Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada
Facing the global biodiversity crisis, conservation practitioners and decision-makers seek to catalyze wildlife recoveries in their region. Here we examined social-ecological attributes related to threatened species recovery in Canada. First, we used a retrospective approach to compare the trajector...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | FACETS |
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| Online Access: | https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2024-0084 |
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| author | Laurenne Schiller Mathilde L. Tissier Alexandra C.D. Davis Clayton T. Lamb Stefanie Odette Mayer Allyson K. Menzies René S. Shahmohamadloo Karen J. Vanderwolf |
| author_facet | Laurenne Schiller Mathilde L. Tissier Alexandra C.D. Davis Clayton T. Lamb Stefanie Odette Mayer Allyson K. Menzies René S. Shahmohamadloo Karen J. Vanderwolf |
| author_sort | Laurenne Schiller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Facing the global biodiversity crisis, conservation practitioners and decision-makers seek to catalyze wildlife recoveries in their region. Here we examined social-ecological attributes related to threatened species recovery in Canada. First, we used a retrospective approach to compare the trajectories of the original species assessed by Canada’s species-at-risk committee and found that only eight of 36 species now have decreased extinction risk relative to the past. There were no significant differences in human or financial capacity provided for recovery across species doing better, the same, or worse; the only significant difference was whether the primary cause of decline was alleviated or not. Second, when looking at species assessed at least twice between 2000 and 2019 we found that only eight of 422 (1.9%) experienced both increasing abundance and decreasing extinction risk. The defining characteristic of successful recoveries was first alleviating the original cause of decline, which was most often accomplished through strong regulatory intervention. Once declines were halted, practical interventions were highly species-specific. It is instructive to learn from conservation successes to scale resources appropriately and our results emphasize the importance of threat-specific intervention as a fundamental precursor to the successful restoration of biodiversity in Canada. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-60df8d63c47b44aeab2b6f98feb6959c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2371-1671 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Canadian Science Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | FACETS |
| spelling | doaj-art-60df8d63c47b44aeab2b6f98feb6959c2025-08-20T02:47:03ZengCanadian Science PublishingFACETS2371-16712025-01-011011710.1139/facets-2024-0084Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in CanadaLaurenne Schiller0Mathilde L. Tissier1Alexandra C.D. Davis2Clayton T. Lamb3Stefanie Odette Mayer4Allyson K. Menzies5René S. Shahmohamadloo6Karen J. Vanderwolf7School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDépartement des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal H2X 1Y4, CanadaDepartment of Biology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330, USAWildlife Science Center, Biodiversity Pathways, Jaffray, BC V0B 1T0, CanadaEnvironmental Physics, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Zürich 8092, SwitzerlandDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, CanadaSchool of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USADepartment of Biology, University of Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, CanadaFacing the global biodiversity crisis, conservation practitioners and decision-makers seek to catalyze wildlife recoveries in their region. Here we examined social-ecological attributes related to threatened species recovery in Canada. First, we used a retrospective approach to compare the trajectories of the original species assessed by Canada’s species-at-risk committee and found that only eight of 36 species now have decreased extinction risk relative to the past. There were no significant differences in human or financial capacity provided for recovery across species doing better, the same, or worse; the only significant difference was whether the primary cause of decline was alleviated or not. Second, when looking at species assessed at least twice between 2000 and 2019 we found that only eight of 422 (1.9%) experienced both increasing abundance and decreasing extinction risk. The defining characteristic of successful recoveries was first alleviating the original cause of decline, which was most often accomplished through strong regulatory intervention. Once declines were halted, practical interventions were highly species-specific. It is instructive to learn from conservation successes to scale resources appropriately and our results emphasize the importance of threat-specific intervention as a fundamental precursor to the successful restoration of biodiversity in Canada.https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2024-0084Canadaendangered species conservationKunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity FrameworkSpecies at Risk Actwildlife recovery |
| spellingShingle | Laurenne Schiller Mathilde L. Tissier Alexandra C.D. Davis Clayton T. Lamb Stefanie Odette Mayer Allyson K. Menzies René S. Shahmohamadloo Karen J. Vanderwolf Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada FACETS Canada endangered species conservation Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework Species at Risk Act wildlife recovery |
| title | Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada |
| title_full | Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada |
| title_fullStr | Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada |
| title_short | Hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in Canada |
| title_sort | hopeful insights from wildlife recoveries in canada |
| topic | Canada endangered species conservation Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework Species at Risk Act wildlife recovery |
| url | https://facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2024-0084 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurenneschiller hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT mathildeltissier hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT alexandracddavis hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT claytontlamb hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT stefanieodettemayer hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT allysonkmenzies hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT renesshahmohamadloo hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada AT karenjvanderwolf hopefulinsightsfromwildliferecoveriesincanada |