Which intrinsic traits predict vulnerability to extinction depends on the actual threatening processes

By Manuela González‐Suárez, A. Gomez, E. Revilla. 2013

123 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Understanding what makes some species more vulnerable to extinction than others is an important challenge for conservation. Many comparative analyses have addressed this issue exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic traits associate with general estimates of vulnerability. However, these general estimates do not consider the actual threats that drive species to extinction and hence, are more difficult to translate into effective management. We provide an updated description of the types and spatial distribution of threats that affect mammals globally using data from the IUCN for 5941 species of mammals. Using these data we explore the links between intrinsic species traits and specific threats in order to identify key intrinsic features associated with particular drivers of extinction. We find that families formed by small-size habitat specialists are more likely to be threatened by habitat-modifying processes; whereas, families formed by larger mammals with small litter sizes are more likely to be threatened by processes that directly affect survival. These results highlight the importance of considering the actual threatening process in comparative studies. We also discuss the need to standardize and rank threat importance in global assessments such as the IUCN Red List to improve our ability to understand what makes some species more vulnerable to extinction than others.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d1a64b51732fec27dfb3c440238d459ca1a47e4e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecological Modeling

In Ecology

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Drivers of Extinction Risk in Terrestrial Vertebrates (2017, methodology): “For example, the IUCN list of threatening processes has been used to identify predictors of threat sensitivity (e.g., Owens & Bennett 2000; Gonzalez-Suarez et al. 2013).”
Current global risks to marine mammals: Taking stock of the threats (2018, background): “With respect to relative importance of threats, our findings support what has been stated in previous studies (e.g. Schipper et al., 2008; González-Suárez et al., 2013; Lewison et al., 2014), namely that a number of activities associated with fishing operations represent the”
Correlates of extinction risk in squamate reptiles: the relative importance of biology, geography, threat and range size (2016, unknown): “…species threatened by processes directly affecting 426 survival (e.g., overexploitation) was associated with large body sizes and small litters, whilst 427 high risk in species threatened by habitat-modifying processes was associated with habitat 428 specialization (Gonzalez-Suarez et al., 2013).”