Proactive Conservation Research Articles

Heads you win, tails you lose: Life‐history traits predict invasion and extinction risk of the world's freshwater fishes

Abstract Freshwater fishes have the distinction of being both a highly imperilled taxonomic group as well as one that has produced many invasive species with widespread ecological impacts. Faced with the difficult task of identifying those species with the greatest need for management action, ecologists have turned to using predictive suites of ecological and life‐history traits to provide reasonable estimates of fish invasion and extinction risk. Whether traits associated with invasiveness are the inverse of those associated with imperillment, known as the ‘two‐sides‐of‐the‐same‐coin’ hypothesis, remains unclear. A global trait analysis (including maximum total body size, longevity, size at maturation, age at maturation, fecundity and egg size) for 6293 freshwater fishes was conducted to examine the trait correlates of species proneness to invasion or extinction. A meta‐analytical procedure was deployed using univariate and multivariate trait analyses that accounted for the effects of shared phylogeny. Mean trait differences (measured as Hedges' d effect size) were found between invasive and threatened species when compared with native species, thus supporting the two‐sides‐of‐the‐same‐coin hypothesis for freshwater fish. Invasive species were characterized by larger body size, greater longevity, delayed maturation and higher fecundity than threatened species. Furthermore, invasive species were found to display greater trait variability compared with threatened species, suggesting that different traits may be selected at different stages of the invasion process (from pathway entrainment to establishment) whereas more specific trait combinations may predispose species to higher extinction risk. The present study demonstrated a strong trait basis to global‐scale invasion risk and extinction vulnerability for freshwater fishes. Given that both time and resources are too limited for detailed species‐by‐species assessments, the results suggest that trait correlates provide a reasonable estimate of invasion and extinction risk that can inform more targeted and proactive conservation strategies.

Misfits and compliance patterns in the transposition and implementation of the Habitats Directive—four cases

This paper investigates the transposition and implementation of the Habitats Directive in four European member states, namely Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, and Romania, and the role that institutional misfits have played in more or less successful implementation processes. Departing in the ‘Worlds of Compliance’ literature, it also explores if this typology can be useful for understanding the ways member states address institutional adaptation pressures in the implementation steps following the transposition phase. The requirements in the Habitats Directive expanded most member states’ nature conservation frameworks, especially in the obligation to introduce pro-active conservation, and it also laid down a number of steps to be taken for creating the European Natura 2000 network. It was found that the transposition did mostly follow general compliance types, but that these types also helped understand the extent and adequacy of adaptations and changes to the institutional framework in the implementation processes following the directive’s adoption. Implementation challenges were different for different countries. They showed a need to align institutional frameworks for a) Natura 2000 in areas with several existing types of landscape protections and ensuing spatial and institutional overlaps; b) clarifying the roles and responsibilities of various authorities involved in implementation; c) ensuring coordination with the other sectorial policy areas that interact with the Habitats Directive (such as the Nitrate Directive and the Water Framework Directive). It turned out that there could be a need for more flexible and less-top-down European legislation, providing a larger room-for-manoeuvre for integration with domestic approaches.

Unexpected high vulnerability of functions in wilderness areas: evidence from coral reef fishes.

High species richness is thought to support the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions and services under changing environments. Yet, some species might perform unique functional roles while others are redundant. Thus, the benefits of high species richness in maintaining ecosystem functioning are uncertain if functions have little redundancy, potentially leading to high vulnerability of functions. We studied the natural propensity of assemblages to be functionally buffered against loss prior to fishing activities, using functional trait combinations, in coral reef fish assemblages across unfished wilderness areas of the Indo-Pacific: Chagos Archipelago, New Caledonia and French Polynesia. Fish functional diversity in these wilderness areas is highly vulnerable to fishing, explained by species- and abundance-based redundancy packed into a small combination of traits, leaving most other trait combinations (60%) sensitive to fishing, with no redundancy. Functional vulnerability peaks for mobile and sedentary top predators, and large species in general. Functional vulnerability decreases for certain functional entities in New Caledonia, where overall functional redundancy was higher. Uncovering these baseline patterns of functional vulnerability can offer early warning signals of the damaging effects from fishing, and may serve as baselines to guide precautionary and even proactive conservation actions.

