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Large ground-dwelling Neotropical gamebirds are highly threatened by habitat loss and hunting, but conservationists rarely attempt to distinguish between these two threats in the management of populations. We used three different types of species records to determine the status (i.e. persistence level) of the Endangered red-billed curassow Crax blumenbachii in 14 forest remnants in north-east Brazil, as either persistent, precarious or extirpated. We related these persistence levels to variables measured in a 2-km buffer radius, including variables associated with habitat quality (proportion of forest cover, length of rivers, patch density, distance from rivers) and hunting pressure (proportion of cacao agroforests and farmlands, length of roads, total area occupied by settlements, distance from roads and from settlements). Curassows were more persistent in forest patches located (1) more distant from settlements, (2) in landscapes with few settlements, (3) in landscapes with a high incidence of roads, (4) in a mosaic with a high proportion of forest, shaded cacao agroforest and farmland, and (5) more distant from other forest patches. Hunting pressure potentially exerts more influence on persistence than habitat quality: (1) hunting pressure submodels had a higher explanatory power than habitat quality submodels, (2) final models comprised four hunting pressure variables but only two habitat quality variables, and (3) hunting pressure variables appeared in all models whereas habitat quality variables appeared in only one final model. If hunting pressure is driving declines in curassows, regions with low human presence and a high proportion of forest cover are recommended for establishing new reserves.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard.Reconociendo que era imperativo evaluar la recuperación de especies y el impacto de la conservación, la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) convocó en 2012 al desarrollo de una “Lista Verde de Especies” (ahora el Estatus Verde de las Especies de la UICN). Un marco de referencia preliminar de una Lista Verde de Especies para evaluar el progreso de las especies hacia la recuperación, publicado en 2018, proponía 2 componentes separados pero interconectados: un método estandarizado (i.e., medición en relación con puntos de referencia de la viabilidad de especies, funcionalidad y distribución antes del impacto) para determinar el estatus de recuperación actual (puntuación de recuperación de la especie) y la aplicación de ese método para estimar impactos en el pasado y potenciales de conservación basados en 4 medidas (legado de conservación, dependencia de conservación, ganancia de conservación y potencial de recuperación). Probamos el marco de referencia con 181 especies representantes de diversos taxa, historias de vida, biomas, y categorías (riesgo de extinción) en la Lista Roja de la IUCN. Con base en la distribución observada de la puntuación de recuperación de las especies, proponemos las siguientes categorías de recuperación de la especie: totalmente recuperada, ligeramente mermada, moderadamente mermada, mayormente mermada, gravemente mermada, extinta en estado silvestre, e inderterminada. Cincuenta y nueve por ciento de las especies se consideraron mayormente o gravemente mermada. Aunque hubo una relación negativa entre el riesgo de extinción y la puntuación de recuperación de la especie, la variación fue considerable. Algunas especies en las categorías de riesgo bajas fueron evaluadas como más lejos de recuperarse que aquellas con alto riesgo. Esto enfatiza que la recuperación de especies es diferente conceptualmente al riesgo de extinción y refuerza la utilidad del Estado Verde de las Especies de la UICN para comprender integralmente el estatus de conservación de especies. Aunque el riesgo de extinción no predijo el legado de conservación, la dependencia de conservación o la ganancia de conservación, se correlacionó positivamente con la potencial de recuperación. Solo 1.7% de las especies probadas fue categorizado como cero en los 4 indicadores de impacto de la conservación, lo que indica que la conservación ha jugado, o jugará, un papel en la mejoría o mantenimiento del estatus de la especie la gran mayoría de ellas. Con base en nuestros resultados, diseñamos una versión actualizada del marco de referencia para la evaluación que introduce la opción de utilizar una línea de base dinámica para evaluar los impactos futuros de la conservación en el corto plazo y redefine corto plazo como 10 años.

