1,721,007 research outputs found
The relevance of Italian museum collections for research and conservation: the case of mammals
No full textThe twentieth century saw the decline of interest toward museum collections and an increased support to 'experimental' and 'evolutionary' biology, implicitly recognising the opposite nature of the 'old' museum-based taxonomy. With few exceptions, such as those of Florence and Verona, Italian museums after World War II were pushed at the border of scientific activity by the academic world and had to fight for their survival. Examples from the USA and elsewhere show the increased relevance of modern mammal collections to several fields of research. Despite an increased and welcomed attention to the value of historical collections, there is still scarce awareness of the need and relevance of maintaining and implementing mammal collections in museums as a valuable, long-term, source of data in the field of conservation biology, faunistic, taxonomy, molecular biology and health monitoring. In the present paper we suggest to create a network between mammalogists and a number of mammal collections, with one museum serving as focal point for a national mammal collection. © 2014 Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Spatial turnover and knowledge gap of African small mammals: using country checklists as a conservation tool
No full textComparing species checklists across countries can be important for determining the relative uniqueness of each country, which can be conveniently defined on the basis of the number of species occurring only in that country or, at most, in one of its neighboring countries. Production of accurate country checklists is complicated by the fact that, especially in scientifically neglected regions, the knowledge of the distribution of many species is unsatisfying. When distribution of a given species is insufficiently known, typically there may be apparent gaps in its distribution range. These species are defined here as 'gap species'. In this paper, we analyze the country checklists for rodents and insectivores of the African continent with the aims of (i) identifying the countries having a higher taxonomic uniqueness; (ii) highlighting countries where more research is needed; (iii) producing a list of gap species; and (iv) determining the ecological correlates of being a gap species. For both mammal groups, the important countries because of their low numbers of shared species were D.R. Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. The countries with highest percentages of endemic taxa were Kenya, South Africa, Somalia and Tanzania for insectivores, and Ethiopia and South Africa for rodents. The number of gap species per country was 0-5 for both insectivores and rodents, with the only exceptions of Togo (12) and Benin (15). Apart from Togo and Benin, the main gap countries for rodents were Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Burundi, and Rwanda, and for insectivores were Niger and Chad. In both groups, the number of gap species per country was independent on the country area, and both range and body sizes did not influence the probability for a species to have distribution gaps. However, most gap species were tropical forest inhabitants. The biogeographic and conservation implications of these data are discussed
Notes on the taxonomy of <em>Macaca nemestrina leonina</em> Blyth, 1863 (Primates: Cercopithecidae)
No full textEx situ conservation programmes in European zoological gardens: Can we afford to lose them? Biodivers Conserv 21
No full textAbstract The role of ex situ activities for the conservation of biodiversity, and of zoos and aquaria in particular, is open to continuing debate. The present note highlights the conservation breeding potential of zoological gardens and aquaria in the European union, but it also recognises the lack of a convincing scientific and legal framework that encourages ex situ activities for 'exotic' species. If ex situ programmes are considered essential for global biodiversity conservation, the EU should not limit itself to regulating zoos through the zoo directive, but should actively promote and support their ex situ conservation activities
Ex situ conservation programmes in European zoological gardens: Can we afford to lose them?
No full textCaptive-breeding and conservation of the European mammal diversity
No full text<strong>Abstract</strong> Under the biological species concept, the intraspecific variability and true species richness of Palearctic mammals has often been overlooked, and therefore the need to conserve it. Recovery projects of endangered European mammals in Western Europe rely mainly upon translocation of conspecifics from viable populations in Central or Eastern Europe. From a wildlife management and restoration ecology point of view, many such recovery projects have been successful. However, from a biodiversity perspective it could be argued that they could have failed to protect the original European biodiversity. The increasing evidence of a complex phylogeographic pattern in many European mammals - especially in the Mediterranean region - has led to a reconsideration of the conservation unit and highlights the need for species-specific programmes for assuring the survival of threatened, distinctive populations. Such programs should also include captive breeding. It is therefore suggested that a two-level classification of captive breeding programmes is needed according to the degree of threat of concerned taxa, to maximise available resources without jeopardising <em>in situ</em> conservation. It is proposed to distinguish between a) level I captive breeding programmes, which are part of the conservation strategy for seriously threatened taxa and need to be financed by state or federal agencies, and b) "prophylactic" level II for vulnerable taxa or populations, and for which funds may be available mainly from the private sector. Available evidence suggests that given adequate husbandry techniques and pre-release training, even captive-bred carnivores can be successfully reintroduced to the wild. However, a closer collaboration among zoological gardens, zoologists and agencies involved in wildlife conservation is needed to avoid ill-conceived, potentially dangerous captive-breeding and re-introduction projects. <strong>Riassunto</strong> <strong>La riproduzione in cattività e la conservazione della diversità dei mammiferi europei</strong> Il numero di specie e la variabilità intraspecifica dei Mammiferi paleartici è stata generalmente sottostimata nei decenni in cui il Concetto Biologico di Specie è stato adottato. Ciò ha portato a sottovalutare le minacce ai Mammiferi europei e a basare l'attività di conservazione principalmente sulla traslocazione di individui da popolazioni vitali dell'Europa orientale. Molti di questi progetti hanno effettivamente portato al ritorno di alcune specie scomparse localmente e quindi al ripristino di una migliore funzionalità ecologica, ma non alla protezione della diversità dei Mammiferi europei. Il presente lavoro si avvale dei risultati di un numero sempre crescente di ricerche filogeografiche che hanno evidenziato complessi modelli di distribuzione e di differenziazione genetica in Europa. L'esistenza di Unità di Conservazione finora criptiche e a volte severamente minacciate, deve portare a riconsiderare il ruolo dei programmi di riproduzione in cattività per i Mammiferi europei. Al fine di massimizzare l'utilizzo delle risorse disponibili, si propone di suddividere tali programmi in due categorie. I programmi di riproduzione in cattività Livello I fanno pienamente parte della strategia di conservazione di taxa seriamente minacciati, come <em>Lynx pardinus</em> o <em>Ursus arctos marsicanus</em>. Questi programmi devono essere finanziati da agenzie pubbliche e devono essere realizzati sia in strutture ad hoc che eventualmente in qualificati giardini zoologici. I programmi Livello II interessano taxa non in immediato pericolo ma potenzialmente vulnerabili per intrinseche caratteristiche biologiche. Tali programmi devono essere finanziati dal settore privato e dovrebbero essere realizzati esclusivamente in giardini zoologici, allo scopo di non distogliere fondi dalla conservazione 'in situ'. Una serie di studi dimostra che la reintroduzione anche di carnivori nati in cattività è possibile seguendo una serie di linee guida sul mantenimento in cattività e il <em>training</em> degli individui destinati al rilascio. Sembra al momento cruciale, però, stabilire una più effettiva collaborazione tra il mondo scientifico, gli enti governativi e privati e i giardini zoologici per evitare che siano effettuati costosi progetti di riproduzione in cattività e di reintroduzione che non contribuiscono alla conservazione della biodiversità ma anzi la compromettono
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