We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), will prepare critical habitat designation proposals for lower Columbia River (LCR) coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and Puget Sound steelhead (O. mykiss) currently listed as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The areas under consideration include watersheds in the lower Columbia River basin in southwest Washington and n...

Understanding landscape patterns in mortality risk is crucial for promoting recovery of threatened and endangered species. Humans affect mortality risk in large carnivores such as wolves (Canis lupus), but spatiotemporally varying density dependence can significantly influence the landscape of survival. This potentially occurs when density varies spatially and risk is unevenly distributed. We q...

The recently proposed concept of ´endangered living fossils’ (ELFs) integrates high-endangered status and evolutionary singularity for any species. In this review, I gathered monotypic genera (single-species genera) that satisfy the three ELF criteria: (i) scarcity narrow distribution populations, i.e., considering every species categorized ‘critically endangered’ or contemporary ´extinct´ by I...

Panthera pardus (leopard; Linnaeus, 1758) is the smallest of the 4 large felids in the genus Panthera. A solitary and adaptable species, P. pardus is the widest ranging of all wild felids, inhabiting rain forests, mountains, semiarid environments, and suburban areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia to the Russian Far East. Despite this distribution, P. pardus is li...

A unique community-funded project in Puerto Rico has launched whole-genome sequencing of the critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata), with interpretation by genome bioinformaticians and students, and deposition into public online databases. This is the first article that focuses on the whole genome of a parrot species, one endemic to the USA and recently threatened with exti...

Background: The tropical dry forest, the most endangered ecosystem in the Neotropics, is threatened by the dominance of extensive conventional cattle ranching. The consequences of this land use system are particularly evident in the dry forest ecosystem of Panama’s Azuero Peninsula. Deforestation and soil degradation have impaired ecosystem services, which are necessary to support ranching and ...