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Grasslands are the world’s most threatened terrestrial biome, with consequences for grassland-dependent species. Many remnant grasslands are threatened by woody plant encroachment (hereafter “encroachment”). Several studies have found that encroachment eliminates grassland species through increased predation rates at the nest. The golden-shouldered parrot Psephotellus chrysopterygius is an Endangered species found on Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Even though this species mainly nests along grassy drainage depressions, a previous study concluded that encroachment improves its nest success. We tested this proposition by assessing the fate of 555 eggs laid in 108 nests. We tested the impact of stem density on the fate of eggs, chicks and adults, and on predation events using linear-by-linear association tests; and on nest success using logistic exposure regression. We then compared the contraction of the parrot’s nesting distribution over three decades with change in canopy foliage cover. We also examined whether nest location was influenced by stem density, and explored the processes driving encroachment across the parrot’s distribution, particularly fire frequency, which has been shown to influence encroachment on Cape York Peninsula. The parrots preferentially nested in areas of low woody vegetation density. In contrast to previous work, we found that encroachment increased the probability of predation, and reduced nest success and survival of nesting adults. Encroachment both drove a decline in fire frequency and was exacerbated by it. The parrots have abandoned areas where encroachment has been most advanced. This study provides an Australian example of the negative effects of encroachment on nesting success that have been demonstrated in many species from North American prairies and other grassland habitats. It supports the current management efforts to reverse encroachment in the parrot’s habitat. We conclude that, wherever woody plant encroachment is occurring, it should be considered as a potential threatening process and managed accordingly.

Climate change will have far-reaching impacts on biodiversity, including increasing extinction rates. Current approaches to quantifying such impacts focus on measuring exposure to climatic change and largely ignore the biological differences between species that may significantly increase or reduce their vulnerability. To address this, we present a framework for assessing three dimensions of climate change vulnerability, namely sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity; this draws on species' biological traits and their modeled exposure to projected climatic changes. In the largest such assessment to date, we applied this approach to each of the world's birds, amphibians and corals (16,857 species). The resulting assessments identify the species with greatest relative vulnerability to climate change and the geographic areas in which they are concentrated, including the Amazon basin for amphibians and birds, and the central Indo-west Pacific (Coral Triangle) for corals. We found that high concentration areas for species with traits conferring highest sensitivity and lowest adaptive capacity differ from those of highly exposed species, and we identify areas where exposure-based assessments alone may over or under-estimate climate change impacts. We found that 608-851 bird (6-9%), 670-933 amphibian (11-15%), and 47-73 coral species (6-9%) are both highly climate change vulnerable and already threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. The remaining highly climate change vulnerable species represent new priorities for conservation. Fewer species are highly climate change vulnerable under lower IPCC SRES emissions scenarios, indicating that reducing greenhouse emissions will reduce climate change driven extinctions. Our study answers the growing call for a more biologically and ecologically inclusive approach to assessing climate change vulnerability. By facilitating independent assessment of the three dimensions of climate change vulnerability, our approach can be used to devise species and area-specific conservation interventions and indices. The priorities we identify will strengthen global strategies to mitigate climate change impacts.

The world's population is increasingly urban, with more than half the global population already living in cities. The urban population is particularly affected by increasing temperatures because of the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Increasing temperatures cause heat stress in people, even when not directly exposed to heat, since outdoor meteorological conditions also affect conditions inside, particularly in non-air-conditioned environments. Heat stress harms people's health, can impair their well-being and productivity, and may cause substantial economic losses. In this study, we investigate how people in urban areas across the Philippines are affected by heat, using data from 1161 responses obtained through an online survey. We found that almost all respondents (91%) are already experiencing heat stress quite severely and that the level of heat stress is correlated with population density. Controlling, in a multiple log it model, for variables commonly associated with heat stress, such as age, health, physical exertion and climate, we found that those least likely to be severely affected by heat live in areas with fewer than ∼7000 people per km2. Air-conditioning use at home relieved heat stress mostly for people in low-density areas but not where population density was high. The results provide evidence for the social impacts of increasing heat in urban areas, complementing understanding of well-known physical impacts such as the UHI effect.

