental change caused by human activity. This is particularly necessary considering that chronic human disturbance is a threat to biodiversity worldwide. Depending on how species tolerate and adapt to such disturbance, ecological integrity and ecosystem services will be more or less affected. Bats are a species-rich and functionally diverse group, with important roles in ecosystems, and are therefore recognized as a good model group for assessing the impact of environmental change. Their populations have decreased in several regions, especially in the tropics, and are threatened by increasing human disturbance. Using passive acoustic monitoring, we assessed how the species-rich aerial insectivorous bats—essential for insect suppression services—respond to chronic human disturbance in the Caatinga dry forests of Brazil, an area potentially harboring ca. 100 bat species (nearly 50% are insectivorous), but with > 60% its area composed of anthropogenic ecosystems under chronic pressure. Acoustic data for bat activity was collected at research sites with varying amounts of chronic human disturbance (e.g., livestock grazing and firewood gathering). The intensity of the disturbance is indicated by the global multi-metric CAD index (GMDI). Using Animal Sound Identifier (ASI) software, we identified 18 different bat taxon units. Using Hierarchical Modeling of Species Communities (HMSC), we found trends in the association of the disturbance gradient with species richness and bat activity: species richness was higher at sites with higher human disturbance, whereas bat activity decreased with increasing human disturbance. Additionally, we observed taxon-specific responses to human disturbance. We conclude that the effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the insectivorous bat fauna in the Caatinga are not homogeneous and a species-specific approach is necessary when assessing the responses of local bats to human disturbances in tropical dry forests, and in other biomes under human pressure.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of Critical Biodiversity Areas, identified through a systematic conservation planning process, to reduce biodiversity loss outside protected areas in South Africa

Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) is a spatially explicit process used globally to prioritize conservation actions, but its effectiveness is difficult to quantify. In South Africa, terrestrial SCP processes are mainly used to identify important biodiversity areas outside of formal protected areas that are required to meet conservation targets. Environmental policy refers to these areas as Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs), and uses them to inform land use change decisions. Using Mpumalanga Province as a case study, avoided loss within CBAs is quantified using counterfactual matching methods. To contextualize the results, it is benchmarked against avoided loss achieved by protected areas during the same period. Significant reductions of 54–72% in land clearing were achieved in CBAs compared to other natural areas and were comparable to avoided loss achieved by protected areas in similar evaluations in other countries. Protected areas in Mpumalanga were found to be very effective (88% relative avoided loss) but are located in areas of lower land use change pressures than CBAs. Avoided loss was quantified as 1058 ha for Irreplaceable CBAs, 5285 ha for Optimal CBAs and 20,586 ha for protected areas. The consideration of biodiversity priorities in land use change decisions outside protected areas was found to be an effective complementary strategy to protected areas to avoid loss of biodiversity in areas typically not available for protected area expansion.

Distribution and functional traits of small mammals across the Mediterranean area: landscape composition and structure definitively matter

• Small mammals’ taxonomic and functional composition vary with landscape pattern. • Species assemblages tend to be simpler in anthropogenic landscapes. • Seminatural and anthropogenic landscapes influence functional composition. • Understanding community assembly could help prioritise conservation actions. Mediterranean landscapes constitute a biodiversity hotspot where species distribution and composition have been shaped by a long history of traditional land use. In this work, we investigated the effects of landscape patterns on community composition and the functional, morphological, and ecological traits of 21 small mammal species in the Mediterranean region. We extracted species abundance and trait data from 86 georeferenced Common Barn-owl pellet sites collected in Central Italy, covering 33,000 km 2 , and stored in the OpenMICE database. Additionally, we measured 12 landscape metrics on land cover maps produced at intervals coeval with pellet collection dates. We explored the variation in species composition against landscape pattern metrics using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Moreover, we analysed the relationships among small mammals’ occurrence, their life history traits, and landscape pattern metrics using the fourth-corner model approach. Our results highlighted the key role of landscape composition and configuration in shaping small mammal species composition and their functional traits. Species and trait composition varied along two main landscape gradients, with a simplification of species assemblage towards increasing human pressure (i.e., artificial surfaces and agricultural areas) and decreasing cover of seminatural areas. The observed variability of species assemblages and functional traits across Mediterranean landscape gradients highlights the need to preserve diverse ecosystems and land cover types to maintain small mammal biodiversity and related ecosystem functioning.

