Up to half of plant and animal species in the world's most naturally rich areas, such as the Amazon and the Galapagos, could face local extinction by the turn of the century due to climate change if carbon emissions continue to rise unchecked.

East Africa elephants [Credit: WWF]

Even if the Paris Climate Agreement 2°C target is met, these places could lose 25% of their species according to a landmark new study by the University of East Anglia (UK), the James Cook University (Australia), and WWF.

Published today in the journal Climatic Change and just ahead of Earth Hour, the world's largest environmental event, researchers examined the impact of climate change on nearly 80,000 plant and animal species in 35 of the world's most diverse and naturally wildlife-rich areas.

It explores a number of different climate change futures - from a no-emissions-cuts case in which global mean temperatures rise by 4.5°C , to a 2°C rise, the upper limit for temperature in the Paris Agreement . Each area was chosen for its uniqueness and the variety of plants and animals found there.

The report finds that the Miombo Woodlands, home to African wild dogs, south-west Australia and the Amazon-Guianas are projected to be some the most affected areas. If there was a 4.5°C global mean temperature rise, the climates in these areas are projected to become unsuitable for many the plants and animals that currently live there meaning:

• - Up to 90% of amphibians, 86% of birds and 80% of mammals could potentially become locally extinct in the Miombo Woodlands, Southern Africa
• - The Amazon could lose 69% of its plant species
• - In south-west Australia 89% of amphibians could become locally extinct
• - 60% of all species are at risk of localised extinction in Madagascar
• - The Fynbos in the Western Cape Region of South Africa, which is experiencing a drought that has led to water shortages in Cape Town, could face localised extinctions of a third of its species, many of which are unique to that region.
• 
  

Verreaux's sifaka in Madagascar [Credit: WWF]

As well as this, increased average temperatures and more erratic rainfall could become be the "new normal" according to the report - with significantly less rainfall in the Mediterranean, Madagascar and the Cerrado-Pantanal in Argentina. Potential effects include;

• - Pressure on the water supplies of African elephants - who need to drink 150-300 litres of water a day
• - 96% of the breeding grounds of Sundarbans tigers could become submerged by sea-level rise
• - Comparatively fewer male marine turtles due to temperature-induced sex assignment of eggs.

If species can move freely to new locations then the risk of local extinction decreases from around 25% to 20% with a 2°C global mean temperature rise. If species cannot they may not be able to survive. Most plants, amphibians and reptiles, such as orchids, frogs and lizards cannot move quickly enough keep up with these climatic changes.

Lead researcher Prof Rachel Warren from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA said: "Our research quantifies the benefits of limiting global warming to 2°C for species in 35 of the world's most wildlife-rich areas. We studied 80,000 species of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians and found that 50% of species could be lost from these areas without climate policy. However, if global warming is limited to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, this could be reduced to 25%. Limiting warming to within 1.5°C was not explored, but would be expected to protect even more wildlife."

Overall the research shows that the best way to protect against species loss is to keep global temperature rise as low as possible.

The Paris Agreement pledges to reduce the expected level of global warming from 4.5°C to around 3°C, which reduces the impacts, but we see even greater improvements at 2°C; and it is likely that limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C would protect more wildlife.

A giant panda from the Yangtze River area [Credit: WWF]

This is why on 24 March millions of people across the world will come together for Earth Hour, to show their commitment to reducing global emissions and protecting people and wildlife from the impacts of climate change. The event also sends a clear message to business and government that there is a global will to change this trajectory.

Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF commented: "Within our children's lifetime, places like the Amazon and Galapagos Islands could become unrecognisable, with half the species that live there wiped out by human-caused climate change. Around the world, beautiful iconic animals like Amur tigers or Javan rhinos are at risk of disappearing, as well as tens of thousands plants and smaller creatures that are the foundation of all life on earth. That is why this Earth Hour we are asking everyone to make a promise for the planet and make the everyday changes to protect our planet."

The models used in this research come from the Wallace Initiative, a near decade long partnership between the Tyndall Centre at UEA, eResearch at James Cook University, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and WWF.

Dr Jeff Price, coordinator of the Wallace Initiative and also from UEA, said: "This research provides a view on the differing spatial impacts of climate change on biodiversity. It shows the benefits of combining citizen science with the research and resources of highly-ranked universities to assist an NGO with their conservation activities."

Source: University of East Anglia [March 13, 2018]

Poaching and habitat loss have reduced forest elephant populations in Central Africa by 63 percent since 2001. This widespread killing poses dire consequences not only for the species itself but also for the region's forests, a new Duke University study finds.

Populations of forests elephants, which play key roles in maintaining forest habitat, have declined 63 percent in Central Africa since 2001. Without intervention to prevent further losses, 96 percent of the region's forests could undergo major change [Credit: John Poulsen, Duke University]

"Without intervention to stop poaching, as much as 96 percent of Central Africa's forests will undergo major changes in tree-species composition and structure as local populations of elephants are extirpated and surviving populations are crowded into ever-smaller forest remnants," said John Poulsen, assistant professor of tropical ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

These changes will occur because elephants are ecological engineers that help create and maintain forest habitat by dispersing seeds, recycling and spreading nutrients, and clearing understories, Poulsen explained.

"Because they are very large animals, they can eat fruits and disperse seeds too big for other animals to digest. And because they are highly mobile, they help disperse these seeds far and wide through their dung," he said.

In the elephants' absence, scores of tree species may be left without a means of long-distance seed dispersal, which is essential for forest structure and colonization. Trees whose seeds are dispersed by smaller animals could fill the void, dramatically altering forest composition.

Fewer elephants will also mean a more limited distribution of the nutrients contained in their dung.

"Many of Central Africa's forests are nitrogen limited. Elephants help compensate by moving nutrients, especially nitrogen, across the landscape as they defecate. If populations continue to shrink, this nitrogen will be concentrated in smaller and smaller areas, limiting future tree growth elsewhere," Poulsen said.

Understory density will also be affected.

"Elephants have a large effect on forests by eating or trampling slow-growing plants and opening the understory, allowing more light in and reducing competition for water and nutrients," Poulsen said. "These changes alter the recruitment regimes of tree species -- favoring some and not others."

He and his colleagues published their peer-reviewed study in the journal Conservation Biology.

