Lionfish Pterois volitans and P. miles have spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean Sea since 1985, where they negatively impact native fish communities and therefore are considered by some as the most damaging invasive species in the Caribbean to date. To combat further population growth and spread of lionfish and to protect native fish communities, various Caribbean islands have started control efforts. On Bonaire, a removal program based on volunteers using spear guns was started immediately after the first lionfish was sighted in 2009, and a similar program was started on neighboring Curaçao 2 yr later. To determine the effectiveness of these removal efforts, differences in the density and biomass of lionfish were compared between areas in which lionfish were directly targeted during removal efforts (i.e. 'fished' areas) on Bonaire and areas where they were not (i.e. 'unfished areas') on both Bonaire and Curaçao. Lionfish biomass in fished locations on Bonaire was 2.76-fold lower than in unfished areas on the same island and 4.14-fold lower than on unfished Curaçao. While removal efforts are effective at reducing the local number of lionfish, recruitment from unfished locations, such as those too deep for recreational diving and at dive sites that are difficult to access, will continuously offset the effects of removal efforts. Nevertheless, our results show that the immediate start and subsequent continuation of local removal efforts using volunteers is successful at significantly reducing the local density and biomass of invasive lionfish on small Caribbean islands. KEY WORDS: Spearfishing · Eradication of lionfish · Pterois volitans · Invasive species · Curaçao · BonaireResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Endang Species Res 22: 175-182, 2013 time, and as a result, local and rapid response efforts are often not sufficiently considered as a (temporary) alternative to international action to minimize the effect of marine invasives, despite the fact that such rapid response strategies are sometimes successful (Anderson 2005, Frazer et al. 2012.All aforementioned aspects are relevant to management efforts aimed at minimizing the negative effects of the invasive Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans and P. miles on native marine communities in the Atlantic Ocean. P. volitans/miles were first sighted in the Atlantic region near the southeast coast of North America in 1985, where they had likely been released by aquarists (Semmens et al. 2004). From there, they first spread northward along the east coast of the USA and since 2004 also southward toward the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of South America (Schofield 2009, 2010, Johnston & Purkis 2011, Frazer et al. 2012). In the Caribbean, lionfish have established themselves in a variety of marine habitats, including coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, coastal estuaries and deep waters up to 300 m (Barbour et al. 2010, Biggs & Olden 2011, Jud et al. 2011. They are generalist predators of...

a b s t r a c t Currently, four species of Myotis are known from the islands of the Caribbean (Myotis dominicensis, M. martiniquensis, M. nesopolus, and M. nigricans). Myotis dominicensis and M. martiniquensis are endemic to the Lesser Antilles, whereas M. nesopolus and M. nigricans are considered conspecific with mainland populations. Recent phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies provided hypotheses regarding the origin and diversification of M. dominicensis and M. martiniquensis.However, these studies focused primarily on convergent morphology or distribution patterns of this genus and not on the evolutionary history of Caribbean Myotis. Here, we explore variation across multiple datasets generated from Caribbean Myotis. We present morphologic and genetic (mitochondrial and nuclear) data from an extensive sample of Caribbean Myotis species, including the previously unsampled taxa M. martiniquensis nyctor and M. nesopolus. Our data indicate that the historically recognized subspecies M. m. nyctor is genetically and morphologically distinct from M. martiniquensis, warranting recognition of a third Caribbean endemic-Myotis nyctor. Moreover, we provide evidence of unrecognized species-level variation in Caribbean and northern South American populations of Myotis.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Green turtles Chelonia mydas and hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata are negatively impacted by natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Unknown numbers of turtles are killed annually in the coastal waters of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. We used N-mixture models, conventional distance sampling and the multiple Lincoln-Petersen method to estimate abundance from transect-count and net-capture surveys. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian generalised linear models were used to assess trends in annual abundance in 2003−2018, and a Bayesian state-space logistic model was developed to generate the posterior distributions of population parameters and make abundance predictions for 2019−2030. Mean ± SE annual abundance was 555 ± 149 green turtles (2.5 th and 97.5 th percentiles = 337, 943) and 70 ± 13 hawksbill turtles (49, 101), and there were no trends in western Bonaire and Klein Bonaire in 2003−2018. Mean annual abundance was 348 ± 135 green turtles (171, 731) and there was a positive trend inside Lac Bay, southeast Bonaire, 2003−2018. Green turtles have higher population growth rate and carrying capacity, and therefore can sustain higher human-induced mortality than hawksbill turtles. However, under low mortality rates (< 0.100), both species can fluctuate stably between the lower and upper limits of the carrying capacity. The methodology implemented can be adapted to estimate sea turtle abundance, monitor and model their population dynamics, and assess the negative impact of human-induced mortality in other Caribbean islands.