Ten years of orangutan-related wildlife crime investigation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Poaching for the pet trade is considered one of the main threats to orangutan survival, especially to the Bornean species (Pongo pygmaeus). However, there have been few attempts to quantify the number of individuals taken from the wild or to evaluate the drivers of the trade. Most orangutan poaching is thought to be opportunistic in nature, occurring in conjunction with deforestation for large-scale agriculture. Using data from our long-term wildlife crime field investigation program collected from 2004 to 2014, we evaluated the prevalence of orangutan poaching and its spatial distribution in and around Gunung Palung National Park, in the regencies (districts) of Ketapang and Kayong Utara, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Over the project period, investigators uncovered 145 cases of orangutans being illegally held captive for the pet trade. There was a significant correlation between the extent of oil palm and the number of cases reported from each sub-district in the landscape, supporting the widely held hypothesis that orangutan poaching is opportunistic, and we found no evidence of orangutan trading rings (i.e., international traders) targeting Gunung Palung National Park. Over the past decade, there only has been one prosecution of orangutan trading in West Kalimantan, and weak law enforcement by Indonesian authorities remains the most significant challenge in addressing wildlife trade. We offer four recommendations to address this, including that Indonesia dedicate at least $3 million more to addressing orangutan poaching and trade in Kalimantan and that the country's wildlife protection laws be revised and strengthened, with the new laws socialized to a wide audience, including government officials and all aspects of civil society. As oil palm begins to expand into Africa, this study also may help predict how this will affect gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos, encouraging proactive conservation action.

How do Artisanal Fishermen Name Fish? An Ethnotaxonomic Study in Northeastern Brazil

Ethnotaxonomy seeks to understand how people identify, name, and classify living organisms, associating traditional and scientific knowledge. We examined the ethnobiological and ethnotaxonomic classification systems of fishermen in relation to naming commercial fish at the Tamandaré and Batoque beaches on the northeastern coast of Brazil. Seventy-five fishermen were interviewed between January and August of 2013. The interviews concentrated on the morphological, ecological, and sociocultural criteria used in identification, naming, and classification. Fishermen mentioned 441 popular fish names, representing 268 scientific taxa. Of these, 58% were named based on morphological characteristics using folk terminology. Seventy-two generic monotypes, 42 generic polytypes, and 228 folk specific taxa were recorded at Tamandaré Beach; while 80, 43, and 184 were recorded at Batoque Beach, respectively. We identified five types of correspondence between scientific taxa and folk specific taxa, as well as four classification systems: hierarchical, sequential, ecological, and sociocultural. Information concerning the richness, diversity, and bioecology of fish can be obtained from the ethnobiological and ethnotaxonomic systems from fishermen along with related sociocultural parameters, such as habitat, food and fish seasonality, and the different ways of using this resource. Findings of this work will be useful in implementing proactive conservation and management plans.

A habitat similarity model based on vague sets to assess Schizothorax prenanti spawning habitat

Schizothorax prenanti (S. prenanti) is a second-class provincial protected endemic fish within the upper reaches of the Min River. The spawning season of S. prenanti extends from March to April. Habitat alteration and the construction of multistage dams have resulted in a rapid decline of the S. prenanti population. To assess the potential effects of a reduced flow volume on the S. prenanti spawning habitat area in downstream of dams, we combined River 2D and a habitat similarity evaluation model through the following steps. First, we conducted surveys of S. prenanti and the substrate composition in a natural habitat reach and a hydropower-affected reach. Second, hydraulic simulations were performed over a range of flows using River 2D. Third, vague sets of habitat variables were individually defined based on multi-expert opinions. Fourth, we estimated the weighted similarity of the S. prenanti spawning habitat using input variables (water depth, velocity) from River 2D. Fifth, we verified the model with S. prenanti survey data. Hydraulic simulations for velocity and depth yielded accuracies of approximately 84–97% and 81–98%, respectively. The weighted similarity simulations showed that weighted similarity increased with the flow up to a threshold range of approximately 130–150m3/s; beyond this range, the weighted similarity decreased. The weighted similarity in the natural habitat reach was higher than in the restored reach at the same flow volume due to geography. The habitat similarity model provides restoration targets and thresholds for decision makers to develop a proactive conservation strategy for wetland management.

Late Holocene vegetation and fire dynamics on the summits of the Guayana Highlands: The Uei-tepui palynological record

The summits of the tepuis (sandstone table mountains of the Neotropical Guayana region—Guayana Highlands, GH) have been considered valuable for palaeoecological studies due to their pristine nature, which emphasizes the role of natural (i.e. non-human) factors on ecological change. Anthropogenic fires, very frequent in the surrounding Gran Sabana (GS) uplands, have very rarely been documented in the GH, and are therefore not considered an important ecological factor in the high-tepui biome. This paper reports the palynological and charcoal results of a Late Holocene sequence from the summit of Uei-tepui (2104m elevation), where extensive signs of fire were recently observed. Since ~2000calyr BP, the landscape of the study site has been dominated by meadows with occasional shrubs and cloud forests, which underwent expansions and contractions driven by climate changes and fire. A major vegetation shift occurred in the mid-18th century, when a sustained increase in local fires favoured the expansion of the low and spreading Cyrilla racemiflora shrublands at the expense of meadows and forests. Uei-tepui fires most probably were the result of human activities and reached the summit under study from the GS uplands through the vegetated slopes that characterize this tepui. The mostly anthropogenic nature of these fires, especially the more recent ones, is supported by the initial occurrence of wetter conditions, and by its coincidence with significant social changes in the GS indigenous populations, mainly the European contact. The emergence of fire as a disturbing agent of the GH biome highlights the need for an effective management plan in the GS uplands, where the vast majority of present-day fires originate, and designed in collaboration with the indigenous communities. Proactive conservation measures are considered even more important under future warming projections in the area.

Future land use threats to range‐restricted fish species in the United States

AbstractAimLand use change is one major threat to freshwater biodiversity, and land use change scenarios can help to assess threats from future land use change, thereby guiding proactive conservation decisions. Our goal was to identify which range‐restricted freshwater fish species are most likely to be affected by land use change and to determine where threats to these species from future land use change in the conterminous United States are most pronounced.LocationUnited States of America.MethodsWe focused on range‐restricted freshwater fish species, identified which of these species are considered threatened based on either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List or the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and compared their distributions to patterns of future land use changes by 2051 under three scenarios.ResultsWe found that 14% of the range‐restricted species had >30% of their distribution area occupied by intensive land use in 2001, and this number increased from 27 to 58% by 2051 depending on the land use scenario. Among the 57 species most likely to be strongly affected by intensive land use, only 26% of these species are currently listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, and 12% are listed as threatened under the ESA.Main conclusionsOur approach demonstrates the value of considering future land use change scenarios in extinction risk assessment frameworks and offers guidelines for how this could be achieved for future assessments.