Lists of species underpin many fields of human endeavour, but there are currently no universally accepted principles for deciding which biological species should be accepted when there are alternative taxonomic treatments (and, by extension, which scientific names should be applied to those species). As improvements in information technology make it easier to communicate, access, and aggregate biodiversity information, there is a need for a framework that helps taxonomists and the users of taxonomy decide which taxa and names should be used by society whilst continuing to encourage taxonomic research that leads to new species discoveries, new knowledge of species relationships, and the refinement of existing species concepts. Here, we present 10 principles that can underpin such a governance framework, namely (i) the species list must be based on science and free from nontaxonomic considerations and interference, (ii) governance of the species list must aim for community support and use, (iii) all decisions about list composition must be transparent, (iv) the governance of validated lists of species is separate from the governance of the names of taxa, (v) governance of lists of accepted species must not constrain academic freedom, (vi) the set of criteria considered sufficient to recognise species boundaries may appropriately vary between different taxonomic groups but should be consistent when possible, (vii) a global list must balance conflicting needs for currency and stability by having archived versions, (viii) contributors need appropriate recognition, (ix) list content should be traceable, and (x) a global listing process needs both to encompass global diversity and to accommodate local knowledge of that diversity. We conclude by outlining issues that must be resolved if such a system of taxonomic list governance and a unified list of accepted scientific names generated are to be universally adopted.

Understanding what people like about birds can help target advocacy for bird conservation. However, testing preferences for characteristics of birds is methodologically challenging, with bias difficult to avoid. In this paper we test whether preferred characteristics of birds in general are shared by the individual bird species the same people nominate as being those they consider most attractive. We then compare these results with the birds which appear most frequently in the imagery of conservation advocates. Based on a choice model completed by 638 general public respondents from around Australia, we found a preference for small colourful birds with a melodious call. However, when the same people were asked which five birds they found most attractive, 48% named no more than three, mostly large well-known species. Images displayed by a leading Australian bird conservation organisation also favoured large colourful species. The choice model results suggest conservation advocates can promote a much wider range of bird types as flagships, particularly smaller species that might otherwise be neglected.

Human modification of the environment is driving declines in population size and distributional extent of much of the world’s biota. These declines extend to many of the most abundant and widespread species, for which proportionally small declines can result in the loss of vast numbers of individuals, biomass, and interactions. These losses could have major localized effects on ecological and cultural processes and services without elevating a species’ global extinction risk. Although most conservation effort is directed at species threatened with extinction in the very near term, the value of retaining abundance regardless of global extinction risk is justifiable based on many biodiversity or ecosystem service metrics, including cultural services, at scales from local to global. The challenges of identifying conservation priorities for widespread and abundant species include quantifying the effects of species’ abundance on services and understanding how these effects are realized as populations decline. Negative effects of population declines may be disconnected from the threat processes driving declines because of species movements and environment flows (e.g., hydrology). Conservation prioritization for these species shares greater similarity with invasive species risk assessments than extinction risk assessments because of the importance of local context and per capita effects of abundance on other species. Because conservation priorities usually focus on preventing the extinction of threatened species, the rationale and objectives for incorporating declines of nonthreatened species must be clearly articulated, going beyond extinction risk to encompass the range of likely harmful effects (e.g., secondary extinctions, loss of ecosystem services) if declines persist or are not reversed. Research should focus on characterizing the effects of local declines in species that are not threatened globally across a range of ecosystem services and quantifying the spatial distribution of these effects through the distribution of abundance. The case for conserving abundance in nonthreatened species can be made most powerfully when the costs of losing this abundance are better understood. La modificación del ambiente causada por los humanos está resultando en la declinación del tamaño poblacional y de la extensión de la distribución de la mayor parte de la biota mundial. Estas declinaciones llegan hasta muchas de las especies más abundantes y con mayor distribución, para las cuales una declinación proporcionalmente pequeña puede resultar en la pérdida de un número extenso de individuos, biomasa e interacciones. Estas pérdidas podrían tener mayores efectos localizados sobre los procesos y servicios ecológicos y culturales sin elevar el riesgo de extinción mundial de la especie. Aunque casi todos los esfuerzos de conservación están dirigidos hacia especies bajo amenaza de extinción a corto plazo, el valor de mantener la abundancia sin importar el riesgo de extinción mundial es justificable con base en muchas medidas de biodiversidad o de servicios ambientales, incluyendo los servicios culturales, a escalas desde lo local hasta lo global. El reto de identificar prioridades de conservación para especies abundantes y de distribución extensa incluye la cuantificación de los efectos que la abundancia de la especie tiene sobre los servicios y el entendimiento de cómo estos efectos ocurren conforme las poblaciones declinan. Los efectos negativos de la declinación poblacional pueden estar desconectados del proceso que ocasiona la declinación por causa del movimiento de las especies y los flujos ambientales (p. ej.: la hidrología). La priorización de la conservación de estas especies comparte muchas más similitudes con la evaluación de riesgo de las especies invasoras que las evaluaciones de extinción de riesgo debido a la importancia del contexto local y los efectos per cápita de la abundancia sobre otras especies. Ya que los esfuerzos de conservación generalmente se enfocan en la prevención de la extinción de las especies amenazadas, la lógica y los objetivos detrás de la incorporación de las declinaciones de las especies no amenazadas deben estar articulados claramente, llegando más allá del riesgo de extinción para englobar la gama de efectos dañinos probables (p. ej.: extinciones secundarias, pérdida de servicios ambientales) en el caso de que las declinaciones persistan o no sean revertidas. La investigación debería enfocarse en la caracterización de los efectos de las declinaciones locales de especies que no estén amenazadas mundialmente a lo largo de una gama de servicios ambientales y en la cuantificación de la distribución espacial de estos efectos por medio de la distribución de la abundancia. Se puede argumentar de manera más poderosa el caso para la conservación de la abundancia de especies no amenazadas cuando se entienden mejor los costos de la pérdida de esta abundancia.

