Amaël Borzée

Amaël Borzée
Nanjing Forestry University · College of Life Sciences

PhD
Welcoming collaborations on conservation in the Greater Yellow Sea Basin. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group co-chair.

About

326
Publications
131,139
Reads
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Citations
Introduction
I’m leading the Laboratory of Animal Behaviour and Conservation, where we focus on a broad range of species and systems. Projects were so far focused on the behavioural ecology and conservation of amphibians in East Asia (with a personal preference for treefrogs), but this is changing and you are welcome to inquire, maintaining a focus on northeast Asia. I am also Co-Chair for the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group.
Additional affiliations
September 2019 - present
Nanjing Forestry University
Position
  • Professor (Full)
March 2018 - August 2019
Ewha Womans University
Position
  • PostDoc Position
March 2015 - February 2018
Ewha Womans University
Position
  • PhD Student (co-supervision)
Education
September 2013 - February 2018
Seoul National University
Field of study
  • Behavioural Ecology and Conservation
August 2009 - February 2011
University of Lausanne
Field of study
  • Animal Behaviour, Evolution and Conservation
September 2008 - July 2009
Bangor University
Field of study
  • Zoology

Publications

Publications (326)
Article
Full-text available
Although the populations of many species in the Republic of Korea have declined, fewer species have gone extinct than in other similarly developed countries (1, 2). The relative success of Korea’s wildlife provides an opportunity for conservation. However, the country must act quickly; environmental exploitation, absence of protected areas in the r...
Article
Zoonosis-based epidemics are inevitable unless we revisit our relationship with the natural world, protect habitats and regulate wildlife trade, including live animals and non-sustenance products. To prevent future zoonoses, governments must establish effective legislation addressing wildlife trade, protection of habitats and reduction of the wildl...
Article
Full-text available
Human activities are driving many species to the brink of extinction, and the current distribution of protected areas only weakly alleviates pressure on threatened species. This discrepancy reflects the presence of protected areas on lands available instead of the ecological, evolutionary, or conservation values of species present. Habitat loss con...
Article
Full-text available
Systematic assessments of species extinction risk at regular intervals are necessary for informing conservation action1,2. Ongoing developments in taxonomy, threatening processes and research further underscore the need for reassessment3,4. Here we report the findings of the second Global Amphibian Assessment, evaluating 8,011 species for the Inter...
Book
Continental Northeast Asian Amphibians: Origins, Behavioral Ecology, and Conservation is the only comprehensive compilation of knowledge on the amphibian species of continental northeast Asia. Along with accounts for each species, the book introduces the biogeographic history, behavioral patterns, ecological requirements, and threats in the region....
Article
Amphibian conservation is a rising concern due to the degradation of their habitat. Two species of elusive clawed salamanders, the Liaoning clawed salamanders (Onychodactylus zhaoermii) and the Jilin clawed salamanders (Onychodactylus zhangyapingi) were described in 2012 and are restricted to the mountain ranges between the People’s Republic of Chi...
Article
Full-text available
Amphibians play a key role in structuring biological assemblages of agricultural landscapes, but they are threatened globally by agricultural intensification. Numerous studies have considered the morphology of animals to be an indicator of the health of a population, but data about the differences in amphibian morphology in different breeding habit...
Technical Report
Full-text available
中国大鲵(Andrias spp.)是世界上最大的两栖动物。这些大鲵在经济上具有重要意义,并在中国广泛养殖以供食用。尽管中国大鲵在中国历史上曾被广泛食用,但大规模的养殖产业是在2000年代初建立的,当时大鲵被从野外捕捞,以补充养殖场存量。然而,中国大鲵的种群在中国大幅下降,主要原因是过度开发以及栖息地的丧失和退化。中国的大鲵曾被认为是单一的广泛分布的物种(Andrias davidianus),但遗传分析表明大鲵实际上由多个物种组成(可能至少有七个)。而中部、东部和南部的种群显示了基因上有明显差异的地方种群。目前已有四种物种被科学界正式命名和认可,未来可能会有更多物种被命名。中国政府已经支持放归养殖大鲵作为保护措施,然而,这导致全国范围内非野外的大鲵的放归,进而带来了野生大鲵种群与放归的非野...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Chinese giant salamanders (Andrias spp.) are the world’s largest amphibians. These salamanders are economically important and are extensively farmed in China for their meat. Whilst Chinese giant salamanders were consumed historically across China, a large-scale farming industry was established in the early 2000s and giant salamanders were collected...
Preprint
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In a time of increasing climate uncertainty, it is ever important to identify and preserve refuges for species, optimizing the effort to cover the largest possible number of clades. Climatic refugia are areas of climatic stability that will remain suitable for species over time under multiple climate change scenarios. Amphibians are important indic...
Article
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Increases in agricultural intensity due to anthropogenic demands alongside the need to reduce the reliance on pesticides have resulted in an urgent need for sustainable options for pest control. Biological pest regulation is an alternative strategy that relies on natural predators and is essentially a by-product of successful foraging. Therefore, k...
Article
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Global warming significantly impacts amphibian populations globally, and modeling helps understand these effects. Here, we used MaxEnt and MigClim models to predict the impact of climate change on habitat suitability for Hoplobatrachus chinensis. Our results indicate that temperature is a key factor affecting H. chinensis distribution. Increasing t...
Presentation
Climate change poses one of the most serious threats to amphibians worldwide, with species inhabiting the Himalayas particularly susceptible due to their limited dispersal capabilities, high elevational adaptation, and endemic nature. Himalayan regions are experiencing a climatic warming three times higher than the global average, leading to observ...
Book
Full-text available
As the most threatened vertebrate class on earth, amphibians are at the forefront of the biodiversity crisis, with the recognition of global amphibian declines and extinctions dating back several decades now. The current Amphibian Conservation Action Plan is adopting two strategies to address the goal of the amelioration of the amphibian crisis: th...
Chapter
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Amphibians are extraordinary and diverse organisms that have inhabited Earth for millions of years; yet, they are currently the most threatened vertebrate class, with over 40% of species at risk of extinction. Herein we offer a brief overview of the amphibians, covering aspects such as broad taxonomic classification, their geographic distribution,...
Chapter
Full-text available
In this chapter, we provide a brief overview of the importance of taxonomy, extinction risk assessments and evidence-based decision-making for conservation work, highlighting key developments in each of these subjects, and suggested approaches to help address some of the current challenges. It is important to bear in mind that, while working on spe...
Chapter
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The global trade in amphibians occurs at an extraordinary magnitude, involving the use of millions of animals locally and internationally every year. This activity is uniformly monitored and internationally regulated for less than 5% of described amphibian species, and the overall sustainability of present levels of trade are largely unknown. Amphi...
Article
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Unlike for rare or charismatic species, there is a general expectation that poaching and trading of widespread generalist amphibians are less destructive for biodiversity.
Article
Aim To date a vicariant event through the mutualistic relationship of a hylid frog and its bromeliad host found across two isolated mountain ranges as part of an island–continental split and to use this information to calibrate a molecular dating analysis of hylids. Location South America. Time Period Pliocene. Major Taxa Studied Treefrogs, Arbo...
Article
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Here we report on the putative extinction of Hynobius salamanders on Geomun Island, located at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.
Technical Report
Full-text available
2023 Report of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. Borzée, A., Wren, S., Luedtke, J., Chanson, J. and Angulo, A. 2024. 2023 Report of the Amphibian Specialist Group. In: IUCN SSC and Secretariat. 2023 Report of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Secretariat. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 8 pp.
Article
Full-text available
The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for "inappropriate" names. It is evident that such proposals co...
Article
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Genetically-defined biodiversity units must align with practical conservation frameworks, and most conservation is conducted at the species level. Chinese giant salamanders have traditionally been interpreted as the single widespread species Andrias davidianus, but molecular studies have reinterpreted this taxon as representing multiple allopatric...
Article
Full-text available
The goal of the Eastern Asian Salamander Task Force (EASal-TF) will be to understand and identify actions necessary to address the threats to Caudata in the region, through scientific research and the implementation of science-based conservation plans, at the regional or species level.
Article
Full-text available
The Japanese giant salamander, Andrias japonicus, is an iconic but declining species of aquatic amphibian. A population within the Nawa River Basin of Tottori Prefecture persists but faces two significant threats. The first major threat is waterway obstructions, in the form of dams, weirs, and concrete embankments, which severely fragment and degra...
Article
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Understanding species from an ecological and phylogenetic perspective facilitates an understanding of their conservation status in relation to the changing world. The frog genus Pelophylax is among the largest in terms of amphibian biomass in the Palearctic, but species have not been thoroughly studied at the Asian continental scale. The phylogeogr...
Article
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Understanding the distribution of species is a primary requirement to understand their behaviour, conservation, and phylogeography. Over the last decades, the number of species described on the Korean Peninsula has significantly increased, but surveys around the boundaries of the Peninsula are still needed to refine the range of these species. Furt...
Article
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Extensive social engagement is required to conserve species at risk of extinction. The development of national eco-security systems (NESS) encompassing both ecological systems (e.g. protected areas) and social management systems (e.g. legal frameworks) is crucial given that biodiversity declines could potentially result in damage to ecosystem servi...
Article
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The Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus is the largest extant amphibian, is categorized as Critically Endangered as a result of overexploitation and habitat loss (Tapley et al., 2021, Oryx, 55, 373–381) and requires conservation attention. Andrias davidianus is actually a species complex, and has recently been divided into several species:...
Article
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Environmental niche models are useful tools for generating hypotheses for the distribution of species and informing conservation planning, especially at the edge of species’ ranges and for those with limited data. Here we report on the recent documentation of four species of amphibian (Hylarana latouchii, Odorrana tianmuii, Polypedates braueri, and...
Article
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The rapid growth of global human activities has increased the introductions of nonnative species to an unprecedented level. Among globally documented nonnative species, reptiles and amphibians make up a significant portion. Although the introduction of many nonnative species has been linked to the wildlife trade and stowaways, the origin of introdu...
Article
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Prey species may have their own optimal escape strategy to balance predation risks and the energetic cost of fleeing. Some species have an advantage when maintaining a short fleeing distance, while others may favour an earlier escape based on microhabitat, size, or body condition. Here, we examined the escape behaviour of the three syntopic Northea...
Chapter
There are two Bufonidae genera, Bufo and Strauchbufo, for a total of three and one species respectively, in continental northeast Asia as defined here. The two genera belong to two different species complexes with diverging evolutionary histories. All four species have generally broad ranges, and they are distributed across a variety of habitats,...
Chapter
Amphibians in continental northeast Asia have diverse origins, including clades from southern Asia, the western Palearctic and the American continent. Despite these multiple origins, the number of species remains relatively limited, allowing for comprehensive investigations on each species within the region and across nations. Continental northeast...
Chapter
The only Asian Plethodontidae, Karsenia koreana, dispersed into Asia across the Bering Pass, but all populations north of the current one are presumably extinct. Karsenia koreana is distributed in the mountainous area of central Korea, generally restricted to intermediate elevations. Karsenia koreana is a secretive species that has not been observ...
Chapter
Species in the Hynobiidae family are very diverse in morphology, and the family includes a large number of species. There are three genera in continental northeast Asia: Onychodactylus, Salamandrella and Hynobius. Onychodactylus is represented by five species, all restricted to cold habitats at higher elevations, with a very secretive breeding beh...
Chapter
The Bombinatoridae family in northeast Asia is represented by a single genus and species, Bombina orientalis. This is an old family, and the genus has a Palearctic and Indomalayan distribution. The species is divided into a few geographically segregated clades, ranging across the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China, far eastern Russia, and the Sh...
Chapter
The Microhylidae family in continental northeast Asia, as defined here, includes only the Kaloula genus, with a single species in range, K. borealis. Other species belonging to the Microhyla genus are also present at the southwestern edge of the area of interest. The species has the broadest range of all anurans in northeast Asia, ranging across t...
Chapter
The Ranidae family in northeast Asia is the most speciose anuran family, including three native genera: Rana, Glandirana and Pelophylax, and the invasive Lithobates. The Rana genus is composed of seven species, with two main contact zones in species distribution, one at the centre of the Korean Peninsula and the other north of the Yellow Sea. The G...
Chapter
A single species of Dicroglossidae is present in the area defined as continental northeast Asia here: Fejervarya kawamurai. However, the exact southern boundaries of the species are not clearly defined and the 30% threshold for inclusion is approximative. It is interesting to note that Hoplobatrachus chinensis is also close to reaching the threshol...
Chapter
This book provides comprehensive knowledge about the origin, distribution, behaviour, threats, conservation status, and identification of amphibian species in continental northeast Asia. However, this is only a primer of knowledge and further understanding is needed to define certain clades and characterise all evolutionary and conservation units i...
Chapter
There is only one Hylidae genus in continental northeast Asia as defined here, Dryophytes, for a total of four species. The genus originates from north America and reached northeast Asia by crossing over the Bering pass, where it replaced the Hyla genus. The genus is divided into two species complexes, one is the D. japonicus complex, with a broad...
Poster
Full-text available
Revealing the biogeographic barriers between seven Hynobius salamanders in South Korea using ENM modeling tools
Article
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We here provide the first records of H. perplicatus on the basis of molecular tools, highlighting a research interest in the clade in the region even before its formal description. With this new addition to the range, the surface area for the distribution of the species increased from 915 to 2588 km2, although the species is not continuously presen...
Article
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The rise of integrated conservation research underscores its pivotal role in raising global environmental concerns, making it an attractive research subject from numerous perspectives. This general interest in integrated research is positive in that it provides an interdisciplinary approach with important innovations, encompassing a variety of fiel...
Article
Full-text available
Human activities and climate change have caused damage to the natural world, leading to increased attention on habitat protection. However, most conservation efforts focus on flagship species, while many other species lack protection and are gradually becoming extinct due to the lack of conservation efforts and public attention. The Liaoning clawed...
Article
Full-text available
Systematic assessments of species extinction risk at regular intervals are necessary for informing conservation action1,2. Ongoing developments in taxonomy, threatening processes and research further underscore the need for reassessment3,4. Here we report the findings of the second Global Amphibian Assessment, evaluating 8,011 species for the Inter...
Article
Full-text available
Amphibians are the most vulnerable vertebrates worldwide, with 41% of species threatened with extinction. Habitat loss is the most common threat, and climate change is the main driver of increased extinction risk. Investment in amphibian conservation must be scaled up drastically and urgently to prevent further extinctions and reverse declines.
Article
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Beetles of the genus Chlaenius (family Carabidae) have a diet consisting exclusively of amphibians, both at the larval and adult stages (Wizen and Gasith 2011. PLoS ONE 6(9): e25161). Predation events on Dryophytes immaculatus (the Immaculate Chinese treefrog) have not been scientifically documented but are likely to principally include predation b...
Article
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Leech ectoparasitism has been reported in several amphibian species (Briggler et al. 2001. J. Freshw. Ecol. 16:105–111; Bae et al. 2018. Herpetol. Rev. 49:519), where the leeches feed on the eggs, larvae, and adults (Romano and Di Cerbo 2007. Acta Zool. Sin. 53:750–754). Though interactions between leeches and amphibians are opportunistic, such in...
Article
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Gloydius ussuriensis is a pit viper endemic to eastern Russia, Northeast China, and the Korean peninsula. This species has a wide range of prey including amphibians (orders Anura and Urodela), reptiles, and mammals (Choi et al. 2022. J. Asia-Pac. 15:495–499) within forest ecosystems, may elucidate their ecological role. We determined the prey items...
Article
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The behavior of Hynobius salamanders is generally not well understood outside of their breeding season, due to their secretive nature and reliance on shelter (Sparreboom 2014. Salamanders of the Old World. The Salamanders of Europe, Asia and Northern Africa. KNNV Publishing, Zeist, Netherlands. 350 pp.). The genus is not generally able to disperse...
Article
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In the face of rapid urbanization, species confront various challenges, and the consequences of limited gene flow become evident. One such illustration is the Endangered salamander Hynobius yangi inhabiting a restricted region in South Korea under a mounting urbanization pressure. The species’ metapopulation dynamics is consequently characterized b...
Preprint
Full-text available
Undocumented species represent one of the largest hurdles for conservation efforts due to the uncertainty they introduce into conservation planning. Until the distribution of earth's biodiversity is better understood, substantial conjecture will continue to be required for protecting species from anthropogenic extinction. Therefore, we developed a...
Article
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Species distribution modeling is an essential tool for understanding the ecology of species and has many applications in conservation. Using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling, we identify the key factors shaping the potential distribution of the endangered Javan Gibbons Hylobates moloch in one of the main remnant habitats, Gunung Halimun Salak Nati...
Article
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Biodiversity is declining at a record rate. Unfortunately, attitudes favoring nonadvocacy remain prevalent in conservation science. Despite our detailed knowledge of biodiversity losses, we, the conservation science community as a whole, are failing to reverse species declines, transforming us into mere accountants of extinction. Conservation scien...
Chapter
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Projected impact 2021–2025: Increased awareness of the amphibian decline and extinction crisis, increased support of amphibian conservation through updated Red List assessments, and evidence-based decision making, targeted and coordinated action through an updated Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP).
Presentation
Full-text available
Inhibitory control is a complex cognition which includes complex motor reflexes. It is necessary for the survival of an individual as it influences ecologically relevant tasks such as foraging and predator evading. Studies exploring such complex cognition are restricted chiefly to adult life history stages as previous experience influences developi...
Presentation
Full-text available
Ecological models including population viability analyses (PVAs) can help predict the trajectory of populations, a useful tool for threatened species. Here, we integrate PVAs and habitat suitability models to suggest protected areas for two threatened treefrog species endemic to the Korean Peninsula, Dryophytes suweonensis and Dryophytes flaviventr...
Article
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This article provides the earliest evidence of molecular identification of Hynobius perplicatus , before its description, and provides a range correction, as the species' range reaches the edge of the country to the south.
Article
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We report a range extension of Sibynophis subpunctatus, ~ 670 kms northeast. A first record for the Jharkhand state of India.
Article
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We report a range extension of Uperodon globulosus in Uttarakhand state.
Article
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Despite the variation in amphibian biodiversity being often explained through environmental variables, the effects of spatial non-stationarity factors are too-often ignored as significant geographic characteristics, especially at large scales. Here, using a spatial regression approach through a multiscale analysis, we explored the spatial heterogen...
Article
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Simple Summary What does not have a name is difficult to understand and protect. Upon the unexpected discovery of an Hynobius salamander in Fujian province, China, we worked on understanding its relationship with other species and ultimately describing it. Please welcome the Fujian Bamboo Salamander to science, a segregated species based on genetic...
Article
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Ornamental traits such as ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence and reflectance can provide honest signals indicating the bearer’s condition as a potential mate. UV fluorescence is widely found in nature and used for multiple functions, such as indicating female maturity in arachnids and acting as a signal enhancer in many insects. Lizards can display a br...
Article
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Populations of the Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor declined significantly until the 1990’s, before a slow but consistent increase in population size in response to successful conservation efforts. Specific sites have been designed to be adequate breeding areas for the species, and these land-based locations are successfully used. We report on...
Article
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- Ban the trade of non-native species for consumption as food or derived products and for personal use (i.e., as pets). - Ban the trade of native species when they do not originate from within the nation (i.e., same genetically defined conservation unit). - Tracking of potential established alien Rana populations. - Eradication of potentially estab...
Article
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Simple Summary Accelerated urbanization has changed the composition of regional landscape patterns, directly affecting the composition of bird communities. This study analyzes bird community assembly mechanisms and the driving factors in university campuses in Nanjing, China. We found that the phylogeny of bird communities in all universities follo...
Article
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The North American terrapin, the red-eared slider, has globally recognized invasive status. We built a new extensive database using our own original and literature data on the ecology of this reptile, representing information on 1477 water bodies throughout Eurasia over the last 50 years. The analysis reveals regions of earliest introductions and l...
Article
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Aim: Global warming and deforestation are pushing species closer to their physiological limit, especially for species with habitat-restricted life stages because sunlit areas have higher maximum temperatures. Here, we examined the critical thermal maximum (CT max), and maximum environmental water temperature (T max) of larvae from 29 anuran species...
Article
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On 27 July 2017, our team recorded a calling male Uperodon globulosus (snout-vent length [SVL] 48.72 mm, weight 16.5 g) in the agricultural fields of Kamle village in Lohardaga District of Jharkhand, India (23.55246°N, 84.72614°E; WGS 84; elev. 684 m asl). This record was submitted to the Zoological Reference Collection, Lee Kong Chian Natural Hist...
Article
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Landscape changes resulting from human activities have resulted in range restrictions and substantial reductions in population sizes of most animals. The construction of hydroelectric dams has the same effect on species, but the study of their impact on semi-aquatic megafauna species is limited. We examined the response of a Hippopotamus amphibius...
Article
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Biofluorescence has come to general public attention over the last decade with the industrial production of “black lights”. While numerous reports on biofluorescence have become available for some groups of species such as invertebrates, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, there are fewer reports on fluorescence in mammals. So far, ultraviolet fluores...
Article
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Biodiversity is declining worldwide with habitat loss and climate change being among the main threats. While it is easy to quantify habitat loss, the impacts of climate change are less obvious. It is therefore important to understand species habitat use and breeding phenology before a significant shift results in the loss of knowledge. Here, we det...
Preprint
Full-text available
Understanding the drivers of community assembly process is of great importance for better conservation outcomes; and the main mechanisms include competitive exclusion, environmental filtering and neutral assembly. While mechanisms of assembly processes for vertebrates living in natural habitats have been well studied, their urban counterparts encou...
Article
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Although thermal tolerance along geographical gradients gives an insight into species’ response to climate change, current studies on thermal tolerance are strongly skewed towards global-scale patterns. As a result, intraspecific variations are often assumed to be constant, despite the lack of evidence. To understand population specific’ response t...