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Evoluion LosSaus & rends o he World’s Verebraes

Jonahan E. M. Baillie, Janine Grihs, Samuel . urvey, Jonahan Loh and Ben Collen

Evoluion LosSaus and rends o he World’s Verebraes

Jonahan E. M. Baillie, Janine Grihs, Samuel . urvey, Jonahan Loh and Ben Collen



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Paperback ISBN: 978-0-900881-40-4

Hardback ISBN: 978-0-900881-41-1

Baillie, J. E. M., Grihs, J., urvey, S. ., Loh, J., & Collen, B. (2010).

Evoluion Los: Saus and rends o he World’s Verebraes.

Zoological Sociey o London, Unied Kingdom.



Evolution Lost

Status and Trends of the World’s Vertebrates



We dedicae his book o

Charles Robert Darwin,

Fellow o he Zoological Sociey o London, 1831

“Tere is grandeur in his view o lie, wih is several powers, having been

originally breahed ino a ew orms or ino one; and ha, whils his

plane has gone cycling on according o he xed law o graviy, rom so

simple a beginning endless orms mos beauiul and wonderul have been,

and are being, evolved.”

Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species, 1859.

i



“Exincion raes are now as oupacing speciaion raes, resulingin he loss o enire groups o species ha have evolved

on his plane or millions o years.”

Paul H. Harvey CBE FRS, Head of the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford

Secretary and Fellow of the Zoological Society of London.

ii



Evolution Lost:


Editors

Jonahan E. M. Baillie

Janine Grihs

Samuel . urvey

Jonahan Loh

and Ben Collen

Secion ediors: Ariadne Angulo, Jonahan E. M. Baillie, Monika Böhm, Luigi Boiani,

Tomas M. Brooks, Suar H. M. Buchar, Ben Collen, Neil Cox, William R. . Darwall,

Peer Paul van Dijk, Mathew Gollock, Janine Grihs, Craig Hilon-aylor, Mike Hofmann,

Rachel Jones, Heaher Koldewey, Gordon McGregor Reid, Louise McRae, Nadia Richman,

Carlo Rondinini, Michael Samways, Andy Symes and Brian Zimmerman.

Foreword by Georgina M. Mace

Preace by Simon N. Suar

2010

iii



Foreword

In his Inernaional Year o Biodiversiy we have been celebraing he diversiy o lie, considering our success in

conserving and managing i, and making commimens or uure acions ha will saeguard i or uure generaions.

Tese are wo inerlinked seps – we need o see he diversiy o lie in order o celebrae i, and we need o know

more abou he saus, rends and causes o degradaion in order o plan or he uure. Tis publicaion makes an

invaluable conribuion o he available inormaion, ocusing on verebrae species and bringing ogeher a wealh

o recen inormaion ha helps us o undersand wha we risk losing.

Conserving biodiversiy is a shared responsibiliy and maters o everyone, hough no always in he same way.

o many people, naure is valued simply or he pleasure and inspiraion i brings, and no urher jusicaion orconservaion is required. Bu here are also many oher, uncional reasons ha we should be concerned abou he

loss o biodiversiy. Wild species and habias bring many maerial benes o people, providing resources and

buering us agains environmenal change. While we do no ully undersand his role o biodiversiy, here is no

doub ha is loss will impac human well-being in many poenially very serious ways.

Species are a naural uni or biodiversiy assessmen, and he verebraes include many o he mos charismaic

and disincive species. Exincion is more han he loss o a species. Wih he exincion o any species, we also lose

unique eaures ha evolved during he millions o years ha he species lived on Earh. Te evoluion los willrepresen some inricae and deailed adapaions which, quie simply, canno be replaced. Tis book provides

inormaion on he evoluion we risk losing i we do no ake care o he verebraes. Tinking abou evoluion los

mus encourage us o make greaer eors o preserve he species wih which we share our world.

Georgina M. Mace CBE FRS

Imperial College London

Fellow o the Zoological Society o London

iv



Preface

Wih he publicaion o Evoluion Los , or he rs ime he world has a deailed undersanding o he conservaion

saus o verebraes: sh, amphibians, repiles, birds and mammals. Tis inormaion is pulled ogeher a he level

o species and populaions. Te species-level daa are based on he IUCN Red Lis o Treaened Species.

Te populaion-level daa are drawn rom he WWF Living Plane Index.

Te sory ha emerges is no a happy one. Among verebraes, amphibians, reshwaer sh and large mammals are in

paricularly serious decline. In our careless, waseul and excessive use o he earh’s bouny, our species has pushed

mos ohers o he side. We have paid so litle atenion o our impac on our ellow species ha, in mos cases, we

have driven hem o decline or exincion wihou even being aware o i. We are also losing whole swahes o irreplaceable evoluionary hisory, and cerain ancien evoluionary lineages, such as coelacanhs and surgeon,

are sruggling or survival.

Tis book would no have been possible were i no or he volunary conribuions o housands o scieniss rom

every counry in he world. I is hey who collec he raw daa ha is ulimaely compiled ino he IUCN Red Lis and

he WWF Living Plane Index. Tey comprise a global nework, he 8,000-srong Species Survival Commission o

he Inernaional Union or Conservaion o Naure (IUCN). Wihou heir collecive and largely unpaid endeavours,

he world would be in he dark on he overall conservaion saus o naure.

Tis book is a wake up call. Will we coninue o live in ‘business as usual’ mode? Or will we make room or oher

species? Te measures we need o ake include direc and much more exensive conservaion acion o save criical

species and habias. However, we also need o ake more painul measures ha will aec our own liesyles, such

as massively reducing carbon emissions, removing perverse agriculural subsidies and curailing he use o

nirogen- and phosphorus-based erilisers. I sociey is unwilling o pay hese coss, hen many o he species

wih which we share his plane will go he way o he dodo. I is our choice. Do we have he courage o ake he

dicul decisions?

Simon N. Stuart

Chair, Species Survival Commission, International Union or Conservation o Nature

Visiting Proessor, Department o Biology and Biochemistry, University o Bath

Honorary Conservation Fellow o the Zoological Society o London

v



Acknowledgements and Contributors

We give gracious hanks o he global nework o housands o scieniss who have conribued

in he collecion o daa or he IUCN Red Lis and WWF Living Plane Index, making his book

and our undersanding on he rends and saus o verebraes possible.

We also give hanks o he IUCN Species Survival Commission Specialis Groups and Red Lis parners: Conservaion

Inernaional, Birdlie Inernaional, NaureServe, Zoological Sociey o London, Boanic Gardens Conservaion Inernaional,

Royal Boanic Gardens Kew, WildScreen, exas A&M Universiy and Sapienza Universiy o Rome.

IUCN/WI Freshwaer Fish Specialis GroupGroupers and Wrasses Specialis Group

Hawkshes and Sandperches Red Lis Auhoriy

Salmonid Specialis Group

Te GMSA eam

Sciaenid Red Lis Auhoriy

Seabreams, Snappers and Gruns Red Lis Auhoriy

Shark (sharks and rays) Specialis Group

Surgeon Specialis Group

Syngnahiormes and Gaseroseiormes Red Lis Auhoriy Group

una and Billsh Specialis Group

Coral Ree Fishes Specialis Group

Arican Elephan Specialis Group Arican Rhino Specialis Group

Aroheria (including aardvark, hyrax, golden-mole, enrec and

elephan-shrew or sengis) Specialis Group

Aneaer, Sloh and Armadillo Specialis Group

Anelope Specialis Group

Asian Elephan Specialis Group

Asian Rhino Specialis Group

Asian Wild Catle Specialis Group

Ausralasian Marsupial & Monoreme Specialis Group

Ba Specialis Group

Bear Specialis GroupBison Specialis Group

Canid (ox, jackal and wild dog) Specialis Group

Caprinae (wild sheep and goa) Specialis Group

Cas (wild ca) Specialis Group

Ceacean (dolphin, porpoise and whale) Specialis Group

Deer Specialis Group

Equid (horse, ass and zebra) Specialis Group

Hippo Specialis Group

Hyaena Specialis Group

Lagomorph (rabbi, pika and hare) Specialis Group

New World Marsupial Specialis Group

Non-volan Small Mammal Red Lis Auhoriy Specialis Group

Oter Specialis Group

Peccary Specialis Group

Pinniped (seal and walrus) Specialis Group

Polar Bear Specialis Group

Primae Specialis Group

Sirenian (dugong and manaee) Specialis Group

Small Carnivore Specialis Group

Souh American Camelid (guanaco and v icuña) Specialis Group

apir Specialis Group Wild Pig Specialis Group

Wol Specialis Group

Fish Mammals

Amphibian Specialis Group

Crocodile Specialis Group

Iguana Specialis Group

Marine urle Specialis Group

Norh American Repile Red Lis Auhoriy

Sea Snake Specialis Grouporoise and Freshwaer urle Specialis Group

Amphibians and repiles

vi



Bird Red Lis Auhoriy

Cormoran Specialis Group

Crane Specialis Group

Diver/Loon Specialis Group

Duck Specialis Group

Flamingo Specialis Group

Galliorme Specialis Group

Goose Specialis Group

Grebe Specialis Group

Heron Specialis Group

Pelican Specialis Group

Sork, Ibis and Spoonbill Specialis Group

Swan Specialis Group

Treaened Waerowl Specialis Group Woodcock and Snipe Specialis Group

Red List Index – sampled approach

Many hanks o he ollowing individuals on he SRLI projec:

Alison Bachelor, Alison Beresord, Anna Chenery, Zoe Cokeliss,

Georgia Cryer, Ranmali De Silva, Ellie Dyer, Blyhe Joplin,

Gia Kashala, Sara Lewis, Paul Linot, Nicky Lipczynski,

Fiona Livingson, Maiko Luz, Shane McGuiness, Harrie Milligan,

Gary Powney, Mala Ram, Nadia Richman, Jen Sears, Jeremy Smih

Annemarie Soulsby, Kae Sullivan, Ollie Wearn, Felix Whiten,Penny Wilson, Sally Wren and ara Zamin.

We hank he ollowing addiional people who have assised a

various sages in he developmen o he IUCN Red Lis Index

(sampled approach): Dona Agosi, Jorge Ahumada, H. Resi

Akçakaya, Seve Bachman, om Brooks, Neil Brummit, Suar

Buchar, Janice Chanson, Zoe Cokeliss, risha Consiglio,

Will Darwall, Nick Dulvy, Wendy Foden, Rainer Froese,

Ul Gardensor, James Gibbs, Rhys Green, Richard Gregory,

Craig Hilon-aylor, Sarah Holbrook, Mark Hughes, Ma Keping,Paul Keßler, Paricia Koel, Jonahan Loh, Gregoire Lois, Eimear

Nic Lughadha, Georgina Mace, Larr y Maser, Gordon McGregor

Reid, Louise McRae, Tomas Meagher, E.J. Milner-Gulland,

Jusin Moa, Alan Paon, Malcolm Penn, Charles Perrings,

Nahalie Petorelli, Lorenzo Prendini, Suhel Quader, Mala Ram,

Ana Rodrigues, Fred Rumsey, Mary Seddon, Anders Silvergrip,

Alison Saterseld, Wendy Srahm, Simon Suar, Arco van Srien,

Jean-Chrisophe Vie and Mark Wason.

IUCN Red List institutional support, workshop donors

and conservation partners

We hank in paricular he IUCN Red Lis uni:

Craig Hilon-aylor, Caroline Pollock and he eam.

We would like o hank all donors who have generously donaed

owards he work o he IUCN Red Lis o Treaened Species

and suppored he workshops. We would also like o hank all

conservaion parners or he conribuion o daa and providing

logisical suppor and he conribuing scieniss or heir

conribuions and commimen owards species assessmens.

We give gracious hanks o all he unders o he sampled approach

o Red Lising, including he Esmee Fairbairn Foundaion, Ruord

Foundaion and he 2010 Biodiversiy Indicaors Parnership.

A ull lis o donors, unders, parners and conribuors can be

ound a:

www.iucnredlis.org/parners/conribuors

www.birdlie.org

www.zsl.org/indicaors

Birds

Coral Specialis Group

Dragony Specialis Group

Freshwaer Crab and Craysh Specialis Group

Grasshopper Specialis Group

Marine Inverebrae Red Lis Auhoriy

Members o he Inernaional Associaion o Asacology

Mollusc Specialis Group (snail, slug, squid, clam, scallop, ec)

erresrial and Freshwaer Inverebrae Red Lis Auhoriy

Disciplinary groups

Conservaion Breeding Specialis Group

Invasive Species Specialis Group

Re-inroducion Specialis Group

Susainable Use Specialis Group

Wildlie Healh Specialis Group

ask forces and working groups

Large Carnivore Iniiaive or Europe Working Group

Species Conservaion Planning ask Force

Inverebraes

vii



WWF Living Planet Index:

WWF Living Plane Index is very graeul o Rachel Burrows,

Jenny Beschizza, Olivia Daniel, Adriana De Palma, Annemarie

Greenwood, Nicola Harrison, Gayle Kohari, Julia Laham, Robyn

Manley, Jenny Marin, Fiona Pamplin, Sandra ranquilli and Sarah

Whimee or daa enry. Tanks o Louise McRae, Seanie Deine,

Fon Cassidy and Elizabeh Robinson or analysis or Evoluion

Los. Also, hanks o he ollowing organisaions or daaconribuion:

Te European Bird Census Council

Cenre or Populaion Biology, Imperial College London

Naional Biodiversiy Daabase, Makerere Universiy Insiue o

Environmen and Naural Resources, Uganda

WWF Norway

our du Vala, Camargue, France

WWF Canada

Environmenal Voluneer Programme in Naural Areas o MurciaRegion, Spain

Circumpolar Biodiversiy Monioring Program

Unied Naions Environmen Programme - World Conservaion

Monioring Cenre

WWF Neherlands

A ull lis o daa conribuors can be ound a:

www.livingplaneindex.org

ZSL’s EDGE Programme:

ZSL is graeul o he ollowing or research on EDGE species:

Brenna Boyle, Jennier Carr, Naomi Collingham,

Karina Fellerman, Caherine Head, Nick Isaac, Helen Meredih,

Eleanor Monks, James Reardon, Kim Sokes, Craig urner,

William Vincen, Carly Waerman, Sally Wren and he global

communiy o EDGE Fellows.

www.edgeoexisence.org

ZSL Library:

Tanks o Ann Sylph or sourcing and James Godwin or

phoographing he hisoric zoological prins.

Te hisoric images in his volume are he copyrigh o ZSL and

were sourced rom ZSL’s exensive library. Please conac ZSL i

you would like o use hese or similar images: [email protected]

Addiional hanks o Sarah Chrisie, Lian Evans, Anisha Grover,

Noëlle Kümpel, Jane Loveless, Naasha Pauli, Karolyn Upham

and Sally Wren or reviewing his documen.

Special hanks o Alasdair Davies or his creaive design work

and Danielle Buron or designing he Geological imeline.

Disclaimer - Tis book has been suppored by a broad range o

organisaions, bu does no necessarily represen he view o

hose organisaions.

Please accep our apologies or any accidenal omissions.

Plae 1. Cicinnurus regius. Bowdler Sharpe: Monograph o he Paradiseidae. 1891-98.

viii



Contents

Chaper I. Verebraa Page 1

Chaper II. Pisces Page 9

Chaper III. Amphibia

Page 20

Chaper IV. Repilia Page 29

Chaper V. Mammalia Page 38

Chaper VI. Aves Page 46

Chaper VII. Inverebraa Page 54

Chaper VIII. Conclusions Page 62

Hisorical Image Bibliography Page 66

Glossary Page 68

Reerences Page 69

ix



Maps and Figures

Figure 1: Populaion rends in sh, amphibians, repiles, birds and mammals since 1970

Figure 2: Global species richness o verebraes

Figure 3: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o verebraes

Figure 4: Proporion o verebrae species by IUCN Red Lis CaegoriesFigure 5: Global species richness o hreaened verebraes

Figure 6: Te Living Plane Index or verebraes

Figure 7: Global hreas o verebraes

Figure 8: Evoluionary Disinciveness shown wih a hypoheical phylogeny

Figure 9: Global species richness o sh

Figure 10: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o sh

Figure 11: Global species richness o hreaened sh

Figure 12: Living Plane Index or reshwaer sh

Figure 13: Living Plane Index or marine sh

Figure 14: Global hreas o marine sh species

Figure 15: Global hreas o reshwaer sh species

Figure 16: Global species richness o amphibians

Figure 17: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o amphibians

Figure 18: Global species richness o hreaened amphibians

Figure 19: Living Plane Index or amphibians

Figure 20: Global hreas o amphibian species

Figure 21: Global species richness o repiles

Figure 22: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o repiles

Figure 23: Global species richness o hreaened repilesFigure 24: Te Living Plane Index or repiles

Figure 25: Global hreas o repile species

Figure 26: Global species richness o mammals

Figure 27: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o mammals

Figure 28: Global species richness o hreaened mammals

Figure 29: Global hreas o mammal species

Figure 30: Living Plane Index or erresrial mammals

Figure 31: Global species richness o birds

Figure 32: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o birdsFigure 33: Global species richness o hreaened birds

Figure 34: Living Plane Index or birds

Figure 35: Global hreas o bird species

Figure 36: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o seleced groups o inverebraes:

a) reshwaer crabs, b) craysh, c) dragonies, d) ree-building corals

Figure 37: Global species richness o hreaened reshwaer inverebraes

Figure 38: Comparison o he proporion o hreaened species beween verebrae and inverebrae species groups

Figure 39: Evoluionary relaionships o he Hominidae

Figure 40: Background, curren and uure prediced exincion raes

Page xvii

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x



Number of species:

Proportion threatened:

Estimated number of threatened species:

Estimated population trend:

Main threats:

Most threatened groups:

Number of documented historic extinctions:

Vital Statistics

Vertebrates

62,839

19%

11,939

30% reducion since 1970

agriculure, logging, developmen, exploiaionand invasive species

amphibians ollowed by mammals and repiles

323

Plae 2. Paradisaea minor . Bowdler Sharpe: Monograph o he Paradiseidae. 1891-98.

