The Current Status and Distribution of Freshwater Fishes, Land Snails and Reptiles in the Pacific Islands of Oceania
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The current status and distribution of freshwater fishes, land snails and reptiles in the Pacific Islands of Oceania H.Pippard INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN. This publication has been made possible in part by funding from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and the Fonds Pacifique. Published by: IUCN, Gland, Switzerland Copyright © 2012 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: Pippard, H (2012). The current status and distribution of freshwater fishes, land snails and reptiles in the Pacific Islands of Oceania. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 76pp. ISBN: 978-2-8317-1569-8 Cover photo: Ulong Island, Palau © Helen Pippard Produced by: IUCN Oceania Regional Office Printed by: Star Printery, Suva, Fiji Additional information available from: IUCN Oceania Regional Office Private Maila Bag, 5 Ma’afu Street Suva Fiji [email protected] www.iucn.org/publications The text of this book is printed on 9 Lives 90 gsm made from 100% recycled paper ii Contents Acknowledgements.................................................................... v Executive Summary.................................................................... vi Commonly-used abbreviations................................................. vii 1. Background............................................................................. 1 1.1 The diverse Pacific Islands................................................................................. 1 1.2 Project Objectives............................................................................................... 2 1.3 The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species........................................................ 2 1.4 Assessment Methodology................................................................................... 3 1.4.1 Training workshop and preliminary assessments.............................................. 3 1.4.2 Evaluation workshop and post-workshop editing............................................. 4 1.5 Species Mapping................................................................................................. 4 2. Status of Pacific Island Freshwater Fishes........................ 7 2.1 Diversity of Pacific Island freshwater fishes........................................................ 7 2.2 Selection of priority taxa...................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Geographic scope.......................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Taxonomic scope........................................................................................... 8 2.3 Conservation status of freshwater fishes............................................................ 9 2.4 Spatial distribution of freshwater fishes............................................................... 10 2.4.1 Species richness............................................................................................ 10 2.4.2 Data Deficient species.................................................................................... 10 2.4.3 Endemic species............................................................................................ 10 2.4.4 Distribution by habitat..................................................................................... 16 2.5 Major threats to freshwater fishes....................................................................... 17 2.6 Population trends................................................................................................ 18 2.7 Research and Conservation needs..................................................................... 18 2.8 Conclusions......................................................................................................... 20 3. Results - Status of Pacific Island land snails..................... 21 3.1 Diversity of Pacific Island land snails.................................................................. 21 3.2 Selection of priority taxa...................................................................................... 22 3.3 Conservation status of land snails....................................................................... 22 3.4 Spatial distribution of land snails......................................................................... 23 3.4.1 Species richness............................................................................................ 23 3.4.2 Distribution of endemic species............................................................................ 24 3.4.3 Distribution by habitat.................................................................................... 26 3.5 Major threats to land snails................................................................................. 27 3.6 Population trends................................................................................................ 29 3.7 Research and Conservation needs.................................................................... 29 3.8 Conclusions........................................................................................................ 30 4. Results - Status of Pacific Island Reptiles............................ 31 4.1 Diversity of Pacific Island reptiles........................................................................ 31 4.2 Selection of priority taxa...................................................................................... 31 iii 4.3 Conservation status of reptiles............................................................................ 31 4.4 Spatial distribution of reptiles.............................................................................. 32 4.4.1 Species richness............................................................................................ 32 4.4.2 Distribution of endemic species............................................................................ 35 4.4.3 Distribution by habitat.................................................................................... 37 4.5 Major threats to reptiles...................................................................................... 37 4.6 Population trends................................................................................................ 38 4.7 Research and Conservation needs.................................................................... 39 4.8 Conclusions........................................................................................................ 40 5. Conclusions and Recommendations................................. 41 5.1 Overview and recommendations for conservation measures............................ 41 5.2 Application of project results............................................................................... 41 5.3 Future work......................................................................................................... 42 References................................................................................. 43 Appendix 1a: Current Red List status of Pacific Island Freshwater Fishes........... 45 Appendix 1b: Freshwater fish species not assessed in this project....................... 49 Appendix 2: Current Red List status of Pacific Island Terrestrial Land Snails....... 51 Appendix 3: Current Red List status of Pacific Island Reptiles.............................. 64 iv Acknowledgements IUCN’s Red Listing process relies on the Thanks also to the following participants for their willingness of scientists to contribute and pool attendance and contribution at the workshops: their collective knowledge on species, in order to Jeremy Bird, Lekima Copeland, Philippe make the most reliable and up-to-date estimates Gerbeaux, Peter Harlow, Aaron Jenkins, Hilda of a species’ status. Without such commitment, Sakitiwaqa, Richard Singh and Nunia Thomas. this kind of regional overview would not be possible. From IUCN’s Global Species Programme, workshop training, facilitation and support were We would therefore like to acknowledge and provided by Emma Brooks, Neil Cox, Nieves thank the following people who gave their time Garcia and Caroline Pollock. In addition, we would and valuable expertise during this project. First of like to thank David Allen, Will Darwall and Kevin all, to those specialists who attended the training Smith for providing guidance and technical workshop and created the draft species support throughout the course of the project. The assessments: Gary Barker, David Boseto, insight and experience provided by Ian Harrison in Gilianne Brodie, Robert Fisher, Helen Larson, the early stages of the project was invaluable. We Kinikoto Mailautoka, Diarmaid O’Foighil, Rebecca would also like to thank Mia Comeros-Raynal, Rundell and Oliver Tallowin. Secondly to those Heather Harwell and Beth Polidoro