Estimating the extent and structure of trade in horticultural orchids via social media

Liked to death: the impacts of social media and photography on biodiversity

The advent and everyday prominence of social media has fuelled a rise in nature tourism and photography to share experiences online. This is increasingly resulting in disturbance to natural environments and causing a range of direct and indirect impacts to native species. We highlight the key negative impacts of social media on biodiversity and determine which characteristics predispose some taxa to a greater threat from social media than others. Direct disturbances arising from social media use include behavioural and physiological impacts, such as disruptions to breeding and feeding and increased predation risk. The use of call playback, drones and baiting of animals for photographs also have a range of negative impacts. Other direct impacts include the capture and handling of animals for photographs and damage and trampling to plants. Indirect impacts include the spread of diseases and increased poaching of flora and fauna. We advocate for the instigation of codes of ethics and tighter controls around the use and promotion of flora and fauna on social media. We propose a framework that considers species most at risk from social media activities, especially those that are rare, sessile and have restricted ranges.

Navigating ethical challenges in online wildlife trade research

The surge in internet accessibility has transformed wildlife trade by facilitating the acquisition of wildlife through online platforms. This scenario presents unique ethical challenges for researchers, as traditional ethical frameworks for in-person research cannot be readily applied to the online realm. Currently, there is a lack of clearly defined guidelines for appropriate ethical procedures when conducting online wildlife trade (OWT) research. In response to this, we consulted the scientific literature on ethical considerations in online research and examined existing guidelines established by professional societies and ethical boards. Based on these documents, we present a set of recommendations that can inform the development of ethically responsible OWT research. Key ethical challenges in designing and executing OWT research include the violation of privacy rights, defining subjects and illegality, and the risk of misinterpretation or posing risks to participants when sharing data. Potential solutions include considering participants' expectations of privacy, defining when participants are authors versus subjects, understanding the legal and cultural context, minimizing data collection, ensuring anonymization, and removing metadata. Best practices also involve being culturally sensitive when analyzing and reporting findings. Adhering to these guidelines can help mitigate potential pitfalls and provides valuable insights to editors, researchers, and ethical review boards, enabling them to conduct scientifically rigorous and ethically responsible OWT research to advance this growing field.

Financial speculation meets cultural heritage in China's wildlife markets

Environmental regulations restricting the use of a natural resource or species often have unintended consequences. One example is prohibitions on the international trade in culturally important endangered wildlife. Trade restrictions may artificially increase scarcity and, consequently, value. In China, international trade restrictions may trigger bouts of speculative investment that have the opposite effect of the restrictions' intent. We examined how China's speculative economy and cultural history have together led to unintended consequences when regulating wildlife trade. In China, wildlife markets occupy a legal gray area that can make regulations ineffectual or even counterproductive. In extreme cases, prohibiting trade can provoke market booms. Further unintended consequences include potential cultural backlash. In China and across the Global South, international trade restrictions are sometimes considered a continuation of a longstanding history of Western intervention and thus may not be enforced as strongly or may generate resentment. This pushback has contributed to rising calls to decolonialize conservation and may lead to growing alliances between China and other Global South countries when negotiating international wildlife trade restrictions in the future.

Exploring the potential for online data sources to enhance species threat mapping through the case study of global bat exploitation

Expanding digital data sources, including social media and online news, provide a low-cost way to examine human-nature interactions, such as wildlife exploitation. However, the extent to which using such data sources can expand or bias understanding of the distribution and intensity of threats has not been comprehensively assessed. To address this gap, we quantified the geographical and temporal distribution of online sources documenting the hunting and trapping, consumption, or trade of bats (Chiroptera) and compared these with the distribution of studies obtained from a systematic literature search and species listed as threatened by exploitation on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Online records were collected using automated searches of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Bing and were filtered using machine classification. This yielded 953 relevant social media posts and web pages, encompassing 1099 unique records of bat exploitation from 84 countries. Although the number of records per country was significantly predicted by the number of academic studies per country, online records provided additional locations and more recent records of bat exploitation, including 22 countries not present in academic literature. This demonstrates the value of online resources in providing more complete geographical representation. However, confounding variables can bias the analysis of spatiotemporal trends. Online bat exploitation records showed peaks in 2020 and 2014, after accounting for increases in internet users through time. The second of these peaks could be attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak, and speculation about the role of bats in its epidemiology, rather than to true changes in exploitation. Overall, our results showed that data from online sources provide additional knowledge on the global extent of wildlife exploitation, which could be used to identify early warnings of emerging threats and pinpoint locations for further research.

