Browsing by Subject "Biodiversity Conservation"

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Open Access
A novel approach to assess livestock management effects on biodiversity of drylands
(Ecological Indicators, 2015-01-01) Chillo, V; Ojeda, RA; Anand, M; Reynolds, JF
In drylands livestock grazing is the main production activity, but overgrazing due to mismanagement is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Continuous grazing around water sources generates a radial gradient of grazing intensity called the piosphere. The ecological sustainability of this system is questionable and alternative management needs to be evaluated. We apply simple indicators of species response to grazing gradients, and we propose a novel methodological approach to compare community response to grazing gradients (double reciprocal analysis). We assessed degradation gradients of biodiversity under different management strategies in semiarid rangelands of the Monte desert (Argentina) by analyzing changes in vegetation, ants and small mammal richness and diversity, and variation due to seasonality. At the species level, we determined the trend in abundance of each species along the gradient, and the potential cross-taxa surrogacy. At the community level, the new methodological consists of assessing the magnitude of biodiversity degradation along different piospheres by comparing the slopes of linear functions obtained by the double reciprocal analysis. We found that most species showed a decreasing trend along the gradient under continuous grazing; while under rotational grazing fewer species showed a decreasing trend, and a neutral trend (no change in the abundance along the gradient of grazing intensity) was the most common. We found that vegetation cannot be used as a surrogacy taxon of animal response. Moreover, weak cross-taxa surrogacy was found only for animal assemblages during the wet season. The double reciprocal analysis allowed for comparison of multi-taxa response under different seasons and management types. By its application, we found that constrains in precipitation interacted with disturbance by increasing the negative effect of grazing on vegetation, but not on animal assemblages. Continuous grazing causes biodiversity loss in all situations. Rotational grazing prevents the occurrence of vegetation degradation and maintains higher levels of animal diversity, acting as an opportunity for biodiversity conservation under current scenarios of land use extensification. Our approach highlights the importance of considering multi-taxa and intrinsic variability in the analysis, and should be of value to managers concerned with biodiversity conservation.
Open Access
Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles?
(Endangered Species Research, 2016-12-30) Rees, AF; Alfaro-Shigueto, J; Barata, PCR; Bjorndal, KA; Bolten, AB; Bourjea, J; Broderick, AC; Campbell, LM; Cardona, L; Carreras, C; Casale, P; Ceriani, SA; Dutton, PH; Eguchi, T; Formia, A; Fuentes, MMPB; Fuller, WJ; Girondot, M; Godfrey, MH; Hamann, M; Hart, KM; Hays, GC; Hochscheid, S; Kaska, Y; Jensen, MP; Mangel, JC; Mortimer, JA; Naro-Maciel, E; Ng, CKY; Nichols, WJ; Phillott, AD; Reina, RD; Revuelta, O; Schofield, G; Seminoff, JA; Shanker, K; Tomás, J; van de Merwe, JP; Van Houtan, KS; Vander Zanden, HB; Wallace, BP; Wedemeyer-Strombel, KR; Work, TM; Godley, BJ
© The authors 2016. In 2010, an international group of 35 sea turtle researchers refined an initial list of more than 200 research questions into 20 metaquestions that were considered key for management and conservation of sea turtles. These were classified under 5 categories: reproductive biology, biogeography, population ecology, threats and conservation strategies. To obtain a picture of how research is being focused towards these key questions, we undertook a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature (2014 and 2015) attributing papers to the original 20 questions. In total, we reviewed 605 articles in full and from these 355 (59%) were judged to substantively address the 20 key questions, with others focusing on basic science and monitoring. Progress to answering the 20 questions was not uniform, and there were biases regarding focal turtle species, geographic scope and publication outlet. Whilst it offers some meaningful indications as to effort, quantifying peer-reviewed literature output is ob viously not the only, and possibly not the best, metric for understanding progress towards informing key conservation and management goals. Along with the literature review, an international group based on the original project consortium was assigned to critically summarise recent progress towards answering each of the 20 questions. We found that significant research is being expended towards global priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles. Although highly variable, there has been significant progress in all the key questions identified in 2010. Undertaking this critical review has highlighted that it may be timely to undertake one or more new prioritizing exercises. For this to have maximal benefit we make a range of recommendations for its execution. These include a far greater engagement with social sciences, widening the pool of contributors and focussing the questions, perhaps disaggregating ecology and conservation.
