Fireflies face extinction risk - and tourists are partly to blame

By Georgina Rannard BBC News

7 February 2020 

Firefly tourism is on the rise globally but scientists are warning it may contribute to risk of the insect's extinction.

"I spotted a hundred flickering lights, illuminating a palm like a Christmas tree."

"Our guide waved his flashlight at the fireflies. They slowly engulfed us - we were surrounded by a shiny galaxy of glowing beetle stomachs."

"I reached out a hand and captured one in my fist."

Reading this travel blogger's enchanting experience in 2019 makes it clear why firefly tours are popular, but done badly, it risks killing the insects.

Habitat loss and light pollution from urbanisation and industrialisation are the leading threats to firefly populations, according to research published this week.

But firefly tourism, which attracts thousands of visitors in countries including Mexico, the US, the Philippines and Thailand, is a growing concern for conservationists.

Continued

Delays in banning wildlife trade put hundreds of species at risk

Date:  February 14, 2019

Source:  Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

From parrots to lizards, hundreds of animal species could be at risk of extinction because of a policy process that responds slowly to scientific knowledge, according to a new study in Science.

International wildlife authorities will gather in May to vote on wildlife trade restrictions at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP). The study suggests concrete steps policymakers can take to speed up a wildlife protection process that can take more than two decades.

"New trends in wildlife trade can develop quickly, with some species going from common to near extinction in just a few years," said Eyal Frank, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. "A policymaking process needs to respond quickly to new information in order to prevent extinction for hundreds of animals and plants. That's why it's absolutely critical that policymakers allow science to inform a speedy protection process."

Frank and his co-author, David Wilcove from Princeton University, analyzed 958 species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List that are endangered by international trade. Of those, they discovered that 28 percent are not protected by CITES, the primary international framework for preventing species extinction due to international wildlife trade.

Continued

Vulnerability and extinction risk of migratory species from different regions and ecosystems worldwide

Date:  March 26, 2018

Source:  University of California - Santa Barbara

Summary:

Forty million miles of major roads crisscross the Earth's continents -- enough to circle the planet 1,600 times. For humans, these thoroughfares are a boon, enabling them to move with ease from place to place. But for migrating animals who are also hemmed in by dams, rivers, shipping lanes, urban development and agriculture, they create another barrier.

Read On 

Tree loss pushing beetles to the brink

By Helen BriggsBBC News

5 March 2018

The loss of trees across Europe is pushing beetles to the brink of extinction, according to a new report.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature assessed the status of 700 European beetles that live in old and hollowed wood.

Almost a fifth (18%) are at risk of extinction due to the decline of ancient trees, the European Red List of Saproxylic Beetles report found.

This puts them among the most threatened insect groups in Europe.

Saproxylic beetles play a role in natural processes, such as decomposition and the recycling of nutrients.

They also provide an important food source for birds and mammals and some are involved in pollination.

"Some beetle species require old trees that need hundreds of years to grow, so conservation efforts need to focus on long-term strategies to protect old trees across different landscapes in Europe, to ensure that the vital ecosystem services provided by these beetles continue," said Jane Smart, director of the IUCN Global Species Programme.

Logging, tree loss and wood harvesting all contribute to the loss of habitat for the beetles, said the IUCN. Other major threats include urbanisation and tourism development, and an increase in wildfires in the Mediterranean region.

Conservation efforts need to focus on long-term strategies to protect old trees and deadwood across forests, pastureland, orchards and urban areas, the report recommended.

Continued 

UK whales and dolphins 'at risk of extinction due to lingering toxic chemicals'

Experts found killer whales, bottlenose dolphins and striped dolphins had highest concentrations of PCB in their blubber

DAVID MERCER

Thursday 14 January 2016

Killer whales and dolphins are facing the threat of extinction in UK waters because of lingering toxic chemicals which were banned more than 30 years ago, researchers have warned.

A study of more than 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises across Europe found their blubber contained some of the planet's highest concentrations of a man-made chemical known as PCB.

PCBs - or polychlorinated biphenyls - were previously used to make electrical equipment, flame retardants and paints but were banned in the UK in 1981.

The study's lead author Dr Paul Jepson, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were particularly vulnerable to the pollutant as "top marine predators".

