Application of the precautionary principle to taxa of uncertain status: the case of the Bellinger River turtle

Abstract

Legislative and regulatory frameworks for conserving biodiversity often focus on the species as a fundamental unit for protection. In cases where the taxonomic or conservation status of a species is uncertain, the precautionary principle may be invoked in listing suspected but as yet undescribed taxa as vulnerable or endangered. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the taxonomic status of what has been regarded as a distinctive but as yet undescribed species of freshwater turtle, declared endangered in the Action Plan for Australian Reptiles and vulnerable in the schedules of state and federal conservation acts. Using mitochondrial sequence variation, we show that the Bellinger River turtle is an unremarkable population of a common and widespread species, Emydura macquarii. In addition, we present evidence suggesting that it may have been recently introduced to, or may be a recent invader of, the Bellinger River (New South Wales, Australia) where it may come to compete with Myuchelys georgesi, an endemic found only in the Bellinger River. Our study illustrates the need to couple fundamental research with on-ground action early in an adaptive management context, particularly where taxonomic status of the target species is uncertain. Short-term cost savings of failing to do so may come to be greatly exceeded by longer-term opportunity loss where conservation dollars are limited.

Stream flow alone does not predict population structure of diving beetles across complex tropical landscapes

“…Following the habitat constraints hypotheses (Ribera, ), one can predict that New Guinean lotic lineages should exhibit high levels of local endemism and population structure between watersheds and geological terranes on the island because of low dispersal in stable environments. Such a pattern has been previously suggested by several studies involving large time‐calibrated molecular phylogenies, including lotic Exocelina diving beetles (Toussaint, Hendrich, Shaverdo, & Balke, ; Toussaint et al., ), rainbowfishes (Unmack et al., ) and the New Guinea snapping turtle Elseya novaeguineae (Georges et al., ). However, there are no studies to date that focus on fine‐scale phylogeographic patterns among populations of aquatic lineages across the island (but see Lam et al., ; Georges et al., for Miocenic divergence of regional populations).…”

“…The two populations in cluster C remain discrete. The base map was generated in the Google Maps API's StylingWizard (https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/) and edited in a graphic design software [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Despite the unique biota and paleogeological history of the island, evolutionary studies are rare, principally due to the difficulty to collect samples (but see, e.g., Deiner et al, 2011;Georges et al, 2011;Lam et al, 2018;Unmack, Allen, & Johnson, 2013;Toussaint et al, 2014;Oliver, Iannella, Richards, & Lee, 2017;Van Dam et al, 2017).…”

A new species of leopard frog (Anura: Ranidae) from the urban northeastern US

“…nov. as a novel species, furthering our understanding of the R. pipiens species complex in this region. In light of this new systematic knowledge, the “precautionary principle” (Raffensperger et al, 1999; Georges et al, 2011) suggests that appropriate conservation measures should be considered for immediate implementation at the state and possibly federal levels. The northeastern US is generally viewed as a glacially-impacted region of low diversity compared to the southeastern US (Rissler and Smith, 2010) or California (Rissler et al, 2006), and thus this region has received relatively less scrutiny and study in recent decades compared to regions that are believed to harbor higher overall diversity (but see Pseudacris kalmi Lemmon et al, 2007).…”

Mitochondrial variation among Australian freshwater turtles (genus Myuchelys), with special reference to the Endangered M. bellii

“…For example, international systems of biodiversity protection such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and national systems such as the United Kingdom Endangered Species Act, United States Endangered Species Act and the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) rely on good taxonomic knowledge at the species level. However, because such knowledge is often incomplete, conservation action can be misguided or misdirected (Roman et al 1999, Engstrom et al 2004, Georges et al 2011.…”

“…Failure to recognise underlying cryptic diversity at or below the level of species can have a great influence on biological conservation outcomes, either through declines in cryptic species that go undetected and as a result are poorly managed (as with Cyclemys; Fritz et al 2008, Stuart & Fritz 2008 or because diversity that is suspected but with poor foundation leads to misallocation of resources (Georges et al 2011). In addition, phylogenetic information has a role to play in assessing distinctiveness, an attribute that has an influence on determining conservation priorities (Faith 1992, Moritz 1995.…”