Open Access
Assessing Africa-Wide Pangolin Exploitation by Scaling Local Data
(Conservation Letters, 2018-03) Ingram, DJ; Coad, L; Abernethy, KA; Maisels, F; Stokes, EJ; Bobo, KS; Breuer, T; Gandiwa, E; Ghiurghi, A; Greengrass, E; Holmern, T; Kamgaing, TOW; Ndong Obiang, AM; Poulsen, JR; Schleicher, J; Nielsen, MR; Solly, H; Vath, CL; Waltert, M; Whitham, CEL; Wilkie, DS; Scharlemann, JPW
Copyright and Photocopying: © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Letters published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Overexploitation is one of the main pressures driving wildlife closer to extinction, yet broad-scale data to evaluate species’ declines are limited. Using African pangolins (Family: Pholidota) as a case study, we demonstrate that collating local-scale data can provide crucial information on regional trends in exploitation of threatened species to inform conservation actions and policy. We estimate that 0.4-2.7 million pangolins are hunted annually in Central African forests. The number of pangolins hunted has increased by ∼150% and the proportion of pangolins of all vertebrates hunted increased from 0.04% to 1.83% over the past four decades. However, there were no trends in pangolins observed at markets, suggesting use of alternative supply chains. The price of giant (Smutsia gigantea) and arboreal (Phataginus sp.) pangolins in urban markets has increased 5.8 and 2.3 times respectively, mirroring trends in Asian pangolins. Efforts and resources are needed to increase law enforcement and population monitoring, and investigate linkages between subsistence hunting and illegal wildlife trade.
Open Access
Climate change challenges the current conservation strategy for the giant panda
(Biological Conservation, 2015-10-01) Shen, Guozhen; Pimm, Stuart L; Feng, Chaoyang; Ren, Guofang; Liu, Yanping; Xu, Wenting; Li, Junqing; Si, Xingfeng; Xie, Zongqiang
The global total of protected areas to conserve biodiversity is increasing steadily, while numerous studies show that they are broadly effective. That said, how will current conservation strategies work, given the current and expected changes to the global climate? The giant panda is a conservation icon and exceptional efforts protect its remaining habitats. It provides a unique case study to address this question. There are many studies on the projected loss of habitats as climate warms, but few consider the geographical arrangement of future habitats, current protected area, and species' dispersal abilities. Most alarmingly, we expect much greater habitat fragmentation after climate change. Here, we combine long-term data on giant pandas with climate-change scenarios to predict future habitat loss and distribution in the Min Shan of Sichuan and Gansu, China. We employ metapopulation capacity as a mechanistic measure of a species' response to habitat fragmentation. The results show that climate changes will lead to 16.3. ±. 1.4 (%) losses of giant panda habitats. Alarmingly, 11.4% of the remaining habitat fragments would be smaller than the extinction threshold area as the extent of fragmentation increases nearly fourfold. The projected fragmentation of giant panda habitats predicts 9% lower effectiveness inside the protected area network compared with that outside of reserves. A 35% reduction will occur in future effectiveness of reserve networks. The results challenge the long-term effectiveness of protected areas in protecting the species' persistence. They indicate a need for integrating both natural processes and dynamic threats over a simple reliance on individual static natural reserves.
Open Access
Conspecific investigation of a deceased forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
(PACHYDERM, 2017-07-01) Hawley, CR; Beirne, C; Meier, A; Poulsen, JR
Open Access
Critical information gaps remain in understanding impacts of industrial seismic surveys on marine vertebrates
(Endangered Species Research, 2019-01-01) Elliott, BW; Read, AJ; Godley, BJ; Nelms, SE; Nowacek, DP
© The authors 2019. Anthropogenic noise is increasing throughout the world's oceans. One major contributor is industrial seismic surveys-a process typically undertaken to locate and estimate the quantity of oil and gas deposits beneath the seafloor-which, in recent years, has increased in magnitude and scope in some regions. Regulators permit this activity despite widespread uncertainties regarding the potential ecological impacts of seismic surveys and gaps in baseline information on some key species of conservation concern. Research to date suggests that impacts vary, from displacement to direct mortality, but these effects remain poorly understood for most species. Here, we summarize potential effects of seismic surveys, describe key knowledge gaps, and recommend broad-scale research priorities for 3 impacted taxonomic groups: fish, marine mammals, and sea turtles. We also suggest further technological advances, improved mitigation measures, and better policy and management structures to minimize the ecological impacts of seismic surveys in light of scientific uncertainty.
