Conservation First: Strategic Planning to Save the Critically Endangered Singapore Freshwater Crab, Johora singaporensis
The critically endangered Singapore freshwater crab, Johora singaporensis, is among the 100 most threatened species in the world. The species is endemic to Singapore and known from only a few hill stream localities. Conservation approaches so far have lar
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Conservation First: Strategic Planning to Save the Critically Endangered Singapore Freshwater Crab, Johora singaporensis Darren C.J. Yeo, Sonja Luz, Yixiong Cai, Neil Cumberlidge, Philip J.K. McGowan, Daniel J.J. Ng, Roopali Raghavan and Geoffrey W.H. Davison
Abstract The critically endangered Singapore freshwater crab, Johora singaporensis, is among the 100 most threatened species in the world. The species is endemic to Singapore and known from only a few hill stream localities. Conservation approaches so far have largely focused on basic descriptive research into the animal’s taxonomy, autecology and distribution, and on in situ site conservation and management. In an effort to enhance and ensure the long-term survival of this flagship aquatic invertebrate, a conservation strategy was recently developed along International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines to integrate efforts and approaches into a cohesive action plan. This article outlines the background, development processes (including analysis of threats), and follow-up that have led to publication of the Singapore freshwater crab species conservation strategy, which is to our knowledge, the first for a single invertebrate species.
Keywords Aquatic Brachyura Decapoda Southeast Asia Stream Threatened species
Invertebrate
Potamidae
D.C.J. Yeo (&) Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore e-mail: [email protected] S. Luz R. Raghavan Wildlife Reserves Singapore, 80 Mandai Lake Road, Singapore 729826 Republic of Singapore e-mail: [email protected] R. Raghavan e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2016 T. Kawai and N. Cumberlidge (eds.), A Global Overview of the Conservation of Freshwater Decapod Crustaceans, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42527-6_13
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13.1
D.C.J. Yeo et al.
Introduction
13.1.1 Freshwater Crabs at Risk Primary freshwater crabs (Pseudothelphusidae, Potamidae, Potamonautidae, Gecarcinucidae, and Trichodactylidae) are a group of wholly freshwater families (Yeo et al. 2008a, 2014; Cumberlidge and Ng 2009). In the first-ever global conservation assessment of the primary freshwater crabs, Cumberlidge et al. (2009) found a significant proportion (one-sixth) of the world’s close to 1300 species to be threatened with extinction, and a larger proportion (about half) to lack sufficient data to even be evaluated in the first place; they identified various threats facing this group of animals, and called for strategies to be developed to safeguard the world’s threatened freshwater crabs. Citing various sources (Ng 2008; Yeo et al. 2008b), Cumberlidge et al. (2009) highlighted the Singapore freshwater crab, Johora singaporensis Ng 1986 (Fig. 13.1) as a case study of an environmentally-sensitive species teetering on the edge of extinction, which, while protected, remained highly restricted spatially, and prone to sudden, random events that could possibly lead to extinction. Locally, the status
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