The relationships between taxonomy and conservation biology in the century of extinctions

Dubois, Alain

doi:10.1016/s1631-0691(03)00022-2

Cited by 125 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…However, sampling methods such as the one used in this study are increasingly disfavored, mainly due to difficulties in the obtention of permits for collecting specimens in natural reserves and because anesthetics like clove oil and poisons like rotenone have been unfairly demonized by managers (Robertson & Smith-Vaniz, 2008;. This brings substantial flaws in description of diversity patterns development of conservation strategies because studies are generally based on incomplete and inaccurate inventories (Dubois, 2003;Mace, 2004;Morrison, Marcot & Mannan, 2006;Mora et al, 2008). As a consequence conservation actions can be inadequate, excluding habitats and specific taxa (Rojas, 1992;Dubois, 2003;Khuroo, Dar, Khan & Malik, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This brings substantial flaws in description of diversity patterns development of conservation strategies because studies are generally based on incomplete and inaccurate inventories (Dubois, 2003;Mace, 2004;Morrison, Marcot & Mannan, 2006;Mora et al, 2008). As a consequence conservation actions can be inadequate, excluding habitats and specific taxa (Rojas, 1992;Dubois, 2003;Khuroo, Dar, Khan & Malik, 2007). Reef fish populations are highly resilient and can satisfactorily withstand natural disturbances (Robertson & Smith-Vaniz, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of visual and collection-based methods for assessing community structure of coral reef fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific

Alzate

Zapata

Giraldo

2014

RBT

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Gorgona island, the major insular area in the Colombian Pacific Ocean, is characterized by a remarkably high biological and ecosystem diversity for this area of the world. Coral reefs are well developed and their fish communities have been described using conventional visual surveys. These methods, however, are known to be biased towards detecting larger and more mobile species, tending to ignore small and cryptobenthic species. The two main objectives of this study were to describe the assemblage structure of the cryptobenthic fish fauna and estimate the extent to which this fauna is underestimated by visual surveys.At the beginning and the end of the warm season, we compared the cryptobenthic fish assemblage recorded using visual surveys against the one recorded using "enclosed anesthetic/rotenone samples" on isolated coral colonies (N=54 beginning of warm season; N=17 end of warm season). The crypthobenthic fish fauna associated to coral colonies was characterized by small body sizes and was composed mainly by species of the families Antennaridae, Blennidae, Gobiidae, Labrisomidae, Muraenidae, Serranidae, Scorpaenidae and Syngnathidae. Conventional visual surveys underestimated overall species richness by 28-36% and number of individuals by 16-35%. Noteworthy, four species recorded during this study using "enclosed anesthetic/rotenone samples" were new records for Gorgona island. Although both sampling methods can detect a largely overlapping group of species, the "enclosed anesthetic/ rotenone samples" method was able to detect more individuals and species, including several species that visual surveys fail to detect. Although this study is the first effort to describe the cryptobenthic fish assemblage associated to coral reefs in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, our results suggest that these assemblages are an important component of the reef fish community in the region in terms of biodiversity and functional roles. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 1): 359-371. Epub 2014 February 01.Key words: cryptobenthic fishes, coral reefs, sampling methods, visual surveys, enclosed anesthetic/rotenone samples.Non-destructive sampling techniques, such as visual surveys, have been widely used in studies of coral reef fish ecology ever since their introduction by Brock (1954). However, these techniques have several sources of error due to fish mobility, observer experience and transect size (Thompson & Mapstone, 1997;Ackerman & Bellwood, 2000;Palacios & Zapata, 2011). This leads to a sampling bias toward larger and more mobile species, tending to underestimate small and cryptobenthic fishes. Although it has been suggested that consistent errors and biases in the visual estimates might be acceptable in comparative studies (Brock, 1982;Ackerman & Bellwood, 2000;Willis, 2001), underestimating the cryptobenthic component of reef fish communities might have a potentially larger impact on the understanding of their community assembly, trophic ecology and ultimately on their conservation (Mora, Titterson & Myers, 2008). As a ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of visual and collection-based methods for assessing community structure of coral reef fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific

Alzate

Zapata

Giraldo

2014

RBT

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“…But how is this relevant? Simple: effective conservation strategies, on a specific level, are difficult to plan if information is unavailable on how many species there are, and more important, what are the ranges, distributions and ecological needs of these species (AZEVEDO-RAMOS & GALATTI 2002, DUBOIS 2003, BRITO 2004. This is where taxonomy plays an important role (BRITO 2004) and where patience is a key factor, as correct species identification is critical in all stages of biological inventories.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Frequently, they need this information rather quickly. Taxonomy, however, is not a science that can be learned overnight and, in some cases, if not in most, a reliable identification to species level can only be achieved by an experienced specialist and may take a large amount of effort and time (DUBOIS 2003). The low number of specialists versus the high demand leads to less accurate identifications, which in turn can ignite a snowball effect.…”

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A safe place for amphibians? A cautionary tale on the taxonomy and conservation of frogs, caecilians, and salamanders in the Brazilian Amazonia

Peloso

2010

Zoologia (Curitiba, Impr.)

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Evidence for multiple refugia and hotspots of genetic diversity for Westralunio carteri, a threatened freshwater mussel in south‐western Australia

Benson

Stewart

et al. 2022

Aquatic Conservation

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Intraspecific genetic diversity provides the evolutionary potential to adapt to changing environments and ‘hotspots’ of high intraspecific diversity are recognized as key targets for conservation. In south‐western Australia, intraspecific genetic diversity for mesic taxa is not uniformly distributed. Many species comprise highly divergent lineages with unique haplotypes resulting from contraction to refugia during historical arid cycles. Sampling strategies in studies of the region’s unique and ancient freshwater fauna have often focused on broad distributional range, making it difficult to determine boundaries between lineages and the location of genetic hotspots. This study explored the spatial distribution of intraspecific genetic diversity in the threatened freshwater mussel, Westralunio carteri. Mitochondrial DNA sequences for 164 specimens, sampled from all basins within the distribution of the species, were used to describe lineage boundaries and the location of hotspots, and to reconstruct historical demographics. There was strong evidence for three subregions of genetic diversity based on the largely non‐overlapping distributions of three evolutionarily significant units. Spatial and demographic analyses suggest that these evolutionarily significant units persisted through past arid cycles in separate refugia. The majority of haplotypes were unique to a single location, indicating limited connectivity among populations in recent times. Hotspots were identified throughout the region. Most notably, a significant hotspot in the south‐western corner probably arose through the overlap of lineages in historical refugia. Conservation assessments often focus on the species as a whole, even though sublineages, hotspots and the threats faced are not evenly distributed across the species range. This paper highlights that effective conservation of spatially structured taxa requires targeted management of multiple genetic units. Given the importance of formal taxonomic description for conservation listings, further investigation of the potential for species delimitation within W. carteri is required.

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The relationships between taxonomy and conservation biology in the century of extinctions

Cited by 125 publications

References 30 publications

A comparison of visual and collection-based methods for assessing community structure of coral reef fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific

A comparison of visual and collection-based methods for assessing community structure of coral reef fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific

A safe place for amphibians? A cautionary tale on the taxonomy and conservation of frogs, caecilians, and salamanders in the Brazilian Amazonia

Evidence for multiple refugia and hotspots of genetic diversity for Westralunio carteri, a threatened freshwater mussel in south‐western Australia

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