Open Access
Defaunation of large mammals alters understory vegetation and functional importance of invertebrates in an Afrotropical forest
(Biological Conservation, 2020-01-01) Lamperty, Therese; Zhu, Kai; Poulsen, John R; Dunham, Amy E
Hunting has reduced or eliminated large-bodied vertebrates in many areas across the tropics, contributing to the global process of defaunation. Elucidating the ecological consequences of hunting has important implications for managing ecosystems and for our understanding of community and ecosystem ecology. We present data collected through a combination of comparative and experimental approaches to assess how faunally-intact and heavily-hunted forests in Gabon differ in understory vegetation structure, macroinvertebrate fauna, ecological processes, and the relative importance of different taxa driving those processes. Our results show that hunted sites had denser understory vegetation and hosted approximately 170 times fewer termites compared to faunally-intact sites. While web-building spiders were positively associated with understory vegetation density, this effect did not translate to significantly higher abundances in heavily-hunted forests. Additionally, the overall rates of decomposition, insectivory, and seed predation/removal on the forest floor appeared robust to both defaunation and the associated increases in understory vegetation density. However, our exclosure experiments revealed that the contribution of invertebrates to decomposition was approximately 25% lower in hunted sites compared to faunally-intact sites. Results suggest potential resilience in this complex ecosystem such that microbial or other taxa not measured in this study may compensate for the reduced functional contribution of invertebrates to decomposition. However, while our results illustrate potential resilience, they also indicate that indirect effects following defaunation, such as increases in the density of understory vegetation, may alter invertebrate communities on the forest floor, with potential consequences for the mechanisms, and therefore the dynamics, driving critical ecosystem processes.
Open Access
Free-ranging livestock threaten the long-term survival of giant pandas
(Biological Conservation, 2017-12-01) Li, Binbin V; Pimm, Stuart L; Li, Sheng; Zhao, Lianjun; Luo, Chunping
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd China has implemented forest policies and expanded protected areas to halt deforestation and protect giant panda habitats. These policies simultaneously encouraged local communities to raise livestock that then freely range in forests. This grazing had unintended consequences. As an alternative livelihood, it has become the most prevalent human disturbance across the panda's range. How do free-ranging livestock impact giant panda habitats and what are the implications for future conservation and policy on a larger scale? We use Wanglang National Nature Reserve as a case study. It has seen a nine-fold livestock increase during past 15 years. We combined bamboo survey plots, GPS collar tracking, long-term monitoring, and species distribution modelling incorporating species interaction to understand the impacts across spatial and temporal scales. Our results showed that livestock, especially horses, lead to a significant reduction of bamboo biomass and regeneration. The most intensively used areas by livestock are in the valleys, which are also the areas that pandas prefer. Adding livestock presence to predictive models of the giant panda's distribution yielded a higher accuracy and suggested livestock reduce panda habitat by 34%. Pandas were driven out of the areas intensively used by livestock. We recommend the nature reserve carefully implement a livestock ban and prioritise removing horses because they cause the greater harm. To give up livestock, local communities prefer long-term subsidies or jobs to a one-time payment. Thus, we recommend the government provide payments for ecosystem services that create jobs in forest stewardship or tourism while reducing the number of domestic animals.
Open Access
Marine resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene
(Environmental Conservation, 2018-06-01) ASWANI, SHANKAR; BASURTO, XAVIER; FERSE, SEBASTIAN; GLASER, MARION; CAMPBELL, LISA; CINNER, JOSHUAE; DALTON, TRACEY; JENKINS, LEKELIAD; MILLER, MARCL; POLLNAC, RICHARD; VACCARO, ISMAEL; CHRISTIE, PATRICK
© 2017 Foundation for Environmental Conservation. Because the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from human-coastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of 'new' socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social-ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.