The novel developed microsatellite markers revealed potential hybridization among Cymbidium species and the interspecies sub-division of C. goeringii and C. ensifolium

BACKGROUND

Orchids (Cymbidium spp.) exhibit significant variations in floral morphology, pollinator relations, and ecological habitats. Due to their exceptional economic and ornamental value, Cymbidium spp. have been commercially cultivated for centuries. SSR markers are extensively used genetic tools for biology identification and population genetics analysis.

RESULT

In this study, nine polymorphic EST-SSR loci were isolated from Cymbidium goeringii using RNA-Seq technology. All nine SSR loci showed transferability in seven other congeneric species, including 51 cultivars. The novel SSR markers detected inter-species gene flow among the Cymbidium species and intra-species sub-division of C. goeringii and C. ensifolium, as revealed by neighborhood-joining and Structure clustering analyses.

CONCLUSION

In this study, we developed nine microsatellites using RNA-Seq technology. These SSR markers aided in detecting potential gene flow among Cymbidium species and identified the intra-species sub-division of C. goeringii and C. ensifolium.

Prevalence and perspectives of illegal trade in cacti and succulent plants in the collector community

Although illegal wildlife trade (IWT) represents a serious threat to biodiversity, research into the prevalence of illegal plant collection and trade remains scarce. Because cacti and succulents are heavily threatened by overcollection for often illegal, international ornamental trade, we surveyed 441 members of the cacti and succulent hobbyist collector community with a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. We sought to understand collector perspectives on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and on the threats IWT poses to cactus and succulent conservation. Most respondents (74% of 401 respondents) stated that illegal collection in cacti and succulents represents a "very serious problem" and that the problem of wild plant collection is increasing (72% of 319 respondents). Most forms of illegal collection and trade were seen as very unacceptable by respondents. Self-reported noncompliance with CITES rules was uncommon (11.2% of 418 respondents); it remains a persistent problem in parts of the cacti and succulent hobbyist community. People engaging in rule breaking, such as transporting plants without required CITES documents, generally did so knowingly. Although 60.6% of 381 respondents regarded CITES as a very important tool for conservation, sentiment toward CITES and its efficacy in helping species conservation was mixed. Collectors in our survey saw themselves as potentially playing important roles in cactus and succulent conservation, but this potential resource remains largely untapped. Our results suggest the need for enhanced consultation with stakeholders in CITES decision-making. For challenging subjects like IWT, developing evidence-based responses demands deep interdisciplinary engagement, including assessing the conservation impact of species listings on CITES appendices.

Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

We conducted research to understand online trade in jaguar parts and develop tools of utility for jaguars and other species. Our research took place to identify potential trade across 31 online platforms in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, and Vietnamese. We identified 230 posts from between 2009 and 2019. We screened the images of animal parts shown in search results to verify if from jaguar; 71 posts on 12 different platforms in four languages were accompanied by images identified as definitely jaguar, including a total of 125 jaguar parts (50.7% posts in Spanish, 25.4% Portuguese, 22.5% Chinese and 1.4% French). Search effort varied among languages due to staff availability. Standardizing for effort across languages by dividing number of posts advertising jaguars by search time and number of individual searches completed via term/platform combinations changed the proportions the rankings of posts adjusted for effort were led by Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish. Teeth were the most common part; 156 posts offered at least 367 teeth and from these, 95 were assessed as definitely jaguar; 71 of which could be linked to a location, with the majority offered for sale from Mexico, China, Bolivia, and Brazil (26.8, 25.4, 16.9, and 12.7% respectively). The second most traded item, skins and derivative items were only identified from Latin America: Brazil (7), followed by Peru (6), Bolivia (3), Mexico (2 and 1 skin piece), and Nicaragua and Venezuela (1 each). Whether by number of posts or pieces, the most commonly parts were: teeth, skins/pieces of skins, heads, and bodies. Our research took place within a longer-term project to assist law enforcement in host countries to better identify potential illegal trade and presents a snapshot of online jaguar trade and methods that also may have utility for many species traded online.