Historical as well as current species distribution data are needed to track changes in biodiversity. Species distribution data are found in a variety of sources, each of which has its own distinct bias toward certain taxa, time periods or places. We present GalliForm, a database that comprises 186687 galliform occurrence records linked to 118907 localities in Europe and Asia. Records were derived from museums, peer-reviewed and grey literature, unpublished field notes, diaries and correspondence, banding records, atlas records and online birding trip reports. We describe data collection processes, georeferencing methods and quality-control procedures. This database has underpinned several peer-reviewed studies, investigating spatial and temporal bias in biodiversity data, species’ geographic range changes and local extirpation patterns. In our rapidly changing world, an understanding of long-term change in species’ distributions is key to predicting future impacts of threatening processes such as land use change, over-exploitation of species and climate change. This database, its historical aspect in particular, provides a valuable source of information for further studies in macroecology and biodiversity conservation., Measurement(s) geographic location • Species • Occupancy Technology Type(s) georeferencing • digital curation Sample Characteristic - Organism Galliformes sp. Sample Characteristic - Location Palearctic Region • Indomalayan Region Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12886931

1.AbstractBiodiversity is at a heightened risk of extinction and we are losing species faster than any other time. It is important to understand the threats that drive a species towards extinction in order to address those drivers. In this paper, we assess our knowledge of the threats faced by 24 Himalayan Galliformes species by undertaking a review to identify threats reported in the published literature and the supporting evidence that the threat is having an impact on the species population. Only 24 papers were deemed suitable to be included in the study. We found that biological resource use, agriculture and aquaculture are the predominant threats to the Galliformes in the Greater Himalaya but the evidence available in the studies is quite poor as only one paper quantified the impact on species. This study shows that major gaps exist in our understanding of threats to species and it is imperative to fill those gaps if we want to prevent species from going extinct.

Stopping human-induced extinctions will require strong policy commitments that comprehensively address threats to species. In 2021, a new Global Biodiversity Framework will be agreed by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Here we investigate how the suggested targets could contribute to reducing threats to threatened vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants, and assess the importance of a proposed target to implement recovery actions for threatened species. We find that whilst many of the targets benefit species, extinction risk for over one third of threatened species would not be reduced sufficiently without a target on recovery actions, includingex situconservation, reintroductions and other species-specific interventions. A median of 41 threatened species per country require such actions, and they are found in most countries of the world. To prevent future extinctions, policy commitments must include recovery actions for the most threatened species in addition to broader transformative change.

BackgroundThe rate of anthropogenic biodiversity loss far exceeds the background rate of species extinctions. Global targets for biodiversity acknowledge this, nevertheless progress towards targets has been poor. There is now a reasonable understanding of what human pressures threaten the survival of species. However, information on where these threats are impacting species is needed to coordinate conservation actions and threat abatement efforts. Herein, threats are defined as human-driven pressures specifically where they co-occur with, and threaten the survival of, native wild species. There is a large number of studies that map either distributions of threatened species or human-driven pressures alone. This makes it difficult to identify research that has investigated the spatial distribution of the threats themselves. Additionally, the high variability in approaches taken in these studies promotes a high risk of duplication and diversity among the findings. This variation, and the lack of studies directly mapping threats, limits the utility of threat mapping studies for conservation planning and informing policy. Therefore, a systematic consolidation of the literature is necessary to identify where knowledge is lacking, and where sufficient evidence exists for synthesis of the collective findings.MethodsThis protocol details the process for a systematic mapping exercise aiming to identify studies that map threats to species across the world. For a study to be included it should present spatially explicit data on both the occurrence of species and the human-driven pressures threatening them. A range of peer-reviewed and grey literature repositories will be searched in English for literature published 2000–2020, followed by one iteration of backward snowballing. A three-stage screening process will be implemented before data are extracted on geographic coverage, taxonomic extent, and threats investigated. Data on the threats studied will be categorised using the threat classification scheme used by the IUCN Red List to allow comparisons among studies and to identify unrepresented threats. The extracted data will be analysed and visualised to describe the extent of existing knowledge. The resulting database of studies, findings from descriptive analyses, and accompanying narrative synthesis, will be made publicly available.

International audience; The Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will probably include a goal to stabilize and restore the status of species. Its delivery would be facilitated by making the actions required to halt and reverse species loss spatially explicit. Here, we develop a species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric that is scalable across species, threats and geographies. STAR quantifies the contributions that abating threats and restoring habitats in specific places offer towards reducing extinction risk. While every nation can contribute towards halting biodiversity loss, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Madagascar and Brazil combined have stewardship over 31% of total STAR values for terrestrial amphibians, birds and mammals. Among actions, sustainable crop production and forestry dominate, contributing 41% of total STAR values for these taxonomic groups. Key Biodiversity Areas cover 9% of the terrestrial surface but capture 47% of STAR values. STAR could support governmental and non-state actors in quantifying their contributions to meeting science-based species targets within the framework.

Measuring geographic range size is a fundamental part of ecology and conservation. Geographic range size is used as a criterion by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in estimating species extinction risk. Yet the geographic distributions of many threatened species are poorly documented, and it is often unclear whether a geographic range size estimate is complete. Here we use a large and near-exhaustive database of species occurrences to (i) estimate extent of occurrence (a measure of geographic range size routinely used in Red List assessments), and (ii) develop a method to assess whether our estimate for each species is complete. We use an extensive database of point locality records for 24 Himalayan Galliformes, a group of highly threatened bird species. We examine the chronological pattern of increase of geographic range size estimates and compare this accumulation curve with a null model generated by performing 1000 iterations for each species using the point locality information in random order. Using Generalised Estimation Equations (GEE) and Generalised Least Square (GLS), we show that estimates of geographic range size for most species has now asymptoted, and that the range size estimates have improved more rapidly over time than expected by chance, suggesting relatively efficient sampling over time. The approach used in this study can be used as a simple method for assessing the completeness of a geographic range size estimates for any taxon. Keywords: Geographic range size, Galliformes, Locality database, Conservation

Aichi Target 12 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) contains the aim to ‘prevent extinctions of known threatened species’. To measure the degree to which this was achieved, we used expert elicitation to estimate the number of bird and mammal species whose extinctions were prevented by conservation action in 1993–2020 (the lifetime of the CBD) and 2010–2020 (the timing of Aichi Target 12). We found that conservation action prevented 21–32 bird and 7–16 mammal extinctions since 1993, and 9–18 bird and two to seven mammal extinctions since 2010. Many remain highly threatened and may still become extinct. Considering that 10 bird and five mammal species did go extinct (or are strongly suspected to) since 1993, extinction rates would have been 2.9–4.2 times greater without conservation action. While policy commitments have fostered significant conservation achievements, future biodiversity action needs to be scaled up to avert additional extinctions.

The persistence of endangered species may depend on the fate of a very small number of individual animals. In situ conservation alone may sometimes be insufficient. In these instances, the International Union for Conservation of Nature provides guidelines for ex situ conservation and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) indicates how ex situ management can support the CBD's objectives by providing insurance policies for species. The circumstances that justify its use are uncertain. To evaluate the current in situ extinction risk and ex situ management of 43 critically endangered species of mammalian megafauna, we used nonmetric multidimensional scaling and geopolitical variables related to governance, economics, and national policy within their extant ranges. We then fitted generalized additive models to assess the contribution of each variable to the ordination. Fifteen (almost one-third) of the world's terrestrial mammalian megafauna are not the subject of any ex situ management. Seventy-three percent of these taxa occur in areas characterized by political uncertainty, such as border zones or areas affected by armed conflicts, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. A further 23% of taxa in ex situ programs do not meet sustainability criteria for inbreeding avoidance. Strategic conservation planning, such as the One Plan approach, may improve ex situ management for these taxa. Given the escalating trend in threats afflicting megafauna, ex situ management should be considered more rigorously, particularly in politically unstable regions, to achieve CBD Target 12 (prevent extinction of threatened species).Manejo Ex Situ como Protección contra la Extinción de la Megafauna de Mamíferos en un Mundo Incierto Resumen La persistencia de las especies en peligro puede depender del destino de un número muy pequeño de animales individuales. La conservación in situ por sí sola a veces puede ser insuficiente. Bajo estas instancias, la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza proporciona directrices para la conservación ex situ y la Convención sobre la Diversidad Biológica (CBD) indica cómo el manejo ex situ puede apoyar a lograr sus objetivos al proporcionar políticas de protección para las especies. Las circunstancias que justifican el uso del manejo ex situ son inciertas. Para evaluar el actual riesgo de extinción in situ y el manejo ex situ de 43 especies de megafauna de mamíferos en peligro crítico de extinción usamos un escalamiento multidimensional no métrico, así como variables geopolíticas relacionadas con el gobierno, la economía y las políticas nacionales dentro de la distribución actual de estas especies. Después ajustamos los modelos sumativos generalizados para evaluar la contribución de cada variable a la ordinación. Quince (casi un tercio) de los mamíferos terrestres pertenecientes a la megafauna no están sujetos a ningún tipo de manejo ex situ. El 73% de estos taxones ocurren en áreas conocidas por su incertidumbre política, como zonas fronterizas o áreas afectadas por conflictos armados, principalmente en África y en el Oriente Medio. Además, un 23% de los taxones que sí se encuentran en programas de conservación ex situ no cumplen con los criterios de sustentabilidad para evitar la endogamia. La planeación de la conservación estratégica, como la estrategia de One Plan, podría mejorar el manejo ex situ para estos taxones. Dada la tendencia creciente en las amenazas que afectan a la megafauna, el manejo ex situ debería considerarse de manera más rigurosa, particularmente en las regiones con inestabilidad política, para alcanzar el Objetivo 12 de la CBD (evitar la extinción de especies amenazadas).濒危物种的续存可能取决于该物种极少数个体的命运;因此, 仅仅只有就地保护有时还不足够。在这些情况下, 世界自然保护联盟 (IUCN) 为迁地保护提供了指导方针, 《生物多样性公约 (CBD) 》也指出了迁地管理如何通过为物种提供保险政策来支持 CBD 目标。然而, 应在怎样的情况下合理利用迁地保护仍存在疑问。为了评估43种极度濒危的巨型哺乳动物目前的就地灭绝风险和迁地管理, 我们利用非度量多维标度法和动物现生分布区内与治理、经济和国家政策相关的地理政治变量进行了分析。我们还进一步拟合了广义加性模型以评估各变量对等级排序的贡献。世界陆生巨型哺乳动物中有15种 (近三分之一) 未被纳入任何迁地管理项目之中。这些类群中 73%分布在政治不稳定的地区, 如边境地区或受武装冲突影响的地区, 主要在非洲和中东。迁地保护项目中还有 23%的类群没有满足避免近亲繁殖的可持续性标准。战略保护规划, 如一体计划方案 (One Plan approach), 可以帮助改进这些物种的迁地管理。鉴于巨型动物面临的威胁仍在不断加剧, 为了实现 CBD 目标 12 (防止濒危物种灭绝), 应该更严格地考虑迁地管理, 特别是在政治不稳定的地区。 【翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚】.