Geographical and temporal distribution of hawkmoth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) species in Africa.

BackgroundHawkmoths consist of species where most adults are nocturnal, but there are some day-flying genera. Hawkmoth species have a wide variety of life-history traits, comprising species with adults (mostly nectarivorous though with some exceptions, honey-feeding), but there are also species that do not feed at all. The nectarivorous species are an important component of tropical ecosystems, with significant roles as major pollinators of both crops and wild flora with the pollination done by the adult stage. Pollinators are in decline world-wide and there is need for baseline data to provide information about their conservation strategies. Species occurrence data from Museum collections have been shown to be of great value as a tool for prioritising conservation actions in Africa. The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) have a large and active entomology collection that is in continuous growth. The NMK’s collection of hawkmoths had not been digitised prior to 2017. This moth family Sphingidae includes about 1,602 species and 205 genera worldwide (Kitching et al. 2018) with the majority of these species occurring in Africa. These moth species can also be used as indicators in biodiversity assessments as they can be easily sampled and identified. However, hawkmoths have rarely been surveyed over the long term for this purpose. Long-term datasets are of unquestionable significance for understanding and monitoring temporal changes in biodiversity. These hawkmoth data have addressed one of the most significant challenges to insect conservation, the lack of baseline information concerning species diversity and distribution and have provided key historic hawkmoth species diversity and distribution data that can be used to monitor their populations in the face of climate change and other environmental degradation issues that are facing the world today. The publication of the hawkmoth species occurrence data records in GBIF has enhanced data visibility to a wider audience promoting availability for use.New informationThe hawkmoth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) collection at the National Museums of Kenya was digitised from 2017 – 2020 and this paper presents details of species occurrence records as in the insect collection at the NMK, Nairobi, Kenya.The collection holds 5,095 voucher specimens consisting of 88 genera and 208 species. The collection covers the period between 1904 and 2020.The geographical distribution of the hawkmoths housed at the NMK covers East Africa at 81.41%, West Africa at 7.20%, Southern Africa at 6.89%, Central Africa at 4.02% and North Africa at 0.2%.

Defining Spatial Conservation Priorities for the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus)

ABSTRACT The Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) is a culturally iconic wildlife symbol for the South American Andes, but is naturally found at very low population densities, and is increasingly threatened. Using the Range Wide Priority Setting methodology, we (a group of 38 Andean Condor experts) updated the Andean Condor historical range (3,230,061 km2), systematized 9998 Andean Condor distribution points across the range, and identified geographic areas for which there was expert knowledge (66%), including areas where Andean Condors no longer occur (7%), and geographic areas where condors are believed to range, but for which there was not expert knowledge about condor presence (34%). To prioritize conservation action into the future and identify existing Andean Condor population strongholds, we used expert knowledge to identify 21 of the most important areas for the conservation of the species (i.e., Andean Condor Conservation Units [ACCUs]) that cover 37% of the revised historical range, and range in size from 837 km2 to 298,951 km2. In general, ACCUs were relatively small in the northern portion of the range in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru, and significantly larger in the central and southern portion of the range in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, reflecting the reduced and narrower historical range in the northern portion of the range, as well as increased threats. Andean Condors can fly extremely long distances and so the populations of many neighboring ACCUs are probably still functionally connected, although this situation also underlines the need for integrated and large-scale conservation efforts for this species. As a function of the Range Wide Priority Setting results, we make recommendations to ensure population connectivity into the future and engage a wide range of actors in Andean Condor conservation efforts.

Software for prioritizing conservation actions based on probabilistic information.

