Using functional traits to identify conservation priorities for the world's crocodylians

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Phoebe Griffith—a researcher from the Institute of Zoology, London, and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Oxford University—to discuss her recently published paper ‘Using functional traits to identify conservation priorities for the world's crocodylians.’ To understand better the functional diversity of crocodylians, Griffiths et al. collected a database of functional traits of all species of crocodylians. These traits are measurable qualities – such as skull shape or saltwater tolerance – that allow us to understand the different ecological role of species, and how similar and different species are from one another.

Read the paper here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14140

For those that are hard of hearing, a transcript of the interview is available here: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/conserving-the-ecological-diversity-of-crocodylians/

Check out Phoebe's Edge of Existence blogpost for some great pictures and content: https://www.edgeofexistence.org/blog/crying-crocodile-tears-the-disappearing-diversity-of-crocodilians-and-their-ecological-roles/

To find out about and support ongoing croc conservation efforts, please do check out the following links:

1. https://www.edgeofexistence.org/fellow/jailabdeen-a/

2. https://www.edgeofexistence.org/fellow/emmanuel-amoah/

Crocodylians have surprisingly diverse ecological roles, from the huge, highly aquatic and mostly fish-eating gharial to the tiny African dwarf crocodiles which can catch prey on land below the rainforest canopy. Sadly, over half of all crocodylians are threatened with extinction. If these threatened species go extinct, we will lose the diversity of ecological roles that they represent. Functional diversity is an important aspect of biodiversity to understand and conserve.