Animal Conservation最新文献

{"title":"Meta- and subpopulation estimation with disparate data: coconut crabs in the Western Indian Ocean","authors":"T. Caro,&nbsp;R. S. Rashid,&nbsp;J. Zeltman,&nbsp;L.-M. Gierse,&nbsp;R. Sollmann","doi":"10.1111/acv.12896","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12896","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Widely dispersed fragmented populations are a challenge to monitor because subpopulation sizes may be very small, difficult to access and time consuming to sample regularly. We use the coconut crab (<i>Birgus latro</i>) on Pemba, United Republic of Zanzibar as a case study for estimating highly fragmented populations and metapopulation sizes. The species is a very large terrestrial decapod threatened by exploitation and habitat alteration and now classified as vulnerable. We developed an integrated model to analyse capture-mark-recapture (CMR) data from five sites jointly with count data from 24 sites to estimate site-level densities and population sizes, predicted total population size across the Pemba archipelago, and investigated the effect of six predictors of human influence on density. We fitted separate models to test the effect of the same predictors on raw counts and individual body mass. We estimate the total population of coconut crabs on the Pemba archipelago to be <i>c</i>. 6700 terrestrial individuals. We show that government protection generally affects crabs positively, whereas presence of agriculture negatively affects their densities. This study highlights that time-consuming CMR data can be leveraged to estimate densities on less visited sites, and that fully protected islands are critical for maintaining relatively high population densities. Our overall population estimate suggests that Pemba still hosts a viable coconut crab population in a part of its range where the species is otherwise in steep decline.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 2","pages":"184-195"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12896","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42035054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Balancing conservation and welfare in ex situ management of the extinct-in-the-wild sihek: sex- and age-specific causes of mortality and contributions to population growth rate","authors":"A. E. Trask,&nbsp;C. Carraro,&nbsp;R. Kock,&nbsp;R. McCrea,&nbsp;S. Newland,&nbsp;E. Royer,&nbsp;S. Medina,&nbsp;D. Fontenot,&nbsp;J. G. Ewen","doi":"10.1111/acv.12895","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12895","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ex situ threatened species management has both conservation and welfare objectives and these objectives often align, but can diverge. Areas of agreement can present win-wins for achieving welfare and conservation objectives, while identifying areas of divergence is important to ensure management strategies achieve balance across objectives. We examined welfare and conservation objectives in the ex situ population of Extinct in the Wild sihek (Guam kingfisher, <i>Todiramphus cinnamominus</i>) by quantifying mortality rates, determining sex- and age-specific causes of mortality and identifying associated welfare domains, as well as quantifying sex- and age-specific differences in reproductive value and contributions to variation in population growth rate (<i>λ</i>). Females had significantly higher mortality rates than males, potentially impacting population viability and suggesting females may be more vulnerable to experiencing lower welfare than males. Mitigating causes of female mortality would therefore present a clear win-win for both welfare and conservation objectives. Both causes of mortality and contributions to variation in <i>λ</i> were found to differ across sex- and age-classes. In particular, nutritional and metabolic diseases tended to impact younger age-classes and these age-classes had large contributions to variation in <i>λ</i>. Mitigation of these diseases could therefore also present a win-win for welfare and conservation objectives. However, we also identified a potential divergence between objectives: a major cause of female mortality was reproductive disease with older aged females primarily affected, but older aged females contributed little to variation in <i>λ</i> and had low reproductive value. Developing mitigation strategies for reproductive disease could therefore aid welfare objectives but have little benefit for conservation objectives, suggesting careful balancing across objectives is required. Our results highlight the need to explicitly consider conservation and welfare objectives in threatened species management, in particular in the context of an increasing conservation need for ex situ population management, coupled with increasing social concern for animal welfare.