Reintroducing resurrected species: selecting DeExtinction candidates.

Technological advances have raised the controversial prospect of resurrecting extinct species. Species DeExtinction should involve more than the production of biological orphans to be scrutinized in the laboratory or zoo. If DeExtinction is to realize its stated goals of deep ecological enrichment, then resurrected animals must be translocated (i.

Developing metapopulation connectivity criteria from genetic and habitat data to recover the endangered Mexican wolf.

Restoring connectivity between fragmented populations is an important tool for alleviating genetic threats to endangered species. Yet recovery plans typically lack quantitative criteria for ensuring such population connectivity. We demonstrate how models that integrate habitat, genetic, and demographic data can be used to develop connectivity criteria for the endangered Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), which is currently being restored to the wild from a captive population descended from 7 founders.

Flavobacterium akiainvivens sp. nov., from decaying wood of Wikstroemia oahuensis, Hawai'i, and emended description of the genus Flavobacterium.

Strain IK-1(T) was isolated from decaying tissues of the shrub Wikstroemia oahuensis collected on O'ahu, Hawai'i. Cells were rods that stained Gram-negative. Gliding motility was not observed.

A native species-based index of biological integrity for Hawaiian stream environments.

Based upon ecological data provided by a 6-year study of native species assemblage structure and function in near-pristine Limahuli Stream (Kauai), The Hawaii Stream Index of Biological Integrity (HS-IBI) incorporates 11 metrics covering five ecological categories (taxonomic richness, sensitive species, reproductive capacity, trophic-habitat capacity, and tolerance capacity). The HS-IBI was shown to effectively distinguish stream biological condition on a continuum from undisturbed (near-pristine) to severely impaired in sampling of 39 sites (6 estuarine reaches) on 18 Hawaiian streams located on all major islands. A significant relationship was validated between relative levels of human impact occurring within-watersheds (determined through use of a landscape indicator) and IBI ratings with metrics responding predictably to gradients of human influence.

Use of linkage mapping and centrality analysis across habitat gradients to conserve connectivity of gray wolf populations in western North America.

Centrality metrics evaluate paths between all possible pairwise combinations of sites on a landscape to rank the contribution of each site to facilitating ecological flows across the network of sites. Computational advances now allow application of centrality metrics to landscapes represented as continuous gradients of habitat quality. This avoids the binary classification of landscapes into patch and matrix required by patch-based graph analyses of connectivity.

Hierarchical Bayesian spatial models for multispecies conservation planning and monitoring.

Biologists who develop and apply habitat models are often familiar with the statistical challenges posed by their data's spatial structure but are unsure of whether the use of complex spatial models will increase the utility of model results in planning. We compared the relative performance of nonspatial and hierarchical Bayesian spatial models for three vertebrate and invertebrate taxa of conservation concern (Church's sideband snails [Monadenia churchi], red tree voles [Arborimus longicaudus], and Pacific fishers [Martes pennanti pacifica]) that provide examples of a range of distributional extents and dispersal abilities. We used presence-absence data derived from regional monitoring programs to develop models with both landscape and site-level environmental covariates.

Geography and recovery under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) defines an endangered species as one "at risk of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Molecular biogeography and diversification of the endemic terrestrial fauna of the Hawaiian Islands.

Oceanic islands have played a central role in biogeography and evolutionary biology. Here, we review molecular studies of the endemic terrestrial fauna of the Hawaiian archipelago. For some groups, monophyly and presumed single origin of the Hawaiian radiations have been confirmed (achatinelline tree snails, drepanidine honeycreepers, drosophilid flies, Havaika spiders, Hylaeus bees, Laupala crickets).

Integration of wireless sensor networks into cyberinfrastructure for monitoring Hawaiian "mountain-to-sea" environments.

Monitoring the complex environmental relationships and feedbacks of ecosystems on catchment (or mountain)-to-sea scales is essential for social systems to effectively deal with the escalating impacts of expanding human populations globally on watersheds. However, synthesis of emerging technologies into a robust observing platform for the monitoring of coupled human-natural environments on extended spatial scales has been slow to develop. For this purpose, the authors produced a new cyberinfrastructure for environmental monitoring which successfully merged the use of wireless sensor technologies, grid computing with three-dimensional (3D) geospatial data visualization/exploration, and a secured internet portal user interface, into a working prototype for monitoring mountain-to-sea environments in the high Hawaiian Islands.

The importance of being spatial (and reserved): assessing northern spotted owl habitat relationships with hierarchical Bayesian models.

Regional conservation planning increasingly draws on habitat suitability models to support decisions regarding land allocation and management. Nevertheless, statistical techniques commonly used for developing such models may give misleading results because they fail to account for 3 factors common in data sets of species distribution: spatial autocorrelation, the large number of sites where the species is absent (zero inflation), and uneven survey effort. We used spatial autoregressive models fit with Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques to assess the relationship between older coniferous forest and the abundance of Northern Spotted Owl nest and activity sites throughout the species' range.

Interacting effects of climate change, landscape conversion, and harvest on carnivore populations at the range margin: marten and lynx in the northern Appalachians.

