Population size is a critical indicator used to assess the demographic profile and conservation status of animal species living in disturbed habitats. Using GIS technology, we calculated the remaining habitat area and estimated the population size of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi), an Endangered primate endemic to China. The last remaining population of this species resides

Habitat destruction and degradation are the leading causes of species declines and extinctions in the world. Human altered landscapes often leave fragments of previously continuous habitat, which may be of significant conservation value. We assessed the effects of habitat fragmentation on the taxonomic diversity, community composition, and nestedness of avian communities before and after fragment isolation

Climate change is an emerging threat for biodiversity conservation. It has already started impacting species assemblages and ecosystem dynamics. The greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is an iconic and globally threatened megaherbivore. Once widespread across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, there were fewer than 500 rhinoceros during the early 1960s, confined to isolated

Elephants are the largest extant terrestrial animals and are important for maintaining regional ecosystem balance and community diversity. However, poaching, population growth, habitat fragmentation, and viruses are major threats to global elephant populations. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the major threats to the health of elephants. Global warming has a serious impact on wildlife and accelerates

The relative contribution of extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting lizard movement patterns have rarely been examined. We were interested in understanding the effects of extrinsic factors such as seasonality and forest cover, along with the intrinsic factor of body length on home range size, movement patterns and habitat selection of the endangered Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma charlesbogerti)

Wildlife trafficking is an illegal industry that some estimate is worth $5–23 billion USD annually; it occurs in over 120 countries around the world and involves multiple taxa of species, including mammals, corals, reptiles, bony fishes and birds. Across source, transit and destination geographies of wildlife trafficking networks, wildlife trafficking harms people, wildlife and ecosystems. African

The long-term survival of conflict-prone megafauna such as tigers Panthera tigris and Asian elephants Elephas maximus requires people’s tolerance and willingness to coexist with them. Understanding people’s attitudes can help design conservation interventions that are more effective and supported by various stakeholders. We studied Malaysian citizens attitudes towards local megafauna and the influence

To assess whether a forest protected area (PA) is effective in preventing deforestation, it is common to compare the deforestation rate inside the PA with that of its surrounding area, defined using a buffer zone of a certain distance from the PA boundary. However, this methodology is often problematic for PAs located in mountainous regions because the resulting buffer area may present very different

Shrub encroachment has caused a vegetation shift in arid and semiarid grassland ecosystems around the world, leading to marked changes in ecosystem structures and functions. Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) is an informative indicator of microbial decomposition and plays an important role in soil biogeochemical cycles, but it is unclear how shrub encroachment affects soil EEA, especially in

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Anaxyrus canorus, the Yosemite toad, as federally threatened in 2014 based upon reported population declines and vulnerability to global-change factors. A. canorus lives only in California’s central Sierra Nevada at medium to sub-alpine elevations. Lands throughout its range are protected from development, but climate and other global-change factors potentially

It is very important that making full use of the regional precipitation resources, evaluating the comprehensive risks overall and choosing drought-resisting and disaster-avoiding cropping system reasonably. Based on the meteorological data from 1961 to 2017 and crop growth period data from 1981 to 2017 in Sichuan Province, Sichuan Province was divided into seven agro-ecological zones and one non-agricultural

Over the last decade, illegal rosewood logging has surged worldwide, with much attributable to an uptick in Chinese demand. For the last seventy-five years, Panama’s main use of cocobolo rosewood (Dalbergia retusa) was in small pieces for artisanal carvings, its state of conservation favoring merchantable timber for recent exploitation with the surging market. Panama’s cocobolo rosewood boom was from

Background Wild water buffalo is an endangered species presently distributed in some countries of South and Southeast Asia with Nepal’s only population in the flood plain of the Koshi River at Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR). Some of the individuals have been translocated to Chitwan National Park of central Nepal but the survival rate is not satisfactory. Methods This study was conducted in Babai