Marxan is the most common decision‐support tool used to inform the design of protected‐area systems. The original version of Marxan does not consider risk and uncertainty associated with threatening processes affecting protected areas, including uncertainty about the location and condition of species’ populations and habitats now and in the future. We described and examined the functionality of a modified version of Marxan, Marxan with Probability. This software explicitly considers 4 types of uncertainty: probability that a feature exists in a particular place (estimated based on species distribution models or spatially explicit population models); probability that features in a site will be lost in the future due to a threatening process, such as climate change, natural catastrophes, and uncontrolled human interventions; probability that a feature will exist in the future due to natural successional processes, such as a fire or flood; and probability the feature exists but has been degraded by threatening processes, such as overfishing or pollution, and thus cannot contribute to conservation goals. We summarized the results of 5 studies that illustrate how each type of uncertainty can be used to inform protected area design. If there were uncertainty in species or habitat distribution, users could maximize the chance that these features were represented by including uncertainty using Marxan with Probability. Similarly, if threatening processes were considered, users minimized the chance that species or habitats were lost or degraded by using Marxan with Probability. Marxan with Probability opens up substantial new avenues for systematic conservation planning research and application by agencies.

Quantifying Threats to Biodiversity and Prioritizing Responses: An Example from Papua New Guinea

Accurately identifying threats to global biodiversity is the first step towards effectively countering or ameliorating them. However, such threats are usually only qualitatively categorized, without any comparative quantitative assessment of threat levels either within or across ecosystems. As part of recent efforts in Papua New Guinea to develop a long-term strategic plan for reducing threats to biodiversity at the national level, we developed a novel and quantitative method for not only assessing relative effects of specific biodiversity threats across multiple ecosystems, but also identifying and prioritizing conservation actions best suited for countering identified threats. To do so, we used an abbreviated quantitative SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and multivariate cluster analysis to identify the most significant threats to biodiversity in Papua New Guinea. Of 27 specific threats identified, there were nine major threats (each >5% of total) which accounted for approximately 72% of the total quantified biodiversity threat in Papua New Guinea. We then used the information to identify underlying crosscutting threat drivers and specific conservation actions that would have the greatest probability of reducing biodiversity threats across multiple ecosystem realms. We categorized recommended actions within three strategic categories; with actions within each category targeting two different spatial scales. Our integrated quantitative approach to identifying and addressing biodiversity threats is intuitive, comprehensive, repeatable and computationally simple. Analyses of this nature can be invaluable for avoiding not only wasted resources, but also ineffective measures for conserving biodiversity.

Leopard population density varies across habitats and management strategies in a mixed-use Tanzanian landscape

With large carnivores undergoing widespread range contractions across Africa, effective monitoring across mixed-use landscapes should be considered a priority to identify at-risk populations and prioritise conservation actions. We provide the first comparison of leopard population density within different components of a mixed-use landscape in Tanzania, via spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) modelling of camera trap data from the Ruaha-Rungwa landscape in 2018 and 2019. Population density was highest in highly-productive Acacia-Commiphora habitat in the core tourist area of Ruaha National Park (6.81 ± 1.24 leopards per 100 km2). The next highest density (4.23 ± 1.02 per 100 km2) was estimated in similar habitat in a neighbouring community-managed area (Idodi-Pawaga MBOMIPA WMA). Lowest densities were estimated in miombo (Brachystegia-Jubelnardia) woodland habitat, both in a trophy hunting area (Rungwa Game Reserve; 3.36 ± 1.09 per 100 km2) and inside the National Park (3.23 ± 1.25 per 100 km2). Population density was highly correlated with prey abundance, suggesting that variation in leopard density may be primarily driven by availability of prey, which likely varies with habitat types and anthropogenic impacts. Anthropogenic mortality may also have a direct influence on leopard in more impacted areas, but further research is required to investigate this. Our findings show that a hunting area with significant protection investment supports a leopard density comparable to similar habitat in a photographic tourism area. We also provide evidence that community-managed areas have the potential to effectively conserve large carnivore populations at relatively high densities, but may be vulnerable to edge effects.

