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British Columbia has the greatest biological diversity of any province or territory in Canada. Yet increasing numbers of species in British Columbia are threatened with extinction. The current patchwork of provincial laws and regulations has not effectively prevented species declines. Recently, the Provincial Government has committed to enacting an endangered species law. Drawing upon our scientific and legal expertise, we offer recommendations for key features of endangered species legislation that build upon strengths and avoid weaknesses observed elsewhere. We recommend striking an independent Oversight Committee to provide recommendations about listing species, organize Recovery Teams, and monitor the efficacy of actions taken. Recovery Teams would evaluate and prioritize potential actions for individual species or groups of species that face common threats or live in a common area, based on best available evidence (including natural and social science and Indigenous Knowledge). Our recommendations focus on implementing an adaptive approach, with ongoing and transparent monitoring and reporting, to reduce delays between determining when a species is at risk and taking effective actions to save it. We urge lawmakers to include this strong evidentiary basis for species recovery as they tackle the scientific and socioeconomic challenges of building an effective species at risk Act.

ABSTRACTWhitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), an endangered keystone alpine tree species, faces multiple threats across its western North American range. Little is known of whitebark pine in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia relative to well-studied Rocky Mountain populations, especially with regard to the effects of climate on annual radial growth. Our results indicate centenarian whitebark pine annual radial growth is negatively influenced by the onset of snowfall in the prior autumn. This unusual growth limitation likely stems from the truncation of the prior year growing season and reduced physiological preparedness for growth in the following year. Autumn snowfall is moderated by temperature and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which controls largescale weather patterns in the study region. Our results are distinct from studies of mature whitebark pine trees in continental populations where growth is typically limited by summer temperature, or occasionally by winter snowfall due to a reliance on snow meltwater during spring/summer. We suggest that predicted warmer and wetter climate and reduced snowpacks in the southern Coast Mountains may benefit the growth of the young population of maritime whitebark pine over the next few decades.

AbstractConservationists have proposed that maintaining key elements of the original land-cover type in modified landscapes may mitigate the detrimental effects of land-cover change on residual species. We tested this hypothesis for aquatic insect communities in tank-forming bromeliads in forested and non-forested habitats in Costa Rica. Bromeliad tanks hold much of the standing water in this region and therefore provide an important resource for insects with aquatic larval stages. We quantified the relative importance of land-use type and the bromeliad-specific “local” environment on the insect community, and also the effect of land-use type on this local environment. Insect species responded to both land-use type and the local environment, with these variables explaining a total of 36% of species densities. The local environment independently explained 19% of insect densities, while land-use type explained 17%, mainly through its modification of the local environment. Local environmental conditions were strongly correlated to land-use type (r2= 0.64), with non-forest habitat having a higher average temperature, a greater variation in temperature, and a lower density of bromeliads. Our results indicate that the land-use type in which bromeliads occur influences the relative densities of insects by altering the local environment of bromeliads. Therefore, maintaining bromeliads under land-use conversion will not necessarily maintain the bromeliad insect community of the original forested habitat.

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to examine the movement abilities of the different sexes and the teneral and adult stages of the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus Panzer (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), to look at whether the beetles move by walking or flying over the scale examined, and to determine the spatial extent of the local or sub-population in a metapopulation context. The capture-mark-recapture method was used within an experimental model system constructed of 90 patches of logs hosting the fungus Fomes fomentarius and covering 900 m2. Recapture of released beetles did not differ among the groups released, and the analysis revealed that both sexes moved in a similar fashion. Adults moved more often and further than tenerals over the first 28 days of each release. Movement of all individuals was confined to an area roughly 50 m in radius. A percentage of both adults and tenerals had their elytra glued to test for flight in this species. No differences in movement frequency and distance were detected between glued and non-glued individuals. Over 4,000 trapnights of flight intercept trap data, as well as 15 days over which logs were suspended above the ground, failed to show any evidence of beetle flight. We conclude that i) flight is not an important mode of movement over the spatial scale examined, ii) adult beetles move further and more often than tenerals, iii) most movement is confined to an area of 50 m radius near the release point. Implications for the forked fungus beetle population and metapopulation structured are discussed.