Local and regional extirpations of individual species, typically high profile cases, are now well documented, leading to calls for urgent action for particular species in specific locations. There is a need to broaden our assessments of extinction to identify landscapes that contain high proportions of threatened species and therefore, how more holistic species conservation responses might be developed. The conservation status of species is especially concerning in Southeast Asia and within the region, the avian family Phasianidae affords the opportunity to develop an approach for examining species richness and extinction probability for an entire family at landscape scale. There are 42 pheasant, partridge and quail species in the region and 77% of Southeast Asia encompasses the geographic range of at least five species. Due to high levels of uncertainty about how species respond to anthropogenic threats, we created an expert elicited Bayesian Belief Network to explore survival prospects using publically available data on IUCN extinction probability categories, proxies of threat (effects of hunting, forest loss and protected area effectiveness) and species geographic ranges to assess where the overall risk to survival was highest. Western Myanmar, Central Indoburma (Thailand/Myanmar), the Annamite mountains and Central Vietnam lowlands, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo are priorities for avoiding large numbers of extinctions of phasianids. This assessment will be strengthened by more detailed data on intensity of hunting pressure across the region, and variation in species' tolerance to human disturbance. Strategically, therefore, conservation and research should be targeted towards these landscapes.

Some of the species that are believed to have the highest probability of extinction are also amongst the most poorly known, and this makes it extremely difficult to decide how to spend scarce resources. Assessments of conservation status made on the basis of loss or degradation of habitat and lack of records may provide compelling indications of a decline in geographical range and population size, but they do not help identify where conservation action might be best targeted. Methods for assessing the probability of extinction and for modelling species’ distributions exist, but their data requirements often exceed the information that is available for some of the most urgent conservation cases. Here we use all available information (localities, expert information, climate and landcover) about a high-priority Vietnamese bird species (Edwards's pheasant Lophura edwardsi) to assess objectively the probability of its persistence, and where surveys or other conservation action should be targeted. It is clear that the species is on the threshold of extinction and there is an urgent need to survey Bach Ma National Park (including the extension) and to consider surveying Ke Go Nature Reserve. This approach has potential to help identify where conservation action should be targeted for other Critically Endangered species for which there is an extreme scarcity of information.

