A recent estimate suggests that the Scottish wildcat may be critically endangered. Nevertheless, there is still no uncontroversial method for diagnosing the Scottish wildcat. We analysed morphological differences between wild-living cats in Scotland on the basis of 20pelage characters, scoring from 1 (domestic cat) to 3 (wildcat), in combination with 40skull parameters and intestinal length. A cluster analysis, based on Principal Components derived from the scores for pelage characters, showed that the wild-living cats fell into three main groups without any a priori classification. Each group corresponds well to the traditional characteristics of wildcats, hybrids and domestic cats, respectively, and the former two each show higher levels of morphological homogeneity compared with the third group. The three groups are most significantly differentiated by seven pelage characters: (1) extent of dorsal stripe, (2) shape of tail tip, (3) distinctness of tail bands, (4) presence/absence of broken stripes and (5) spots, on flanks and hindquarters, (6) shape and number of stripes on nape and (7) on the shoulders. Most Group-1 cats (75.6%, n=74), but none of the other two groups, score more than 2 for all seven characters. All Group-3 cats (n=35) and some Group-2 cats (19.2%, n=26), but no Group-1 cats, scored 1 for one or more of the seven characters. We propose that Group-1, which is the furthest from the domestic cat in all criteria, should be used to define the Scottish wildcat. However, in practice, if a wild-living cat does not score 1 for any of the seven characters it should be treated as a wildcat in the field. These definitions provide a simple way of diagnosing a Scottish wildcat scientifically, as well as practically, which will effectively facilitate conservation action and the enforcement of protective legislation.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is a very rare, endangered, endemic species surviving in isolated mountain pockets in the Ethiopian highlands, with nearly 50% of the global population living outside protected areas. In this paper we compare the ecology and behaviour of an Ethiopian wolf population living in Guassa, a communally managed area in the Central Highlands, with that of the Bale Mountains National Park in the Southern Highlands. Ethiopian wolves live at lower density in Guassa (0.2±0.05/km2) than in the Bale Mountains, but giant molerats (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), the main prey for Ethiopian wolves in Bale Mountains, do not occur in the Central Highlands. Faecal analysis identified nine prey categories across wet and dry seasons common to both populations. In total, rodents accounted for 88% of prey volume in wolf diets. Home-range size was positively related to pack size (r2=0.85) and there was no difference in mean home-range sizes in both areas. In Guassa, however, wolves spent less time in the presence than in the absence of humans, but wolves spent similar amounts of time in the presence and absence of cattle. These findings suggest wolves can cope with, or adapt to, the presence of livestock and people in communally managed areas.

The sarus crane (Grus antigone) ranges across two continents and is the only species of crane (Gruidae) that breeds in India and Southeast Asia. Four subspecies, the Indian sarus (G. a. antigone), the eastern sarus (G. a. sharpii), the Australian sarus (G. a. gillae) and the extinct Philippine sarus (G. a. luzonica) were originally described through morphological, plumage, and/or geographical differences. The ranges of the Indian and eastern sarus converge in eastern India and Myanmar, but the Australian sarus has a disjunct Australian distribution. This study assesses population genetic structure of the current sarus populations utilising 13 DNA microsatellite loci. Population structure within this species was investigated utilising traditional FST and Bayesian clustering methods. While significant divergence was observed among populations when individuals were assigned to geographical populations, analyses based solely on individual genotypes demonstrated a clinal nature to the variation. The results of this study suggest that the Indian and eastern sarus cranes represent two major breeding groups within Asia and that the birds from Myanmar probably reside in an introgression zone between them. Lastly, because of genetic similarities shown to the eastern sarus, the results support recent theories contending that the Australian sarus was derived from mainland Asian birds.

Efforts to evaluate the efficacy of translocation as a conservation tool have mostly been inadequate, particularly for reptiles and amphibians, leading many biologists to discount translocation as a viable management option. Nevertheless, with two-thirds of the world's tortoise and freshwater turtle species at risk, translocation may be one of the few remaining options for re-establishing extirpated populations and reconnecting fragmented ones. We translocated 106 gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) to a protected area within the historical range but with no resident tortoises and tested the effects of penning on site fidelity and activity area size. We assigned 38 adults and subadults to one of three penning treatments (9 months, 12 months and no penning) and radio-tracked them for 2 years. Penning significantly increased site fidelity and resulted in smaller activity areas. Our data suggest that translocation coupled with penning will improve the likelihood of establishing self-sustaining tortoise populations.

