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Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable
As the biodiversity crisis continues, we must redouble efforts to understand and curb pressures pushing species closer to extinction. One major driver is the unsustainable trade of wildlife. Trade in internationally regulated species gains the most research attention, but this only accounts for a mi...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8425949/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34382939 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70086 |
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author | Hughes, Alice C Marshall, Benjamin Michael Strine, Colin T |
author_facet | Hughes, Alice C Marshall, Benjamin Michael Strine, Colin T |
author_sort | Hughes, Alice C |
collection | PubMed |
description | As the biodiversity crisis continues, we must redouble efforts to understand and curb pressures pushing species closer to extinction. One major driver is the unsustainable trade of wildlife. Trade in internationally regulated species gains the most research attention, but this only accounts for a minority of traded species and we risk failing to appreciate the scale and impacts of unregulated legal trade. Despite being legal, trade puts pressure on wild species via direct collection, introduced pathogens, and invasive species. Smaller species-rich vertebrates, such as reptiles, fish, and amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to trading because of gaps in regulations, small distributions, and demand of novel species. Here, we combine data from five sources: online web searches in six languages, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) trade database, Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS) trade inventory, IUCN assessments, and a recent literature review, to characterise the global trade in amphibians, and also map use by purpose including meat, pets, medicinal, and for research. We show that 1215 species are being traded (17% of amphibian species), almost three times previous recorded numbers, 345 are threatened, and 100 Data Deficient or unassessed. Traded species origin hotspots include South America, China, and Central Africa; sources indicate 42% of amphibians are taken from the wild. Newly described species can be rapidly traded (mean time lag of 6.5 years), including threatened and unassessed species. The scale and limited regulation of the amphibian trade, paired with the triptych of connected pressures (collection, pathogens, invasive species), warrants a re-examination of the wildlife trade status quo, application of the precautionary principle in regard to wildlife trade, and a renewed push to achieve global biodiversity goals. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8425949 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-84259492021-09-10 Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable Hughes, Alice C Marshall, Benjamin Michael Strine, Colin T eLife Ecology As the biodiversity crisis continues, we must redouble efforts to understand and curb pressures pushing species closer to extinction. One major driver is the unsustainable trade of wildlife. Trade in internationally regulated species gains the most research attention, but this only accounts for a minority of traded species and we risk failing to appreciate the scale and impacts of unregulated legal trade. Despite being legal, trade puts pressure on wild species via direct collection, introduced pathogens, and invasive species. Smaller species-rich vertebrates, such as reptiles, fish, and amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to trading because of gaps in regulations, small distributions, and demand of novel species. Here, we combine data from five sources: online web searches in six languages, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) trade database, Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS) trade inventory, IUCN assessments, and a recent literature review, to characterise the global trade in amphibians, and also map use by purpose including meat, pets, medicinal, and for research. We show that 1215 species are being traded (17% of amphibian species), almost three times previous recorded numbers, 345 are threatened, and 100 Data Deficient or unassessed. Traded species origin hotspots include South America, China, and Central Africa; sources indicate 42% of amphibians are taken from the wild. Newly described species can be rapidly traded (mean time lag of 6.5 years), including threatened and unassessed species. The scale and limited regulation of the amphibian trade, paired with the triptych of connected pressures (collection, pathogens, invasive species), warrants a re-examination of the wildlife trade status quo, application of the precautionary principle in regard to wildlife trade, and a renewed push to achieve global biodiversity goals. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8425949/ /pubmed/34382939 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70086 Text en © 2021, Hughes et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Ecology Hughes, Alice C Marshall, Benjamin Michael Strine, Colin T Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title | Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title_full | Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title_fullStr | Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title_full_unstemmed | Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title_short | Gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
title_sort | gaps in global wildlife trade monitoring leave amphibians vulnerable |
topic | Ecology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8425949/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34382939 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70086 |
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