Biodiversity conservation and the identification of areas that need to be linked.

Linking like with like: optimising connectivity between environmentally-similar habitats

Diogo Alagador, Maria Triviño, Jorge Orestes Cerdeira, Raul Brás, Mar Cabeza and Miguel Bastos Araújo

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY, Published online 10^th January 2012

With human population burgeoning habitat fragmentation is increasingly becoming a threat to biodiversity. The best way to overcome the problem is to ensure connectivity between o isolated habitats. However, the identification of linkages favoring connectivity is not as easy as it sounds. Firstly, they compete with other land uses which means they need to be cost-efficient. Secondly, linkages for one species might be counterproductive for others, which mean they should effectively account for distinct mobility requirements. Thirdly, detailed information on the auto-ecology of most of the species is lacking, so linkages may have to be defined based on surrogates.

In order to address the challenges enumerated above the researchers of this paper developed a framework that (a) identifies environmentally-similar habitats; (b) identifies environmental barriers (i.e., regions with a very distinct environment from the areas to be linked), and; (c) determines cost-efficient linkages between environmentally-similar habitats, free from environmental barriers.

It is assumed that species with similar ecological requirements occupy the same environments, so environmental similarity provides a rationale for the identification of the areas that need to be linked. The researchers used a variant of the classical minimum Steiner tree problem in graphs to address c). They present a heuristic for this problem that is capable of handling large datasets.

To illustrate the framework, the researchers identify linkages between environmentally-similar protected areas in the Iberian Peninsula. The Natura 2000 network is used as a positive ‘attractor’ of links while the human footprint is used as ‘repellent’ of links. They compare the outcomes of their approach with cost-efficient networks linking protected areas that disregard the effect of environmental barriers. The researchers say as expected, the latter achieved a smaller area covered with linkages, but with barriers that can significantly reduce the permeability of the landscape for the dispersal of some species.

National Geographic runs in to controversy

Greenpeace says there is direct link between National Geographic Society (NGS) products and rainforest destruction in Indonesia.

According to greenpeace an analysis of National Geographic publications found Sumatran rainforest fibre from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a company that has gained notoriety for rain forest destruction. One of the products tested positive was the book Global Birding.

The report has put in a fix National Geographic Society known the world over for championing environmental and conservation issues.

National Geographic Society says while there may be a few books in their inventory that were printed on APP paper, they no longer use materials supplied by APP and have not sourced for several years. They now purchase paper from Verso Paper in Maine.

Other names in the report include Xerox, Wal-mart, Barnes and Noble, Parragon Publishing, and Danone.

Read the Greenpeace report HERE

Have a look at the video produced by Greenpeace

Managing forests – The challenge of managing them as ecologically sustainable ecosystems

Six principles for managing forests as ecologically sustainable ecosystems

David B. Lindenmayer and Saul A. Cunningham

 LANDSCAPE ECOLOGYDOI: 10.1007/s10980-012-9720-9

When we manage a landscape with the focus on its natural resources it is pretty difficult to ensure an ecologically sustainable future. Here the researchers suggest 6 principles for sustainable forest landscape management derived from insights in an array of natural and commodity production ecosystems in south-eastern Australia. Even though the thrust is on Australia it is likely to have broad applicability to many forested ecosystems worldwide.

These principles are.

(1) Landscape management problems are typically underpinned by human-use drivers that over-commit natural resources and undermine the ecosystem services which support the replenishment of those resources.

(2) Not all parts of a landscape are equal in their contribution to species persistence and ecological processes. Special steps are needed to secure the ecological integrity of these disproportionately important areas.

 (3) Managing connectivity is critical, but it is essential to determine what kind of connectivity is desirable, and for what species and processes.

 (4) Land use practices can produce spatial and temporal cumulative effects with negative impacts on biodiversity and ecological processes.

(5) Land use decisions on the land sparing–land sharing spectrum are highly scale and context dependent.

(6) Our understanding of landscape-scale processes is shaped by our conceptual model of the landscape. It is therefore important to check if a given mental model is appropriate for a given landscape and the species or ecological processes of concern.

The researchers affirm that these six principles should not be applied uncritically. They say it is best to treat them as a checklist of considerations that will help guide our thinking about landscape change, so that we can orient toward more ecologically sustainable landscape management.

Rhino poaching

Rhino poaching: 'These animals are all too easy to kill’

I read this excellent article in “The Telegraph”. Victoria Moore talk to the conservationist Ian Craig about the brutal murder by poachers of a very special and rather famous white rhinoceros called Max.   Craig is appalled by the senseless slaughter of Rhinos. Rhino horn can be traded illegally for up to £60,000 a kilogram in some Asian countries. Poachers now deploy helicopters as well as night-vision goggles in search of their bounty Read the full article HERE

Anthropogenic Noise in the form of sonar and the response of Blue whale to it

Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise

Mariana L. Melcón,Amanda J. Cummins, Sara M. Kerosky,Lauren K. Roche, Sean M. Wiggins and  John A. Hildebrand

PLoS ONE 7(2): e32681. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032681

This research went in to the vocalization response of endangered blue whales to anthropogenic noise sources in the mid-frequency range using passive acoustic monitoring in the Southern California Bight. The researchers found that Blue whales were less likely to produce calls when mid-frequency active sonar was present. When the sonar source was closer to the animal, at higher sound levels the impact was readily discernible.