Little study was done to understand the role of high-altitude oak forests in climate change mitigation. Here, we analyzed data from 30 sample plots collected along the four altitudinal gradients to assess species distribution and carbon stocks in the Panchase Conservation Area in Nepal. Three carbon pools were considered, namely aboveground carbon (AGC), belowground carbon (BGC), and carbon in litters

Adult sea turtles undertake periodic long-distance migrations between foraging and nesting areas during breeding migrations, and an understanding the connectivity between these two important habitats can contribute to efficient conservation planning. We present the first round-trip migrations of three green sea turtles in the Arabian region, from a foraging area to a nesting site and back, along with

The ‘stress-gradient hypothesis’ predicts increasing facilitative interactions with increasing environmental stress, but it remains unclear if the prevailing interaction (i.e. facilitative or competitive) of dominant plant species on subordinate plant species occurring in harsh environments is dependent on the plant functional type. In addition, most plant-species removal experiments in grasslands

Climate change has been related to the current loss of global biodiversity. In this paper, the effects of different scenarios of climate change on the distribution of the four classes of terrestrial vertebrate species in Andalusia (Spain) are explored. The goal is to obtain potential climatically suitable areas for each group (amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds) under each proposed scenario and

It is widely assumed that seed mass, as a proxy of both dispersability and competitiveness, can affect community composition and diversity. Numerous studies have validated the influence of seed mass at the interspecific level. However, little is known about patterns of among-population variation in seed mass (APVSM), which may influence a species’ persistence under climate change. We characterized

The tequila bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) has been the focus of intense research over the last 20 years. Its close relationship to economically important plants used in the production of tequila and mezcal has raised awareness of its importance as both a keystone mutualist and a mobile link between habitats. The study of its migratory habits has shed light on patterns of movement and routes that

This paper critiques the conservation and economic claims advanced by the captive predator breeding industry in South Africa. It contends that captive lion breeding offers no direct conservation value. Similarly, claims of economic significance and indirect conservation value are tenuous in light of the potential opportunity costs that the industry generates, which remain largely unquantified. Therefore

Leaf area is an important indicator of photosynthetic capacity in plants. Knowledge of the variation of leaf shape at an individual level or a population level can help by accurately calculate leaf area. Such calculations can help us to understand the life history strategies of plants, and allow us to better understand the influence of climate change on mean leaf area as an indicator of leaf size,

Alpine grasslands provide essential ecosystem functions and services, yet they are increasingly subject to anthropogenic perturbations. Northwest Yunnan (NWY) is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China, and alpine grasslands of NWY are particularly susceptible to human recreational activities such as hiker trampling. However, studies that explicitly evaluate the effects of trampling disturbance

We used habitat suitability modeling to investigate whether the 15% ecosystem restoration target set in the previous Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and EU Biodiversity strategy targets, is sufficient to safeguard red-listed mire plant species. We assessed six theoretical restoration scenarios for drained peatland landscapes by altering the proportion of drained and undrained peatland area

Supplementation of livestock feed is a common strategy for improving animal production in pasture-based systems worldwide. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China, however, the grassland ecosystem is fragile and therefore sensitive to disruption by external forces. We therefore investigated the effects of supplementing yaks feed with oats hay on animal production, forage biomass, and carbon return in

Elevation can greatly affect both intensity and duration of flooding in riparian areas, and may thus affect the performance of plants distributed therein. However, few studies have examined the performance of riparian plants over elevation difference. This study compared growth and reproductive traits of populations of the riparian species Polygonum hydropiper distributed at low and high elevations

Terminalia brownii Fresen in the Combretaceae family, is one of the indigenous tree species used in agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation programmes in drylands of Kenya. It is widely distributed in the semi-arid lands of East, Central and West Africa. It is an important drought tolerant and multipurpose agroforestry species whose potential is underutilized due to poor seed germination. Its

The degree to which grassland aboveground biomass responds to climatic variability (e.g. annual and growing season precipitation and temperature) as well as management practices (e.g. harvest frequency) has attracted considerable interest in ecological studies. This understanding is important for maintaining ecosystem stability and sustainable delivery of ecosystem services under climate change. Here

