Protected areas and imperilled endemic freshwater biodiversity in the Western Ghats Hotspot

1. Although freshwater ecosystems contain high biodiversity and provide valuable ecosystem services, they are severely threatened worldwide. Many broad-scale approaches to conserve freshwater environments have been proposed, but as headwaters tend to host higher levels of biodiversity, identifying priority areas for conservation at a local scale is essential.2. An integrative three-step framework is proposed to recognize such areas, using anomuran crabs of the family Aeglidae as biodiversity indicator taxa, within four freshwater ecoregions in South America. First, the knowledge on the distribution of species occurring within the study area was updated and the species conservation status assessed. Second, species distribution modelling was used to identify areas of high richness and endemism. Third, these areas were compared with the existing protected area network, in addition to land-use and urban information, to indicate priority areas for conservation within four freshwater ecoregions (Laguna dos Patos, Upper Uruguay, Lower Uruguay, Tramandaí and Mampituba) studied at a local scale.3. Analysis of the distribution of species of the genus Aegla showed that the present protected area network poorly covers freshwater habitats within the study region.Three priority areas for conservation were identified, with high levels of endemism and richness of aeglid species. These areas are mainly located close to current protected areas, and we suggest, therefore, that the enlargement of some protected areas, through the establishment of corridors, would better protect several species with distributions restricted to headwaters, such as macroinvertebrates and fishes, some of which are threatened with extinction.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priority areas for conservation within four freshwater ecoregions in South America: A scale perspective based on freshwater crabs (Anomura, Aeglidae)

Gonçalves

Costa

Bond‐Buckup

et al. 2018

“…The poor spatial coverage of protected areas in the Tropical Andes in covering habitats for freshwater fishes is probably because most protected areas have not been designed with freshwater biodiversity in mind. Similar problems have been identified for freshwater species elsewhere (Carrizo et al, 2017;Chessman, 2013;Darwall et al, 2011;Herbert et al, 2010;Hermoso, Filipe, Segurado, & Beja, 2015b;Lawrence et al, 2011;Raghavan, Das, Nameer, Bijukumar, & Dahanukar, 2016). If the effective conservation of freshwater fishes is a goal of current conservation frameworks in the Tropical Andes, protected areas need to be designed and managed specifically for freshwater species (Chessman, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Assessing conservation priorities of endemic freshwater fishes in the Tropical Andes region

Tognelli

Anderson

Jiménez‐Segura

et al. 2018

Assessing the effectiveness of protected areas for sustaining species and identifying priority sites for their conservation is vital for decision making, particularly for freshwater fishes in South America, the global centre of freshwater fish diversity. Several conservation planning studies have used threatened freshwater fishes or species that are vulnerable to climate change as conservation targets, but none has included both in priority‐setting analysis. The objectives of this study were to identify gaps in the coverage of the existing protected areas in representing the endemic freshwater fishes of the Tropical Andes region, and to identify conservation priority areas that adequately cover threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change. Data on 648 freshwater fishes from the Tropical Andes were used to identify gaps in the protected area coverage, and to identify conservation priority sites under three scenarios: (i) prioritize threatened species; (ii) prioritize species that are vulnerable to climate change; and (iii) prioritize both threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change. A total of 571 species (88% of all species) were not covered by any protected areas; most of them are restricted to ≤10 catchments. To represent both threatened species and species vulnerable to climate change in the third scenario, 635 catchments were identified as priority areas, representing 26.5% of the study area. The number of irreplaceable catchments for this scenario is 475, corresponding to 22.5% of the total area. The results of this study could be crucial for designing strategies for the effective protection of native fish populations in the Tropical Andes, and for planning proactive climate adaptation. It is hoped that the identification of priority areas, particularly irreplaceable catchments, will help to guide conservation and management decisions in the Andean region.

“…Although some populations of RLTBs are protected inside National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, others (e.g. entire populations of S. chalakkudiensis ) remain outside the protected area network (Raghavan, Das, Nameer, Bijukumar, & Dahanukar, ). In order to allow RLTBs to mature before they are collected for trade, a minimum size limit of 110 mm needs to be set, which is greater than the mean length at first maturity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of unmanaged harvests for the aquarium trade on the population status and dynamics of redline torpedo barb: A threatened aquatic flagship

Raghavan

Ali

Philip

et al. 2018

Self Cite

1. The freshwater aquarium trade provides economic and livelihood opportunities to the rural poor, but has been implicated in biodiversity loss through population declines and local extirpation of high-value endemic species. Previous observations on population declines are largely based on anecdotal data, however, and there are no studies on the population dynamics or stock assessment of freshwater fish species collected for the aquarium pet trade.2. To understand how wild collection of endemic and threatened species for the aquarium trade could affect their populations, the sustainability of collecting the endangered redline torpedo barb (Sahyadria denisonii), and its evolutionarily distinct lineages (henceforth RLTBs), from the Western Ghats region (part of the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hot spot) for the aquarium trade was studied to provide baseline data to inform conservation action.3. Local populations of RLTBs at the five commercial collection sites showed high mortality rates, and fish were exploited before they attained sexual maturity. The unmanaged fishery has led to unsustainable levels of exploitation, and populations of RLTBs at three sites are vulnerable to an impending collapse. 4. Endemic and threatened freshwater fish species used in the aquarium pet trade are exposed to local extirpations and global extinctions unless management plans and legislative controls are implemented and strictly enforced. Management plans and conservation actions to help guide the responsible fisheries of RLTBs are suggested, and the wider implications of unmanaged exploitation of endemic aquarium fisheries are discussed.