To conduct their analysis, they reviewed 158 previous studies on forest elephant behaviors and their cascading ecological impacts. By cross-referencing these impacts with data on local elephant populations, forest tree-species composition and structure, nutrient availability, and understory growth in existing Central African forests -- both protected and unprotected ones alike -- Poulsen and his team determined that up to 96 percent of all forests in the region were susceptible to dramatic changes if elephant populations shrank or disappeared.

"Stopping poaching is an urgently needed first step to mitigating these effects," he said, "but it will not be easy. Long-term conservation will require land-use planning that incorporates elephant habitat into forested landscapes that are being rapidly transformed by industrial agriculture and logging."

Source: Duke University [March 12, 2018]

A new study has confirmed that the world's last breeding population of leopards in Cambodia is at immediate risk of extinction, having declined an astonishing 72% during a five-year period. The population represents the last remaining leopards in all of eastern Indochina -- a region incorporating Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

One of Cambodia's last leopards [Credit: Susan Weller, Panthera]

The report was published this month in the Royal Society Open Science journal by Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Panthera -- the global wild cat conservation organization, WWF-Cambodia, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Forestry Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia.

Carried out in Cambodia's Eastern Plains Landscape, the study revealed one of the lowest concentrations of leopards ever reported in Asia, with a density of one individual per 100 square kilometers. Increased poaching, especially indiscriminate snaring for the illegal wildlife trade and bushmeat, is to blame for the dramatic decline.

Panthera Southeast Asia Leopard Program Coordinator and study coauthor, Dr. Jan Kamler, stated, "This population represents the last glimmer of hope for leopards in all of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam -- a subspecies on the verge of blinking out. No longer can we, as an international community, overlook conservation of this unique wild cat."

Kamler continued, "As the world gathers to celebrate World Wildlife Day this Saturday, we must band together in action, not just in words, to curb the epidemic of poaching facing this gorgeous big cat and others around the globe."

Professor David Macdonald, Director of the WildCRU and also a co-author, added "Leopards are a monument to opportunism, adapting to habitats from desert to urban jungle, but their adaptability risks a deadly complacency: people think -- "oh, leopards will be fine." They won't! Almost everywhere they are doing worse than people thought, and our findings show that in SE Asia they are heading for catastrophe."

In addition to these somber results, scientists were shocked to discover that the primary prey of leopards was banteng -- a wild species of cattle weighing up to 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds). In particular, male leopards targeted this large ungulate, making this the only known leopard population in the world whose main prey weighed greater than 500 kg (1,100 pounds), more than five times the leopard's mass.

Scientists believe the Indochinese leopards' new choice of prey was triggered by the extirpation of tigers from the region in 2009, which created a predatory void for the opportunistic and highly adaptable species.

Prompted by the study's findings, Panthera and WildCRU are working with local and national collaborators to increase effective law enforcement and monitoring of this region, which will include the use of Panthera PoacherCams, and strengthen environmental laws to develop strictly protected conservation zones and increased fines for poachers.

Historically found throughout all of Southeast Asia, the Indochinese leopard has lost 95% of its range and is likely to be classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN later this year. A separate study recently authored by WildCRU, Panthera and partners estimates just over 1,000 breeding adult Indochinese leopards remain in all of Southeast Asia. However, just 20-30 reproductive individuals remain in eastern Cambodia, representing the last hope for the leopard's future in eastern Indochina.

Poaching for bushmeat and the illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss, prey decline due to bushmeat poaching, and conflict with people are to blame, creating a deadly cocktail of threats facing leopards in Asia, and around the globe.

WildCRU scientist and lead author, Susana Rostro-Garcia, stated, "Much of the snaring in Cambodia, and across Southeast Asia, is driven by the rising demand for bushmeat. Wild landscapes are covered with thousands of snares set to catch wild pig and deer to supply bushmeat markets. Unfortunately, these snares also negatively impact many other species, with leopards and other wildlife often caught as by catch, and their valuable parts removed and sold to illegal wildlife traders."

In particular, as tiger numbers plummet due to poaching pressure, leopard skins and other body parts are increasingly coveted for use as status symbols and in traditional Asian medicines sold through the illegal wildlife trade.

Source: Panthera [March 01, 2018]

Rainforest loss is fuelling a tsunami of tropical species extinctions. However, not all is doom and gloom. A new study, conducted in the Brazilian Amazon, suggests that ecological cataclysms prompted by the fragmentation of the forest can be reverted by the regeneration of secondary forests, offering a beacon of hope for tropical forest biodiversity across the world.

Credit: Mark Moffett/ Minden Pictures/National Geographic Stock

The international team of researchers found that species strongly associated with primary forest were heavily depleted after 15 years of man-made disruption including the burning and clearing of forest stands,

However, 30 years down the line, and with the regeneration of secondary regrowth, many of the species that had abandoned the area had made a comeback.

"If you compare the time periods, it is apparent that taking a long-term view is paramount to uncovering the complexity of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes," said senior researcher Dr. Christoph Meyer, lecturer in global ecology and conservation at the University of Salford.

The study, published in Nature: Scientific Reports, measured the impacts of forest break-up of 50 species of bat (approx. 6,000 animals).

Bats comprise roughly one fifth of all mammal species and display wide variation in foraging behaviour and habitat use, making them an excellent model group for the research.

"The responses exhibited by bats offer important insights into the responses of other taxonomic groups." says Ricardo Rocha, lead author of the study from the University of Lisbon.

"The recovery that we have documented mirrors the patterns observed for beetle and bird communities within the Amazon.

"These parallel trends reinforce the idea that the benefits of forest regeneration are widespread, and suggest that habitat restoration can ameliorate some of the harm inflicted by humans on tropical wildlife", he adds.

The results of the current study contrast with the catastrophic faunal declines observed during a similar time window in rodent communities in the 'forest islands' of the Chiew Larn reservoir in Thailand.

"The recovery observed at the Amazon was mostly due to the recolonization of previously deforested areas and forest fragments by old-growth specialist bats. This recolonization is likely attributable to an increased diversity and abundance of food resources in areas now occupied by secondary forest, fulfilling the energetic requirements of a larger set of species", explains Rocha.