The Chinese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis) in Hong Kong is on the verge of extinction, as it has been facing multiple human-induced threats. Dolphin-watching tours have provided great opportunities for raising public awareness of the conservation of the species; however, such tours may inevitably cause disturbances to dolphins if tourists do not behave responsibly. This study aims to assess the drivers

Livestock grazing has become the most prevalent human disturbance in protected areas across the range of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Previous studies have documented the impacts of livestock grazing on habitat and food resources of giant panda, however, little is known about how free-ranging livestock influences other sympatric species. In this study, we investigated the presence of livestock

Leaf bilateral asymmetry, an important indicator of leaves that tend to be affected by the above-ground architectural structure of plants and their environments (especially light), has been poorly studied. Taylor’s power law (TPL) describes a power-law relationship between the mean and variance of a non-negative random variable, and its exponent has been demonstrated to reflect the degree of heterogeneity

Stomata control the water loss for transpiration and the CO2 uptake for photosynthesis. However, the relationships between photosynthesis and stomatal traits across a wide range of species are largely been unknown. Here, we tested the relationships among maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax), stomatal density (SD), stomatal length (SL) and maximum stomatal conductance to water vapour (gmax) across 45

Using orchid mycorrhizal fungi to facilitate orchid recovery projects is considered to be an effective method for orchid conservation. In this study, we used ex situ seed baiting to isolate fungi to assist seed germination in Paphiopedilum spicerianum, a critically endangered orchid with only a single population found in south China. Two fungal species, GYBQ01 and GYBQ02, were successfully obtained

Wild vertebrate populations all over the globe are in decline, with poaching being the second-most-important cause. The high poaching rate of rhinoceros may drive these species into extinction within the coming decades. Some stakeholders argue to lift the ban on international rhino horn trade to potentially benefit rhino conservation, as current interventions appear to be insufficient. We reviewed

Weed expansion has the potential to severely affect global agriculture. Habitat suitability models (HSMs) have been widely used to assess weed expansion to enable effective prevention and control of weeds. However, few studies have focused on the habitat suitability of global croplands for these weeds. Previous studies listed the 10 serious weed species that have the largest negative impact on global

Fish behavior measurements are important for river and fishery scientists to protect fish resources and for ecological engineers to guide ecosystem conservation but they can pose a practical challenge. In this study, an acoustic camera was used to observe the migration patterns of fish species downstream of an under-construction hydroelectric dam, the Lianghekou dam in the middle Yalong River, China

Molecular technologies, such as metabarcoding, have become powerful tools for conservation purposes. Here, we present a non-invasive study analyzing the diet of one population of European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) during its whole activity period and of four other populations during the same period, based on faecal sample, and using for the first time on this species, a long metabarcoding approach

Evaluating the efficacy of monitoring designs is crucial for the successful monitoring and conservation of populations. For tidal marsh bird species of conservation concern, detecting population declines at local spatial scales within actionable time frames is a top priority. We examined and compared the effectiveness of alternative monitoring strategies for detecting local-scale population declines

Climate warming is altering the climatically suitable habitat and phenology of plant species around the world, which may increase the risks of extinction for endangered species with extremely small populations (PSESP) plants. Metasequoia glyptostroboides is one of the critically endangered species with extremely small populations (PSESP) plants distributed in South-Central China. Here, we used meteorological

Boreal plants growing along the southern edge of their range on isolated mountains in a hot desert matrix live near the extreme of their physiological tolerance. Such plants are considered sensitive to small changes in climate. We coupled field observations (1974, 1993, 2019) about the abundance and vigor of small populations of ten remnant boreal plant species persisting in the uppermost elevations

Floristic diversity changes substantially depending on the type of land management. We evaluated the impact of a continuous (CG) and rotational (RG) grazing system on the dynamics of plant diversity and community composition in a heather-gorse understory after a two and six-year pause from horse grazing. Previously grazed sites had higher total and rare species richness and diversity than ungrazed

