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Hilbers JP, Santini L, Visconti P, Schipper AM, Pinto C, Rondinini C, Huijbregts MAJ. Setting population targets for mammals using body mass as a predictor of population persistence. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2017; 31:385-393. [PMID: 27677629 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2016] [Revised: 08/09/2016] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Conservation planning and biodiversity assessments need quantitative targets to optimize planning options and assess the adequacy of current species protection. However, targets aiming at persistence require population-specific data, which limit their use in favor of fixed and nonspecific targets, likely leading to unequal distribution of conservation efforts among species. We devised a method to derive equitable population targets; that is, quantitative targets of population size that ensure equal probabilities of persistence across a set of species and that can be easily inferred from species-specific traits. In our method, we used models of population dynamics across a range of life-history traits related to species' body mass to estimate minimum viable population targets. We applied our method to a range of body masses of mammals, from 2 g to 3825 kg. The minimum viable population targets decreased asymptotically with increasing body mass and were on the same order of magnitude as minimum viable population estimates from species- and context-specific studies. Our approach provides a compromise between pragmatic, nonspecific population targets and detailed context-specific estimates of population viability for which only limited data are available. It enables a first estimation of species-specific population targets based on a readily available trait and thus allows setting equitable targets for population persistence in large-scale and multispecies conservation assessments and planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jelle P Hilbers
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Wetland and Water Research, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, NL-6500 GL, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Luca Santini
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Wetland and Water Research, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, NL-6500 GL, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Global Mammal Assessment Program, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Piero Visconti
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY, U.K
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, U.K
| | - Aafke M Schipper
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Wetland and Water Research, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, NL-6500 GL, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, P.O. Box 30314 NL-2500 GH, The Hague, The Netherlands
| | - Cecilia Pinto
- Centre Manche-Mer du Nord, Ifremer, 150 quai Gambetta, BP 699, 62321, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
| | - Carlo Rondinini
- Global Mammal Assessment Program, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Mark A J Huijbregts
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Wetland and Water Research, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9010, NL-6500 GL, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, P.O. Box 30314 NL-2500 GH, The Hague, The Netherlands
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Salvatore JF, Meltzer AL, March DS, Gaertner L. Strangers With Benefits: Attraction to Outgroup Men Increases as Fertility Increases Across the Menstrual Cycle. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2016; 43:204-217. [PMID: 27872395 DOI: 10.1177/0146167216678860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Research typically reveals that outgroups are regarded with disinterest at best and hatred and enmity at worst. Working from an evolutionary framework, we identify a unique pattern of outgroup attraction. The small-group lifestyle of pre-human ancestors plausibly limited access to genetically diverse mates. Ancestral females may have solved the inbreeding dilemma while balancing parental investment pressures by mating with outgroup males either via converting to an outgroup or cuckolding the ingroup. A vestige of those mating strategies might manifest in human women as a cyclic pattern of attraction across the menstrual cycle, such that attraction to outgroup men increases as fertility increases across the cycle. Two studies, one using a longitudinal method and the other an experimental method, evidenced the hypothesized linear relationship between attraction to outgroup men and fertility in naturally cycling women.
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Garrick RC, Kajdacsi B, Russello MA, Benavides E, Hyseni C, Gibbs JP, Tapia W, Caccone A. Naturally rare versus newly rare: demographic inferences on two timescales inform conservation of Galápagos giant tortoises. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:676-94. [PMID: 25691990 PMCID: PMC4328771 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2014] [Revised: 11/26/2014] [Accepted: 12/01/2014] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Long-term population history can influence the genetic effects of recent bottlenecks. Therefore, for threatened or endangered species, an understanding of the past is relevant when formulating conservation strategies. Levels of variation at neutral markers have been useful for estimating local effective population sizes (N e ) and inferring whether population sizes increased or decreased over time. Furthermore, analyses of genotypic, allelic frequency, and phylogenetic information can potentially be used to separate historical from recent demographic changes. For 15 populations of Galápagos giant tortoises (Chelonoidis sp.), we used 12 microsatellite loci and DNA sequences from the mitochondrial control region and a nuclear intron, to reconstruct demographic history on shallow (past ∽100 generations, ∽2500 years) and deep (pre-Holocene, >10 thousand years ago) timescales. At the deep timescale, three populations showed strong signals of growth, but with different magnitudes and timing, indicating different underlying causes. Furthermore, estimated historical N e of populations across the archipelago showed no correlation with island age or size, underscoring the complexity of predicting demographic history a priori. At the shallow timescale, all populations carried some signature of a genetic bottleneck, and for 12 populations, point estimates of contemporary N e were very small (i.e., < 50). On the basis of the comparison of these genetic estimates with published census size data, N e generally represented ∽0.16 of the census size. However, the variance in this ratio across populations was considerable. Overall, our data suggest that idiosyncratic and geographically localized forces shaped the demographic history of tortoise populations. Furthermore, from a conservation perspective, the separation of demographic events occurring on shallow versus deep timescales permits the identification of naturally rare versus newly rare populations; this distinction should facilitate prioritization of management action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan C Garrick
- Department of Biology, University of MississippiOxford, Mississippi, 38677
| | - Brittney Kajdacsi
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale UniversityNew Haven, Connecticut, 06520
| | - Michael A Russello
- Department of Biology, University of British ColumbiaOkanagan Campus, Kelowna, British Columbia, V1V 1V7, Canada
| | - Edgar Benavides
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale UniversityNew Haven, Connecticut, 06520
| | - Chaz Hyseni
- Department of Biology, University of MississippiOxford, Mississippi, 38677
| | - James P Gibbs
- College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New YorkSyracuse, New York, 13210
| | - Washington Tapia
- Department of Applied Research, Galápagos National Park ServicePuerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador
- Biodiver S.A. ConsultoresKm 5 Vía a Baltra, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador
| | - Adalgisa Caccone
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale UniversityNew Haven, Connecticut, 06520
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Milinkovitch MC, Kanitz R, Tiedemann R, Tapia W, Llerena F, Caccone A, Gibbs JP, Powell JR. Recovery of a nearly extinct Galápagos tortoise despite minimal genetic variation. Evol Appl 2012; 6:377-83. [PMID: 23467700 PMCID: PMC3586625 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2012] [Accepted: 08/22/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
A species of Galápagos tortoise endemic to Española Island was reduced to just 12 females and three males that have been bred in captivity since 1971 and have produced over 1700 offspring now repatriated to the island. Our molecular genetic analyses of juveniles repatriated to and surviving on the island indicate that none of the tortoises sampled in 1994 had hatched on the island versus 3% in 2004 and 24% in 2007, which demonstrates substantial and increasing reproduction in situ once again. This recovery occurred despite the parental population having an estimated effective population size <8 due to a combination of unequal reproductive success of the breeders and nonrandom mating in captivity. These results provide guidelines for adapting breeding regimes in the parental captive population and decreasing inbreeding in the repatriated population. Using simple morphological data scored on the sampled animals, we also show that a strongly heterogeneous distribution of tortoise sizes on Española Island observed today is due to a large variance in the number of animals included in yearly repatriation events performed in the last 40 years. Our study reveals that, at least in the short run, some endangered species can recover dramatically despite a lack of genetic variation and irregular repatriation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel C Milinkovitch
- Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution (LANE), Department of Genetics & Evolution, University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland
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Flather CH, Hayward GD, Beissinger SR, Stephens PA. A general target for MVPs: unsupported and unnecessary. Trends Ecol Evol 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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