Ecological divergence of a habitat constructed to harbor an endangered species

Abstract

Ecological restoration, habitat creation, and artificial refuges are increasingly essential for conservation, particularly for species that are threatened by the loss or degradation of critical habitat. The Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) exists in a single small locality subject to the detrimental effects of local groundwater extraction, limited resources, and the gradual deterioration of its gene pool as a consequence of its small effective population size. Multiple attempts at establishing captive populations have been made since the 1970s, but all failed due to mechanical issues combined with lack of staffing, and in one case a hybridization event with a closely related species. In 2012, the completion of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility included a 416 m 3 tank designed to closely emulate the Devils Hole environment. We conducted a comparative analysis of the early-stage ecological community in this newly constructed environment with that of Devils Hole.Results showed significantly different community compositions and temporal variation between the two sites. Differences between the natural and constructed communities were likely driven by environmental and successional stage differences between the natural and constructed habitats. Environmental DNA surveys revealed far greater diversity in both Devils Hole and the refuge tank than detected through traditional visual sampling methods. Our results highlight the importance of monitoring for tracking progress toward a desired ecological community outcome.

Endangered Species Act Expenditures for Fish Taxa Managed by The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Are Predicted by Lawsuits, Captive Propagation, and Region

“… Federal land sale dollars can be used to purchase sensitive lands for imperiled species or to fund federal conservation aquaculture facilities. For example, the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility for Devils Hole Pupfish Cyprinodon diabolis conservation and research (Paulson et al 2021) that was funded by $4.5 million in federal land sales.…”

Iterative Drawing Reveals Diversity and Change in Student Thinking About Evolution

“…The distance data were plotted in two dimensions such that the proximity of two points is indicative of similarity: the closer two points were, the greater the similarity based on the composite binary rubric scores. This method, referred to as non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), is widely used in community ecology to describe diversity (Oksanen et al 2013;Paulson et al 2021). Education shares many essential features with ecology, including the abstract idea that each individual can be characterized by the presence and absence of particular rubric items in the same way ecological communities are characterized by the presence and absence of species.…”

Fisheries Volume 47 Number 7 July 2022

“…• Federal land sale dollars can be used to purchase sensitive lands for imperiled species or to fund federal conservation aquaculture facilities. For example, the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility for Devils Hole Pupfi sh Cyprinodon diabolis conservation and research (Paulson et al 2021 ) that was funded by $4.5 million in federal land sales.…”