xi



Number of species:



Main threats:



Recent extinctions:

Countries with most threatened species:

Vital Statistics

Fish

Plae 3. Holocanthus ciliaris. Caesby:Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

xii

31,600

15%

reshwaer sh: 65% reducion since 1970;marine sh: 20% reducion since 1970

sheries, polluion, developmen, habia loss,dams and waer managemen, and invasive species

coelacanhs, seahorses, lampreys, killishes,

livebearers, cichlids, rainbowsh, coregonids,galaxiids, unas, sharks, rays and chimaeras

58

a sh endemic o Israel ( Acanhobrama hulensis)c.1975; cachorrio de la rinidad (Cyprinodoninmemoriam) 1990s; gokce baligi ( Alburnus akili)c.1998

Mexico, Lao PDR, Tailand, USA, China and India



Vital Statistics

Amphibians

Number of species:



Main threats:



Recent extinctions:


6,638

41%

80% reducion o he resriced number o moniored populaions since 1970

agriculure, biological resource use,and residenial and commercial developmen

salamanders, genus Leiopelma (rogs endemic

o New Zealand and including Archey’s rog, henumber one EDGE amphibian), Rhinoderma rogs(genus including Chile Darwin’s rog and Darwin’srog) and Seychelles rogs

37

a rog endemic o Cosa Rica (Craugasor escoces),Holdridge’s oad (Incilius holdridgei) and wospecies o Sri Lankan shrub rog (Pseudophilauusmaia and Pseudophilauus pardus) were all assessedas exinc in 2008 - he later wo species declaredexinc shorly aer heir ormal descripion

Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru and China

Plae 4. Salamandra salamandra. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populärenNaurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

xiii



Number of species:



Main threats:



Recent extinctions:


Vital Statistics

Reptiles

9,084

22%

7% reducion o he resriced number o moniored populaions since 1970

agriculure, logging and commercialdevelopmen

urles, uaara and crocodiles

20

Easwood’s longailed seps (Teradacyluseaswoodae) colleced once c. 1912-1913; RoundIsland burrowing boa ( Bolyeria mulocarinaa)c. 1975

Madagascar, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Ausraliaand Brazil

Plae 5. Pantherophis obsoletus. Caesby:Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

xiv



Number of species:



Main threats:



Recent extinctions:


Mammals

5,490

25%

25% reducion in erresrial mammals since 1970

logging, agriculure, huning and rapping,and commercial developmen

apes, river dolphins, solenodons, rhinos,manaees, dugongs and huias

76

crescen nailail wallaby (Onychogalea lunaa)c. 1950s; he Caribbean monk seal ( Monachusropicalis) 1952; blue-grey mouse (Pseudomys glaucus) 1956; Guam fying ox (Peropus okudae)1968

Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Vienam andPapua New Guinea

Vital Statistics

Plae 6. achyglossus aculeatus. Gould:Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

xv



Number of species:



Main threats:



Recent extinctions:


Birds

10,027

13%

8% decline since 1970

agriculural expansion and inensicaion, loggingand invasive alien species

albarosses, cranes, parros, pheasans, busardsand pigeons

132

Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsita spixii) 2000; Hawaiiancrow (Corvus hawaiiensis) 2002; po’ouli( Melamprosops phaeosoma) 2004

Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, Colombia and China

Vital Statistics

Plae 7. Aulacorhynchus prasinus. Gould: A monograph o he Ramphasidae. 1834.

xvi



Figure 1: Populaion rends in sh, amphibians, repiles, birds and mammals

since 1970. Tese daa are derived rom he Living Plane Index which is used

o monior 7,953 populaions o 2,544 species o mammals, birds, repiles,

amphibians and shes rom around he globe. Te change in he size o hese

populaions relaive o 1970 (1970=1.0) is ploted over ime. A sable Living

Plane value would indicae ha here is no overall change in average species

abundance. Squares are index value in 2005, bars are 95% condence limis.

xvii

Plae 8. Grus leucogeranus.Gould: Te Birds o Europe. 1837.

2 0 0 5 I n d e x V a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0 )

0.2

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2.0

0.0

Fish

Amphibians

Reptiles Birds

Mammals



xviii

Tis imeline is adaped rom Richard Dawkins (2004) “Te Ancesor’s ale”. MYA = Million years ago



Vertebrata

Plae 9. Iguana iguana. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibien

in ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

1



Vertebrata

Verebraes (Verebraa) are animals dened by possession

o a skull and a si segmened verebral column. Tey are a

diverse group numbering more han 60,000 species, ranging

in size rom he blue whale (a 160 onnes, he larges

species o have ever lived) o he diminuive emale

Paedocypris sh (measuring jus 8 mm in lengh). Te

earlies known verebraes are recorded rom he Early

Cambrian period around 525 million years ago, close o hers appearance o complex animal lie in he ossil record [1].

Te verebrae ossil record is relaively good in

comparison wih ha o many oher animal groups due o

he high preservaion poenial o bone, and he ac ha

verebraes have a long and complex evoluionary hisory.

Te rs major verebrae evoluionary radiaions occurred

during he Lae Ordovician and Silurian periods, when he

jawless shes (including lampreys and hagshes) and hen

gnahosomes (sh possessing biing jaws) began o

diversiy in marine and reshwaer environmens [2].

Verebraes coninued o evolve in he seas hroughou he

Phanerozoic eon, and aquaic environmens sill conain he

highes levels o verebrae diversiy.

Evolutionary History of Vertebrates

Ediors: Mike Homann, Nadia Richman, Louise McRae, Craig Hilon-aylor and Monika Böhm

erapods (verebraes wih our legs) evolved almos

400 million years ago during he Devonian period rom

lobe-nned sh; heir descendans were hereore able o

colonise erresrial environmens. Tese early erapod

groups and heir modern-day amphibian descendans, he

rogs, salamanders and caecilians, were sill dependen

upon waer or reproducion.

However, during he Carbonierous period, he developmen

o erresrially-adaped eggs proeced by waer-holding,

permeable membranes (amnioic eggs) allowed urher

ransiion ino dry environmens. Tese early amnioic-egg

laying verebraes diverged ino wo disinc lineages, he

sauropsids (represened oday by repiles and birds) and

synapsids (represened oday by mammals), which became

a key componen o ecosysems hroughou he Lae

Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras [3]. Boh o

hese lineages experienced evoluionary innovaions

including igh and he secondary re-colonisaion o he

seas. Te erresrial verebraes experienced heir mos

signican diversicaion a he end o he Creaceous period

65 million years ago, when he dominan dinosaur auna

became exinc as a resul o he collision o a large aseroid

wih Earh, and erresrial large animal niches insead became lled largely by mammals during he Early

Cenozoic era [4-5].

2

Plae 10. Balistes vetula. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

Plae 11. Necturus maculosus. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.



Biogeography of Vertebrates

Te legacy o hese many millions o years o evoluion is

he species ha inhabi he Earh oday. Te diversiy o

verebrae species is lowes a he poles and generally

increases owards he equaor (gure 2 [6]).

Te highes species richness o erresrial verebraes is

ound in ropical regions in a broad band along he equaor.

Marine verebrae biodiversiy is highes in coasal regions,

especially around souheas Asia and Oceania. Boh on land

and in aquaic environmens, paterns may under-represen

rue diversiy in regions where survey work has been less

inense or (as in he case o he oceans) is more dicul.

Plae 12. Prionailurus bengalensis.Ellio: A monograph o he Felidae. 1883.

1 - 200

201 - 400

401 - 600

601 - 800

801 - 1000

1001 - 1200

1201 - 1400

>1400

1 - 250

251 - 500

501 - 750

751 - 1000

1001 - 1500

1501 - 2000

2001 - 2500

err/w verebrae species richnessEsimaed no. species

Marine verebrae species richnessEsimaed no. species

>2500

3

Figure 2: Global species richness o verebraes, based on an assessmen o 24,437 verebrae species. Amphibians, birds and mammals are comprehensive assessmens o all species in he group.For sh and repiles, which are sampled assessmens o 1,500 species, each cell richness oalis scaled o he proporion o species i would represen in he rue oal. ‘err’ idicaes erresrialspecies and ‘w ’ indicaes reshwaer species.




Te IUCN Red Lis is he mos widely acceped sandard or

assessing species’ risk o exincion [7-9]. Species are assessed

according o ve quaniaive crieria o evaluae sympomso risk, using inormaion on populaion decline, range size

and populaion size [10-11] and classied in one o eigh Red

Lis caegories: Exinc (EX), Exinc in he Wild (EW),

Criically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN),

Vulnerable (VU), Near Treaened (N), Leas Concern

(LC) and Daa Decien (DD). Troughou his repor, he

erm ‘hreaened’ is used o reer o species lised as Criically

Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable. A species is

caegorised as Daa Decien when here is insucien

inormaion available o make a reliable assessmen. Leas

Concern species are considered o be a a low risk o

exincion a he ime o assessmen. In his repor we

explicily accoun or he uncerainy o Daa Decien

caegory lisings. Te saus o species classied as Daa

Decien is uncerain, as he rue caegory o risk o he

species is unclear. Many o hese species could acually be

highly hreaened. Consequenly, we repor a range o values

or each verebrae class, ranging rom considering all Daa

Decien species as hreaened (resuling in an upperesimae) o all Daa Decien species as Leas Concern

(resuling in a lower esimae).

Alhough he saus o he world’s mammals [12] , birds [13] ,

amphibians [14] and carilaginous shes (sharks, skaes

and rays, and chimaeras) has been comprehensively documened, knowledge o he saus o he world’s

repiles and bony shes is incomplee [15]. Boh are

speciose groups: a jus over 9,000 species [16] , repile

diversiy is on a par wih birds, while bony shes number

nearly 30,000 species [17]. Eors are currenly underway

o complee a comprehensive assessmen o boh groups,

bu in he meanime we can employ a sampled approach o

gain some undersanding o he conservaion saus o

hese groups relaive o oher verebrae groups [15, 18].

Te sampled approach involves conducing Red Lis

assessmens on 1,500 randomly seleced species rom each

axonomic group o provide represenaive inormaion on

exincion risk. In his repor we deail saus inormaion

or verebraes based on comprehensive assessmens o

mammals, birds, amphibians and carilaginous shes, and

represenaive assessmens o repiles and bony shes.

Te repile and bony shes have been weighed o give a

proporion o hrea ha is hen represenaive o he global

number o described species in he paricular group.

Te IUCN Red Lis explained An innovaive approach

Nearly one-fh (19%) o he world’s verebraes are

currenly esimaed o be hreaened wih exincion.

As noed above, his esimae assumes ha Daa Decien

species are hreaened in he same proporion as daa

sucien species. A more conservaive esimae would be

o rea all Daa Decien species as being no hreaened,

which provides a lower bound o 16% o verebraes

hreaened wih exincion (gure 3). On he oher hand,

assuming ha all Daa Decien species are hreaened

generaes an upper bound o 33%.

Saus o verebraes

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

17.7%

2.9%

4.9%

7.9%

4.6%

62.1%

4

Figure 3: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o verebraes.(25,535 species, including weighed assessmens o repilesand bony sh).



Amphibians have he highes proporion o hreaened

species among he verebrae groups, bu also he highes

proporion o Daa Decien species and he lowes

proporion o Leas Concern species (gure 4). Te high

degree o hrea in amphibians relaive o oher groups owesmuch o he recen emergence o he disease caused by a

pahogenic chyrid ungus, which has had a devasaing

impac on amphibian populaions and communiies [19-20].

Birds have he highes proporion o Leas Concern

species, reecing heir comparaive high mobiliy resuling

in a lower risk o exincion, and hey also have he ewes

Daa Decien species o any o he verebrae classes,

illusraing he rich knowledge and ineres we have in birds

and heir easily observed presence in an ecosysem.

Jus as species are no evenly disribued across he ace o

he plane, neiher are he hreas o species. Geographic

paterns o hreaened species (gure 5) reveal ha

hreaened verebraes are concenraed in souheas Asia,

which is subjec o excepionally high levels o boh oresloss and huning. Oher peaks o hreaened species

richness are eviden in he Aromonane regions o Arica

and in Cenral and Souh America, paricularly in he

ropical Andean regions. Treaened marine species are

concenraed mainly in coasal regions, paricularly around

he coass o souheas Asia, he Medierranean, souhern

Arica, Ausralia, he Caribbean and he Gul o Mexico

(gure 4).

5

Figure 4: Proporion o verebrae species by IUCN Red Lis Caegories.

Plae 13. Chelonia mydas. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibienin ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

F i s h e

s

A m p h i b i a

n s

R e p t i l e s

B i r d s

M a m m a l s

P r o p o r t i o n o f s p e c i e s

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD



Figure 5: Global species richness o hreaened verebraes, based on an assessmen o 4,585 verebrae species.‘err’ idicaes erresrial species and ‘w’ indicaes reshwaer species.

Te Living Plane Index (LPI) reecs changes in he healh

o he plane’s biodiversiy by racking rends in nearly 8,000

populaions o 2,544 verebrae species [21-23]. Much as a

sock marke index racks he value o a se o shares raded

on a sock exchange, he LPI is used o rack rends in

verebrae species populaions in he wild. Te annual raeo change or each species populaion is calculaed and he

average rae o change or all species is calculaed each year

rom 1970, when daa collecion began, o 2005, he laes

dae or which sucien daa are available. Te LPI or

verebraes indicaes a decline o 30% in verebrae

populaion abundance over he las 35 years (gure 6).

Tis loss o verebrae abundance mirrors he high exincion

risk aced by he group as a whole. Te LPI rend daa or

specic verebrae groups is presened in his documen orhe rs ime and in some cases he sample size is relaively

small, resuling in lower cerainy o he esimaed

populaion rend. Te populaion daa also end o be

biased oward emperae ecosysems, which are in general

under much less hrea han he ropics. Te individual

verebrae indices should hereore be considered as

preliminary and in mos cases conservaive. Accuracy will

improve as addiional daa are colleced or each group

and increased monioring is carried ou in he ropics.

I is now well esablished ha over he pas 50 years here

have been more subsanial changes o habias globally han

a any oher ime in human hisory [24] and ha he major

drivers o change have varied and coninue o vary in boh

naure and inensiy over ime and space [25].

Overwhelmingly, habia loss is he greaes hrea o all verebrae groups, driven mainly by expanding agriculure

and logging as well as exensive aleraions o reshwaer

sysems (gure 7). However, he inroducion o non-naive

invasive species and overharvesing or ood or medicines are

also considerable hreas or many verebrae species, while

polluion remains paricularly problemaic o boh marine

(paricularly coasal marine sh) and reshwaer verebrae

groups (especially amphibians). Increasingly, climae change

in combinaion wih oher hreas is o considerable concern,causing ecosysem imbalance, habia loss, populaion

decline and changing species disribuions.

6

rends in verebrae species populaions Treas o verebraes

1 - 20

21 - 40

41 - 60

61 - 80

81 - 100

101 - 150

151 - 200

>200

1 - 20

21 - 40

41 - 60

61 - 80

81 - 100

101 - 120

>120

Treaened err/w verebrae richnessEsimaed no. o species

Treaened marine verebrae richnessEsimaed no. o species

Plae 14. Equus zebra. Waerhouse Hawkins:Gleanings rom he menagerie and aviary a Knowsley Hall.1850.



7

Figure 6: Te Living Plane Index or verebraes (7,953 populaions o 2,544 species).Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% condence limis.

Figure 7: Global hreas o verebraes. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU) species aeced by eacho he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Noe - hese numbers may add up o more han 1 because species are oen aeced

by muliple hreas.

I n d e x V a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

01970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Proporion o hreaened species

Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries

ransporaion / service corridors

Human disurbance

Polluion

Climae change / severe weaher

Change in re regime

Energy producion / mining

Residenial / commerical developmen

Huning / rapping

Naive species

Invasive alien species

Logging

Agriculure / aquaculure



Evoluionarily Disinc and Globally Endangered (EDGE)

species are hreaened species ha have ew or no closerelaives on he ree o lie [26]. Te evoluionary

disinciveness o a species is calculaed using a phylogeny,

or evoluionary ree, which measures he paterns o

relaedness beween species. As shown in he hypoheical

example in gure 8, species A would score more highly in

evoluionary disinciveness, as i represens an enire branch

in he evoluionary ree, whereas species B and C are more

closely relaed and may represen he same amily or genus.

I species A were o become exinc, here would be noexan represenaives remaining o ha enire lineage.

EDGE species have ew close relaives and are ofen

disinc in appearance and behaviour [27-28]. An example

o an EDGE amphibian is he Chinese gian salamander

( Andrias davidianus). Tis amphibian grows up o 1.8

meres in lengh and belongs o a amily (Crypobranchidae)

conaining hree exan species ha diverged rom oher

amphibians around 170 million years ago. Tis salamander

has recenly undergone huge populaion declines due o

overharvesing or ood and loss o habia [29].

Te EDGE programme a ZSL has idenied ha 70% o he

world’s op 100 EDGE mammals and 85% o he op 100

EDGE amphibians are currenly receiving litle or no

conservaion atenion. Te EDGE o Exisence programme

aims o give prioriy o hese species, which are currenly

overlooked due o limied conservaion resources.

Figure 8: Evoluionary Disincivenessshown wih a hypoheical phylogeny.

In he phylogeny above, species A would have a higher ED

score han eiher species B or C - i represens a branch raherhan a wig on he ree o lie. I species A were o go exinc,here would be no similar species le on he plane and adisproporionae amoun o unique evoluionary hisory

would be los orever.