Patterns of vertebrate richness across global anthromes: prioritizing conservation beyond biomes and ecoregions

There is a clear need to refocus the way we prioritize conservation actions at a global scale to incorporate human systems. Anthromes have been suggested as one tool for integrating anthropogenic effects on ecosystems, but spatially explicit comparisons of biodiversity patterns are limited at a global extent. To address this gap, we used global data sets of anthromes and terrestrial vertebrate richness. We ranked anthromes by richness to all and threatened species at a global scale, temperate and tropical extents, and within major geographic regions. We tested for correlations between overall richness and count of threatened species, between taxonomic groups (birds, mammals, amphibians), and between taxa and conservation actions. At the global scale, there is high variation in vertebrate species richness by anthrome with low species richness in wildlands and higher richness in villages, rangelands, and woodlands. Threatened species distribution follows a similar pattern with high numbers of threatened species in village and remote seminatural woodland anthromes. Analyzes at temperate and tropical extents suggests unique opportunities in different regions, for example when considering the value of land sparing or sharing. There is clear heterogeneity across geographic regions. Richness in anthromes and hotspots are spatially aligned across all taxa but not for threatened taxa. Protection was negatively correlated with threatened bird richness. Human modified ecosystems provide opportunities for conservation and global and regional ranking of anthromes helps identify priorities that can complement biome and ecoregion-based prioritization. Currently, much of conservation research and prioritization is in wildlands or perceived natural landscapes, however this data shows a clear need to focus conservation efforts on seminatural, managed, and residential lands. These data would be helpful for global conservation organizations as an updated framework that can be used to prioritize global resource allocation while considering both ecological and social systems.

Qualitative species vulnerability: Model sensitivity to climate and spatial parameters

Natural resource managers model plant and animal climate vulnerability to efficiently plan and prioritize conservation actions. We assessed a commonly used online decision support tool, NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) and its sensitivity to different generations of climate models, socioeconomic climate scenarios, and different types and scales of spatial data. Our goal was to help mangers better interpret CCVI species vulnerability rankings and provide a workflow for generating the required climate metrics when those data are not already calculated. We found vulnerability scores were much larger when using an older generation as compared to a newer generation of climate projections, especially for water associated species. Socioeconomic climate scenarios were very important and resulted in differences of 130% between optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. Hence, we caution when comparing across studies to consider the generation of climate models and scenarios because the scores may not be directly comparable. The online tool was robust to the type and scale of spatial data. However, this data is only applied in calculating exposure and is not included in species specific sensitivity via adaptive capacity. Consequently, we suggest that managers use range size as an index of adaptive capacity when interpreting similar scores. Overall, we find the species climate vulnerability model supported by NatureServe a valuable and robust assessment that is easy to use and provides an objective method for prioritizing conservation action and justifying these actions to policy makers and the general public.

Bats and wetlands: synthesising gaps in current knowledge and future opportunities for conservation

Abstract Wetland areas have decreased by up to 33% globally over the past ten years, threatening the biodiversity they support and essential ecosystem services they provide. Despite this, the importance of wetlands for bat conservation and the consequences of losing these habitats are not comprehensively understood. Through a systematic literature review, we quantified the knowledge gaps regarding bats in wetlands by: 1) assessing research trends over time; 2) evaluating research biases in geography, themes, species, seasons, and methodology; 3) creating the ‘bat Knowledge Index’ (bKI), a standard indicator for measuring how well‐studied bats in wetlands are per country; 4) compiling and summarising the ecological responses of bats to wetlands; and 5) assessing how bat researchers perceive the role of wetlands for bat conservation. We found strong similarities between the reviewed studies and the bat researchers’ perceptions. However, although 75% of respondents considered wetlands important for bat conservation, they rarely studied these habitats. Most of the studies took place in developed countries, leaving critical gaps in countries where wetlands are rapidly decreasing. The bKI can be used as a tool for land managers to prioritise conservation actions and resources for the protection of bats in wetlands geographically. Research topics were found to be biased towards habitat selection and species inventory, with many topics only superficially explored. There was also an important seasonal bias, resulting in many unanswered questions during energetically demanding periods for bats (e.g. migration). However, constantly evolving technological developments, such as bat lures and tracking devices, might aid new studies in these habitats. Up to 66% of studies reported that wetlands benefit bat activity or species richness, mainly because of high prey densities and the availability of fresh water. However, the low number of studies and all the identified research gaps make ‘bats and wetlands’ a largely underexplored ecological interaction between a poorly studied animal taxon and an increasingly threatened habitat.

