Risk classification of low-lying coral reef islands and their exposure to climate threats

The bio-physical responses of low-lying coral islands to climate change are of concern. These islands exist across a broad range of bio-physical conditions, and vulnerabilities to rising and warming seas, ocean acidification and increased storminess. We propose a risk-based classification that scores 6 island eco-morphometric attributes and 6 bio-physical ocean/climate conditions from recent open-access data, to assign islands with respect to 5 risk classes (Very Low, Low, Moderate, High and Very High). The potential responses of 56 coral islands in Australia's jurisdiction (Coral Sea, NW Shelf and NE Indian Ocean) to climate change is considered with respect to their bio-physical attributes and eco-morphometrics. None of the islands were classed as Very Low risk, while 8 were classed as Low (14.3 %), 34 were Moderate (60.7 %), 11 were High (19.6 %), and 3 were Very High (5.4 %). Islands in the Very High risk class (located on the NW Shelf) are most vulnerable due to their small size (mean 10 Ha), low elevation (mean 2.6 m MSL), angular/elongated shape, unvegetated state, below average pH (mean 8.05), above average rates of sea-level rise (SLR; mean 4.6 mm/yr), isolation from other islands, and frequent tropical storms and marine heatwaves. In contrast, islands in the Low (and Very Low) risk class are less vulnerable due to their large size (mean 127 Ha), high elevation (mean 8.5 m MSL), sub-angular/round shape, vegetated state, near average pH (mean 8.06), near average SLR rates (mean 3.9 mm/yr), proximity to adjacent islands, and infrequent cyclones and marine heatwaves. Our method provides a risk matrix to assess coral island vulnerability to current climate change related risks and supports future research on the impacts of projected climate change scenarios. Findings have implications for communities living on coral islands, associated ecosystem services and coastal States that base their legal maritime zones on these islands.

Climate change is predicted to cause population collapse in a cooperative breeder

It has been suggested that animals may have evolved cooperative breeding strategies in response to extreme climatic conditions. Climate change, however, may push species beyond their ability to cope with extreme climates, and reduce the group sizes in cooperatively breeding species to a point where populations are no longer viable. Predicting the impact of future climates on these species is challenging as modelling the impact of climate change on their population dynamics requires information on both group- and individual-level responses to climatic conditions. Using a single-sex individual-based model incorporating demographic responses to ambient temperature in an endangered species, the African wild dog Lycaon pictus, we show that there is a threshold temperature above which populations of the species are predicted to collapse. For simulated populations with carrying capacities equivalent to the median size of real-world populations (nine packs), extinction risk increases once temperatures exceed those predicted in the best-case climate warming scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway [RCP] 2.6). The threshold is higher (between RCP 4.5 and RCP 6.0) for larger simulated populations (30 packs), but 84% of real-world populations number <30 packs. Simulated populations collapsed because, at high ambient temperatures, juvenile survival was so low that packs were no longer recruiting enough individuals to persist, leading them to die out. This work highlights the importance of social dynamics in determining impacts of climatic variables on social species, and the critical role that recruitment can play in driving population-level impacts of climate change. Population models parameterised on long-term data are essential for predicting future population viability under climate change.

Accelerating local extinction associated with very recent climate change

Climate change has already caused local extinction in many plants and animals, based on surveys spanning many decades. As climate change accelerates, the pace of these extinctions may also accelerate, potentially leading to large-scale, species-level extinctions. We tested this hypothesis in a montane lizard. We resurveyed 18 mountain ranges in 2021-2022 after only ~7 years. We found rates of local extinction among the fastest ever recorded, which have tripled in the past ~7 years relative to the preceding ~42 years. Further, climate change generated local extinction in ~7 years similar to that seen in other organisms over ~70 years. Yet, contrary to expectations, populations at two of the hottest sites survived. We found that genomic data helped predict which populations survived and which went extinct. Overall, we show the increasing risk to biodiversity posed by accelerating climate change and the opportunity to study its effects over surprisingly brief timescales.

Loss of terrestrial biodiversity in Australia: Magnitude, causation, and response

Australia's biota is species rich, with high rates of endemism. This natural legacy has rapidly diminished since European colonization. The impacts of invasive species, habitat loss, altered fire regimes, and changed water flows are now compounded by climate change, particularly through extreme drought, heat, wildfire, and flooding. Extinction rates, already far exceeding the global average for mammals, are predicted to escalate across all taxa, and ecosystems are collapsing. These losses are symptomatic of shortcomings in resourcing, law, policy, and management. Informed by examples of advances in conservation practice from invasive species control, Indigenous land management, and citizen science, we describe interventions needed to enhance future resilience. Many characteristics of Australian biodiversity loss are globally relevant, with recovery requiring society to reframe its relationship with the environment.

