Cristina Yumi Miyaki

Latin America and the Caribbean (LACA) is one of the most biodiverse regions globally, yet it continues to experience accelerated biodiversity loss driven by persistent and emerging anthropogenic pressures. In 2009, the Society for Conservation Biology conducted a regional assessment of conservation challenges; however, the evolution of these dynamics over the following 15 years had not been systematically reassessed. We conducted an updated regional synthesis of biodiversity conservation priorities, perceived threats, and implementation barriers across 25 countries, based on a 2024 survey of conservation professionals ( n = 244). Respondents were predominantly experienced practitioners affiliated with academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies. Our findings were consistent with the patterns reported in 2009, with deforestation, habitat fragmentation, industrial agriculture, climate change, and pollution persisting as the most severe threats. However, these traditional drivers are now compounded by the intensification of landscape‐scale pressures and a marked shift toward the security–conservation nexus. Respondents explicitly identified organized crime and drug trafficking as primary constraints that compromise both ecosystem integrity and the safety of practitioners. Although conservation tools, such as protected areas and environmental policies, have diversified and improved in many ways, their effectiveness remains limited by a diversification without consolidation trend, characterized by chronic underfunding, corruption, and weak intersectoral coordination. Furthermore, engagement with local communities and citizen science remains predominantly low to moderate, highlighting an enduring gap between policy design and on‐the‐ground implementation. This study underscores that addressing biodiversity loss in LACA has moved beyond the need for technical solutions; it now requires a fundamental transformation in governance quality, institutional integrity, and state capacity to protect the region's natural heritage and the communities that depend on it.

Multi‐taxa genomic data offer valuable opportunities to assess the extent to which co‐distributed taxa exhibit parallel responses to shared environmental regimes and climatic history. In this study, we use genome‐environment associations (GEA) to examine how present and past climate may have shaped spatial patterns of adaptive genomic variation across 27 taxa in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Our sampling repurposes existing data from a wide array of taxonomic groups, including frogs, lizards, birds, butterflies, flowering plants, and a conifer, spanning multiple bioclimatic domains and representing variation in range size, niche volume, and niche marginality. Using these data, we explore two alternative hypotheses linking genomic adaptation to local environmental conditions with three species traits: range size, specialization (the inverse of niche volume), and niche marginality. The first hypothesis (H1) posits that taxa with large ranges, low specialization, and low niche marginality contain more climate‐associated SNPs, as they are expected to harbor higher levels of standing genetic variation, forming a crude basis for genetic adaptation. An alternative hypothesis (H2) predicts that large‐ranged species rely on other means of adaptation, such as phenotypic plasticity rather than on fixed genomic changes across environmental gradients and that stronger adaptive genomic responses happen in taxa with small ranges, high specialization, and high marginality. Our results show highly variable and species‐specific genomic associations with climate, measured as the percentage of sampled SNPs correlated with environmental variables. There is no strong evidence that species' range size, specialization, or niche marginality consistently predict the proportion of climate‐associated loci, rendering us unable to conclusively distinguish between H1 and H2. However, when the data are partitioned by taxonomic group, trend directionalities are more consistent with H2. Our findings highlight that the genomic basis of local adaptation varies substantially across taxa, underscoring the complexity of biodiversity patterns and dynamics, and the challenges of exploring alternative hypotheses through repurposing of existing data for multi‐taxa inference. They also emphasize that conservation strategies should be prepared to account for taxon‐specific responses rather than relying on generalized expectations across species. We hope that these results can inspire future studies of species' responses to climate in the Atlantic Forest and beyond, informing strategies for biodiversity monitoring and conservation.

The Amazon and Atlantic forests harbour immense biodiversity shaped by complex evolutionary history with diverse processes leading to species build‐up. We investigated the Cinereous Antshrike species complex ( Thamnomanes caesius and T. schistogynus ) to disentangle the relative contributions of riverine barriers and historical climatic fluctuations to diversification, using large specimen sampling across their entire distribution and a multilocus dataset. Our results revealed hidden genetic diversity, with 13 geographically structured phylogroups largely concordant with Amazonian interfluves and areas of endemism. Species delimitation analyses supported eight of these lineages as independently evolving units, unveiling cryptic diversity within T. caesius . Divergence time estimates indicate that diversification took place during the Pliocene to Late Pleistocene, with signatures of demographic expansion consistent with climate‐driven range dynamics. Our findings underscore a strong association between phylogroups and major river systems, revealing their role as primary drivers of lineage diversification, later modulated by demographic shifts associated with climatic oscillations. Our findings highlight an interplay between geomorphological and climatic factors in shaping avian diversity across the Amazon basin, while also pointing to underestimated taxonomic richness within the Thamnomanes caesius /schistogynus species complex.

