A path towards the conservation and recovery of Guloninae species worldwide

Global biodiversity is declining as human impacts increase and mammals, especially carnivores, are declining particularly quickly. Small carnivores (such as in the Guloninae subfamily) are less frequently considered than large carnivores, despite also being affected by biodiversity declines, because their status and population ecology are exceedingly difficult to assess. Although all but one Guloninae species are globally listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this designation obscures conservation challenges and does not include local population declines. Proactive efforts to improve population persistence in regions of most concern may prevent species from becoming globally threatened in the future. We briefly introduce the 11 Guloninae species, highlight collective challenges, and synthesize possible options focused on recovery and conservation. To inform our paper, we conducted a 3-phase process to gather expert opinions: an online survey, an in-person prioritization exercise of online results, and directed in-person group discussions. We focused efforts within the international Martes Working Group consisting of species experts. We followed the IUCN and Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) threats and actions classifications nomenclature to enable cross-project learning and data aggregation. From our results, the largest described global threat to Guloninae was ‘Climate Change’ (e.g., ecosystem encroachment; changes in temperature regimes) as most Guloninae species appear to have a narrow thermal range where persistence is possible. The largest threat at the jurisdictional level was ‘Biological Resource Use’ (e.g., hunting and collecting terrestrial animals; logging and wood harvesting). The identified action needed to further Guloninae conservation and recovery was ‘Land/Water Management’ (e.g., ecosystem and natural process re-creation; site/area stewardship). We identified unifying themes threatening and benefitting Guloninae; but given the wide geographic range of Guloninae species, the many countries involved, and the diversity of ecosystems with different levels of human impacts, conservation actions need to be locally appropriate. Our paper synthesizes natural history and guidance from experts to provide a foundation for future research efforts and conservation actions for Guloninae conservation.