Continued survival of the elusive Seram orange melomys (Melomys fulgens)

Many poorly-known small mammals have remained undetected for decades, including Melomys fulgens, a distinctive orange murid from Seram, Indonesia, that has been unrecorded since 1920. We report previously undocumented specimens of M. fulgens collected in 1993 and 1994, and local ecological knowledge from 2017 including descriptions and recent sightings, providing strong indirect evidence of its continued survival in similar habitat to known collection localities. These findings indicate relatively widespread distribution of M. fulgens in low-elevation coastal forest across Seram, raising hope for continued survival of Seram’s other ‘lost’ small mammals.

Bat responses to climate change: a systematic review

Understanding how species respond to climate change is key to informing vulnerability assessments and designing effective conservation strategies, yet research efforts on wildlife responses to climate change fail to deliver a representative overview due to inherent biases. Bats are a species-rich, globally distributed group of organisms that are thought to be particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change because of their high surface-to-volume ratios and low reproductive rates. We systematically reviewed the literature on bat responses to climate change to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge, identify research gaps and biases and highlight future research needs. We found that studies are geographically biased towards Europe, North America and Australia, and temperate and Mediterranean biomes, thus missing a substantial proportion of bat diversity and thermal responses. Less than half of the published studies provide concrete evidence for bat responses to climate change. For over a third of studied bat species, response evidence is only based on predictive species distribution models. Consequently, the most frequently reported responses involve range shifts (57% of species) and changes in patterns of species diversity (26%). Bats showed a variety of responses, including both positive (e.g. range expansion and population increase) and negative responses (range contraction and population decrease), although responses to extreme events were always negative or neutral. Spatial responses varied in their outcome and across families, with almost all taxonomic groups featuring both range expansions and contractions, while demographic responses were strongly biased towards negative outcomes, particularly among Pteropodidae and Molossidae. The commonly used correlative modelling approaches can be applied to many species, but do not provide mechanistic insight into behavioural, physiological, phenological or genetic responses. There was a paucity of experimental studies (26%), and only a small proportion of the 396 bat species covered in the examined studies were studied using long-term and/or experimental approaches (11%), even though they are more informative about the effects of climate change. We emphasise the need for more empirical studies to unravel the multifaceted nature of bats' responses to climate change and the need for standardised study designs that will enable synthesis and meta-analysis of the literature. Finally, we stress the importance of overcoming geographic and taxonomic disparities through strengthening research capacity in the Global South to provide a more comprehensive view of terrestrial biodiversity responses to climate change.

Primates facing climate crisis in a tropical forest hotspot will lose climatic suitable geographical range

Global climate changes affect biodiversity and cause species distribution shifts, contractions, and expansions. Climate change and disease are emerging threats to primates, and approximately one-quarter of primates' ranges have temperatures over historical ones. How will climate changes influence Atlantic Forest primate ranges? We used habitat suitability models and measured potential changes in area and distributions shifts. Climate change expected in 2100 may change the distribution area of Atlantic Forest primates. Fourteen species (74%) are predicted to lose more than 50% of their distribution, and nine species (47%) are predicted to lose more than 75% of their distribution. The balance was negative, indicating a potential future loss, and the strength of the reduction in the distribution is related to the severity of climate change (SSP scenarios). Directional shifts were detected to the south. The projected mean centroid latitudinal shift is ~ 51 km to the south for 2100 SSP5-8.5 scenario. The possibility of dispersal will depend on suitable routes and landscape configuration. Greenhouse gas emissions should be urgently reduced. Our results also emphasize that no more forest loss is acceptable in Atlantic Forest, and restoration, canopy bridges, friendly agroecosystems, and monitoring of infrastructure projects are urgent to enable dealing with climate change.

Current Conservation Regimes and the Road to Laws on Assisted Migration

The negative impact of climate change on biodiversity will continue to escalate rapidly. While some species will naturally migrate to more suitable areas or adapt to the new climatic environmental conditions in different fashions, for others doing so may prove to be problematic or impossible. Against this backdrop, scientists and environmentalists have proposed implementing plans for Assisted Migration (AM)-meaning the translocation of plants and animals to areas outside their natural habitats to conserve their species under the new emerging climatic conditions. This article seeks to identify legal approaches towards AM considering not only possible benefits from using this tool but also a necessity to minimize related risks. With regard to its stated purpose, this article also compares legal and policy documents relevant to AM issues from the United States, Australia, and the European Union. In conclusion, we have found, and this article shows, that while existing legal and policy documents leave room for manoeuvreing in regard to climate-related translocations and even sometimes explicitly mention AM as a possible tool for conservation, there exists a need for the further development of concrete legal mechanisms and their balancing with the predominant ideas and goals brought about by the necessity to protect native biota.