However, the short-term nature of most studies has substantially impaired the capacity of researchers to properly capture the intricate time-related complexities associated with the effects of forest fragmentation on wildlife.

Source: University of Salford [February 28, 2018]

More than 70 percent of the global King penguin population, currently forming colonies in Crozet, Kerguelen and Marion sub-Antarctic islands, may be nothing more than a memory in a matter of decades, as global warming will soon force the birds to move south, or disappear. This is the conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change and performed by an international team of researchers.

More than 70 percent of the global King penguin population may be nothing more than a memory in a matter of decades,  as global warming will soon force the birds to move south, or disappear [Credit: Robin Cristofari]

"The main issue is that there is only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean and not all of them are suitable to sustain large breeding colonies" says Robin Cristofari, first author of the study, from the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC/CNRS/University of Strasbourg) and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM).

King penguins are in fact picky animals: in order to form a colony where they can mate, lay eggs and rear chicks over a year, they need tolerable temperature all year round, no winter sea ice around the island, and smooth beach of sand or pebbles. But, above all, they need an abundant and reliable source of food close by to feed their chicks. For millennia, this seabird has relied on the Antarctic Polar Front, an upwelling front in the Southern Ocean concentrating enormous amounts of fish on a relatively small area.

Yet, due to climate change, this area is drifting south, away from the islands where most King penguins currently live. Parents are then forced to swim farther to find food, while their progeny is waiting, fasting longer and longer on the shore. This study predicts that, for most colonies, the length of the parents' trips to get food will soon exceed the resistance to starvation of their offspring, leading to massive King penguin crashes in population size, or, hopefully, relocation.

King penguins are picky animals [Credit: Celine LeBohec]

Using the information hidden away in the penguin's genome, the research team has reconstructed the changes in the worldwide King penguin population throughout the last 50,000 years, and discovered that past climatic changes, causing shifts in marine currents, sea-ice distribution and Antarctic Polar Front location, have always been linked to critical episodes for the King penguins. However, hope is not lost yet: King penguins have already survived such crises several times (the last time was 20 thousand years ago), and they may be particularly good at it.

"Extremely low values in indices of genetic differentiation told us that all colonies are connected by a continuous exchange of individuals," says Emiliano Trucchi formerly at the University of Vienna and now at the University of Ferrara, one of the coordinator of the study. "In other words, King penguins seem to be able to move around quite a lot to find the safest breeding locations when things turn grim."

But there is a major difference this time: for the first time in the history of penguins, human activities are leading to rapid and/or irreversible changes in the Earth system, and remote areas are no exception. In addition to the strongest impact of climate change in Polar Regions, Southern Ocean is now subject to industrial fishing, and penguins may soon have a very hard time fighting for their food.

Penguins form colonies in Crozet, Kerguelen and Marion sub-Antarctic islands [Credit: Celine LeBohec]

"There are still some islands further south where King penguins may retreat," notes Celine Le Bohec (IPHC/CNRS/University of Strasbourg and CSM), leader of the programme 137 of the French Polar Institut Paul-Emile Victor within which the study was initiated, "but the competition for breeding sites and for food will be harsh, especially with the other penguin species like the Chinstrap, Gentoo or Adelie penguins, even without the fisheries. It is difficult to predict the outcome, but there will surely be losses on the way. If we want to save anything, proactive and efficient conservation efforts but, above all, coordinated global action against global warming should start now."

Source: University of Vienna [February 26, 2018]

Over a 16-year period, about half of the orangutans living on the island of Borneo were lost as a result of changes in land cover. That's according to estimates reported in Current Biology showing that more than 100,000 of the island's orangutans disappeared between 1999 and 2015.

A Bornean orangutan [Credit: Marc Ancrenaz]

Many of those losses were apparently driven by the demand for logging, oil palm, mining, paper, and associated deforestation. However, many orangutans have also disappeared from more intact, forested areas, the researchers say. Those findings suggest that hunting and other direct conflicts between orangutans and people remain a major threat to the species.

"The decline in population density was most severe in areas that were deforested or transformed for industrial agriculture, as orangutans struggle to live outside forest areas," says Maria Voigt of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Worryingly, however, the largest number of orangutans were lost from areas that remained forested during the study period. This implies a large role of killing."

To estimate changes in the size of the orangutan population over time, Voigt, along with Serge Wich from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and their colleagues representing 38 international institutions, compiled field surveys conducted from 1999 to 2015. They extrapolated the overall size of the island's population from the number of orangutan nests observed throughout the species' range in Borneo.

This photograph shows where Bornean forest was cleared for road development  [Credit: Marc Ancrenaz]

All told, the team observed 36,555 nests. They estimated a loss of 148,500 Bornean orangutans between 1999 and 2015.The data also suggest that only 38 of the 64 identified spatially separated groups of orangutans (known as metapopulations) now include more than 100 individuals, which is the accepted lower limit to be considered viable.

In order to identify the likely causes of those losses, the researchers relied on maps of estimated land-cover change over the same period that have been made possible by advances in remote sensing technology. The comparison of orangutan and habitat losses suggests that land clearance caused the most dramatic rates of decline. However, a much larger number of orangutans were lost in selectively logged and primary forests. That's because while the rates of decline were less precipitous in those areas, that's also where far more orangutans are found, the researchers explain.

By 2015, they report, about half of the orangutans estimated to live on Borneo in 1999 were found in areas in which resource use has since caused significant changes to the environment. Based on predicted future losses of forest cover and the assumption that orangutans ultimately cannot survive outside forest areas, the researchers predict that over 45,000 more orangutans will be lost over the next 35 years.

This photograph shows where Bornean forest was cleared for a factory  [Credit: Marc Ancrenaz]

They say that effective partnerships with logging companies and other industries are now essential to the Bornean orangutan's survival. Public education and awareness will also be key.

"Orangutans are flexible and can survive to some extent in a mosaic of forests, plantations, and logged forest, but only when they are not killed," Wich says. "So, in addition to protection of forests, we need to focus on addressing the underlying causes of orangutan killing. The latter requires public awareness and education, more effective law enforcement, and also more studies as to why people kill orangutans in the first place."

They note that Indonesia and Malaysia are both currently developing long-term action plans for orangutan conservation. By taking into account past failures, the hope is that new strategies to protect orangutans can be developed and implemented.