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 2","pages":"171-183"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48333543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Combining species distribution models and moderate resolution satellite information to guide conservation programs for reticulated giraffe","authors":"R. D. Crego,&nbsp;J. Fennessy,&nbsp;M. B. Brown,&nbsp;G. Connette,&nbsp;J. Stacy-Dawes,&nbsp;S. Masiaine,&nbsp;J. A. Stabach","doi":"10.1111/acv.12894","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12894","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The conservation of threatened and rare species in remote areas often presents two challenges: there may be unknown populations that have not yet been documented and there is a need to identify suitable habitat to translocate individuals and help populations recover. This is the case of the reticulated giraffe (<i>Giraffa reticulata</i>), a species of high conservation priority for which: (a) there may be unknown populations in remote areas, and (b) detailed maps of suitable habitat available within its range are lacking. We implemented a species distribution modeling (SDM) workflow in Google Earth Engine, combining GPS telemetry data of 31 reticulated giraffe with Landsat 8 OLI, Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Arrayed L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, and surface ruggedness layers to predict suitable habitat at 30-m spatial resolution across the potential range of the species. Models had high predictive power, with a mean AUC-PR of 0.88 (SD: 0.02; range: 0.86–0.91), mean sensitivity of 0.85 (SD: 0.04; range: 0.80–0.91), and mean precision was 0.81 (SD: 0.02; range: 0.79–0.83). Model predictions were also consistent with two independent validation datasets, with higher predicted suitable habitat values at known occurrence locations than at a random set of locations (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.01). Our model predicted a total of 5519 km² of potentially suitable habitat in Kenya, 963 km² in Ethiopia, and 147 km² in Somalia. Our results indicate that is possible to combine moderate spatial resolution imagery with telemetry data to guide conservation programs of threatened terrestrial species. We provide a free web app where managers can visualize and interact with the 30 m resolution map to help guide future surveys to search for existing populations and to inform future reintroduction assessments. We present all analysis code as a framework that could be adapted for other species across the globe.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 2","pages":"160-170"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46789542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the potential for successful translocation and co-management of two endangered aquatic species","authors":"S. K. Snowden,&nbsp;D. M. Shier,&nbsp;K. M. Stemp,&nbsp;G. F. Grether","doi":"10.1111/acv.12893","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12893","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Translocation programmes for endangered species typically focus on a single species, but in areas where little native habitat remains, it may be necessary to translocate multiple species to the same sites. Interactions between translocated species, such as predation and competition, are among the factors that need to be considered when planning multispecies translocations. Translocation sites for aquatic species are particularly scarce in southern California, where a limited number of sites exist for historically co-occurring endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs <i>Rana muscosa</i> and unarmoured three-spine sticklebacks <i>Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni</i>. To determine how these species would interact if translocated to the same sites, we carried out experiments ex situ with <i>R. muscosa</i> tadpoles and a surrogate subspecies of stickleback (<i>G. a. microcephalus</i>). We found that (1) adult sticklebacks preyed on hatchling tadpoles but did not consume <i>R. muscosa</i> eggs or large tadpoles; (2) tadpoles did not consume stickleback eggs or disturb sticklebacks nests; and (3) both species' microhabitat use shifted slightly when the other was present. Our results suggest that these species can likely be co-managed successfully, if measures are taken to curb stickleback predation on tadpoles until the <i>R. muscosa</i> population is well established. Using ex situ studies to evaluate species interactions prior to translocation is an approach that could prove useful in other species recovery programmes. Multispecies translocations could make better use of available resources when habitat is limited and promote ecosystem recovery by re-establishing interactions among native species.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 2","pages":"148-159"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12893","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42094669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of the genetic viability of metapopulation scenarios for the Iberian lynx","authors":"C. Pacín,&nbsp;G. Garrote,&nbsp;J. A. Godoy","doi":"10.1111/acv.12890","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12890","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Iberian lynx has shown a favourable demographic trajectory in the last decade as a result of the conservation measures adopted which are still ongoing. However, the viability of the species is still compromised by genetic factors. Here, we used the GESP software that predicts the effective population size (Ne) and inbreeding accumulation (∆f) over time in metapopulations, to find realistic scenarios that guarantee the genetic viability