The main purpose of the study was to assess the impact of energy willow (Salix viminalis L.) crops on the vascular flora diversity of agroecosystems in Łódź voivodeship in central Poland. The studies were carried out in the years 2013 and 2014 on seven commercial plantations which were established in various soil conditions, on five soil agricultural complexes. In total, 50 phytosociological relevés

The growing season of alpine grassland is regarded as the vital indictors reflecting the vegetation growth, and is sensitive to regional climatic change in Northern Tibet. However, limited studies have identified the growing season variability across alpine grassland in Northern Tibet during 2001–2018. We investigated spatial-temporal variations in the growing season of alpine grassland in Northern

Potassium is directly involved in plant cell turgor-driven cell elongation, this is important for promoting the expansion of invasive plants. Soil potassium-solubilizing microorganisms in some invaded ecosystems may promote plant invasion by increasing potassium availability. The aims of this study were to isolate and identify potassium-solubilizing bacteria and to evaluate their contribution to the

The iconic large-bodied Asian tapir (Tapirus indicus) is endemic to Southeast Asia and is currently listed as endangered. To date, little is known about how tapir respond to habitat fragmentation in forestry landscapes. This study aimed to assess tapir occurrence in eight forestry reserves, outside the main protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia, using non-intrusive camera trapping methods. These reserves

Sundri (Heritiera fomes Buch.-Ham.) is an evergreen mangrove tree species found abundantly in the freshwater zone of Sundarbans, Bangladesh and scattered in moderate or strong saline zones of the forest. H. fomes grows well in top canopy having full sunlight and even in full shade under the canopy. This study presents the plasticity of leaf morphological and anatomical characteristics in H. fomes due

Nesting beach management is a vital element of the population recovery efforts for the vulnerable loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) across the globe. In the southeast United Sates, turtle nests are threatened by numerous anthropogenic and natural threats, including predation of eggs by native and non-native predators. We analyzed loggerhead nest predation and other egg; loss using an exceptional

Choosing appropriate estimator that provides an accurate and precise prediction of plant population’s density is vital specifically when different density intensities and distribution patterns are concerned. Therefore, the efficiency of plotless plant density estimators for the various spatial patterns found in nature have been examined using a simulated population based on an observed population of

Desertification is one of the most serious ecological environmental problems over the past several decades in the arid regions. The quantitative assessment of the desertification degree in sandy lands has also been an essential part of landscape ecology. Based on the character of relief, we proposed a new indicator system, i.e., Normalized Landscapes Index (NLI) to calculate the dynamic trend of the

Leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations are critical to plant metabolic processes and growth. Understanding the contribution of climate and soil nutrients on leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations across plant life-forms (trees, shrubs, and herbs) remains incomplete, especially along elevational gradients. To investigate these effects, we combined data from the Plant Trait (TRY) database

Bird diverter devices were developed to improve power line visibility for birds and reduce their risk of collision. However, differences in efficacy between types of devices, and in some cases conflicting results, place in question the ability of these devices to reduce collision risk to birds. Here, we investigated the efficacy of three types of flight diverters in reducing avian collision with power

Human-wildlife conflict has both serious influences on native willdife population and in socio-economically poor areas. In the Shigar Valley, Karakoram range, Pakistan, subsistence mixed farming is the predominant land use and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes montana) are widely persecuted. Knowledge of the effects of human activity and prey availability on fox behavior in the region is lacking. We carried

The Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata), the only member of order “Pholidota” occurring in Pakistan, is threatened by the rampant trade of the species, and has been listed as “Endangered” since 2014. The current study investigated the occupancy, habitat suitability and habitat preference of pangolin in the Potohar Plateau and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A Single-season model was used to analyze the data

In the conterminous United States, wolverines (Gulo gulo) occupy semi-isolated patches of high elevation subalpine habitats at naturally low densities. The long-term success of the wolverine metapopulation requires open space in valley bottoms that link the mountain ranges of the western US to facilitate dispersal. No previous analysis has used empirical data to determine the degree to which dispersing