The Convention on Biological Diversity's target of halting extinctions by 2020 is less than a handful of years away. Captive, or ex situ, management has long been cited as having a potential role to play in the recovery of species, although this remains the subject of debate. IUCN's Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) produced guidelines to assist in identifying when ex situ management may contribute to species recovery in 2002. Since then, there have been considerable developments in a range of areas that may influence the design of such programs (e.g., understanding of constraints on breeding programs, development of new techniques and approaches, and strategic planning approaches to species conservation). IUCN SSC has therefore revised its guidance and proposes a five-step process: (1) compile a status review; (2) define the role(s) that ex situ management might play; (3) determine the precise nature of the ex situ population in order to meet identified role(s); (4) define resources and expertise, and appraise the feasibility and risks; and (5) make a decision that is informed based on the above analysis and transparent. These guidelines offer an objective process for considering the role of ex situ management in species conservation.

Provisioning ecosystem services include wild products that form an integral part of rural economies. Using quantitative and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 50 households in a Tibetan community in Western Sichuan, China, we explored the relationships of households with three diverse provisioning services on the Eastern Tibetan plateau: firewood, medicinal caterpillar fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis and matsutake mushrooms Tricholoma matsutake. We examined (1) how they contribute to wealth and livelihoods, (2) what determines household access, and (3) how local use has changed over time. All households were reliant on firewood, and levels extracted were explained only by household size. A more complex set of factors explained access to caterpillar fungus: younger, larger, pastoralist households with lower dependency ratios tended to collect more, and education and household size explained variation in price gained for the product. Caterpillar fungus extraction has dramatically increased over the last 20 years, providing up to 72% of household income, but poorer households have received significantly less of their income from the fungus. Matsutake contributed much less to livelihoods because of its relatively low price. The results show a contrast between subsistence and market-driven products: access to the latter is affected by competition and power relationships. Overall access to provisioning services was related to facets of wealth, especially human capital. The study contributes a household level analysis of the diverse provisioning value of an under-researched part of the world, highlighting the heterogeneity and dynamism of the relationships of households with ecosystem services.

There is widespread concern for many understorey and ground-dwelling bird species in the Philippines that appear intolerant of forest alteration. We present density estimates for 18 key bird species in old growth forest, advanced and early secondary growth and active cultivation within the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan. Six species were not recorded in cultivation and the abundance of these and several others increased along the successional gradient from cultivation to old growth forest. Eleven species, including five endemics and three of four threatened species, had highest density estimates in old growth forest. However, several species had high density estimates in the heavily disturbed habitats and every habitat type held highest densities of at least one of the bird species. The commonest habitat association across the bird community was a preference for areas containing large trees, indicating the importance of retention of such trees in allowing suitable ground and understorey microhabitats to persist. Old growth forests have the highest conservation value for Palawan’s endemic birds and, while some species thrive in the anthropogenic habitats that occur within the Park, the present extent of cultivation and associated successional stages within its boundaries should not be increased. We caution against extrapolation of the abundance figures from the Park to the whole island but we suggest that population sizes for the threatened species are likely to be much greater than previously thought. We urge authorities to strengthen management within the protected area network in Palawan to ensure survival of key species.

El Plan de accion mundial sobre los recursos zoogeneticos insta a adoptar medidas para conservar las especies silvestres relacionadas con el ganado. El estado de conservacion de las especies silvestres a nivel mundial se controla a traves de la Lista Roja de la IUCN. Esto demuestra que actualmente el 21% de las 5.488 especies de mamiferos del mundo y el 12% de las especies de aves estan en peligro de extincion. Por el contrario, una mayor proporcion de los parientes silvestres de las especies de mamiferos de gran talla estan en peligro de extincion: el 44% del ganado ovino y caprino, el 50% del porcino y el 83% del bovino. Mayor cantidad de parientes silvestres de las gallinas tambien se encuentran en peligro de extincion (25%) en comparacion con el resto de las aves en general. Estas cifras indican la necesidad de prestar mucha mas atencion a la relacion existente entre la conservacion de la diversidad biologica y el bienestar humano. Por lo tanto, existe una necesidad urgente de coordinar respuestas relacionadas con la perdida de la biodiversidad y con la reduccion de la variacion que puede resultar vital para los recursos zoogeneticos en el futuro. Las reuniones de caracter intergubernamental que se van a celebrar este otono ofrecen la posibilidad de dar comienzo a este proceso.