The concept of ecological exchangeability, together with genetic exchangeability, is central to both the Cohesion Species Concept as well as to some definitions of Evolutionarily Significant Units. While there are well-established criteria for measuring genetic exchangeability, the concept of ecological exchangeability has generated considerable confusion. We describe a procedure that uses the complementary strengths, while recognising the limitations, of both molecular genetic data and ecological experiments to determine the ecological exchangeability of local populations within a species. This is the first synthesis of a combined approach (experiments and genetics) and the first explicit discussion of testing ecological exchangeability. Although it would be ideal to find functional genes that interact to influence quantitative traits resulting in ecological differences (e.g. growth, size, fecundity), we suggest that our current knowledge of functional markers is too limited for most species to use them to differentiate adaptively different local populations. Thus, we argue that ecological experiments using whole organisms combined with neutral markers that indicate evolutionary divergence, provide the strongest case for detecting adaptive differences among local populations. Both genetic divergence and ecological experiments provide the best information for infering ecological exchangeability. This procedure can be used to decide which local populations should be preserved to maintain intraspecific variation and to determine which populations would enhance captive-breeding programs, augment endangered local populations and could best be used to re-introduce native species into historically occupied areas.

We assessed the genetic status of two endangered subspecies of the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) that are restricted to isolated stands of high elevation spruce-fir and adjacent spruce-fir-hardwood ecotonal habitat in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. We used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and allozyme data to estimate levels of genetic variability in the two subspecies of interest and then evaluated this information in the context of large-scale phylogeographical structure and overall genetic variability for the entire species and for the closely related and partially sympatric southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). This broader analysis involves much of North America's northern coniferous forest biome, together with the deciduous forest biome of eastern North America. Our results support the evolutionary distinctness of the endangered Appalachian populations of G. sabrinus. These populations possess several private alleles and have levels of genetic variability that are substantially lower than those observed in conspecific populations found elsewhere. However, the endangered Appalachian populations of G. sabrinus have higher levels of genetic variability than those observed in populations of G. volans from across eastern North America. These results highlight the utility of evaluating the conservation genetics of small and isolated populations within a broad-scale comparative evolutionary and biogeographical framework.

Long-line fishing mortality poses a significant threat to many large procellariiform seabirds. To date, estimates of impacts have concentrated on lower survival rates, largely ignoring the costs to fecundity resulting from disruption of breeding pairs and skews in sex ratio. A comparative, stochastic, individual-based model was used to investigate these costs for the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans. Ignoring the time taken to replace a lost mate overestimates fecundity by 13–18%, resulting in annual population growth rates (λ) being 0.006–0.007 too high. Long-line mortality exacerbates this cost, which becomes more substantial with increasing demographic skew resulting from female-biased mortality. At moderate levels of long-line mortality (2–4% per year), 80% female-biased mortality reduces fecundity by 9–27% and λ by 0.003–0.010 relative to models with random mortality. Biased sex ratios accumulate and, unlike reduced survival, their impacts on albatross demography persist after long-line mortality ceases. Estimates of the demographic costs of long-line mortality should incorporate individual-level effects, especially where mortality is sex-biased.

Among tourist activities in the Alps, winter sports have a prominent role because of the large scale of changes they cause at the habitat and landscape level. We have analysed whether ski resorts lead to significant threats to the avian diversity in the coniferous forests of the western Italian Alps, by comparing the bird communities of plots located in (1) the forest interior, (2) forest at the edge of ski-runs and (3) forest at the edge of pastures (the latter two are anthropogenic elements of forest fragmentation). Ski-runs produce a negative edge effect in the study forests: plots at their edges present lower bird species richness and Shannon diversity than those located in the forest interior or at the edges of pastures. In particular, birds typical of ecotone habitats seem to favour forest plots set at the edge of pastures. Ski-run-edges are linear landscape features that create high contrast edges; conversely, vegetation structure is more complex at the edge of pastures, attracting a rich and diverse avifauna. In the study area, pastures tend to be abandoned whereas winter sport resorts are increasing in extent. Accordingly, there is a need for coordinated management and cooperation between sport- and land-management agencies, in order to preserve native biodiversity while simultaneously managing land for sport activities.

