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The okapi Okapia johnstoni, a rainforest giraffid endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, was recategorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2013. Historical records and anecdotal reports suggest that a disjunct population of okapi may have occurred south-west of the Congo River but the current distribution and status of the okapi in this region are not well known. Here we describe the use of non-invasive genetic identification for this species and assess the success of species identification from dung in the wild, which varied throughout the range. This variation is probably attributable to varying okapi population densities and/or different sample collection strategies across the okapi's distribution. Okapi were confirmed to occur south-west of the Congo River, in scattered localities west of the Lomami River. We demonstrated that non-invasive genetic methods can provide information on the distribution of cryptic, uncommon species that is difficult to obtain by other methods. Further investigation is required to genetically characterize the okapi across its range and to investigate the biogeographical processes that have led to the observed distribution of okapi and other fauna in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The okapi is an endangered, evolutionarily distinctive even-toed ungulate classified within the giraffidae family that is endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The okapi is currently under major anthropogenic threat, yet to date nothing is known about its genetic structure and evolutionary history, information important for conservation management given the species' current plight. The distribution of the okapi, being confined to the Congo Basin and yet spanning the Congo River, also makes it an important species for testing general biogeographic hypotheses for Congo Basin fauna, a currently understudied area of research. Here we describe the evolutionary history and genetic structure of okapi, in the context of other African ungulates including the giraffe, and use this information to shed light on the biogeographic history of Congo Basin fauna in general. Using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of mainly non-invasively collected samples, we show that the okapi is both highly genetically distinct and highly genetically diverse, an unusual combination of genetic traits for an endangered species, and feature a complex evolutionary history. Genetic data are consistent with repeated climatic cycles leading to multiple Plio-Pleistocene refugia in isolated forests in the Congo catchment but also imply historic gene flow across the Congo River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which presented evidence on breeding of Red-capped (Papuan) Flowerpecker Dicaeum geelvinkianum on the Torres Strait of Saibai and Boigu Islands, Queensland since February 2002. The study aims to provide specifics on bird species which are considered as vagrant and contribute to growing information about avifauna in the islands. The study observes mist-netting birds in mangroves and vine thickets during dry and wet seasons. It also describes the plumage and morphometrics of the species to confirm that they are present in the islands.

The article discusses biodiversity in New Zealand (NZ), with a focus on the role of areal species recovery groups in evidence-based conservation projects. Topics include NZ conservation management initiatives established through the government's Department of Conservation (DOC), membership of recovering bird species such as the hihi or stitchbird (Notiomystis cincta) and kiwi (Apteryx), and translocations of hihi. Additional information is presented on survey respondents' views on hihi recovery groups and managing ecosystems.

The colourful appearance of avian eggshells is a prominent aspect of maternal reproductive effort in birds. Some differences in eggshell coloration have been reported to co-vary with various measures of maternal condition and these patterns support the hypothesis that, in some bird species, several aspects of eggshell colour (i.e. primary chroma and brightness) function as a signal of maternal and offspring quality to induce greater paternal investment. We directly quantified eggshell pigment concentrations of blackbird Turdus merula and song thrush T. philomelos eggshells and tested how the two key pigments (protoporphyrin IX and biliverdin) co-varied with other eggshell traits and egg constituents as measures of maternal reproductive investment, including total yolk carotenoid concentration, total lipid concentration, yolk mass, and shell thickness. Contrary to predictions, we detected few statistical patterns overall. We found that protoporphyrin IX concentration was negatively associated with blue-green chroma in blackbirds but not in song thrush. The concentration of protoporphyrin IX was significantly greater in blackbirds and also showed different patterns of association with total yolk lipids and yolk carotenoid concentrations between these two species (significant species interaction terms). Our results reveal that it is not appropriate to simply assume in these two avian species that reflectance-based eggshell colour measures are a suitable proxy for eggshell pigment concentrations or can be used as consistent predictors of maternal reproductive investment. These results highlight the need to assess and validate the strength and direction of the statistical relationships between eggshell colour measures, pigment concentrations, and maternal resource deposition in the egg for other species of birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary 1. The evolution of coloration has generated some of the most diverse and variable phenotypes, both within and between species, in animals and plants. The objective quantitative assessment of the physical, chemical and perceptual basis of coloration has been greatly improved by the application of portable full-spectrum spectrophotometers to measure reflectance data. Yet, the analysis and interpretation of physical measures of colour spectra must be conducted within the constraints of the uncertainty regarding the relative impacts of methodological vs. biological sources of variation. 