Exploring market-based wildlife trade dynamics in Bangladesh

Wildlife markets are hotspots for illegal wildlife trade, with traders operating as a result of weak monitoring and law enforcement. Knowledge of species traded, sources, and routes used for transport is needed to identify illegal wildlife trade markets and intervene to stem trade. We conducted surveys in 13 wildlife markets across Bangladesh every month during January-December 2019 to assess the abundance and diversity of wildlife taxa traded and the factors driving this trade. Passeriformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, Artiodactyla, Carnivora and Testudines were the most traded orders. Wildlife markets were also centres of trade for high-value species, including the tiger Panthera tigris, crocodile Crocodylus porosus and tortoises. In hill markets and peri-urban markets the most commonly sold species originated from nearby forests, whereas urban markets included both native species and exotic species sourced internationally. Market type, road links to the market, the presence of law enforcement agencies, proximity to a port and form of sale (live animals or byproducts) all significantly influenced what is being traded. Trade of mammals, reptiles, high-value wildlife species and threatened species was less common in markets proximal to law enforcement agencies. Markets close to seaports or airports were more likely to sell mammals, threatened species and high-value wildlife. Based on our results, we recommend a set of interventions to help reduce market-based wildlife trade in Bangladesh.

Identifying opportunities for expert-mediated triangulation in monitoring wildlife trade on social media

Wildlife trade has rapidly expanded on social media platforms in recent years, offering an easy means for traders to access international markets. Investigating this trade activity poses a complex challenge to researchers seeking to understand online trade and moderators seeking to disrupt illicit and harmful activity. Current survey methods frequently rely on text-based searches and focus on posts in which the advertisement is explicit. However, such approaches risk overlooking a growing volume of relevant content, particularly outside social media groups. We used posts from pages promoting West African birds for trade as a case study to explore the availability of information for making inferences about trade activity on social media, specifically information indicating that trade activity was occurring or that could be used to infer trade routes. We recorded 400 posts from 12 pages that we inferred either promoted or facilitated wildlife trade, of which 19.7% were explicit advertisements and 23.8% contained taxa-related terms. In the remaining 341 posts, profile information was the most common indicator of trade activity, but a variety of indicators (e.g., images of birds in trade and trade enquiries) were identified across imagery, text, and comments. We identified multiple types of geographical information that could help infer trade routes and thus the likely legality of trade, although most were relatively rare and sometimes contradictory. Our findings suggest that triangulating multiple types of information from within, across, and beyond posts is vital for effectively identifying and interpreting wildlife trade content on social media. Therefore, were commend that expert-mediated triangulation should be integrated in and used alongside automated detection systems and moderating practices of social media companies.

Trading Animal Lives: Ten Tricky Issues on the Road to Protecting Commodified Wild Animals

Wildlife commodification can generate benefits for biodiversity conservation, but it also has negative impacts; overexploitation of wildlife is currently one of the biggest drivers of vertebrate extinction risk. In the present article, we highlight 10 issues that in our experience impede sustainable and humane wildlife trade. Given humanity's increasing demands on the natural world we question whether many aspects of wildlife trade can be compatible with appropriate standards for biodiversity conservation and animal welfare, and suggest that too many elements of wildlife trade as it currently stands are not sustainable for wildlife or for the livelihoods that it supports. We suggest that the onus should be on traders to demonstrate that wildlife use is sustainable, humane, and safe (with respect to disease and invasion risk), rather than on conservationists to demonstrate it is not, that there is a need for a broad acceptance of responsibility and, ultimately, widespread behavior change. We urge conservationists, practitioners, and others to take bold, progressive steps to reach consensus and action.

Ethics and governance for internet-based conservation science research

Internet-based research is increasingly important for conservation science and has wide-ranging applications and contexts, including culturomics, illegal wildlife trade, and citizen science. However, online research methods pose a range of ethical and legal challenges. Online data may be protected by copyright, database rights, or contract law. Privacy rights may also restrict the use and access of data, as well as ethical requirements from institutions. Online data have real-world meaning, and the ethical treatment of individuals and communities must not be marginalized when conducting internet-based research. As ethics frameworks originally developed for biomedical applications are inadequate for these methods, we propose that research activities involving the analysis of preexisting online data be treated analogous to offline social science methods, in particular, nondeceptive covert observation. By treating internet users and their data with respect and due consideration, conservationists can uphold the public trust needed to effectively address real-world issues.

Who Needs the Dark Web? Exploring the Trade in Critically Endangered Plants on eBay

Stemming the illegal trade of endangered species is a critical and very difficult challenge for conservationists and law enforcement. Much effort is given to stopping the trade of "charismatic megafauna" such as tigers, elephants, and rhinoceroses. Endangered plant species, however, receive far less attention and fewer resources, resulting in devastating consequences. Plant species continue to go extinct due to illegal harvesting and selling, while just one order of plants, Orchidales, makes up more than 70% of all threatened wildlife species. This study examines the role the Internet plays in critically endangered plant transactions. Rather than focusing on the dark web for these sales, I search the e-commerce site eBay to better understand the extent to which these trades take place in plain sight. Of the 193 critically endangered plant species examined, 56 were for sale in some form on eBay during the study period. These results indicate a high degree of trading in these species, but do not necessarily indicate criminality. The complexity of the international legal frameworks regulating these transactions makes it difficult to ascertain their legality, but certain indicators point to at least a subset of these sales being unlawful. E-commerce sites like eBay must take more proactive measures to regulate sales and protect these species on the brink, for it is clear the surface web is playing an understudied and important role in fostering these cybercrimes. In sum, the dark web is unnecessary when the surface web is convenient, widely available, and scarcely policed.

A guide to using the internet to monitor and quantify the wildlife trade

The unrivaled growth in e-commerce of animals and plants presents an unprecedented opportunity to monitor wildlife trade to inform conservation, biosecurity, and law enforcement. Using the internet to quantify the scale of the wildlife trade (volume and frequency) is a relatively recent and rapidly developing approach that lacks an accessible framework for locating relevant websites and collecting data. We produced an accessible guide for internet-based wildlife trade surveillance. We detailed a repeatable method involving a systematic internet search, with search engines, to locate relevant websites and content. For data collection, we highlight web-scraping technology as an efficient way to collect data in an automated fashion at regularly timed intervals. Our guide is applicable to the multitude of trade-based contexts because researchers can tailor search keywords for specific taxa or derived products and locations of interest. We provide information for working with the diversity of websites used in wildlife trade. For example, to locate relevant content on social media (e.g., posts or groups), each social media platform should be examined individually via the site's internal search engine. A key advantage of using the internet to study wildlife trade is the relative ease of access to an increasing amount of trade-related data. However, not all wildlife trade occurs online and it may occur on unobservable sections of the internet.

Text classification to streamline online wildlife trade analyses

Automated monitoring of websites that trade wildlife is increasingly necessary to inform conservation and biosecurity efforts. However, e-commerce and wildlife trading websites can contain a vast number of advertisements, an unknown proportion of which may be irrelevant to researchers and practitioners. Given that many wildlife-trade advertisements have an unstructured text format, automated identification of relevant listings has not traditionally been possible, nor attempted. Other scientific disciplines have solved similar problems using machine learning and natural language processing models, such as text classifiers. Here, we test the ability of a suite of text classifiers to extract relevant advertisements from wildlife trade occurring on the Internet. We collected data from an Australian classifieds website where people can post advertisements of their pet birds (n = 16.5k advertisements). We found that text classifiers can predict, with a high degree of accuracy, which listings are relevant (ROC AUC ≥ 0.98, F1 score ≥ 0.77). Furthermore, in an attempt to answer the question ‘how much data is required to have an adequately performing model?’, we conducted a sensitivity analysis by simulating decreases in sample sizes to measure the subsequent change in model performance. From our sensitivity analysis, we found that text classifiers required a minimum sample size of 33% (c. 5.5k listings) to accurately identify relevant listings (for our dataset), providing a reference point for future applications of this sort. Our results suggest that text classification is a viable tool that can be applied to the online trade of wildlife to reduce time dedicated to data cleaning. However, the success of text classifiers will vary depending on the advertisements and websites, and will therefore be context dependent. Further work to integrate other machine learning tools, such as image classification, may provide better predictive abilities in the context of streamlining data processing for wildlife trade related online data.