Predicting spatial variation in grizzly bear abundance to inform conservation

Understanding the spatial structure of populations is fundamental to effective assessment, planning, and management for species conservation. Because of their sensitivity and public interest, grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are focused upon in some localized development issues and proactive conservation initiatives. Knowledge regarding the spatial context of regional grizzly bear populations is important, but often a defensible representation of probable population distribution, core areas, and connectivity is lacking. We describe the development and assessment of a regional landscape model of grizzly bear density and distribution. Our study region comprised 180,000 km2 and 20 management units of southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta. Our meta-analysis was based on data from 20 independent grizzly bear population surveys across the region. While accounting for differing design parameters among surveys, we contrasted grizzly bear detections against sampling representation relative to scale-dependent landscape factors. Our predictors pertained to the influence of climate, terrain, land cover, vegetation indices, and human activity. Associations within survey areas were consistent with ecological influences on grizzly bear foods and human influences on grizzly bear mortality risk and landscape avoidance. A multiple logistic regression model based on independent components of ecological variation fit well the data pooled across the region and within individual survey areas. Average values of detection probability among survey areas predicted population density (R2 = 0.64 or 0.79 depending on one outlier). Our results support the application of our model across southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta for assessment and planning that requires regional and local context of grizzly bear population abundance and distribution, and inference of core areas and population connections among them. For any geographic area, a population estimate can be obtained that is reflective of surveys used in the model. Spatial predictions for any defined population are likely to be more reliable than those extrapolated from tracking data of individual animals given limitations typical of such sampling. Ultimately, model output provides regional population context for environmental assessment, management, and conservation planning, nested within which should be finer-scale data and prediction where available. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

Regional Genetic Structure and Environmental Variables Influence our Conservation Approach for Feather Heads (Ptilotus macrocephalus).

Continued alterations to the Australian environment compromise the long-term viability of many plant species. We investigate the population genetics of Ptilotus macrocephalus, a perennial herb that occurs in 2 nationally endangered communities on the Victorian Volcanic Plain Bioregion (VVP), Australia, to answer key questions regarding regional differentiation and to guide conservation strategies. We evaluate genetic structure and diversity within and among 17 P. macrocephalus populations from 3 regions of southeastern Australia using 17 microsatellite markers developed de novo. Genetic structure was present in P. macrocephalus between the 3 regions but not at the population level. Environmental factors, namely temperature and precipitation, significantly explained differentiation between the North region and the other 2 regions indicating isolation by environment. Within regions, genetic structure currently shows a high level of gene flow and genetic variation. Our results suggest that within-region gene flow does not reflect current habitat fragmentation in southeastern Australia whereas temperature and precipitation are likely to be responsible for the differentiation detected among regions. Climate change may severely impact P. macrocephalus on the VVP and test its evolutionary resilience. We suggest taking a proactive conservation approach to improve long-term viability by sourcing material for restoration to assist gene flow to the VVP region to promote an increased adaptive capacity.

Coastal Management and Implementation in Taiwan

Majority of the world’s population lives close to the coast and is highly development on coastal resources, which are being exploited at unsustainable rates. Since the martial law was lifted in 1987, the government has permitted development projects in coastal areas. However, rapid growth and overexploitation have led to significant degradation of coastal environments. To protect and sustain marine ecosystem functions, species, and habitats, proactive conservation measures are needed. One of the most effective measures is the establishment of marine protected areas. The government authorities in Taiwan have already created a number of protected areas, areas of interest to protect in coastal areas and to achieve the goal as 10% MPA by 2020. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s government reorganizes to improve and streamline the administrative efficiency in recent years. As regards to the ocean authority, researchers and concern groups are recommend to establish the ocean institute to manage and enforcement the coast areas. This study focuses on the problems of the current situation of coastal areas in Taiwan. Then discuss the mechanisms and functions to establish the marine protected area to ensure sustainable marine futures and coastal governance, especially for those coastal communities who most depend on it. Finally talk about the new institute Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) in the coming future in Taiwan.

