Conservation status of Brazilian snakes inhabiting the Atlantic Forest of Northeastern Brazil

Due to the high level of disturbance in natural ecosystems and the progressive loss of habitats resulting from anthropic occupation, biodiversity conservation represents one of the greatest challenges today. Red lists of threatened species are essential tools for identifying species at risk of extinction and guiding conservation efforts. In this study, we assessed the vulnerability to extinction of 55 snake species that occur in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil in Paraíba state. We developed vulnerability indices based on 12 factors known to influence the survival of snake populations. To analyze the threat profiles and relative risk levels within the snake community, we employed principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Additionally, we compared our findings with existing red lists of threatened species. Our results reveal that only 18% of the snake fauna in this region is free of any threat. The aquatic species Helicops angulatus and Oxyrhopus trigeminus were the snakes that presented the lowest risk of extinction, while Caaeteboia gaeli and Crotalus durissus presented the highest risk of extinction. Two groups of species were considered non-threatened and five groups were considered threatened. Our study provides the first overview on the conservation status of snake species in the northern portion of the Atlantic Forest and contributes to a better evaluation of conservation planning for this group in the region

Global conservation prioritization areas in three dimensions of crocodilian diversity

Crocodilians are a taxonomic group of large predators with important ecological and evolutionary benefits for ecosystem functioning in the face of global change. Anthropogenic actions affect negatively crocodilians' survival and more than half of the species are threatened with extinction worldwide. Here, we map and explore three dimensions of crocodilian diversity on a global scale. To highlight the ecological importance of crocodilians, we correlate the spatial distribution of species with the ecosystem services of nutrient retention in the world. We calculate the effectiveness of global protected networks in safeguarding crocodilian species and provide three prioritization models for conservation planning. Our results show the main hotspots of ecological and evolutionary values are in southern North, Central and South America, west-central Africa, northeastern India, and southeastern Asia. African species have the highest correlation to nutrient retention patterns. Twenty-five percent of the world's crocodilian species are not significantly represented in the existing protected area networks. The most alarming cases are reported in northeastern India, eastern China, and west-central Africa, which include threatened species with low or non-significant representation in the protected area networks. Our highest conservation prioritization model targets southern North America, east-central Central America, northern South America, west-central Africa, northeastern India, eastern China, southern Laos, Cambodia, and some points in southeastern Asia. Our research provides a global prioritization scheme to protect multiple dimensions of crocodilian diversity for achieving effective conservation outcomes

A second new species for the rare dipsadid genus Caaeteboia Zaher et al., 2009 (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil

Caaeteboia is a rare and elusive monotypic genus of Neotropical snake, being one of the least known dipsadids of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Here, we assess the morphological and genetic diversity of this genus, comparing these results with several other genera of Xenodontinae. Our combined results revealed the presence of an unknown species from the northeastern portion of the Atlantic Forest. The new species is distributed throughout the enclaves of coastal open forests mixed with savanna-like habitat, locally known as “Floresta de Tabuleiro”, and submontane ombrophilous forests in the Brazilian states of Paraíba and Pernambuco. This new species is easily distinguished from C. amarali by its lower number of dorsal, ventral, and subcaudal scales, and a remarkable dark lateral stripe from the nostril up to the anterior third of the body. The new species extends the distribution of the genus in approximately 700 kilometers northwards, reinforcing the importance of the conservation of small remnants of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil, which still harbor high levels of endemicity and diversity.Caaeteboia é um gênero de serpente raro e monotípico da região Neotropical, sendo um dos dipsadídeos menos conhecidos da Floresta Atlântica brasileira. Neste trabalho, avaliamos a diversidade morfológica e genética desse gênero, comparando-o com outros gêneros de Xenodontinae. Nossos resultados combinados revelaram a presença de uma espécie desconhecida da porção nordeste da Floresta Atlântica. A nova espécie se distribui ao longo dos enclaves de florestas abertas costeiras misturadas com habitats savânicos, conhecidos localmente por “Florestas de Tabuleiro”, e florestas ombrófilas submontanas nos estados da Paraíba e de Pernambuco. Essa nova espécie é distinguida de C. amarali pelo menor número de escamas dorsais, ventrais e subcaudais, e por uma evidente linha escura lateral desde o focinho até o terço anterior do corpo. A nova espécie amplia a distribuição do gênero para aproximadamente 700 quilômetros ao norte, e reforça a importância da conservação dos pequenos remanescentes de Floresta Atlântica no nordeste do Brasil, os quais ainda abrigam altos níveis de endemismo e diversidade.Asociación Herpetológica Argentin

A second new species for the rare dipsadid genus Caaeteboia Zaher et al., 2009 (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil

Caaeteboia is a rare and elusive monotypic genus of Neotropical snake, being one of the least known dipsadids of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Here, we assess the morphological and genetic diversity of this genus, comparing these results with several other genera of Xenodontinae. Our combined results revealed the presence of an unknown species from the northeastern portion of the Atlantic Forest. The new species is distributed throughout the enclaves of coastal open forests mixed with savanna-like habitat, locally known as “Floresta de Tabuleiro”, and submontane ombrophilous forests in the Brazilian states of Paraíba and Pernambuco. This new species is easily distinguished from C. amarali by its lower number of dorsal, ventral, and subcaudal scales, and a remarkable dark lateral stripe from the nostril up to the anterior third of the body. The new species extends the distribution of the genus in approximately 700 kilometers northwards, reinforcing the importance of the conservation of small remnants of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil, which still harbor high levels of endemicity and diversity.Caaeteboia é um gênero de serpente raro e monotípico da região Neotropical, sendo um dos dipsadídeos menos conhecidos da Floresta Atlântica brasileira. Neste trabalho, avaliamos a diversidade morfológica e genética desse gênero, comparando-o com outros gêneros de Xenodontinae. Nossos resultados combinados revelaram a presença de uma espécie desconhecida da porção nordeste da Floresta Atlântica. A nova espécie se distribui ao longo dos enclaves de florestas abertas costeiras misturadas com habitats savânicos, conhecidos localmente por “Florestas de Tabuleiro”, e florestas ombrófilas submontanas nos estados da Paraíba e de Pernambuco. Essa nova espécie é distinguida de C. amarali pelo menor número de escamas dorsais, ventrais e subcaudais, e por uma evidente linha escura lateral desde o focinho até o terço anterior do corpo. A nova espécie amplia a distribuição do gênero para aproximadamente 700 quilômetros ao norte, e reforça a importância da conservação dos pequenos remanescentes de Floresta Atlântica no nordeste do Brasil, os quais ainda abrigam altos níveis de endemismo e diversidade.Asociación Herpetológica Argentin

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio