New papers on Conservation
15 new papers on conservation in the last 7 days, within Ecology & evolution. These are the 15 Pipette rates most worth reading, with the main result in the authors' own words.
The best of the week
A streamlined proof of concept CRISPR-based environmental biosurveillance platform for the detection of closely related invasive rats
Using Rattus exulans, R. norvegicus, and R. rattus as a challenging model of closely related invasive vertebrates, SENTINEL achieved species-specific discrimination without detectable cross-reactivity and sensitivities of 10 aM for plasmid DNA and 10 fg/uL for genomic DNA.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepReal-world useCompound food failure on a deteriorated mast system drives Japan’s bear conflict crisis
Using an 18-year dataset across five Tohoku prefectures, we find that it reflects bears responding to a rhythm breakdown of the forest's food supply.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useSediment dynamics drive global patterns of salt-marsh vulnerability
Tidal range, suspended sediment concentration, and wave-sediment coupling are the strongest first-order predictors of contemporary marsh trajectories, outperforming RSLR in explaining global patterns.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world usePost-2020 conservation priorities are threatened by global mining
We find that 34% (49,000 km²) of these mining areas overlap with CPZs, intersecting the ranges of more than 2,300 species, including many classified as threatened.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useEasy to readFirst density and abundance estimate for the only East African Population of Western bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus) in Semuliki National Park, Uganda
The model estimated a population size of 56.49 individuals (SE = 7.69; 95% CI = 41.43-71.56), with an estimated density of 0.58 individuals km-2 (SE = 0.171; 95% CI = 0.32-1.09) within Semuliki National Park.
PreprintReal-world useIntegrating dedicated and opportunistic surveys to estimate seasonal common dolphin density off mainland Portugal
We develop a spatiotemporal marked log-Gaussian Cox process that integrates four structurally distinct surveys through a shared intensity surface, comprising environmental covariates, a latent spatial field, and survey-specific detection functions.
PreprintReal-world useClimate mitigation contributes more to population persistence than evolutionary adaptation in a long-lived seabird
Increasing heritability had little effect on extinction risk, whereas climate mitigation reduced extinction probability by approximately half.
Peer-reviewed journalMortality in an alpine ungulate increases nonlinearly with snow depth.
Our findings challenge the established paradigm of demographic buffering in prime-aged adults, demonstrating that their resilience to environmental variability is fundamentally non-linear and breaks down once a changing climate regime breaches adult physiological boundaries, severely compromising population viability.
PreprintGiant cuttlefish’s stunning mating aggregation decimated by toxic algae off Australia
Algal bloom has almost wiped out a unique population of the meter-long cephalopod.
Peer-reviewed journalBroad interestReal-world useEasy to readCanopy functional composition as an indicator of bird traits, taxonomy, and vulnerability in tropical Peruvian forests
Distinct forest functional groups are associated with distinct bird traits, levels of anthropogenic impact, and taxonomic assemblages, providing explanatory power beyond traditional abiotic gradients.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useLeveraging collaborations between researchers, wildlife managers and citizen-volunteers to monitor endangered carnivore populations across space and time
We demonstrate that molecular individual identification coupled with SECR can provide a practical basis for dhole population assessments while enabling multi-stakeholder participation in field monitoring.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useWhole-community translocation shows high survival potential of pollution-sensitive benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in restored streams.
Results: Across all sites, 77% of translocated individuals and 16 of 22 taxa sensitive and moderately sensitive to pollution persisted under restored stream conditions, demonstrating that restored reaches can support short-term survival of pollution-sensitive taxa that typically fail to recover.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useProjected habitat loss and spatial redistribution of two alpine and subalpine species in Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya under CMIP6 scenarios
Future projections indicated reductions in suitable habitat of approximately 25% for M. aculeata and 27-28% for R. campanulatum.
PreprintReal-world useWinter-run Chinook salmon juvenile recruitment and early life history response to flow in a heavily altered tailwater
We found that flow and spawner abundance best predicted juvenile abundance at Red Bluff Diversion Dam while temperature had considerably less support.
PreprintReal-world useNavigating between global robustness and fine-scale resolution: the potential of demographic inference based on identical-by-descent segments.
When demographic parameters varied across space, IBD-Analysis integrated local variation into biased global estimates, whereas MAPS captured spatial patterns but showed substantial variability and generated spurious spatial structure in homogeneous landscapes.
PreprintReal-world use