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Are conservation organizations configured for effective adaptation to global change?
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Conservation organizations must adapt to respond to the ecological impacts of global change. Numerous
changes to conservation actions (eg facilitated ecological transitions, managed relocations, or increased corridordevelopment) have been recommended, but some institutional restructuring within organizations may also be needed. Here we discuss the capacity of conservation organizations to adapt to changing environmental
conditions, focusing primarily on public agencies and nonprofits active in land protection and management
in the US. After first reviewing how these organizations anticipate and detect impacts affecting target
species and ecosystems, we then discuss whether they are sufficiently flexible to prepare and respond by reallocating funding, staff, or other resources. We raise new hypotheses about how the configuration of different
organizations enables them to protect particular conservation targets and manage for particular biophysical
changes that require coordinated management actions over different spatial and temporal scales. Finally, we
provide a discussion resource to help conservation organizations assess their capacity to adapt.
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Resources
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Climate Science Documents
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Endangered Species Act Protection Not Needed for 10 Species in the Southeast
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The Cumberland arrow darter, Shawnee darter, Sequatchie caddisfly, American eel, and six Tennessee cave beetles do not need protection under the Endangered Species Act.
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News & Events
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FishBrain and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partner to Create App-powered Citizen Science Engagement Opportunity Tracking Endangered Species
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – the federal government agency dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats – has teamed up with FishBrain – the world’s largest free-to-use app and social network for anglers – to launch a new feature of the app that will help the American public identify and document threatened, endangered and candidate species.
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News & Events
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Conserving imperiled species in the Upper Tennessee River Basin
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When we think of river life, for many of us a handful of animals may come to mind – trout, smallmouth bass, muskie. But in the Southern Appalachians, waters of the Upper Tennessee River Basin are alive with a whopping 255 species of fish and mussels.
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News & Events
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Three new darter species of the Etheostoma percnurum species complex (Percidae, subgenus Catonotus) from the Tennessee and Cumberland River Drainages
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The federally endangered Duskytail Darter, Etheostoma percnurum Jenkins, is known from only six highly disjunct populations in the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Only four are extant. Variation in morphology including meristics, morphometrics, and pigmentation was examined among the four extant populations and limited specimens from the two extirpated populations (Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River). Analyses of these data found each of the extant populations is morphologically diagnosable. The few specimens avail- able from Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River prevented thorough assessment of variation, and these were grouped with their closest geographic counterparts, Citico Creek, and Little River, respectively. Three new morphologi- cally diagnosable species are described: E. sitikuense, the Citico Darter, from Citico Creek, Abrams Creek, and Tellico River (Tennessee River system); E. marmorpinnum, the Marbled Darter, from the Little River and South Fork Holston River (Tennessee River system); and E. lemniscatum, the Tuxedo Darter, from the Big South Fork (Cumberland River system). Each species warrants federal protection as an endangered species.
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Reports & Documents
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Genetics Provide New Hope for Endangered Freshwater Mussels
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A piece of the restoration puzzle to save populations of endangered freshwater mussels may have been found, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey led study. Local population losses in a river may not result in irreversible loss of mussel species; other mussels from within the same river could be used as sources to restore declining populations.
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News & Events
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New National Wildlife Refuge Established to Protect Some of Appalachia’s Rarest Places
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The Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge became America’s 563rd refuge today.
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News & Events
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USFWS Region 5 Endangered Species Act Update
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A periodic update pertaining to recovery planning and implementation, incidental take, and other information related to the Endangered Species Act within Region 5 of the USFWS.
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News & Events
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Map of Federally Listed Species within the UTRB in Tennessee
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Map of Listed and candidate aquatic species in the Upper Tennessee hydrologic sub-unit of Tennessee.
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Maps
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Endangered Species Act Protections Proposed for Two Appalachian Crayfishes in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia
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Just as the central Appalachian landscape was beginning to undergo changes related to early 20th century mining, logging and population growth, researchers documented a number of crayfish species in the streams of this area known for its natural beauty and diverse wildlife. Two of these crayfishes, the Big Sandy crayfish and the Guyandotte River crayfish, are now in danger of extinction.
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News & Events