Knowledge gaps and biases in the Pantanal indicate future directions for ornithological research in large wetlands

While taxonomic and biogeographical biases are often acknowledged, those for certain biological responses and species traits are routinely overlooked, generating major gaps in knowledge and conservation of biodiversity. Biases in research on birds ‒ an over‐sampled, diverse vertebrate class ‒ may be readily detectable, and wetlands are important species‐rich ecosystems in which to identify biases and research gaps for birds. The Pantanal, one of the world’s largest wetlands, is globally relevant for bird conservation. In this wetland, we determined spatial, temporal, taxonomic and biological response‐related biases in ornithological studies to guide future research in this ecosystem and, ultimately, in major global wetlands. Avian research was geographically biased, with 61 studies conducted in the Brazilian Pantanal and only one in Bolivia. Most studies were concentrated near urban centres, with poorly explored areas in the central Pantanal. Research was also over‐represented during the dry season when field conditions are more favourable, but such temporal bias may hamper migration studies. Considering their richness, some families were studied disproportionately more (e.g. Jacanidae) or less (e.g. Tyrannidae). Some species (e.g. Wood Stork Mycteria americana and Yellow‐billed Cardinal Paroaria capitata) were included in > 25% of studies, whereas a relatively low number of threatened bird species were studied. Behaviour was the most studied response, followed by abundance and reproduction, which were considered for > 65% of species studied. We conclude that further research needs to be focused on unexplored areas and periods, less detectable species, and ecological processes (e.g. interspecific interactions). Additionally, our results can provide useful information to better address future work and bird conservation actions in other large wetlands. For example, major gaps detected here constitute a primary roadmap to guide research in under‐sampled regions, such as the Canadian peatlands and Tonlé Sap Lake. Specifically, more studies on waterbirds in highly diverse wetlands from low‐income countries (e.g. Okavango and Sundarban Delta) may help to disentangle the essential functional role provided for these species and to prioritize conservation actions in regions with limited research capacity.

Prioritizing conservation actions in urbanizing landscapes

Urbanization-driven landscape changes are harmful to many species. Negative effects can be mitigated through habitat preservation and restoration, but it is often difficult to prioritize these conservation actions. This is due, in part, to the scarcity of species response data, which limit the predictive accuracy of modeling to estimate critical thresholds for biological decline and recovery. To address these challenges, we quantify effort required for restoration, in combination with a clear conservation objective and associated metric (e.g., habitat for focal organisms). We develop and apply this framework to coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a highly migratory and culturally iconic species in western North America that is particularly sensitive to urbanization. We examine how uncertainty in biological parameters may alter locations prioritized for conservation action and compare this to the effect of shifting to a different conservation metric (e.g., a different focal salmon species). Our approach prioritized suburban areas (those with intermediate urbanization effects) for preservation and restoration action to benefit coho. We found that prioritization was most sensitive to the selected metric, rather than the level of uncertainty or critical threshold values. Our analyses highlight the importance of identifying metrics that are well-aligned with intended outcomes.

