Towards a general framework for predicting threat status of data-deficient species from phylogenetic, spatial and environmental information

In taxon-wide assessments of threat status many species remain not included owing to lack of data. Here, we present a novel spatial-phylogenetic statistical framework that uses a small set of readily available or derivable characteristics, including phylogenetically imputed body mass and remotely sensed human encroachment, to provide initial baseline predictions of threat status for data-deficient species. Applied to assessed mammal species worldwide, the approach effectively identifies threatened species and predicts the geographical variation in threat. For the 483 data-deficient species, the models predict highly elevated threat, with 69% ‘at-risk’ species in this set, compared with 22% among assessed species. This results in 331 additional potentially threatened mammals, with elevated conservation importance in rodents, bats and shrews, and countries like Colombia, Sulawesi and the Philippines. These findings demonstrate the future potential for combining phylogenies and remotely sensed data with species distributions to identify species and regions of conservation concern

Papua New Guinea terrestrial vertebrate richness: elevation matters most for all except reptiles

Aims To examine species richness patterns in Papua New Guinea’s terrestrial vertebrates and test for geographical congruence between the four classes, and between lizard and snake subgroups. To assess the environmental correlates of Papua New Guinean terrestrial-vertebrate richness, and contrast effects of varying analytical resolution and correction for spatial autocorrelation. We predict congruence in the bird, mammal and to a lesser extent amphibian richness, with weak congruence or incongruence between reptiles and the other taxonomic groups. We further predict these patterns will stem from relative or in the case of reptiles dissimilar, correlative trends with environmental predictors such as elevation and temperature. Location Papua New Guinea. Methods Having created and updated distribution maps for reptiles, we compare them with known ranges of amphibians, birds and mammals and generate species richness grids at quarter-, half- and one- degree spatial resolutions. We examine congruence in species richness between vertebrate groups and between reptile subgroups. We employed spreading-dye models to simulate species richness according to eight environmental predictors and one random model. We accounted for spatial autocorrelation in all analyses. Results Papua New Guinean amphibian, bird and mammal species richness are spatially congruent, a trend which strengthens with decreasing spatial resolution. Reptiles and the lizard and snake subgroups reveal remarkably different spatial-richness trends. Elevational predictors, particularly elevational range at coarse resolutions, provide the strongest correlates of species richness. Terrestrial-vertebrate richness increases with elevation, whereas reptile richness decreases. Main conclusions Congruent species richness gradients in Papua New Guinea are observed in most terrestrial vertebrates, except reptiles. Topographic heterogeneity and associated climatic clines promote diversity in most terrestrial vertebrates but appear to strongly constrain reptile diversity. The topographical complexity and climatic stratification of tropical mountains clearly present a wealth of opportunities for diversification in most terrestrial vertebrate groups. As reptiles are strongly constrained by temperature, tropical mountains present more of a diversification barrier for them

Gone with the forest: Assessing global woodpecker conservation from land use patterns

As a result of their ecological traits, woodpeckers (Picidae, Aves) are highly sensitive to forest cover change. We explored the current land cover in areas of high species richness of woodpeckers to determinate regions where urgent conservation actions are needed. In addition, we identified woodpecker species that are sensitive to forest loss and that have high levels of human habitat modification and low levels of protection (through protected areas) in their distribution ranges. Location: Global. Methods: We joined available range maps for all extant 254 woodpecker species with information of their conservation status and tolerances to human habitat modifications and generated a richness map of woodpecker species worldwide. Then, we associated this information (the richness pattern and individual species’ maps) with land cover and protected areas (PAs) maps. We found that the foremost woodpecker species richness hotspot is in Southeast Asia and is highly modified. At the second species richness hotspot in the eastern Andes, we observed a front of deforestation at its southern extreme and a greater deforested area in its northern extreme but most of its area remains with forest coverage. At the species level, 17 species that are sensitive to forest modification experience extensive deforestation and have low extents of PAs in their ranges.The most diverse woodpecker hotspots are mostly occupied by human-modified landscapes, and a large portion of the species there avoids anthropogenic environments. The level of representation of woodpecker species in PAs is low as a global general pattern, although slightly better in Asia. Our global analysis of threats to woodpecker from land use patterns reiterates the urgent conservation needs for Southeast Asian forests. Finally, based on our results, we recommend a re-evaluation for inclusion in the Red List of five woodpecker species.Fil: Vergara Tabares, David Lautaro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Lammertink, J. Martjan. Cornell University; Estados Unidos. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Verga, Ernesto Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Schaaf, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Nori, Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; Argentin