SummarySwamp Francolin Francolinus gularis is endemic to the Indian sub-continent, being found in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is threatened with extinction and is listed as ‘Vulnerable’, mainly as a result of habitat degradation and loss. This study investigated the distribution, habitat use, threats and most appropriate method for surveying the species at Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in southeastern Nepal from February to July 2004. The most appropriate method, which recorded the highest number of birds (without double-counting), was identified as point counts undertaken early in the morning during the breeding season. The abundance estimate for the species was 15.5 ± 2.50 birds km−2. Habitat use, as compared with availability, differed significantly between seasons, with Woodland-Grassland and Wet Grassland preferred in the breeding season and summer. Dry Grassland and Woodland were preferred during the monsoon months. On average, 40.4 (± 15.6) people were recorded in the study area each day and there was a general trend for the number of birds to decrease with increasing numbers of people. Each day an average of 31.6 (± 16.7) livestock was recorded in the study area and more than 120 were regularly present throughout the eastern section, although there was no significant relationship between number of cattle and Swamp Francolin. We conclude that as long as the degree and distribution of anthropogenic pressures does not increase, the Swamp Francolin should survive at Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. However, as the species is reliant on different habitats in different seasons, deterioration in the quality or extent of either of these could have a serious impact on the species.

Many recently designated or expanded nature reserves in China were forest farms that ceased operations in the aftermath of the catastrophic Yangtze River floods of 1998. Although the vegetation in many of these areas has been altered significantly during forestry operations, there is now an opportunity to reduce, or even reverse, habitat loss for wildlife species that inhabit these forests. One such species is the globally threatened Reeves's Pheasant Syrmaticus reevesii that is endemic to the forested mountains of central and south-west China. From April 2000 to August 2003, the habitat use by 14 male Reeves's Pheasants was studied by radio-tracking at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve in the Dabie Mountains, central China. Conifer-broadleaf mixed forest was used preferentially in all seasons at the study area scale, as were mature fir plantations and shrubby vegetation. Moreover, young fir plantations were used preferentially during the breeding season at the scale of the home range. Surveys recorded the pheasant in 13 other protected areas in the Dabie Mountains, and indicated that broadly similar habitat types were available in all of them. Furthermore, Reeves's Pheasant were found in habitats similar to those used preferentially at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve. It seems likely that a mosaic of habitats is crucial to meet the various requirements of male Reeves's Pheasants throughout the year and management should therefore concentrate on maintaining this mosaic. It is now important to identify the habitats that produce the most young pheasants so that nesting and brood-rearing habitats can be clearly identified. Further studies on the habitat mosaic would be useful, both at a local scale and also at a larger, landscape scale.

This situation analysis was undertaken to inform responses to several resolutions made at the 5th World Conservation Congress in 2012 about the plight of large vertebrates in West and Central Africa. It draws on a wide range of information to provide information on the status of these species, important sites, pressures, legislation, the effectiveness of protected areas, and both community-based incentives for conservation and institutional responses. The overriding conclusion is of substantial wildlife declines and inadequate responses to either long-standing pressures or rapidly escalating threats that have emerged in recent years.

Swamp Francolin Francolinus gularis is considered Vulnerable to extinction as its native grassland habitat is converted to agricultural land. However, there are virtually no life history data available to allow the impact of these changes on the species to be assessed. Thirteen birds were radio-tracked during the breeding season on agricultural land near Dudwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The study area was dominated by sugar-cane fields, but also contained other crops and natural wet grassland. Home range size varied from 273 m2 to 2,687 m2 and was significantly correlated with tracking duration. We did not detect significant patterns in overall use of habitats at either the home-range level (P = 0.14) or at the radio-location level (P = 0.13). However, some individual habitats appeared to be used in proportions that differed from random expectations. At the home range level, birds appeared to favour tall sugar-cane and grassland whilst at the individual location level, grassland and wet areas were most used. Radio-tagged birds made six nests, of which only two hatched young. One was in an old sugar-cane field and the other on grassland. Although we did not detect statistical significance, we believe that developing an appropriate management regime for this species is so urgent that the results are sufficient to manage adaptively the species' habitat at least on an experimental scale. These data suggest that a matrix of habitats, including agricultural land, can supply the necessary components to satisfy the various requirements of Swamp Francolin. However, some natural grassland habitat associated with wet areas appears to be critical. The crucial challenge is to make sure that agricultural landscapes have these habitats present in the right proportions and spatial arrangements to support viable populations of Swamp Francolin.