Source: Cell Press [February 15, 2018]

As winters arrive later and snow melts earlier, the worldwide decrease in snow cover already may have dramatic impacts on animals that change coat colors with the seasons. An international scientific team led by University of Montana Professor L. Scott Mills has set out to discover whether adaptive evolution can rescue these animals in the face of rapidly changing climate.

Brown and white snowshoe hares on snow at a University of Montana research facility [Credit: L.S. Mills research photos by Jaco and Lindsey Barnard]

Twenty-one species of mammals and birds rely on the ability to change their coat color from brown in summer to white in winter to avoid fatal encounters with predators, but in some parts of their range individuals forgo the white molt and remain brown in winter.

"Weasels in the southern U.S. and mountain hares in Ireland, for example, have evolved to remain brown year-round," Mills said. "This is a genetic adaptation to retain camouflage in areas where snow is intermittent or sparse."

Mills' group previously found that winter white snowshoe hares confronting snowless ground have higher mortality rates that could drive massive population declines as snow duration continues to decrease. Other scientists have pointed to coat-color mismatch against snowless ground as a cause for recent range decreases of hares, ptarmigan and other species.

Brown and white snowshoe hares on bare ground at a University of Montana research facility [Credit: L.S. Mills research photos by Jaco and Lindsey Barnard]

In a new article in Science, Mills' team identified areas that could foster rapid "evolutionary rescue" of these species particularly vulnerable to climate change. The study describes how the international team mapped "polymorphic zones" for eight color-changing species, including hares, weasels and the Arctic fox. In these zones, both brown and white individuals coexist in winter.

"These areas hold the special sauce for rapid evolutionary rescue," Mills said. "Because they contain winter-brown individuals better adapted to shorter winters, these polymorphic populations are primed to promote rapid evolution toward being winter brown instead of white as climate changes."

The authors emphasize that these hotspots for evolutionary rescue are not magic fortresses that will prevent climate change effects on wild animals.

"Ultimately, the world must reduce carbon dioxide emissions or else the climate effects will overwhelm the ability of many species to adapt," co-author Eugenia Bragina said. "But by mapping these adaptive hotspots, we identify places where people could help foster evolutionary rescue in the short term by working to maintain large and connected wildlife populations."

Source: The University of Montana [February 15, 2018]

On a certain level, extinction is all about energy. Animals move over their surroundings like pacmen, chomping up resources to fuel their survival. If they gain a certain energy threshold, they reproduce, essentially earning an extra life. If they encounter too many empty patches, they starve, and by the end of the level it's game over.

In classic extinction models, animals move over their surroundings like pacmen, chomping up resources to fuel their survival [Credit: Laura Chambliss/Studio Yopp]

Models for extinction risk are necessarily simple. Most reduce complex ecological systems to a linear relationship between resource density and population growth -- something that can be broadly applied to infer how much resource loss a species can survive.

This week in Nature Communications, an interdisciplinary team of scientists proposes a more nuanced model for extinction that also shows why animal species tend to evolve toward larger body sizes. The Nutritional State-structured Model (NSM) by ecologist Justin Yeakel (UC Merced), biologist Chris Kempes (Santa Fe Institute), and physicist Sidney Redner (Santa Fe Institute) incorporates body size and metabolic scaling into an extinction model where 'hungry' or 'full' animals, great and small, interact and procreate on a landscape with limited resources.

"Unlike many previous forager models, this one accounts for body size and metabolic scaling," Kempes explains. "It allows for predictions about extinction risk, and also gives us a systematic way of assessing how far populations are from their most stable states."

In the NSM, hungry animals are susceptible to mortality, and only full animals have the capacity to reproduce. Because animals' energetic needs change with body size, the researchers based their calculations for replenishment and reproduction on biological scaling laws that relate body size to metabolism.

They found that species of different sizes gravitate toward population states most stable against extinction. The states they derived in the model reproduce two oft-observed patterns in biology. The first, Damuth's law, is an inverse relationship between body size and population density: the bigger the species, the fewer of individuals cohabitate in a given area. Within the NSM, this fewer/larger more/smaller pattern emerges because large species are most stable against starvation in small numbers, while small species can afford to reach larger population densities.

The second relationship, Cope's rule, holds that terrestrial mammals tend to evolve toward larger body sizes. This NSM shows that, overall, larger animals with slower metabolisms are the most stable against extinction by starvation. It even predicts an energetically "ideal" mammal, robust in the face of starvation, which would be 2.5 times the size of an African elephant.

"As we incorporated more realism into how quickly organisms gain or lose body fat as they find or don't find resources, the results of our model began aligning with large-scale ecological and evolutionary relationships. Most surprising was the observation that the NSM accurately predicts the maximum mammalian body size observed in the fossil record," explains Yeakel. Though the model doesn't account for predation, it does offer a dynamic and systematic framework for understanding how foragers survive on limited resources.

"The dynamics of foraging and the interaction of body size in foraging and resource availability, these are all rich problems for which there is beautiful phenomenology," says Redner. "I hope some of this will have relevance in managing resources and ensuring species don't go extinct."

Source: Santa Fe Institute [February 13, 2018]

Ongoing monitoring of wild Tasmanian devils shows that overall population numbers are continuing to decline, due to the presence of devil facial tumour disease. Results of this research--conducted by the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program (STDP) in collaboration with staff from the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (DPIPWE), San Diego Zoo Global, Toledo Zoo and the University of Tasmania--were published this month in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Two healthy Tasmanian devils relaxing at Tasmania Zoo. Alongside the facial tumor disease, Tasmanian devils are impacted by issues such as bushfires and changes in ecosystem [Credit: Phillip Biggs]

Tasmanian devils face extinction in the wild because of devil facial tumor disease, a rare, contagious cancer found only in devils. It is transmitted from one animal to another through biting, a common behavior among devils when mating and feeding. The disease kills all infected devils within 6 to 12 months, and there is no known cure or vaccine. Lead author Billie Lazenby, Ph.D., wildlife biologist with the STDP, indicated that research of devil densities at monitoring sites, together with spotlight counts around the state, show that populations have decreased by about 80 percent following the emergence of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD).

