Is conservation based on best available science creating an ecological trap for an imperiled lagomorph?

Cheeseman, Amanda E.; Cohen, Jonathan B.; Ryan, Sadie J.; Whipps, Christopher M.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7104

Cited by 11 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(116 reference statements)

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“…The main environmental variable we identified that could limit eastern cottontail gene flow is forest height. Cheeseman et al (2018) also found that eastern cottontail did not occupy areas with high canopy closure, but New England cottontail would occupy those areas when there was a high prevalence of eastern cottontail. The selection of sites to manage the habitat for New England cottontail could include areas that have surrounding mature forest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The mature forest could act as a barrier to eastern cottontail infiltration if New England cottontail are released in the managed area. However, if the New England cottontail disperse from the managed habitat to the areas with more closed canopy forests, they could be creating an ecological trap if their survival is lower in that type of habitat ( Cheeseman et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Location and Species Matters: Variable Influence of the Environment on the Gene Flow of Imperiled, Native and Invasive Cottontails

McGreevy¹,

Michaelides

Djan

et al. 2021

Front. Genet.

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The environment plays an important role in the movement of individuals and their associated genes among populations, which facilitates gene flow. Gene flow can help maintain the genetic diversity both within and between populations and counter the negative impact of genetic drift, which can decrease the fitness of individuals. Sympatric species can have different habitat preferences, and thus can exhibit different patterns of genetic variability and population structure. The specialist-generalist variation hypothesis (SGVH) predicts that specialists will have lower genetic diversity, lower effective population sizes (Ne), and less gene flow among populations. In this study, we used spatially explicit, individual-based comparative approaches to test SGVH predictions in two sympatric cottontail species and identify environmental variables that influence their gene flow. New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is the only native cottontail in the Northeast US, an early successional habitat specialist, and a species of conservation concern. Eastern cottontail (S. floridanus) is an invasive species in the Northeast US and a habitat generalist. We characterized each species’ genomic variation by developing double-digest Restriction-site Associated DNA sequence single nucleotide polymorphism markers, quantified their habitat with Geographic Information System environmental variables, and conducted our analyses at multiple scales. Surprisingly, both species had similar levels of genetic diversity and eastern cottontail’s Ne was only higher than New England cottontail in one of three subregions. At a regional level, the population clusters of New England cottontail were more distinct than eastern cottontail, but the subregional levels showed more geographic areas of restricted gene flow for eastern cottontail than New England cottontail. In general, the environmental variables had the predicted effect on each species’ gene flow. However, the most important environmental variable varied by subregion and species, which shows that location and species matter. Our results provide partial support for the SGVH and the identification of environmental variables that facilitate or impede gene flow can be used to help inform management decisions to conserve New England cottontail.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Location and Species Matters: Variable Influence of the Environment on the Gene Flow of Imperiled, Native and Invasive Cottontails

McGreevy¹,

Michaelides

Djan

et al. 2021

Front. Genet.

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“…While subject to high variability, average annual New England cottontail survival is ~30% (range 0–75%; (Cheeseman et al, 2021 ; Kilpatrick and Goodie, 2019 , B. Ferry, New Hampshire Fish and Game [NHFG] and A. Kovach unpublished data), suggesting that population persistence relies on high rates of recruitment through births and immigration.…”

Section: Science Gains Since the Pece Decisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ferry, NHF&G unpublished data). Furthermore, survival studies suggest that dispersal movements are not only high cost, but also that the cost increases with distance such that individuals are unlikely to survive long-distance dispersals (Cheeseman et al, 2021 ). The genetic and telemetry data together reveal that dispersal cannot overcome fragmentation and habitat patchiness at the landscape level, thereby it cannot effectively offset the low rates of survival and reproduction in the patch.…”

Section: Science Gains Since the Pece Decisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Habitat quality strongly regulates the fitness and growth of populations and is a driver of both survival and density of New England cottontails (Barbour and Litvaitis, 1993 ; Brown and Litvaitis, 1995 ; Cheeseman et al, 2021 ; Villafuerte et al, 1997 ). New England cottontails have strict habitat requirements and their home ranges are typically bounded by low-cover patches, potentially because they suffer high predation rates outside dense cover (Cheeseman et al, 2019a ; Smith and Litvaitis, 2000 ).…”

Section: Science Gains Since the Pece Decisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Separating Proactive Conservation from Species Listing Decisions

Kovach

Cheeseman

Cohen

et al. 2022

Environmental Management

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Proactive Conservation is a paradigm of natural resource management in the United States that encourages voluntary, collaborative efforts to restore species before they need to be protected through government regulations. This paradigm is widely used to conserve at-risk species today, and when used in conjunction with the Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts (PECE), it allows for successful conservation actions to preclude listing of species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Despite the popularity of this paradigm, and recent flagship examples of its use (e.g., greater sage grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus), critical assessments of the outcomes of Proactive Conservation are lacking from the standpoint of species status and recovery metrics. Here, we provide such an evaluation, using the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), heralded as a success of Proactive Conservation efforts in the northeastern United States, as a case study. We review the history and current status of the species, based on the state of the science, in the context of the Conservation Initiative, and the 2015 PECE decision not to the list the species under the ESA. In addition to the impacts of the PECE decision on the New England cottontail conservation specifically, our review also evaluates the benefits and limits of the Proactive Conservation paradigm more broadly, and we make recommendations for its role in relation to ESA implementation for the future of at-risk species management. We find that the status and assurances for recovery under the PECE policy, presented at the time of the New England cottontail listing decision, were overly optimistic, and the status of the species has worsened in subsequent years. We suggest that use of PECE to avoid listing may occur because of the perception of the ESA as a punitive law and a misconception that it is a failure, although very few listed species have gone extinct. Redefining recovery to decouple it from delisting and instead link it to probability of persistence under recommended conservation measures would remove some of the stigma of listing, and it would strengthen the role of Species Status Assessments in endangered species conservation.

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Habitat management to reduce competitive interactions: case study of native and invading cottontails

et al. 2022

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Habitat management recommendations are often based on best available science determined through retroductive and inductive hypotheses. Such recommendations are not frequently tested, potentially resulting in the implementation of unreliable practices for management of imperiled species. The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is an imperiled shrubland-obligate species whose recovery efforts include habitat management and restoration. Researchers suggest former best management practices for the species may result in ecological traps and new recommendations have been developed. We evaluated these newly revised best management practices designed to retain higher tree canopy closure to promote New England cottontails without encouraging eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus). We compared New England and eastern cottontail density between management plots (tree canopy thinned with all downed trees left on the ground, with or without invasive shrub treatment) and control plots (unmanaged) and examined the influence of management on resource selection and survival. Management strategies retaining higher canopy closure promoted stronger selection by New England cottontails than by eastern cottontails. Catch per unit effort of New England cottontails was greater than for eastern cottontails in management plots (P = 0.002). For both species, the proportion of the 95% home range overlapping managed areas was greater than the proportion of managed area in the habitat patch; however, for the 50% core area of the home

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Is conservation based on best available science creating an ecological trap for an imperiled lagomorph?

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 11 publications

References 82 publications

Location and Species Matters: Variable Influence of the Environment on the Gene Flow of Imperiled, Native and Invasive Cottontails

Location and Species Matters: Variable Influence of the Environment on the Gene Flow of Imperiled, Native and Invasive Cottontails

Separating Proactive Conservation from Species Listing Decisions

Habitat management to reduce competitive interactions: case study of native and invading cottontails

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