New records and modelling the impacts of climate change on the black-tailed marmosets

Climate change represents an unprecedented threat to global biodiversity and, for many species, gaps in our knowledge of their biology remain acute. Gaps in baseline knowledge, such as confirmed identifications (Linnean shortfalls) and adequate collections (Wallacean shortfalls), need to be minimized with new studies, since this is often critical for effective conservation. Despite the increase in scientific research on primates in the southwest of the Brazilian Amazon, little is known about the species Mico nigriceps (Ferrari & Lopes, 1992) Primates, Platirryni. In the current study, we sought to reduce the extent of the Wallacean shortfall for M. nigriceps, understand whether climate change represents a threat to the distribution of the species, and identify priority areas for its conservation. Accordingly, we provide 121 new records in 14 locations, obtained directly from the field, and five from the literature. Using this, we carried out ecological niche modeling, to better understand how environmental suitability might limit the area occupied by the species. We then projected a distribution for 2070 with the SSP2-4.5 (more optimistic) and SSP5-8.5 (more pessimistic) scenarios. Our data confirmed the geographic distribution of the species as being restricted to headwaters of the Ji-Paraná/Machado river, but with a 400 km extension to the south. Under the modeled climate change scenarios, the area suitable for the species declines by 21% under the most optimistic, and by 27% in the pessimistic, scenario across the projected 50-year period. Although we have expanded the area of known occurrence for this species, we point out that climate change threatens the stability of this newly-discovered population strongly, and that this danger is intensified by deforestation, fire and hunting. We recommend that further studies be carried out to confirm the presence of the species in adjacent areas, those indicated by generated models as being potential environmentally suitable. In addition, we recommend intensifying forest restoration in currently pastured areas, and protection of the areas forming the current and future habitat of this species through such measures as protected area creation.

Between overstocking and extinction: conservation and the intensification of uneven wildlife geographies in Africa

Conservation news from Africa generally seems to exude crisis. Over the last decade,especially, we have witnessed the increasingly visible decline of charismatic species such as the rhino, elephant, cheetah, lion, giraffe and others, coupled with an ongoing defaunation of many forested areas. What is much less visible is that in certain areas an important countertrend is also occurring: the growth of wildlife species, most notably through the stocking of private lands and initiatives to develop broader wildlife economies. This article explores these two trends and shows that they are key in understanding conservation in sub-Sahara Africa and its rapidly changing political economy more generally.Focusing on South Africa, especially the booming wildlife economy in the Greater Kruger area, the article argues that the private possession or commodified management of conservation spaces and its (over)stocking of species actually benefits from an overall decline of charismatic species. As the number of charismatic species declines across the continent, it increases the value of well-stocked, privately conserved lands, providing their owners with unique sources of profit and revenue. The result is an intensification of uneven wildlife geographies across Africa.

Asymptotic propagations of a nonlocal dispersal population model with shifting habitats

This paper is concerned with the asymptotic propagations for a nonlocal dispersal population model with shifting habitats. In particular, we verify that the invading speed of the species is determined by the speed c of the shifting habitat edge and the behaviours near infinity of the species’ growth rate which is nondecreasing along the positive spatial direction. In the case where the species declines near the negative infinity, we conclude that extinction occurs if c > c*(∞), while c < c*(∞), spreading happens with a leftward speed min{−c, c*(∞)} and a rightward speed c*(∞), where c*(∞) is the minimum KPP travelling wave speed associated with the species’ growth rate at the positive infinity. The same scenario will play out for the case where the species’ growth rate is zero at negative infinity. In the case where the species still grows near negative infinity, we show that the species always survives ‘by moving’ with the rightward spreading speed being either c*(∞) or c*(−∞) and the leftward spreading speed being one of c*(∞), c*(−∞) and −c, where c*(−∞) is the minimum KPP travelling wave speed corresponding to the growth rate at the negative infinity. Finally, we give some numeric simulations and discussions to present and explain the theoretical results. Our results indicate that there may exists a solution like a two-layer wave with the propagation speeds analytically determined for such type of nonlocal dispersal equations.

ConservePlants: An integrated approach to conservation of threatened plants for the 21st Century

Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitness and distribution causing rapid species declines, sometimes even before they had been discovered. Despite the high goals set by conservationists to protect native plants from further degradation and extinction, the initiatives for the conservation of threatened species in Europe are scattered and have not yielded the desired results. The main aim of this Action is to improve plant conservation in Europe through the establishment of a network of scientists and other stakeholders who deal with different aspects of plant conservation, from plant taxonomy, ecology, conservation genetics, conservation physiology and reproductive biology to protected area's managers, not forgetting social scientists, who are crucial when dealing with the general public.