"While the number of Tasmanian devils in the wild continues to decline and DFTD is spreading, to date, devils are still found in the wild in Tasmania," she said. "We are now dealing with very small and potentially isolated groups of devils across Tasmania. The ongoing impact of DFTD, which continues to cause high mortality in devils, could make them vulnerable to other threats."

Research further indicates that remaining wild populations are showing slight reproductive changes, possibly in response to the challenges posed by the disease. "Devils in diseased areas are now breeding younger and having more pouch young, which has allowed them to persist at low levels in the wild," said Mathias Tobler, Ph.D., Population Sustainability scientist with San Diego Zoo Global. "This research has shown the structure of the wild devil populations in diseased areas has shifted dramatically, with devils over the age of 2 being very rare, compared to sites before DFTD emerged. Earlier breeding in young devils means that they are contracting DFTD younger, often as 1-year-olds."

Although these reproductive shifts are allowing the populations of this species to maintain, the overall reduction may indicate that the species is at greater risk of extinction due to other factors. "While devils have persisted to date in the wild, such large reductions in their numbers and the change in their age structure means their populations are impacted more by other threats, such as roadkill, bushfire, loss of genetic diversity, variation in food availability caused by drought and changes in the ecosystem as it responds to the loss of devils in the wild," said David Pemberton, Ph.D., STDP program manager and senior author. "Efforts to manage the devils, such as the development of an immunotherapy, are ongoing, but remain in a research-and-development phase."

Tasmanian devils are listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. They are native to the island state of Tasmania, which is part of Australia, where they live in forest, woodland and agricultural areas. Tasmanian devils are nocturnal hunters and use their keen senses of smell and hearing to find prey or carrion. They can give off a fierce snarl and high-pitched scream, which can be heard at feeding time, to establish dominance. San Diego Zoo Global is working with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program and zoos and universities in Australia to create disease-free populations of this species, to ensure the species does not go extinct.

Source: Zoological Society of San Diego [February 12, 2018]

The lion population of Zimbabwe's Savé Valley Conservancy shows low genetic diversity despite improved numbers, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Laura Tensen from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and colleagues based in the Savé Valley Conservancy.

Lion (Panthera leo) [Credit: Regina Hart, Flickr]

The African lion (Panthera leo) population in the Savé Valley Conservancy of the Lowveld region of Zimbabwe fell to less than ten known individuals, until the 2005 introduction of ten new lions helped it recover to around 200 in 2016. But since this population originated from just a few individuals, there are concerns about potential low genetic diversity due to inbreeding. The authors of the present study genotyped a sample of 42 Savé Valley lions, using mitochondrial and nuclear markers to compare the genetic diversity of this population to that of other African lion populations.

The researchers found that the Savé Valley lion population appears to be the least genetically diverse of those in Zimbabwe's Lowveld region, with evidence of inbreeding. The population also appeared genetically distinct from others, likely because factors such as human development may have prevented the populations mixing.

Lion populations with low genetic diversity are known to be at risk for reduced fertility and increased death rates compared to more diverse populations. Given their findings, the authors suggest the introduction of new unrelated lions into the Savé Valley population may become necessary to enhance its genetic diversity and ensure its long-term future.

Source: Public Library of Science [February 07, 2018]

A new study finds polar bears in the wild have higher metabolic rates than previously thought, and as climate change alters their environment a growing number of bears are unable to catch enough prey to meet their energy needs.

Adult female polar bear on the sea ice wearing a GPS satellite video-camera collar. GPS video-camera collars were applied to solitary adult female polar bears for 8 to 12 days in April, 2014-2016. These collars enabled researchers to understand the movements, behaviors, and foraging success of polar bears on the sea ice [Credit: Anthony Pagano, USGS]

The study, published in Science, reveals the physiological mechanisms behind observed declines in polar bear populations, said first author Anthony Pagano, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Santa Cruz.

"We've been documenting declines in polar bear survival rates, body condition, and population numbers over the past decade," he said. "This study identifies the mechanisms that are driving those declines by looking at the actual energy needs of polar bears and how often they're able to catch seals."

Pagano, who is also a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), conducted the study as part of his Ph.D. thesis research at UC Santa Cruz, where he has been working with coauthors Terrie Williams and Daniel Costa, both professors of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers monitored the behavior, hunting success, and metabolic rates of adult female polar bears without cubs as they hunted for prey on the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea in the spring. High-tech collars on the bears recorded video, locations, and activity levels over a period of eight to 11 days, while metabolic tracers enabled the team to determine how much energy the bears expended.

The field metabolic rates they measured averaged more than 50 percent higher than previous studies had predicted. Five of the nine bears in the study lost body mass, meaning they weren't catching enough fat-rich marine mammal prey to meet their energy demands.

"This was at the start of the period from April through July when polar bears catch most of their prey and put on most of the body fat they need to sustain them throughout the year," Pagano said.

Polar bear still-hunting at a seal hole on the sea ice of the southern Beaufort Sea [Credit: Mike Lockhart, USGS]

Climate change is having dramatic effects on the Arctic sea ice, forcing polar bears to move greater distances and making it harder for them to catch prey. In the Beaufort Sea, sea ice starts to retreat away from the continental shelf in July, and most of the bears move north on the ice as it retreats. As the Arctic warms and more sea ice melts, the bears are having to move much greater distances than previously. This causes them to expend more energy during the summer, when they are fasting until the ice returns to the continental shelf in the fall.

In other areas, such as Hudson Bay, most bears move onto land when the sea ice retreats. There, Arctic warming means the sea ice is breaking up earlier in the summer and returning later in the fall, forcing bears to spend more time on land.

"Either way, it's an issue of how much fat they can put on before the ice starts to break up, and then how much energy are they having to expend," Pagano said.

Previous studies had tried to estimate polar bear metabolic rates and energy expenditures based on some assumptions about their behavior and physiology. For example, since polar bears are primarily "sit and wait" hunters, it was thought this would minimize their energy expenditure during hunting. Researchers also speculated that polar bears could lower their metabolic rate to save energy if they were not successful catching seals, Pagano said.

"We found that polar bears actually have much higher energy demands than predicted. They need to be catching a lot of seals," he said.