Open Access
Protected areas and biodiversity conservation in India
(Biological Conservation, 2019-09-01) Ghosh-Harihar, Mousumi; An, Ruby; Athreya, Ramana; Borthakur, Udayan; Chanchani, Pranav; Chetry, Dilip; Datta, Aparajita; Harihar, Abishek; Karanth, Krithi K; Mariyam, Dincy; Mohan, Dhananjai; Onial, Malvika; Ramakrishnan, Uma; Robin, VV; Saxena, Ajai; Shahabuddin, Ghazala; Thatte, Prachi; Vijay, Varsha; Wacker, Kristen; Mathur, Vinod B; Pimm, Stuart L; Price, Trevor D
Three well-supported generalizations in conservation biology are that developing tropical countries will experience the greatest biodiversity declines in the near future, they are some of the least studied areas in the world, and in these regions especially, protection requires local community support. We assess these generalizations in an evaluation of protected areas in India. The 5% of India officially protected covers most ecoregions and protected areas have been an important reason why India has suffered no documented species extinctions in the past 70 years. India has strong legislation favouring conservation, government investment focused on 50 Tiger Reserves, and government compensation schemes that facilitate local support, all of which brighten future prospects. However, many protected areas are too small to maintain a full complement of species, making connectivity and species use of buffer zones a crucial issue. Conservation success and challenges vary across regions according to their development status. In less developed areas, notably the biodiverse northeast Himalaya, protected areas maintaining the highest biodiversity result from locally-focused efforts by dedicated individuals. Across India, we demonstrate considerable opportunities to increase local income through ecotourism. Our evaluation confirms a lack of data, increasing threats, and the importance of local support. Research on biodiversity in buffer zones, development of long-term monitoring schemes, and assessment of cash and conservation benefits from tourism are in particular need. For policy makers, two main goals should be the development of monitoring plans for ‘eco-sensitive zones’ around protected areas, and a strong emphasis on preserving established protected areas.
Open Access
Reflections on sea turtle conservation
(Oryx, 2020-05) Godley, BJ; Broderick, AC; Colman, LP; Formia, A; Godfrey, MH; Hamann, M; Nuno, A; Omeyer, LCM; Patrício, AR; Phillott, AD; Rees, AF; Shanker, K
Open Access
The effectiveness of the zoning of China's protected areas
(Biological Conservation, 2016-12-01) Xu, Weihua; Li, Xiaosong; Pimm, Stuart L; Hull, Vanessa; Zhang, Jingjing; Zhang, Lu; Xiao, Yi; Zheng, Hua; Ouyang, Z
Increasing human numbers and aspirations threaten protected areas worldwide. China faces especially strong pressure since many people live inside protected areas. It has sought to balance human needs and conservation goals within them by creating mixed zoning schemes loosely based on UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme. These include strictly-protected core zones, buffer zones allowing limited human use, and experimental zones that examine different land-use options. To test the efficacy of this zoning, we employed field surveys and remote sensing to assess the penetration of agricultural and urban land into 109 national nature reserves in China for 2000 and 2010. Human disturbance was lowest in core zones and highest in experimental zones in both 2000 and 2010. Over this period, 82% of the reserves were unchanged or had decreased human disturbance. Nonetheless, overall human disturbance increased by 7%, 4%, and 5% in the core, buffer and experimental zones respectively. Almost all the increase in the core zone was in four wetland reserves, where human actions converted large areas to agriculture. Some 58% of reserves experienced some human disturbance in core zones in 2010, demonstrating a need for more effective zoning. The findings have broader implications for protected area management globally because they highlight the strengths and weaknesses of zoning for balancing human needs and species conservation.