Evoluionarily Disinc and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species

8



Pisces

Plae 15. Presened in he original publicaion as Orbis laevis variegaus.Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

9



Pisces

Fish-like chordaes lacking jaws or ns rs appear in he

ossil record in he Early Cambrian period around 525

million years ago. Tese early eel-like animals were relaively

similar o hagsh, he mos primiive living verebrae-like

animals. Hagsh are someimes excluded rom Verebraa

because alhough hey have heads wih a brain, sense organs

and skull, hey lack verebrae (hey are insead placed in

Craniaa [30]). Appearing during he Early Palaeozoic era,

heavily armoured primiive jawless sh, using heir gills

solely or respiraion raher han eeding, were he earlies

rue sh. Te developmen o jaws rom gill arches led o he

appearance o he gnahosomes, or jawed sh, during he

Lae Ordovician period, and by he Devonian period

(416-359 million years ago) hey had evolved ino a wide

diversiy o species, including gian predaors such as he

10-mere long placoderm Dunkleoseus [2].

In addiion o he primiive hagsh and lampreys, living sh

represen wo disinc groups: he carilaginous sh,

conaining all sharks, rays and chimaeras; and he bony sh,

conaining he ray-nned sh (ranging rom he world’s

smalles verebrae, Paedocypris progeneica , o he gian

Mekong cash, Pangasius gigas) and he lobe-nned sh.

Evolutionary History of Fish

Ediors: Heaher Koldewey, Brian Zimmerman, Rachel Jones, Mathew Gollock, William R. . Darwall and Gordon McGregor Reid

In erms o species and individuals, shes ar ounumber

all oher verebrae classes (amphibians, repiles, birds and

mammals), wih over 31,600 described species o sh

known oday, almos all o which are ray-nned shes [17].

Fish are a group o verebraes rom which all erresrial

erapods have evolved and so represen an evoluionary

‘grade’ raher han a unique clade. Tey are ypically

cold-blooded, use gills o obain oxygen while underwaer,

have bodies covered in scales and lay eggs o reproduce.

However, here are excepions: some species show

warm-blooded characerisics (or example, he grea whie

shark Carcharodon carcharias), ohers possess lungs and are

able o obain oxygen rom air (or example, lungsh

Lepidosiren , Neoceraodus and Prooperus), many lack

scales (or example, seahorses Hippocampus), and hereare many species ha give birh o live young (or example,

he guppy Poecilia reiculaa). Reproducive capaciy ranges

rom laying single eggs in some sharks o 28 million eggs in

he ocean sunsh Mola mola [31].

Plae 17. Aluterus scriptus. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

Plae 16. Muraena. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

10



Biogeography of Fish

Te oceans occupy over 70% o Earh’s surace area and over

90% o he biosphere’s volume. In spie o he 10-year eor

(2000-2010) by more han 80 naions o assess and explain

he diversiy, disribuion and abundance o lie in he oceans

hrough he Census o Marine Lie[32]

, he proporion o undiscovered species may sill be close o 70–80% o all

marine species [33].

In erms o area, reshwaer ecosysems occupy only 0.8%

o Earh’s surace, bu hey are esimaed o harbour nearly

6% o all described species, 25% o global verebrae

diversiy and approximaely 40% o global sh diversiy [34].

In addiion, many new sh species are being described every

year: in Souh America alone, abou 465 new reshwaer sh

species have been described in he las ve years, a gure

ha corresponds o a new species every our days [34].

O he sh species ha have been described o dae, 41%

o he world’s sh are obligae reshwaer species, 58% are

obligae marine species and he remainder are anadromous

or caadromous species ha can olerae boh sysems.

Fish are usually considered in erms o sheries and ood

raher han as wildlie. I is only in he las 15 years ha

scieniss have begun o assess he conservaion saus o sh

in he same way as erresrial verebraes [35]. A global hrea

assessmen o sh has no ye been compleed, and in he

inerim, he Sampled Red Lis approach has been used or

boh marine and reshwaer sh o provide an indicaion o

he hrea saus o shes. Te sample can be considered

sucien o provide a global indicaion o he saus o

species and he major hreas. However, i may no accuraely

represen global disribuion paterns or levels o hrea a

he regional scale and may under-represen some o he

medium o low species richness areas. Tis considered, he

Indo-wes Pacic, cenral Indo-Pacic, Souh China and

Coral seas are he cenre o diversiy o marine sh species

(gure 9). Souheas Asia, easern Arica’s Grea Lakes,

Souh American Amazonia and he oress o cenral Arica

hold a high proporion o reshwaer sh species.

Figure 9: Global species richness o sh, based on an assessmen o 1,500 sh species.

11

>0 - 0.008

>0.008 - 0.016

>0.016 - 0.024

>0.024 - 0.032

>0.032 - 0.084

>0.084

>0 - 0.03

>0.03 - 0.06

>0.06 - 0.09

>0.09 - 0.12

>0.12 - 0.15

>0.15

Freshwaer sh species richnessProporion o species

Marine sh species richnessProporion o species



Status and Trends of the World’s Fish

Saus o sh

Based on he 2010 IUCN Sampled Red Lis assessmen o

he world’s reshwaer and marine sh, 15% o he world’s

sh species are currenly hreaened wih exincion.

Tis esimae assumes ha Daa Decien species are

hreaened in he same proporion as daa sucien

species. Esimaes range rom 12% i all Daa Decien

species are no hreaened o 34% i all Daa Decien

species are hreaened. Te IUCN Red Lis pie char ingure 10 shows 12% o sh species are hreaened, which

is he lowes esimae. Many commercially exploied sh

are classed as hreaened, including souhern bluen una

(Tunnus maccoyii) and beluga surgeon (Huso huso),

boh o which are Criically Endangered due o overshing

almos o he poin o exincion. Almos 22% o sh

species are lised as Daa Decien, indicaing ha we

know less abou non-erresrial verebrae species.

Te highes species richness o hreaened marine sh

species is ound in he Indo-wes Pacic, cenral

Indo-Pacic, Souh China, Coral, Caribbean and

Medierranean seas (gure 11). Te highes species

richness o hreaened reshwaer sh species is ound

in souheas Asia.

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

21.6%

2.4%

2.5%

7.2%

2.7%

63.6%

Figure 11: Global species richness o hreaened sh, based on an assessmen o 172 sh species.

>0 - 0.015

>0.015 - 0.03

>0.03 - 0.045

>0.045 - 0.06

>0.06 - 0.075

>0.075

>0 - 0.03

>0.03 - 0.06

>0.06 - 0.09

>0.09 - 0.12

>0.12 - 0.15

>0.15

Treaened reshwaer sh richnessProporion o hreaened species

Treaened marine sh richnessProporion o hreaened species

12

Figure 10: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o sh (1,500species). Noe – his oal conains daa rom a comprehensiveassessmen o sharks and rays (1,044 species) which are weighedin he appropriae proporion o he raio o bony sh ocarilaginous sh in he whole sample o 1,500 species,hereore giving a rue represenaion o he saus o sh.



Te Living Plane Index or reshwaer sh racks 876 populaions o 242 species,

a relaively small proporion o all reshwaer sh. Te available daa indicae

ha a rapid and seady decline in populaion abundance has occurred since1970, approaching an average 65% reducion in he populaions o reshwaer sh

species by 2003 (gure 12). Te available marine daa (racking 761 populaions

o 386 species) indicae ha a gradual decrease in he number o marine sh

populaions has occurred, wih a 20% reducion in global populaions o marine

sh species (gure 13).

Figure 13: Living Plane Index or marine sh (761 populaions o 386 species).Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% condence limis.

rends in sh populaions

Figure 12: Living Plane Index or reshwaer sh (876 populaions o 242 species).Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% condence limis.

I n d e x V a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

I n d e x V a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0 )

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

13



Aquaic habias are rouinely reaed as limiless sources or

human consumpion and sinks or wase, which has resuled

in he decline and loss o sh species. Exploiaion o shand oher marine groups (such as inverebraes) is he main

hrea o biodiversiy loss in he marine environmen (gure

14), resuling in species populaion declines and exincions,

habia degradaion and ecosysem changes [36-38]. Over 80%

o he world’s sheries are eiher ully or overexploied [39].

Freshwaer ecosysems ace increasing pressure rom

dams, waer absracion, polluion, invasive species and

overharvesing [34, 40-41]. While overexploiaion is sill a

signican hrea o reshwaer sh, polluion has he greaes

negaive impac (gure 15). Freshwaer sh have also been

paricularly negaively aeced by habia aleraion caused

by damming and waer managemen aciviies such as

absracion or agriculure. Te inroducion o invasive alien

species is increasing boh wihin and beween counries o

he derimen o naive species. Climae change has already

demonsrably negaively aeced aquaic ecosysems and

provides a signican hrea or many sh species in he

uure [42-43].

Treas o sh

Figure 14: Global hreas o marine sh species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU) species aeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Noe - hese numbers may add o more han 1 because species are oenaeced by muliple hreas.

0 0.2 1

Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries


Human disurbance

Polluion


Change in re regimeEnergy producion / mining


Huning / rapping

Naive species


Logging


0.4 0.6 0.8

14

Plae 18. Amblyraja radiata. Donovan:Te naural hisory o Briish shes. 1808.



Figure 15: Global hreas o reshwaer sh species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU) speciesaeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Noe - hese numbers may add up o more han 1 because speciesare oen aeced by muliple hreas.

0 0.2 1

Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries


Human disurbance

Polluion


Change in re regime



Huning / rappingNaive species


Logging


0.4 0.6 0.8

Plae 19. Lamna nasus. Donovan: Te naural hisory o Briish shes. 1808.

15



Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Fish

Phylogeneic superrees are no ye available o assess he

paterns o relaedness across dieren groups o sh and

so he EDGE approach canno ye be ormally employed.

However, here are several conenders or EDGE shspecies. Probably he bes examples are he wo species

o coelacanh, he amous ‘living ossil’ sh. As he only

surviving members o he order Coelacanhiormes, he

wo coelacanh species represen over 400 million years o

evoluionary hisory. Coelacanhs are relaively common in

he Devonian-Creaceous ossil record, bu he group was

hough o have become exinc 80 million years ago [44].

However, in 1938 a shing vessel capured a coelacanh

o he coas o Souh Arica, much o he surprise andexciemen o he scienic communiy; i was described

as he new species Laimeria chalumnae [44]. Since hen an

increasing number o coelacanhs have been recorded in

he Indian Ocean around Madagascar and Mozambique.

In 1998, a second exan species o coelacanh, Laimeria

menadoensis , was discovered in Sulawesi, Indonesia [45].

oday’s exan coelacanhs live in small populaions a

dephs o around 200 meres, ofen in caves [44]. Laimeria

are esimaed o live beween 12-20 years and give birh o

live young which develop inernally rom eggs he size o

ennis balls – he larges recorded o all shes. Tey are

hreaened by bycach rom deep-sea rawls or oilsh

(Ruvetus preiosus) [44]. As a resul, combined wih he

inrinsic vulnerabiliy conerred by heir slow lie hisory,

Laimeria chalumnae is classied as Criically Endangered

by IUCN while L. menadoensis is Vulnerable [46].

Te Chinese paddlesh ( Psephurus gladius) is endemic

o he Yangze River and is one o wo exan paddlesh

species lef in his ancien amily o primiive chondrosean

ray-nned shes. An unusual characerisic o paddlesh is

heir reliance on sensory pores on heir paddle-like snousor deecing elecrical elds emited by prey [47-48].

Te Chinese paddlesh is probably he larges reshwaer

sh in he world, bu over he course o he 20h cenury

he lengh o paddlesh caugh has declined signicanly,

a srong indicaor o overshing and sock depleion.

Te Chinese paddlesh is classied as Criically Endangered

due o habia loss, overshing or ood and caviar, and dam

consrucion

[46]

. Unorunaely, he Chinese paddleshmay well already be exinc, wih a recenly compleed

hree-year survey o he Yangze nding no specimens [49].

Te Criically Endangered daggernose shark

( Isogomphodon oxyrhynchus) is a poorly known species in he

same amily as he grea whie shark, which has a very long,

atened snou wih a poined ip. Te sh ges is name

rom he Greek oxys (“sharp” or “poined”) and rhynchos(“nose”) and was rs recognised in 1839, alhough i does

have an exinc relaive I. acuarius , which is known rom 45

million year-old ossils [50]. I is believed o live in muddy,

shallow waers o he norhern coas o Souh America and

is ofen caugh in arisanal gill nes [51]. Is long nose and

small eyes are hough o be an adapaion o living in hese

urbid waers, where i relies on elecrorecepion raher

han sigh.

16

Plae 20. View: Ceylon. Daniell: Te island o Ceylon. 1808.



According o he IUCN Red Lis o Treaened Species,

58 sh species have gone Exinc and nine Exinc in he

Wild since 1500 AD

[46]

. Mos sh exincions have beendriven by human-caused habia aleraion, inroducion

o non-naive species, overshing and polluion [40].

Te exincion o any species involves he loss o

evoluionary hisory, alhough a comprehensive analysis

o he exen o his loss in sh has no ye been

underaken. One example o an evoluionarily disinc

species ha has already been los is he Ukrainian

migraory lamprey ( Eudonomyzon sp. nov. ‘migraory’),

which became exinc in he lae 19h cenury. Alhough

he reasons or is exincion remain enigmaic, i was a

known arge o sheries [46]. Lampreys are relaed o he

earlies chordaes and hereore represen an ancien

lineage o evoluionary hisory.

Evoluion los

17

Plae 21. Presened in he original publicaion as urdus

rhomboidalis & urdus cauda convexa. Caesby: Te nauralhisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

Plae 22. Fistularia tabacaria. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.



18

Any species can become exinc and his is rue or sh, in spie o he long-held opinion ha populaions o he mos common species were inexhausible. Here wo conrasing examples

are discussed ha highligh he complexiy o sh exincions.

Pupsh are a group o small killish belonging o he amily Cyprinodonidae o ray-nned

sh, which are especially noed or being ound in exreme and isolaed environmens.

Four species o pupsh used o live in a series o our small springs in close proximiy o one

anoher near Monerrey, Mexico. Due o absracion o waer or agriculure reducing he

groundwaer supply, all our springs dried up and all our species were declared exinc

in he wild by he early 1990s. Living specimens o wo o he species,Cyprinodonlongidorsalis and C. veronicae were rescued and now persis only hrough he dedicaed

eors o aquarium breeding programmes in Norh America and Europe. Sadly, he oher

wo species wen exinc, wih one o hese only being described aer exincion. I was

named appropriaely Cyprinodon inmemoriam [52].

Lake Vicoria in Eas Aica is he larges ropical lake in he world, wih a globally

ousanding aquaic diversiy ha includes a species fock o 600 endemic sh species.

I was dubbed ‘Darwin’s dreampond’ ollowing evoluionary sudies ha demonsraed a

specacular adapive radiaion o he amily Cichlidae, wih a ew species diversiying o

abou 600 in abou 15,000 years – essenially a new species every 30 years [53]. Following

he inroducion o he predaory Nile perch ( Laes niloicus ) in he 1960s, combined wih

overshing, land-use change and silaion, he cichlids were nearly eradicaed by he lae

1980s, wih hundreds o exincions repored [54]. However, by he early 1990s he cichlids

began o recover, wih a recen repor suggesing ha he biomass in he lake has reurned o

1979 levels and ha biodiversiy is increasing. Cichlid populaion srucure has changed

markedly wih exensive hybridisaion due o europhicaion aecing he visual sexual

selecion process and species exincion. Te recovery is being explained by he cichlids’

capaciy or adapaion, overshing o he Nile perch and reduced polluion, alhough

deoresaion and erosion are sill major problems ha hreaen he lake’s uure [53].

Evolution Lost case study

Plae 23. View: Cascade on Sneuwberg. Daniell: Arican scenery and animals. 1804.



Fish conservaion eors need o reconcile he needs o

boh humans and ecosysems, reaching a compromise ha

balances human livelihoods wih he persisence o aquaicecosysems and heir biodiversiy. Given ha over 80% o

he world’s marine sh socks are currenly ully or

overexploied, i is clear ha his balance is no being

achieved. Overexploiaion is aciliaed by subsidies o

US$35 billion per year globally [55-56] , generally poor

governance o ocean resources and a global shing ee ha

is much larger han required. Tese undamenal issues mus

be addressed i he balance o he susainable exploiaion o

sh socks is o be resored. In he marine realm, he mos

imporan prioriy is o reduce carbon emissions leading

o ocean acidicaion, ollowed by addressing overshing

(including excessive bycach and illegal shing) as well as

polluion. In he reshwaer realm, he greaes prioriies are

o address polluion, waer absracion, habia modicaion

and inroduced species.

Te area o he ocean and reshwaer ha is eecively

proeced remains almos insignican. While inernaional

commimens have se global marine proecion arges harange rom 10-30%, only 1.6% o he world’s oceans are

currenly proeced, wih only 0.08% as no-ake zones [57].

As an urgen rs sep owards such arges, he conservaion

o sies o global conservaion signicance or marine [58]

and reshwaer [59] sh species is a high prioriy. Whole

cachmen proecion and managemen would be ideal or

reshwaer proeced areas, bu is exremely rare. Tus,

erresrial proeced areas need o be designed o ensure

ha imporan aquaic concerns, such as whole cachmenmanagemen inegriy and prevening inroducions o

non-naive species, are inegraed ino heir managemen

plans.

Aquaculure is rapidly replacing wild caugh sh [39].

o avoid he requenly damaging ecological and

environmenal impacs o sh culure, including he loss o

35% o he world’s mangroves [60] and he heavy reliance on

wild sh as aquaculure ood, i is imporan o improve our

undersanding o appropriae mehods or susainable

aquaculure.

Te public can help encourage he ransiion oward moresusainable sheries pracices hrough marke orces by

supporing independenly ceried susainable seaood.

Such iniiaives are gaining momenum.

In many places, good legislaion exiss ha would conserve

sh species i i were properly enorced. Tere is a need o

srenghen and enorce exising laws and develop new laws

ha ensure hreaened sh species are proeced and

sheries are susainably managed.

Conservaion

19

Plae 24. Presened in he original publicaion as Hirundo, Perca marina sectatrix & Perca uviatilis gibbosa ventre luteo.Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and heBahama Islands. 1731-43.



Amphibia

Plae 25. Hyla cinerea. Caesby:Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

20



Amphibia

Te rs amphibious erapods evolved almos 400million years ago during he Devonian period, originaing

rom sh ha had mulijoined leg-like ns (relaed o he

exan lungsh). Tese ransiional animals may have been

si-and-wai ambush predaors in shallow waers, similar o

modern-day pike, and are known rom ossils ound in

Europe, Norh America, Greenland and Ausralia [61-62].