In the spring, polar bears are mostly preying on recently weaned ringed seals, which are more susceptible to being caught than adult seals. By the fall, the young seals are older and wiser, and polar bears are not able to catch as many. "It's thought that bears might catch a couple per month in the fall, compared to five to 10 per month in the spring and early summer," Pagano said.

USGS researchers have been studying polar bears in the Beaufort Sea area since the 1980s. Their most recent population estimate indicates the polar bear population has declined by about 40 percent over the past decade. It has been difficult, however, for researchers to study the fundamental biology and behavior of polar bears in this very remote and harsh environment, Pagano said.

"We now have the technology to learn how they are moving on the ice, their activity patterns, and their energy needs, so we can better understand the implications of these changes we are seeing in the sea ice," he said.

Author: Tim Stephens | Source: University of California - Santa Cruz [February 01, 2018]

Together with their colleagues from the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, scientists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) were able to show that currently widespread insects are threatened with a serious decline in species diversity in the near future. The research team lists the fragmentation of habitats and the intensification of agriculture as reasons for the decline of these "generalists."

This is Hawkblossom Polyommatus icarus, one of the most common blue owls with rapidly declining populations [Credit: J. Habel/TUM]

According to the study, published today in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, the genetic diversity among the examined butterfly species is also expected to decline sharply in the future - as a result, the insects will become more sensitive to environmental changes.

The number of insects continues to decrease - in some regions, a dramatic decline by up to 75 percent has been recorded in recent decades. "Until now, we assumed that it is primarily the specialists among the insects, i.e., animals that depend on a specific habitat, that are threatened with extinction," explains Professor Dr. Thomas Schmitt, director of the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute in Muncheberg, and he continues, "In our recent study, we were able to show that even so-called "ubiquitous species" will be facing massive threats in the future."

In its study, the team of scientists explains that species with low habitat requirements depend on the exchange between different populations. "Our studies clearly show that widespread species have a much more diverse intraspecific gene pool than species that are adapted to a specific habitat," explains Dr. Jan Christian Habel of the Technical University in Munich, and he continues, "Once these animals - due to the fragmentation of their habitats - lose the opportunity to maintain this genetic diversity by means of exchange, they will no longer be able to adapt to changing environmental conditions in the future."

The insect researchers from Munich and Muncheberg refer to a "temporal shift in the potential causes for the decline of species." Initially, it is primarily those insects that specialize in a particular ecosystem, e.g., the Mountain Apollo (Parnassius apollo) butterfly, which will be threatened by the loss of high-quality habitats. But over time and with the further deterioration of habitats as well as the collapse of entire habitat networks, the threat to widespread, "undemanding" species such as the Pearly Heath (Coenonympha arcania) also increases.

"In terms of practical nature conservation, these results signify that in the future it will no longer be sufficient to preserve small, isolated reserves - while these benefit specialized species with a simple genetic structure, the bulk of species that depend on an exchange between local populations will lose out in the medium to long term," predicts Schmitt, and he adds in closing, "This will lead to a further decline of numerous insect species - with dramatic consequences for entire food webs and ecosystems."

Source: Technical University of Munich [February 01, 2018]

Clues in the DNA of endangered blue whales – the largest living animal – has shown that Australia is home to one population that likely travels widely and is adapted to a range of environmental conditions.

Credit: Flinders University

Blue whales are at this moment in Australian waters taking advantage of the abundance of krill that occurs during the summer.

They feed typically in waters off Cape Jaffa (east of Adelaide) to Cape Otway (west of Melbourne) and also in waters west of Rottnest Island in Western Australia.

However, these giants will not stay long: they will soon be migrating north to spend the winter in warmer waters around Indonesia, and will return again next summer.

"The question remains whether the blue whales using Australian waters are one, interbreeding population, or are multiple populations that may have different adaptations to different environmental conditions," says Dr. Catherine Attard, a member of a team of scientists from Flinders University who set out to answer this question with their collaborators the Centre for Whale Research in Western Australia and the Blue Whale Study in Victoria.

Credit: Flinders University

"Confirming their number of populations is key to appropriate management of this endangered species. It will allow pinpointing which populations may be threatened by human activities occurring in particular geographic regions," says Dr. Attard

Just as family members are genetically similar to each other, individuals from the same population are also genetically similar to each other, and so DNA can be used to identify populations. DNA can also help tell us whether blue whales from different localties are adapted to different environmental conditions.

"We found using DNA collected from wild animals that the blue whales in Australia – whether they are feeding in waters off South Australia and Victoria, or off Western Australia – are all one population and likely adapted to a range of environments.

Credit: Flinders University

"This means the same population is exposed to human activities occurring across a wide range of locations. For example, the blue whales feeding in Western Australia may be impacted by human activities occurring as far away as Victoria as they are all part of the same population," says Dr. Attard, a lecturer in molecular ecology at Flinders University.

Blue whales are still recovering from 20th century whaling and are listed in Australian legislation as endangered. The Australian Government has a conservation management plan for the species that aims to minimise human-induced threats to allow the recovery of blue whales.

"Good conservation practices use scientific information from, for example, genetic, acoustic, and visual surveys to improve the protection of endangered species. We have provided one more piece of the puzzle that will continue a strong scientific basis for the conservation of blue whales," says Dr. Attard.

The study has been published in Royal Society Open Science.

Source: Flinders University [January 31, 2018]

To shine light on and conserve rare shark, ray, and chimaera species (chondrichthyans), SFU researchers have developed a fully-resolved family tree and ranked every species according to the unique evolutionary history they account for.

Biological diversity in the Top 20 imperiled species. Sawfish are characterized by their long rostra with teeth that they use to stun prey; Basking sharks are filter feeders; Broadnose sevengill sharks are members of a small  lineage of temperate cold-water species; and Hornsharks are small coastal species that feed on hard bodied prey and lay eggs in the crevices of shallow reefs [Credit: D. Wackenfelt, G. Skomal, JNP Nuñez, DR Roberson]

"While we've all heard of white sharks and manta rays, how many of us have heard of the Colclough's shark or the sharkray?" asks Christopher Mull, an SFU postdoctoral fellow and one of the study's lead authors. "Most shark and ray species are underappreciated because they aren't featured in the popular media, but they often play important biological, sociological, or economic roles and deserve conservation attention."

By quantifying how much unique evolutionary history a species accounts for (also known as their evolutionary distinctness), the researchers discovered that the extinction of a single shark or ray species would prune an average of 26 million years of distinct evolutionary history from the shark and ray tree of life. That's twice the amount for an average mammal and more than four times that for an average bird.

"We were excited to see that the most evolutionarily distinct shark and ray species included a diversity of forms and functions," says SFU biological sciences professor Nick Dulvy, a senior author of the study. "Everything from deep-water and filter-feeding sharks to electric rays and sawfish rose to the top as being particularly evolutionarily distinct."

A representative fully resolved tree containing all 1,192 species of sharks, rays, and chimaeras. Coloured branches represent ED [Credit: Myr]

Taking this a step further to better focus efforts in marine conservation, the authors combined evolutionary distinctness with range maps to understand how shark and ray evolutionary history is distributed throughout the oceans. The researchers identified five priority hotspots for shark and ray conservation:

(1) southwest Atlantic Ocean,

(2) western Africa,

(3) southwest Indian Ocean,

(4) northwest Pacific Ocean and

(5) southwest Pacific Ocean.

With this information, the Zoological Society of London will soon launch an EDGE (evolutionary distinct & globally endangered) sharks conservation initiative under the EDGE of Existence programme. It will help build local expertise and capacity for the conservation of threatened evolutionarily distinct sharks and rays.

"Our main concern was to produce a tool that conservation practitioners will actually use," says SFU biodiversity professor Arne Mooers, and a senior author. "The goal is to help conserve as much of the Tree of Life as possible."

Fast Facts:

Chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) are composed of 1,192 species and account for 36.8 billion years of unique evolutionary history.

One quarter of sharks and ray (n = 242) species are imperiled, primarily due to overfishing.

The loss of a single species to extinction would prune 26 million years of unique evolutionary history from the shark and ray tree of life.

The research is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Source: Simon Fraser University [January 25, 2018]

The sudden death of over 200,000 saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan in May 2015, more than 80 percent of the affected population and more than 60 percent of the global population of this species, baffled the world.

Saiga antelope [Credit: Royal Veterinary College]

In just three weeks, entire herds of tens of thousands of healthy animals, died of haemorrhagic septicaemia across a landscape equivalent to the area of the British Isles in the Betpak-Dala region of Kazakhstan. These deaths were caused by Pasteurella multocida bacteria.

But this pathogen most probably was living harmlessly in the saigas' tonsils up to this point, so what caused this sudden dramatic mass mortality event (MME)?

New research by an interdisciplinary, international research team has shown that many separate (and independently harmless) factors contributed to this extraordinary phenomenon. In particular, climatic factors such as increased humidity and raised air temperatures in the days before the deaths apparently triggered opportunistic bacterial invasion of the blood stream, causing septicaemia (blood poisoning).

By studying previous die-offs in saiga antelope populations, the researchers were able to uncover patterns and show that the probability of sudden die-offs increases when the weather is humid and warm, as was the case in 2015.

The research also shows that these very large mass mortalities, which have been observed in saiga antelopes before (including in 2015 and twice during the 1980s), are unprecedented in other large mammal species and tend to occur during calving. This species invests a lot in reproduction, so that it can persist in such an extreme continental environment where temperatures plummet to below -40 celsius in winter or rise to above 40 celsius in summer, with food scarce and wolves prowling. In fact, it bears the largest calves of any ungulate species; this allows the calves to develop quickly and follow their mothers on their migrations, but also means that females are physiologically stressed during calving.

With this strategy, high levels of mortality are to be expected, but the species' recent history suggests that die-offs are occurring more frequently, potentially making the species more vulnerable to extinction. This includes, most recently, losses of 60 percent of the unique, endemic Mongolian saiga sub-species in 2017 from a virus infection spilling over from livestock. High levels of poaching since the 1990s have also been a major factor in depleting the species, while increasing levels of infrastructure development (from railways, roads and fences) threaten to fragment their habitat and interfere with their migrations. With all these threats, it is possible that another mass die-off from disease could reduce numbers to a level where recovery is no longer possible. This needs to be countered by an integrated approach to tackling the threats facing the species, which is ongoing under the Convention on Migratory Species' action plan for the species.

This research was conducted as part of a wide international collaboration, adopting a 'One Health' approach – looking at the wildlife, livestock, environmental and human impacts that have driven disease emergence in saiga populations. Adopting such a holistic approach has enabled the research team to understand the wider significance of die-offs in saiga populations, beyond simply the proximate causes of the 2015 epidemic.

Professor Richard Kock, Professor in Emerging Diseases lead researcher at the Royal Veterinary College, said: "The recent die-offs among saiga populations are unprecedented in large terrestrial mammals. The 2015 Mass Mortality Event provided the first opportunity for in-depth study, and a multidisciplinary approach has enabled great advances to be made. The use of data from vets, biologists, botanists, ecologists and laboratory scientists is helping improve our understanding of the risk factors leading to MMEs – which was beneficial when another MME occurred, this time in Mongolia in 2017. Improved knowledge of disease in saigas, in the context of climate change, livestock interactions and landscape changes, is vital to planning conservation measures for the species' long-term survival"

Professor EJ Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford University, said: "This important research was possible due to a strong partnership between European universities, governmental and non-governmental Institutions in Kazakhstan, and international bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation and Convention on Migratory Species, as well as generous funding from the UK government and conservation charities worldwide. During the more recent saiga disease outbreak in Mongolia, this international partnership was useful for supporting in-country colleagues, for example by providing emergency response protocols. It's excellent to see the real-world value of research partnerships of this kind, and the great advances we have made in understanding disease in saigas thanks to such a productive collaboration."

Mr Steffen Zuther, Project manager for Kazakhstan at the Frankfurt Zoological Society/Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, said: "This research is not only the first of its kind through its complexity and interdisciplinary approach, it also helps in capacity building inside Kazakhstan and shaping the public opinion towards a more evidence based thinking. MMEs are a major threat for the saiga antelope and can wipe out many years of conservation work and saiga population growth in just a few days. Therefore, understanding these MMEs, what triggers them and what can be done to combat them is extremely important to develop effective saiga conservation strategies. The triggering of such MMEs in saiga through weather conditions shows that not much can be done to prevent them occurring, and therefore how important it is to maintain saiga populations of sufficient size for the species to survive such catastrophes."