of this species. We proposed as genetic targets that Ne of the metapopulation (Ne_Meta) should exceed 500 in 20 generations (long term), whereas ∆f of the subpopulations (∆f_x) should not exceed 0.05 in five generations (short term). The current Iberian lynx metapopulation configuration, with the expected subpopulations sizes at carrying capacity (5 subpops.; Ne₁ = 100, Ne_2,3,4,5 = 25), does not reach the long-term goal, with a Ne_Meta ~ 150 in 20 generations. The results indicate that the long-term genetic viability of the metapopulation requires an increase in the subpopulation size of 50–200%, the creation of at least 8 new subpopulations, and migration rates close to 0.1 between neighbouring subpopulations, comprising 2165 effective individuals (ca. 1100 breeding females). In addition, a minimum migration rate of 0.05 into the smallest subpopulations of Ne = 25 (i.e. 1.25 migrants/generation) is needed to avoid excessive inbreeding accumulation (short-term goal). Larger subpopulations are preferable to several smaller subpopulations with the same number of effective individuals, even when the latter are well connected. Although these requirements seem challenging to achieve in the short-medium term, the study provides key information for informed decision making by environmental managers and policymakers. The conclusions drawn here apply to other carnivores in need of conservation.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"112-123"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12890","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41469336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Capturing uncatalogued distribution records to improve conservation assessments of data-deficient species: a case study using the glossy grass skink","authors":"J. E. Farquhar,&nbsp;A. Carlesso,&nbsp;A. Pili,&nbsp;N. Gale,&nbsp;D. G. Chapple","doi":"10.1111/acv.12892","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12892","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Effective conservation planning is often predicated on detailed and current information about a species' geographical distribution. However, traditional sources of occurrence data (e.g., online biodiversity databases) may be insufficient for estimating the range of rare, poorly understood species that are readily misidentified. Here, we demonstrate a more holistic approach to this problem, using the poorly known glossy grass skink (<i>Pseudemoia rawlinsoni</i>) as a case study. We first compared the relative contribution made (to our geographical knowledge of the species) by online database records, with that of photo-substantiated records obtained via personal communication (PC). We used ecological niche modelling (ENM) to predict the species' distribution, then performed field surveys at both historical and predicted suitable sites to further clarify its occurrence. 20% of all known records came from the PC method, which resulted in 35 new sites and increased the species' area of occupancy (AOO) by 176 km². Most records obtained via PC came from the past decade, demonstrating that this method is more effective at elucidating the current distribution. ENM revealed that <i>P. rawlinsoni</i> has a disjunct range, and is mostly a low-elevation coastal species, with the exception of suitable habitat in parts of the high-elevation Australian Alps bioregion. The species' AOO has likely declined over recent decades owing to anthropogenic disturbance, given that 38% of the species' predicted range is now cleared agricultural land, and our field surveys failed to detect the species at 52% of historical record sites. Together, these findings provide a robust foundation of geographical knowledge on which to develop strategic conservation actions for the species.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"124-137"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12892","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48393016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Silencing the call of the wild – howling behaviour and responses of the wolf to Anthropocene in India","authors":"S. Sadhukhan,&nbsp;S. Khan,&nbsp;B. Habib","doi":"10.1111/acv.12881","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12881","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wolves use howls to maintain large territories, intra-pack communication and social bonding. Besides their physical presence, howls are also instrumental in creating fear and impacting foraging behaviour among the lower cascade. Anthropocene-led behavioural alteration in vocalization has been observed in a wide range of species, but the effect on wolf howl is unknown. In this context, we have studied the howling behaviour of the Indian wolf through playback surveys (<i>n</i> = 264) across the anthropogenic gradient. We found a disparity in their howl response – based on the distance to villages. In the low disturbed East-Maharashtra (EM), wolves mostly avoided responding to howling surveys (HS) if done within 1200 m of villages [response rate (RR) = 0.03 ± 0.021], but they did respond once it was done far from villages (&gt;1200 m) (RR = 0.226 ± 0.075). In high human-density West-Maharashtra (WM), wolves showed high RR within 1200 m from the villages (RR = 0.148 ± 0.031). But the RR within 500 