2. Here, we characterise the components of variation in data on reflectance spectra, related to sample storage and measurement equipment, to characterise colourful pigmentation of eggshells (Class: Aves) of two Turdus species. We quantified longitudinal shifts in reflectance occurring over repeated measurements of the same sets of avian eggshells. Shells were sampled at the time of collection and again after 5 years of dark storage using the same equipment. These data were then compared with spectra obtained from the same eggs after the storage with a different model of spectrophotometer for three colour metrics [blue-green chroma (BGC), UV chroma and brightness]. 3. Blue-green chroma and brightness of the same eggs varied systematically between years at a similar magnitude to the biological variation among different eggs. This suggests the need for future research into the extent of chemical and physical deterioration of eggshell appearance even during relatively short-term storage. The variation introduced by using two different spectrophotometers also was significant but relatively small compared with biological levels of variation for UV and brightness. 4. Our results confirm quantitatively that museum eggshell specimens are suitable for interspecific comparative analyses, but also highlight the requirement to account explicitly for variation in storage duration and measurement equipment, when 'objectively' comparing biological variation in coloration across individuals in space and also in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How sensitive should parents be to the demands of their young? Offspring are under selection to seek more investment than is optimal for parents to supply, which makes parents vulnerable to losing future fitness by responding to manipulative displays. Yet, parents cannot afford to ignore begging and risk allocating resources inefficiently. Here, we show that parents may solve this problem by adjusting their sensitivity to begging behaviour in relation to their own likelihood of breeding again, a factor largely neglected in previous analyses of parent-offspring interactions. In two carotenoid-supplementation experiments on a New Zealand passerine, the hihi Notiomystis cincta, we supplemented adults to enhance their propensity to breed again, and supplemented entire broods to increase their mouth colour, thus enhancing their solicitation display. We found that adults that attempted two breeding attempts a season were largely insensitive to the experimentally carotenoid-rich gapes of their brood, whereas those that bred just once responded by increasing their rate of provisioning at the nest. Our results show that parents can strategically vary their sensitivity to begging in relation to their future reproductive potential. By restricting opportunities for offspring to influence provisioning decisions, parents greatly limit the potential for offspring to win parent-offspring conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male-biased adult sex ratios are frequently observed in free-ranging populations and are known to cause changes in mating behaviours including increased male harassment of females, which can cause injury to females and/or alter female behaviour during breeding. Although we can explain why such behaviours may evolve and have studied their impacts on individuals when it does, we know very little about the demographic consequences of harassment caused by changes in adult sex ratio. Using a 12-year longitudinal data set of a free-living and endangered New Zealand passerine, the hihi ( Notiomystis cincta), we show that a changing adult sex ratio has little or no effect on adult female survival or the number of fledglings produced per female. This is despite clear evidence of male harassment of breeding females when the sex ratio was male biased (up to three males per female). The length of the study and major fluctuations in sex ratio observed made it possible to obtain narrow confidence or credible intervals for effect sizes, showing that any effect of sex ratio on demographic rates were small. Our results provide rare empirical evidence for the demographic consequences of biased adult sex ratios in the wild and particularly in a conservation context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the observations made on a fresh specimen of a little paradise-kingfisher Tanysiptera hydrocharis discovered within the township on Saibai Island, northern Torres Strait, Queensland during ornithological fieldwork in January 2010. A brief information on Sabai Island is presented. It describes the events leading to the bird's discovery by the researchers. The bird was described to have total length of less than 20 centimeters, a bill depth at the nares of 10.4 micrometers and forehead and crown iridescent venetian blue. Also discussed are previous observations of blue-and-white paradise-kingfishers from Torres Strait.

