The Experts below are selected from a list of 277404 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Dave J. Hodgson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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No evidence that extinction risk increases in the largest and smallest vertebrates
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018Co-Authors: Daniel Pincheira-donoso, Dave J. HodgsonAbstract:Extinction risk is widespread across the tree of life (1, 2). Therefore, a key goal of conservation biology is to identify predictors of species Endangerment. The prevailing consensus that larger species are more likely to be threatened (3) was recently overturned by Ripple et al. (4), who demonstrate instead a U-shaped relationship between Endangerment and body size among the world’s vertebrates—a conclusion with significant implications (5). However, we identify four problems with their conclusions. First, increases in Endangerment of smaller vertebrates are heavily biased by a single class (Amphibia), which harbors the smallest tetrapods (6). Second, a U-shaped pattern found among amphibians themselves resulted from a biased subsample of this class. Third, these biases are exaggerated by improper phylogenetic analyses. Fourth, consideration of species’ geographic range sizes (GRS) alters the relationship between Endangerment … [↵][1]2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: daniel.pincheiradonoso{at}ntu.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Douglas J. Mccauley - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Reply to Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson: Both the largest and smallest vertebrates have elevated extinction risk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018Co-Authors: William J Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Michael Hoffmann, Aaron J Wirsing, Thomas M Newsome, Douglas J. MccauleyAbstract:Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson (1) discuss vertebrate Endangerment patterns in their response to our recent article (2). They reassessed our conclusion of a bimodal body size distribution of Endangerment for all vertebrates but did so using only data on body mass for amphibians. In our study, we collectively analyzed patterns of Endangerment across six classes of vertebrates. Contrasting patterns specific to amphibians with results that pertain to all vertebrates fails to compare like to like and as such is perhaps an exercise of unclear value. Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson (1) suggest that our vertebrate model is inadequate because “increases in Endangerment of smaller vertebrates are heavily biased by a single class (Amphibia) . . . ” We investigated this potential bias by refitting our vertebrate model without amphibians … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: bill.ripple{at}oregonstate.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Daniel Pincheira-donoso - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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No evidence that extinction risk increases in the largest and smallest vertebrates
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018Co-Authors: Daniel Pincheira-donoso, Dave J. HodgsonAbstract:Extinction risk is widespread across the tree of life (1, 2). Therefore, a key goal of conservation biology is to identify predictors of species Endangerment. The prevailing consensus that larger species are more likely to be threatened (3) was recently overturned by Ripple et al. (4), who demonstrate instead a U-shaped relationship between Endangerment and body size among the world’s vertebrates—a conclusion with significant implications (5). However, we identify four problems with their conclusions. First, increases in Endangerment of smaller vertebrates are heavily biased by a single class (Amphibia), which harbors the smallest tetrapods (6). Second, a U-shaped pattern found among amphibians themselves resulted from a biased subsample of this class. Third, these biases are exaggerated by improper phylogenetic analyses. Fourth, consideration of species’ geographic range sizes (GRS) alters the relationship between Endangerment … [↵][1]2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: daniel.pincheiradonoso{at}ntu.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
William J Ripple - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Reply to Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson: Both the largest and smallest vertebrates have elevated extinction risk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018Co-Authors: William J Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Michael Hoffmann, Aaron J Wirsing, Thomas M Newsome, Douglas J. MccauleyAbstract:Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson (1) discuss vertebrate Endangerment patterns in their response to our recent article (2). They reassessed our conclusion of a bimodal body size distribution of Endangerment for all vertebrates but did so using only data on body mass for amphibians. In our study, we collectively analyzed patterns of Endangerment across six classes of vertebrates. Contrasting patterns specific to amphibians with results that pertain to all vertebrates fails to compare like to like and as such is perhaps an exercise of unclear value. Pincheira-Donoso and Hodgson (1) suggest that our vertebrate model is inadequate because “increases in Endangerment of smaller vertebrates are heavily biased by a single class (Amphibia) . . . ” We investigated this potential bias by refitting our vertebrate model without amphibians … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: bill.ripple{at}oregonstate.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Caleb Scoville - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Hydraulic society and a “stupid little fish”: toward a historical ontology of Endangerment
Theory and Society, 2019Co-Authors: Caleb ScovilleAbstract:Endangered species are objects of intense scientific scrutiny and political conflict. This article focuses on the interplay among human-nonhuman relations, knowledge production, and the politics of Endangerment. Advancing a historical ontology of Endangerment , it highlights the role of transforming the nonhuman world in the coming to be of new objects of environmental knowledge. Such knowledge can provide the basis for credible claims of Endangerment, facilitating mobilizations against the very human-nonhuman relations that produced it. An in-depth case study of the delta smelt, an endangered species of fish caught in the center of California’s “water wars,” shows how changes in the instrumentalization of the nonhuman environment can produce new knowledge of nature that allows actors to make claims and form coalitions that would be otherwise inconceivable. Because its sole habitat is the hub of California’s water delivery system, efforts to save the species from extinction have reduced flows to farms and cities, fomenting conflict between environmentalists and water users. This article demonstrates that the taxonomic classification of the delta smelt as a species and evidence of its decline arose directly from the reengineering of California’s rivers for extractive ends. Ironically, the knowledge on which environmental advocates relied was a product of the instrumental relation to nature that they sought to transform.
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hydraulic society and a stupid little fish toward a historical ontology of Endangerment
Theory and Society, 2019Co-Authors: Caleb ScovilleAbstract:Endangered species are objects of intense scientific scrutiny and political conflict. This article focuses on the interplay among human-nonhuman relations, knowledge production, and the politics of Endangerment. Advancing a historical ontology of Endangerment, it highlights the role of transforming the nonhuman world in the coming to be of new objects of environmental knowledge. Such knowledge can provide the basis for credible claims of Endangerment, facilitating mobilizations against the very human-nonhuman relations that produced it. An in-depth case study of the delta smelt, an endangered species of fish caught in the center of California’s “water wars,” shows how changes in the instrumentalization of the nonhuman environment can produce new knowledge of nature that allows actors to make claims and form coalitions that would be otherwise inconceivable. Because its sole habitat is the hub of California’s water delivery system, efforts to save the species from extinction have reduced flows to farms and cities, fomenting conflict between environmentalists and water users. This article demonstrates that the taxonomic classification of the delta smelt as a species and evidence of its decline arose directly from the reengineering of California’s rivers for extractive ends. Ironically, the knowledge on which environmental advocates relied was a product of the instrumental relation to nature that they sought to transform.