Conservation news
Uplisting a threatened small mammal: the Nimba The main opportunity for conserving the Nimba otter- otter-shrew of West Africa shrew is the effective management of two protected areas within its range. The , ha Mount Nimba Strict The Nimba otter-shrew Micropotamogale lamottei is one Nature Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site in of three semi-aquatic mammal species in the family Pota- Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire that is also home to Critically mogalidae (Supercohort Afrotheria, Order Afrosoricida). Endangered species such as the Mount Nimba viviparous Closely related to the tenrecs of Madagascar, otter-shrews toad Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis, Lamotte’s roundleaf resemble small otters. They occur in rivers, streams and bat Hipposideros lamottei and western chimpanzee Pan pools in the forests of central and western Africa where troglodytes verus. The Reserve is threatened by a mining they feed on aquatic invertebrates, fish and amphibians. enclave, as well as by poaching and fires (Monadjem et al., However, as with most small mammal species, their ecology, , Acta Chiropterologica, , –), and is currently a abundance and distribution are poorly known. World Heritage Site in Danger. Otter-shrews have also The Nimba otter-shrew is endemic to a small part of the recently been recorded in East Nimba Nature Reserve on Upper Guinea Region of West Africa: the Nimba mountains the eastern side of the mountain (Monadjem et al., , ’ of Liberia, Guinea and Côte d Ivoire and the Putu mountains op. cit.), which is currently co-managed by ArcelorMittal of Liberia. Both areas are exploited for mining and agricul- Liberia to offset biodiversity losses from its mining activities. ture, yet until recently, little information was available on the Only improved management of these two protected areas, distribution of the otter-shrew, hindering assessment of its and further investigation of protection options in the Putu conservation status. The last IUCN Red List of Threatened range, will ensure the survival of the Nimba otter-shrew, but Species categorized the otter-shrew as Near Threatened but the lack of interest from international conservation agencies in urgent need of further study (Stephenson, , The IUCN in this species, and this region, is of concern. Red List of Threatened Species : e.T A ). Despite these recent studies, the full impact of mining, Recent studies focusing on the Putu range in east-central habitat conversion and bycatch on the ottershrew remains Liberia (Decher et al., , Journal of Contemporary Water unclear and requires investigation. Further research on the – Research & Education, , ) and the Nimba range in species’ distribution, status, habitat requirements, and northern Liberia (Monadjem et al., , Mammalia, threats would help determine which conservation measures https://doi.org/ . /mammalia- - ) have shed could be appropriate in addition to enhancing protected light on this elusive small mammal and confirmed that it area management. In the meantime, we hope the conserva- is under threat. Otter-shrews were found to be confined to tion community finally pays some attention to this unique freshwater habitats in severely fragmented mid-elevation Afrotherian and its Mount Nimba home, before it is too late. forest, where they are largely solitary, occurring at low popu- lation densities. The core population at Mount Nimba is P.J. STEPHENSON Ecosystem Management Group, Department under severe threat from iron ore mining in both Liberia of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, and Guinea, as is its habitat in the satellite population in Switzerland, and IUCN Species Survival Commission the Putu range. The Nimba study provides evidence that Afrotheria Specialist Group. E-mail [email protected] mining has a direct impact on otter-shrews, probably as a re- sult of an increase in siltation of their aquatic habitat. Other ARA MONADJEM Department of Biological Sciences, University threats to the species include conversion of forests into rice of Swaziland, Kwaluseni, Swaziland, Mammal Research paddies and incidental capture and drowning in fish traps. Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, These new studies suggest the extent of occurrence University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, and IUCN (EOO) of the Nimba otter-shrew is , km (Monadjem Species Survival Commission Afrotheria Specialist Group et al., , op. cit.). As the EOO is , , km and thought to be decreasing, and as the extent and quality of JAN DECHER Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander the habitat are deteriorating as a result of mining and agri- Koenig, Bonn, Germany, and IUCN Species Survival cultural activity, the species has been uplisted from Near Commission Afrotheria Specialist Group Threatened to Vulnerable based on criteria Bab(i,ii,iii) (Stephenson et al., in press, Micropotamogale lamottei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ). This demon- What Works in Conservation 2018 strates the value and importance of using field data to revise conservation status assessments, especially for overlooked A new book, free to download, brings together evidence to small mammal species. help conservationists choose the most effective strategies to
Oryx, 2018, 52(4), 609–616 © 2018 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000765 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 29 Sep 2021 at 17:11:40, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000765 610 Conservation news