Amphibians diversied ino several major lineages during

he subsequen Carbonierous period, many o which weresurdy, large-bodied, alligaor-like animals wih heavily

armoured skulls, very unlike oday’s small amphibian

species [3]. One o he primiive gian amphibians

( Koolasuchus) survived as a living ossil unil he Creaceous

period in Ausralia, abou 100 million years afer he

riassic-Jurassic exincion even during which he

oher primiive large amphibians o he same Order

disappeared [63].

oday, here are over 6,638 known species o amphibians,

arranged ino hree orders: rogs and oads, salamanders

and caecilians. Litle is known abou he caecilians [64]; as

underground burrowers hey are ideally suied o heir

liesyle wih an earhworm-shaped body, small eyes and no

limbs, bu hey are hereore generally dicul o survey and

monior [65]. Frogs and oads are by ar he mos species-rich

and successul living amphibian group, having colonised

every coninen wih he excepion o Anarcica. Te

majoriy o amphibians meamorphose rom adpoles o

aduls, ye cerain groups have oher mehods o

reproducion, including giving birh o live young, which

is common amongs he caecilians [64].

Evolutionary History of Amphibians

Ediors: Ariadne Angulo and Janine Grihs

21

Plae 26. Siphonops annulatus & Ichthyophis glutinosus.Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populärenNaurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichen

Haupormen. 1864.

Plae 27. Rana catesbeiana. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.



Figure 16: Global species richness o amphibians, based on an assessmen o 6,118 amphibian species.

Biogeography of Amphibians

Amphibian species richness varies subsanially among

coninens and laiudes, wih a greaer concenraion o

species in he Neoropical region o Souh and Cenral

America. Tereore, i is no surprise ha he counries and

regions wih greaes species richness globally are Brazil,

Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, ollowed by Mexico, Asia

and Arica (gure 16). Te souheasern USA also has highspecies richness owing o he large number o salamander

species naive o his region. In conras o oher erresrial

verebrae groups, here are relaively ew oceanic

island-endemic amphibians due o heir inolerance

o sal waer.

Plae 28. Rana arvalis. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina,Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

1 - 25

26 - 50

51 - 75

76 - 100

101 - 125

>125

Amphibian species richnessNumber o species

22



Status and Trends of the World’s Amphibians

A global assessmen indicaes ha 41% o he world’s

amphibians are hreaened wih exincion. Tis esimae

assumes ha Daa Decien species are hreaened in hesame proporion as daa sucien species. Esimaes range

rom 30% i all Daa Decien species are no hreaened

o 56% i all Daa Decien species are hreaened [14]. Te

IUCN Red Lis pie char in gure 17 shows 30% o

amphibian species are hreaened, which is he lowes

esimae. Among he verebraes, amphibians have he

highes proporion o Criically Endangered species and are

also he group suering he mos recen exincions.

Amphibians also have he highes proporion o Daa

Decien species o he verebrae groups, he majoriy o

which are ound in he ropics [66]. Te highes species richness o hreaened amphibian

species are ound in dense ropical and subropical

oresed areas o he world, such as hose o he

norhern Andes, he Caribbean region, Wesern Ghas,

Malaysian Borneo and Wes Arica (gure 18).

Figure 17: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o amphibians(6,284 species assessed).

Figure 18: Global species richness o hreaened amphibians, based on an assessmen o 1,890 amphibian species.

EX

EW

CR

EN

VU

NT

25.4%

<1%

7.7%

12.0%

10.5%

37.7%

6.1%

LC

DD

<1%

Saus o amphibians

1 - 8

9 - 16

17 - 24

25 - 32

33 - 40

>40

Treaened amphibian species richnessNumber o species

23



Te Living Plane Index or amphibians, wih populaion

rends or 357 populaions o 162 amphibian species, shows

an average o around 80% decline in hose populaions usedo calculae he index (gure 19). Due o he ac ha hese

daa are colleced rom he limied lieraure available on

amphibian populaion monioring and many sudies

specically ocus on declining populaions, he resuls

should be inerpreed wih cauion. Neverheless, here is

a grea deal o supporing evidence ha he group has

experienced a major crash in numbers since he

1970s [14, 19-20, 29, 67].

Figure 19: Living Plane Index or amphibians (357 populaions o 162 species).Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% condence limis.

A more recen ye considerable hrea is chyrid ungus

( Barachochyrium dendrobaidis). Firs described in 1999,

his ungus is now ound on every coninen inhabied by

amphibians and is presumed o be responsible or causing

mass moraliies amongs many populaions [68-70]. While

he ull exen o he eecs and ineracions o he chyrid

ungus are no ye undersood (in several insances a synergy

wih dry weaher spells and/or climae change is suspeced),

i could be paricularly problemaic in high aliude regionsand in species ha have resriced-range, aquaic liesyles

and low reproducive abiliy [19, 71-72].

Te one characerisic ha exemplies he majoriy o

amphibians is heir dependence on waer or reproducion

or oher sages o heir liecycle, and hereore he majoriy

o amphibians are ound in mois ropical oress and

reshwaer ecosysems. Unorunaely, hese habias are

under grea human pressure, which includes rapid

deoresaion, habia degradaion and polluion and

overuse o waer.

Habia loss is arguably he mos ubiquious hrea o

amphibians, in he orm o agriculure and aquaculure,

logging and developmen (gure 20).

Plae 29. riturus karelinii.Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populärenNaurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichenHaupormen. 1864.

rends in amphibian populaions

I n d e x V a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.40.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Treas o amphibians

24



Archey’s rog ( Leiopelma archeyi) is one o only our species

belonging o he endemic New Zealand genus Leiopelma.

Having diverged rom all oher amphibians in he lae

riassic period, he genus Leiopelma hereore represens

over 200 million years o unique evoluionary hisory.

Archey’s rog possesses many unusual rais: i does

no have eardrums or a vocal sac, so hereore canno croak;

i has inscripional ribs and ail-wagging muscles, alhough i

does no have a ail; i reproduces independen o waer and

he hached rogles are carried around on he male’s back;

and i swims wih an alernae-leg kick movemen, unlike

oher rogs. Archey’s rog is classied as Criically

Endangered due o an 80% reducion in he populaion size

in he las 10 years [46]. Tis devasaing decline is consideredo be primarily due o he eec o chyrid ungus [73].

Belonging o he Proeidae amily o salamanders ha

diverged around 190 million years ago, he olm ( Proeus

anguinus) is naive o reshwaer underground caves in

Europe. Recen sudies concluded ha hese adpole-like

amphibians can live up o 100 years and survive wihou

ood or up o 10 years. Te olm spends is enire lie in he

darkness o underground caves and so has developed

ranslucen skin and huns via an elecrosensiiviy

mechanism. I has an excellen sense o hearing and smell

which compensaes or eyesigh ha degeneraes wih age.

Te olm is classied as Vulnerable on he IUCN Red Lis,

owing o small and ragmened habia and suscepibiliy

o polluion [46].

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Amphibians

25

Figure 20: Global hreas o amphibian species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU)species aeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Noe - hese numbers may add up o morehan 1 because species are oen aeced by muliple hreas.

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1


Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries


Human disurbance

Polluion


Change in re regime



Huning / rapping

Naive species


Logging




Te Surinam oads (genus Pipa) and Darwin’s rogs (genus

Rhinoderma) have boh evolved remarkable reproducive

sraegies. Surinam oads diverged rom heir closes

relaives around 120 million years ago. Te male erilises

he eggs on he emale’s back, afer which he skin around

he eggs swells unil hey are encased as developing embryos.

Here hey remain hroughou he adpole sage beore

bursing ou o her back as developed rogles. While mos

Surinam oads are classied as Leas Concern, Myers’

Surinam oad ( Pipa myersi) is classied as Endangered.

Te genus Rhinoderma has jus wo species: Chile Darwin’s

rog and Darwin’s rog, boh o which are mouh-brooding

rogs. Afer he eggs are erilised and guarded by he male

Darwin’s rogs, he adpoles are ingesed by he male andspend several weeks in his vocal sac meamorphosing, unil

hey hop ou o his mouh as developed rogles. Chile

Darwin’s rog eggs are also swallowed by he male ino his

vocal sac, where hey remain unil he adpoles develop jaws

and digesive sysems, whereupon hey are released ino

suiable reshwaer habia o coninue meamorphosis.

Chile Darwin’s rog is lised as Criically Endangered,

alhough recen surveys sugges his rog may already

be exinc.

According o he IUCN Red Lis o Treaened Species, a

oal o 37 exincions have been lised or amphibians, wih

an addiional wo species assessed as Exinc in he Wild.However, in oal here are currenly a urher 157

amphibian species which, alhough ocially classied as

Criically Endangered, are eared exinc [46].

Some o he mos recen species o have disappeared include

he gasric brooding rogs, Rheobarachus silus and

Rheobarachus viellinus , boh o which disappeared in he

mid-1980s. Tis was he only known genus where he

emale incubaed her young in her somach. Te reasons or

decline are unknown, alhough habia loss, invasive species

and chyrid ungus are all suspeced conribuing acors [46].

Anoher amous recen amphibian disappearance is he

golden oad ( Incilius periglenes). Tis previously common

oad was ound in he ropical oress o Cosa Rica and huge

declines have been atribued o resriced range, polluion,

climae change and/or chyrid ungus. Te las individual o

his brighly coloured and charismaic species was recorded

in 1989 [46].

Evoluion los

Plae 31. Pipa pipa. Shaw: Te nauralis’s miscellany. 1790.

Plae 30. Rhinoderma darwinii.Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populärenNaurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichenHaupormen. 1864.

26



27

One o he ew amphibian species believed o have disappeared beore he lae 20h cenuryis he Las Vegas Valley leopard og ( Lihobaes fsheri , ormerly Rana fsheri ). Tis species

is par o a crypic species complex o closely relaed large, black-spoted green ogs

disribued across Norh and Cenral America, which show complicaed paterns o

geographical and morphological variaion ha have presened a major challenge o

axonomiss and a ascinaing case sudy or evoluionary biologiss [74].

Te Las Vegas Valley leopard og was rs described in 1893 and had a very resriced

range, only being known om springs and sreams isolaed by surrounding deser in he

norhern par o Las Vegas Valley in Clark Couny, Nevada. Te las wo specimens o hespecies were colleced in 1941, and alhough he ollowing year he splashes o unidenied

ogs jumping ino he waer were heard by wo visiing herpeologiss, A. A. Wrigh and A.

H. Wrigh, no leopard ogs were seen [75]. Te disappearance o he species is probably

associaed wih depleion o spring waer and ground waer accompanying he major

urbanisaion ha ook place in he Las Vegas Valley associaed wih he expansion o he

ciy o Las Vegas om he 1940s onwards, ollowing he legalisaion o gambling in 1931.

Te Wrighs repored ha several o he springs where he leopard og had ormerly been

ound during he early 20h cenury had been replaced by a municipal gol course and a sh

hachery. Te regional inroducion o bullogs ( Lihobaes caesbeianus ), craysh and

game sh may also have conribued o he disappearance o he leopard og.


Plae 32. Rösel vonRosenho. Hisorianauralis ranarumnosraium –

Fronispiece. 1753-58.



Like all erresrial verebraes, habia loss and degradaion

in he orm o land conversion or agriculure, aquaculure,

logging and urban developmen is by ar he number onehrea aecing mos amphibians. Creaing new proeced

areas and biological corridors and supporing hose already

in place o ensure proper managemen and enorcemen, are

key or he survival o many species, no jus amphibians.

Tis is paricularly rue given ha he iny range sizes o

many amphibian species mean ha saeguarding imporan

sies is essenial or heir conservaion; 408 amphibian

species rigger he crieria or ideniying Alliance or Zero

Exincion sies holding he enire global populaion o a

leas one Criically Endangered or Endangered species,

more species han any oher axon [76]. In addiion, less

convenional approaches, such as privae conservaion areas,

land-use agreemens wih environmenally conscious

landowners, and communiy sewardship projecs, are

gaining racion and have he poenial o be very eecive

in curbing habia loss and degradaion.

Addressing he spread and impac o chyrid ungus is also

an imporan research and conservaion acion. Recenresearch developmens have shown promising poenial or

in siu reamen o chyrid ungus. One research line

suggess ha naural baceria may have an inhibiing eec

on he ungus, while anoher, more recen research line

suggess ha reducing ungal loads may increase he odds o

populaion persisence. Tese resuls are encouraging, as up

unil recenly i was hough ha here was no way o address

he eecs o chyrid ungus in he wild.

Field work encompassing populaion managemen

approaches (or example, removal o individuals, applicaion

o baceria or aniungal componens) has he poenial oaec he dynamics o chyrid ungus and hereore he

survival o populaions in he wild.

Alhough comparaively lower on he scale o hreas,

amphibian harvesing and rade, boh a he inernaional

and regional levels is a subjec ha is gaining increasing

atenion. Recen sudies are srongly suggesive ha

amphibian harves and rade levels are on he increase, are

likely unsusainable and have so ar gone largely unregulaed

and unmoniored. In addiion, he exising inernaional

harmonised rade coding sysem is inadequae or capuring

deailed rade inormaion. Monioring, reporing

and cericaion o amphibians in rade as well as a revision

o he exising rade code, are all necessary o beter

documen curren paterns and inorm conservaion acions.

Perhaps no acion is quie as imporan as inorming and

involving he general public in he pligh acing amphibians.

Much o he challenge in amphibian conservaion is

successully engaging a diverse range o sakeholders in he

amphibian crisis in a susained manner, so public oureach

and educaional programmes are very urgen acions.

Plae 33. Xenopus laevis & Pipa pipa. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibien inihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

Conservaion

28



Reptilia

Plae 34. Anolis carolinensis. Caesby:Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

29



Reptilia

Repiles are a diverse verebrae group ha breahe

air, lay ough-shelled eggs (alhough some are

live-bearing) and have skin covered wih scales.

Tey have been a key componen o erresrial

biodiversiy since he Lae Palaeozoic era and are

he group rom which boh birds and mammals have

evolved. Te rs rue repilian amnioes (verebraes

ha lay amnioic eggs) evolved rom labyrinhodon

amphibians during he Carbonierous period around320-310 million years ago, bu hey remained a small,

relaively inconspicuous par o he erresrial

verebrae auna unil he subsequen Permian

period, when hey diversied ino a wide range o

ecomorphs - morphologically adaping o he

changing environmen [77-78].

Dieren repile groups are dened by he number o openings hey possess in he emporal region o he

skull. Te earlies repiles, he anapsids, lacked any

emporal openings. Te amnioes subsequenly

diverged ino wo major lineages, each wih more

openings in he back o he skull o accommodae jaw

musculaure and permi a more powerul bie: he

synapsids (wih one emporal opening) and he

diapsids (wih wo emporal openings). Oher han

urles and oroises, all living “repiles” – crocodiles,

lizards, snakes and uaara – are diapsids, and during

he Mesozoic era he archosaur lineage o diapsids

also evolved ino dinosaurs and birds. Tere are

jus over 9,000 species o repile alive oday [16].

Te larges living species is he salwaer crocodile,

bu he larges dinosaurs exceeded 100 onnes in

body mass [79].

Evolutionary History of Reptiles

Ediors: Neil Cox, Monika Böhm and Peer Paul van Dijk

Plae 35. Iguana iguana. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

30



Biogeography of Reptiles

Figure 21: Global species richness o repiles, based on an assessmen o 1,496 repile species.‘err’ idicaes erresrial species and ‘w’ indicaes reshwaer species.

As ye, he global assessmen o repiles has no been

compleed, and he Sampled Red Lis approach [15, 18] has

been used o provide an indicaion o he curren saus

o repiles. Te sample is sucien o provide a global

indicaion o he saus o he group and is major hreas, bu may underrepresen some geographic areas where

number o species or hreaened species is relaively low.

Alhough repiles are ofen he dominan verebraes

o arid regions, mos species are disribued in he

ropical oress o souheas Asia and Souh America

(gure 21). Indonesia has he highes species richness o

repiles, alhough many oher species-rich regions, such as

he Congo basin are lacking in horough repilian surveys,

and migh yield higher species couns in he uure. Te

marine repiles, predominanly sea snakes, marine urles

and crocodilians, reach heir highes diversiy in he

Indo-wes Pacic, cenral Indo-Pacic, Souh China

and Coral seas [80].

>1 - 0.004

>0.004 - 0.008

>0.008 - 0.012

>0.012 - 0.016

>0.016 - 0.02

>0.02

>0 - 0.05

>0.05 - 0.1

>0.1 - 0.15

>0.15 - 0.2

>0.2 - 0.25

>0.25

err/w repile species richnessProporion o species

Marine repile species richnessProporion o species

Plae 36. Alligator mississippiensis. Caesby:Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he BahamaIslands. 1731-43.

31



Status and Trends of the World’s Reptiles

An assessmen o a represenaive sample o 1,500

species suggess ha nearly 22% o he world’s repiles

are hreaened wih exincion. Tis esimae assumesha Daa Decien species are hreaened in he same

proporion as daa sucien species. Esimaes range rom

18% i all Daa Decien species are no hreaened o 37%

i all Daa Decien species are hreaened [80]. Te IUCN

Red Lis pie char in gure 22 shows 18% o repile species

are hreaened, which is he lowes esimae. Jus over hal

o he world’s assessed repiles are caegorised as Leas

Concern. More research is needed o deermine he saus

o he remaining 19.2% o sampled Daa Decien repiles.

Te conservaion saus o repiles varies grealy beween

groups; in paricular, a high proporion o crocodilians and

chelonians are hreaened compared wih a relaively lower

number o snakes.

Te highes species richness o hreaened repiles are ound

in he ropics, paricularly in souh and souheas Asia and

he Ganges basin (gure 23) where exensive habia lossand overexploiaion have aken place [24, 81].

