Thomas Lacher

Texas A&M University | TAMU · Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

Background and Research Aims Climate change, habitat loss, and fragmentation are the major threats to biodiversity. Montane amphibians are particularly sensitive to these threats. We address the vulnerability of the amphibian community in Colombia using a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) and prioritize amphibian species at risk of ext...

We created a database of lost and rediscovered tetrapod species, identified patterns in their distribution and factors influencing rediscovery. Tetrapod species are being lost at a faster rate than they are being rediscovered, due to slowing rates of rediscovery for amphibians, birds and mammals, and rapid rates of loss for reptiles. Finding lost s...

Given the scale of the current biodiversity loss, setting conservation priorities is essential to direct scarce resources to where they will be most effective. Many prioritization schemes have been described by using a wide range of criteria that vary across taxonomic groups, spatial scales, and ecological, socio-economic, and governance contexts....

Fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae are distributed in Africa, Asia, and Oceania, including many Pacific islands. Although known as good seed dispersers, there is no broader assessment of the diversity of the diet of the genera (44 to 46 recognized genera) across different localities. We analyzed the frugivorous diet of the family Pteropodida...

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans and has led to the deaths of millions of North American bats since it was first documented in New York in 2006. Since the first cases were recorded, WNS has spread rapidly across North America and is now confirmed or suspected in 40 US states and seven Canadian provinces...

Aim: Comprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroeco...

One of the key drivers of pollinator declines is land cover change. We documented for the first time the impacts of over three decades of land cover change in Mexico on the plant resources of an endangered migratory pollinator, the Mexican long-nosed bat, Leptonycteris nivalis . This species is considered endangered under national and international...

The olfactory capacity in bats and their strong preference for some fruits has led to the development of a forest restoration tool that uses the essential oils of their preferred fruit. The idea is based on the assumption that, once these bats were attracted by olfactory cues from the essential oils to a “new food source,” they would spend a certai...

Aim To explore global patterns in spatial aggregations of species richness, vulnerability and data deficiency for Rodentia and Eulipotyphla. To evaluate the adequacy of existing protected area (PA) network for these areas. To provide a focus for local conservation initiatives. Location Global. Methods Total species, globally threatened (GT) speci...

Article impact statement: Our scientific knowledge of basic ecology and conservation science is lacking for rodents, which is critical for zoonotic disease research This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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...

Understanding the perceptions and management practices of local land users is critical to improve conservation programs and sustainable outcomes. Colombia, one of the most megadiverse countries in the world, is also the third largest global producer of coffee. Cafeteros (rural coffee farmers) produce the majority of Colombian coffee. The Sierra Nev...

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) currently serves as the multilateral environmental framework for protecting biodiversity. Parties to the CBD are required to develop and submit National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and National Reports. These documents serve as the instruments used by governments and stakeholders to...

The Global Mammal Assessment (GMA) evaluates the risk of extinction for all species of mammals, providing important data on their status to national and global conservation agencies and conventions. We assessed all of the species of Brazilian rodents as part of the GMA activities of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Sur...

Frequently, agriculture and ecosystems (AE) are seen as separate entities, causing entity specific solutions in response to threats [...]

Creating landscapes with connectivity is vital for protecting biodiversity and meeting the environmental targets embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with connectivity specifically mentioned in Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Targets. Costa Rica created the National Biological Corridor Program (NBC...

Over 70% of land in the tropics is in some form of agricultural matrix which poses a threat to biodiversity. In Colombia, montane regions are dominated by varying intensities of agriculture and high levels of biodiversity and endemism. Globally, Colombia has the second largest number of amphibian species and is also the third largest coffee produce...

Climate change is altering agricultural production and ecosystems around the world. Future projections indicate that additional change is expected in the coming decades, forcing individuals and communities to respond and adapt. Current research efforts typically examine climate change effects and possible adaptations but fail to integrate agricultu...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

We examined the emergence patterns of Myotis velifer in central Texas in 2000 and assessed exposure to pesticide residues. We collected and analyzed guano from three caves for pesticide residues. In addition, bat carcasses were sampled from an active colony of cave myotis (Myotis velifer) in Shell Mountain. Organochlorine residue concentrations wer...

Climate change has significant impacts on the distribution of species and alters ecological processes that result from species interactions. There is concern that such distribution shifts will affect animal-plant pollination networks. We modelled the potential future (2050 and 2070) distribution of an endangered migratory bat species (Leptonycteris...