Assessing the effects of climate change on threatened species requires moving beyond simple bioclimatic models to models that incorporate interactions among climatic trends, landscape change, environmental stochasticity, and species life history. Populations of marten (Martes americana) and lynx (Lynx canadensis) in southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States represent peninsular extensions of boreal ranges and illustrate the potential impact of these threats on semi-isolated populations at the range margin. Decreased snowfall may affect marten and lynx through decreased prey vulnerability and decreased competitive advantage over sympatric carnivores.

A geographic mosaic of passive dispersal: population structure in the endemic Hawaiian amber snail Succinea caduca (Mighels, 1845).

We used 276 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI, 645 bp) and a subset of 84 16S large ribosomal subunit (16S, 451 bp) sequences to evaluate geographic patterns of genetic variation in 24 populations of the endemic Hawaiian land snail Succinea caduca spanning its range on six islands. Haplotype networks, gene tree topologies, pairwise molecular divergence and F(ST) matrices suggest substantial geographic genetic structuring and complex dispersal patterns. Low nucleotide diversity and low pairwise molecular divergence values within populations coupled with higher between population values suggest multiple founder events.

Construction of a California condor BAC library and first-generation chicken-condor comparative physical map as an endangered species conservation genomics resource.

To support genomic analysis of the endangered California condor (Gymnogyps californianus), a BAC library (CHORI-262) was generated using DNA from the blood of a female. The library consists of 89,665 recombinant BAC clones providing approximately 14-fold coverage of the presumed approximately 1.48-Gb genome.

Cross-species overgo hybridization and comparative physical mapping within avian genomes.

The chicken genome sequence facilitates comparative genomics within other avian species. We performed cross-species hybridizations using overgo probes designed from chicken genomic and zebra finch expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to turkey and zebra finch BAC libraries. As a result, 3772 turkey BACs were assigned to 336 markers or genes, and 1662 zebra finch BACs were assigned to 164 genes.

Systemic disease in Vaal rhebok (Pelea capreolus) caused by mycoplasmas in the mycoides cluster.

In the winter of 2002, an outbreak of mycoplasma infection in Vaal rhebok (Pelea capreolus) originating from South Africa occurred 15 weeks after their arrival in San Diego, Calif. Three rhebok developed inappetence, weight loss, lethargy, signs related to pulmonary or arthral dysfunction, and sepsis. All three rhebok died or were euthanized.

Genomic organisation and characterisation of the neural sex-determination gene fruitless (fru) in the Hawaiian species Drosophila heteroneura.

There are several mechanisms for the determination of sex. Sexual behaviour is part of the sex-determination cascade, and in Drosophila melanogaster male courtship is controlled in part by the fruitless gene. As part of a study of sexual behaviour in Hawaiian Drosophila, we have cloned the neural sex-determination gene fru from the Hawaiian picture-wing species Drosophila heteroneura.

Bioinvasions of the medfly Ceratitis capitata: source estimation using DNA sequences at multiple intron loci.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, is a devastating agricultural pest that threatens to become established in vulnerable areas such as California and Florida. Considerable controversy surrounds the status of Californian medfly infestations: Do they represent repeated introductions or the persistence of a resident population? Attempts to resolve this question using traditional population genetic markers and statistical methods are problematic because the most likely source populations in Latin America were themselves only recently colonized and are genetically very similar. Here, significant population structure among several New World medfly populations is demonstrated through the analysis of DNA sequence variation at four intron loci.

Invasion genetics of the Mediterranean fruit fly: variation in multiple nuclear introns.

Biological invasions generally start from low initial population sizes, leading to reduced genetic variation in nuclear and especially mitochondrial DNA. Consequently, genetic approaches for the study of invasion history and population structure are difficult. An extreme example is the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Medfly), for which successive invasions during this century have resulted in a loss of 60% of ancestral genetic variation in isozymes and 75% of variation in mitochondrial DNA.

Speciation and phylogeography of Hawaiian terrestrial arthropods.

The Hawaiian archipelago is arguably the world's finest natural laboratory for the study of evolution and patterns of speciation. Arthropods comprise over 75% of the endemic biota of the Hawaiian Islands and a large proportion belongs to species radiations. We classify patterns of speciation within Hawaiian arthropod lineages into three categories: (i) single representatives of a lineage throughout the islands; (ii) species radiations with either (a) single endemic species on different volcanoes or islands, or (b) multiple species on each volcano or island; and (iii) single widespread species within a radiation of species that exhibits local endemism.

SELECTION ON THE COLOR POLYMORPHISM IN HAWAIIAN HAPPY-FACE SPIDERS: EVIDENCE FROM GENETIC STRUCTURE AND TEMPORAL FLUCTUATIONS.

Throughout this century genetic polymorphisms for color have been widely used as a research tool to allow insights into key evolutionary processes. Although color variants can often be diverse within populations, frequencies of different morphs may be similar across populations, either as a result of balancing selection or gene flow. Under these circumstances selection can be extremely difficult to demonstrate.