Butterflies and moths, collectively Lepidoptera, are integral components of ecosystems, providing key services such as pollination and a prey resource for vertebrate and invertebrate predators. Lepidoptera are a relatively well studied group of invertebrates. In Great Britain and Ireland numerous citizen science projects provide data on changes in distribution and abundance. The availability of high-quality monitoring and recording data, combined with the rapid response of Lepidoptera to environmental change, makes them ideal candidates for traits-based ecological studies. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of studies documenting traits-based responses of Lepidoptera, highlighting the demand for a standardized and referenced traits database. There is a wide range of
Conservation of freshwater biodiversity and management of human-wildlife conflicts are major conservation challenges globally. Human-wildlife conflict occurs due to attacks on people, depredation of fisheries, damage to fishing equipment and entanglement in nets. Here we review the current literature on conflicts with tropical and subtropical crocodilians, cetaceans and otters in freshwater and brackish habitats. We also present a new multispecies case study of conflicts with four freshwater predators in the Western Amazon: black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), boto (Inia geoffrensis) and tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis). Documented conflicts occur with 34 crocodilian, cetacean and otter species. Of the species reviewed in this study, 37.5% had conflicts frequently documented in the literature, with the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) the most studied species. We found conflict severity had a positive relationship with species body mass, and a negative relationship with IUCN Red List status. In the Amazonian case study, we found that the black caiman was ranked as the greatest ‘problem’ followed by the boto, giant otter and tucuxi. There was a significant difference between the responses of local fishers when each of the four species were found entangled in nets. We make recommendations for future research, based on the findings of the review and Amazon case study, including the need to standardise data collection.
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