University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Davie, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 5;8(8):e70647. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070647. Print 2013.
The presence of multiple interacting threats to biodiversity and the increasing rate of species extinction make it critical to prioritize management efforts on species and communities that maximize conservation success. We implemented a multi-step approach that coupled vulnerability assessments evaluating threats to Florida taxa such as climate change, sea-level rise, and habitat fragmentation with in-depth literature surveys of taxon-specific ecological traits. The vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and ecological traits of 12 threatened and endangered subspecies were compared to non-listed subspecies of the same parent species. Overall, the threatened and endangered subspecies showed high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity, in particular to sea level rise and habitat fragmentation. They also exhibited larger home ranges and greater dispersal limitation compared to non-endangered subspecies, which may inhibit their ability to track changing climate in fragmented landscapes. There was evidence for lower reproductive capacity in some of the threatened or endangered taxa, but not for most. Taxa located in the Florida Keys or in other low coastal areas were most vulnerable to sea level rise, and also showed low levels of adaptive capacity, indicating they may have a lower probability of conservation success. Our analysis of at-risk subspecies and closely related non-endangered subspecies demonstrates that ecological traits help to explain observed differences in vulnerability and adaptive capacity. This study points to the importance of assessing the relative contributions of multiple threats and evaluating conservation value at the species (or subspecies) level when resources are limited and several factors affect conservation success.
生物多样性面临多种相互作用的威胁，物种灭绝率不断上升，这使得将管理工作重点放在最大限度提高保护成功率的物种和群落上变得至关重要。我们采用了一种多步骤的方法，将评估佛罗里达州物种面临的威胁（如气候变化、海平面上升和生境破碎化）的脆弱性评估与针对特定物种生态特征的深入文献调查相结合。我们比较了 12 个受威胁和濒危亚种的脆弱性、适应能力和生态特征与其同一亲种的非列名亚种。总的来说，受威胁和濒危亚种表现出高度的脆弱性和低适应能力，特别是对海平面上升和生境破碎化。与非濒危亚种相比，它们的活动范围更大，扩散限制更大，这可能会抑制它们在破碎景观中追踪气候变化的能力。一些受威胁或濒危类群的繁殖能力较低，但并非大多数。位于佛罗里达群岛或其他低海岸地区的类群最容易受到海平面上升的影响，而且适应能力也较低，这表明它们的保护成功的可能性较低。我们对受威胁亚种和密切相关的非濒危亚种的分析表明，生态特征有助于解释脆弱性和适应能力观察到的差异。这项研究表明，在资源有限且有多种因素影响保护成功的情况下，评估多种威胁的相对贡献并在物种（或亚种）水平上评估保护价值非常重要。
