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  Bamboo diversity: the need for a Red List review »

  This review focuses on woody bamboos with the highest diversity recorded in the Asia-Pacific region where bamboos play a major role in ecosystem dynamics in many forests.

  The genetic diversity of the remaining forest bamboos, of which many are highly susceptible to deforestation, is of great concern and an accurate information base is required as a foundation for policy and management decisions affecting bamboo. A programme to strengthen the Red List assessments of bamboo species status is also needed, one that prioritizes the assessment of species with the smallest estimated geographical ranges and least remaining habitat.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  An elephant survey in Digya National Park, Ghana, and implications for conservation and management »

  Information on elephant ranges and numbers is vital for their effective conservation and management. This is especially true in West Africa where elephant populations are small and scattered. Digya National Park in Ghana is home to some of the least studied elephant populations in Africa. A dung count of the Digya elephant population was conducted to determine the density and distribution of elephants in the park using a systematic segmented track line design.
  The mean density of dung-piles was 323 dung-piles per sq km and mean dung survival time was estimated to be 44 days (SD = 2.0 days). An estimated 341±53 (95% confidence interval) elephants with density of 0.41 elephants/km2 were obtained in the study. This makes the Digya elephant population the second largest in Ghana. Elephants occurred mainly in the south-western forested part of the park. This may be related to local abundance of wild fruits and/or conflict with squatters in other parts of the park. The possibility of the estimate being higher has been discussed. This current baseline information augments the Regional Elephant Database and should facilitate strategic planning and management programmes.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  International trade in marine species: Is CITES a useful control mechanism? »

  The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was created to prevent species becoming threatened through international trade. It generally prohibits international commercial trade in seriously threatened species but permits trade in a regulated manner in species vulnerable to exploitation but not yet at risk of extinction. CITES covers comparatively few marine taxa, reflecting the fact that most marine species have much greater ranges and fecundity than terrestrial species and so are more resilient to exploitation. The structure of CITES limits its utility as a conservation tool for marine species, but where other mechanisms fail or are absent, it plays a useful role, and it is particularly valuable as an international trade monitoring mechanism.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  The Living Planet Index: using species population time series to track trends in biodiversity »

  The Living Planet Index was developed to measure the changing state of the world's biodiversity over time. It uses time series data to calculate average rates of change in a large number of populations of terrestrial, freshwater and marine vertebrate species. The dataset contains about 3,000 population time series for over 1,100 species. Two methods of calculating the index are outlined: the chain method and a method based on linear modelling of log-transformed data.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Reconstructing the movements of free-ranging demersal Fish in the North Sea: a data-matching and simulation method »

  Demersal fish cannot be readily tracked using data loggers that provide satellite-based or light-based geolocation. Moreover, fish that are highly mobile within the water column cannot readily be located with other methods, such as the tidal location method (TLM). As an alternative, we describe a process that provides estimates of geographic location by simulating movement paths through geographic locations that match temperature and depth data recorded by data loggers.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation »

  Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation is the first truly circumpolar overview of Arctic biodiversity written for the nonspecialist. It provides the reader with a clear understanding of the importance of the Earth's largest ecoregion and its status in the face of a rapidly changing world.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Seriously Declining Trends in Migratory Waterbirds: Causes - Concerns – Consequences »

  The scope of this report is to present trends of 34 waterbird species for the International Wadden Sea and the four surrounding regions - the Netherlands, the federal states of Germany, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Extinction risk from climate change »

  Climate change over the past ~30 years has produced numerous shifts in the distributions and abundances of species1,2 and has been implicated in one species-level extinction3. Using projections of species' distributions for future climate scenarios, we assess extinction risks for sample regions that cover some 20 of the Earth's terrestrial surface. Exploring three approaches in which the estimated probability of extinction shows a powerlaw relationship with geographical range size, we predict, on the basis of mid-range climate-warming scenarios for 2050, that 15-37% of species in our sample of regions and taxa will be 'committed to extinction'. When the average of the three methods and two dispersal scenarios is taken, minimal climate-warming scenarios produce lower projections of species committed to extinction (~18) than mid-range (~24) and maximumchange (~35) scenarios. These estimates show the importance of rapid implementation of technologies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and strategies for carbon sequestration.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Biodiversity trends in Europe: development and testing of a species trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 target »

  This paper presents a trial of a species population trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 biodiversity target in Europe, using existing data. The indicator integrates trends on different species (groups), and can be aggregated across habitats and countries. Thus, the indicator can deliver both headline messages for high-level decision-making and detailed information for in-depth analysis, using data from different sources, collected with different methods.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Priorities for conserving global species richness and endemism »

  Projections indicate that species and ecosystems will be at maximum risk from human activities during the next few decades. Prompt action by the world community can minimise the eventual loss of species. Highest priorities should be to: (i) strengthen the management of ecosystems containing a large proportion of global biodiversity; (ii) help developing countries complete their biodiversity strategies and action plans, monitor their own biodiversity, and establish and maintain adequate national systems of conservation areas; (iii) support actions at the global level, providing benefit to all countries in managing their own biodiversity. Generally, resources will best be spent in safeguarding ecosystems and habitats that are viable and important for global biodiversity, and which are threatened by factors that can be controlled cost-effectively. Other important criteria are representativeness, complementarity and insurance.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers