The last Far Eastern leopards survived at the junction of the Southwest of Primorsky Krai in Russia and the Laoyeling-Dalongling in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in China. By the year 2000, there were only 30–35 individuals living in an area of approximately 3000 km2. Thanks to conservation efforts, this endangered subspecies has moved away from the edge of extinction, with more than 150 individuals living in an area over 14,000 km2 in 2022. Reliable protection of key habitats has played a crucial role in this success. Over the past 25 years, the transboundary network of protected areas dedicated to the conservation of the Far Eastern leopard has increased 12 times, from 1532 km2 to 18,961 km2, covering 12,636 km2, or 90 percent of its current range. The latest step was the proclamation in 2024 of the Sino-Russian transboundary protected area “Land of Big Cats”. This includes the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve, the Land of the Leopard National Park with a buffer zone in Russia (3694 km2), and the Northeast Tiger Leopard National Park in China (14,612 km2). According to our estimates, this will ensure the long-term preservation of 17,239 km2 of suitable habitats, which will allow for the maintenance of a potential population of at least 300 Far Eastern leopards.
Salamanders of the genus Ambystoma in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt are experiencing severe population declines due to habitat loss and fragmentation. This study evaluated critical protection gaps for four Critically Endangered microendemic species: A. amblycephalum, A. andersoni, A. dumerilii and A. mexicanum. We compiled and cleaned 89 validated presence records from databases and the literature. Refined areas of occupancy were calculated using minimum convex polygons adjusted with elevation masks, hydrographic network filters, and species-specific buffer zones (50–100 m). Bioclimatic variables (temperature and precipitation-based) were derived from MexHiResClimDB, and overlap with protected areas, and the Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII) was quantified. The resulting areas of occupancy (0.38–108.19 km2) were larger than previous IUCN estimates for A. amblycephalum and A. dumerilii, yet showed null or minimal overlap with protected areas for these two species (4.79% and 0%, respectively). Ecosystem integrity was low across all species (EII 0.05–0.43), indicating severe degradation. Climatic niches were narrow, differentiated, and associated with restricted altitudinal ranges. These results reveal a crisis of effective protection, where expanded distribution knowledge does not translate into improved conservation status, demanding urgent expansion of active conservation strategies to counteract severe habitat degradation caused by urbanization, intensive agriculture, pollution, and invasive species.