He said: "Our findings show that, despite the ban and initial decline in environmental contamination, PCBs still persist at dangerously high levels in European cetaceans.

"Few coastal orca populations remain in western European waters. Those that do persist are very small and suffering low or zero rates of reproduction.

Continued ....

Study of deadly bat disease finds surprising seasonal pattern of infections

Date:

December 3, 2014

Source:

University of California - Santa Cruz

Summary:

The deadly fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome has spread to bat colonies throughout eastern North America over the past seven years, causing bat populations to crash, with several species now at risk of extinction. The devastating impact of this disease is due in part to the seasonal dynamics of infection and transmission, according to a new study.

Continued ...

Bees and the crops they pollinate are at risk from climate change, IPCC report to warn

Climate change will exacerbate the risk of extinction for bees and other pollinating insects already under threat from pesticides and habitat loss, experts say

By Emily Gosden

7:00AM GMT 29 Mar 2014

Bees essential to pollinate British crops face increased risk of extinction because of climate change, a major UN report is expected to warn.

Changes to habitats and to behaviour of different species as a result of warmer weather will exacerbate the danger to bee species already facing numerous other threats, according to scientists.

Some species could face extinction while declining numbers would harm harvests of British crops such as apples, raising fears from businesses such as cider-makers that their livelihoods could be at risk.

Bees pollinate more than £1 billion worth of crops in the UK each year including fruits and vegetables such as carrots, cabbages, apples and pears.

In a vast and wide-ranging report on the likely global impacts of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is expected to warn that rising global temperatures are having severe negative impacts on bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects and could result in more species extinctions.

Leaked draft copies of the report say: “Climate change, after land-use changes, can be regarded as the second most relevant factor responsible for the decline of pollinators.”

It cites research by scientist Simon Potts, Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at Reading University.

Professor Potts told the Telegraph bees faced two major threats as a result of climate change: habitats moving, and changing seasonal behaviour of different species.

“Under climate change you would expect habitats that bees and pollinators use will shift – but the bees may or may not be able to move; there may be no connection between the habitat they have now and the new area,” he said.

As a result of climate change, bees were also “emerging earlier and earlier” in the year.

“Both the bees and flowering plants are shifting because of climate but, on average, the UK flowers are getting earlier by 4 or 5 days each decade whereas the bees we have looked at are becoming earlier by 7-10 days per decade. So we are worried that bees are starting their activity before any of their flowing plants are available.”

He said: “There is definitely an increased risk of extinction. If these things are already vulnerable and climate is increasingly putting pressure on them, it is going to tip them over the edge so we will get local extinctions.”


read more

World's reptiles at risk of extinction

By Ella Davies, Reporter, BBC Nature

Almost a fifth of the world's reptile species are at risk of extinction, according to scientists.

Research led by the Zoological Society of London found that the future of 19% of the world's reptiles are threatened.

Conservation experts also confirmed that 47% are vulnerable and highlighted the possible extinction of three species.

The figures are based on a random sample of 1,500 of the world's reptile species.

"It's essentially an election poll set up - using this sample to give an example of how reptiles are doing as a whole," explained Dr Monika Bohm, lead author of the study published in the journal Biological Conservation.

The study was made in conjunction with 200 experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission.

Reptile tales

Reptiles are a group of vertebrates that includes turtles, tortoises, snakes, lizards, crocodiles and amphisbaenians - commonly known as worm lizards. Tuataras, lizard-like animals found only in New Zealand are also included.

There are an estimated 9,500 different reptile species in the world.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21458115

Disaster Map Predicts Bleak Future for Mammals

Dec. 13, 2012 — Mammals could be at a greater risk of extinction due to predicted increases in extreme weather conditions, states a paper published today by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Scientists have mapped out land mammal populations, and overlapped this with information of where droughts and cyclones are most likely to occur. This allowed them to identify species at high risk of exposure to extreme weather. The paper, published this week in the journal Conservation Letters, describes the results of assessing almost six thousand species of land mammals in this way.

Lead author of the paper, ZSL's Eric Ameca y Juárez says: "Approximately a third of the species assessed have at least a quarter of their range exposed to cyclones, droughts or a combination of both. If these species are found to be highly susceptible to these conditions, it will lead to a substantial increase in the number of mammals classified as threatened by the IUCN under the category 'climate change and severe weather'."