Monitoring the Trade of Legally Protected Wildlife on Facebook and Instagram Illustrated by the Advertising and Sale of Apes in Indonesia

Apes continue to be trafficked to meet the demand for pets or zoos. Indonesia, the most diverse country in terms of ape species, has been implicated in the global trade in gibbons, orangutans and, to a lesser degree, chimpanzees. Recently trade has shifted to online platforms, a trend that may have been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic and partial lockdowns. We assessed the availability of legally protected apes for sale on Facebook and Instagram over two 16-months periods (2017–2018 and 2020–2021). Despite Facebook and Instagram explicitly banning the sale of endangered animals, and Facebook not allowing the sale of live animals, we found 106 gibbons, 17 orangutans and four chimpanzees for sale on five Facebook pages and 19 Instagram accounts. All orangutans and chimpanzees and 70% of the gibbons were infants or juveniles. We did not record any obvious responses of vendors to the Covid-19 pandemic. Facebook and Instagram accounts were linked (similar names, cross-referencing each other and announcing new accounts on existing ones), names were altered (e.g., “petshop” to “pethsop”) and new vendors emerged for short periods. Facebook and Instagram’s policy of not allowing the sale of live and/or endangered wildlife on their platforms is not effectively implemented in Indonesia.

Digital data sources and methods for conservation culturomics

Ongoing loss of biological diversity is primarily the result of unsustainable human behavior. Thus, the long-term success of biodiversity conservation depends on a thorough understanding of human-nature interactions. Such interactions are ubiquitous but vary greatly in time and space and are difficult to monitor efficiently at large spatial scales. However, the Information Age also provides new opportunities to better understand human-nature interactions because many aspects of daily life are recorded in a variety of digital formats. The emerging field of conservation culturomics aims to take advantage of digital data sources and methods to study human-nature interactions and thus to provide new tools for studying conservation at relevant temporal and spatial scales. Nevertheless, technical challenges associated with the identification, access, and analysis of relevant data hamper the wider adoption of culturomics methods. To help overcome these barriers, we propose a conservation culturomics research framework that addresses data acquisition, analysis, and inherent biases. The main sources of culturomic data include web pages, social media, and other digital platforms from which metrics of content and engagement can be obtained. Obtaining raw data from these platforms is usually desirable but requires careful consideration of how to access, store, and prepare the data for analysis. Methods for data analysis include network approaches to explore connections between topics, time-series analysis for temporal data, and spatial modeling to highlight spatial patterns. Outstanding challenges associated with culturomics research include issues of interdisciplinarity, ethics, data biases, and validation. The practical guidance we offer will help conservation researchers and practitioners identify and obtain the necessary data and carry out appropriate analyses for their specific questions, thus facilitating the wider adoption of culturomics approaches for conservation applications.

Using culturomics and social media data to characterize wildlife consumption

Wildlife provides food, medicine, clothing, and other necessities for humans, but overexploitation can disrupt the sustainability of wildlife resources and severely threaten global biodiversity. Understanding the characteristics of consumer behavior is helpful for wildlife managers and policy makers, but the traditional survey methods are laborious and time-consuming. In contrast, culturomics may more efficiently identify the features of wildlife consumption. As a case study of the culturomics approach, we examined tiger bone wine consumption in China based on social media and Baidu search engine data. Tiger bone wine is one of the most purchased tiger products; its consumption is closely related to tiger poaching, which greatly threatens wild tiger survival. We searched a popular social media website for the term "tiger bone wine" and focused on posts that were originally created from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2018. We filtered and classified posts related to the purchase, sale, or consumption of tiger bone wine and extracted information on providers, consumption motivations, year of production, and place of origin of the tiger bone wines based on the texts and photos of these posts. We found 756 posts related to tiger bone wine consumption, 113 of which mentioned providers of tiger bone wine, including friends (53%), elder relatives (37%), peer relatives (7%), and others (3%). Out of the 756 posts, 266 indicated the motivations of tiger bone wine consumption. Tiger bone wines were consumed as a tonic (34%), medicine (23%), game product (30%), and a symbol of wealth (28%). Some posts indicated ≥2 consumption motivations. These findings were consistent with the search queries from Baidu index. Such information could help develop targeted strategies for tiger conservation. The culturomics approach illustrated by our study is a rapid and cost-efficient way to characterize wildlife consumption.

