In late December 1973, the United States enacted what some would come to call “the pitbull of environmental laws.” In the 50 years since, the formidable regulatory teeth of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been credited with considerable successes, obliging agencies to draw upon the best available science to protect species and habitats. Yet human pressures continue to push the planet toward extinctions on a massive scale. With that prospect looming, and with scientific understanding ever changing,
- PAR ID:
- 10525745
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- Science
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Volume:
- 382
- Issue:
- 6677
- ISSN:
- 0036-8075
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1348 to 1355
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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In late December 1973, the United States enacted what some would come to call “the pitbull of environmental laws.” In the 50 years since, the formidable regulatory teeth of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been credited with considerable successes, obliging agencies to draw upon the best available science to protect species and habitats. Yet human pressures continue to push the planet toward extinctions on a massive scale. With that prospect looming, and with scientific understanding ever changing, Science invited experts to discuss how the ESA has evolved and what its future might hold.more » « less
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Abstract In recent decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on proactive efforts to conserve species being considered for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) before they are listed (i.e., preemptive conservation). These efforts, which depend on voluntary actions by public and private land managers across the species’ range, aim to conserve species while avoiding regulatory costs associated with ESA listing. We collected data for a set of social, economic, environmental, and institutional factors that we hypothesized would influence voluntary decisions to promote or inhibit preemptive conservation of species under consideration for ESA listing. We used logistic regression to estimate the association of these factors with preemptive conservation outcomes based on data for a set of species that entered the ESA listing process and were either officially listed (
n = 314) or preemptively conserved (n = 73) from 1996 to 2018. Factors significantly associated with precluded listing due to preemptive conservation included high baseline conservation status, low proportion of private land across the species’ range, small total range size, exposure to specific types of threats, and species’ range extending over several states. These results highlight strategies that can help improve conservation outcomes, such as allocating resources for imperiled species earlier in the listing process, addressing specific threats, and expanding incentives and coordination mechanisms for conservation on private lands. -
Introduction Recent advances in genetic data collection utilizing next-generation DNA sequencing technologies have the potential to greatly aid the taxonomic assessment of species of conservation concern, particularly species that have been difficult to describe using morphology alone. Accurate taxonomic descriptions aided by genetic data are essential to directing limited conservation resources to species most in need.
Sclerocactus glaucus is a plant endemic to Western Colorado that is currently listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, in 2023, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed de-listingS. glaucus from the ESA due to recovery of the species. Previous research had found substantial genetic structure between populations in the northern part of theS. glaucus range relative to the majority of the species distribution.Methods In this study we utilized double-digest Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) in order to better understand the genetic structure of
S. glaucus .Results Our results indicate that
S. glaucus contains two distinct evolutionary lineages that warrant recognition at the level of species, with what was previously described asS. glaucus North being recognized asSclerocactus dawsoniae .Discussion The newly described
S. dawsoniae has a limited estimated number of individuals, low levels of nucleotide diversity, a very narrow geographic range, and an uneven geographic distribution with most plants being found in a single management area, all of which supports continued direct conservation of this species. In contrast,S. glaucus has a large estimated minimum population size, a broad geographic range that includes numerous protected areas, and adequate levels of genetic diversity. Without further conservation action, a delisting decision forS. glaucus will simultaneously remove all Endangered Species Act protections forS. dawsoniae . The current work demonstrates the importance of having robust genetic datasets when planning conservation activities for species of concern. Moving forward, we recommend that government stakeholders prioritize supporting genetic studies of endangered species prior to making any changes to listing decisions. -
Messor is a diverse genus of Myrmicinae with 168 extant species and subspecies. In the Mediterranean, some of its taxa historically were classified as members of theMessor instabilis group (sensu Santschi), of which 19 are known from the eastern Mediterranean. Here, theMessor semirufus complex of the Balkan Peninsula that assembles a distinct subsection of members of theinstabilis group is defined and treated. In total, five species are recorded, including three that are new.Messor atanassovii Atanassov, 1982 is redescribed and confirmed for Bulgaria (Thracian Plain, Struma, and Mesta Valley, Pirin Mt., and Eastern Rhodopi) and Greece (Epirus, Ionian Islands, Central and Eastern Macedonia, and Thraki). Three species are described as new to science:Messor danaes Salata, Georgiadis & Borowiec,sp. nov. (Cyclades: Serifos),Messor kardamenae Salata & Borowiec,sp. nov. (Dodecanese: Kos, Nisyros, Rhodes, and Tilos), andMessor veneris Salata, Georgiadis & Borowiec,sp. nov. (Cyclades: Milos). The fifth member of the complex,Messor creticus Borowiec & Salata, 2019, maintains its status of Cretan endemic. -
Background. Applying quantitative morphological approaches in systematics research is a promising way to discover cryptic biological diversity. Information obtained through twenty-first century science poses new challenges to taxonomy by offering the possibility of increased objectivity in independent and automated hypothesis formation. In recent years a number of promising new algorithmic approaches have been developed to recognize morphological diversity among insects based on multivariate morphometric analyses. These algorithms objectively delimit components in the data by automatically assigning objects into clusters.Method. In this paper, hypotheses on the diversity of the MalagasyNesomyrmex angulatus group are formulated via a highly automated protocol involving a fusion of two algorithms, (1) Nest Centroid clustering (NC clustering) and (2) Partitioning Algorithm based on Recursive Thresholding (PART). Both algorithms assign samples into clusters, making the class assignment results of different algorithms readily inferable. The results were tested by confirmatory cross-validated Linear Discriminant Analysis (LOOCV-LDA).Results. Here we reveal the diversity of a unique and largely unexplored fragment of the Malagasy ant fauna using NC-PART-clustering on continuous morphological data, an approach that brings increased objectivity to taxonomy. We describe eight morphologically distinct species, including seven new species:Nesomyrmex angulatus (Mayr, 1862),N. bidentatus sp. n. ,N. clypeatus sp. n. ,N. devius sp. n. ,N. exiguus sp. n. ,N. fragilis sp. n. ,N. gracilis sp. n. , andN. hirtellus sp. n. . An identification key for their worker castes using morphometric data is provided.Conclusions. Combining the dimensionality reduction feature of NC clustering with the assignment of samples into clusters by PART advances the automatization of morphometry-based alpha taxonomy.