A global assessment of current and future biodiversity vulnerability to habitat loss–climate change interactions

Habitat loss is the greatest threat to biodiversity and rapid, human-forced climate change is likely to exacerbate this. Here we present the first global assessment of current and potential future impacts on biodiversity of a habitat loss and fragmentation–climate change (HLF–CC) interaction. A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that the negative impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation have been disproportionately severe in areas with high temperatures in the warmest month and declining rainfall, although impacts also varied across vegetation types. We compiled an integrated global database of past, current and future climate variables and past vegetation loss to identify ecoregions where (i) past climate change is most likely to have exacerbated the impacts of HLF, and (ii) forecasted climate change is most likely to exacerbate the impacts of HLF in the future. We found that recent climate change is likely (probability >66%) to have exacerbated the impacts of HLF in 120 (18.5%) ecoregions. Impacted ecoregions are disproportionately biodiverse, containing over half (54.1%) of all known terrestrial amphibian, bird, mammal, and reptile species. Forecasts from the RCP8.5 emissions scenario suggest that nearly half of ecoregions globally (n=283, 43.5%) will become impacted during the 21st century. To minimize ongoing and future HLF–CC impacts on biodiversity, ecoregions where impacts are most likely must become priorities for proactive conservation actions that avoid loss of native vegetation (e.g., protected area establishment). Highly degraded ecoregions where impacts are most likely should be priorities for restoration and candidates for unconventional conservation actions (e.g. translocation of species).

Freshwater fishes of China: species richness, endemism, threatened species and conservation

AbstractAimTo compile an inventory of freshwater fish species in China, and to investigate these data to determine spatial patterns in species richness, endemism and threatened species for the purpose of facilitating conservation.LocationChinaMethodsLiterature, databases and fish collections were examined to create an inventory database of freshwater fishes of China. This list was analysed to determine species richness, endemism and threatened species.spssandoriginsoftware were used to determine relationships between these three parameters across the area and length of river basins. Coefficients of fish diversity for each major river were calculated using the Gleason Index.ResultsChinese freshwater fish fauna is comprised of 1323 species; the majority of species belong to Cypriniformes and Cyprinidae. Of 877 species endemic to China, 161 of 199 threatened species are endemic, with most classified as ‘endangered’ (85 species) or ‘vulnerable’ (70). Species endemism and the number of threatened species correlate positively with species richness. River basin area and length have no direct bearing on either species richness or endemism. The Pearl River was identified as the most species‐rich system. It also has the most endemic and threatened fish species.Main conclusionsChina's vast size, variable geography and climate influence patterns in species diversity and endemism. Its freshwater fish fauna is rich and largely endemic and a significant number of these endemic species are threatened. Dam construction, water pollution, overfishing and invasive species pose threats to native biodiversity. National assessment of threatened species is urgently needed. The Yangtze, Yellow and Pearl rivers require prioritized national protection. Environmental effects of development require serious consideration and, potentially, proactive conservation efforts and mitigation. Development on international rivers needs to consider environmental policies of all countries owning spans of the systems, particularly the wishes and concerns of nations with lower spans of a system.

Captive-breeding of captive and wild-reared Gunnison sage-grouse.

Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) distribution in North America has decreased over historical accounts and has received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. We investigated captive-breeding of a captive-flock of Gunnison sage-grouse created from individuals reared in captivity from wild-collected eggs we artificially incubated. We also introduced wild-reared individuals into captivity. Our captive-flock successfully bred and produced fertile eggs. We controlled the timing and duration of male-female breeding interactions and facilitated a semi-natural mating regime. Males established a strutting ground in captivity that females attended for mate selection. In 2010, we allowed females to establish eight nests, incubate, and hatch eggs. Females in captivity were more successful incubating nests than raising broods. Although there are many technical, financial, and logistic issues associated with captive-breeding, we recommend that federal biologists and managers work collaboratively with state wildlife agencies and consider developing a captive-flock as part of a comprehensive conservation strategy for a conservation-reliant species like the Gunnison sage-grouse. The progeny produced from a captive-rearing program could assist in the recovery if innovative approaches to translocation are part of a comprehensive proactive conservation program.

Sixty-Seven Years of Land-Use Change in Southern Costa Rica.