In Italy, pre-Alpine forests, once managed through coppice silviculture, are being converted to mature woodland, while land abandonment is causing woodland expansion and erosion of open habitats. Based on habitat-selection analyses, we predicted the impact of such changes on common buzzards (Buteo buteo), which depend on forested and open areas for nesting and foraging. Compared to availability, at a micro-scale buzzards selected nests higher above ground and on trees frequently covered by ivy. At the landscape-scale, buzzards avoided roads and conspecifics, while selecting rugged areas with high habitat heterogeneity, probably related to a varied food supply. Productivity was related to the availability of arid habitats, probably because of their richness in main prey species. Finally, population density was negatively related to the abundance of eagle owls (Bubo bubo), a potential predator of adults and nestlings, and positively related to the availability of woodland, a low predation-risk habitat rich in food and nest-sites. Therefore, buzzard settlement, density and productivity depended on the complex interplay of food availability, human persecution and predation risk. Thus, the current landscape changes would benefit buzzards by providing more nest-sites, but would be detrimental because of the lower productivity associated with the disappearance of dry open areas. Proposed conservation guidelines focus on conversion of coppice woodland to mature forests and active management of dry heath, a conservation sensitive habitat, through controlled burning.

Habitat fragmentation is often considered a major threat to biodiversity; however, our understanding of how fragmentation impacts populations is poor. Identifying appropriate models for such studies is difficult. Tree squirrels are dependent on mature forests for food, cover and nests; these are habitats that are being fragmented rapidly and that are easily defined by humans. Squirrels represent excellent models for study of fragmentation. The literature on tree squirrels was reviewed to glean data on density and home-range size in forest fragments. Sufficient data were available on four species (Sciurus carolinensis, S. niger, S. vulgaris, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Density was negatively related to fragment size for S. carolinensis and S. niger and marginally so for T. hudsonicus. Sciurus vulgaris did not exhibit this relationship. Home-range size was analysed for three species of Sciurus and was positively related to forest fragment size for S. carolinensis and S. niger. Again, only S. vulgaris did not to show this relationship. Sciurus vulgaris is rarely found in small forest fragments and is believed to be especially sensitive to fragmentation; other tree squirrels appear to be sensitive to fragmentation in more subtle ways. Home range compaction provides a mechanism by which densities may increase in small fragments. The demographic consequences resultant from the high densities of squirrels found in small woodlots are not known but may explain the forest damage, avian nest predation and reduced diversity often cited to occur in woodland fragments.

Analysis of 688 state parks and 41 national parks shows that total trail length in a park has a significant decelerating scaling relationship with park area. Larger parks have much lower trail densities (less trail per acre) than smaller parks. A decelerating scaling pattern is also found when the number of annual visitors is regressed onto park area. Larger parks have fewer visitors per acre of park. Since trails and visitors are major sources of disturbance for many species of wildlife and plants in most reserves, these scaling patterns have important conservation implications.

Digital maps and a dated supertree of global carnivore species were used to assess the distribution of American carnivores' phylogenetic diversity (PD, measured in millions of years) both from a geopolitical perspective (‘evolutionary heritage’ or EH) and on the basis of species' range size and conservation status. A new measure, range-weighted EH, is introduced. This measure partitions the total PD of the tree between countries based on the proportion of species' ranges within each country. Sociopolitical correlates of these measures were explored. Only 3% of the total PD in the Americas is endemic to any one country. As expected, the measures of PD are positively correlated with each other and with species richness. The USA contains the most species, the most EH and the second most range-weighted EH after Brazil. Indeed, larger and richer countries, and those with the lowest state-corruption-rate hold most EH. No significant differences were observed in the amount of PD remaining if species are removed at random, or following more plausible sequences based on IUCN conservation status and range size. Eighty percent of the American carnivores' PD would remain safe if only the set of not threatened species were to remain. Roughly the same is true if only the 50% most widespread species were to persist. Samples of wide-ranging species represent more of the entire tree than do samples of narrow-ranging species, highlighting the importance of the former for conservation strategies. We suggest that similar approaches be applied to more groups across the globe to assess which countries and areas steward the most PD, as well as which species and taxa do, in order to plan conservation actions consequently.

Achieving maximum productivity in remnant populations of black rhinoceros is crucial to the persistence of this species. It was, therefore, investigated whether the black rhino population of Pilanesberg National Park had become regulated by resource limitation 22 years after introduction in 1979. Inter-calving intervals (which are not restricted to yearly time increments, due to asynchronous reproduction) decreased with an increase in rainfall, while the percentage of male calves born increased with increasing rainfall. The percentage of reproductive cows achieving maternal success increased with increasing density until 0.085 rhinos/km2, after which it decreased. This positive relationship at low densities is largely due to changes in the female age structure and the adult female/male ratio. The age at first calving tended to increase with increasing density, while mortality was not related to rainfall or density. It is concluded that the Pilanesberg black rhino population is showing the first signs of density dependence. It is proposed that black rhino conservators should monitor the percentage of cows achieving maternal success to detect early indications of density dependent resource limitation and use this as a criteria for decisions regarding metapopulation management.

The distribution and global habitat association of the North African houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata sensu stricto) were studied for the first time in a large semi-arid steppe-land region in eastern Morocco. The study area has been protected from hunting for 6 years, but was still under significant pressure from grazing activities. Houbara distribution was assessed using point count surveys conducted during the 2002 breeding season and compared to natural- and human-related predictors. The hierarchy and quantification of influences was evaluated using a discriminant function analysis. Micro-topography first drove houbara bustard distribution, since birds were usually found in open flat tracts allowing visibility over a long distance for the prevention of potential predator approaches, but also for breeding males to be seen by conspecifics. ‘Flooding surfaces’ presenting concealment possibilities, as well as readily available food resources, were secondly sought. Proximity to wells was a surrogate to human presence and pastoral activity influences and appeared to affect houbara bustard distribution. The weight of human disturbance on houbara distribution is highlighted and it is recommended that this should be considered in conservation plans.

This study examines the population genetic structure of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) across India, which harbours over half the world's population of this endangered species. Mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and allele frequencies at six nuclear DNA microsatellite markers obtained from the dung of free-ranging elephants reveal low mtDNA and typical microsatellite diversity. Both known divergent clades of mtDNA haplotypes in the Asian elephant are present in India, with southern and central India exhibiting exclusively the β clade of Fernando et al. (2000), northern India exhibiting exclusively the α clade and northeastern India exhibiting both, but predominantly the α clade. A nested clade analysis revealed isolation by distance as the principal mechanism responsible for the observed haplotype distributions within the α and β clades. Analyses of molecular variance and pairwise population FST tests based on both mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA suggest that northern-northeastern India, central India, Nilgiris (in southern India) and Anamalai-Periyar (in southern India) are four demographically autonomous population units and should be managed separately. In addition, evidence for female philopatry, male-mediated gene flow and two possible historical biogeographical barriers is described.

Droughts induced by the 1997–1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event sparked large-scale forest fires affecting millions of hectares on Borneo. We studied the effects of ENSO-induced disturbances on a riverine bird, the critically endangered white-shouldered ibis, Pseudibis davisoni, along the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Island-wide fire hotspots were more likely to occur near rivers and part of our study area was indeed affected by fire. Based on 25 boat surveys (2590 km) that yielded 91 records, we recorded significant changes in abundance and spatial distribution of this bird in our study area. Encounter rates were higher during the pre-ENSO (1992–1996) periods than the post-ENSO (1997–2000) ones and differed between seasons. No ibises were seen post-ENSO along river sections that were affected by the fires, whereas pre-ENSO encounter rates were 2.4 birds/102 km. Encounter rates along those sections that were not affected by the forest fires more than doubled from 2.0 birds/102 km pre-ENSO to 5.6 birds/102 km post-ENSO. This was most probably due to enhancement of displaced birds. In view of the permanent character of the change in spatial distribution, active protection of the remaining stretches of riverine forest is of the utmost importance for the survival of white-shouldered ibis.