Sex-biased natal dispersal is prevalent in many avian species, with females typically dispersing further than males. We examined natal dispersal patterns in an growing reintroduced population of hihi (stitchbird, Notiomystis cincta) on Tiritiri Matangi Island in New Zealand. Hihi nest almost exclusively in the nest boxes provided throughout the island, and breeding locations have been recorded since the 1997-1998 season. The population grew from 16 to 170 birds in the 10 years since establishment in 1995, and also experienced substantial changes in adult sex ratio over this period. We calculated distances from natal to breeding locations to examine the dynamics of natal dispersal with sex, population density and sex ratio, and maternal and environmental effects. Overall, females dispersed significantly further than males, with permutation tests indicating that mean female dispersal distance was significantly higher than expected if they selected boxes at random, and male mean dispersal distance was significantly less than expected if they selected boxes at random. General linear mixed modelling also revealed sex-specific changes in dispersal behaviour over time that were correlated with changes in population density and sex ratio, and a strong effect of the maternal females' identity. The mean dispersal distance of males decreased with density, with the number of the juveniles in the cohort as the best correlate. We suggest that males are able to disperse further to gain the highest quality open territories at lower population densities, whereas dispersal distances become increasingly constrained by territory availability, and possibly variation in mating strategy, at higher densities. In contrast, female dispersal showed a weak positive density-dependent relationship, but was more strongly influenced by sex ratio, with dispersal distances decreasing with an increasing male bias in the population. We also found a strong effect of the maternal female that could not be explained solely by nest box location. Overall, these results imply a critical role of social context, including population size, density, and sex ratio in influencing natal dispersal dynamics in a closed, insular population of hihi, and have important conservation management applications for future translocation design and implementation for this endangered species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of avian eggshell coloration have been a long-standing research focus in behavioral evolutionary ecology. Museum collections have provided a widely used resource because they allow efficient sampling across broad temporal, geographical, and taxonomic ranges, even for species that are rare and for which sampling in the wild is ethically or practically unwarranted. We used reflectance spectrophotometry across the avian visual spectrum to compare eggshell color of specimens of the song thrush ( Turdus philomelos) in two museums (Natural History Museum, UK and Auckland Museum, New Zealand) with each other and with eggshells collected fresh in New Zealand. These data enabled us to test the effects of source and storage in different museums, as well as time since collection, across four metrics of eggshell coloration: blue-green and ultraviolet chroma, overall brightness, and the spectral coefficient of variation. Variation within an egg, within a clutch, and among clutches, was similar between the two museum datasets but different from those of fresh eggs. We found significant differences in all four metrics between the collections, and that fresh eggshells reflected stronger in the blue-green wavelength than in museum eggs. This difference is most likely due to different preservation techniques and storage histories. Furthermore, an effect of time since collection was only apparent in the blue-green chroma and was higher in more recent museum eggshell samples. Our results support the use of historic museum samples in intraspecific studies of shell coloration providing that efforts are made to compare specimens, which were collected during similar periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translocations can take a variety of forms, and there is considerable debate as to what defines an acceptable translocation. This is particularly so if a proposal suggests moving a species beyond its natural range, which might be necessary for conservation purposes if habitat within the natural range is extensively modified. An extension of this approach is to use closely related ecological analogs to replace extinct species. This approach is controversial, and opportunities to do so will be rare, particularly for vertebrate species, but the use of ecological analogs is not without precedent, and ultimately will provide for more complete ecological restoration. We discuss the current use of ecological analogs to replace extinct species and conclude with a rare opportunity to replace the extinct New Zealand quail Coturnix novaezelandiae with the extant Australian brown quail Coturnix ypsilophora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening for pathogenic micro-organisms is an essential component of translocationbased conservation management. While there are some data on pathogens in New Zealand passerines, little is known about the distribution and prevalence of pathogens infecting New Zealand Psittaciformes. We conducted a survey for pathogens of the vulnerable New Zealand endemic red-crowned parakeet Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae in two wild populations (Little Barrier Island and Raoul Island), and in a translocated population (Tiritiri Matangi Island). A total of 101 cloacal samples were tested for Salmonella and Yersinia. Of these, 82 samples were also tested for Campylobacter. None of these microorganisms were detected. Although our sampling effort was insufficient to detect a low prevalence of Campylobacter, modelling of minimum detectable prevalence of Salmonella and Yersinia indicates that these micro-organisms would have been detected if present as common or chronic conditions of redcrowned parakeets at these sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The field of conservation genomics is becoming increasingly interested in whether, and how, structural variant (SV) genotype information can be leveraged in the management of