Invasive species are one of the most pressing global challenges for biodiversity and agriculture. They can cause species extinctions, ecosystem alterations, crop damage, and spread harmful diseases across broad regions. Overcoming this challenge requires collaborative management efforts that span multiple land tenures and jurisdictions. Despite evidence on the importance and approaches to collaboration, there is little understanding of how success is evaluated in the invasive species management literature. This is a major gap, considering evaluating success is crucial for enhancing the efficacy of future management projects. To overcome this knowledge gap, we systematically reviewed the published literature to identify the stages at which success is evaluated - that is, the Process stage (collaborative management actions and Processes), Outputs stage (results of management actions to protect environmental, economic, and social values) and Outcomes stage (effects of Outputs on environmental, economic, and social values) of collaborative invasive species management projects. We also assessed what indicators were used to identify success and whether these evaluations vary across different characteristics of collaborative invasive species management. Our literature search detected 1406 papers, of which 58 met our selection criteria. Out of these, the majority of papers evaluated success across two stages (n = 25, 43.1%), whereas only ten (17.2%) papers evaluated success across all stages. Outputs were the most commonly evaluated stage (n = 40, 68.9%). The most widely used indicators of success for these stages included increased collaboration of stakeholders (Process stage), the number of captured/eradicated/controlled invasive species (Outputs stage) and change in biodiversity values, such as the number of threatened species (Outcomes stage). Most indicators of success were environmentally focused. We highlight the need to align the indicators of success and evaluation stages with the fundamental objectives of the projects to increase the effectiveness of evaluations and thereby maximise the benefits of collaborative invasive species management.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) proposes the use of the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa to standardize the classification of introduced species (IS) based on their environmental impact. The IUCN invoked the precautionary principle (PP) via 2 rules: the impact assigned to a taxon must be the maximum recorded impact across different impact assessments, and when the main driver of environmental damage is unclear, it must be assumed to be caused by the IS. The validity of PP is conditioned on the degree of emergency that warrants urgent decisions and on the scientific evidence demonstrating the advantages of applying a preventive measure. The application of an impact classification system does not arise in the context of an emergency that requires management; it occurs before the decision-making phase. Thus, PP should not be used in early steps of the risk analysis process. The IUCN also did not provide enough scientific basis to justify the use of PP. Instead, the PP rules appear to be rooted primarily in the ethical value system underlying conservation science. Conservationists assign intrinsic value to native species by virtue of their roles and relationships within ecological and evolutionary systems and processes; thus, individuals introduced in new environments not only cease to have value because they are no longer part of that natural diversity and lack those links with the rest of the ecosystem, but they become a threat to what conservationists value most. The consequence of this belief is that all introduced taxa will have an impact at some level, suggesting that values justify the PP rules.
La Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) propone usar la Clasificación del Impacto Ambiental para Taxones Exóticos (CIATE) para estandarizar la clasificación de las especies introducidas con base en su impacto ambiental. La UICN invocó el principio de precaución (PP) mediante dos reglas: el impacto asignado a un taxón debe ser el mayor impacto registrado en diferentes evaluaciones de impacto y cuando no sea claro el principal causante del daño ambiental, se debe asumir que lo causa la especie introducida. La validez del PP está condicionada por el grado de emergencia que amerite decisiones urgentes y por la evidencia científica que demuestre las ventajas de aplicar una medida preventiva. La aplicación de un sistema de clasificación de impactos no surge del contexto de una emergencia que requiere gestión, sino que ocurre antes de la fase de toma de decisiones. Por esto, el PP no debería usarse durante los primeros pasos del proceso de análisis de riesgo. La UICN tampoco proporcionó suficientes fundamentos científicos para justificar el uso del PP. En su lugar, las reglas del PP parecen estar ancladas principalmente en el sistema de valor ético subyacente a las ciencias de la conservación. Los conservacionistas les asignan un valor intrínseco a las especies nativas por su papel y sus relaciones dentro de los sistemas y procesos ecológicos y evolutivos; los individuos introducidos en ambientes nuevos no sólo dejan de tener valor porque ya no forman parte de la diversidad natural y carecen de esas conexiones con el resto del ecosistema, sino también se vuelven una amenaza para lo que más valoran los conservacionistas. Esta creencia tiene como consecuencia que todos los taxones introducidos tendrán un impacto a cierto nivel, lo que sugiere que el valor justifica las reglas del PP.
国际自然保护联盟(IUCN)提出使用《外来生物类群环境影响分类》来根据引进物种的环境影响对其进行标准化分类。IUCN在2项条例中援引了预防性原则:对一个类群影响的分类必须是不同影响评估中记录到的最大影响;当不确定环境破坏的主要驱动因素时, 必须假定是由引进物种引起的。预防性原则的有效性取决于需要做出紧急决定的急迫程度, 以及证明采取预防性措施的好处的科学证据。然而, 影响分类系统的应用并不是在需要管理的紧急情况下出现的, 而是在决策阶段之前。因此, 不应该在风险分析过程的早期步骤中采取预防性措施。IUCN也没有提供足够的科学依据来支持预防性原则的使用。相反, 预防性原则条例似乎主要植根于保护科学背后的伦理价值体系。保护主义者根据原生物种在生态和演化系统和过程中的作用和关系赋予其内在价值;因此, 引入新环境中的个体不仅因为不再是自然多样性的一部分和缺乏与生态系统其他部分的联系而不具有价值, 而且还成为了保护主义者最重视的威胁。这种理念的后果是, 所有引进类群都会在某种程度上产生影响, 表明预防性原则条例的合理性建立在这种价值之上。【翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚】.

Parasitism is inherent to life and observed in all species. Extinct animals have been studied to understand what they looked like, where and how they lived, what they fed on, and the reasons they became extinct. Paleoparasitology helps to clarify these questions based on the study of the parasites and microorganisms that infected those animals, using as a source material coprolites, fossils in rock, tissue, bone, mummy, and amber, analyses of ancient DNA, immunodiagnosis, and microscopy.

Historically, several tick taxonomists have reported Hyalomma aegyptium within Australia due to misidentifications. This has resulted in confusion relating to the occurrence of the genus Hyalomma within Australia. Based on the recent discovery of museum specimens of Hyalomma dromedarii, misidentified as H. aegyptium, the historical occurrence of H. dromedarii is reported for the first time within Australia, along with its apparent subsequent extinction. The introduction and naturalisation of foreign tick species into Australia is also reviewed.

Intentional moving of species threatened by climate change is actively being discussed as a conservation approach. The debate, empirical studies, and policy development, however, are impeded by an inconsistent articulation of the idea. The discrepancy is demonstrated by the varying use of terms, such as assisted migration, assisted colonisation, or managed relocation, and their multiple definitions. Since this conservation approach is novel, and may for instance lead to legislative changes, it is important to aim for terminological consistency. The objective of this study is to analyse the suitability of terms and definitions used when discussing the moving of organisms as a response to climate change. An extensive literature search and review of the material (868 scientific publications) was conducted for finding hitherto used terms (N = 40) and definitions (N = 75), and these were analysed for their suitability. Based on the findings, it is argued that an appropriate term for a conservation approach relating to aiding the movement of organisms harmed by climate change is assisted migration defined as follows: Assisted migration means safeguarding biological diversity through the translocation of representatives of a species or population harmed by climate change to an area outside the indigenous range of that unit where it would be predicted to move as climate changes, were it not for anthropogenic dispersal barriers or lack of time. The differences between assisted migration and other conservation translocations are also discussed. A wide adoption of the clear and distinctive term and definition provided would allow more focused research on the topic and enable consistent implementation as practitioners could have the same understanding of the concept.

Late Pleistocene extinctions occurred globally over a period of about 50,000 years, primarily affecting mammals of > or = 44 kg body mass (i.e., megafauna) first in Australia, continuing in Eurasia and, finally, in the Americas. Polarized debate about the cause(s) of the extinctions centers on the role of climate change and anthropogenic factors (especially hunting). Since the late 1960s, investigators have developed mathematical models to simulate the ecological interactions that might have contributed to the extinctions. Here, we provide an overview of the various methodologies used and conclusions reached in the modeling literature, addressing both the strengths and weaknesses of modeling as an explanatory tool. Although late Pleistocene extinction models now provide a solid foundation for viable future work, we conclude, first, that single models offer less compelling support for their respective explanatory hypotheses than many realize; second, that disparities in methodology (both in terms of model parameterization and design) prevent meaningful comparison between models and, more generally, progress from model to model in increasing our understanding of these extinctions; and third, that recent models have been presented and possibly developed without sufficient regard for the transparency of design that facilitates scientific progress.