m from villages was less as howling near villages might lead to easy detection. The collared wolf data showed significantly high RR (0.635 ± 0.067) in their home-range core, but low RR if the core area was close to a village. Therefore, howling too close to a village is disadvantageous, although their tolerance for responding to HS has increased in the human-dominated landscape. The extent of the village may increase further with development, which will leave fewer areas for the wolf to defend territory with a long-range howl. The wolves might behaviourally adapt to a human-modified landscape by reducing their howling intensity. Adaptation to a fragmented habitat may save the wolves from extinction, but the repercussions of the fundamental behavioural alteration might adversely impact wolf behaviour and the ecological cascade. Whereas ecologists are mainly concerned with the extinction of species, this study highlights the vulnerability of fundamental behaviour of a keystone species attributed to human-induced contemporary evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"98-111"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47785710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The threat of Peters's Rock Agama (Agama picticauda) to reptile diversity across the Lesser Antilles","authors":"M. P. van den Burg,&nbsp;J. A. Wasilewski,&nbsp;R. S. Thorpe,&nbsp;A. O. Debrot,&nbsp;J. C. Daltry,&nbsp;B. Angin,&nbsp;E. M. Boman,&nbsp;L. Brannon,&nbsp;E. A. Corbett,&nbsp;J. A. Horrocks,&nbsp;F. Mukhida,&nbsp;N. Paranthoën,&nbsp;N. K. Pascoe,&nbsp;C. Petrovic,&nbsp;A. Verhoeven,&nbsp;M. Yokoyama","doi":"10.1111/acv.12889","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12889","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;During the ongoing sixth global extinction wave, island ecosystems are among the most impacted due to a high introduction rate of non-native species (Tershy &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2015&lt;/span&gt;; Bellard, Cassey, &amp; Blackburn, &lt;span&gt;2016&lt;/span&gt;; Fernández-Palacios &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). Within one of the global biodiversity hotspots (Myers &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2000&lt;/span&gt;), the Caribbean Lesser Antilles are known for their high degree of endemism across numerous taxa, including reptiles (e.g., Smith &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2004&lt;/span&gt;; Losos &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2006&lt;/span&gt;). However, continuing introductions of non-native species are homogenizing the regional herpetofauna diversity (Capinha, Marcolin, &amp; Reino, &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;), leading to extinctions and loss of functional trait diversity across islands and ecosystems (Kemp, &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most common terrestrial non-native vertebrates, throughout the Lesser Antilles, are reptiles (Thorpe, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;). Their interactions with native reptile species have led to local extinctions and continuing declines in both native population sizes and distribution ranges through predation, hybridization, disease transmission, and competition for resources (Daltry, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;). Multiple non-native species have already spread nearly regionwide, including &lt;i&gt;Gymnophthalmus underwoodi&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Hemidactylus mabouia&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Indotyphlops braminus&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Anolis&lt;/i&gt;/&lt;i&gt;Norops sagrei&lt;/i&gt;, and Latin American &lt;i&gt;Iguana iguana&lt;/i&gt; (Thorpe, &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;; Thibaudier &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;; van den Burg &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;), while others are spreading rapidly (e.g., &lt;i&gt;Hemidactylus frenatus&lt;/i&gt;: Thibaudier &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt; and references therein). Importantly, several of these non-native species are known to have been introduced to the Lesser Antilles from non-native populations in Florida (Powell &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2011&lt;/span&gt;); a pattern we fear is likely to be repeated by Peters's Rock Agama (&lt;i&gt;Agama picticauda&lt;/i&gt;), although no established population has yet been reported in the Lesser Antilles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Agama picticauda&lt;/i&gt; is a medium-sized lizard native to sub-Saharan western and central Africa, with both sexual dichromatism and size dimorphism. Adult males have a bright orange head and tail, while females are light brown and can have yellow to orange dorsolateral patches (Fig. 1). The species is diurnally active, has a maximum recorded snout–vent length of 15.7 cm (Krishnan &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;), and can produce up to three clutches annually, each of 5–12 eggs (Blunden &amp; Krysko, &lt;span&gt;2007&lt;/span&gt;; Krysko, Enge, &amp; Moler, &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;). It occupies both horizontal and vertical surfaces from where it uses a