CH16: Species Management

FIGURE 16.1 Mapping species threatened by climate change. Risk of extinction due to the interaction of land use change and climate change by 2020 is illustrated in these maps of the Cape region of South Africa. Panel a illustrates land transformation trends. Panel b shows the current spatial distribution of Red List endangered and threatened species. Panel c shows the expected distribution of additional species threatened by land use change in 2020, and panel d shows the distribution of additional Red List species in 2020 when both land use and climate change are considered. The number of species threatened in 2020 by the combination of land use and climate change is more than twice the number threatened by land use change alone. Source: Hannah et al. (2005).

FIGURE 16.2 Atelopus toads. Photos of a toad species, Atelopus zeteki, that disappeared from the forests of Central and South America before conservation measures could be put in place to protect them. Source: (a) From Wikimedia Commons. (b) Courtesy of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photo by Tim Vickers.

FIGURE 16.3 Threat synergies. Climate change impacts may be exacerbated by other stressors, such as (a) overpopulation or (b) human-caused fire. Source: Conservation International.

FIGURE 16.4 Mountain-hopping protea. Arrows indicate present-to-future vectors of protea range shifts in the Cape Floristic Region. Many species move to the Cape Fold Mountains and then track suitable climate following the mountain crest. Source: Midgley et al. (2003).

FIGURE 16.5 Decision framework for assisted migration. A sequence of decisions can help determine when species should be considered for assisted migration and when natural processes should be allowed to prevail. Because human intervention may have unintended consequences, assisted migration should be considered a last resort option for conservation under climate change. Source: Hoegh-Guldberg et al. (2008). Courtesy of Sue McIntyre. Copyright by CSIRO.

FIGURE 16.6 A Species rescued. All 22 wild California condors were rescued from the wild in 1983. Successful captive breeding has allowed reintroductions into the wild. Captive breeding included feeding with a glove that simulated an adult condor (a). More than 200 released birds (b, c) now survive in several populations. Similar intensive management may be needed for species threatened by climate change. Source: From Wikimedia Commons.

The EU Birds Directive (see text) has had measurable positive impact on species status. In the figure, the bars indicate the probability of a positive population trend for species in the 15 countries of the European Union (A), species outside the European Union (B), threatened and endangered species (C; Annex I), nonthreatened species (D; non-Annex I), and all species (E). Species within the jurisdiction of the EU Birds Directive went from a negative trend prior to the directive to a positive trend after the directive. Threatened species went from a mild positive trend to a stronger positive trend under the directive. Figure reprinted with permission from AAAS.