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1. A landmark environmental law looks ahead--The Prospect of Using Gene Editing for Deliberate Extinction

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adn3245  

   Fischman, Robert L; Ruhl, J B; Forester, Brenna R; Lama, Tanya M; Kardos, Marty; Rojas, Grethel Aguilar; Robinson, Nicholas A; Shirey, Patrick D; Lamberti, Gary A; Ando, Amy W; et al (December 2023, Science)

   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,Scienceinvited experts to discuss how the ESA has evolved and what its future might hold.—Brad Wible 

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2. The impact of climate change on endangered plants and lichen

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000225  

   Wrobleski, Amy; Ernst, Sydney; Weber, Theodore; Delach, Aimee (July 2023, PLOS Climate)

   Wilkening, Jennifer Lee (Ed.)

   The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was a landmark protection for rare organisms in the United States. Although the ESA is known for its protection of wildlife, a majority of listed species are actually plants and lichen. Climate change will impact species populations globally. Already-rare species, like those listed in the ESA, are at an even higher risk due to climate change. Despite this, the risk climate change poses to endangered plants has not been systematically evaluated in over a decade. To address this gap, we modified previously existing qualitative assessment toolkits used to examine the threat of climate change in federal documentation on listed wildlife. These modified toolkits were then applied to the 771 ESA listed plants. First, we evaluated how sensitive ESA listed plants and lichens were to climate change based on nine quantitative sensitivity factors. Then, we evaluated if climate change was recognized as a threat for a species, and if actions were being taken to address the threats of climate change. We found that all ESA listed plant and lichen species are at least slightly (score of 1) sensitive to climate change, and therefore all listed plants and lichens are threatened by climate change. While a majority of ESA listing and recovery documents recognized climate change as a threat, very few had actions being taken in their recovery plans to address climate change directly. While acknowledging the threat that climate change poses to rare plants is an important first step, direct action will need to be taken to ensure the recovery of many of these species. 

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3. Noah’s Ark in a Warming World: Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, and Public Adaptation Costs in the United States

   https://doi.org/10.1086/716662  

   Moore, F. C. Stokes (January 2022, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists)

   Climate change poses a growing threat to biodiversity, but the welfare consequences of these changes are not well understood. Here we analyze data on the US Endangered Species Act and project increases in species listing and spending due to climate change. We show that higher endangerment is strongly associated with the probability of listing but also find a large bias toward vertebrate species for both listing and spending. Unmitigated warming would cause the listing of an additional 690 species and committed spending of $21 billion by 2100. Several thousand more species would be critically imperiled by climate change but remain unlisted. Finally, we compare ESA spending with estimates of willingness to pay for conservation of 36 listed species. Aggregate WTP is larger than ESA spending for the vast majority of species even using conservative assumptions and typically one to two orders of magnitude larger than direct ESA spending using less restrictive assumptions. 

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4. Conservation genetics of Sclerocactus in Colorado: the importance of accurate taxonomy to conservation

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2023.1310985  

   McGlaughlin, Mitchell E; Naibauer, Samantha K (December 2023, Frontiers in Conservation Science)

   IntroductionRecent 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 glaucusis 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. glaucusfrom the ESA due to recovery of the species. Previous research had found substantial genetic structure between populations in the northern part of theS. glaucusrange relative to the majority of the species distribution. MethodsIn this study we utilized double-digest Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) in order to better understand the genetic structure ofS. glaucus. ResultsOur results indicate thatS. glaucuscontains two distinct evolutionary lineages that warrant recognition at the level of species, with what was previously described asS. glaucusNorth being recognized asSclerocactus dawsoniae. DiscussionThe newly describedS. dawsoniaehas 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. glaucushas 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. glaucuswill 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. 

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5. Why can the auroral-type sporadic E layer be detected over the South America Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) region? An investigation of a case study under the influence of the high-speed solar wind stream

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2023.1197430  

   Da_Silva, L A; Shi, J; Vieira, L E; Agapitov, O V; Resende, L_C A; Alves, L R; Sibeck, D; Deggeroni, V; Marchezi, J P; Chen, S; et al (November 2023, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences)

   The low-electron flux variability (increase/decrease) in the Earth’s radiation belts could cause low-energy Electron Precipitation (EP) to the atmosphere over auroral and South American Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) regions. This EP into the atmosphere can cause an extra upper atmosphere’s ionization, forming the auroral-type sporadic E layers (Esa) over these regions. The dynamic mechanisms responsible for developing this Esa layer over the auroral region have been established in the literature since the 1960s. In contrast, there are several open questions over the SAMA region, principally due to the absence (or contamination) of the inner radiation belt and EP parameter measurements over this region. Generally, the Esa layer is detected under the influence of geomagnetic storms during the recovery phase, associated with solar wind structures, in which the time duration over the auroral region is considerably greater than the time duration over the SAMA region. The inner radiation belt’s dynamic is investigated during a High-speed Solar wind Stream (September 24-25, 2017), and the hiss wave-particle interactions are the main dynamic mechanism able to trigger the Esa layer’s generation outside the auroral oval. This result is compared with the dynamic mechanisms that can cause particle precipitation in the auroral region, showing that each region presents different physical mechanisms. Additionally, the difference between the time duration of the hiss wave activities and the Esa layers is discussed, highlighting other ingredients mandatory to generate the Esa layer in the SAMA region. 

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