Do Invasive Mammal Eradications from Islands Support Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation?

Climate change represents a planetary emergency that is exacerbating the loss of native biodiversity. In response, efforts promoting climate change adaptation strategies that improve ecosystem resilience and/or mitigate climate impacts are paramount. Invasive Alien Species are a key threat to islands globally, where strategies such as preventing establishment (biosecurity), and eradication, especially invasive mammals, have proven effective for reducing native biodiversity loss and can also advance ecosystem resilience and create refugia for native species at risk from climate change. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that successful eradications may also contribute to mitigating climate change. Given the cross-sector potential for eradications to reduce climate impacts alongside native biodiversity conservation, we sought to understand when conservation managers and funders explicitly sought to use or fund the eradication of invasive mammals from islands to achieve positive climate outcomes. To provide context, we first summarized available literature of the synergistic relationship between invasive species and climate change, including case studies where invasive mammal eradications served to meet climate adaptation or mitigation solutions. Second, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and eradication-related conference proceedings to identify when these synergistic effects of climate and invasive species were explicitly addressed through eradication practices. Third, we reviewed projects from four large funding entities known to support climate change solutions and/or native biodiversity conservation efforts and identified when eradications were funded in a climate change context. The combined results of our case study summary paired with systematic reviews found that, although eradicating invasive mammals from islands is an effective climate adaptation strategy, island eradications are poorly represented within the climate change adaptation and mitigation funding framework. We believe this is a lost opportunity and encourage eradication practitioners and funders of climate change adaptation to leverage this extremely effective nature-based tool into positive conservation and climate resilience solutions.

Human-mediated impacts on biodiversity and the consequences for zoonotic disease spillover

Human-mediated changes to natural ecosystems have consequences for both ecosystem and human health. Historically, efforts to preserve or restore 'biodiversity' can seem to be in opposition to human interests. However, the integration of biodiversity conservation and public health has gained significant traction in recent years, and new efforts to identify solutions that benefit both environmental and human health are ongoing. At the forefront of these efforts is an attempt to clarify ways in which biodiversity conservation can help reduce the risk of zoonotic spillover of pathogens from wild animals, sparking epidemics and pandemics in humans and livestock. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which biodiversity change influences the spillover process is incomplete, limiting the application of integrated strategies aimed at achieving positive outcomes for both conservation and disease management. Here, we review the literature, considering a broad scope of biodiversity dimensions, to identify cases where zoonotic pathogen spillover is mechanistically linked to changes in biodiversity. By reframing the discussion around biodiversity and disease using mechanistic evidence - while encompassing multiple aspects of biodiversity including functional diversity, landscape diversity, phenological diversity, and interaction diversity - we work toward general principles that can guide future research and more effectively integrate the related goals of biodiversity conservation and spillover prevention. We conclude by summarizing how these principles could be used to integrate the goal of spillover prevention into ongoing biodiversity conservation initiatives.

The roles of aridification and sea level changes in the diversification and persistence of freshwater fish lineages

While the influence of Pleistocene climatic changes on divergence and speciation has been well-documented across the globe, complex spatial interactions between hydrology and eustatics over longer timeframes may also determine species evolutionary trajectories. Within the Australian continent, glacial cycles were not associated with changes in ice cover and instead largely resulted in fluctuations from moist to arid conditions across the landscape. We investigated the role of hydrological and coastal topographic changes brought about by Plio-Pleistocene climatic changes on the biogeographic history of a small Australian freshwater fish, the southern pygmy perch Nannoperca australis. Using 7958 ddRAD-seq (double digest restriction-site associated DNA) loci and 45,104 filtered SNPs, we combined phylogenetic, coalescent and species distribution analyses to assess the various roles of aridification, sea level and tectonics and associated biogeographic changes across southeast Australia. Sea-level changes since the Pliocene and reduction or disappearance of large waterbodies throughout the Pleistocene were determining factors in strong divergence across the clade, including the initial formation and maintenance of a cryptic species, N. 'flindersi'. Isolated climatic refugia and fragmentation due to lack of connected waterways maintained the identity and divergence of inter- and intraspecific lineages. Our historical findings suggest that predicted increases in aridification and sea level due to anthropogenic climate change might result in markedly different demographic impacts, both spatially and across different landscape types.