Greek Tulips: Worldwide Electronic Trade over the Internet, Global Ex Situ Conservation and Current Sustainable Exploitation Challenges

From an ornamental viewpoint, tulips are famous clonally propagated crops. This research focuses on 15 wild-growing Greek tulip species including 11 range-restricted species, i.e., six Greek endemics and five Balkan or Aegean endemics and subendemics, among which seven are currently threatened with extinction (two Critically Endangered, three Endangered and two Vulnerable). An overview of the global electronic trade over the internet is presented herein for these valuable phytogenetic resources in an attempt to define the extent of their commercialization (25 nurseries in three countries, mainly bulb trade at various prices) with concomitant conservation implications. In the frame of the repatriation initiatives launched, their global ex situ conservation is overviewed according to the PlantSearch facility of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (materials from 15 species stored in 41 botanic gardens of 14 countries). The results of this study on the Greek tulips showed that there are both well-established value chains and gaps in the market regarding the “botanical tulips”; revealed the compromised effectiveness of ex situ conservation for the majority of them; raised conservation concerns related to authorized access to these wild phytogenetic resources; and indicated that their future utilization should comply with the provision of national and international legislation. All these are envisaged and discussed within the framework of the newly launched research project TULIPS.GR which aims to be the pilot establishment of a national collection regarding all Greek tulips (currently holding 38 accessions of 13 species, including almost all of the threatened ones). The project’s scope is to enable the creation of a sustainable value chain for the Greek tulips with authorized collections, sustainable conservation schemes, production of DNA barcoded propagation material, species-specific propagation and cultivation protocols, mycorrhizal investigations, field studies, applying innovative precise soil/foliar fertigation, and investigation of the postharvest treatment of fresh cut flowers, promoting networking and synergies with producers and associations in Greece and abroad.

Wildlife trade shifts from brick-and-mortar markets to virtual marketplaces: A case study of birds of prey trade in Thailand

The shift of wildlife trade from brick-and-mortar markets to virtual online marketplaces is reported using the trade of birds of prey (raptors) in Thailand from 1968 to 2019 as a case study. We analyzed data obtained from physical market survey data for 2,782 individuals from 27 species, with 2,420 individuals reported in early surveys (1968-1988) and 362 individuals reported in later surveys (2003-2015) and online surveys (February 2017 to January 2019). We compared information on asking prices and what species were traded using two comparative approaches to analyze how species composition may have changed over time (physical markets and online platforms; pre-Internet and Internet era). In comparison with the five previous market surveys, we did not find a statistically significant difference between species and availability of species offered for sale when comparing physical bird markets and online markets. In all data sets, biological factors such as wingspan were significant factors in explaining price variation. We conclude that sustained monitoring is needed to make direct comparisons between the trade platforms. With a continued increase of wildlife trade on online platforms, we recommend increased regulation and enforcement of wildlife trade laws.

Network analysis of a stakeholder community combatting illegal wildlife trade

The illegal wildlife trade has emerged as a growing and urgent environmental issue. Stakeholders involved in the efforts to curb wildlife trafficking include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academia, and state government and enforcement bodies. The extent to which these stakeholders work and communicate among each other is fundamental to effectively combatting illicit trade. Using the United Kingdom as a case study, we used a social network analysis and semistructured interviews of stakeholders to assess communication relationships in the counter wildlife trafficking community. The NGOs consistently occupied 4 of the 5 most central positions in the generated networks, whereas academic institutions routinely occupied 4 of the 5 most peripheral positions. However, NGOs were the least diverse in their communication practices compared with the other stakeholder groups. Stakeholders identified personal relationships as the most important aspect of functioning communication. Participant insights also showed that stakeholder-specific variables (e.g., ethical and confidentiality concerns), competition, and fundraising can have a confounding effect on intercommunication. Evaluating communication networks and intrastakeholder communication trends is essential to creating cohesive, productive, and efficient responses to the challenges of combatting illegal wildlife trade. Article impact statement: Communication among those combatting illegal wildlife trade is confounded by stakeholder variables (ethics, confidentiality), competition, and fundraising.

