Wildlife trade is a key driver of the biodiversity crisis. Unregulated, or under-regulated wildlife trade can lead to unsustainable exploitation of wild populations. International efforts to regulate wildlife mostly miss ‘lower-value’ species, such as those imported as pets, resulting in limited knowledge of trade in groups like reptiles. Here we generate a dataset on web-based private commercial trade of reptiles to highlight the scope of the global reptile trade. We find that over 35% of reptile species are traded online. Three quarters of this trade is in species that are not covered by international trade regulation. These species include numerous endangered or range-restricted species, especially hotspots within Asia. Approximately 90% of traded reptile species and half of traded individuals are captured from the wild. Exploitation can occur immediately after scientific description, leaving new endemic species especially vulnerable. Pronounced gaps in regulation imply trade is having unknown impacts on numerous threatened species. Gaps in monitoring demand a reconsideration of international reptile trade regulations. We suggest reversing the status-quo, requiring proof of sustainability before trade is permitted.

Protected areas are often promoted as an important solution to preserving biodiversity. However, permeable edges can undermine the effectiveness of preserves because animals may move into adjacent human-dominated unprotected areas. We investigated attitudes toward, and sources of mortality of, a far-ranging apex predator, the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah; Cantor 1836), in a biosphere reserve in northeastern Thailand. Our questionnaire revealed marked fear of snakes and hostility toward king cobras. Using radiotelemetry, we followed 23 king cobras over a 4-year period, during which time we documented the mortality of 14 individuals. We considered 10 of the deaths to be anthropogenic in origin, including road mortality, pollution, fish traps, and direct persecution; these deaths disproportionately occurred in unprotected areas. Our results highlight how dangerous human-dominated landscapes are for king cobras. Because king cobras move long distances and maintain large home ranges, it is likely that successful conservation of the species cannot be satisfactorily met by protected areas alone; a more holistic, education-focused conservation strategy is required. We stress the importance of a human dimensions approach that leads toward greater understanding of human attitudes toward king cobras, and snakes in general, combined with ecological research for more effective conservation.

13Studying animal movement provides insights into how animals react to land-use changes, specifically 14 how animals can change their behaviour in agricultural areas. Recent reviews show a tendency for 15 species to reduce movements in response to increased human landscape modification, but the study of 16 movement has not been extensively explored in reptiles. We examined movements of a large reptilian 17 predator, the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), in Northeast Thailand. We used a consistent regime 18 of radio-telemetry tracking to document movements across protected forest and adjacent agricultural 19 areas. We then adapted GPS-targeting analytic methods to examine the movement using metrics of site 20 reuse and dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Model derived motion variance. Examination of 21 motion variance demonstrated that King Cobra movements increased in forested areas and tended to 22 decrease in agricultural areas. Our Integrated Step-Selection Functions indicated that when moving in 23 agricultural areas King Cobras restricted their movements, thereby remaining within vegetated semi-24 natural areas, often located along the banks of irrigation canals. Site reuse metrics of residency time and 25 number of revisits remained unaffected by distance to landscape features. Neither motion variance nor 26 reuse metrics were consistently affected by the presence of threatening landscape features (e.g. roads, 27 human settlements); suggesting that King Cobras will remain in close proximity to threats, provided 28 habitat patches are available. Although King Cobras displayed heterogeneity in their response to 29 agricultural landscapes, the overall trend suggested a reduction in movements when faced with 30 fragmented habitat patches embedded in an otherwise inhospitable land-use matrix. Reductions in 31 movements are consistent with findings for mammals and forest specialist species. 32

Background Animal movement expressed through home ranges or space-use can offer insights into spatial and habitat requirements. However, different classes of estimation methods are currently instinctively applied to answer home range, space-use or movement-based research questions regardless of their widely varying outputs, directly impacting conclusions. Recent technological advances in animal tracking (GPS and satellite tags), have enabled new methods to quantify animal space-use and movement pathways, but so far have primarily targeted mammal and avian species. Methods Most reptile spatial ecology studies only make use of two older home range estimation methods: Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimators (KDE), particularly with the Least Squares Cross Validation (LSCV) and reference (href) bandwidth selection algorithms. These methods are frequently applied to answer space-use and movement-based questions. Reptile movement patterns are unique (e.g., low movement frequency, long stop-over periods), prompting investigation into whether newer movement-based methods –such as dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Models (dBBMMs)– apply to Very High Frequency (VHF) radio-telemetry tracking data. We simulated movement data for three archetypical reptile species: a highly mobile active hunter, an ambush predator with long-distance moves and long-term sheltering periods, and an ambush predator with short-distance moves and short-term sheltering periods. We compared traditionally used estimators, MCP and KDE, with dBBMMs, across eight feasible VHF field sampling regimes for reptiles, varying from one data point every four daylight hours, to once per month. Results Although originally designed for GPS tracking studies, dBBMMs outperformed MCPs and KDE href across all tracking regimes in accurately revealing movement pathways, with only KDE LSCV performing comparably at some higher frequency sampling regimes. However, the LSCV algorithm failed to converge with these high-frequency regimes due to high site fidelity, and was unstable across sampling regimes, making its use problematic for species exhibiting long-term sheltering behaviours. We found that dBBMMs minimized the effect of individual variation, maintained low error rates balanced between omission (false negative) and commission (false positive), and performed comparatively well even under low frequency sampling regimes (e.g., once a month). Conclusions We recommend dBBMMs as a valuable alternative to MCP and KDE methods for reptile VHF telemetry data, for research questions associated with space-use and movement behaviours within the study period: they work under contemporary tracking protocols and provide more stable estimates. We demonstrate for the first time that dBBMMs can be applied confidently to low-resolution tracking data, while improving comparisons across regimes, individuals, and species.

As the biodiversity crisis continues, we must redouble efforts to understand and curb pressures pushing species closer to extinction. One major driver is the unsustainable trade of wildlife. Trade in internationally regulated species gains the most research attention, but this only accounts for a minority of traded species and we risk failing to appreciate the scale and impacts of unregulated legal trade. Despite being legal, trade puts pressure on wild species via: direct collection, introduced pathogens, and invasive species. Smaller species-rich vertebrates, such reptiles, fish, and amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to trading because of gaps in regulations, small distributions, and demand of novel species. Here we combine data from five sources: online web searches in six languages, CITES trade database, LEMIS trade inventory, IUCN assessments, and a recent literature review, to characterise the global trade in amphibians, and also map use by purpose including meat, pets, medicinal and for research. We show that 1,215 species are being traded (17% of amphibian species), almost three times previous recorded numbers, 345 are threatened, and 100 data deficient or unassessed. Traded species origin hotspots include South American, China, and Central Africa; sources indicate 42% of amphibians are taken from the wild. Newly described species can be rapidly traded (mean time lag of 6.5 years), including threatened and unassessed species. The scale and limited regulation of the amphibian trade, paired with the triptych of connected pressures (collection, pathogens, invasive species), warrants a re-examination of the wildlife trade status-quo, application of the precautionary principle in regards to wildlife trade, and a renewed push to achieve global biodiversity goals.