There is an urgent need to evaluate the status of groups of species for conservation purposes. A species' status is indicated by both its distribution and abundance, and the rate at which these components are changing. This information is scarce for many tropical forest species. We produced four measures of status based on locality and habitat data for 25 partridges and pheasants of Southeast Asia: (1) change in the number of sites from which a species had been recorded; (2) change in the proportion of localities visited from which a species had been recorded; (3) change in the extent of occurrence; and (4) change in a measure that combined habitat and locality information. Species rankings from the first three measures of status that used locality data alone were significantly correlated with each other. Therefore, differences in sampling do not appear to influence the locality-only assessments. None of the locality-only measures was correlated with the ranking based on both locality and habitat information. The lack of correlation between these assessments and that which included habitat information may result from recent bias in habitats searched. Whereas the paucity of data is acute for some species, we propose that estimating changes in the available habitat within a species' extent of occurrence will provide the best estimate of change of status. Fourteen species show decreases according to all measures.

Identifying local extinctions is integral to estimating species richness and geographic range changes and informing extinction risk assessments. However, the species occurrence records underpinning these estimates are frequently compromised by a lack of recorded species absences making it impossible to distinguish between local extinction and lack of survey effort—for a rigorously compiled database of European and Asian Galliformes, approximately 40% of half-degree cells contain records from before but not after 1980. We investigate the distribution of these cells, finding differences between the Palaearctic (forests, low mean human influence index (HII), outside protected areas (PAs)) and Indo-Malaya (grassland, high mean HII, outside PAs). Such cells also occur more in less peaceful countries. We show that different interpretations of these cells can lead to large over/under-estimations of species richness and extent of occurrences, potentially misleading prioritization and extinction risk assessment schemes. To avoid mistakes, local extinctions inferred from sightings records need to account for the history of survey effort in a locality.

The lack of scientific baseline information hinders appropriate design and management of protected areas. To illustrate the value of science to management, we consider five scenarios for the 202.0 km² Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Philippines: (1) closure to human activities, (2) and (3) two levels of increase in unplanned human activities, (4) creation of a forest corridor and (5) additional allocation of land for permanent or shifting agriculture. We then use habitat-specific bird density estimates to simulate the net effect of each scenario on 18 focal bird populations. Closure has significant benefits-populations of five species are predicted to increase by >50 % and nine by >25 %, but two secondary forest flycatchers, including the endemic and 'Vulnerable' Palawan flycatcher, decline dramatically, while the creation of a 4.0 km² forest corridor yields average increases across species of 2 ± 4 % (SD). In contrast, heavier unplanned park usage produces declines in all but a few species, while the negative effects of an extra 2.0 km² of shifting cultivation are 3-5 times higher than for a similar area of permanent agriculture and affect species whose densities are highest in primary habitats. Relatively small changes within the park, especially those associated with agricultural expansion, has serious predicted implications for local bird populations. Our models do not take into account the full complexities of bird ecology at a site, but they do provide park managers with an evidence base from which to make better decisions relating to biodiversity conservation obligations which their parks are intended to meet.

Habitat clearance remains the major cause of biodiversity loss, with consequences for ecosystem services and for people. In response to this, many global conservation schemes direct funds to regions with high rates of recent habitat destruction, though some also emphasize the conservation of remaining large tracts of intact habitat. If the pattern of habitat clearance is highly contagious, the latter approach will help prevent destructive processes gaining a foothold in areas of contiguous intact habitat. Here, we test the strength of spatial contagion in the pattern of habitat clearance. Using a global dataset of land-cover change at 50 × 50 km resolution, we discover that intact habitat areas in grid cells are refractory to clearance only when all neighbouring cells are also intact. The likelihood of loss increases dramatically as soon as habitat is cleared in just one neighbouring cell, and remains high thereafter. This effect is consistent for forests and grassland, across biogeographic realms and over centuries, constituting a coherent global pattern. Our results show that landscapes become vulnerable to wholesale clearance as soon as threatening processes begin to penetrate, so actions to prevent any incursions into large, intact blocks of natural habitat are key to their long-term persistence.

