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Special Issue "Ecology, Conservation and Restoration of Threatened Animal"

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Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China
Interests: spatial ecology and conservation biology of endangered species

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a forthcoming Special Issue in Diversity entitled “Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration of Threatened Animals”.

We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, also known as the Holocene extinction, due to intense and rapid environmental change made by humans in the epoch of the Holocene. The emerging mass extinction, or at least the drastic decline in populations, has been changing the global ecosystem and harming human well-being. Currently, countries are forging an agreement to protect and conserve 30% of the planet by 2030 in the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference with an aim to lessen biodiversity loss. Ecological characteristics vary in different threatened species, and so do the conservation and restoration approaches that should be used for each of them. We urgently need to understand the populations and habitats of threatened animals, reveal the factors causing the endangering progress, and derive conservation policies and management measures to conserve these species. Knowledge of those topics is the bridge that will lead us from the area-based conservation approach of “30 by 30” to achieving the goal of actually restoring or maintaining global biodiversity.

Diversity has organized this Special Issue to combine and synthesize the latest advancements in research regarding the ecology and conservation of threatened animals. We, alongside Diversity’s team, invite you to submit reviews or original research manuscripts focused on the topics mentioned above. This Special Issue focuses on the current status and challenges, novel methods, solutions, and future perspectives in the field of the ecology and conservation of threatened animals.

Dr. Qiang Dai
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

threatened animals
small population
behavior
habitat
conservation policy
conservation management
population restoration
habitat restoration

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Variability and Family Relationships in a Reintroduced Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) Population: A Field-Lab Integrated Approach

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Diversity 2023, 15(5), 622; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050622 - 03 May 2023

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Abstract

Reintroductions represent an opportunity to restore local biodiversity and reverse the effect of taxa extinction. However, they need feasibility and monitoring plans before and during their implementation to ensure concrete and lasting results. During the 20th century, the osprey (Pandion haliaetus) underwent a severe population decline in many European countries due to direct persecution and coast exploitation. In the 1960s–1970s, it was declared extinct as a breeder in Italy. In 2004, the Maremma Regional Park (Tuscany, central Italy) started a reintroduction project by capturing and releasing, from 2006 to 2010, 33 juvenile Corsican ospreys on the southern coast of Tuscany. The settlement of the first breeding pair in 2011 was the initial sign of the success of the reintroduction project, then further pairs settled from 2011 onward. A total of 81 feather or blood samples were collected for DNA extraction from both translocated (2006–2010) and newborn individuals (2011–2021). Individuals were analyzed at 16 microsatellite loci to verify any changes in genetic variability over time and to set out a protocol for the reconstruction of kinship for conservation and management purposes. We did not observe a reduction in genetic variability between the two sampling periods, although we found a slight sign of the founder effect in the reestablished population. A strong genetic differentiation was observed between this Mediterranean population and an injured osprey from a Northern European population, thus confirming the importance of considering the local genetic pool in any reintroduction project. Monogamous behavior was confirmed by family reconstruction, which allowed the identification of clear kinship relationships. Our findings indirectly inform on the genetic variability of the population during the 16-year period from the start of the project and provide useful insights for its long-term conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Conservation and Restoration of Threatened Animal)

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Open AccessArticle

The Factors Influencing Wildlife to Use Existing Bridges and Culverts in Giant Panda National Park

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Diversity 2023, 15(4), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15040487 - 25 Mar 2023

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Abstract

Roads, acting as barriers, hamper wildlife movements and disrupt habitat connectivity. Bridges and culverts are common structures on roads, and some of them can function to allow wildlife passage. This study investigated the effects of traffic, the surrounding landscape, human disturbance, and bridge and culvert structures on the utilization of bridges and culverts as dedicated passages by wildlife, using motion-activated infrared camera traps along a 64 km road in Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan, China. The results show that both species richness and counts of wildlife recorded at the bridge and culvert were significantly lower than those observed at sites distant from roads. No large-sized wildlife was recorded at the bridges and culverts. Human activities and traffic volume significantly and negatively affect medium-sized wildlife utilization of bridges and culverts. We conclude that bridges and culverts serve as wildlife crossings, but their efficacy is weak. This emphasizes the necessity of retrofitting bridges and culverts via mitigation facilities such as noise and light barriers, and vegetation restoration on both sides of the roads in Giant Panda National Park. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology, Conservation and Restoration of Threatened Animal)

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