Open Access
The next widespread bamboo flowering poses a massive risk to the giant panda
(Biological Conservation, 2019-06-01) Tian, Zhaoxue; Liu, Xuehua; Fan, Zhiyong; Liu, Jianguo; Pimm, Stuart L; Liu, Lanmei; Garcia, Claude; Songer, Melissa; Shao, Xiaoming; Skidmore, Andrew; Wang, Tiejun; Zhang, Yuke; Chang, Youde; Jin, Xuelin; Gong, Minghao; Zhou, Lingguo; He, Xiangbo; Dang, Gaodi; Zhu, Yun; Cai, Qiong
The IUCN Red List has downgraded several species from “endangered” to “vulnerable” that still have largely unknown extinction risks. We consider one of those downgraded species, the giant panda, a bamboo specialist. Massive bamboo flowering could be a natural disaster for giant pandas. Using scenario analysis, we explored possible impacts of the next bamboo flowering in the Qinling and Minshan Mountains that are home to most giant pandas. Our results showed that the Qinling Mountains could experience large-scale bamboo flowering leading to a high risk of widespread food shortages for the giant pandas by 2020. The Minshan Mountains could similarly experience a large-scale bamboo flowering with a high risk for giant pandas between 2020 and 2030 without suitable alternative habitat in the surrounding areas. These scenarios highlight thus-far unforeseen dangers of conserving giant pandas in a fragmented habitat. We recommend advance measures to protect giant panda from severe population crashes when flowering happens. This study also suggests the need to anticipate and manage long-term risks to other downgraded species.
Open Access
The potential of unmanned aerial systems for sea turtle research and conservation: A review and future directions
(Endangered Species Research, 2018-01-01) Rees, Alan F; Avens, Larisa; Ballorain, K; Bevan, E; Broderick, Annette C; Carthy, RR; Christianen, MJA; Duclos, G; Heithaus, Michael R; Johnston, David W; Mangel, J; Paladino, F; Pendoley, K; REINA, RD; Robinson, NJ; Ryan, R; Sykora-Bodie, Seth T; Tilley, D; Varela, R; Whitman, ER; Whittock, PA; Wibbels, T; Godley, Brendan J
© The authors 2018. The use of satellite systems and manned aircraft surveys for remote data collection has been shown to be transformative for sea turtle conservation and research by enabling the collection of data on turtles and their habitats over larger areas than can be achieved by surveys on foot or by boat. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are increasingly being adopted to gather data, at previously unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions in diverse geographic locations. This easily accessible, low-cost tool is improving existing research methods and enabling novel approaches in marine turtle ecology and conservation. Here we review the diverse ways in which incorporating inexpensive UAVs may reduce costs and field time while improving safety and data quality and quantity over existing methods for studies on turtle nesting, at-sea distribution and behaviour surveys, as well as expanding into new avenues such as surveillance against illegal take. Furthermore, we highlight the impact that high-quality aerial imagery captured by UAVs can have for public outreach and engagement. This technology does not come without challenges. We discuss the potential constraints of these systems within the ethical and legal frameworks which researchers must operate and the difficulties that can result with regard to storage and analysis of large amounts of imagery. We then suggest areas where technological development could further expand the utility of UAVs as data-gathering tools; for example, functioning as downloading nodes for data collected by sensors placed on turtles. Development of methods for the use of UAVs in sea turtle research will serve as case studies for use with other marine and terrestrial taxa.
Open Access
The size of savannah Africa: A lion's (Panthera leo) view
(Biodiversity and Conservation, 2013-01-01) Riggio, Jason; Jacobson, Andrew; Dollar, Luke; Bauer, Hans; Becker, Matt; Dickman, Amy; Funston, Paul; Groom, Rosemary; Henschel, Philipp; de Iongh, Hans; Lichtenfeld, Laly; Pimm, Stuart
We define African savannahs as being those areas that receive between 300 and 1,500 mm of rain annually. This broad definition encompasses a variety of habitats. Thus defined, savannahs comprise 13.5 million km2 and encompass most of the present range of the African lion (Panthera leo). Dense human populations and extensive conversion of land to human use preclude use by lions. Using high-resolution satellite imagery and human population density data we define lion areas, places that likely have resident lion populations. In 1960, 11.9 million km2 of these savannahs had fewer than 25 people per km2. The comparable area shrank to 9.7 million km2 by 2000. Areas of savannah Africa with few people have shrunk considerably in the last 50 years and human population projections suggest they will likely shrink significantly in the next 40. The current extent of free-ranging lion populations is 3.4 million km2 or about 25 % of savannah area. Habitats across this area are fragmented; all available data indicate that between 32,000 and 35,000 free-ranging lions live in 67 lion areas. Although these numbers are similar to previous estimates, they are geographically more comprehensive. There is abundant evidence of widespread declines and local extinctions. Under the criteria we outline, ten lion areas qualify as lion strongholds: four in East Africa and six in Southern Africa. Approximately 24,000 lions are in strongholds, with an additional 4,000 in potential ones. However, over 6,000 lions are in populations of doubtful long-term viability. Lion populations in West and Central Africa are acutely threatened with many recent, local extinctions even in nominally protected areas. © 2012 The Author(s).
