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Tag Archives: endangered

On The Path Of The Prey Of The Pangolin

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Image Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, CC BY 2.0, Image Cropped

Do seasonal dietary shifts by Temminck’s pangolins compensate for winter resource scarcity in a semi-arid environment? (2022) Panaino et al., Journal of Arid Environments, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104676

The Crux

Climate change and habitat destruction are never positives for any species, but if that species is adaptable, they might be able to tolerate such hazards. Finding food in changing environments is one of the big challenges for a species, and there are a few things that species can do to adapt their diets when new conditions emerge. They can try and find more energy-rich food, or they could spend more time foraging to increase their energy intake (though this could also cost them more energy as well).

This is a particular problem for species which live in dry, arid environments, where food can already be scarce. In many environments vegetation and all the animal life that comes with it will often increase with temperature, but in an area that is already hot, at a certain point an increase in temperature will result in lots of vegetation dying off.

Today’s researchers selected a particularly charismatic species, the Temminck’s pangolin, and through some truly admirable fieldwork, monitored whether or not their foraging activities changed as the environment varied.

Paper of the Week

Thyla-Not-Seen

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Tanya Strydom One comment

In case you missed it: Wildlife expert pours cold water on claims Tasmanian tiger family spotted

*The ‘God’ stands for ‘Godzilla’ by the way. We do love a monkey but are firmly Team Lizard for this one.

**Credit for punny title goes to @PlethodoNick because he caught us sleeping.

Elology for the Masses

A ‘Stepping-Stone’ Approach to Endangered Species Release

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Image Credit: Alina Fisher, Image Cropped, CC BY 4.0

Optimizing release strategies: a stepping-stone approach to reintroduction (2019) Lloyd et al., Animal Conservation, 22.

The Crux

Restoring endangered species through breeding the species in captivity has become common practice over the last century, and has led to the successful recovery of many species. But the process is complicated, as there are always dangers inherent in releasing species that have become used to captivity back into the wild.

This week’s researchers wanted to test a new approach: rather than releasing species directly back into an area where they have disappeared from, they wanted to first release individuals into an already-occupied habitat patch, where predators and prey were present but the species had a high survival probability. This would be a stepping stone before a second release, intended to restore a population in a new area.

Paper of the Week

Frivillig vern sin rolle i naturvern

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Sam Perrin 2 comments

Image Credit: Endre Grüner Ofstad, CC BY-SA 2.0, Image Cropped

Guest post by Endre Grüner Ofstad.

Privately protected areas provide key opportunities for the regional persistence of large‐ and medium‐sized mammals (2018) Clements et al., Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13300

Det Essensielle

Da mennesker slo seg ned i nye områder, bosatte de seg som regel i de mest produktive og artsrike områdene. I dag, mange år senere, er disse områdene fortsatt produktive og i private hender. I dag, derimot, blir flere og flere arter utrydningstruet og vi iverksetter tiltak for å redusere tapet av arter. Et av disse tiltakene er verneområder. Verneområder er områder som er satt til side for å sikre tilstedeværelse av gitte arter eller naturtyper ved å begrense høsting eller annen menneskelig innflytelse. Utfordringen er at dette ofte er kostbart da disse artsrike områdene ofte overlapper med områder som har viktige jordbruk- eller andre naturressursinteresser. Dette resulterer i at vernede områder ofte blir lagt til økonomisk marginale og/eller statseide områder. For å kontre dette kan en inkludere områder tilbudt frivillig av grunneiere. Spørsmålet blir da, hva er verneverdien av de områdene som blir tilbudt? Dette er spørsmålet som Clements og medforfatterne spør seg når jobber med Cape Floraregion i Sør-Afrika .

Norwegian

The Role of Private Property in Conservation

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Image Credit: Endre Grüner Ofstad,CC BY-SA 2.0, Image Cropped

Guest post by Endre Grüner Ofstad. Norwegian version available here.

The Crux

When humans settle down in new areas, they usually settled in the most productive and species-rich areas. Now, years later, these productive areas are usually still productive, but often still in private hands. However, today more and more species are facing extinction, and many would be helped by the protection of these areas. Protected areas are areas that are set aside to ensure the viability of certain species by limiting human exploitation of the local natural resources. However, this might be costly, and these hot-spot areas likely overlap with agricultural or other natural resource exploitations, with the result that protected areas are often located to economical marginal and state-owned lands. To counter this, one might include lands offered voluntarily by private owners. But are the lands they’re offering of any conservation value?

Paper of the Week

Why Do We Only Care If It’s Fluffy?

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Lara Veylit 3 comments

Species like koalas are cute and fluffy, and thus easy to provide funding for. But how do we save species that are more threatened and less charismatic? (Image Credit: Jesiane, Pixabay licence, Image Cropped)