Observations of Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) in mainland China

Zhang, Fuhua; Wang, Wenhua; Mahmood, Amna; Wu, Shibao; Li, Jiaqi; Xu, Na

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01460

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, new burrows have not been seen for more than 20 years in some areas of the Dawuling Natural Reserve and Luofushan Natural Reserve in Guangdong province 35,36 . Moreover, the Chinese pangolin might have been extirpated from several areas, including Jiangsu, Shanghai, Henan, etc 37,38 .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A large majority of research on pangolins is restricted to ecological study or genetic study but with DNA markers limited at mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite fragment [38][39][40] . Recently, Hu et al 41 reported the population identities of illegally traded individuals, revealed population fluctuations, and an increase in inbreeding and mutation load in Chinese pangolin populations, providing valuable information for the conservation of this species.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Whole-genome resequencing of Chinese pangolins reveals a population structure and provides insights into their conservation

Wang

Sahu

et al. 2022

Commun Biol

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Poaching and trafficking have a substantial negative impact on the population growth and range expansion of the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). However, recently reported activities of Chinese pangolins in several sites of Guangdong province in China indicate a promising sign for the recovery of this threatened species. Here, we re-sequence genomes of 15 individuals and perform comprehensive population genomics analyses with previously published 22 individuals. These Chinese pangolins are found to be divided into three distinct populations. Multiple lines of evidence indicate the existence of a newly discovered population (CPA) comprises entirely of individuals from Guangdong province. The other two populations (CPB and CPC) have previously been documented. The genetic differentiation of the CPA and CPC is extremely large (FST = 0.541), which is larger than many subspecies-level differentiations. Even for the closer CPA and CPB, their differentiation (FST = 0.101) is still comparable with the population-level differentiation of many endangered species. Further analysis reveals that the CPA and CPB populations separate 2.5–4.0 thousand years ago (kya), and on the other hand, CPA and CPC diverge around 25–40 kya. The CPA population harbors more runs of homozygosity (ROHs) than the CPB and CPC populations, indicating that inbreeding is more prevalent in the CPA population. Although the CPC population has less mutational load than CPA and CPB populations, we predict that several Loss of Function (LoF) mutations will be translocated into the CPA or CPB populations by using the CPC as a donor population for genetic rescue. Our findings imply that the conservation of Chinese pangolins is challenging, and implementing genetic rescue among the three groups should be done with extreme caution.

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Whole-genome resequencing of Chinese pangolins reveals a population structure and provides insights into their conservation

Wang

Sahu

et al. 2022

Commun Biol

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“…After a thorough assessment of habitat and ecological risk, artificial breeding, rewilding and reintroduction are reasonable methods to guard against the extinction of small populations (Kuehler et al, 2000 ). In addition, based on an empirical analysis, the distribution mode of extant Chinese pangolins did not show a typical avoidance strategy for human settlements (Wang et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). Residential and rural areas that overlap with pangolin populations should be targeted for the efforts to improve awareness of the benefits of wildlife conservation (Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, based on an empirical analysis, the distribution mode of extant Chinese pangolins did not show a typical avoidance strategy for human settlements (Wang et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). Residential and rural areas that overlap with pangolin populations should be targeted for the efforts to improve awareness of the benefits of wildlife conservation (Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local chronicles reveal the effect of anthropogenic and climatic impacts on local extinctions of Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) in mainland China

Gao

Dou

Wei

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Anthropogenic and climatic factors affect the survival of animal species. Chinese pangolin is a critically endangered species, and identifying which variables lead to local extinction events is essential for conservation management. Local chronicles in China serve as long‐term monitoring data, providing a perspective to disentangle the roles of human impacts and climate changes in local extinctions. Therefore, we established generalized additive models to identify factors leading to local extinction with historical data from 1700–2000 AD in mainland China. Then we decreased the time scale and constructed extinction risk models using MaxEnt in a 30‐year transect (1970–2000 AD) to further assess extinction probability of extant Chinese pangolin populations. Lastly, we used principal component analysis to assess variation of related anthropogenic and climatic variables. Our results showed that the extinction probability increased with global warming and human population growth. An extinction risk assessment indicated that the population and distribution range of Chinese pangolins had been persistently shrinking in response to highly intensive human activities (main cause) and climate change. PCA results indicated that variability of climatic variables is greater than anthropogenic variables. Overall, the factors causing local extinctions are intensive human interference and drastic climatic fluctuations which induced by the effect of global warming. Approximately 28.10% of extant Chinese pangolins populations are confronted with a notable extinction risk (0.37 ≤ extinction probability≤0.93), specifically those in Southeast China, including Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan and Fujian Provinces. To rescue this critically endangered species, we suggest strengthening field investigations, identifying the exact distribution range and population density of Chinese pangolins and further optimizing the network of nature reserves to improve conservation coverage on the landscape scale and alleviate human interference. Conservation practices that concentrate on the viability assessment of scattered populations could help to improve restoration strategies of the Chinese pangolin.

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“…Artificial breeding, rewild and reintroduction are reasonable methods to guard against the extinction of small populations (Kuehler et al, 2000). In addition, based on an empirical analysis, the distribution mode of extant Chinese pangolins did not show a typical avoidance strategy for human settlements (Zhang et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2020). Residential and rural areas that overlap with pangolin populations should be targeted for efforts to improve awareness of the benefits of wildlife conservation (Zhang et al, 2021)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local chronicles reveal the effect of anthropogenic and climatic impacts on local extinctions of Chinese pangolins in China

Gao

Dou

Wei

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Anthropogenic and climatic factors affect the survival of animal species. Chinese pangolins are a critically endangered species, and identifying which variables lead to local extinction events is essential for conservation management. Local chronicles in China serve as long-term monitoring data, providing a perspective to disentangle the roles of human impacts and climate changes in local extinctions. Through a generalized additive model, extinction risk assessment model and principal component analysis, we combined information from local chronicles over a period of three hundred years (1700-2000) and reconstructed environmental data to determine the causes of local extinctions of the Chinese pangolin in China. Our results showed that the extinction probability increased with population growth and climate warming. An extinction risk assessment indicated that the population and distribution range of Chinese pangolins has been persistently shrinking in response to highly intensive human activities (main cause) and climate warming. Overall, the factors that cause local extinction, intensive human interference and drastic climatic fluctuations induced by global warming, might increase the local extinction rate of Chinese pangolins. Approximately 25% of extant Chinese pangolins are confronted with a notable extinction risk (0.36≤extinction probability≤0.93), specifically those distributed in Southeast China, including Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian, Jiangsu and Taiwan Provinces. To rescue this endangered species, we suggest strengthening field investigations, identifying the exact distribution range and population density of Chinese pangolins and further optimizing the network of nature reserves to improve conservation coverage on the territory scale. Conservation practices that concentrate on the viability assessment of scattered populations could lead to the successful restoration of the Chinese pangolin population.

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Observations of Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) in mainland China

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Whole-genome resequencing of Chinese pangolins reveals a population structure and provides insights into their conservation

Whole-genome resequencing of Chinese pangolins reveals a population structure and provides insights into their conservation

Local chronicles reveal the effect of anthropogenic and climatic impacts on local extinctions of Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) in mainland China

Local chronicles reveal the effect of anthropogenic and climatic impacts on local extinctions of Chinese pangolins in China

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