threatened species. The functional consequences of SVs are more complex than for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), as SVs typically impact a larger proportion of the genome due to their size and thus may be more likely to contribute to load. While the impacts of SV‐specific genetic load may be less consequential for large populations, the interplay between weakened selection and stochastic processes means that smaller populations, such as those of the threatened Aotearoa hihi/New Zealand stitchbird (Notiomystis cincta), may harbour a high SV load. Hihi were once confined to a single remnant population, but have been reestablished into six sanctuaries and reserves, often via secondary bottlenecks, resulting in low genetic diversity, low adaptive potential, and inbreeding depression. In this study, we use whole genome resequencing of 30 individuals from the Tiritiri Matangi population to identify the nature and distribution of both SNPs and SVs within this small avian population. We find that SNP and SV individual mutation load is only moderately correlated, likely because SVs arise in regions of high recombination and that are less evolutionarily conserved. Finally, we leverage a long‐term monitoring dataset of pedigree and fitness data to assess the impact of SNP and SV mutation loads on individual fitness, and find that SNP and SV realised load had similar negative correlations with lifetime fitness. However, of the masked load metrics, only SVs had a positive significant correlation with lifetime fitness, indicating that masking of deleterious alleles may be more important for SVs than for SNPs. The results of this study indicate that only examining SNPs neglects important aspects of intra‐specific variation and that studying SVs has direct implications for linking genetic diversity and genomic health to inform management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making transparent and rational decisions to manage threatened species in situations of high uncertainty is difficult. Managers must balance the optimism of successful intervention with the risk that intervention could make matters worse. We assessed nest protection options for regent honeyeaters (Anthochaera phrygia) in Australia. Formal expert elicitation highlighted two methods of nest protection expected to improve nest success. However, the risks and benefits of different actions were uncertain; for example, protecting nests from predators might also increase the risk of nest desertion by adults. To avoid risks, the recovery team opted to collect more information before implementation. The two methods of nest protection were compared using a field experiment. However, the same risk aversion limited the experiment to a single variable (nest predation) and dictated the use of artificial nests. The results of the experiment suggested neither action was likely to significantly reduce predation risks (<3% mean differences in survival between treatment and control). When presented with these results, managers made only minor revisions to their estimates; in part, this reflected low confidence by managers that artificial nests could reflect real predation risks. However, estimates were also revised more negatively for the initially less‐favored option, despite absence of such evidence, possibly highlighting confirmation bias. In this uncertain situation, the status quo was initially maintained although it was perceived as suboptimal; implementation of the preferred option (tree collars) is now planned for the 2019 breeding season. We faced what might be a common conundrum for conservation of critically endangered species. High uncertainty affects management decisions; however, perilous species status also leads to strong risk aversion, which limits both the willingness to act on limited information and the ability to learn effectively. Structured methods can increase transparency, facilitate evaluation, and assist decision making, but objective limitations and subjective attitudes cannot be circumvented entirely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Acting to preserve biodiversity can involve harming individual animals. It has recently been argued that conventional practice has placed too much emphasis on the preservation of collective entities, such as populations and species, at the expense of suffering for individuals. At least some advocates of the 'Compassionate Conservation' movement find any deployment of lethal measures in the interests of conservation to be unacceptable. This shifts the balance of priorities too far. While conservationists have a duty to minimise harm, and to use non-lethal measures where feasible, there will be serious implications for conservation if this movement were to be widely influential. Furthermore, the 'do-no-harm' maxim the compassionate conservationists advocate does not always promote the welfare of individual animals. Human activity affecting the welfare of wild vertebrates, widely accepted to be sentient, and therefore deserving of moral concern, is widespread. A variety of motives lead to the killing of individual wild animals. These include to provide food, to protect stock and other human interests, and also for sport. The acceptability of such killing is widely believed to vary with the motive and method. Individual vertebrates are also killed by conservationists. Whether securing conservation goals is an adequate reason for such killing has recently been challenged. Conventional conservation practice has tended to prioritise ecological collectives, such as populations and species, when their interests conflict with those of individuals. Supporters of the 'Compassionate Conservation' movement argue both that conservationists have neglected animal welfare when such conflicts arise and that no killing for conservation is justified. We counter that conservationists increasingly seek to adhere to high standards of welfare, and that the extreme position advocated by some supporters of 'Compassionate Conservation', rooted in virtue ethics, would, if widely accepted, lead to considerable negative effects for conservation. Conservation practice cannot afford to neglect consequences. Moreover, the do-no-harm maxim does not always lead to better outcomes for animal welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]