Figure 22: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o repiles(1,500 species assessed)

Figure 23: Global species richness o hreaened repiles, based on an assessmen o 235 repile species

Saus o repiles

19.2%

7.2%

8.9%

4.7%

58.2%1.9%

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

>0 - 0.005

>0.005 - 0.01

>0.01 - 0.015

>0.015 - 0.02

>0.02 - 0.025

>0.025

>0 - 0.2

>0.2 - 0.4

>0.4

Treaened erresrial repile richnessProporion o species

Treaened marine repile richnessProporion o species

Plae 37. Dermochelys coriacea. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibienin ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

32



Te Living Plane Index or repiles racks rends in 249

populaions o 71 repile species and indicaes ha he

numbers o repiles have ucuaed over ime, bu wih anoverall decline o around 7% (gure 24). I should be noed

ha he daase is relaively small and he condence

inervals are large. However, wih 18% o he world’s

repiles hreaened wih exincion, i is likely ha i major

populaion declines have no already occurred, hey can be

expeced in he near uure. Tis gure or he whole Class

also masks he rapid decline in cerain orders such as urles

and oroises, and worrying signs are being seen in cerain

regional-scale analyses o snakes [82] , hough such ndings

are ye o be corroboraed a a global level.

Habia loss is by ar he greaes hrea o repiles,

principally in he orm o agriculural expansion, logging and

urban developmen resuling in habia degradaion or losso range (gure 25). Huning, rapping and overharvesing

are paricular hreas o non-erresrial repiles (especially

urles), wih species subjec o overexploiaion or boh

consumpion and he pe rade. erresrial oroises are also

aeced by such argeed collecion, puting he enire order

a risk.

Figure 24: Living Plane Index or repiles (249 populaions o 71 species).

Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% condence limis.

Plae 38. Crocodylus niloticus. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Amphibienin ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1864.

rends in repile populaions Treas o repiles

I n d e x V a l u e

( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

33



Figure 25: Global hreas o repile species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened(CR, EN, VU) species aeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis.Noe - hese numbers may add up o more han 1 because species are oen aeced by muliple hreas.

Plae 39. Sistrurus miliarius. Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina, Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

34

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1


Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries


Human disurbance

Polluion


Change in re regime



Huning / rapping

Naive species


Logging




Te Brohers Island uaara (Sphenodon gunheri) is one

o he mos evoluionarily disinc and globally endangeredrepiles. I is one o only wo species ha make up he order

Sphenodonia [83]. Boh species o uaara (which may

possibly be geographic varians o he same species)

are limied in disribuion o he islands o mainland

New Zealand. Alhough many more members o his order

are known rom he ossil record, hese are now exinc and

hereore he genus Sphenodon represens 200 million years

o disinc evoluionary hisory.

uaara has he lieral meaning ‘peaks on he back’ in Maori,

reerring o a dening characerisic o he uaara: o he

disinc cres o large riangular scales running over he

spine. Tey have a unique combinaion o unusual atribues,

including he presence o a ‘hird eye’ which is hough o be

used or absorbing and sensing ulraviole ligh; he lack o

an exernal ear, ye possession o adequae hearing; he lack

o a penis in males, hus maing dierenly rom all oher

repiles; wo rows o eeh in he upper jaw; and young

uaara are diurnal huners, possibly in response o he

nocurnal, cannibalisic behaviour o aduls. uaaras are

believed o have he slowes growh rae o all repiles.

Growing or he rs 35 years o lie, hey are believed o

have a liespan o around 100 years, alhough a capive male

uaara recenly became a aher or he rs ime a he age

o 111.

Te Brohers Island uaara (Sphenodon gunheri) is

currenly caegorised as Vulnerable and he Cook Sraiuaara (Sphenodon puncaus) is caegorised as Leas

Concern, alhough reassessmens are required.

Conservaion measures are currenly ocusing on pes and

predaor removal rom he islands inhabied by uaara and

on habia resoraion eors.

Te Cenral American river urle ( Dermaemys mawii)

is a large, compleely aquaic urle rom souhernMexico, Belize and Guaemala. I is he las surviving species

o he amily Dermaemydidae, a amily ha once had a wide

disribuion across wha is now Norh America daing back

o he Eocene Epoch around 34-56 million years ago. I is

inensively exploied or is mea, which is paricularly in

demand during Easer. I is now classied as Criically

Endangered [46].

Te gharial (Gavialis gangeicus) is he only remaining

species in he ancien amily Gavialidae, and wih ewer han

250 maure breeding individuals lef in he wild, his repile

is classied as Criically Endangered by he IUCN. One o

he larges o he crocodiles, he male gharial can grow 6-7

meres in lengh. Te gharial has a characerisic long snouand maure males also have a ghara on he end o he snou:

a bulbous growh ha can make a buzzing noise as air passes

hrough he nasal passage. Gharials have sensory organs on

he scales o heir lower body which are considered o ac

as saliniy recepors and have dermal pressure recepors on

he scales along he jaw o deec prey vibraions [84]. Once

ound in regions o souh Asia, he gharial is now only ound

in India and Nepal and is hreaened wih habia desrucion

and illegal shing mehods[46]

.

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Reptiles

Plae 40. Sphenodon. Lydekker: Te royal naural hisory. 1896.

35



Alhough he gian oroises o he Galápagos Islands (genus Geochelone ) are scienic icons, mos amous or having helped Charles Darwin o recognise he process o evoluion

hrough naural selecion, evoluionary radiaions o gian oroises are also characerisic

o many oher island aunas. Te only oher surviving insular gian oroises (genus

Aldabrachelys and Dipsochelys ) are ound oday on he Seychelles, bu ve oher Indian

Ocean species o gian oroise in he exinc genus Cylindraspis also survived on he

Mascarene Islands unil he arrival o European raders and setlers in he hisorical era.

Tese oroises reached he remoe Mascarene Islands by overwaer dispersal om

Madagascar (which was also home o gian oroises unil he arrival o he rs humans),

whereby hey became he dominan erresrial herbivores o Mascarene ecosysems. In heabsence o any naive land mammals, hey los many ani-predaor adapaions: hey had

no heavy scales on heir ore and hind limbs and heir shell was very hin (ypically only

2 mm in hickness). A similar loss o ani-predaor adapaions is also displayed o a lesser

exen by Galápagos oroises, and oroises on boh island groups show he repeaed

convergen evoluion o animals wih characerisic saddleback shells, which may coner

an adapive advanage in dry, open, shrubby habias.

Early visiors o he Mascarene Islands repored he presence o huge numbers o oroises

which were soon massively overexploied or ood. One 18h cenury raveller o Rodrigues

repored ha “in he hree and a hal monhs ha I spen on he island, we ae almos

nohing else: oroise soup, ied oroise, sewed oroise, oroise eggs, oroise liver”. Oil

was exraced by boiling he oroises in huge numbers, wih 400-500 animals needed o

make a single barrel. Similar numbers o oroises were also loaded ono ships o provide

ood or ongoing sea voyages. Ineresingly, whereas here was litle conemporary ineres

in he exisence or ae o he dodo ( Raphus cucullaus ) – now he mos amous exinc

species om he Mascarenes – he ongoing slaugher o gian oroises elicied commen om

numerous observers and led o proecive legislaion on Réunion in 1671. Oher hisorical

commenaors blamed inroduced mammals such as pigs and cas or desroying oroise

ness and killing heir young. oroises became exinc on Mauriius and Rodrigues during he 18h cenury, and he las survivors o his evoluionary radiaion persised unil he

1840s on Réunion [87].


36

Plate 41. Giant tortoises of the Galapagos. Lydekker: Te royal natural history. 1896.



37

As wih oher verebrae groups, habia loss and

ragmenaion remain he main hreas o repile species

and conservaion responses in his regard are similar ohose oulined or amphibians. Te now undeniable

warming o he world’s climae is increasingly recognised

as a hrea o repile species. A recen sudy suggess ha as

many as 40% o global lizard populaions could be exinc

primarily due o climae change by 2080 [88]. Many repile

species have emperaure-dependen sex deerminaion,

and he eecs o changing emperaures on populaion

dynamics may be signican. Te clearly idenied soluion

o his global problem or lie is he reducion o carbon

emissions hrough he adopion o renewable energy sources

and he conservaion and resoraion o remaining racs

o ores.

Repiles are requenly harvesed or rapped by people or

heir mea, skin, venom or or he pe rade. Te uilisaion

o repiles ranges rom subsisence collecion (ofen by

some o he world’s poores people) o large-scale

commercial inernaional rade. Regulaed susainable rade

(wih appropriae levels o monioring and enorcemen)can bene he conservaion o repile species. Inernaional

rade in several repile groups, mos especially urles and

crocodilians, is moniored and regulaed by he Convenion

on Inernaional rade in Endangered Species. I is hoped

ha where species are seen o be o commercial value he

incenive will exis o mainain viable populaions.

Some repile species, mos noably snakes, are requenly

persecued by people. Snakes are regularly killed on sighregardless o wheher hey pose a hrea o people or no.

In many insances he species may be benecial o people

hrough heir predaory conrol o mice, ras and oher

vermin. Only hrough beter educaion o people o lessen

he ear associaed wih snakes and simulae an appreciaion

or heir ecological role will his ancien hrea be miigaed.

Te inroducion o animals and plans ouside o heir

naural ranges is a well-known hrea o many species and

repiles are no excepion. Inroduced pigs and oher exoic

mammalian predaors are major acors in he decline o

urle and oher repile species. Conrol programmes o

invasive species can be cosly, bu may represen he las

hope or many repiles.

Conservaion

Plae 42. omistoma schlegelii.Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären

Naurgeschiche der Amphibien in ihren sämmlichenHaupormen. 1864.

According o he IUCN Red Lis o Treaened Species, 20

repile species have become Exinc and one species Exinc

in he Wild since 1500 AD

[46]

.

Examples o evoluionarily disinc species ha have already

disappeared included hree monoypic (single species)

genera o repiles. Te Round Island boa ( Bolyeria

mulocarinaa) rom Mauriius ormerly inhabied he

opsoil layers o palm oress. Te inroducion o rabbis and

goas in 1840 resuled in he overgrazing and deerioraion o

his habia and he species has no been recorded since 1975[85]. Te Cape Verde gian skink ( Macroscincus cocei) appears

o have been resriced in range o he deser islands o

Brancho and Razo (Cape Verde) in he Alanic Ocean.

Te leading causes o exincion are believed o be prolonged

drough and overharvesing o he species or ood and

medicinal use by people rom neighbouring islands. I

was las recorded in he early 20h cenury [46]. Te

large-bodied ongan ground skink (achygyia microlepis),

known rom only wo specimens, is likely o have become

exinc ollowing exensive habia conversion rom naive

ores o agriculural land, hrough predaion by inroducedanimals and possibly also because o earlier huning by

people or ood [46, 86].

Evoluion los



38

Mammalia

Plae 43. Petaurista petaurista.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.



Mammalia

Whereas repiles and birds represen he sauropsid lineageo he amnioes, mammals have evolved rom he second

amnioe lineage: he synapsids or “mammal-like repiles”.

Te earlies synapsid group rom he Carbonierous and

Permian periods were he dominan land verebraes or

around 40 million years. Tese animals had airly

sandard repilian physical characerisics wih a sprawling

gai, alhough several carnivorous and herbivorous species

possessed all ‘sails’ on heir backs, consising o elongaed

verebral spines covered wih skin which may have evolvedor hermoregulaion or display [3]. Subsequen repilian

synapsids, he herapsids, show adapaions owards

progressively becoming warm-blooded and having a higher

meabolic rae and uprigh gai, probably associaed wih

selecive pressures or an acive carnivorous liesyle [89].

Because modern mammalian sof-issue eaures such as

hair and mammary glands are no preserved in he ossil

record, he appearance o he rs rue mammals during he

Mesozoic era is dened by he patern o evoluion o he

bones o he inner ear; in non-mammalian synapsids, he

malleus and incus bones are sill atached o he jaw join,

bu in rue mammals hese bones have moved o he middle

ear o ampliy sounds and allow more acue hearing [89].

Evolutionary History of Mammals

Ediors: Luigi Boiani and Carlo Rondinini

Te rs rue mammals appeared during he Lae riassic

or Early Jurassic period around 210 million years ago.

By his ime in Earh’s hisory, erresrial ecosysems were

dominaed by dinosaurs and oher sauropsids, and alhough

Mesozoic mammals diversied ino several successul

groups, hey generally remained small-bodied and probably

nocurnal. Te larges known Mesozoic mammal,

Repenomamus giganicus , was abou he size o a asmanian

devil (abou 12 o 14 kg) and ed on juvenile dinosaurs [90].

Following he exincion o he dinosaurs 65 million

years ago, mammals underwen a major evoluionary

radiaion [91-92] , hough modern molecular evidence

suggess ha he oundaions or he evoluionary radiaion

o presen-day mammals may have been laid much earlier [93].

Regardless, mammals came o dominae erresrial

ecosysems, wih some lineages evolving powered

igh and secondarily re-colonising aquaic ecosysems.

Modern mammals range in body mass rom he 1.6 gram

Kiti’s hog-nosed ba o he 160 onne blue whale.

Living mammals are classied ino hree major groups,

dened primarily by dieren reproducive sraegies.

Monoremes lay eggs insead o giving birh o live young;

marsupials give birh o small, relaively undeveloped

young, which are hen carried in a pouch; and placenals,

he mos diverse living mammal group, give birh o larger,

well-developed young ha ypically require a reduced

amoun o posnaal provisioning. Tere are over 5,000

species o living mammals arranged ino 29 orders

[94]

,hough esimaes sugges ha more han 7,000 living

species o mammals may evenually be recognised [95].

Plae 44. arsipes rostratus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

Plae 45. Balaena mysticetus. Fizinger: Bilder-Alas zur wissenschalich-populären Naurgeschiche der Säugehierein ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. 1860.

39



Mammals are ound across he world’s erresrial and aquaic

environmens (gure 26). Souh America, sub-Saharan

Arica and souheas Asia conain he highes concenraionso species o erresrial mammals, wih he highes species

richness ound in he ropical rainoress o Brazil and

Indonesia. Alhough aquaic mammals are ound in every

ocean, coninenal coaslines are he areas o he highes

species richness.

Te IUCN Red Lis assessmen o he world’s mammals

indicaes 25% o mammal species are hreaened wih

exincion. Tis esimae assumes ha Daa Decienspecies are hreaened in he same proporion as daa

sucien species. Esimaes range rom 21% i all Daa

Decien species are no hreaened o 36% i all Daa

Decien species are hreaened [12, 46]. Te IUCN Red Lis

pie char in gure 27 shows ha 21% o mammal species are

hreaened, which is he lowes esimae. O he mammal

species classied as Daa Decien, 80% are ound in he

ropics. ropical regions are undergoing some o he mos

rapid raes o land conversion and are subjec o widespread

developmen.

Bas and rodens are he wo mos numerous orders o

mammals, bu he highes proporion o hreaened species

are ound in he Monoremaa (egg-laying mammals)

and Perissodacyla (odd-oed ungulaes).

Biogeography of Mammals

Figure 26: Global species richness o mammals, based on an assessmen o 5,424 mammal species

1 - 40

41 - 80

81 - 120

121 - 160

161 - 200

>200

1 - 6

7 - 12

13 - 18

19 - 24

25 - 30

>30

erresrial mammal species richnessNumber o species

Marine mammal species richnessNumber o species

Saus o mammals

15.2%

8.2%

9.0%

56.9%

1.4%

EX

EW

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

3.4%

5.9%

Figure 27: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o mammals(5,489 species assessed)

<1%

40



Te greaes species richness o hreaened erresrial

mammals is ound in souheas Asia which is undergoing

rapid raes o habia degradaion

[24, 81]

. Te counries wihhe mos hreaened species include Mexico, Indonesia,

Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Vienam, and hey are

hereore he counries where conservaion eors should

be ocused in he ollowing decades. Te greaes species

richness o hreaened aquaic mammals is ound around he

coasal regions o Asia, Japan and in he norh Alanic and

norh Pacic, all regions ha have been hisorically subjec

o inense overshing (gure 28) [39].

Te Living Plane Index o erresrial mammals racks he

ae o 1,307 populaions o 360 erresrial mammal species

and shows a seady decrease in global abundance since he1990s, wih an overall 25% reducion (gure 30). Marine

mammals are currenly omited rom his analysis as he daa

are oo sparse o make a robus index; however, ceaceans

have experienced a well-documened dramaic decline over

he pas cenury [96].

Globally, he highes proporions o erresrial mammals

are locaed in ores habias and he majoriy o aquaic

mammals are ound in inland welands. Wih increasing

deoresaion and coasal developmen, habia desrucion

is he bigges hrea o all erresrial mammal species

(gure 29), especially rom logging, wood harvesing and

small-holder arming. Anoher hrea o mammals is

overexploiaion. Huning, boh or spor and subsisence

o local human populaions and or use in radiional

medicines, is hreaening he uure o numerous species. All o hese hreas are direcly linked o he growh o

human populaions and heir increasing exploiaion o

wild habias and species.

Figure 28: Global species richness o hreaened mammals, based on an assessmen o 5,424 mammal species

rends in erresrial mammal populaions

1 - 10

11 - 20

21 - 30

31 - 40

41 - 50

>50

1 - 2

3 - 4

5 - 6

7 - 8

9 - 10

Treaened erresrial mammal richnessNumber o species

Treaened marine mammal richnessNumber o species

Plae 46. Rhinolophus megaphyllus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

Treas o mammals

41



Figure 29: Global hreas o mammal species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU) species aeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Noe - hese numbers may add up o more han 1 because species are oenaeced by muliple hreas.

Figure 30: Living Plane Index or erresrial mammals (1,307 populaions o 360 species). Index value shown in bold line, shadedarea shows 95% condence limis.

I n d e x V

a l u e ( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

42

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1


Dams/waer managemen

Fisheries


Human disurbance

Polluion


Change in re regime



Huning / rapping

Naive species


Logging




Monoremes are he mos ancien lineage wihin modern

mammals, having diverged beore he evoluion o many characerisic mammalian eaures such as giving birh o

live young. Te only surviving members o his clade are

he duck-billed playpus and our echidna species.