Endemic plants of Crete in electronic trade and wildlife tourism: current patterns and implications for conservation

Background

The island of Crete is a biodiversity hotspot having 223 endemic vascular taxa (species and subspecies) as a result of its long isolation and the wide range of habitats it includes. We explore trends and patterns in the electronic trade of these unique genetic resources and in their involvement in wildlife tourism, the ways these two activities are performed and the associated potential threats on the plants' wild populations, and we also identify priority taxa requiring special attention. The main part of the study was conducted in 2016-2017 using English as a search language; an additional search was conducted in 2019 using German and French.

Results

We found e-commerce for 28 (13%) endemic taxa. These are traded by 65 nurseries from 14 countries, the UK primarily. Among the traded plants, 16 face extinction risk and/or are under protection status. Prices vary largely for the same taxon and form of sale. Lamiaceae is the family with the highest number of e-traded taxa, Tulipa bakeri is the most traded species, and the living plant is the commonest form of sale. Thirty-seven endemic taxa are advertised in the websites of travel agencies involved in wildlife tourism. Tulipa doerfleri is the most frequently encountered taxon in these websites, whereas Lamiaceae, Liliaceae and Orchidaceae are similarly represented. The additional search showed a very rapid increase in the e-trade of the Cretan endemis.

Conclusion

The two examined markets are similar in that geophytes play a prominent role and Lamiaceae rank first among the represented plant families, but differ in several aspects: only 22.6% of the taxa detected are common in both, obedience to rules exhibited by travel agencies is not usually the case with nurseries, and potential threats to wild populations are estimated as considerably higher for the traded plants. Sixteen endemic taxa of Crete were identified as requiring special attention.

Conservation impacts of commercial cultivation of endangered and overharvested plants

Overharvesting is one of the greatest threats to species survival. Farming overharvested species is a conservation strategy that can meet growing market demand and conserve wild populations of the target species. This strategy is compatible with the international community's desire to uphold the right of local communities to use biological resources to support their livelihoods. However, studies investigating whether farming can alleviate poaching pressure have focused almost exclusively on animals. To address the shortfall in plant-focused studies, we compiled information on commercial cultivation of threatened plants to assess its conservation benefits. Because China's rising middle class has rapidly intensified demand for wildlife products, we searched the scientific literature published in Chinese (China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Baidu) and in English. We found 32 reports that contained data on 193 internationally or nationally threatened plant species that were under commercial cultivation. These reports showed that cultivations of 82% of the 193 species were sustained by collecting whole plants from the wild periodically or continuously. Although based on a small sample size, species that were maintained in cultivation only through artificial propagation or seeds collected in the wild were likely associated with a reported reduction in wild harvesting of whole plants. Even so, results of correlation analyses suggested that production system, scale, and when a species began being cultivated had little effect on conservation status of the species, either globally or in China. However, species brought into cultivation relatively recently and on a smaller scale were more likely to have undergone a reduction in collecting pressure. Farming of nonmedicinal plants was most problematic for species conservation because wild plants were laundered (i.e., sold as cultivated plants). For effective conservation, policy to guide cultivation operations based on the target species' biological characteristics, cultural significance, market demand, and conservation status is needed.

A framework for investigating illegal wildlife trade on social media with machine learning

Article impact statement: Machine learning can be used to automatically monitor and assess illegal wildlife trade on social media platforms.

Code word usage in the online ivory trade across four European Union member states

Illegal wildlife trade is a rapidly evolving environmental crime that is expanding through e-commerce. Because of the nature of the internet, detection of online illegal wildlife and enforcement has proven to be difficult and time-consuming, often based on manual searches through the use of keywords. As a result of scrutiny, traders in elephant ivory now use code words to disguise the trade, thus adding an additional level of complexity. Here we look at the use of 19 code words and phrases associated with the online trade in elephant ivory items on eBay across four European Union (EU) member states. Results show that, in spite of eBay's ban on ivory, elephant ivory is still being offered for sale across all four sites we searched (183 ivory items offered by 113 sellers during 18 January–5 February 2017). Beyond the violation of eBay's Terms and Conditions, other potential illegalities included offers for sale across international borders without mention of CITES permit requirements, and the offer of ivory that may be considered unworked, which violates EU regulations. Code word usage was found to be consistent across all four EU countries. Although the rise of online wildlife trade is of concern, the growth of global markets may homogenize conventions within trading communities, such as in this case the code words used. Homogenization of conventions may therefore offer opportunities for tackling the illegal online trade in wildlife.

The illegal pet trade is driving Madagascar's ploughshare tortoise to extinction

The illegal wildlife trade is driving declines in populations of a number of large, charismatic animal species but also many lesser known and restricted-range species, some of which are now facing extinction as a result. The ploughshare tortoise Astrochelys yniphora, endemic to the Baly Bay National Park of north-western Madagascar, is affected by poaching for the international illegal pet trade. To quantify this, we estimated population trends during 2006–2015, using distance sampling surveys along line transects, and recorded national and international confiscations of trafficked tortoises for 2002–2016. The results suggest the ploughshare tortoise population declined > 50% during this period, to c. 500 adults and subadults in 2014–2015. Prior to 2006 very few tortoises were seized either in Madagascar or internationally but confiscations increased sharply from 2010. Since 2015 poaching has intensified, with field reports suggesting that two of the four subpopulations are extinct, leaving an unknown but almost certainly perilously low number of adult tortoises in the wild. This study has produced the first reliable population estimate of the ploughshare tortoise and shows that the species has declined rapidly because of poaching for the international pet trade. There is an urgent need for increased action both in Madagascar and along international trade routes if the extinction of the ploughshare tortoise in the wild is to be prevented.

Considering connections between Hollywood and biodiversity conservation

Cinema offers a substantial opportunity to share messages with a wide audience. However, there is little research or evidence about the potential benefits and risks of cinema for conservation. Given their global reach, cinematic representations could be important in raising awareness of conservation issues and species of concern, as well as encouraging greater audience engagement due to their heightened emotional impact on viewers. Yet there are also risks associated with increased exposure, including heightened visitor pressure to environmentally sensitive areas or changes to consumer demand for endangered species. Conservationists can better understand and engage with the film industry by studying the impact of movies on audience awareness and behavior, identifying measurable impacts on conservation outcomes, and engaging directly with the movie industry, for example, in an advisory capacity. This improved understanding and engagement can harness the industry's potential to enhance the positive impacts of movies featuring species, sites, and issues of conservation concern and to mitigate any negative effects. A robust evidence base for evaluating and planning these engagements, and for informing related policy and management decisions, needs to be built.

Rising internet-based trade in the Critically Endangered ploughshare tortoise Astrochelys yniphora in Indonesia highlights need for improved enforcement of CITES

The Critically Endangered ploughshare tortoise Astrochelys yniphora, endemic to Madagascar, is one of the rarest tortoises. Despite its protection under Malagasy national law and featuring in Appendix I of CITES, heightened interest from reptile collectors over recent decades has expedited the scale of poaching to critical levels. Illegal traders are now turning to online retail platforms and social media to sell this species. We present data from a 5-month study conducted by TRAFFIC in 2015 of online trade in ploughshare tortoises in Indonesia during 2010–2015. We identified 88 advertisements selling 126 ploughshare tortoises from 49 sellers. Fifty-six percent of the advertisements were located on forums or online retail sites and 43% on social media. Since 2012 advertisements on social media increased steadily, to > 90% in 2015. Seventy-five percent of the advertisements were from sellers based in Indonesia, 74% of which were from Jakarta. Prices were USD 509–47,000. The internet provides Indonesian traders with a means to sell protected wildlife comparatively safely and easily. The abundance of illegally sourced ploughshare tortoises openly on offer in online trade in Indonesia highlights a disregard for the law among Indonesian importers and their exporting counterparts. A re-evaluation by CITES of Indonesia's existing legislation is necessary. Devoid of a sound legal framework and sufficient enforcement to uphold these laws, there is no deterrent for traders of ploughshare tortoises and other non-native, CITES-listed species.