Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model

Extreme overall divergence and high extinction rates are typical of insular endemics. Thus, detecting and understanding nativeness is critical on islands. Resilience to extinction is explored through a mechanistic approach focusing on midwife toads (Anura: Alytidae: Alytinae), an ancient lineage tha...

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Main Author: Cristian R. Altaba
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2014-01-01
Series:Diversity
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/43
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spelling doaj-3b4cfb50c0814d63bd7df5f06f162e392020-11-25T00:13:19ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182014-01-0161437110.3390/d6010043d6010043Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive ModelCristian R. Altaba0Department Philosophy & Social Work, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma, Balearic Islands, SpainExtreme overall divergence and high extinction rates are typical of insular endemics. Thus, detecting and understanding nativeness is critical on islands. Resilience to extinction is explored through a mechanistic approach focusing on midwife toads (Anura: Alytidae: Alytinae), an ancient lineage that includes continental and insular species. All alytines need urgent conservation action, including control of emerging diseases and spatially explicit reserve design aimed at ensuring ecosystem health and connectivity. The only extant insular alytine is additionally affected by an introduced continental predator. This alien species acts as a driver of the prey’s near-extinction and has not elicited any evolutionary response. Both IUCN criteria and EDGE scores show that alytines are top conservation priorities. However, there is a need for also considering phenotypic and ecological uniqueness in the assessment of conservation status and urgency. The reason is that phenotypes render ecosystems functional and insular ones uniquely so. In contrast, phylogenetic relatedness is just a constraint upon, not a motor of, evolutionary novelty. Insular species are indeed particularly susceptible, but can be similarly endangered as continental ones. This paradox may be solved by recognizing the insularity syndrome in any isolated or nearly-insular ecosystem, as a function of evolutionary and dispersal potentials. This predictive model may be useful for island biogeography, invasion biology and conservation planning.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/43Alytesbiological invasionsbiogeographyconservation prioritiesdispersalexotic invasive speciesexperimental designextinctioninsularity syndromeislands
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Cristian R. Altaba
spellingShingle Cristian R. Altaba
Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
Diversity
Alytes
biological invasions
biogeography
conservation priorities
dispersal
exotic invasive species
experimental design
extinction
insularity syndrome
islands
author_facet Cristian R. Altaba
author_sort Cristian R. Altaba
title Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
title_short Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
title_full Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
title_fullStr Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
title_full_unstemmed Extinction Resilience of Island Species: An Amphibian Case and a Predictive Model
title_sort extinction resilience of island species: an amphibian case and a predictive model
publisher MDPI AG
series Diversity
issn 1424-2818
publishDate 2014-01-01
description Extreme overall divergence and high extinction rates are typical of insular endemics. Thus, detecting and understanding nativeness is critical on islands. Resilience to extinction is explored through a mechanistic approach focusing on midwife toads (Anura: Alytidae: Alytinae), an ancient lineage that includes continental and insular species. All alytines need urgent conservation action, including control of emerging diseases and spatially explicit reserve design aimed at ensuring ecosystem health and connectivity. The only extant insular alytine is additionally affected by an introduced continental predator. This alien species acts as a driver of the prey’s near-extinction and has not elicited any evolutionary response. Both IUCN criteria and EDGE scores show that alytines are top conservation priorities. However, there is a need for also considering phenotypic and ecological uniqueness in the assessment of conservation status and urgency. The reason is that phenotypes render ecosystems functional and insular ones uniquely so. In contrast, phylogenetic relatedness is just a constraint upon, not a motor of, evolutionary novelty. Insular species are indeed particularly susceptible, but can be similarly endangered as continental ones. This paradox may be solved by recognizing the insularity syndrome in any isolated or nearly-insular ecosystem, as a function of evolutionary and dispersal potentials. This predictive model may be useful for island biogeography, invasion biology and conservation planning.
topic Alytes
biological invasions
biogeography
conservation priorities
dispersal
exotic invasive species
experimental design
extinction
insularity syndrome
islands
url http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/43
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