Alien species, one of the biggest threats to natural ecosystems worldwide, are of particular concern for oceanic archipelagos such as Galápagos. To enable more effective management of alien species, we reviewed, collated and analysed all available records of alien species for Galápagos. We also assembled a comprehensive dataset on pathways to and among the Galápagos Islands, including tourist and resident numbers, tourist vessels, their itineraries and visitation sites, aircraft capacity and occupancy, air and sea cargo and biosecurity interceptions. So far, 1,579 alien terrestrial and marine species have been introduced to Galápagos by humans. Of these, 1,476 have become established. Almost half of these were intentional introductions, mostly of plants. Most unintentional introductions arrived on plants and plant associated material, followed by transport vehicles, and commodities (in particular fruit and vegetables). The number, frequency and geographic origin of pathways for the arrival and dispersal of alien species to and within Galápagos have increased over time, tracking closely the increase in human population (residents and tourists) on the islands. Intentional introductions of alien species should decline as biosecurity is strengthened but there is a danger that unintentional introductions will increase further as tourism on Galápagos expands. This unique world heritage site will only retain its biodiversity values if the pathways for invasion are managed effectively.

As with most governments worldwide, Australian governments list threatened species and proffer commitments to recovering them. Yet most of Australia's imperiled species continue to decline or go extinct and a contributing cause is inadequate investment in conservation management. However, this has been difficult to evaluate because the extent of funding committed to such recovery in Australia, like in many nations, is opaque. Here, by collating disparate published budget figures of Australian governments, we show that annual spending on targeted threatened species recovery is around U.S. $92m (AU$ 122m) which is around one tenth of that spent by the U.S. endangered species recovery program, and about 15% of what is needed to avoid extinctions and recover threatened species. Our approach to estimating funding needs for species recovery could be applied in any jurisdiction and could be scaled up to calculate what is needed to achieve international goals for ending the species extinction crisis.

Much biodiversity lives on lands to which Indigenous people retain strong legal and management rights. However this is rarely quantified. Here we provide the first quantitative overview of the importance of Indigenous land for a critical and vulnerable part of biodiversity, threatened species, using the continent of Australia as a case study. We find that three quarters of Australia's 272 terrestrial or freshwater vertebrate species listed as threatened under national legislation have projected ranges that overlap Indigenous lands. On average this overlap represents 45% of the range of each threatened species while Indigenous land is 52% of the country. Hotspots where multiple threatened species ranges overlap occur predominantly in coastal Northern Australia. Our analysis quantifies the vast potential of Indigenous land in Australia for contributing to national level conservation goals, and identifies the main land management arrangements available to Indigenous people which may enable them to deliver those goals should they choose to do so.

World governments have committed to halting human-induced extinctions and safeguarding important sites for biodiversity by 2020, but the financial costs of meeting these targets are largely unknown. We estimate the cost of reducing the extinction risk of all globally threatened bird species (by > 1 International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List category) to be U.S. $0.875 to $1.23 billion annually over the next decade, of which 12% is currently funded. Incorporating threatened nonavian species increases this total to U.S. $3.41 to $4.76 billion annually. We estimate that protecting and effectively managing all terrestrial sites of global avian conservation significance (11,731 Important Bird Areas) would cost U.S. $ 65.1 billion annually. Adding sites for other taxa increases this to U.S. $76.1 billion annually. Meeting these targets will require conservation funding to increase by at least an order of magnitude.