Origin of the Trichoptera species in Iceland

This paper focuses on the origin of Trichoptera species in Iceland in light of the island biogeography of caddisflies in the North-Atlantic islands, i.e., Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, and Orkney, and adjacent larger regions, Norway and Britain. Three of the 12 recorded species have circumpolar distribution, the other nine are Palaearctic. The number of species declines with the distance from the mainland of Europe and is independent of the island sizes. However, the occurrence of species is stochastic, with only a few species common to the more remote islands—e.g., Iceland has 12 species and the Faroe Islands 20, but only 4 species are common to both islands. Studies on phylogeographic patterns of two species, Potamophylax cingulatus and Apatania zonella, show different history based on genetic markers. Potamophylax cingulatus in Iceland is from a western European lineage, distinct from two eastern and southern European lineages that may have diverged in southern refugia during the glacial periods of the latest Ice Age. The ancestors of the Icelandic population have migrated from the Iberian Peninsula up the west cost of Europe to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The parthenogenetic A. zonella in Iceland originated near the Bering Strait, and has migrated along two routes, one westward through northern Eurasia and the other eastward through North America and Greenland to Iceland, where the two populations meet. Preliminary phylogeographic studies on two other circumpolar species, Limnephilus fenestratus and L. picturatus indicate possible interchanges between North America and Europe, but due to a low number of samples, it is difficult to state where the Icelandic population came from.

Cold War spy satellite images reveal long-term declines of a philopatric keystone species in response to cropland expansion

Agricultural expansion drives biodiversity loss globally, but impact assessments are biased towards recent time periods. This can lead to a gross underestimation of species declines in response to habitat loss, especially when species declines are gradual and occur over long time periods. Using Cold War spy satellite images (Corona), we show that a grassland keystone species, the bobak marmot ( Marmota bobak ), continues to respond to agricultural expansion that happened more than 50 years ago. Although burrow densities of the bobak marmot today are highest in croplands, densities declined most strongly in areas that were persistently used as croplands since the 1960s. This response to historical agricultural conversion spans roughly eight marmot generations and suggests the longest recorded response of a mammal species to agricultural expansion. We also found evidence for remarkable philopatry: nearly half of all burrows retained their exact location since the 1960s, and this was most pronounced in grasslands. Our results stress the need for farsighted decisions, because contemporary land management will affect biodiversity decades into the future. Finally, our work pioneers the use of Corona historical Cold War spy satellite imagery for ecology. This vastly underused global remote sensing resource provides a unique opportunity to expand the time horizon of broad-scale ecological studies.

Glyphosate Inhibits Melanization and Increases Insect Susceptibility to Infection

SUMMARYMelanin is a black-brown pigment found throughout all kingdoms of life playing diverse roles including: UV protection, thermoregulation, oxidant scavenging, arthropod immunity, and microbial virulence. Given melanin’s broad functions in the biosphere, particularly in insect immune defenses, it is important to understand how environmental conditions affect melanization. Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide, inhibits melanin production. Here we elucidate the mechanism underlying glyphosate’s inhibition of melanization demonstrate the herbicide’s multifactorial effects on insects. Glyphosate acts as an antioxidant and disrupts the oxidation-reduction balance of melanization. The drug reduced wax moth larvae survival after infection, increased parasite burden in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, and altered midgut microbiome composition in adult mosquitoes. These findings suggest that glyphosate’s environmental accumulation could contribute to the so called insect apocalypse, characterized by species declines, by rendering them more susceptible to microbial pathogens due to melanization inhibition, immune impairment, and perturbations in microbiota composition.

Alien mammal assemblage effects on burrow occupancy and hatching success of the vulnerable pink-footed shearwater in Chile

SummaryAlien species are a driver of biodiversity loss, with impacts of different aliens on native species varying considerably. Identifying the contributions of alien species to native species declines could help target management efforts. Globally, seabirds breeding on islands have proven to be highly susceptible to alien species. The breeding colonies of the pink-footed shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) are threatened by the negative impacts of alien mammals. We combined breeding monitoring data with a hierarchical model to separate the effects of different alien mammal assemblages on the burrow occupancy and hatching success of the pink-footed shearwater in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. We show that alien mammals affected the rates of burrow occupancy, but had little effect on hatching success. Rabbits produced the highest negative impacts on burrow occupancy, whereas the effects of other alien mammals were more uncertain. In addition, we found differences in burrow occupancy between islands regardless of their alien mammal assemblages. Managing rabbits will improve the reproductive performance of this shearwater, but research is needed to clarify the mechanisms by which alien mammals affect the shearwaters and to explain why burrow occupancy varies between islands.