China's online parrot trade: Generation length and body mass determine sales volume via price.

ABSTRACT: The wildlife trade threatens global biodiversity and animal welfare, where parrots are among the taxa most frequently traded, supplying exotic pets and captive breeders worldwide. Using phylogenetic path analysis, we examine how biological factors interact with price to influence online protected parrot trade volumes in China, using transactions recorded for 46 species (n = 5862 individuals). Trade was greatest in smaller, faster breeding species that commanded a lower price. This price effect followed the economic law of demand, with Relatively Inelastic Demand (-0.758), outweighing indicators of 'quality' such as body coloration, and conservation status. We identify two areas of concern: those larger, slower-breeding, rarer species, even though sold at lower numbers, may be at conservati

SUBMITTER: Yin RY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7144616 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature