Mammalian conservation: scientific frontiers and socio-political pitfalls
Keywords:
captive breeding, climate change, community tipping points, conservation genetics, cooperation, landscape perspective, life support services, microbiota synergisms, new conservation, optimism, social behavior, sustainable civilization, systems perspectiveAbstract
Introduction: The frontiers of conservation biology are rapidly advancing. This is partly because of scientific achievements, but also it is because the human predicament continues to deteriorate in spite of heroic but inadequate efforts to make the human enterprise sustainable. Of greatest importance is the need to escape from the confrontational mode that pervades our social and political discussions. We must trade this conflict for a realization that there is only one objective for all of humanity, and that is the sustainability of human civilization. Mammalian conservation can play a major role in this struggle, but to do this we must take the initiative to promote meaningful dialogue with politicians, policy makers, economists, sociologists, and the public at large. At the same time, we must continue to be at the frontiers of our science while not neglecting the pursuit of much needed basic research on taxonomy, life history, and distribution of the world’s mammals.Some social, political, and strategic considerations: Themes suggested to enhance such communication are: non-confrontational cooperation, life support services, optimism, systems thinking, and adapting to various political regimes.Frontiers of conservation science: Eight leading edge topics are suggested for the science component of conservation: 1) community tipping points, 2) trophic cascades, 3) landscape or ecoscape perspective, 4) role of common species in community dynamics, 5) climate change complications, 6) role of genetics, 6) social dynamics, 7) microorganism synergisms, and 8) translocations. Mammalian conservationists are poised to play a significant role in humanity’s efforts to confront the myriad of intertwined problems that we face. Given that humans belong to the same taxonomic class that is the subject of our expertise, we have special responsibility to provide that leadership.Key words: captive breeding, climate change, community tipping points, conservation genetics, cooperation, landscape perspective, life support services, microbiota synergisms, new conservation, optimism, social behavior, sustainable civilization, systems perspective, translocations, trophic cascades.References
ALLENDORF, F. W., G. LUIKART, S. N. AITKEN, AND A. ANTUNES. 2013. Conservation and the genetics of populations. 2nd ed., Wiley Blackwell. Hoboken, USA.
BOURCHER, D. H. (ed.). 1985. The Biology of Mutualism. Oxford University Press. New York, USA.
BRAVO, J. A., P. FORSYTHE, M. V. CHEW, E. ESCARAGE, H. M. SAVIGNAC, T. G. DINAN, AND J. F. CRYAN. 2011. Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 108:16050-16055.
CAMACHO, A. E., H. DOREMUS, J. S. MCLACHLAN, AND B. A. MINTEER. 2010. Reassessing conservation goals in a changing climate. Issues in Science and Technology 4:5.
CHAPRON, G., AND J. V. LÓPEZ-BAO. 2014. Conserving carnivores: politics in play. Science 343:1199-1200.
DAI, L., V. DAAN, K. S. KOROLEV, AND J. GORE. 2012. Generic indicators for loss of resilience before a tipping point leading to population collapse. Science 336:1175-1177.
DELIBES-MATEOS, M., A. T. SMITH, C. N. SLOBODCHIKOFF, AND J. E. SWENSON. 2011. The paradox of keystone species persecuted as pests: a call for the conservation of abundant small mammals in their native range. Biological Conservation 144:335-346.
DIRZO, R., H. S. YOUNG, M. GALETTI, G. CEBALLOS, N. J. B. ISAAC, AND BEN COLLEN. 2014. Defaunation in the Anthropocene. Science 345:401-406.
DORIT, R. 2014. The superorganism revolution. American Scientist 102:330-333.
DUGATKIN, L. A. 1997. Cooperation among animals, an evolutionary perspective. Oxford University Press. Oxford, United Kindom.
DUNN, R. 2012. Letting biodiversity get under our skin. Conservation 13:16-21.
ESTES. J. A., J. TERBORGH, J. S. BRASHARES, M. E. POWER, J. BERGER, AND 19 OTHERS. 2011. Trophic downgrading of planet Earth. Science 333:301-306.
EZENWA, V. O., N. M. GERARDO, D. W. INOUYE, M. MEDINA, AND J. B. XAVIER. 2012. Animal behavior and the microbiome. Science 338:198-199.
FEINBERG, M., AND R. WILLER. 2011. Apocalypse soon? Dire messages reduce belief in global warming by contradicting just-world beliefs. Psychological Science 22:34-38.
FRANKHAM, R., J.D. BALLOU, AND D. A. BRISCOE. 2009. Introduction to conservation genetics. 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press. New York, USA.
FUNG, T., R. M. SEYMOUR, AND C. R. JOHNSON. 2013. Warning signals of regime shifts as intrinsic properties of endogenous dynamics. American Naturalist 182:208-222.
GASTON, K. J. 2011. Common ecology. BioScience 61:354-362.
HAIG, S. M. 1998. Molecular contributions to conservation. Ecology 79:413-425.
HANSKI, I., L. VON HERTZEN, N. FYHRQUIST, AND 11 OTHERS. 2012. Environmental biodiversity, human microbiota, and allergy are interrelated. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109:8334-8339.
HUGHES, B. B., R. EBY, E. VAN DYKE, M. T. TINKER, C. I. MARKS, K. S. JOHNSON, AND K. WASSON. 2013. Recovery of a top predator mediates negative eutrophic effects on seagrass. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110:15313-15318.
KOHL, K. D., R. B. WEISS, J. COX, C. DALE, AND M. D. DEARING. 2014. Gut microbes of mammalian herbivores facilitate intake of plant toxins. Ecology Letters: doi:10.1111/lele.112329.
KOZO-POLYANSKY, B. M., V. FET, AND L. MARGULIS. 2010. Symbiogenesis. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, USA.
LAURANCE, W. F. 1990. Comparative responses of five arboreal marsupials to tropical forest fragmentation. Journal of Mammalogy 71:641-653.
LEVCHENKO, V. F., AND V. A. KOTOLUPOV. 2010. Levels of organization of living systems: cooperons. Zhurnal Evoliutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii 46:530-538.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 1994. Population ecology. Pp. 323-347 in Seventy-five Years of Mammalogy (1919-1994) (Birney E. C., and J. R. Choate, eds.). Special Publication No. 11, American Society of Mammalogists. Lawrence, USA.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 1995. The landscape concept: something old, something new. Pp. 3-19 in Landscape approaches in mammalian ecology and conservation (Lidicker, Jr. W. Z., ed.). University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, USA.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 1999. Responses of mammals to habitat edges: an overview. Landscape Ecology 14:333-343.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 2002. From dispersal to landscapes: progress in the understanding of population dynamics. Acta Theriologica 47 (Suppl. 1):23-37.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 2007. Landscape ecology: whence came this creature? Ecology 88:2140-2141.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 2008. Levels of organization in biology: on the nature and nomenclature of ecology’s fourth level. Biological Reviews 83:71-78.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 2010. The Allee effect: its history and future importance. The Open Ecology Journal 3:71-82.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. 2011. Hope and realism in conservation biology. BioScience 61:94.
LIDICKER, W. Z., JR. AND J. A. PETERSON. 1999. Responses of small mammals to habitat edges. Pp. 211-227 in Landscape ecology of small mammals (Barrett G. W., and J. D. Peles, eds.). Springer-Verlag. New York, USA.
LOHR, J. N., P. DAVID, AND C. R. HAAG. 2014. Reduced lifespan and increased ageing driven by genetic drift in small populations. Evolution 68:2494-2508.
MARVIER, M. 2014. New conservation is true conservation. Conservation Biology 28:1-3.
MAZZIOTTA, A., M. TRIVIÑO, O.-P. TIKKANEN, J. KOUKI, H. STANDMAN, AND M. MONKÖNEN. 2014. Applying a framework for landscape planning under climate change for the conservation of biodiversity in the Finnish boreal forest. Global Change Biology, doi: 10.1111/gcb. 12677.