Brazil is a continental-sized megadiverse country with high rates of habitat loss and degradation. Part of the Brazilian biodiversity - including endemic species - is recognized as threatened. By following the IUCN standards, we review the classification of all the 1172 endangered species in Brazil, analyzing differences among categories and groups...

The diverse functional roles of over 6,000 species of extant mammals that range in body size across eight orders of magnitude, from blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) to tiny Etruscan shrews (Suncus etruscus), contribute to shaping Earth’s ecosystems. Large mammalian herbivores (e.g., African elephants [Loxodonta africana], American bison [Bison b...

The penultimate volume of the Handbook of Mammals of the World covers all of the remaining orders (Cingulata, Pilosa, Afrosoricida, Macroscelidea, Scandentia, Dermoptera, and Eulipotyphla), other than bats (Chiroptera). From armadillos, sloths, and anteaters to shrews and moles, Volume 8 includes a wide variety of interesting small or medium-sized...

Recent models suggest a relationship exists between community diversity and pathogen prevalence, the proportion of individuals in a population that are infected by a pathogen, with most inferences tied to assemblage structure. Two contrasting outcomes of this relationship have been proposed: the “dilution effect” and the “amplification effect.” Sma...

As human population, food consumption, and demand for forest products continue to rise over the next century, the pressures of land-use change on biodiversity are projected to intensify. In tropical regions, countryside habitats that retain abundant tree cover and structurally complex canopies may complement protected areas by providing suitable ha...

Is it mainly an academic exercise to argue whether humanity has entered into a new geological era proposed as the “Anthropocene?” Regardless of whether we demark it as a progression from the Holocene or not, it is clear that humanity has placed its ecological fingerprints all over the planet. Witness the planetary change during the “great accelerat...

The planet has gone through five major extinction events throughout time. The most recent was the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction approximately 65 million years ago, marking the end of dominance of dinosaurs and opening the way for the radiation of mammals. There is great concern among conservation scientists that we might be entering the 6th mass e...

Rodents include species that have colonized almost every available habitat on earth, and others that have adapted to human beings and followed them as they also spread across the globe. Volume 7 completes the order Rodentia—which represents arguably the most important order of mammals, both in terms of number of species, and in geographic distribut...

Costa Rica established the National Biological Corridor Program in 2006. Under the National Biological Corridor Program, the long-running Payment for Environmental Services Program was newly prioritized into biological corridors throughout the country. The National Biological Corridor Program caused a nationwide spatial shift in placement of paymen...

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...

This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).

Aim Every spring endangered Mexican long‐nosed bats ( L eptonycteris nivalis ) migrate up to 1200 km from central Mexico to southern United States. Evidence suggests that L. nivalis follows the blooms of paniculate agave plants (genus Agave , subgenus Agave ). Paniculate agave inflorescences are adapted to attract bats, and studies have indicated t...

15 Volume 6 of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World presents a thorough synthesis of the mam-malian clade Glires, consisting of the orders Lagomorpha and Rodentia. The number of species in each of these two orders is in constant flux as new species are described, recognized forms are split into multiple previously cryptic species, and previousl...

We surveyed the composition of large and medium-sized mammals in the urban park Cinturão Verde in the city of Cianorte, Paraná, Brazil. This urban reserve is an important regional corridor for wildlife. Data were collected monthly during seven months for six days with track plots, camera traps, and visual searches for animals and sign. Richness est...

We assessed the spatial distribution, resource use, and activity patterns of brown-throated sloths (Bradypus variegatus) in a multi-use landscape in north central Costa Rica. Sloth surveys were conducted during May to August 2014 in two countryside habitats: tree plantations and mixed-use areas. A total of 38 individual brown-throated sloths were d...

Introduction: Cave-dwelling nectar-feeding bats (Phyllostomidae: Glossophagini) face greater danger of extinction compared to other bats due to their restricted diet and the limited availability of suitable caves. Recent conservation biology literature suggests that successful conservation strategies should consider both biological and social persp...

For more than 20 years, conservationists have agreed that amphibian populations around the world are declining. Results obtained through laboratory or mesocosm studies and measurement of contaminant concentrations in areas experiencing declines have supported a role of contaminants in these declines. The current study examines the effects of contam...

We studied seasonal patterns in richness and abundance in bat communities in Atlantic Forest fragments along the Paraná River in Brazil. There were differences in species composition among fragments but these appear more related to habitat quality than to fragment size. All fragments had high rates of captures of generalist frugivores and a scarcit...

The IUCN, in collaboration with the Harte Research Institute (HRI), is conducting Red List Assessment workshops with panels of marine species experts to review and assess the conservation status of all marine vertebrates, selected plants and invertebrates of the Gulf. Results from these workshops will provide comprehensive data on the distribution,...

We investigated the influence of edge effects on the composition of bat species communities in Perobas Biological Reserve. Mist nets were set along forest edges and in fragments; 170 individuals and 13 species were captured. Eleven species were registered in the forest and nine in the edge, and mean number of captures by month was significantly low...

The development of standards, data sharing, and initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and others have advanced research in many fields, including in conservation of biodiversity. Global assessments of extinction risk to species have been completed by IUCN for multiple taxa. The IUCN global assessments have had a major impact...

Aim In recent years evidence has accumulated that plant species are differentially sorted from regional assemblages into local assemblages along local‐scale environmental gradients on the basis of their function and abiotic filtering. The favourability hypothesis in biogeography proposes that in climatically difficult regions abiotic filtering shou...

Direct studies of mammalian carnivores are challenging due to the animals' secretive nature and the high costs associated with their capture and handling. Use of noninvasive hair sampling to survey these reclusive species has great potential as an alternative, with wide applicability in ecology and conservation. Hair-trapping has been extensively u...

Aim To examine the taxonomic uniqueness, range sizes, endemism and conservation status of southern temperate zone mammals and how factors impacting their conservation differ across hemispheres. Location Land surfaces of all continents (with the exception of Antarctica) and continental islands with an emphasis on the southern temperate hemisphere (l...

Assessing Biodiversity Declines Understanding human impact on biodiversity depends on sound quantitative projection. Pereira et al. (p. 1496 , published online 26 October) review quantitative scenarios that have been developed for four main areas of concern: species extinctions, species abundances and community structure, habitat loss and degradati...

1. Although time can be subdivided to promote species coexistence, quantitative examination of assemblage-wide temporal niche overlap has seldom been explored with appropriate null models. Because of the sequential and continuous nature of time, it requires a different kind of randomization model than those used to assess subdivision of discrete an...

We applied a novel approach using still digital photography and image analysis to estimate emergence of bats at Tou Santi Cave, Dominica, West Indies. Although bat emergences are commonly studied, a population estimate of this lava tube has never been conducted. Known species inhabiting Tou Santi Cave include Brachyphylla cavernarum, Monophylhis pl...

Temporal niche partitioning can be a viable mechanism for coexistence, but has received less attention than other niche axes. We characterized and compared patterns of activity, and overlap of temporal activity among the five common rodent species from a tropical semideciduous forest (TSF) and between the two common rodent species from cloud forest...

We compared the influence of clearcut and selective timber harvest treatments on spatial and temporal variability of amphibians and reptiles in an east Texas bottomland hardwood forest. The dataset represented a time series of 5 years post-treatment. A total of 18,645 amphibians and reptiles was captured in 144 pitfall arrays. We used 9 plots (3 cl...

The dwarf marmoset, first described as Callithrix humilis by van Roosmalen et al. (Goeldiana Zoologia 22:1-27, 1998), proved to be so unusual that van Roosmalen and van Roosmalen (Neotrop Primates 11(1):1-10, 2003) soon renamed it as the new genus Callibella. Occupying a tiny and indeterminate range in the central Amazon, Callibella has never been...

Cette étude, conduite dans deux parcs nationaux de l'île de Dominique, est divisée en deux phases. Notre objectif principal est d'explorer le rapport entre les caractéristiques des participants (par exemple genre, âge et nationalité) et leur perception concernant les conditions des ressources naturelles dans les parcs. Notre deuxième objectif est d...

Wild rodents (n=248) were trapped in two ecologically distinct sites at El Cielo Biosphere Reserve in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, during the summer of 2003. Samples from 199 individuals were tested for Hantavirus antibodies by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Hantavirus antibodies to recombinant Sin Nombre virus nucleocap...

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136683/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136582/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9608/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136421/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42399/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42451/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/2466/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4326/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4327/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42452/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4328/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4329/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4330/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136606/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4331/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4332/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4333/0

Species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4334/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4335/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4336/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4337/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136837/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4338/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136215/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/16026/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/16028/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136647/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136396/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6089/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6686/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6687/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6676/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6688/0