Te hree long-beaked echidnas are endemic o New Guinea

(Zaglossus atenboroughi, Z. baroni and Z. bruijnii). Tese

species are covered in spines which become ully erec when

hreaened and hey have long snous which accoun or

wo-hirds o he lengh o he head and ongues covered in

spikes in lieu o eeh. Wih huge populaion decreases anda hrea o habia loss and radiional huning using rained

dogs, all hree long-beaked echidna species are now classied

as Criically Endangered [46]. Increased awareness amongs

local communiies, ull legal proecion and educaional and

monioring programmes are necessary o proec he 20

million years o evoluionary hisory represened by hese

echidnas and he 180 million years o evoluionary hisory

represened by he ancien monoremes as a whole.

Naive o Madagascar, he ossa (Crypoproca erox) has

hisorically caused much conusion amongs axonomiss wih is shor dog-like muzzle ye sharp semi-reracable

ca-like claws. An unusual characerisic o his species is

is ‘maing ree’ sysem, whereby a single emale climbs high

up a ree and maes wih a number o males who have

congregaed lower down he same ree. Afer a week, he

emale is replaced by anoher and he riual coninues, wih

he same selec ree used or many breeding seasons,

spanning numerous years. Te ossa is now classied as he

only exan species in he genus Crypoproca and ispopulaion is esimaed o be around 2,500 individuals.

Te mounain pygmy possum ( Burramys parvus) is only

ound in hree isolaed and disinc populaions a elevaions

above 1,400 meres in Ausralia’s alpine region. Tis 45 gram

nocurnal, hibernaing marsupial has a range o around

7 km2 , which unorunaely also coincides wih many

downhill skiing resors. Tis species is principally hreaened

wih habia loss due o urban developmens or ski spors,

hough he eecs o climae change are also prediced o

have a signican impac on his species in he uure.

Classied as Criically Endangered, his possum has an

esimaed populaion o around 2,200 individuals and is

he only exan species o he genus Burramys.

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Mammals

Plae 47. Ornithorhynchus anatinus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

43

Plae 48. Cryptoprocta erox.ransacions o he Zoological Sociey o London. 1835.



Seveny-six mammal species are classied as Exinc by

IUCN, wih a urher wo Exinc in he Wild since 1500

AD. However, many more have been classied as ‘Criically Endangered: Possibly Exinc’ [46] , so may have been los.

A number o evoluionarily disinc mammals have recenly

disappeared. Te crescen nailail wallaby (Onychogalea

lunaa) rom cenral Ausralia was las reliably recorded in

he1950s. Tis mammal was predaed by oxes and cas and

hreaened by habia loss and degradaion. Te Caribbean

monk seal ( Monachus ropicalis) has no been seen since

1952. Te blue-grey mouse ( Pseudomys glaucus) was las

recorded in 1956. One o he mos noable evoluionarily

disinc species o disappear is he Guam ying ox

( Peropus okudae) – he species has no been recorded

wih cerainy since 1968. Huned or ood, is

overexploiaion was he probable cause or is demise [46].

However, i is exremely dicul o declare he nal saus

or species ha have no been seen or decades and could,

heoreically, have survived in small pockes o habia and

a very low densiy [97-100].

Te conservaion o mammals – wih ranges spanning all

coninens and oceans, wih species ranging several orders

o magniude in size and occupying all ypes o ecologicalsysems – is no an easy ask. Like oher verebrae groups,

eecive proeced area managemen combined

wih a landscape- or seascape-scale approach is he mos

imporan conservaion acion in he shor erm [103].

However, such eors are under increasing pressure wih

growing global demand or oresry producs, minerals,

energy-relaed resources and bushmea. Te impac o

climae change urher complicaes uure sraegies.

Te need o ace he immediacy o species surviving wih

ew individuals has ofen capured mos o he available

conservaion resources, especially when hese species are

large charismaic animals well known o he public.

However, argeing highly hreaened species is jus one o

he sraegies or conservaion and canno remain he only

one. Tere is an urgen need o re-inegrae he conservaion

o rare populaions wih ha o all mammals under a broader

ramework ha can bring ogeher eecive policy and

argeed research. Tis is he rs and mos imporansoluion ha we need o implemen in order o opimise he

limied nancial resources available o conservaion. Global

daabases eauring mammal disribuion, hrea caegories

and conservaion needs are now available ha would

suppor his kind o approach, or example he Global

Mammal Assessmen. Tis provides a reerence ool or large

conservaion non-governmenal organisaions and unding

agencies o guide aciviies and inernaional cooperaion.

Te conservaion unis and echniques ha are currenly

available are likely o remain he core o mos conservaion

acion (endemic species, species which carr y disinc

evoluionary signicance, proeced areas, habia

managemen and resoraion, exploiaion conrol, economic

incenives, compensaion paymens and so orh), bu we

also need o be more innovaive on ad hoc soluions o

ecological and socio-economic condiions a he counry

level. Te mere applicaion o he usual conservaion ools

wihou a global sraegic ramework may yield some

success, bu has shown limiaions on a larger scale.

Evoluion los Conservaion

Plae 49. Dusicyon australis. Mivar: A monograph o he Canidae. 1890.

44



A species ha is cerainly exinc is he Falkland wol or ox ( Dusicyon ausralis ), locallyknown as he warrah, and i remains one o he mos enigmaic and poorly undersood

carnivore species. As island aunas ypically lack mammalian carnivores, he wol was

he only land mammal ound on he Falkland Islands, and he quesion o how he species

reached hese remoe islands – which are approximaely 480 kilomeres om he Souh

American mainland – has long been debaed. Te morphological characerisics o he

Falkland wol have been variously inerpreed by dieren researchers as indicaing a close

phylogeneic relaionship wih Souh American oxes, Norh American coyoes or domesic

dogs. I has someimes been considered ha he ‘species’ may in ac be nohing more han

a eral dog populaion and he Souh American equivalen o a dingo, inroduced o heislands by Amerindians. However, recen geneic analysis has revealed ha he Falkland

wol is a disinc species ha was in ac mos closely relaed o he Souh American maned

wol ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ), and ha dieren Falkland wol specimens sampled or he

sudy las shared a common ancesor around 330,000 years ago, indicaing ha he species

had colonised he islands wihou human assisance by he lae Pleisocene [101].

Te Falkland wol was rs discovered in 1690 and was sill relaively common when

Charles Darwin visied he Falkland Islands in 1833. However, Darwin noed ha “wihin

a very ew years aer hese islands shall have become regularly setled, in all probabiliy

his ox will be classed wih he dodo, as an animal which has perished om he ace o he

Earh.” As exincion was only widely recognised as a real phenomenon by he scienic

communiy a he very end o he 18h cenury, Darwin’s observaion represens one o he

rs recorded insances o a hisorical observer realising ha a paricular species was in

danger o exincion. Te Falkland wol displayed exreme naiveé owards humans, a rai

commonly displayed by isolaed island species, and was hereore very easy o cach and kill.

Shorly aer Darwin’s visi, he species became exploied commercially or is ur. Following

he inroducion o sheep o he Falkland Islands by Scotish setlers, he wolves were urher

persecued wih poisoning campaigns. Te las known Falkland wol is believed o have

been killed in 1876 [102]. Alhough live animals were exhibied by he Zoological Sociey o London in he 19h cenury, relaively ew museum specimens o his inriguing species are

known o exis.


45

Plae 49. Dusicyon australis. Mivar: A monograph o he Canidae. 1890.



Aves

Plae 50. Epimachus astuosus.Bowdler Sharpe: Monograph o he Paradiseidae. 1891-98.

46



Aves

Insighs rom he ossil record abou he rs birds, and heevoluion o igh have been a cenral opic in evoluionary

biology or 150 years. In 1860, jus one year afer he

publicaion o Darwin’s “Origin o Species”, a ossil bird

eaher was discovered in a limesone quarry conaining

lae Jurassic deposis near Solnhoen in Germany. Te

rs skeleon o he earlies known bird, he magpie-sized

Archaeoperyx , was excavaed rom Solnhoen he ollowing

year. Archaeoperyx displays a mosaic o avian and repilian

eaures, including broad wings and eahers, jaws wih sharpeeh, hree ngers wih claws and a long bony ail – making

i a classic ‘missing link’ in evoluionary biology [104]. More

recenly, Early Creaceous period ossil beds rom norheas

China have been ound o conain a variey o ossils o early

birds and eahered dinosaurs. Tese exraordinary ossils

have helped o reconsruc he early evoluionary hisory

o birds, and i is now generally acceped ha birds evolved

rom small carnivorous dinosaurs [105]. Birds are hereore

phylogeneically conained wihin he Dinosauria and

represen he only dinosaurs o have survived he

end-Creaceous mass exincion 65 million years ago ha

sill occur oday.

Te Cenozoic era winessed subsanial evoluionary change

and speciaion among birds, and oday here are over 10,000

species in 23 orders [106]. Birds are a highly diverse group,

ranging rom hummingbirds weighing jus a ew grams o he

recenly exinc ighless gian elephan birds ( Aepyornis)

and gian moa ( Dinornis) which weighed over 250 kg [107].

Modern birds share dening characerisics: hard-shelled

eggs, eahered plumage, a relaively lighweigh skeleon

and he presence o wings and oohless beaks.

Evolutionary History of Birds

Ediors: Suar H. M. Buchar, Tomas M. Brooks and Andy Symes

Birds are ound on all seven coninens o he world;

hey have colonised all erresrial and reshwaer

habias and are ound across all he world’s oceans.

An esimaed 22% o exan bird species are migraory,

many o which ravel housands o kilomeres every year

beween breeding and winering grounds. Many species

are also dependen on single habias, wih ores habias

supporing around 75% o bird species. Shrubland grassland,

savanna and inland welands also suppor a high number o

species [108].

Plae 51. Strix aluco. Gould: Te Birds o Europe. 1837.

47



Biogeography of Birds

Te Neoropics hold he highes number o bird species (36% o all land bird species), paricularly Colombia, Peru, Brazil

and Ecuador. Tis is ollowed by he Aroropical, Indomalayan and Ausralasian realms (gure 31).

Tireen percen o bird species are hreaened wih

exincion. Tis esimae assumes ha Daa Decien

species are hreaened in he same proporion as daa

sucien species. Esimaes range rom 12% i all Daa

Decien species are no hreaened o 13% i all Daa

Decien species are hreaened [13, 46]. Te IUCN Red Lis

pie char in gure 32 shows ha 12% o bird species arehreaened, which is he lowes esimae. Birds are he bes

sudied o all he verebrae groups, wih less han 1% o

species classied as Daa Decien.

Status and Trends of the World’s Birds

Figure 31: Global species richness o birds, based on an assessmen o 9,899 bird species

1 - 100

101 - 200

201 - 300

301 - 400

401 - 500

501 - 706

1 - 10

11 - 20

21 - 30

31 - 40

41 - 50

err/w bird species richnessNumber o species

Marine bird species richnessNumber o species

51 - 60

<1%

3.7%

8.4%

77.3%1.3%

EX

EW

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

1.9%

Figure 32: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o birds (10,027 species)

6.8%

Saus o birds

Plae 52. Vanellus vanellus.Gould: Te Birds o Europe. 1837.

48

<1%



Te Living Plane Index (LPI) or birds racks rends in

3,926 populaions o 1,072 bird species and shows an overall

8% decline since 1970 (gure 34). However, because a large

amoun o daa is available rom Europe and Norh America

(809 ou o 1,072 species) he majoriy o species or which

we have daa occur in emperae regions. emperae andropical zones have hereore been equally weighed in his

analysis o avoid masking he decline o ropical species,

which have suered a 28% decline since 1970. wo sudies

conaining a large number o species rom wo small areas

in he ropics were removed as hey were having an undue

inuence on he rend o he index. I hese sudies were

included he global bird LPI would decline by 20% in oal.

Some regions and counries have paricularly high

densiies o hreaened bird species, or example he ropical

Andes, he Alanic oress o Brazil, he easern Himalayas,

easern Madagascar and he archipelagos o souheas Asia

(gure 33). Te overall aviaunas o some counries are

paricularly hreaened, including several o he mosimporan in erms o absolue numbers o hreaened birds

(or example, Indonesia, Peru and Brazil), bu also several

erriories ha have highly hreaened aviaunas despie

relaively low oal avian diversiy (or example, French

Polynesia and Norolk Island).

rends in bird populaions

Figure 33: Global species richness o hreaened birds, based on an assessmen o 1,240 bird species

1 - 100

101 - 200

201 - 300

301 - 400

401 - 500

501 - 706

1 - 10

11 - 20

21 - 30

31 - 40

41 - 50

Treaened err/w bird species richnessNumber o species

Treaened marine bird species richnessNumber o species

51 - 60

49



Tere are a number o hreaening processes driving declines in bird populaions. Foremos among hem are he spread o

agriculure, logging and wood harvesing as well as he impacs o invasive alien species. In addiion, residenial and commercial

developmen, huning and rapping, changes o re regimes and polluion are having serious negaive impacs (gure 35).

Climae change represens an emerging and increasingly serious hrea o species, which ofen exacerbaes he impac o exising

hreas.

Figure 34: Living Plane Index or birds (3,926 populaions o 1,072 species) . Index value shown in bold line, shaded area shows 95% confdence limits.

I n d e x V a l u e

( 1 9 7 0 = 1 . 0

)

0.2

1

1.2

1.4

1.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.6

2

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Figure 35: Global hreas o bird species. Horizonal axis shows he proporion o hreaened (CR, EN, VU) bird speciesaeced by each o he hreaening processes on he verical axis. Subdivisions represen he relaive impac o each hrea,high+medium, low and unknown. Noe - hese numbers may add up o more han 1 because species are oen aeced by muliple hreas.

50

Treas o birds

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1


Fisheries

Dams / waer managemen

Prob naive spp

Human inrusions & disurbance

ransporaion & service corridors

Energy producion & mining

Polluion

Change in re regime

Residenial & commercial developmen

Huning / rapping

Climae change & severe weaher


Logging


Geological evens

High + medium risk

Low risk

Unknown risk



Te mos Evoluionarily Disinc and Globally Endangered

(EDGE) bird species is he kagu (Rhynocheos jubaus), a

small, ighless, hreaened species ha is endemic o New

Caledonia. I is he sole exan represenaive o he amily Rhynocheidae and hereore represens around 40 million

years o unique evoluionary hisory. Te kagu is primarily

hreaened by invasive alien species, mainly hrough

predaion by dogs, cas and ras and habia degradaion by

pigs and deer. Is ores habia is also being slowly degraded

by mining, logging and re, and he species is also huned a

low levels [106]. Te kagu is classied as Endangered due o

is small, ragmened and declining populaion. Curren

conservaion eors ocus on he managemen o naurereserves and eors o reduce predaion by dogs. Eecive

predaor conrol and increased educaion eors are

essenial o he survival o his ‘ghos o he ores’.

Te kakapo (Srigops habropila) is he world’s larges and

only ighless parro, and is endemic o New Zealand. Te

species has many unique characerisics or a parro, being

soliary, nocurnal, having a polygynous ‘lek’ maing

sysem and owl-like whiskers. Being ighless, he species

was hisorically vulnerable o huning and habia loss, bu

he key hrea remains predaion by invasive mammals.

Now exinc across is naural range, he species has only

survived hrough ranslocaions o predaor-ree oshore

islands, covering jus 26 km² in oal, and inensive

subsequen managemen [106]. Wih a litle over 100

individuals remaining and hisorical declines only recenly

reversed hrough inensive conservaion acion, he species

is classied as Criically Endangered. Assigned o is own

sub-amily Srigopinae, he kakapo is one o he world’smos Evoluionarily Disinc and Globally Endangered

birds.

Te maleo ( Macrocephalon maleo) is a megapode

(mound-building erresrial gamebird) endemic o he

island o Sulawesi, Indonesia. Te species lays and buries

is large eggs in sand and volcanic soils, abandoning hem

o be incubaed by geohermal and solar energy. Upon

emerging, megapode chicks are ully independen[106]

.Lised as Endangered, he maleo has undergone a rapid

populaion decline owing o over-harvesing and habia

desrucion, paricularly a he nesing grounds.

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Birds

Plae 53. Strigops habroptila.Buller: A hisory o he birds o New Zealand. 1873.

Since 1500 AD, 132 bird species have become Exinc and

our have become Exinc in he Wild, wih a urher 14agged as ‘Criically Endangered: Possibly Exinc’ or

‘Criically Endangered: Possibly Exinc in he Wild’ [46, 109].

Te islands o he souhwes Pacic have experienced high

levels o human-caused bird exincions ollowing he

successive arrival o Polynesians and Europeans, and i

has been suggesed ha as many as 8,000 bird populaions

(many o which may have been disinc species) may have

been los rom he region [110]. For example, 58 (26%) o he

223 original breeding bird species on New Zealand have become exinc since rs human conac around 800 years

ago [107].

Examples o evoluionarily disinc species ha have gone

exinc include he dodo (Raphus cucullaus), a bird

endemic o Mauriius which wen exinc during he

17h cenury, a loss which was direcly atribuable o human

overexploiaion [46]. A more recen example is he Po’ouli

( Melamprosops phaeosoma), he only member o he genus

Melamprosops which became exinc in 2004. I is believed

o have belonged o an ancien lineage o honeycreepers.

Te exac cause o exincion is unknown, bu habia loss,

avian malaria, predaion and a decline in is main ood source

(naive ree snails) have been implicaed.

Evoluion los

51



As wih oher axonomic groups, a suie o acions a a range

o scales is required in order o preven exincions, reverse

declines and improve he saus o he world’s birds. Similar

o amphibians, repiles and mammals, habia proecion is

paramoun. One imporan approach is he proecion o

Imporan Bird Areas or IBAs, which are 11,000 key siesidenied worldwide or bird conservaion [112]. Only 39%

o he area o each IBA is proeced on average, and 74% o

sies lack any proecion or are only parially proeced [113].

