We assess the national conservation status of the amphibians and reptiles of Morocco by applying the IUCN Red List Criteria at the national level and assess its utility as a planning tool to establish regional priorities for conservation. We rely on the accessory data accompanying regional red lists, mainly distribution range and habitats used by, and threats affecting, species of conservation concern. We also correlated some natural history traits to examine the nature and causes of the risk of extinction. With 13 species of amphibians (31% regionally threatened) and 99 species of reptiles (14% regionally threatened), Morocco is one of the Mediterranean countries with the highest diversity of herpetofauna, mainly because of the high percentage of endemism (amphibians 31%, reptiles 24%). The relative frequencies of threatened species were found to be contingent on both taxonomic group and habitat. The overwhelming importance of the threats of small range and number of habitats used by species is different from the threats to the same species at the global level; this demonstrates the usefulness of national or regional analyses of conservation status for setting conservation priorities. The importance of regional assessment derives from the fact that the boundaries set for conservation management are mainly political rather than biogeographical.
The evolution of environmentally-induced changes in phenotype or reaction norm implies both the existence at some time of genetic variation within a population for that plasticity measured by the presence of genotype x environment interaction ( G x E), and that phenotypic variation affects fitness. Otherwise, the genetic structure of polygenic traits may restrict the evolution of the reaction norm by the lack of independent evolution of a given trait in different environments or by genetic trade-offs with other traits that affect fitness. In this paper, we analyze the existence of G x E in metamorphic traits to two environmental factors, larval density and pond duration in a factorial experiment with Bufo calamita tadpoles in semi-natural conditions and in the laboratory.Results showed no plastic temporal response in metamorphosis to pond durability at low larval density. The rank of genotypes did not change across different hydroperiods, implying a high genetic correlation that may constrain the evolution of the reaction norm. At high larval density a significant G x E interaction was found, suggesting the potential for the evolution of the reaction norm. A sibship ( # 1) attained the presumed "optimal" reaction norm by accelerating developmental rate in short duration ponds and delaying it in longer ponds. This could be translated in fitness by an increment in metamorphic survival and size at metamorphosis in short and long ponds respectively with respect to non-plastic sibships.
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