Habitat loss and fragmentation of forests are among the biggest threats to biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in tropical landscapes. We use the vicinity of the Las Cruces Biological Station in southern Costa Rica as a regional case study to document seven decades of land-use change in one of the most intensively studied sites in the Neotropics. Though the premontane wet forest was largely intact in 1947, a wave of immigration in 1952 initiated rapid changes over a short period. Overall forest cover was reduced during each time interval analyzed (1947–1960, 1960–1980, 1980–1997, 1997–2014), although the vast majority of forest loss (>90%) occurred during the first two time intervals (1947–1960, 1960–1980) with an annual deforestation rate of 2.14% and 3.86%, respectively. The rate dropped to <2% thereafter and has been offset by forest recovery in fallow areas more recently, but overall forest cover has continued to decline. Approximately 27.9% of the study area is forested currently. Concomitantly, the region shifted from a single contiguous forest to a series of progressively smaller forest fragments with each successive survey. A strong reduction in the amount of core habitat was paralleled by an increased proportion of edge habitat, due to the irregular shape of many forest fragments. Structural connectivity, however, remains high, with an expansive network of >100 km of linear strips of vegetation within a 3 km radius of the station, which may facilitate landscape-level movement for some species. Despite the extent of forest loss, a substantial number of regional landscape-level studies over the past two decades have demonstrated the persistence of many groups of organisms such as birds and mammals. Nonetheless, the continued decline in the quantity and quality of remaining habitat (~30% of remaining forest is secondary), as well as the threat of an extinction debt (or time lag in species loss), may result in the extirpation of additional species if more proactive conservation measures are not taken to reverse current trends–a pattern that reflects many other tropical regions the world over.

Proactive Conservation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Proactive Conservation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Wildlife habitat conservation: concepts, challenges, and solutions

is probably the most common term in ecological research. Elementary school students are introduced to the term, college students study the concept in depth, hunters make their plans based on it, nature explorers chat about the different types, and land managers spend enormous time and money modifying and restoring habitats. Although a broad swath of people now have some notion of what habitat is-opening up ample opportunity for further education and conservation-the scientific community has by and large failed to define it concretely, despite repeated attempts in the literature to come to meaningful conclusions regarding what habitat is and how we should study, manipulate, and ultimately conserve it. Wildlife Habitat Conservation presents an up-to-date review of the habitat concept, provides a scientifically rigorous definition, and emphasizes how we must focus on those critical factors contained within what we call habitat. The result is a habitat concept that promises long-term persistence of animal populations. Key concepts and items in the book include: the necessity of moving away from vague and inconsistent perspectives to more rigorous and standard conceptual definitions of wildlife and their habitat; a discussion of the essential integration of population demographics and population persistence with the concept of habitat; the importance of carry over and lag effects, behavioral processes, genetics, and species interactions to our understanding of habitat; an examination of spatiotemporal heterogeneity, realized through fragmentation, disruption to eco-evolutionary processes, and alterations to plant and animal assemblages; and, an explanation of how anthropogenic effects alter population size and distribution (isolation), genetic processes, and species diversity (including exotic plants and animals). It includes advocacy of proactive conservation and management through predictive modeling, restoration, and monitoring. Each chapter is accessibly written in a style that will be welcomed by private land owners and public resource managers at local, state, and federal levels. Also ideal for undergraduate and graduate natural resource and conservation courses, the book is organized perfectly for a one semester class. Contributors:William M. Block, Kathi L. Borgmann, J. Curtis Burkhalter, Bret A. Collier, Courtney J. Conway, Clinton W. Epps, Clinton D. Francis, Fred S. Guthery, Douglas H. Johnson, Julie L. Lockwood, Heather A. Mathewson, Kevin S. McKelvey, Michael L. Morrison, Amanda D. Rodewald, Jamie S. Sanderlin, Michael K. Schwartz, K. Shawn Smallwood, Bronson K. Strickland, Beatrice Van Horne, Lisette P. Waits, and, John A. Wiens.

Landscapes for Energy and Wildlife: Conservation Prioritization for Golden Eagles across Large Spatial Scales.