While ormal proecion o IBAs is ofen preerable, oher

approaches can also be eecive, including esablishing

communiy managemen o resources, ensuring ha eecive

saeguard policies are applied and securing horough

environmenal impac assessmens or developmen projecs.

Managing a he sie level ofen involves managing habias

o bene paricular species or suies o species, making

oresry pracices more susainable and improving arming

pracices so as o reduce hreas o oress. Such aciviies

may be suppored by eors o conrol or eradicae invasive

alien species, reduce overexploiaion and preven or

minimise he impacs o indusrial and residenial

developmen.

As inormaion on birds is so much more comprehensive

han or oher axa, hey can play a unique role in argeing

conservaion eors and monioring progress in ackling

biodiversiy loss. Birds are also uniquely popular, wih many

species being diurnal, conspicuous, colourul, beauiul,

vocal, musical and responsive o eeding, making hem

atracive, ineresing, wachable and ideniable. Across

he world, millions o people wach birds, and hundreds o

housands o people conribue o monioring aciviiesand environmenal acion o suppor bird conservaion.

Birds, hus provide a wonderul window ono biodiversiy,

and play an imporan role in promoing he urgency and

imporance o conserving wild naure on our plane.

Conservaion

Plae 54. Rhynochetos jubatus. Wol: Zoological skeches by Joseph Wol. 1861.

52



Many evoluionarily disincive New Zealand bird species have been driven

exinc, wih 41% o New Zealand’s endemic birds having disappeared [107]. Huia ( Heeralocha acuirosris ), a member o he endemic watlebird amily

(Callaeidae), is one o he mos unusual members o New Zealand’s recenly exinc

endemic aviauna. When i was rs described scienically, axonomiss hough

ha males and emales represened dieren species because heir bills were so

dieren: hick and sraigh in males, long and curved in emales. Tis sexual

dimorphism permited dieren echniques or oraging on insec larvae. Males used

heir chisel-like bills o hammer grubs ou o decaying wood, whereas emales probed

ino crevices in he bark. Huia were driven exinc by huning by boh Maoris ( or eahers) and European setlers [111]. Being weak fiers, huia spen much ime on he

ground, making hem vulnerable o a range o invasive alien mammalian predaors

including ras, soas, erres and cas. Plans o ranslocae huia populaions o

predaor-ee oshore islands were discussed as numbers declined bu never

implemened, and he las conrmed record was in 1907. Te exincion o huia

illusraes he vulnerabiliy o some highly evoluionarily disinc species and

highlighs he urgency o implemening acion o improve heir saus.


Plae 55. Heteralocha acutirostris.Buller: A hisory o he birds o New Zealand. 1873.

53



Invertebrata

Plae 56. Astacus astacus. Leach:Briish species o he Linnean genus Cancer. 1815-70.

54



Invertebrata

Verebraes represen jus 4.6% o he world’s animal species, wih inverebraes conribuing o he remaining 95.4% [114].

Tere are 1.3 million described inverebrae species, wih

many more being discovered daily. Despie heir diversiy

and abundance, in comparison o verebraes very litle

is known abou inverebrae biology or he conservaion

challenges ha hey ace. Ye i is crucial o undersand he

conservaion saus and rends o inverebraes, since i is

hese ofen crypic and overlooked species ha are essenial

or he uncioning o ecosysems[115]

. Wih moreinormaion available on verebraes, one o he mos

pressing quesions o address is wheher verebrae

conservaion saus and rends are represenaive o

animal biodiversiy as a whole.

Are Vertebrates Representative of Animal Biodiversity as a Whole?

Ediors: Michael Samways and Monika Böhm

Evoluion and diversicaion o he major inverebraegroups coninued hrough he Phanerozoic eon, and

dieren geological periods and eras are dened by disinc

inverebrae aunas. Diversicaion o inverebraes such as

bivalves, cephalopods, corals and echinoderms coninued

in he seas o he Ordovician period (488-444 million years

ago [120]). Te oldes insec ossils are known rom he 400

million year-old Rhynie Cher rom he early Devonian

period. Oher ossils resembling many o our modern

insecs, such as dragonies, have been daed back o helae Carbonierous and Permian periods (around 300-250

million years ago [121]). Some Carbonierous erresrial

arhropods grew o very large sizes, possibly due o higher

oxygen levels [122]: he myriapod Arhropleura, a relaive o

cenipedes and millipedes, grew o over 2.5 meres long.

Te dragony-like Meganeura had a wingspan o around 75

cm, an equivalen wingspan o he modern wood pigeon

Columba palumbus. A he ime, hese large insecs ruled he

air, long beore birds and even perodacyls.

Plae 57. Papilio. Rösel von Rosenho:De nauurlyke hisorie der insecen. 1764.

A huge variey o inverebrae groups, including all o hemajor modern phyla, appear relaively suddenly in he

ossil record around 530 million years ago, in an even

known as he ‘Cambrian Explosion’. Tere has been inense

debae among palaeonologiss and evoluionary biologiss

over how and why his even ook place or wheher complex

animal lie may have acually evolved earlier, during he

Precambrian [116-117]. Sponge spicules are known rom 580

million years ago in China, and oher Neoproerozoic era

ossils, noably he Ediacaran auna, have been inerpreed

by some researchers as conaining represenaives o modern

inverebrae groups [118-119]. However, Ediacaran ossils are

sof-bodied and preserved in relaively coarse-grained

sedimens, making inerpreaion o hese ossils an

ongoing challenge.

Evoluionary hisoryo inverebraes

55



Biogeography of Invertebrates

Inverebraes have colonised every habia on Earh. An amazing number o species, such as gian clams, ube

worms and crusaceans, can even exis in he exreme

condiions around deep ocean hydrohermal vens, which

can reach emperaures as high as 80° C, while ohers can

live in he very deep sea, where pressure rises o 1,000

amospheres and no naural ligh can penerae. Tey

even live in Arcic and Anarcic environmens, where

emperaures may dip o below -50° C. Insecs adaped o

Arcic condiions survive he cold by producing anireeze

proeins o preven body uids rom reezing [123]. Ohers

can even hrive in arid desers where droughs may las or

monhs or even years. However, as wih verebraes,

inverebrae species richness is highes in he ropics.

Te diversiy o ropical ora has led o high levels o

specialisaion, which has led o vas numbers o species

making up cerain species groups, such as beeles; he

weevil amily or example, has 30,000 described species.

A well-known, ye possibly apocryphal, sory, describes

how he biologis John B.S. Haldane was asked by a group

o heologians wha one could conclude abou he naure o

Te Creaor rom he sudy o his creaion, o which Haldane

replied “An inordinae ondness or beeles.” Indeed, around

40% o described insecs are beeles [124] and hey have been

paricularly successul a colonising a large number o

habias, alhough hey do no occur in marine or polar

environmens. Teir success has come abou in par hrough

heir very successul body orm o chewing mouhpars,srong exerior cuicle (including he orewings which are

modied ino hard proecive shields) and highly variable

body size.

Saus o he world’s inverebraes

Unil recenly, inormaion on he conservaion saus o inverebraes has been lacking (alhough see [125]), wih

conservaion assessmens primarily being carried ou or

verebraes. A new approach has been devised o ackle

his discrepancy a he species level, while no orgeting

landscape-scale conservaion which has been so benecial

or so many species [126]. Te Sampled Red Lis Index projec

aims o broaden he species coverage o he IUCN Red Lis

and develop an indicaor which is broadly represenaive o

global biodiversiy as a whole [15, 18, 127]. Among he rs

resuls, an IUCN Red Lis assessmen o all described

species o 1,280 reshwaer crabs and 590 craysh indicaes

ha 32% o crabs and 31% o craysh are hreaened wih

exincion (wih a range o 16% o 65% o crab species and

25% o 46% o craysh species hreaened, based on all

Daa Decien species being eiher no hreaened (he lower

margin) or hreaened (he upper margin), [128] gures 36a

and b). Dragonies on he oher hand are aring beter,

despie heir associaion wih reshwaer, one o he mos

highly hreaened o erresrial ecosysems, wih 13% o

species in a random sample o 1,500 species hreaened

wih exincion (range o 9 - 44% [129] , gure 36c).

Plae 58. Scarabaeoidea presened in he original publicaion asScarabaeid beeles. Kingsley: Sandard Naural Hisory. 1884.

56



Exincion risk o reshwaer inverebraes, based on he available daa or craysh, dragonies and damselies and reshwaer

crabs, appears o be highes in souh Asia, in paricular in Sri Lanka (gure 37), wih oher cenres o hrea locaed in

souheasern USA and along he eas coas o Ausralia. Te bigges hreas o reshwaer inverebraes are habia degradaion

and loss (paricularly rom deoresaion and aleraion o drainage paterns via damming and waer absracion) and polluion[128-131].

Figure 36: IUCN Red Lis assessmen o seleced groups o inverebraes: a) reshwaer crabs, b) craysh, c) dragonfies,d) ree-building corals.

A. B.

D.C.

Figure 37: Global richness o hreaened reshwaer inverebraes, based on a sampled assessmen o 1,500 species o dragonfiesand damselfies, and complee assessmens o 590 craysh and 1,280 reshwaer crabs.

57

2.7%

9.6%

33.2%

4.1%

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

1.4%

49.1%

EX

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

21.2%

11.4%

6.8%

8%

5.4%

46.6%

<1%

DD

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

1.5%

4.1%

2.8%

51.5%

35.1%

4.7%

CR

EN

VU

NT

LC

DD

<1%

23.8%

3%

20.8%35.1%

16.7%

>0 - 0.01

>0.01 - 0.02

>0.02 - 0.03

Treaened reshwaer species(N = 460)



Wihin he marine environmen, corals have received

paricular conservaion atenion due o he occurrence o

bleaching evens which hreaen he survival o corals and

enire coral ree ecosysems. Red Lis assessmens o all 845

known species o ree-building corals showed 33% o specieso be hreaened wih exincion (range: 27 - 44% [132] ,

gure 36d). Comprehensive assessmens o lobsers and

cephalopods are sill in progress, bu iniial resuls

sugges ha exincion risk in lobsers will be lower han

ha observed in heir reshwaer crusacean counerpars

(L. Allcock & N. Richman, pers. comm.).

Firs indicaions sugges ha erresrial inverebrae

species - and insecs in paricular - are aring beter han

heir reshwaer counerpars. Iniial resuls sugges ha

around 5% o Aroropical buteries are lised as globally

hreaened, alhough his number may mask higher levels

o hrea in endemic island axa (O. Lewis, pers. comm.).

Similarly, 11% o species in a random sample o 1,500

species o dung beele are hreaened wih exincion

(S. Specor, pers. comm.). I is suspeced ha 11,200 species

o insecs have become exinc since he year 1600, and over

he nex 300 years a urher 100,000 o 500,000 species o

insec may become exinc [133]. McKinney [134] even suggess

ha he esimaed number o insec exincions may be ar

oo conservaive, wih possibly a quarer o all insec species

under imminen hrea o exincion.

While much inormaion is available on he conservaion

saus o verebraes, paricularly wih regard o mammals,

birds and amphibians, our knowledge o inverebraeconservaion saus is currenly limied and will always be

incomplee. I verebrae conservaion saus and rends are

represenaive o rends in animal biodiversiy as a whole,

a conservaion prioriisaion mechanism aimed a

verebraes would also provide an adequae mechanism or

inverebraes. So, are rends in verebraes represenaive o

animal biodiversiy as a whole?

Overall, iniial assessmens o inverebrae conservaion

saus indicae ha he levels o hrea we see in he

verebrae world are no dissimilar rom wha is being

unearhed among he inverebraes [15] , and i is likely

ha around 15-20% o he world’s species are currenly

hreaened wih exincion (gure 38). However, hese

gures are likely o be an underesimae because o delayed

and knock-on eecs rom gradual loss o ood plans, ood

chain aleraions (as inverebraes are highly conneced in

many ood webs) and adverse synergisic eecs such as he

ineracion beween habia loss and global climae change.

As wih verebraes, conservaion saus o dieren

groups o inverebraes varies dramaically rom very high

exincion risk in some groups o relaively low exincion

risk in ohers. Tis suggess ha here are cerain rais which

make some species or species groups more vulnerable o

human hreas han ohers, and hese acors may hold rue

or boh verebraes and inverebraes [135-139]. For example,

i is ofen hose species wih specialis living and eedingrequiremens ha are mos a risk. Some overriding

paterns do appear o emerge rom boh he verebrae and

inverebrae assessmens. For example, reshwaer species are

generally more hreaened han erresrial species, and highly

mobile species such as cerain insecs and birds are relaively

less hreaened han less mobile species. Broadening he

coverage o he IUCN Red Lis o include a wide variey

o animal lie has helped a grea deal in highlighing hese

disinc paterns and will coninue o help us undersandhe impac we are having on he world’s species and how o

alleviae he eec o human pressure.

Plae 59. richodactylus uviatilis. Lucas:Hisoire naurelle des crusacés, des arachnidese des myriapodes. 1840.

Verebrae vs. inverebrae conservaion saus

58



Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Invertebrates

Figure 38: Comparison o he proporion o hreaened species beween verebrae and inverebrae species groups.Numbers in brackes denoe he number o species assessed.

Inverebraes have undergone a much longer period o

diversicaion han verebraes, and many evoluionarily

unique and ancien lineages have survived unil he presenime. However, as inverebrae conservaion assessmens

are very much in he early sages, no much is known abou

he exincion risk aced by many o hese phylogeneically

disinc species.

Members o he cephalopod amily Nauilidae are likely

o be one o he world’s mos Evoluionarily Disinc and

Globally Endangered inverebraes. Six species o nauilus

are currenly recognised. Conservaion assessmens or hese

species were previously impossible due o a lack o adequae

daa. However, i is more han likely ha a leas some o he

species o his amily will be recognised as hreaened on

uure updaes o he IUCN Red Lis (L. Allcock, pers.

comm.). Members o his amily show many sympoms o

high risk, including a low reproducive oupu. Also, heir

atracive shells make hem a desirable arge or collecors.

As wih he nauilus, horseshoe crabs are ofen reerred o

as “living ossils”, appearing relaively unchanged since heir

early beginnings in he Lae Ordovician period, some 444million years ago [140]. Horseshoe crabs are paricularly

ineresing o humans or heir medical poenial, especially

or he use o blood cell exracs as a es or bacerial

endooxins in he pharmaceuical indusry [141]. All our

species o horseshoe crab, belonging o hree genera, have

been previously assessed or he IUCN Red Lis, bu hese

assessmens are in urgen need o updaing [46] , as hey were

las assessed 14 years ago. Slow onse o mauriy makes

hese organisms paricularly vulnerable o exploiaion, and

he endency o occur in large numbers makes hem a

desirable and easy arge or collecors.

Anoher living ossil is he adpole shrimp (riops

cancriormis), which is widely disribued hroughou Europe

and he Middle Eas and ino India. I is hough ha his

species has no changed since he riassic period, around

220 million years ago, and has been reerred o as one o he

oldes exan species on earh. I is classed as Endangered

in pars o is range, such as he Unied Kingdom, since iis very sensiive o polluion, paricularly rom veerinary

produc runo [142].

59

M a m m a l s

( 5 , 4 8 8

)

A m p h i b i a

n s ( 6 , 2

6 0 )

B i r d s

( 9 , 9 9 0

)

R e p t i

l e s ( 1 , 5

0 0 )

F i s h ( 1 , 4

9 7 )

F r e s h w

a t e r C

r a b s ( 1 , 2

8 1 )

C r a y

s h ( 5 9 0 )

D r a g o n

f i e s ( 1 , 5

0 0 )

R e e -

b u i l d i

n g c o r a

l s ( 8 4 5 )



Alhough inverebrae exincions are no as widely

repored or sudied as verebrae exincions, 380 species

o inverebraes are currenly lised as Exinc on he IUCNRed Lis [46].

Te eelgrass limpe ( Lotia alvaeus) was he rs repored

hisorical exincion o a marine inverebrae [143]. I occurred

in eelgrass beds along he wes Alanic coas o Norh

America, where i was sill common in he lae 1920s. I is

hough ha he exincion was caused by a slime mould

which eliminaed around 90% o he sanding sock o

eelgrass and hus he vas majoriy o habia available o

he limpe.

As wih verebraes, many o he known inverebrae

exincions occurred on islands. On Hawaii, hree o he

ve members o he endemic genus Emperopera are hough

o be possibly exinc [144]. Emperopera are ighless ies and

heir demise has been atribued o predaion by inroduced

ans. So ar, however, only one species, Emperopera mirabilis ,

has been lised as Exinc on he IUCN Red Lis [46].

Large numbers o inverebrae species are sill waiing o be

discovered and described, so ha many species may become

exinc wihou us even knowing abou hem. Te Lake

Pedder earhworm (Hypolimnus pedderensis), or example,

is only known rom a single specimen colleced in 1971 [46].

Te species is hough o be endemic o Lake Pedder,

asmania, and while recen surveys managed o nd several

new species, none o hese was H. pedderensis. Finally,

a salien reminder o he immense impac o humans onhese small creaures is he complee demise o he Anioch

kaydid rom San Francisco, which was only described afer

i became exinc and bears his epihe in is scienic name:

Neduba exinca.

Evoluion los

Plae 60. Libellula vulgata. Rösel von Rosenho:De nauurlyke hisorie der insecen. 1764.

60



Te conservaion o he whole range o inverebraes in

any one area will almos always involve large-scale landscape

and seascape iniiaives, raher han ocusing onconservaion a he species level, as is he case wih mos

hreaened verebrae species. Tis does no o course

preclude cerain species-level aciviies which in some

cases, especially in Europe and Norh America, have been

very successul especially or buteries. Te salien poin is

ha conservaion o inverebraes is abou conservaion o

ecosysem processes as much as i is abou he conservaion

o he ocal species.

Landscape- and seascape-scale conservaion o inverebraes

enables he conservaion o composiional and uncional

biodiversiy. One o he underlying reasons or he success

o his ‘coarse ler’ approach is simply he complexiy o

he ocal organism assemblage. Tis is borne ou by he ac

ha 1,000 species (a reasonable gure or even a small area

such as a emperae pond) beges, a leas heoreically, hal

a million poenial ineracions. In shor, we are aiming o

conserve a huge complexiy o which we know very litle.