In particular, primates -- already among the most endangered mammals in the world -- are highlighted as being especially at risk. Over 90 per cent of black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) and Yucatan spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi yucatanensis) known habitats have been damaged by cyclones in the past, and studies have documented ways they are able to adapt to the detrimental effects of these natural disasters.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121213104108.htm

Fox Invasion Threatens Wave of Extinction in Tasmania

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) — The effort to stop the irreversible spread of foxes in Tasmania is at a critical stage with many native species at risk of extinction, new research by University of Canberra ecologists and their collaborators published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology shows.

Using DNA detection techniques developed at the University, the team mapped the presence of foxes in Tasmania, predicted their spread and developed a model of their likely distribution as a blueprint for fox eradication, but swift and decisive action is needed.

University of Canberra professor in wildlife genetics and leader of the team, Stephen Sarre, found foxes are widespread in northern and eastern Tasmania and the model developed by his team forecasts they will spread even further with likely devastating consequences for the island’s wildlife.

“There’s nothing fantastic about foxes being in Tasmania. If we allow them to establish themselves we could see a catastrophic wave of extinction across the island,” Professor Sarre said.

“This research shows foxes are on the verge of becoming irreversibly present in Tasmania,” he said. “Their apparent widespread distribution indicates that the eradication effort is at a critical point and that there is no time to lose.”

Professor Sarre and colleagues used forensic DNA tests combined with collections of fox scats to detect and map the distribution of the predator in Tasmania.

Read more:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121204112020.htm

Cost of saving endangered species £50bn a year, say experts

Spending on conservation projects must rise by "an order of magnitude" if governments are to meet their pledges to manage protected areas and halt the spectacular rate of extinctions caused by human activity.

A stark assessment from an international collaboration of conservation groups and universities reveals the enormous shortfall in funds required to save species, and warns that costs are likely to increase, the longer action is delayed.

To reduce the risk of extinction for all threatened species would cost up to $4.76bn (£2.97bn) every year, they say, with a further $76.1bn (£47.4bn) required annually to establish and manage protected areas for species known to be at risk from habitat loss, hunting and other human activities.

Though governments agreed in 2010 through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to reduce the rate of human-induced extinctions and to improve protected areas by 2020, progress has been limited, in part because the financial costs of different strategies have been unclear.

Continued:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/11/cost-save-threatened-species?newsfeed=true

Threat to the Amazon’s birds is greater than ever

The risk of extinction has increased substantially for nearly 100 species of Amazonian birds, reveals the 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ update for birds released today by BirdLife International. The new assessment is based on models projecting the extent and pattern of deforestation across the Amazon.

Of particular concern are species with longer life spans, such as Rio Branco Antbird (Cercomacra carbonaria), for which even moderate rates of deforestation can be important. Some species, such as Hoary-throated Spinetail (Synallaxis kollari), appear likely to lose more than 80% of their habitat over the coming decades and have been placed in the highest category of extinction risk – Critically Endangered.

“BirdLife are providing essential information to guide policy and conservation action for birds,”says Jane Smart, Global Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group. “It is clear that conservation works, but more action is needed if we are to protect these magnificent species which play an integral role in maintaining healthy ecosystems on which both birds and humans depend.”

Continued:  http://www.iucnredlist.org/news/threat-to-amazon-birds-greater-than-ever


IUCN bird update – Major worries for African vultures, European sea ducks and Amazon birds

"BirdLife are providing essential information to guide policy and conservation action for birds," says Jane Smart, Global Director of IUCN's Biodiversity Conservation Group. "It is clear that conservation works, but more action is needed if we are to protect these magnificent species which play an integral role in maintaining healthy ecosystems on which both birds and humans depend."

Northern Europe - Sea ducks in very worrying decline
The 2012 update is a comprehensive review of the world's 10,000-plus bird species, undertaken once every four years. The update shows worrying declines not just from the tropics, but also in Northern Europe. Over one million Long-tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis) have disappeared from the Baltic Sea over the last 20 years, resulting in the species being uplisted to Vulnerable. The reasons for this decline are still not clear, but the outlook for another sea duck, Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca) is even worse, as the species is now listed as Endangered.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iucn-birds-2012.html

Extinction threat for world's most miserable animal - the blobfis

These sad-looking creatures, which grow up to lengths of 12 inches, live at depths of 900m.
They spend most of their time gently floating around waiting for food to pass in front of them, which sounds like quite a nice life to us!