Managing neotropical oil palm expansion to retain phylogenetic diversity

Summary: The expansion of tropical agriculture is a major driver of the extinction crisis. A key question is whether biodiversity losses can be minimized by restricting future expansion to low-productivity farmland and retaining forest fragments, especially in rapidly changing Neotropical landscapes. We investigated these methods in the context of avian phylogenetic diversity, which summarizes the evolutionary history preserved within communities. Evidence suggests that phylogenetic diversity plays an important role in maintaining key ecosystem functions. We collected data on avian communities in the Colombian Llanos, a region highlighted as being optimal for the expansion of oil palm, at the expense of existing habitats including forest remnants and improved cattle pastures. PD, a measure of phylogenetic richness, and MPD, a measure of the phylogenetic distance between individuals in a community in deep evolutionary time, were significantly higher in forest than in oil palm or pasture, but did not differ significantly between oil palm and pasture. MNTD, a measure of distance between individuals in a community at the intra-familial and intra-generic level, was significantly higher in oil palm and pasture than in forest. However, median evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) was highest in pasture, partly due to the abundance of distinct waterbirds, but did not differ between oil palm and forest. PD in oil palm and pasture increased with the extent of remnant forest cover. Synthesis and applications. The PD (a measure of phylogenetic richness) and MPD (a measure of the phylogenetic distance) of bird communities in this region can best be conserved by ensuring that new oil palm plantations replace pasturelands rather than forest. A secondary benefit of preserving forest would be the enhancement of PD in the surrounding agricultural landscape. This strategy will need to be coupled with measures to either reduce pasture demand or to intensify existing cattle production to ensure that forest is not replaced by pasture elsewhere

Tropical secondary forest regeneration conserves high levels of avian phylogenetic diversity

Secondary forests are promoted as having pivotal roles in reversing the tropical extinction crisis. While secondary forests recover carbon and species over time, a key question is whether phylogenetic diversity—the total evolutionary history across all species within a community—also recovers. Conserving phylogenetic diversity protects unique phenotypic and ecological traits, and benefits ecosystem functioning and stability. We examined the extent to which avian phylogenetic diversity recovers in secondary forests in the Colombian Chocó-Andes. sesPD, a measure of phylogenetic richness corrected for species richness, recovered to old-growth forest levels after ~ 30 years, while sesMPD, a measure of the phylogenetic distance between individuals in a community, recovered to old-growth levels even within young secondary forest. Mean evolutionary distinctiveness also recovered rapidly in secondary forest communities. Our results suggest that secondary forests can play a vital role in conserving distinct evolutionary lineages and high levels of evolutionary history. Focusing conservation and carbon-based payments for ecosystem services on secondary forest recovery and their subsequent protection thus represent a good use of scarce conservation resources

Monitoring plant functional diversity from space

The world’s ecosystems are losing biodiversity fast. A satellite mission designed to track changes in plant functional diversity around the globe could deepen our understanding of the pace and consequences of this change and how to manage it

Cancellous bone and theropod dinosaur locomotion. Part I—an examination of cancellous bone architecture in the hindlimb bones of theropods

This paper is the first of a three-part series that investigates the architecture of cancellous (‘spongy’) bone in the main hindlimb bones of theropod dinosaurs, and uses cancellous bone architectural patterns to infer locomotor biomechanics in extinct non-avian species. Cancellous bone is widely known to be highly sensitive to its mechanical environment, and has previously been used to infer locomotor biomechanics in extinct tetrapod vertebrates, especially primates. Despite great promise, cancellous bone architecture has remained little utilized for investigating locomotion in many other extinct vertebrate groups, such as dinosaurs. Documentation and quantification of architectural patterns across a whole bone, and across multiple bones, can provide much information on cancellous bone architectural patterns and variation across species. Additionally, this also lends itself to analysis of the musculoskeletal biomechanical factors involved in a direct, mechanistic fashion. On this premise, computed tomographic and image analysis techniques were used to describe and analyse the three-dimensional architecture of cancellous bone in the main hindlimb bones of theropod dinosaurs for the first time. A comprehensive survey across many extant and extinct species is produced, identifying several patterns of similarity and contrast between groups. For instance, more stemward non-avian theropods (e.g. ceratosaurs and tyrannosaurids) exhibit cancellous bone architectures more comparable to that present in humans, whereas species more closely related to birds (e.g. paravians) exhibit architectural patterns bearing greater similarity to those of extant birds. Many of the observed patterns may be linked to particular aspects of locomotor biomechanics, such as the degree of hip or knee flexion during stance and gait. A further important observation is the abundance of markedly oblique trabeculae in the diaphyses of the femur and tibia of birds, which in large species produces spiralling patterns along the endosteal surface. Not only do these observations provide new insight into theropod anatomy and behaviour, they also provide the foundation for mechanistic testing of locomotor hypotheses via musculoskeletal biomechanical modelling

The worldwide variation in avian clutch size across species and space

Journal ArticleTraits such as clutch size vary markedly across species and environmental gradients but have usually been investigated from either a comparative or a geographic perspective, respectively. We analyzed the global variation in clutch size across 5,290 bird species, excluding brood parasites and pelagic species. We integrated intrinsic (morphological, behavioural), extrinsic (environmental), and phylogenetic effects in a combined model that predicts up to 68% of the interspecific variation in clutch size. We then applied the same species-level model to predict mean clutch size across 2,521 assemblages worldwide and found that it explains the observed eco-geographic pattern very well. Clutches are consistently largest in cavity nesters and in species occupying seasonal environments, highlighting the importance of offspring and adult mortality that is jointly expressed in intrinsic and extrinsic correlates. The findings offer a conceptual bridge between macroecology and comparative biology and provide a a global and integrative understanding of the eco-geographic and cross-species variation in a core life-history trait

Species richness as criterion for global conservation area placement leads to large losses in coverage of biodiversity

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