conserve species and habitats. What Works in Conservation are expected to ensure their work is evidence-based. This , the third edition of the What Works series from the book is one easy way in which practitioners and policy-makers Conservation Evidence project, is a digest of data from can assess the degree to which their decisions align with over , scientific tests of over , conservation inter- current evidence, making it practical to turn a paradigm into ventions (actions of any sort that conservationists could areality. take to protect biodiversity). Freely available from https:// www.openbookpublishers.com/product/, the book sum- CLAIRE WORDLEY,SILVIU PETROVAN,REBECCA SMITH,LYNN DICKS, marizes the evidence available from https://www.conserva- NANCY OCKENDON and WILLIAM SUTHERLAND Conservation tionevidence.com. Evidence, The University of Cambridge, UK This new edition is over % larger than that of last year, Email [email protected] reflecting the number of new conservation interventions that have been summarized and assessed since then. Comprehensive new chapters have been added on the con- Discovery of two new populations of the rare servation of primates, shrublands and heathlands, and peat- endemic Rhododendron liboense in Guizhou, China lands, as well as a chapter on management actions for some animal groups in captivity. The chapter on control of fresh- The Yunnan-Kweichow Plateau in Guizhou, China, is fa- water invasive species has been extended since to cover mous for its plant diversity. However, unlike in Yunnan, additional invasive species, and the other chapters from pre- where there have been many explorations for plants, large vious editions cover global conservation of amphibians, areas in Guizhou remain to be investigated. Rhododendron bats, birds and forests, conservation of European farmland liboense Z. R. Chen & K. M. Lan, an evergreen tree of the biodiversity, and some aspects of enhancing natural pest Ericaceae family, is only known from a single population control and soil fertility. of individuals growing on a karst mountain in Libo The book uses expert assessment, elicited over two county, south-east Guizhou. It was categorized as rounds of Delphi scoring, to score interventions using a traf- Critically Endangered on the Red List of Rhododendrons fic light system. This scoring system comprises three com- (Gibbs et al., , The Red List of Rhododendrons, Botanic ponents, (effectiveness of the intervention, certainty of the Gardens Conservation International), and as Critically evidence, and harms arising from the intervention), and Endangered on the Chinese Higher Plants Red List (Qin the scores from these components are combined to give et al., , Biodiversity Science, , –). each intervention a category ranging from ‘Beneficial’ to To secure more information on R. liboense three field ‘Likely to be ineffective or harmful’. It also identifies surveys were carried out in Libo County during – where the evidence is insufficient to make such judgements. with the support of Botanic Gardens Conservation For those who desire greater detail, links to the more in- International (grant no. BGCI). In addition to the depth evidence describing each individual study are type location on Donghua mountain in Maolan National provided. Nature Reserve, two additional populations of R. liboense The interventions covered include species and habitat were located. In April a population of plants (with management strategies, but go beyond this to include inter- four flowering) was found in Xizhu, c. km from the ventions on livelihood, economic and other incentives; edu- type location of R. liboense. In March a population of cation and awareness; law and policy; and land/water plants (with flowering) was found in Dongdao, c. protection. This gives the reader an overview of a wide km from the type location. These finds bring the total range of available conservation techniques they could try, number of known individuals to . The habitat of the and the evidence for how well each has worked. The book two newly located populations is similar to that of the also highlights what we do not know: where the team type location, where R. liboense grows on steep karst moun- found no studies for an intervention this is indicated, pro- tains, but outside Maolan National Nature Reserve. viding a useful indication to researchers of where to target In addition, seedlings of R. liboense, propagated from future efforts. For example, for bats of the interven- seeds collected from the Donghua population in November tions reviewed returned no studies, and for primates a , are available for ex situ conservation. At least seed- third of interventions had been tested but as a result of in- lings will be planted in in the Rhododendron garden of sufficient or unclear evidence they were classed as Guizhou Minzu University, to assess adaptation. Given the ‘Unknown effectiveness’. If researchers systematically tested species’ apparently low fruit production and that two of the interventions with the least evidence, we’d soon learn a the three known populations are unprotected, additional lot more about how to conserve the natural world more in situ conservation is required for this rare endemic effectively. Rhododendron. We are now discussing with local govern- The concept of evidence-based conservation is often pro- ment officials potential in situ conservation actions for po- moted without sufficient consideration of how conservationists pulations of R. liboense outside Maolan National Nature
Oryx, 2018, 52(4), 609–616 © 2018 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000777 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 29 Sep 2021 at 17:11:40, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000765