Showing papers in "Biological Conservation in 2013"

TL;DR: The results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles.

TL;DR: Overall, available evidence suggests that PAs deliver positive outcomes, but there remains a limited evidence base, and weak understanding of the conditions under which PAs succeed or fail to deliver conservation outcomes.

TL;DR: Estimates of volunteer investment in these datasets show that compared to cross-sectional schemes, longitudinal schemes are more cost-effective, with increased BBS investment correlated with more applications, which have higher impact in the scientific literature, as measured by citation rates.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a clear summary of current knowledge and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between conservation biologists and other experts, and propose some steps that will aid cooperation between conservationists and other sectors and enhance the effectiveness of conservation activities.

TL;DR: In this paper, the hidden impacts of human-wildlife conflict in low-income countries are examined and the authors present an account of the known and potential hidden impacts, investigating their effects on rural communities.

TL;DR: The entire EU Atlantic continental shelf was surveyed in July 2005 to generate robust estimates of abundance for harbour porpoise and other cetacean species, and abundance in 2005 was similar to that in 2004.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a structured review of the AM literature that relates to biodiversity and ecosystem management, with the aim of quantifying how rare AM projects actually are, and investigate whether AM practitioners in terrestrial and aquatic systems described the same problems; the degree of consistency in how the term "adaptive management" was applied; the extent to which AM projects were sustained over time; and whether articles describing AM project were more highly cited than comparable non-AM articles.

TL;DR: An overview of the present knowledge on ash dieback is provided, practical recommendations are identified, and practical recommendations and research needs are pointed out.

TL;DR: The Harlan and de Wet inventory of globally important crop wild relative (CWR) taxa as discussed by the authors contains 1667 taxa, divided between 37 families, 108 genera, 1392 species and 299 sub-specific taxa.

TL;DR: In this paper, a simulation study and empirical camera-trapping data were used to illustrate how ecological and sampling-related factors can bias relative abundance indices (RAI, number of records per trap effort), although these do not account for imperfect and variable detection.

TL;DR: The bushmeat trade has been recognized as a severe problem in forest biomes, but receives little attention in savannas, perhaps due to a misconception that bushmeat hunting is a low-impact subsistence activity as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between the characteristics of the process of stakeholder involvement and stakeholders' perceptions of future biodiversity outcomes, and found that increased actor involvement in the management of protected areas did not contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.

TL;DR: This work takes stock of recently accumulated knowledge about lionfish ecology and behaviour and examines how this information is contributing to general understanding of the patterns and processes underpinning marine predator invasions, and to the specific issue of lionfish management.

TL;DR: A review of the anthropogenic drivers of defaunation can be found in this paper, where the authors provide a brief historical account of the development of this field, and analyze the types of biological consequences of this impact on the structure and functioning of tropical ecosystems.

TL;DR: Differences in the temporal activity patterns of the apex predators and mesocarnivores supported a hypothesis of temporal niche partitioning, and it is suggested that a diverse carnivore community persists in this mixed use landscape because of seasonal variation in human land use.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors derived an estimate of bird mortality for U.S. monopole turbines by applying inclusion criteria to compiled studies, identifying correlates of mortality, and utilizing a predictive model to estimate mortality along with uncertainty.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce northern forests as an ecosystem, discuss the historical and recent human impact and provide a brief status report on the ecological restoration projects and research already conducted there, and identify the most important challenges that need to be solved in order to carry out efficient restoration with powerful and long-term positive impacts on biodiversity.

TL;DR: Based on bird feeding ecology, 148 seabird species as susceptible to bycatch in gillnets are identified, of which 81 have been recorded caught, and there is a need for further data to advance development of bycatch mitigation measures.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identified research related to the refuge potential of a wide range of waterbodies, using waterbody names as keywords along with ‘artificial’ and ‘freshwater’.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated hunting of wildlife by owned, free-roaming cats in a suburban area of the southeastern USA and found that domestic cats (Felis catus) are efficient and abundant nonnative predators.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the performance of different statistical methods for estimating density from camera trap data including the closed-population capture-recapture models Mo and Mh with a buffer of ½ and the full mean maximum distance moved (MMDM) and spatially explicit capture-reconstruction (SECR) models under different study designs and scenarios.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed 238 scientific articles to evaluate current knowledge, guided by three questions: (1) How do we identify important sites for ES conservation? (2) How can we maximize synergy between biodiversity and ecosystem services during conservation planning? (3) Does integrating the concept of ES provide new tools to facilitate biodiversity conservation?

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on conifer encroachment threats to greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and demonstrate an approach that links species demographics with attributes of conservation threats to inform targeting of investments.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured rates of meadow loss due to shrub encroachment and identified its mechanisms, and reconstructed alpine land cover, climate, and land use change from 1950 to 2009 across Northwest Yunnan using satellite data, ground surveys, and interviews.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined spatial priorities for the conservation of non-flying mammals inhabiting the Cerrado Biodiversity Hotspot, Brazil, that overcome the likely impacts of land-use and climate change to this imperiled fauna.

TL;DR: This review confirms that larger-seeded species consistently experience reduced primary seed dispersal, and increased seedling aggregation around parent trees, as a result of defaunation, and shows consistent shifts toward lower species richness, higher species dominance, and lower diversity.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that exploitation of large carnivores, even if sustainable numerically, undermines the commonly expressed rationale for their conservation, namely the restoration and preservation of ecosystem functionality.

TL;DR: Human population density has emerged here as an important predictor of alien species richness in protected areas across taxa, providing a basis for guidelines on where to focus surveillance and eradication efforts.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that the release of this mesopredator from wolf suppression across much of the American West is affecting a wide range of faunal elements including mammals, birds, and reptiles is investigated.

TL;DR: There is a critical need to address research on how effects of multiple invaders differ from those of single invaders, what types of interactions are most commonly found between invaders, and what effects interactions might have on the overall impact of the individual invader.