So, i we aim o conserve airly large, conneced areas, heprecauionary approach is he bes we can do given our

limied knowledge o he componens and our even more

limied knowledge o he ineracions beween hose

componens. Ye such a precauionary approach is no

vague, bu can be underpinned by a se o design and

managemen guidelines ha should be weaved ino a

synheic managemen approach [145]. Tese are a

undamenal se o approaches, such as he inroducion

o ecological neworks ha can be applied anywhere onhe plane, bu ailored according o local condiions and

opporuniies. Tis se o approaches akes ino accoun

increasingly challenging issues such as he presence o

adverse ineracions (where dieren hreas compound

each oher) and global climae change. For erresrial

inverebraes a leas, his se o approaches enables he

inverebrae individuals o move back and orh across he

landscape, so ha hey can coninually selec opimal

ecological condiions or heir lie uncions. Addiionally,

rom an evoluionary perspecive, exensive landscapes hen

promoe beter opporuniy or ongoing evoluionary

processes.

Conservaion

Plae 61. Coleopera presened in he original publicaion as beeles in a food. Lydekker: Te royal naural hisory. 1896.

61



Conclusions

Humans and the Extinction Crisis

Plae 62. Tylacinus cynocephalus. Wol: Zoological skeches by Joseph Wol. 1861.

62



Conclusions

Humans and the Extinction Crisis

Ediors: Jonahan E.M. Baillie and Ben Collen

Te hominin lineage, represened oday only by ourown species Homo sapiens , diverged rom he grea apes

approximaely six million years ago; our genus originaed in

Arica over wo million years ago, and our species appeared

approximaely 200,000 years ago.

Populaion growh raes o Homo sapiens remained

relaively low unil he Indusrial Revoluion, a which poin

he human populaion boomed wih a maximum growh rae

o 2.2% per year in he early 1960s[146-147]

. Tis rae has sincedecreased, bu approximaely 75 million humans are being

added o his already overpopulaed plane each year. In

one week, Homo sapiens are adding more individuals o he

plane hen he oal populaion o all he oher grea apes

combined. Tis rapid human expansion and increased use

o resources has had an unprecedened impac on he res

o he world’s species and ecosysems, wih he resul ha

almos roughly one-fh o he world’s verebraes and plans

are now hreaened wih exincion.

Ironically, our closes relaives are now some o he moshreaened, wih all he grea apes (bonobos, chimpanzees,

gorillas and orang-uans), classied as eiher Criically

Endangered or Endangered.

While exincion o species is a naural process, he presen

day rae o exincion is exremely high and ar oupaces

he curren rae o speciaion [24]. By comparing curren and

background exincion raes, we can condenly predic we

are heading or he nex mass exincion. Tis ime, humansare he perperaors – ye only we have he abiliy o reverse

he loss o species and desrucion o ecosysems.

63

Figure 39: Evoluionary relaionships o he Hominidae



Compared o he background rae o exincion, which is

he average exincion rae ound in he ossil record,

exincions have increased o beween 100 and 1,000 imesgreaer han he rae hey were in he disan pas (gure 40).

I is believed ha uure exincion raes will be 10-100 imes

wha hey are oday. Te main causes o exincions across

all groups include habia loss or degradaion, primarily

driven by agriculural developmen and logging, ollowed by

invasive species and human overexploiaion. Te impac o

climae change is now beginning o be el by many species

groups [148-149]. Climae change will likely be he greaes

driver o exincion his cenury, wih an esimae o 25% o

all species commited o exincion by 2050 [see 88, 149 - 154 ].

Figure 40: Background, curren and uure prediced exincion raes. Figure adaped rom he Millennium Ecosysem Assessmen [24].

Plae 64. Equus quagga.Harris: Porrais o hegame and wild animalso Souhern Arica. 1840.

Recen exincions

64

Plae 63. Conuropsis carolinensis.Caesby: Te naural hisory o Carolina,Florida and he Bahama Islands. 1731-43.

Disan pas(ossil record)

Recen pas(known exincions)

Fuure(modeled)

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

1

0.1

0

E x t i n c t i o n s p e r t h o u s a n d s p e c i e s p e r m

i l l e n n i u m

Marine spp. Mammals Mammals Birds Amphibians All spp



Te hreas o he world’s species are increasing and he

world’s verebraes coninue o decline a a seady rae.

Enire lineages are a risk o being los, including marineurles, Hawaiian honey creepers, pandas, surgeons,

elephans, rhinos, Darwin’s rogs and coelacanhs. When

lineages such as hese disappear we lose millions o years

o evoluionary hisory, he associaed geneic diversiy

and iconic creaures ha are o exreme imporance boh

culurally and scienically.

How many lineages can we aord o lose beore here are

major implicaions or humaniy? No-one knows or cerainas he ecology o he earh is exremely complicaed, bu we

do know ha species are he building blocks o ecosysems

and ha uncioning ecosysems are essenial or human

survival. One area where he balance beween biodiversiy

and human well-being is likely o become more eviden is

in he delicae relaionship beween biodiversiy and ood

securiy, especially as we near 2050 when he earh will need

o provide ood or an esimaed 9.2 billion people.

Our rs prioriy in addressing he exincion crisis will have

o be o conserve he ecosysem services ha we need or

our survival. Te oceans and oress provide vial ecosysem

services, replenishing he oxygen we need o live, regulaing

our climae, providing essenial ood resources and soringcarbon. However, we also have o ensure ha he grea

diversiy o verebraes which has aken millions o years

o evolve is no los in he nex ew decades. Increasing

conservaion eors will be a undamenal sep in

reversing declines, bu litle will change i, as a sociey, we

canno address populaion growh, overconsumpion and

poor governance.

We no longer have ime o avoid he acs or alk in hal

measures - we need o rapidly move owards governance

srucures and economic sysems ha encourage he

susainable managemen o Earh’s limied resources.

I his is no achieved, naure will nd is own balance

wih unhinkable consequences or all species, including

humans.

Plae 65. Raphus cucullatus. Srickland & Melville:Te dodo and is kindred. 1848.

Evoluion los

65



Historical image bibliography 66.

R. Bowdler Sharpe. (1891–98). Monograph o he Paradiseidae,or birds o paradise, and Pilonorhynchidae, or bower-birds. Volume I & II. London, UK .

Plae 1. Cicinnurus regius.

Plae 2. Paradisaea minor .

Plae 50. Epimachus asuosus presenedin he original publicaion as Epimachus speciosus.

Waler Lawry Buller. (1873). A hisory o he birds o New Zealand. London, UK.

Plae 53. Srigops habropila.

Plae 55. Heeralocha acuirosris.

Mark Caesby. (1731–43). Te naural hisory o Carolina,Florida and he Bahama Islands, conaining he gures o birds,

beass, shes, serpens, insecs and plans ogeher wih heirdescripions in English and French. Volume I & II. London,UK.

Plae 3. Holocanhus ciliaris presenedin he original publicaion as Perca vulgaris.

Plae 5. Panherophis obsoleus presenedin he original publicaion as Anguis niger .

Plae 10. Balises veula presened in he originalpublicaion as urdus oculo radiao guaperva

Maxima caudaa.

Plae 15. Presened in he original publicaionas Orbis laevis variegaus.

Plae 16. Muraena.

Plae 17. Aluerus scripus presened in he originalpublicaion as Piscis bahamensis.

Plae 21. Presened in he original publicaion asurdus rhomboidalis & urdus cauda convexa.

Plae 22. Fisularia abacaria presened in he originalpublicaion as Salpa purpurascens variegaa.

Plae 24. Presened in he original publicaion asHirundo , Perca marina secarix & Perca fuviailis gibbosa venre lueo.

Plae 25. Hyla cinerea presened in heoriginal publicaion as Rana viridis arborea.

Plae 27. Rana caesbeiana presened in heoriginal publicaion as Rana maxima

Americana aquaica.

Plae 28. Rana arvalis presened in he originalpublicaion as Rana erresris.

Plae 34. Anolis carolinensis presened in heoriginal publicaion as Lacerus viridis carolinensis.

Plae 35. Iguana iguana presened in he originalpublicaion as Lacerus indicus.

Plae 36. Alligaor mississippiensis presened in heoriginal publicaion as Lacerus omnium maximus.

Plae 39. Sisrurus miliarius presened in he originalpublicaion as Vipera caudisona americana minor.

Plae 63. Conuropsis carolinensis presened in heoriginal publicaion as Psitacus carolinensis.

Samuel Daniell. (1804). Arican scenery and animals.Publishers: unknown.

Plae 23. View: cascade on Sneuwberg.

Samuel Daniell. (1808). A picuresque illusraion o hescenery, animals, and naive inhabians, o he island o Ceylon.London, UK .

Plae 20. View: Ceylon.

E. Donovan. (1808). Te naural hisory o Briish shes,including scienic and general descripions o he mosineresing species. Volume V. London, UK.

Plae 18. Amblyraja radiaa.

Plae 19. Lamna nasus.

Daniel Giraud Ellio. (1883). A monograph o he Felidae, oramily o he cas. Publishers: unknown.

Plae 12. Prionailurus bengalensis presened in heoriginal publicaion as Felis bengalensis.

Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fizinger. (1860).Bilder-Alas zur wissenschaflich-populären Naurgeschicheder Säugehiere in ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. Vienna, Ausria.

Plae 45. Balaena mysiceus.

Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fizinger. (1864).Bilder-Alas zur wissenschaflich-populären Naurgeschicheder Amphibien in ihren sämmlichen Haupormen. Vienna,

Ausria.

Plae 4. Salamandra salamandra presened in heoriginal publicaion as Salamandra maculosa.

Plae 9. Iguana iguana presened in he originalpublicaion as Hypsilophus uberculaus.

Plae 11. Necurus maculosus presenedin he original publicaion as Necurus laeralis.

Plae 13. Chelonia mydas.

Plae 26. Siphonops annulaus & Ichhyophisgluinosus presened in he original publicaionas Siphonops annulaus & Epicrium gluinosum.

Plae 29. riurus karelinii presenedin he original publicaion as rion crisaus.



67

Plae 30. Rhinoderma darwinii.

Plae 33. Xenopus laevis & Pipa pipa presenedin he original publicaion as Xenopus boiei &

Aserodacylus dorsiger .

Plae 38. Crocodylus niloicus.

Plae 37. Dermochelys coriacea.

Plae 42. omisoma schlegelii.

John Gould. (1834). A monograph o he Ramphasidae,or amily o oucans. London, UK.

Plae 7. Aulacorhynchus prasinus presenedin he original publicaion as Peroglossus prasinus.

John Gould. (1837). Te Birds o Europe. Volume I. London,UK.

Plae 51. Srix aluco. John Gould. (1837). Te Birds o Europe. Volume III. London,UK.

Plae 8. Grus leucogeranus.

Plae 52. Vanellus vanellus presened in heoriginal publicaion as Vanellus crisaus.

John Gould. (1863). Te mammals o Ausralia. Volume III.London, UK .

Plae 6. achyglossus aculeaus.

Plae 43. Peaurisa peaurisa.

Plae 44. arsipes rosraus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

Plae 49. Dusicyon ausralis.

Plae 46. Rhinolophus megaphyllus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

William Cornwallis Harris (Sir). (1840). Porrais o he gameand wild animals o Souhern Arica. London, UK.

Plae 64. Equus quagga.

John Serling Kingsley. (1884) Sandard Naural Hisory. Volume II. Boson, USA.

Plae 58. Scarabaeoidea presened in he originalpublicaion as Scarabaeid beeles.

William Elord Leach. (1815–70). Malacosracapodophhalmaa Brianniae, or descripions o such Briishspecies o he Linnean genus Cancer. London, UK.

Plae 56. Asacus asacus presened in he original

publicaion as Asacus fuviailis.

Hippolye Lucas. (1840). Hisoire naurelle des crusacés, desarachnides e des myriapodes. Paris, France.

Plae 59. richodacylus fuviailis presened in heoriginal publicaion as richodacylus quadraa.

Richard Lydekker. (1896). Te royal naural hisory. Volume V.London, UK.

Plae 40. Sphenodon.

Plae 41. Gian oroises o he Galápagos.

Plae 61. Coleopera presened in he originalpublicaion as beeles in a ood.

S. George Mivar. (1890). Dogs, jackals, wolves, and oxes:a monograph o he Canidae. London, UK.

Plae 47. Ornihorhynchus anainus.Gould: Te mammals o Ausralia. 1863.

Augus Johann Rösel von Rosenho. (1753–1758). Hisorianauralis ranarum nosraium. Hisorie der rosche hiesigenlandes. Nuremberg, Germany.

Plae 32. Rösel von Rosenho. Hisoria nauralisranarum nosraium – Fronispiece.

Augus Johann Rösel von Rosenho. (1764). De nauurlykehisorie der insecen. Haarlem, he Neherlands.

Plae 57. Papilio.

Plae 60. Libellula vulgaa.

George Shaw. (1790). Te nauralis’s miscellany (Vivariumnaurae), or coloured gures o naural objecs, drawn anddescribed immediaely rom naure. Illusraed by Frederick P.(E. & R .) Nodder. Volume I. London, UK.

Plae 31. Pipa pipa.

Hugh Edwin Srickland and A. G. Melville. (1848) Te dodoand is kindred: or he hisory, aniies, and oseology o hedodo, soliaire, and oher exinc birds o he islands Mauriius,Rodriguez and Bourbon. London, UK.

Plae 65. Raphus cucullaus.

Benjamin Waerhouse Hawkins. (1850). Gleanings rom hemenagerie and aviary a Knowsley Hall. Volume II. Knowsley,UK.

Plae 14. Equus zebra.

Joseph Wol. (1861). Zoological skeches by Joseph Wol. Madeor he Zoological Sociey o London rom animals in heir vivarium in he Regen’s Park; edied wih noes by Philip L.Sclaer. London, UK .

Plae 54. Rhynocheos jubaus.

Plae 62. Tylacinus cynocephalus.

Zoological Sociey o London. (1835). ransacions o heZoological Sociey o London Vol. I. London, UK.

Plae 48. Crypoproca erox.

Zoological Sociey o London. (1902). ransacions o heZoological Sociey o London. Vol. XVI. London, UK. Cover illusraion. Okapia johnsoni.



68Glossary

Amniotes - amnioic egg-laying verebraes

Amniotic egg - egg conaining amnioic sac and oher membranes o proec he oeus

Anadromous - predominanly ocean-dwellers, reproduce in reshwaer

Anapsids - repiles wih a skull lacking openings

Archaeopteryx - earlies known bird Archosaur - group conaining crocodiles, modern birds and dinosaurs

Cambrian explosion - rapid appearance o many major groups o phyla

Catadromous - predominanly reshwaer-dwellers, reproduce in oceans

Chondrostean - primiive ray-nned bony shes

Chordates - verebraes and some closely relaed inverebraes

Clade - group o organisms derived rom a common ancesor

Convergent evolution - a common rai in unrelaed lineages

Craniata - chordae species wih a skull

Diapsids - repiles wih a hole each side o he skull

Ecomorphs - species populaions which have morphologically adaped o he environmen

Endemics - exclusively naive o a paricular region

Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) - see page 8

Evolutionary grade - group o species unied by morphological rais ha have

given rise o anoher group ha dier markedly rom he ancesral condiion,

and hus no considered par o he ancesral group

Evolutionary radiation - increase in axonomic diversiy

Extant - alive oday

Gnathostomes - sh wih verically biing jaws

Hominin - any member o he “sub-ribe” Hominina (“ribe” Hominini, amily Hominidae,

order Primaes), o which only one species exiss oday – Homo sapiens

Labyrinthodont - exinc sub-class o amphibians

Lek - maing display preormed by a group o males

Lineage - species descending rom a common ancesor

Living Planet Index (LPI) - see page 6

Malleus and incus - bones o he middle ear

Monotypic - axon wih a single subordinae axon

Phylogeny (and phylogenetic supertrees) - sudy o how species are relaed

Placoderm - prehisoric shPolygynous - one male and muliple emales per maing sysem

Red List - see page 4

Sampled Red List Index (SRLI) - see page 4

Sauropsids - group conaining repiles and birds

Sexual dimorphism - dierences beween sexes o he same species

Speciation - divergence o new species

Speciose - high number o species in a group

Synapsids - group conaining mammals

etrapods - verebraes wih our legs (or oher appendages)



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Cover illusraion by P.J. Smi o he okapi (Okapia johnstoni).ransacions o he Zoological Sociey o London. Vol. XVI. 1902. Inspired by repors o an unknown horse-like creaure in Arica,Sir Harry Johnson, a Fellow o he Zoological Sociey o London,se ou o nd his myserious species in 1900, and he okapi (Okapia

johnsoni) was subsequenly described a a meeing o he Sociey in1901 rom specimens he sen back o London. Te species is endemico he high canopy oress o norh-easern and cenral DemocraicRepublic o Congo and hreaened wih habia loss and huningaggravaed by long-erm civil unres. Wih 10,000 - 35,000individuals esimaed o remain in he wild, his species is classied asNear Treaened, bu remains poorly-known o scieniss. As a resul,

ZSL is now leading eors o improve undersanding o he species oenable a reassessmen o is conservaion saus.



Te Zoological Sociey o London (ZSL), a chariy ounded in1826, is a world renowned cenre o excellence or conservaionscience and applied conservaion. ZSL’s mission is o promoeand achieve he worldwide conservaion o animals and heirhabias. Tis is realised by carrying ou eld conservaion andresearch in over 50 counries across he globe and hrougheducaion and awareness a our wo zoos, ZSL London Zooand ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, inspiring people o akeconservaion acion.

We srive o achieve our mission by:

Conducing world-leading conservaion scienceImplemening eecive eld conservaion projecs globally Providing decision-makers wih he bes conservaion adviceBuilding conservaion capaciy and inspiringpeople o connec wih he naural world

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