<p>Large animals hunted for their parts - such as elephant ivory and shark fins - are in double jeopardy of extinction due to their large body size and high value, according to a new study.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The study shows underappreciated risk to marine species similar to that of iconic terrestrial species, but elevated by key differences in the sea.<br /><br />"We typically assume that if a species is reduced to low numbers, individuals will be hard to find, hunters will stop hunting, and populations will be given a chance to recover," said Loren McClenachan of Colby College in the US.<br /><br />"But the extreme values of these species mean that without significant conservation intervention, they will be hunted to extinction," said McClenachan.<br /><br />McClenachan, along with Andrew Cooper and Nicholas Dulvy from Simon Fraser University in Canada, identified a taxonomically diverse group of more than 100 large marine and terrestrial species that are targeted for international luxury markets.<br /><br />They estimated the value of these species across three points of sale and explored the relationships among extinction risk, value and body size.<br /><br />They also quantified the effects of two mitigating factors: poaching fines and geographic range size.<br /><br />The analysis showed a threshold above which economic value is the key driver of extinction risk. Although lower-value species are influenced primarily by their biology, the most valuable species are at high risk of extinction no matter their size.<br /><br />Once mean product values are greater than USD 12,557 per kilogramme, body size no longer drives risk, the report shows.<br /><br />Researchers also uncovered important differences between marine and terrestrial species that point to elevated risk in the sea: although marine products are generally less valuable on a per kilogramme basis, individual animals are still just as valuable as the most valuable terrestrial species.<br /><br />An individual whale shark, for example, is about as valuable as the most valuable terrestrial species: rhinoceroses and tigers.<br /><br />"Hunters don't kill kilogrammes, they kill individuals, so we need to pay attention to these high values of individual animals," McClenachan said.<br /><br />The risk to marine species is not reduced for species with larger ranges as it is on land, either.<br /><br />"The assumption that large ranges protect species from extinction is based on conservation science done on land - where animals found in multiple countries have a higher chance of protection in at least one location - and appears not to apply to marine species, where widespread and little-policed hunting contrasts with tighter controls on land," McClenachan said.<br /><br />The study points to the importance of considering trade of marine animals and differences between terrestrial and marine animals when it comes to conservation.<br />The study was published in the journal Current Biology. <br /></p>
<p>Large animals hunted for their parts - such as elephant ivory and shark fins - are in double jeopardy of extinction due to their large body size and high value, according to a new study.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The study shows underappreciated risk to marine species similar to that of iconic terrestrial species, but elevated by key differences in the sea.<br /><br />"We typically assume that if a species is reduced to low numbers, individuals will be hard to find, hunters will stop hunting, and populations will be given a chance to recover," said Loren McClenachan of Colby College in the US.<br /><br />"But the extreme values of these species mean that without significant conservation intervention, they will be hunted to extinction," said McClenachan.<br /><br />McClenachan, along with Andrew Cooper and Nicholas Dulvy from Simon Fraser University in Canada, identified a taxonomically diverse group of more than 100 large marine and terrestrial species that are targeted for international luxury markets.<br /><br />They estimated the value of these species across three points of sale and explored the relationships among extinction risk, value and body size.<br /><br />They also quantified the effects of two mitigating factors: poaching fines and geographic range size.<br /><br />The analysis showed a threshold above which economic value is the key driver of extinction risk. Although lower-value species are influenced primarily by their biology, the most valuable species are at high risk of extinction no matter their size.<br /><br />Once mean product values are greater than USD 12,557 per kilogramme, body size no longer drives risk, the report shows.<br /><br />Researchers also uncovered important differences between marine and terrestrial species that point to elevated risk in the sea: although marine products are generally less valuable on a per kilogramme basis, individual animals are still just as valuable as the most valuable terrestrial species.<br /><br />An individual whale shark, for example, is about as valuable as the most valuable terrestrial species: rhinoceroses and tigers.<br /><br />"Hunters don't kill kilogrammes, they kill individuals, so we need to pay attention to these high values of individual animals," McClenachan said.<br /><br />The risk to marine species is not reduced for species with larger ranges as it is on land, either.<br /><br />"The assumption that large ranges protect species from extinction is based on conservation science done on land - where animals found in multiple countries have a higher chance of protection in at least one location - and appears not to apply to marine species, where widespread and little-policed hunting contrasts with tighter controls on land," McClenachan said.<br /><br />The study points to the importance of considering trade of marine animals and differences between terrestrial and marine animals when it comes to conservation.<br />The study was published in the journal Current Biology. <br /></p>