Many species of China's Galliformes live in forests and it is often difficult to assess populations of species in these habitats. Such assessments are becoming increasingly important because much of China's forest has been altered through logging and other forms of human activity. After describing and mapping habitat types, we assessed two commonly used methods for counting pheasants (transects and point counts at dawn) in the Xianshennongjia Mountains in the Three Gorges area of Hubei Province in east-central China. Four pheasant species were recorded: Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus, Temminck's Tragopan Tragopan temmincki, Koklass Pucrasia macrolopha and Common (or Ring-necked) Pheasant Phasianus colchicus. Golden Pheasants were detected most often by calls heard during transects and Koklass were recorded mostly during point counts at dawn. Temminck's Tragopan was detected during transects (by sightings) and also by calls at dawn. The relatively few Common Pheasants that were detected were registered mainly during transects. Golden Pheasants were found at the lowest altitudes, closest to human habitation and both Temminck's Tragopan and Koklass lived in various forest types above this. Common Pheasant was found in meadows at higher altitudes. We conclude that the methods used can determine general habitat use, but that no one method is likely to prove sufficient to unravel the detailed pattern of habitat use across all four species. In particular, further study is required to assess the relative importance of different forest types to Golden Pheasant, Temminck's Tragopan and Koklass. It would appear that human impact on the forest has affected the distribution of the pheasant species. For example, Common Pheasant is now absent from low-lying areas and occurs at what appears to be an unusually high altitude in the study area.

The majority of Galliformes are ground dwelling, many live in forests, and c. 25% are on the IUCN Red List. The Djibouti francolin Francolinus ochropectus is a Critically Endangered galliform endemic to only two areas of relict Juniperus procera forest in Djibouti. This study assessed population status and habitat condition in the species' stronghold in the Foret du Day during the post-breeding season. Line transect distance sampling was used to survey the francolin, recording visual encounters and calls. Canopy and understorey vegetation were sampled across the study area at 150-m intervals using 400-m2 quadrats. Interviews were conducted in all adjacent villages to obtain information about francolin sightings, forest use and capacity for community-based conservation. Distance was used to generate francolin population density estimates. A geographical information system and generalized linear modelling were used to determine predictors of francolin presence and juniper condition. The Distance model estimated francolin density to be 38–94 km-2. Within the Foret du Day this is equivalent to a population of 285–705 individuals. The presence of juveniles in the samples suggests that the effective population size may be lower and therefore, although this is the first estimate of Djibouti francolin density using standard survey methodology, it should be interpreted cautiously. Juniper condition in the Foret du Day is poor. The healthiest forest is 50% dead. Francolins are more abundant where tree cover is high. This cover now mostly consists of Buxus hildebrandtii, which appears to have mostly replaced the original juniper. In areas of high tree cover, grazing intensity is significantly negatively correlated with francolin presence. Anthropogenic influences on juniper health and francolin decline are mediated through the large number of cows grazing in the forest. We recommend an ecosystem approach to conservation of the forest, with additional species-specific protection measures for the francolin and juniper.

Ecotourism is often suggested as a tool for promoting conservation but evidence for its usefulness is mixed. The success of conservation projects is widely recognized to depend upon the positive attitudes of local communities and thus it is important to know if ecotourism affects local perceptions of natural resources and conservation, as these can be important determinants of conservation behaviour. Rapid Rural Appraisal and questionnaire-based interviews were used to investigate this issue in the village of Grande Riviere, Trinidad. This has a community-based ecotourism programme for leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea, and is also one of the few sites where the Critically Endangered endemic Trinidad piping-guan Pipile pipile may be sighted. Topics addressed were knowledge and awareness of local conservation issues, focusing on attitudes to the environment in general, turtles and the Trinidad piping-guan. Ecotourism significantly affected perceptions. Villagers showed more awareness and support for turtle conservation than for the piping-guan or any other wildlife. Moreover, those households directly benefiting from the ecotourism industry had better knowledge of local natural resources and greater general awareness of conservation issues (not limited to turtles). Other socio-economic factors such as education and income also affected attitudes and knowledge but the ecotourism effect was still present after accounting for these. Hunting was seen as the main threat to wildlife but was also a popular pastime, illustrating the potential for mismatch between attitudes and conservation behaviours.