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Many threatened species rely on ecotourism for conservation funding, but simultaneously suffer direct ecological impacts from ecotourism. For a range of IUCN-Redlisted terrestrial and marine bird and mammal species worldwide, we use population viability analyses to calculate the net effects of ecotourism on expected time to extinction, in the presence of other anthropogenic threats such as poaching, primary industries and habitat loss. Species for which these calculations are currently possible, for one or more subpopulations, include: orangutan, hoolock gibbon, golden lion tamarin, cheetah, African wild dog, New Zealand sealion, great green macaw, Egyptian vulture, and African penguin. For some but not all of these species, tourism can extend expected survival time, i.e., benefits outweigh impacts. Precise outcomes depend strongly on population parameters and starting sizes, predation, and ecotourism scale and mechanisms. Tourism does not currently overcome other major conservation threats associated with natural resource extractive industries. Similar calculations for other threatened species are currently limited by lack of basic population data.

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5-100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8-99%. Tourism's financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts.

Habitat destruction is a key threatening process for amphibians. Modified or anthropogenic waterbodies can be used to compensate for habitat loss, with several amphibian species utilising created or modified waterbodies. We measured usage of anthropogenic/modified waterbodies by adult and tadpole frog species, including threatened species, in coastal wallum habitat in eastern Australia. Nine road trenches/ditches, 8 artificial 'lakes', 6 golf course waterbodies and 13 natural waterbodies were surveyed for frog adults and tadpoles during the summer/spring period 2011–2012. Additionally, we examined the relationship between frog assemblages and environmental factors (water chemistry, aquatic predators, vegetation types), focusing on Litoria olongburensis and Litoria fallax. Frog species richness differed between waterbody types, with two of three threatened frog species present in both natural and anthropogenic/modified waterbodies. The frog assemblage was influenced by pH, turbidity, salinity and percentage cover of certain vegetation types. Measured abundance of L. olongburensis adults and tadpoles were highest in natural waterbodies with high sedge density and low pH. The measured abundance of adult L. fallax was highest within artificial lakes. We conclude that differences in water chemistry and vegetation density can affect the amphibian assemblage within these environments. Therefore, effective conservation of all frog species would be enhanced by conserving a variety of waterbody types. However, natural waterbodies are more likely to be used by threatened species and the conservation of these waterbodies provides the best conservation outcomes. Where habitat offsets may be required, environmental managers should critically assess the quality of constructed habitat for specialist frog species including those associated with acidic, oligotrophic environments. Wallum frogs are unique as they occur in naturally acidic, oligotrophic waterbodies. These waterbodies and the habitat surrounding them are often influenced by human disturbances. This article looks at determining the suitability of anthropogenic waterbodies for wallum frogs. We found that naturally occurring waterbodies are most suited for wallum frogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local communities are often encouraged to adopt alternative land-use practices to minimize their impacts on biodiversity. Tourism is one of these practices but it can also impact conservation and traditional resource use activities. Using a review of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List database as well as nature-based tourism, ethnozoology, ethnobiology, and wildlife conservation and trade literature, we examined the influence of tourism on the traditional resource use–conservation balance and the potential outcomes for species conservation. We identified 547 local culturally important species (LCIS): 369 were threatened by traditional practices (e.g., hunting) and 161 were protected (e.g., totemic species). Most LCIS were found in the Indomalayan, Neotropical, and Afrotropical regions and roughly 30% were involved in nature-based tourism, particularly mammals. Very few LCIS (<5) were threatened by tourism. Results suggested that tourism can support species conservation and protect traditional practices by providing alternative local sustainable development options. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recovery planning is a key component of many threatened species conservation initiatives and can be a powerful awareness raising tool. One of the largest impediments to conservation efforts in the Pacific region however, is the lack of ecological data and its subsequent effects on the development of feasible and useful recovery plans for threatened species. Without these plans, the understaffed, underfunded and often technically ill-equipped conservation agencies face huge difficulties in planning, prioritizing and conducting conservation activities to adequately protect biodiversity. The Fiji sago palm, Metroxylon vitiense, is an endemic endangered palm species whose survival is heavily dependent on a feasible species recovery plan. It is geographically restricted and threatened by habitat destruction and overexploitation for thatch for the tourism industry and palm heart consumption by local consumers. Despite its threatened status, M. vitiense is not currently protected by national or international legislation. Recent field surveys and extensive stakeholder consultation have resulted in the production of a species recovery plan highlighting the importance of the species and advocating sustainable harvesting rather than complete bans to promote conservation. This article summarizes the recovery plan and its current effects on the status of M. vitiense in Fiji. We also discuss the role of different stakeholders in the conservation of M. vitiense, including the absence of significant behavioral changes by the largest consumer - the tourism industry, and the importance of recovery plans for biodiversity conservation in the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife management, particularly the conservation of threatened species, often involves habitat management and an understanding of species preferences. Much ecological data used to establish rare and endangered species distributions and/or habitat associations exists in the form of point counts which often violates the assumptions of commonly used statistical techniques. In this study, the spatial distribution and habitat preferences of an endangered, endemic frog (Platymantis vitianus -- Fiji ground frog) and an introduced toad (Rhinella marina -- cane toad) were observed and mapped on a 60 ha island using a grid of 232 sampling points with 50 x 20 m spacing. The Spatial Analysis by Distance Indices (SADIE) analytical tool demonstrated that despite the wide range of habitats present on Viwa Island, both ground frogs and cane toads displayed clear and defined macrohabitat preferences. Whilst both species showed a strong preference for Inocarpus fagifer forests, there was little overlap in other habitat types with the ground frogs preferring more densely vegetated forest habitats and cane toads preferring more open habitat types close to both permanent and temporary water sources. Within the L fagifer forests, there was no evidence of overlap in the distributions of the two species. The spatial pattern evident indicates that cane toad and ground frog populations co-exist, probably due to similar habitat preferences. However, a more detailed study on the interactions between the two species within their natural environment is needed to determine the nature and magnitude of the impact of the cane toad on the ground frog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]