Importance of species translocations under rapid climate change

Species that cannot adapt or keep pace with a changing climate are likely to need human intervention to shift to more suitable climates. While hundreds of articles mention using translocation as a climate-change adaptation tool, in practice, assisted migration as a conservation action remains rare, especially for animals. This is likely due to concern over introducing species to places where they may become invasive. However, there are other barriers to consider, such as time-frame mismatch, sociopolitical, knowledge and uncertainty barriers to conservationists adopting assisted migration as a go-to strategy. We recommend the following to advance assisted migration as a conservation tool: attempt assisted migrations at small scales, translocate species with little invasion risk, adopt robust monitoring protocols that trigger an active response, and promote political and public support.

Climate change and marine turtles: recent advances and future directions

Climate change is a threat to marine turtles that is expected to affect all of their life stages. To guide future research, we conducted a review of the most recent literature on this topic, highlighting knowledge gains and research gaps since a similar previous review in 2009. Most research has been focussed on the terrestrial life history phase, where expected impacts will range from habitat loss and decreased reproductive success to feminization of populations, but changes in reproductive periodicity, shifts in latitudinal ranges, and changes in foraging success are all expected in the marine life history phase. Models have been proposed to improve estimates of primary sex ratios, while technological advances promise a better understanding of how climate can influence different life stages and habitats. We suggest a number of research priorities for an improved understanding of how climate change may impact marine turtles, including: improved estimates of primary sex ratios, assessments of the implications of female-biased sex ratios and reduced male production, assessments of the variability in upper thermal limits of clutches, models of beach sediment movement under sea level rise, and assessments of impacts on foraging grounds. Lastly, we suggest that it is not yet possible to recommend manipulating aspects of turtle nesting ecology, as the evidence base with which to understand the results of such interventions is not robust enough, but that strategies for mitigation of stressors should be helpful, providing they consider the synergistic effects of climate change and other anthropogenic-induced threats to marine turtles, and focus on increasing resilience.

Flooding-induced mortality of loggerhead sea turtle eggs

Abstract ContextMarine turtle eggs incubate in dynamic beaches, where they are vulnerable to both saltwater and freshwater flooding. Understanding the capacity for marine turtle eggs to tolerate flooding will aid management efforts to predict and mitigate the impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise and increases in coastal flooding. AimsEvaluate the interactive effects of flooding duration and incubation stage on the hatching success of loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) eggs. MethodsGroups of 20 eggs from multiple clutches were incubated in plastic containers in a beach hatchery. Eggs at six stages of incubation (0, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 weeks post-oviposition) were excavated from the hatchery and exposed to saltwater or freshwater flooding for seven durations of time (0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 24 or 48h). Containers of eggs were either submerged in a bucket of water or left outside of the bucket (control; no flooding) for their designated duration, allowed to drain, then reburied in the hatchery. Following hatchling emergence, the hatching success of each group of eggs was evaluated. Key resultsFreshly laid eggs and eggs on the verge of hatching exposed to any flooding and all eggs exposed to extended periods of flooding (24 and 48h) suffered complete mortality. Eggs at 20–80% development exposed to short periods of flooding (1–6h) maintained high hatching success that was statistically equivalent to control eggs, while eggs at &lt;20% and &gt;80% development exhibited significant decreases in hatching success. ConclusionsMarine turtle eggs in the middle of incubation can tolerate saltwater and freshwater flooding for up to 6h. Outside of this period or when flooding is longer, disruption of gas concentrations and osmotic gradients in the egg chamber can lead to embryonic mortality. These findings have reinforced concerns regarding the capacity for marine turtle populations to continue to function as rising sea levels and increases in coastal flooding alter the hydrology of nesting beaches. ImplicationsAs current and predicted climate change threatens the suitability of the incubation environment used by marine turtles, corrective actions to maximise hatching success need to be taken before the eggs are flooded.

