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Species Endangerment Patterns in the United States
... In this time period, about 110 plant species may have gone extinct in Hawaii according to records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy. Estimates of plant extinctions in the continental United States range from below 25 (IUCN, 1998) to above 90 (Davis et al., 1986;Flather et al., 1994). The discrepancy in estimates is due to incomplete systematic surveys, limited monitoring activities, and poor information on viable seed banks. ...
... Between July 1976 and August 1992, about 21 species per year were added to the U.S. endangered species list. In the second half of that 16-year period, 33 species per year were added to the list (Flather et al., 1994). More than 200 plant species are being petitioned for future listing in the United States. ...
... Over half of the rare and endangered plants of the continental United States grow within the borders of 12 western states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming; Figure 2) (Flather et al., 1994). However, among U.S. states Hawaii is the hot spot of endangerment: about 950 native plant species of Hawaii are extinct, endangered, or threatened (Raven et al., 1986). ...
... (3) body mass (in grams) of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians (WebPanel 1); and (4) calling and congregating behavior for mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians from recovery plans and additional sources (WebPanel 1). We used 1967 as the first year for our analysis because it includes species listed under the ESA's predecessor (the Endangered Species Preservation Act) (Flather et al. 1994). Only species known to inhabit the conterminous US, Alaska, and Hawaii were included. ...
The species endangerment listing process is governed not solely by causal factors but also by human perception, particularly as it relates to observability. Because human perception is important in species detection, we hypothesized that ecological indicators associated with human perception would change noticeably over time. Testing our hypothesis on species listed under the US Endangered Species Act, we found that – in general and across (not within) different taxa – body mass and geographic range of listed species decreased over time and that animals that produced vocalizations and exhibited grouping behavior were listed earlier than silent and solitary animals. Specifically, since the year of their listing, the body mass of birds, mammals, and reptiles decreased, whereas the body mass of amphibians increased; likewise, the geographic range of insects, mammals, and plants contracted, whereas the geographic range of amphibians, bivalves, birds, and fish slightly expanded. Our results demonstrate a temporal shift in endangered species listings, suggesting that approaches to listing species may need to be reevaluated and methodologically revised.
... These forest priority areas were identified by sequentially combining the highest ranked forestlands within each state (Fig. 3) until each protection target was met. Currently protected forestlands shown here are GAP 1 and 2. 31,32 and causes a major decrease in biodiversity due to processes such as degradation and competition 33 . Logging also has deleterious impacts on biodiversity 34 and is a large source of carbon emissions in the western US, particularly in the Pacific Northwest 35,36 . ...
Forest preservation is crucial for protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Here we assess current forest preservation in the western United States using spatial data and find that beyond the 18.9% (17.5 Mha) currently protected, an additional 11.1% (10.3 Mha) is needed to achieve 30% preservation by 2030 (30 × 30). To help meet this regional preservation target, we developed a framework that prioritizes forestlands for preservation using spatial metrics of biodiversity and/or carbon within each ecoregion. We show that meeting this preservation target would lead to greater protection of animal and tree species habitat, current carbon stocks, future carbon accumulation, and forests that are important for surface drinking water. The highest priority forestlands are primarily owned by the federal government, though substantial areas are also owned by private entities and state and tribal governments. Establishing Strategic Forest Reserves would help protect biodiversity and carbon for climate adaptation and mitigation.
... India is ranked at sixth place for having the largest number of threatened plant species in the above IUCN Red List. It is well understood to extinction and by understanding the processes that contribute to their rarity, future loss of diversity may be deferred or reduced (Flather et al., 1994). ...
The present study was carried out in Holi Forest Range of district Chamba, which is the north-west district of Himachal Pradesh and is located between latitude 32o17’412’’ to 32o26’541’’N and longitude 76o31’504’’ to 76o35’385’’E. The territory is completely mountainous with altitude varying from about 2,000 feet (610 m) to about 21,000 feet (6,400 m) above the mean sea level. The quantitative information of herbs was collected from different sites i.e., Deol, Kut, Dal, Lahaud Dhar. Frequency (%), Density (plants m-2), Basal Area (cm2), Importance Value Index (IVI) and A/F ratio of plant species at different sites were recorded. Poa alpina was found to have highest frequency (90%) closely followed by Jurinea dolomiaea (80%) and Biebersteinia odora has the lowest frequency of 10%. Poa alpina has the highest density (60.6 plants m-2) at Dal followed by Gentiana kurrooa (35.8 plants m-2). Moschela esculenta was found to have highest basal area (1.234 cm2) at Kut. Viola serpens was the dominant species with highest value of IVI (78.77) closely followed by Poa alpina (65.91), Gentiana kurrooa (65.37) and Jurinea dolomiaea (65.36). Most of the species were distributed randomly followed by contagious pattern of distribution and least species were reported for regular distribution pattern.
... MTAs are known to play an important role for conservation as they harbor disproportionally high numbers of threatened and endangered species (Stein, Scott, & Benton, 2008;Warren et al., 2007). Biodiversity on these sites is often high even compared to national parks (Arimoro et al., 2017;Aycrigg et al., 2015;Flather, Joyce, & Bloomgarden, 1994;Groves et al., 2000;Stein et al., 2008;Warren et al., 2007). The conservation effect of MTAs is often linked to an artificially maintained patchiness favoring species richness in plants (Jentsch, Friedrich, Steinlein, Beyschlag, & Nezadal, 2009;Molino & Sabatier 2001), invertebrates (Cizek et al., 2013;Warren & Büttner, 2008), and birds (Gazenbeek, 2005). ...
Wolves (Canis lupus) are currently showing a remarkable comeback in the highly fragmented cultural landscapes of Germany. We here show that wolf numbers increased exponentially between 2000 and 2015 with an annual increase of about 36%. We demonstrate that the first territories in each newly colonized region were established over long distances from the nearest known reproducing pack on active military training areas (MTAs). We show that MTAs, rather than protected areas, served as stepping‐stones for the recolonization of Germany facilitating subsequent spreading of wolf territories in the surrounding landscape. We did not find any significant difference between MTAs and protected areas with regard to habitat. One possible reason for the importance of MTAs may be their lower anthropogenic mortality rates compared to protected and other areas. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case where MTAs facilitate the recolonization of an endangered species across large areas.
The impacts of invasive species on populations of federally listed species on USACE project lands.
Disturbance is a natural component of ecosystems. All species, including threatened and endangered species, evolved in the presence of, and are adapted to natural disturbance regimes that vary in the kind, frequency, severity, and duration of disturbance. We investigated the relationship between the level of visible soil disturbance and the density of four endangered plant species on U.S. Army training lands in the German state of Bavaria. Two species, gray hairgrass (Corynephorus canescens) and mudwort (Limosella aquatica), showed marked affinity for or dependency on high levels of recent soil disturbance. The density of fringed gentian (Gentianella ciliata) and shepherd's cress (Teesdalia nudicaulis) declined with recent disturbance, but appeared to favor older disturbance which could not be quantified by the methods employed in this study. The study illustrates the need to restore and maintain disturbance regimes that are heterogeneous in terms of the intensity of and time since disturbance. Such a restoration strategy has the potential to favor plant species along the entire spectrum of ecological succession, thereby maximizing plant biodiversity and ecosystem stability.
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