Latest Articles from Nature Conservation Latest 4 Articles from Nature Conservation https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/ Fri, 29 Mar 2024 06:37:18 +0200 Pensoft FeedCreator https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/i/logo.jpg Latest Articles from Nature Conservation https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/ Threats from wildlife trade: The importance of genetic data in safeguarding the endangered Four-eyed Turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata) https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/54661/ Nature Conservation 41: 91-111

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.41.54661

Authors: Minh Duc Le, Timothy E.M. McCormack, Ha Van Hoang, Ha Thuy Duong, Truong Quang Nguyen, Thomas Ziegler, Hanh Duc Nguyen, Hanh Thi Ngo

Abstract: Wildlife trade has been considered one of the largest threats to biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Many vertebrates, such as pangolins, elephants and turtles have been heavily hunted as a result of high demand from emerging markets in China and other countries in the region. In Vietnam, over-exploitation of turtles over several decades to supply the international trade has extirpated numerous populations and driven several species to the brink of extinction. To reverse this trend, conservation measures, such as re-introduction of confiscated or captive-bred animals to their native habitats, should be implemented to recover severely declined local populations. For species with a complex phylogeographic structure, however, it is crucial to understand geographic patterns of genetically-distinct populations to avoid releasing animals of unknown origin to wrong localities. In this study, we investigate the phylogeographic pattern of the Four-eyed Turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata), a widely traded species, which occurs in southern China, northern and central Laos and much of Vietnam, using samples with known localities and those collected from the local trade. Our range-wide phylogenetic and network study, based on the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, recovered at least three major clades and seven subclades within the species range. Amongst these, two subclades, one from northern Annamites, Vietnam and the other from north-eastern Laos, are newly discovered. The fine scale phylogeographic analysis helped us to assign misidentified sequences from GenBank and those from confiscated animals with unknown origin to well-defined geographic populations. The results highlight the importance of incorporating samples collected from the local trade and the wild in genetic analyses to support both ex-situ and in-situ conservation programmes of highly-threatened species in accordance with the IUCN’s One Plan Approach.

HTML

XML

PDF

]]>
Research Article Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:55:16 +0300
The first genetic assessment of wild and farmed ball pythons (Reptilia, Serpentes, Pythonidae) in southern Togo https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/49478/ Nature Conservation 38: 37-59

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.38.49478

Authors: Mark Auliya, Sylvia Hofmann, Gabriel H. Segniagbeto, Délagnon Assou, Delphine Ronfot, Jonas J. Astrin, Sophia Forat, Guillaume Koffivi K. Ketoh, Neil D’Cruze

Abstract: The ball python (Python regius) is the world’s most commonly traded python species for the “exotic” pet industry. The majority of these live snakes are produced via a number of python farms in West Africa that have been in operation since the 1960s and involved with “ranching” operations since the 1990s. However, to date no thorough taxonomic review or genetic studies have been conducted within its range, despite the fact that the evaluation of a species’ genetic variability is generally considered mandatory for effective management. We used mtDNA sequence data and eight polymorphic microsatellite markers to assess the underlying population genetic structure and to test the potential of the nuclear markers to assign farm individuals to wild reference populations in southern Togo. Despite the relatively large distances between sample locations, no significant genetic population structure was found, either in mtDNA sequence data or in the microsatellite data. Instead, our data indicate considerable gene flow among the locations. The absence of a distinct population subdivision may have resulted from an anthropogenic driven admixture of populations associated with commercial wildlife trade activity in recent decades. Given the ongoing largely unregulated nature of the commercial ranching of ball pythons in West Africa, should a wild release component continue, as a first measure we recommend that the Management Authorities should develop an action plan with specific release protocols for python farms to minimise any potential negative conservation impacts resulting from admixture (genetic pollution) between farmed and wild individuals.

HTML

XML

PDF

]]>
Review Article Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:38:53 +0200
Phylogeographic patterns and demographic history of Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea maculata from different countries (Ampullariidae, Gastropoda, Mollusca) https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/35045/ Nature Conservation 36: 71-92

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.36.35045

Authors: Xiongjun Liu, Yu Zhou, Shan Ouyang, Xiaoping Wu

Abstract: Invasive species of Pomacea snails are of growing concern when it comes to the conservation of global biodiversity. Pomacea canaliculata has been listed among the world’s 100 worst invasive species. In this work, phylogeographic patterns and the demographic history of P. canaliculata and P. maculata from different countries were analyzed using mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit-I (COI) sequences. The results showed that P. canaliculata and P. maculata had high genetic diversity, significant genetic differentiation, limited gene flow and stable population dynamics among different countries. Genetic diversity of P. canaliculata was higher than P. maculata. Our study will also provide important information for the effective prevention and control of the spread of Pomacea snails.

HTML

XML

PDF

]]>
Research Article Tue, 10 Sep 2019 10:53:30 +0300
Breeding site fidelity, and breeding pair infidelity in the endangered Carnaby’s Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/27243/ Nature Conservation 27: 59-74

DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.27.27243

Authors: Denis A. Saunders, Nicole E. White, Rick Dawson, Peter R. M. Mawson

Abstract: The ecology and behaviour of the endangered Carnaby’s Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris have been studied in detail at Coomallo Creek in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia from 1969 until the present. Results of research on this breeding population conducted on individually marked birds from 1970 to 1990 were compared with results from analyses of DNA taken from nestlings in the study area from 2003, 2005, and each year from 2009 to 2013. Analyses of DNA confirmed earlier findings about the stability of adult breeding pairs, and that females used the same breeding hollow they used previously, provided the hollow was not occupied when they returned to breed. When moving to another hollow, they chose a hollow in the same vicinity of the previous hollow. Analyses in 22 cases where DNA was obtained from both nestlings of a breeding attempt revealed that in six (27.3%) cases, the second egg was fertilised by a male not paired with the female. These extra-pair copulations were not suspected during the earlier study based on observations of individually marked birds.

HTML

XML

PDF

]]>
Research Article Tue, 3 Jul 2018 12:18:22 +0300