Professor Mukhit Orynbayev, Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems, Kazakhstan, said:"Kazakhstan plays a crucial role for the conservation of saiga, and its government takes this very seriously. This research is an important component of the government's strategy for the conservation of the species, and we as researchers are grateful for the support we have received during our work. Through several years of work on this subject, the team of the RIBPS has gained experience in fieldwork and laboratory tests. This allows us to react quickly to any disease outbreak and get a diagnosis for it."

The research paper was published in Science Advances.

Source: Royal Veterinary College [January 18, 2018]

How did Borneo get its elephant? This could be just another of Rudyard Kipling's just so stories. The Bornean elephant is a subspecies of Asian Elephants that only exist in a small region of Borneo. Their presence on this southeastern Asian island has been a mystery. Now, in a study published in Scientific Reports, a research team led by Lounès Chikhi from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal) and CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier (France), and Benoit Goossens, from Cardiff University (Wales), and Sabah Wildlife Department (Malaysia), found that elephants might have arrived on Borneo at a time of the last land bridge between the Sunda Islands in Southeast Asia.

The Bornean elephant is the smallest of all elephants. It is also said to be the gentlest. It can only be found in the north  of Borneo in a area representing less than 5 percent of the island, mainly in the state of Sabah (Malaysia)  [Credit: Rudi Delvaux]

Until recently, two opposing theories have been under debate to explain the origin of Bornean elephants: they could have been recently introduced by humans, maybe 300 years ago, or they could have diverged from Asian elephants a long time ago. Indeed, there are historic records reporting that, in the 17th century, neighbour Sultans offered elephants as gifts to the Bornean Sultan. Current elephants would thus be non-native elephants that turned feral. On the other hand, about 15 years ago a genetic study showed that the DNA of Bornean elephants was very different from that of other Asian elephants, suggesting a very ancient separation, on the order of 300,000 years ago. However, no elephant fossils have yet been discovered in Borneo, even though fossils from other large mammals such as orang-utans have been found.

To shed light on the mystery of Bornean elephant's origin, Chikhi and Goossens' team used genetic data analysis and computational modelling to study the past demographic history of these animals. It is very difficult to track ancient demographic history of animals, even more when there are no fossil records to guide the work. "What we did was to create computational models for different scenarios that might have happened. Then, we compared the results from these models with the existing genetic data, and used statistical techniques to identify the scenario that best explained the current genetic diversity of the elephant population in Borneo," explains Lounès Chikhi.

"Our results suggest that the most likely scenario to have occurred is a natural colonization of Borneo around 11,400 to 18,300 years ago. This period corresponds to a time when the sea levels were very low and elephants could migrate between the Sunda Islands, a Southeastern Asia archipelago to which Borneo belongs. We cannot exclude more complex scenarios, but a historical human introduction seems very improbable, and so does a very ancient arrival," adds Reeta Sharma, researcher at the IGC and first co-author of the paper.

With less than 2000 individuals surviving today in an increasingly fragmented environment, and with regular news of poisoned or killed Bornean elephants, the future is grim for this endangered species. "Its very limited geographic distribution and reduced genetic diversity compromise the future of the population. Understanding their origins and past demography will be useful for the development of a long-term conservation strategy, especially at the time we, Sabah Wildlife Department, and partners are drafting a new 10-year State Action Plan for the Bornean elephant," said Goossens. The researcher notes "in the light of the recent killings of elephants in the state for ivory trade and during conflicts, Sabahans must realise that it is their natural patrimony that is targeted, they need to stand for their wildlife and condemn those who kill those magnificent creatures. We should take pride of our wildlife, elephants are part of Sabah's patrimony and we cannot afford losing more animals."

Source: Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia [January 17, 2018]

Research by conservationists at the University of Kent has found that habitat fragmentation, and the subdivision of large farms into smaller ones, are the biggest threats facing the güiña wildcat in Chile.

Güiña wildcat [Credit: Jerry Laker]

This forest living cat is surprisingly tolerant to deforestation and direct killing by people as retaliation for lost livestock (poultry) is not common, according to findings published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

The güiña has been in decline for many years, with its population estimated to be fewer than 10,000 individuals, and it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996.

The güiña has a reputation for attacking livestock and, therefore, is perceived negatively by rural inhabitants in the region. As a result, it had been assumed that a major threat to the future of the güiña was human persecution, coupled with extensive farming and logging that has seen its habitat reduced by almost 70% since 1970.

However, through a series of questionnaires, camera trap data and remote-sensed images the researchers, led by Nicolas Galvez studying at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), found that the güiña is remarkably adaptable to forest loss.

In particular the team found that large, intensive agricultural areas are actually well suited for the güiña and should not be dismissed as poor quality habitat. This is because there are often unfarmed areas that provide refuge, food resources and suitable conditions for rearing young.

Dr. Nicolas Galvez, now a lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, commented: "Land subdivision and fragmentation have a far bigger impact on güiña survival. This is because there is a higher risk of human interaction and persecution in areas where there are more farms, a greater pressure on natural resources through increased timber extraction and livestock grazing, and even competition for food from domestic animals kept as pets."

Professor Zoe Davies, from DICE at Kent, said: "Notably, though, while the risk of a güiña being killed by a human is higher in more densely populated farming areas, our questionnaires indicate that only 10% of the rural inhabitants have killed a güiña over the last decade. This suggests that persecution is much less of a threat to their survival than the subdivision of farms."

As a result of this, the researchers suggested that farmers with large properties are key stakeholders in the conservation of this species and must be at the centre of any conservation interventions that aim to protect existing land where the güiña is usually found.

The findings also highlight a framework that can be used to spatially match social and ecological data which could help with conservation efforts for other similar small to medium sized carnivores in other parts of the world. The framework provides a clearer understanding of how habitat loss, land fragmentation and human interactions affect species survival.

Other academic institutions involved in the research were: the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the university´s Centre for Local Development (CEDEL-UC), University of Melbourne, Bangor University, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (wildCRU) at University of Oxford.

Author: Sabrina Weiss | Source: British Ecological Society [January 16, 2018]