To develop effective management strategies for the recovery of threatened and endangered species, it is critical to identify those vital rates (survival and reproductive parameters) responsible for poor population performance and those whose increase will most efficiently change a population's trajectory. In actual application, however, approaches identifying key vital rates are often limited b...

There is renewed interest in implementing surrogate species approaches in conservation planning due to the large number of species in need of management but limited resources and data. One type of surrogate approach involves selection of one or a few species to represent a larger group of species requiring similar management actions, so that protection and persistence of the selected species wo...

The paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is a primitive fish that is found in several large rivers of the Mississippi River drainage. The status of paddlefish populations in these large rivers is debatable due to several factors including habitat loss, contaminants and commercial fishing (Sparrowe 1986; Gundersen and Pearson 1992). The roe of female paddlefish is used to make domestic caviar and comm...

—During field work along a transect in the Cordillera Central of western Panama between 2008 and 2010, we detected several populations of amphibian species which are considered as “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN. Some of these species had suffered from serious population declines, probably due to chytridiomycosis, but all are generally threatened by habitat loss. We detected...

Not surprisingly, Alaska’s wildlife managers face some formidable odds as we work to maintain the state’s wealth of wildlife, prevent species from becoming listed as threatened or endangered, and keep common species common. Some of the challenges we face are unique to our geographic location, the dynamic landscape around us, and our lack of information and analytical tools. Others are common ch...

We examined the potential utility of museum specimens as a source for genetic analysis of fairy shrimp. Because of loss of their vernal pool habitat, some fairy shrimp (including Branchinectasandiegonensis and Branchinectalynchi) are listed as threatened or endangered in Southern California by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Management of those species requires extensive population...