The endangered Hastings River mouse (Pseudomys oralis) as a disperser of ectomycorrhizal fungi in eastern Australia

Rodents are the most widespread and diverse order of vertebrate mycophagists and are key to the dispersal of mycorrhizal fungi. Rodents consume and subsequently disperse fungi through their feces on every continent except Antarctica. This study examines the fungal taxa consumed by the Hastings River mouse (Pseudomys oralis), an endangered Australian endemic rodent from the family Muridae. We analyzed 251 fecal samples collected over a 19-year period between 1993 and 2012 at sites throughout the distribution of the animal in New South Wales and Queensland. We show that at least 16 genera of mycorrhizal fungi are eaten by this species and that it is therefore playing an important role as a vector of ectomycorrhizal truffle-like fungi in eastern Australia. Similar to the fungal diets of other mammals in eastern Australia, seasonal fungal consumption was greatest in autumn and winter. The dietary diversity of P. oralis also appeared to follow a geographic trend from south to north; samples collected at sites in the southern part of the species' range had greater diversity than those from sites in the northern part of the range, and overall, diets from southern sites yielded more fungal taxa than did northern sites. This study provides novel insights into the diet of P. oralis and highlights the importance of previously overlooked ecosystem services this species provides through its dispersal of mycorrhizal fungi.

Design for Sustainability: The Need for a New Agenda

Design for Sustainability is not the panacea we hoped it would be when it was first introduced in the latter part of the 20th century. Today, the health of both our environment and our societies is at a critical state, a breaking point, with piecemeal solutions offered as social-media-friendly rallying points, such as the European Parliament approved ban on single-use plastics, whilst fundamental, and arguably less ‘exciting’, issues such as loss of biodiversity, overpopulation, and climate change are shuffled to the back. It can be argued, however, that the awareness of the concept of sustainability and the need to reduce the negative human impact upon the environment and society has grown significantly and, consequently, has moved up the global agenda; this is evidenced by the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. However, it is also clear that the role of Design for Sustainability within this agenda is not providing the solutions necessary to manifest the level of change required. Traditional approaches are not working. This Special Issue of Sustainability seeks to readdress this with eight papers that push the frontier of what Design for Sustainability could be—and possibly must be—across the broad spectrum of design disciplines.

The Burramys Project: a conservationist's reach should exceed history's grasp, or what is the fossil record for?

The fossil record provides important information about changes in species diversity, distribution, habitat and abundance through time. As we understand more about these changes, it becomes possible to envisage a wider range of options for translocations in a world where sustainability of habitats is under increasing threat. The Critically Endangered alpine/subalpine mountain pygmy-possum, Burramys parvus (Marsupialia, Burramyidae), is threatened by global heating. Using conventional strategies, there would be no viable pathway for stopping this iconic marsupial from becoming extinct. The fossil record, however, has inspired an innovative strategy for saving this species. This lineage has been represented over 25 Myr by a series of species always inhabiting lowland, wet forest palaeocommunities. These fossil deposits have been found in what is now the Tirari Desert, South Australia (24 Ma), savannah woodlands of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland (approx. 24–15 Ma) and savannah grasslands of Hamilton, Victoria (approx. 4 Ma). This palaeoecological record has led to the proposal overviewed here to construct a lowland breeding facility with the goal of monitoring the outcome of introducing this possum back into the pre-Quaternary core habitat for the lineage. If this project succeeds, similar approaches could be considered for other climate-change-threatened Australian species such as the southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) and the western swamp tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina).

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?’

Historical range contractions can predict extinction risk in extant mammals

Climate change is amongst the main threats to biodiversity. Considering extant mammals endured Quaternary climate change, we analyzed the extent to which this past change predicts current mammals’ extinction risk at global and biogeographical scales. We accessed range dynamics by modeling the potential distribution of all extant terrestrial mammals in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21,000 years ago) and in current climate conditions and used extinction risk from IUCN red list. We built General Linear Mixed-Effects Models to test the magnitude with which the variation in geographic range (ΔRange) and a proxy for abundance (ΔSuitability) between the LGM and present-day predicts current mammal’s extinction risk. We found past climate change most strongly reduced the geographical range and climatic suitability of threatened rather than non-threatened mammals. Quaternary range contractions and reduced suitability explain around 40% of species extinction risk, particularly for small-bodied mammals. At global and biogeographical scales, all groups that suffered significant Quaternary range contractions now contain a greater proportion of threatened species when compared to groups whose ranges did not significantly contract. This reinforces the importance of using historical range contractions as a key predictor of extinction risk for species in the present and future climate change scenarios and supports current efforts to fight climate change for biodiversity conservation.