MORITZ, C., J. L. PATTON, C. J. CONROY, J. L. PARRA, G. C. WHITE, AND S. R. BEISSINGER. 2008. Impact of a century of climate change on small-mammal communities in Yosemite National Park, USA. Science 322:261-264.
MORRIS, K., J. J. AUSTIN, AND K. BELOV. 2012. Low major histocompatibility complex diversity in the Tasmanian devil predates European settlement and may explain susceptibility to disease epidemics. Biology Letters 9:1-5.
REDFORD, K. H., G. AMATO, J. BAILLIE, AND 17 OTHERS. 2011. What does it mean to successfully conserve a (vertebrate) species? BioScience 61:39-48.
RIPPLE, W. J., R. L. BESCHTA, J. K. FORTIN, AND C. T. ROBBINS. 2014a. Trophic cascades from wolves to grizzly bears in Yellowstone. Journal of Animal Ecology 83:223-233.
RIPPLE, W. J., J. A. ESTES, R. L. BESCHTA, AND 11 OTHERS. 2014b. Status and ecological effects of the world’s largest carnivores. Science 343 (6167); doi: 10.1126/science. 1241484.
SEDDON, P. J., C. J. GRIFFITHS, P. S. SOORAE, AND D. P. ARMSTRONG. 2014. Reversing defaunation: restoring species in a changing world. Science 345:406-412.
SGRÃ’, C. M., A. J. LOWE, AND A. A. HOFFMANN. 2011. Building evolutionary resilience for conserving biodiversity under climate change. Evolutionary Applications 4:326-337.
SÖRLIN, S. 2012. Environmental humanities: why should biologists interested in the environment take the humanities seriously? BioScience 62:788-789.
SWAISGOOD, R. R. AND J. K. SHEPPARD. 2010. The culture of conservation biologists: show me the hope! BioScience 60:626-630.
THEIS, K. R., T. M. SCHMIDT, AND K. E. HOLEKAMP. 2012. Evidence for a bacterial mechanism for group-specific social odors among hyenas. Scientific Reports 2 (615):1-20.
VERHULST, N. O., Y. T. QUI, H. BEIJLEVELD, C. MALIEPAAD, D. KNIGHTS, S. SCHULZ, AND 12 OTHERS. 2011. Composition of human skin microbiota affects attractiveness to malaria mosquitoes. PLOS ONE 6 (12): e28991; doi: 10. 1371/journal.pone 0028991.
Weeks, A. R., C. M. Sgro, A.G. Young, R. Frankham, N. J. Mitchell, K. A. Miller, and 7 others. 2011. Assessing the benefits and risks of translocations in changing environments: a genetic perspective. Evolutionary Applications 4:709-725.
WHITE, J. F., M. S. TORRES (EDS). 2009. Defensive mutualism in microbial symbiosis. CRC Press. Boca Raton, USA.
WHITELEY, A. R., S. W. FITZPATRICK, W. C. FUNK, AND D. A. TALLMON. 2015. Genetic rescue to the rescue. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 30:42-49.
WIENS, J. A., M. R. MOSS, M. G. TURNER, AND D. J. MLADENOFF. 2007. Foundation Papers in Landscape Ecology. Columbia University Press. New York, USA.
WILMERS, C. C., J. A. ESTES, M. EDWARDS, K. L. LAIDRE, AND B. KONAR. 2012. Do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? An analysis of sea otters and kelp forests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10:409-415.
Published
Issue
Section
License
THERYA is based on its open access policy allowing free download of the complete contents of the magazine in digital format. It also authorizes the author to place the article in the format published by the magazine on your personal website, or in an open access repository, distribute copies of the article published in electronic or printed format that the author deems appropriate, and reuse part or whole article in own articles or future books, giving the corresponding credits.
