If two previously isolated taxa mutually assimilate through hybridization and subsequent biparental introgression, and if their introgressed descendants have the same or higher fitness than their parents, then gene flow should result in the local extinction of parental taxa via replacement by hybrid derivatives. These dramatic events may occur rapidly, even in a few generations. Given the speed...

Methods to quantify the vulnerability of species to extinction are typically limited by the availability of species-specific input data pertaining to life-history characteristics and population dynamics. This lack of data hampers global biodiversity assessments and conservation planning. Here, we developed a new framework that systematically quantifies extinction risk based on allometric relati...

The recent extinction of the Caribbean monk seal Monachus tropicalis has been considered an example of a human-caused extinction in the marine environment, and this species was considered a driver of the changes that have occurred in the structure of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems since colonial times. I searched archaeological records, historical data, and geographic names (used as a proxy of...

Understanding how plant life history affects species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change is a major ecological challenge. We examined how vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size relate to extinction risk throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. We used a database containing species-level information of 6,929 angiosperms within 112 familie...

Fragmentation and habitat loss are considered among the most important threats to biodiversity. More precisely, transformation of natural habitats into farmlands has been identified as one primary causes plant species extinction. Therefore, understanding effects fragmentation is crucial successful conservation threatened species. Metapopulation modeling prospective tools used in biology evaluat...

We consider a simple model of two species competing for the available living sites with Poissondistributed number of arrivals, and assume that juveniles of one species are competitively superior to the juveniles of the other species but established adults cannot be displaced by colonizing propagules of either species (replacement competition). We find that, in addition to protected co-existence...

Quantitative studies of biotic homogenization can provide useful insights into conservation problems when used appropriately, but can be dangerously misleading when they are not. By separating the concept of biotic homogenization at the global scale from the study of biotic homogenization at spatiallyand temporally-explicit scales, researchers can avoid many of the subtle pitfalls inherent in h...