UNEXPECTED LACK OF EFFECT OF THE INVASIVE AMERICAN MINK ON NESTING SURVIVAL OF FOREST BIRDS

Nest predation by invasive mammalian predators can cause major impacts on native bird populations. The American mink (Neovison vison) was recently introduced on Navarino Island in southern Chile. The mink established as a new terrestrial mesopredator on the island with documented impacts on waterfowl breeding success. However, little is known about mink effects on forest bird’s reproduction. Here, we investigated nest-predation rate by native predators and the invasive mink on open-cup nesting forest birds by using artificial and natural nests. In six different plots, we deployed a grid (7 x 2) of 14 artificial nests spaced by 50 m and at random heights from the ground. We used camera traps in each nest to identify predators. At each plot, we estimated predator relative abundance using camera traps, Sherman traps, and bird point counts. We estimated nest survival probability as a function of nest age, concealment, distance to the river, and nest height. Additionally, we monitored 43 natural nests of five open-cup nesting bird species. Contrary to expected, mink was not a main predator of nests, depredating only one natural nest. The native raptor Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango) was the main nest predator, preying on 39.8% artificial nests and 27.0% natural nests. We also found evidence that Chimango Caracara learned to associate the artificial nests with the egg reward. We argue that the lower abundance of mink in the forest and a mismatch between mink peak activity patterns and bird breeding phenology can result in low depredation. Mink impacts, however, may be more pervasive in summer months and on fledglings when mink activity peaks, and more research should be conducted to assess these questions. Our results are valuable to better understand mink impacts on biodiversity and to prioritize conservation actions on species more severely affected.

Local Knowledge and Use of Pangolins by Culturally Diverse Communities in the Forest-Savannah Transition Area of Cameroon

Information about the presence and population status of pangolins, and the threats they face, remains limited in many parts of Cameroon, a country that is home to three species of pangolin and considered to be a global hub of pangolin trafficking. Local communities living in rural areas can provide valuable information on species presence, local uses of wildlife, and possible threats, that is useful for prioritising conservation actions. Using interview surveys in 20 villages surrounding Mbam and Djerem National Park, we investigated local peoples’ knowledge of pangolin presence, perceptions of population trends, cultural importance, consumptive and non-consumptive uses, and hunting of pangolins. Our results showed that most people recognised the white-bellied and giant pangolins, but only 10% recognised the black-bellied pangolin. Ethnolinguistic group significantly affected the likelihood of respondents recognising and having seen a pangolin before. Giant pangolin populations were perceived to be declining, particularly by older respondents. We found evidence of local use of pangolins for meat, but few respondents reported uses of scales. Cultural significance was reported by few respondents, but when it was reported it mostly referred to giant pangolin. White-bellied pangolins are reportedly hunted using bare hands for local consumption most frequently, whilst giant pangolins were mainly hunted for local consumption and income generation using wire snares. Overall, our study shows the possible value of local knowledge for planning and prioritising conservation actions for pangolins. We highlight the urgent need to monitor pangolin populations, and assess the possible impacts to pangolins from threats such as hunting.

First description of movement and ranging behavior of the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) from Serbia using GPS satellite tracking

Understanding the movement pattern and ranging behavior of the Griffon vulture population in Serbia is of great importance for prioritizing conservation action. In 2011, an immature vulture was the first bird to be equipped with a satellite transmitter in Serbia. Our study aims to define the vulture?s foraging areas, home ranges, core and basic areas, and to investigate movement patterns across different years and seasons by analyzing satellite telemetry data. We tracked the movements of the vulture for over three years and obtained satellite tracking data for 34 bird-months (1976 GPS fixes) between October 2011 and July 2014. We determined that the overall foraging area of the vulture across the entire study period was 11654.34 km2. The overall area used by the vulture was larger during spring and summer than during winter periods. Combined ranges across all years identified one basic area and its associated core area around the Uvac colony and nearby feeding site; we identified three core areas in its proximity. This study showed that areas of traditional stock-raising practices are important vulture foraging areas and that supplementary feeding sites have a vital role. Our maps can be used for future planning of vulture conservation measures.