We carried out extensive field surveys in the dry forest portions of Madagascar to document the species of bats occurring in these regions. These data combined with information in the literature and museum specimen records indicate that 28 species of Chiroptera occur in this region of the island, of which we documented 27 during our inventories. The community composition at sites occurring in areas of water-eroded sedimentary rock is notably different from sites on alluvial substrates. In contrast to the majority of native land mammal species on Madagascar, much of the microchiropteran fauna is not dependent on large tracts of intact forest and anthropogenic perturbations of forests may have less direct impact on their long-term survival. Conservation strategies for Chiroptera in the dry regions of the island should focus on reducing various types of human disturbance of cave environments.

Relocation of endangered species can be an effective conservation tool if it does not mix populations that represent significant intraspecific variation. The threatened Italian agile frog, Rana latastei, has small populations with low genetic diversity: translocation has been proposed to improve the likelihood of survival of populations. Using a common environment experiment and field surveys, we investigated whether there were differences in larval growth and developmental rate between foothill and lowland R. latastei populations, to evaluate if they are evolutionarily significant units. In nature, the colder climate of the foothills causes delayed metamorphosis. Conversely, in a common environment, larvae from foothill populations show faster growth and development. We did not find a significant egg-size related maternal effect or any differences in size at metamorphosis. We hypothesise that counter-gradient selection promoted fast growing phenotypes in a cold environment, where low temperatures slow down larval development. Foothill populations, despite being only a small geographical distance away from lowland populations, seem to be adapted to a colder climate and represent an evolutionarily significant unit. Different populations should, therefore, be managed independently, avoiding translocation. We suggest that evolutionary divergence between populations should be verified prior to planning relocation programmes, to prevent the risk of genetic homogenisation.

The Bahamian Andros iguana (Cyclura cychlura cychlura) is an endangered lizard threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting, impacts from historic large-scale logging practices and predation by feral animals (e.g. cats, dogs and hogs). There is interest by local and national conservation organisations to demarcate protected areas for the iguana in the southern portion of its range. However, no life history information is available for the lizard. In order to provide data that can be applied in a science-based management strategy for the Andros iguana, we investigated seasonal variation in home-range size and habitat selection of the iguana using radio telemetry. Home ranges were the largest reported to date for free-ranging Cyclura iguanas (Fixed 95% Kernel maximums: 30.58 ha for males, 5.63 ha for females). Habitat selection using the Euclidean Distance method revealed that open pine was the only habitat type out of four where iguanas occurred more than expected by chance. However, the pair-wise comparisons of habitat types reveal that iguanas were found significantly closer to open pine and shrubland than to closed pine. We failed to uncover selection of cumulative home-range placement throughout our multi-habitat study areas. Conservation implications of the dynamic seasonal home-range fluctuations and habitat usage are discussed and recommendations are offered for establishing protected areas.

The higher-taxon approach may provide a pragmatic surrogate for the rapid identification of priority areas for conservation. To date, no continent-wide study has examined the use of higher-taxon data to identify complementarity-based networks of priority areas, nor has the influence of spatial grain size been assessed. We used data obtained from 939 sub-Saharan mammals to analyse the performance of higher-taxon data for continental priority-setting and to assess the influence of spatial grain sizes in terms of the size of selection units (1° × 1°, 2° × 2° and 4° × 4° latitudinal–longitudinal quadrates). Independent of spatial grain size, the selection of priority areas based on genus data is more effective than the random selection of these areas, while the selection of priority areas based on family data is less effective than random selection. Compared to selection based on species data, genus-based priority areas represent between 5–14% fewer species, but represent even fewer of the threatened species (6–31%) and range-restricted species (7–42%) that are normally considered most valuable for conservation. While genus-based priority areas for the 4° grain size represent species almost as effectively as species-based priority areas, genus-based areas perform considerably less effectively than species-based areas for the 1° and 2° grain size. Thus, our results favour the higher-taxon approach for continental priority-setting only when large grain sizes (≥ 4°) are used.