Open Access
Variability of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence according to stand age-related processes in a managed loblolly pine forest
(Global Change Biology, 2018-07) Colombo, Roberto; Celesti, Marco; Bianchi, Remo; Campbell, Petya KE; Cogliati, Sergio; Cook, Bruce D; Corp, Lawrence A; Damm, Alexander; Domec, Jean-Christophe; Guanter, Luis; Julitta, Tommaso; Middleton, Elizabeth M; Noormets, Asko; Panigada, Cinzia; Pinto, Francisco; Rascher, Uwe; Rossini, Micol; Schickling, Anke
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Leaf fluorescence can be used to track plant development and stress, and is considered the most direct measurement of photosynthetic activity available from remote sensing techniques. Red and far-red sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) maps were generated from high spatial resolution images collected with the HyPlant airborne spectrometer over even-aged loblolly pine plantations in North Carolina (United States). Canopy fluorescence yield (i.e., the fluorescence flux normalized by the light absorbed) in the red and far-red peaks was computed. This quantifies the fluorescence emission efficiencies that are more directly linked to canopy function compared to SIF radiances. Fluorescence fluxes and yields were investigated in relation to tree age to infer new insights on the potential of those measurements in better describing ecosystem processes. The results showed that red fluorescence yield varies with stand age. Young stands exhibited a nearly twofold higher red fluorescence yield than mature forest plantations, while the far-red fluorescence yield remained constant. We interpreted this finding in a context of photosynthetic stomatal limitation in aging loblolly pine stands. Current and future satellite missions provide global datasets of SIF at coarse spatial resolution, resulting in intrapixel mixture effects, which could be a confounding factor for fluorescence signal interpretation. To mitigate this effect, we propose a surrogate of the fluorescence yield, namely the Canopy Cover Fluorescence Index (CCFI) that accounts for the spatial variability in canopy structure by exploiting the vegetation fractional cover. It was found that spatial aggregation tended to mask the effective relationships, while the CCFI was still able to maintain this link. This study is a first attempt in interpreting the fluorescence variability in aging forest stands and it may open new perspectives in understanding long-term forest dynamics in response to future climatic conditions from remote sensing of SIF.
Open Access
Zostera marina meadows from the Gulf of California: conservation status
(Biodiversity and Conservation, 2016-02-01) Lopez-Calderon, Jorge M; Riosmena-Rodríguez, Rafael; Torre, Jorge; Meling, Alf; Basurto, Xavier
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) population estimates show a decreasing trend worldwide in the second half of the twentieth century. Mexico lacks long-term time series to determine trends for major eelgrass populations and has made no conservation efforts. Therefore, we present the first report on the historic presence of this annual coastal ecosystem in two wetlands of the Gulf of California (GC), the Infiernillo Channel (CIF, largest Z. marina population inside GC) and Concepcion Bay (BCP, the only eelgrass population along GC’s west coast), combining field surveys (1999–2010), aerial photography (2000–2010), satellite imagery (1972–2005), and published reports (1994–2007). Three parameters were used as indicators of conservation status: shoot density, seed banks, and aerial coverage. Average shoot density in the CIF (741 shoots m−2) was 3.8 times higher than in BCP (194 shoots m−2), and average seed bank density was similar in both wetlands (17,442 seeds m−2 vs. 17,000 seeds m−2). Opportunistic seagrass Ruppia maritima was observed in both wetlands, with higher abundance in summer when Z. marina disappears due to high water temperatures. Eelgrass coverage was three orders of magnitude greater in the CIF (9725 ha) than in BCP (3 ha). The striking difference between these wetlands is the lack of environmental protection for BCP and the protection of the CIF by the Seri indigenous community, which increases human pressure in the former, putting it at high risk of disappearing. Conservation of eelgrass meadows is not only necessary to preserve their ecosystem services but to insure the survival of migratory populations (Pacific brant goose, Branta bernicla), endangered species (Black turtle, Chelonia mydas), and fisheries-related species.