Climate readiness of recovery plans for threatened Australian species

The rapidly changing climate is posing growing threats for all species, but particularly for those already considered threatened. We reviewed 100 recovery plans for Australian terrestrial threatened species (50 fauna and 50 flora plans) written from 1997 to 2017. We recorded the number of plans that acknowledged climate change as a threat and of these how many proposed specific actions to ameliorate the threat. We classified these actions along a continuum from passive or incremental to active or interventionist. Overall, just under 60% of the sampled recovery plans listed climate change as a current or potential threat to the threatened taxa, and the likelihood of this acknowledgment increased over time. A far smaller proportion of the plans, however, identified specific actions associated with ameliorating climate risk (22%) and even fewer (9%) recommended any interventionist action in response to a climate-change-associated threat. Our results point to a disconnect between the knowledge generated on climate-change-related risk and potential adaptation strategies and the extent to which this knowledge has been incorporated into an important instrument of conservation action.

Decline of the greater glider (Petauroides volans) in the lower Blue Mountains, New South Wales

The range of the greater glider (Petauroides volans) is predicted to contract with climate change. Following indications of a decline in the Blue Mountains, we collated records and undertook surveys in 2015–16 to assess whether a decline has occurred and whether the decline is associated with climate change or other factors. We were unable to relocate greater gliders at 35% of our study sites, even though all were in known former locations. The species is now rare at lower elevations but remains relatively common at higher elevations: about seven times more abundant above 500 m than below. Historical data suggest that in 1986–96 it occurred in similar abundance across all elevations, 80–1060 m. Nine habitat variables accounted for 84% of the variation in greater glider density between our study sites, with significant independent contributions from elevation (37%) and time since fire (23%). We found no evidence that greater gliders have been impacted by increasing numbers of owls or cockatoos or that either the fire regime or rainfall has changed in the last 20 years. The most likely cause of the decline is the direct and indirect effects of a marked increase in temperature in the Blue Mountains. Similar declines are likely throughout the distribution of the species with increasing climate change.

Sea level rise may increase extinction risk of a saltmarsh ontogenetic habitat specialist

Specialist species are more vulnerable to environmental change than generalist species. For species with ontogenetic niche shifts, specialization may occur at a particular life stage making those stages more susceptible to environmental change. In the salt marshes in the northeast U.S., accelerated sea level rise is shifting vegetation patterns from flood-intolerant species such as Spartina patens to the flood-tolerant Spartina alterniflora. We tested the potential impact of this change on the coffee bean snail, Melampus bidentatus, a numerically dominant benthic invertebrate with an ontogenetic niche shift. From a survey of eight marshes throughout the northeast U.S., small snails were found primarily in S. patens habitats, and large snails were found primarily in stunted S. alterniflora habitats. When transplanted into stunted S. alterniflora, small snails suffered significantly higher mortality relative to those in S. patens habitats; adult snail survivorship was similar between habitats. Because other habitats were not interchangeable with S. patens for young snails, these results suggest that Melampus is an ontogenetic specialist where young snails are habitat specialists and adult snails are habitat generalists. Temperature was significantly higher and relative humidity significantly lower in stunted S. alterniflora than in S. patens. These data suggest that thermal and desiccation stress restricted young snails to S. patens habitat, which has high stem density and a layer of thatch that protects snails from environmental stress. Other authors predict that if salt marshes in the northeast U.S. are unable to migrate landward, sea level rise will eliminate S. patens habitats. We suggest that if a salt marsh loses its S. patens habitats, it will also lose its coffee bean snails. Our results demonstrate the need to consider individual life stages when determining a species' vulnerability to global change.

Mammals on Western Australian islands: occurrence and preliminary analysis

We present a database of indigenous and non-indigenous terrestrial mammal records on Western Australian (WA) islands, updated from a database we published more than 20 years ago. The database includes records of 88 indigenous species on 155 islands, compared with 54 indigenous species on 141 WA islands in the paper by Abbott and Burbidge in CALMScience, Volume 1, pp. 259–324. The database also provides 266 records of 21 species of non-indigenous mammal species on 138 WA islands, more than double the number of records in the earlier review. Of the 33 threatened and near-threatened WA non-volant mammals, 16 occur naturally (and have persisted) on WA islands, five additional species occur on islands outside WA, 14 successful conservation translocations of 10 species have been undertaken to WA islands, and six species have been successfully translocated to 12 islands outside WA – two of which do not currently occur on WA islands. The house mouse now accounts for the largest number of extant records of non-indigenous species. Even with the increasing number of conservation translocations to mainland islands (fenced exclosures), WA islands remain essential for the effective conservation of several threatened and near-threatened mammals and many of the translocations to mainland islands have been sourced from islands.