When analyzing the long-term viability of small, declining populations, it is essential to recognize that inbreeding and the erosion of genetic diversity are primarily driven by the effective population size, which is often a fraction of the total census count. The globally endangered Lear’s macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) is a restricted-range species endemic to the Caatinga ecoregion in NE Brazil. This species was only known in captivity due to wildlife illegal trade, until 1978, when a small population close to extinction was discovered in the wild, estimated at ca. 60 individuals in 1983. Conservation efforts have allowed for population recovery in recent decades, reaching a population of ca. 2273 individuals in 2022. Given these drastic population changes, a genetic assessment is important to empower conservation strategies with knowledge about the level of genetic variability, population genetic structure, inbreeding levels, and demographic history. We used a set of eight species-specific microsatellites to provide the first genetic assessment of the wild population of this species by genotyping non-invasive samples (molted feathers) collected in the known breeding and roosting sites of the species. Our results revealed a low effective population size (N_e = 49–80), which represents the main conservation concern. We also observed evidence of past bottlenecks. However, moderate levels of genetic diversity, no evidence of inbreeding, and a wide connectivity across the study area confirm a single population and set the ground for the potential natural recovery of this species and the recolonization of breeding sites across its former range.

The genus Pyrrhura (Psittacidae: Arini) is one of the most diverse groups of Neotropical parrots. Its species are charismatic, widely kept as pets, and frequently bred outside their native ranges. Yet, nearly half are currently listed as threatened by the IUCN within their natural distributions. Conservation assessments and population estimates often depend on the validity of accepted taxonomic boundaries. However, despite previous systematic efforts, the evolutionary relationships among and within many Pyrrhura species remain poorly resolved, largely due to a recent and rapid radiation. Here, we generated whole-genome sequences for all currently recognized Pyrrhura species, including multiple intraspecific taxa, to reconstruct a robust nuclear phylogeny under the multi-species coalescent model, alongside the most comprehensive mitogenome-based phylogeny of the genus to date. Although both phylogenies supported the monophyly of most currently accepted species, we identified several instances of mito-nuclear discordance, particularly involving the placement of early-diverging lineages, which are best explained by incomplete lineage sorting and historical gene flow. Additionally, we detected three distinct captive lineages that do not cluster with any known wild populations, suggesting substantial overlooked genetic diversity in the world’s captive populations. Ancestral range reconstructions indicate multiple and relatively recent colonization events into the northern and central Andes, likely associated with the uplift of the Andes and the emergence of new ecological niches. Together, our results reveal a complex evolutionary history in Pyrrhura , shaped by rapid radiations, incomplete lineage sorting, and gene flow. We show that integrating nuclear and mitochondrial data with broad geographic and taxonomic sampling, including captive individuals, can uncover overlooked genetic diversity and help to resolve long-standing systematic uncertainties. Finally, we show that several topological discrepancies among previous studies can be attributed to differences in sampling strategies, particularly within the most polytypic Pyrrhura species.

Estimates of current genetic diversity and population connectivity are especially important for endangered species that are subject to illegal harvesting and trafficking. Genetic monitoring can also ensure that management units are sustaining viable populations, while estimating genetic structure and population dynamics can influence genetic rescue efforts and reintroduction from captive breeding and confiscated animals. The Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) is a charismatic endangered species with a fragmented (allopatric) distribution. Using low coverage genomes, we aimed to investigate the dynamics across the remaining three large disjunct populations of Hyacinth Macaws in Brazil to inform conservation strategies. We obtained low coverage DNA data for 54 individuals from seven sampling sites. Our results showed that Hyacinth Macaws have four genetically structured clusters with relatively high levels of diversity. The Pantanal biome had two genetically distinct populations, with no obvious physical barriers that might explain this differentiation. We detected signs of gene flow between populations, with some geographical regions being more connected than others. Estimates of effective population size in the past million years of the species' evolutionary history showed a decline trend with the lowest Ne in all populations reached within the last few thousand years. Our findings suggest that populations from the Pantanal biome are key to connecting sites across its distribution, and maintaining the integrity of this habitat is important for protecting the species. Given the genetic structure found, we also highlight the need of conserving all wild populations to ensure the protection of the species' evolutionary potential.