Proactive conservation planning for species requires the identification of important spatial attributes across ecologically relevant scales in a model-based framework. However, it is often difficult to develop predictive models, as the explanatory data required for model development across regional management scales is rarely available. Golden eagles are a large-ranging predator of conservation concern in the United States that may be negatively affected by wind energy development. Thus, identifying landscapes least likely to pose conflict between eagles and wind development via shared space prior to development will be critical for conserving populations in the face of imposing development. We used publically available data on golden eagle nests to generate predictive models of golden eagle nesting sites in Wyoming, USA, using a suite of environmental and anthropogenic variables. By overlaying predictive models of golden eagle nesting habitat with wind energy resource maps, we highlight areas of potential conflict among eagle nesting habitat and wind development. However, our results suggest that wind potential and the relative probability of golden eagle nesting are not necessarily spatially correlated. Indeed, the majority of our sample frame includes areas with disparate predictions between suitable nesting habitat and potential for developing wind energy resources. Map predictions cannot replace on-the-ground monitoring for potential risk of wind turbines on wildlife populations, though they provide industry and managers a useful framework to first assess potential development.

Captive-rearing of Gunnison sage-grouse from egg collection to adulthood to foster proactive conservation and recovery of a conservation-reliant species.

Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) are distributed across southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, United States. Their distribution has decreased over the past century and the species has been listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Reduced genetic diversity, small population size, and isolation may affect Gunnison sage-grouse population persistence. Population augmentation can be used to counteract or mitigate these issues, but traditional translocation efforts have yielded mixed, and mostly unsuccessful, results. Captive-rearing is a viable, although much debated, conservation approach to bolster wild conservation-reliant species. Although there have been captive-rearing efforts with greater sage-grouse (C. urophasianus), to date, no information exists about captive-rearing methods for Gunnison sage-grouse. Therefore, we investigated techniques for egg collection, artificial incubation, hatch, and captive-rearing of chicks, juveniles, subadults, and adults for Gunnison sage-grouse. In 2009 we established a captive flock that produced viable eggs. From 2009-2011, we collected and artificially incubated 206 Gunnison sage-grouse eggs from 23 wild and 14 captive females. Our hatchability was 90%. Wild-produced eggs were heavier than captive-produced eggs and lost mass similarly during incubation. We produced 148 chicks in captivity and fed them a variety of food sources (e.g. invertebrates to commercial chow). Bacterial infections were the primary cause of chick mortality, but we successfully reduced the overall mortality rate during the course of our study. Conservationists and managers should consider the utility in developing a captive-rearing program or creating a captive population as part of a proactive conservation effort for the conservation-reliant Gunnison sage-grouse.

Predicting and setting conservation priorities for Bolivian mammals based on biological correlates of the risk of decline.

The recognition that growing proportions of species worldwide are endangered has led to the development of comparative analyses to elucidate why some species are more prone to extinction than others. Understanding factors and patterns of species vulnerability might provide an opportunity to develop proactive conservation strategies. Such comparative analyses are of special concern at national scales because this is the scale at which most conservation initiatives take place. We applied powerful ensemble learning models to test for biological correlates of the risk of decline among the Bolivian mammals to understand species vulnerability at a national scale and to predict the population trend for poorly known species. Risk of decline was nonrandomly distributed: higher proportions of large-sized taxa were under decline, whereas small-sized taxa were less vulnerable. Body mass, mode of life (i.e., aquatic, terrestrial, volant), geographic range size, litter size, home range, niche specialization, and reproductive potential were strongly associated with species vulnerability. Moreover, we found interacting and nonlinear effects of key traits on the risk of decline of mammals at a national scale. Our model predicted 35 data-deficient species in decline on the basis of their biological vulnerability, which should receive more attention in order to prevent their decline. Our results highlight the relevance of comparative analysis at relatively narrow geographical scales, reveal previously unknown factors related to species vulnerability, and offer species-by-species outcomes that can be used to identify targets for conservation, especially for insufficiently known species.