The Amur leopard is at the point of extinction. At present there are fewer than 35 in the wild. Their natural habitat ranges from China to the North Korean peninsula to Primorsky Krai in Russia. A reintroduction plan has been proposed to increase the population in the wild; however, this proposed plan still has many questions to be answered as to how effective it will be. The main objective is to reintroduce animals from a select group within the Far Eastern leopard programme or the Species Survival programme, which consist of leopards from select populations in the Northern Hemisphere. Zoos are central to the success of this plan, providing suitable breeding pairs to breed animals for reintroduction and also raising much needed funds to finance the project. Zoos are also central in educating the public about the critical status of the Amur leopard and other endangered animals of the world. Veterinary surgeons, by the very nature of their professional skills, are at the forefront of this seemingly endless battle against extinction of thousands of species that are critical to maintaining the balance of our fragile ecosystem. Veterinarians can analyze the health risks and health implications of reintroduction on the animals to be reintroduced and also on the native population. A world without large cats is a world hard to imagine. If we look closer at the implications of extinction, we see the domino effect of their loss and an ecosystem out of control.

As global environmental change accelerates, biodiversity losses can disrupt interspecific interactions. Extinctions of mutualist partners can create \"widow\" species, which may face reduced ecological fitness. Hypothetically, such mutualism disruptions could have cascading effects on biodiversity by causing additional species coextinctions. However, the scope of this problem - the magnitude of biodiversity that may lose mutualist partners and the consequences of these losses - remains unknown.
We conducted a systematic review and synthesis of data from a broad range of sources to estimate the threat posed by vertebrate extinctions to the global biodiversity of vertebrate-dispersed and -pollinated plants. Though enormous research gaps persist, our analysis identified Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and global oceanic islands as geographic regions at particular risk of disruption of these mutualisms; within these regions, percentages of plant species likely affected range from 2.1-4.5%. Widowed plants are likely to experience reproductive declines of 40-58%, potentially threatening their persistence in the context of other global change stresses.
Our systematic approach demonstrates that thousands of species may be impacted by disruption in one class of mutualisms, but extinctions will likely disrupt other mutualisms, as well. Although uncertainty is high, there is evidence that mutualism disruption directly threatens significant biodiversity in some geographic regions. Conservation measures with explicit focus on mutualistic functions could be necessary to bolster populations of widowed species and maintain ecosystem functions.

Enchodontoidei are extinct marine teleost fishes with a long temporal range and a wide geographic distribution. As there has been no comprehensive phylogenetic study of this taxon, we performed a parsimony analysis using a data matrix with 87 characters, 31 terminal taxa for ingroup, and three taxa for outgroup. The analysis produced 93 equally parsimonious trees (L = 437 steps; CI = 0. 24; RI = 0. 49). The topology of the majority rule consensus tree was: (Sardinioides + Hemisaurida + (Nardorex + (Atolvorator + (Protostomias + Yabrudichthys ) + (Apateopholis + (Serrilepis + (Halec + Phylactocephalus ) + (Cimolichthys + (Prionolepis + ( (Eurypholis + Saurorhamphus ) + (Enchodus + (Paleolycus + Parenchodus ))))))) + ( (Ichthyotringa + Apateodus ) + (Rharbichthys + (Trachinocephalus + ( (Apuliadercetis + Brazilodercetis ) + (Benthesikyme + (Cyranichthys + Robertichthys ) + (Dercetis + Ophidercetis )) + (Caudadercetis + (Pelargorhynchus + (Nardodercetis + (Rhynchodercetis + (Dercetoides + Hastichthys )))))). The group Enchodontoidei is not monophyletic. Dercetidae form a clade supported by the presence of very reduced neural spines and possess a new composition. Enchodontidae are monophyletic by the presence of middorsal scutes, and Rharbichthys was excluded. Halecidae possess a new composition, with the exclusion of Hemisaurida. This taxon and Nardorex are Aulopiformes incertae sedis.

The scientific literature contains numerous descriptions of observed and potential effects of global climate change on species and ecosystems. In response to anticipated effects of climate change, conservation organizations and government agencies are developing \"adaptation strategies\" to facilitate the adjustment of human society and ecological systems to altered climate regimes. We reviewed the literature and climate-change adaptation plans that have been developed in United States, Canada, England, México, and South Africa and found 16 general adaptation strategies that relate directly to the conservation of biological diversity. These strategies can be grouped into four broad categories: land and water protection and management; direct species management; monitoring and planning; and law and policy. Tools for implementing these strategies are similar or identical to those already in use by conservationists worldwide (land and water conservation, ecological restoration, agrienvironment schemes, species translocation, captive propagation, monitoring, natural resource planning, and legislation/regulation). Although our review indicates natural resource managers already have many tools that can be used to address climate-change effects, managers will likely need to apply these tools in novel and innovative ways to meet the unprecedented challenges posed by climate change.