Because they live so far from the sea surface they're not often seen by humans.

However, increasing levels of deep-sea fishing in Australia and Tasmania for crab and lobster mean that the sulky sea-dwellers are being dragged up with other catches in increasing numbers.

These gelatinous masses may not be much to look at, but the world would be a less interesting place without them, probably, so let's hope the Australians don't kill them off.

When Species Are About to Become Extinct: New Research May Help Predict Tipping Point

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2010) — What if there were a way to predict when a species was about to become extinct -- in time to do something about it?

Findings from a study by John M. Drake, associate professor in the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology, and Blaine D. Griffen, assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, may eventually lead to such an outcome -- and that is only the start. Their study also has implications for understanding drastic, even catastrophic, changes in many other kinds of complex systems, from the human brain to entire ecosystems.

The paper, published in the early online edition of the journal Nature, describes a study of the fluctuations in experimental populations of water fleas (Daphnia magna) undergoing environmental stress until they reach a tipping point beyond which they do not remain viable. The study is unique in its careful comparison of these stressed populations with other, healthy populations in the context of new theories about dynamic systems undergoing transitions at a tipping point, particularly a phenomenon known as "critical slowing down."

"This is the first experimental demonstration of critical slowing down in a biological system," said Drake. He explained that critical slowing down is a term used to describe a pattern in data that has previously been observed in physics and the Earth sciences, but until now has been only a theoretical possibility in biology. It describes the decreasing rate of recovery from small disturbances to a system as it approaches a tipping point. When a system is close to a tipping point, it can take a long time to recover from even a very small disturbance. "The theory was originally used to describe drastic changes in other kinds of systems -- everything from epileptic seizures to regime shifts in the earth's climate system," Drake said. "But these attributions of CSD primarily have been after-the-fact explanations of anomalous observations without clear controls."

This also is the first time the theory has been applied to extinction.

The experiment featured populations of water fleas that were assigned to either deteriorating environments (in this case, declining levels of food) or stable environments (the control group). The experiment lasted for 416 days, when the last population in the deteriorating environment group became extinct. Depending upon the amount of food they received, populations in the deteriorating environment group reached the population viability tipping point after approximately 300 days. Populations in the control group never reached it; those populations persisted.

The researchers next looked at a variety of statistical indicators, early warning signals that could detect the onset of CSD and thereby predict the approach to a tipping point. They compared the indicators with the timing of the decrease in food and with the achievement of the tipping point, mathematically referred to as a "transcritical bifurcation." They found that each of the indicators -- some more strongly than others -- showed evidence of the approaching tipping point well before it was reached.

According to Drake, what is even more important is the generality such statistical indicators are expected to exhibit. That is, although precise quantitative models are required to predict most natural phenomena -- in any domain of science -- with any degree of accuracy, the theory of critical slowing down applies qualitatively anytime a bifurcation is in the vicinity. "You don't have to know the underlying equations to use the theory," Drake said, "and this is important in biology, where the dynamics are typically sufficiently complex that we often do not know which equations to use. In fact, we may never come to such a complete understanding, given the range of biodiversity out there and the fact that species are evolving all the time."

Drake pointed out that potential applications, such as predicting extinctions based on evidence of CSD, are still in the future. "This is the first step in the fundamental research that would underlie such an application," he said. "We have shown that CSD can happen in populations -- that is all. The real world is a lot 'noisier' than the lab. Using early warning signals to predict approaching tipping points could eventually be a powerful tool for conservation planning, though, and for better understanding a host of other kinds of systems as well."

John Gittleman, dean of the Odum School of Ecology, agreed. "This study fits into one of the core missions of the Odum School by developing a predictive science of ecology," he said. "We now have clear, predictive research programs dealing with extinction, conservation, and disease, all critically important areas for a more robust science of ecology."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100908171124.htm

Inbred bumblebees 'face extinction threat' (via Dawn Holloway)

Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.

The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.

They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.

The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.

Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.

"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.

"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."

The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.

Uncertain future
Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.

The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.

The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance "We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.

"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."

She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.

"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.

Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.

Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.

Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.

To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.

The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.

Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.

By Mark Kinver

Science and environment reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199779