sit-and-stalk approach to identify and pursue arthropods (Enge, Krysko, &amp; Talley, &lt;span&gt;2004&lt;/span&gt;) and small vertebrates (Henigan &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Florida, the first &lt;i&gt;","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"1-4"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12889","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43017883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Life-history traits govern the habitat use of diverse amphibian assemblages in an agroforest landscape matrix","authors":"V. Sankararaman,&nbsp;D. A. W. Miller","doi":"10.1111/acv.12882","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12882","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Agroforests are increasingly seen as ancillary conservation landscapes that effectively integrate production needs while sustaining biodiversity goals. The conservation potential of these land uses can be significantly improved by using evidence-based management practices. In this study, we examine the community assembly of anuran amphibians and identify vulnerable species based on their life-history traits across tea and coffee agroforests and non-agricultural forest fragments in the Anamalai Hills of India. We conducted visual and auditory encounter surveys for amphibians along streams and terrestrial habitats. A modified joint species distribution model was used to examine the drivers of species richness, community composition and species co-occurrence patterns. At the community level, mean species richness was greatest in forest fragments followed by coffee and least in tea agroforests. Community composition was associated with both land use (tea/coffee/forest) and habitat (stream/terrestrial), with the greatest composition difference between coffee and forest. Life-history traits were significant drivers of species occupancies, particularly in forests. Fast-flowing water breeding amphibians and smaller body sizes were positively associated with forest streams over coffee and tea streams. Elevation was a strong predictor of amphibian occupancy with nine species showing negative association and 14 species showing positive association. Twelve species also showed a significant positive association with the wetter year, seven of which belonged to direct-developing frogs. This suggests that even single-year declines in rainfall could have detrimental effects on populations and make these species vulnerable to climate change. The results of the study have important conservation consequences for agroforests in the Western Ghats. Stream restoration efforts across elevation gradients could significantly improve habitats for different amphibian assemblages in agroforests.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"86-97"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acv.12882","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48019480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early life experience with predators impacts development, behavior, and post-translocation outcomes in an endangered amphibian","authors":"T. T. Hammond,&nbsp;L. E. Jacobs,&nbsp;M. J. Curtis,&nbsp;E. M. Trotman,&nbsp;R. R. Swaisgood,&nbsp;D. M. Shier","doi":"10.1111/acv.12880","DOIUrl":"10.1111/acv.12880","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pre-release training is becoming a standard practice in conservation breeding and translocation programs for mammals and birds, but is still relatively neglected for herpetofauna, likely stemming from widespread beliefs that amphibians are “hard-wired” and are thus predicted to benefit little from experiential learning. However, experience during development can drive both morphological and behavioral modifications that could benefit post-translocation survival. Here, we developed an anti-predator training program for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog <i>Rana muscosa</i> and evaluated its impact on morphometrics, developmental rates, behavior, and post-release outcomes. Using a controlled, balanced factorial experimental design, we exposed individuals at two developmental stages (tadpoles and post-metamorphic) to visual and olfactory cues from one of its principal predators, the two-striped garter snake <i>Thamnophis hammondii</i>. We found that exposure to predators during the tadpole stage impacted tadpole development, morphology, and behavior. However, we found no evidence that post-metamorphic behavior or post-release outcomes were influenced by tadpole predator exposure, either on its own or in interaction with post-metamorphic training treatments. Training of post-metamorphic frogs, however, yielded evidence of learning, with downstream effects on behavior and apparent survival after release into the wild. Our findings produce novel insights on the value of anti-predator training in amphibian conservation translocation programs, bolster recent evidence re-evaluating the importance of learning and developmental experience for amphibian species, and provide guidance for selecting optimal developmental windows for training.</p>","PeriodicalId":50786,"journal":{"name":"Animal Conservation","volume":"27 1","pages":"23-36"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47801389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}