The animals were equally likely to stop calling at any time of day in their sensitivity to sonar. There was no diel pattern in their sensitivity. On the other hand the likelihood of whales emitting calls increased when ship sounds were nearby. They did not show a differential response to ship noise as a function of the time of the day either.

 The scientists say their results demonstrate that anthropogenic noise, even at frequencies well above the blue whales' sound production range, has a strong probability of eliciting changes in vocal behaviour. The long-term implications of disruption in call production to blue whale foraging and other behaviours are currently not well understood.

A look at imponderables of optimal reserve spacing

Risk spreading, connectivity, and optimal reserve spacing

Shane A. Blowes1 and Sean R. Connolly

Ecological applications, Volume 22, Issue 1 (January 2012)

Dispersal and the spatial covariance of demographic fluctuations are the two important processes that determine the dynamics of spatially structured populations. The researchers  say Spatially explicit approaches to conservation, such as reserve networks, must consider the tension between these two processes and reach a balance between distances near enough to maintain connectivity, but far enough to benefit from risk spreading.

Here  the researchers model this trade-of and show how two measures of metapopulation persistence depend on the shape of the dispersal kernel and the shape of the distance decay in demographic covariance. They then go and have a look at the implications of this trade-off for reserve spacing. They say the relative rates of distance decay in dispersal and demographic covariance determine whether the long-run metapopulation growth rate, and quasi-extinction risk, peak for adjacent patches or intermediately spaced patches; two local maxima in metapopulation persistence are also possible.

When dispersal itself fluctuates over time, the trade-off also changes over time. Temporal variation in mean distance that propagules are dispersed (i.e., propagule advection) decreases metapopulation persistence and decreases the likelihood that persistence will peak for adjacent patches. On the other hand , variation in diffusion (the extent of random spread around mean dispersal) increases metapopulation persistence overall and causes it to peak at shorter inter-patch distances. Thus, failure to consider temporal variation in dispersal processes increases the risk that reserve spacings will fail to meet the objective of ensuring metapopulation persistence.

This study identifies two phenomena that receive relatively little attention in empirical work on reserve spacing, but that can qualitatively change the effectiveness of reserve spacing strategies:

1) The functional form of the distance decay in covariance among patch-specific demographic rates

(2) Temporal variation in the shape of the dispersal kernel.

The researchers conclude that sensitivity of metapopulation recovery and persistence to how covariance of vital rates decreases with distance suggests that estimating the shape of this function is likely to be as important for effective reserve design as estimating connectivity. Similarly, because temporal variation in dispersal dynamics influences the effect of reserve spacing, approaches to reserve design that ignore such variation, and rely instead on long-term average dispersal patterns, are likely to lead to lower metapopulation viability than is actually achievable.

England opts for 12 Nature Improvement Areas

Growing enlightened approach to conservation on a landscape scale has prompted authorities in England to plumb for 12 Nature Improvement Areas (NIAs), where wildlife and ecosystems will be protected and enhanced. It is also the result of the realisation that investing in nature returns significant benefits to the economy.

The formation of 12 nature reserves is the outcome of the recommendations in “Making Space for Nature: A review of England’s Wildlife Sites and Ecological Network” Chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton CBE FRS. The report stressed the need to add new areas and the urgent need to link them together.

The authorities hope that larger landscapes can buffer people and wildlife against the impacts of climate change.

The report “Making Space for Nature: A review of England’s Wildlife Sites and Ecological Network” is available HERE

A new way to augment existing home range techniques

Time geography and wildlife home range delineation

Jed A. Long and Trisalyn A. Nelson

The Journal of Wildlife Management

Volume 76, Issue 2, pages 407–413, February 2012

In this paper the researchers introduce a new technique for delineating animal home ranges    : the potential path area (PPA) home range. The technique is simple and intuitive

PPA home ranges are based on existing theory from time geography. An animal's movement is constrained by known locations in space–time (i.e., n telemetry points) and a measure of mobility (e.g., maximum velocity).

Using the formulation the researchers provide, PPA home ranges can be easily implemented in a Geographic Information System (GIS).

The researchers say the advantage of the PPA home range is the explicit consideration of temporal limitations on animal movement. They identify the PPA home range as a stand-alone measure of animal home range or as a way to augment existing home range techniques.

Future developments are highlighted against the backdrop of the usefulness of time geography for wildlife movement analysis. To facilitate the adoption of this technique the researchers provide a tool for implementing the new method.

So guys go ahead and give it a try.

Book recommendation

Reintroduction Biology: Integrating Science and Management

John G. Ewen (Editor), Doug P. Armstrong (Editor), Kevin A. Parker (Editor), Philip J. Seddon (Editor)

ISBN: 978-1-4443-6156-8

Hardcover, 528 pages

January 2012, Wiley-Blackwell

The formation of the IUCN/SSC Re-introduction Specialist Group was a milestone in conservation. Lot of advance has been made in the filed of reintroduction with the advent of the group. This book aims to further advance the field of reintroduction biology.

 The book advocates a strategic approach to reintroduction where all actions are guided by explicit theoretical frameworks based on clearly defined objectives. It covers topics like husbandry and intensive management, monitoring, and genetic and health management. 

 People wanting to bridge the research-management gap will find the book highly useful. The book is unreservedly recommended for Wildlife managers wanting to expand their thinking about reintroduction-related decisions and researchers aspiring to make useful applied contributions to reintroduction.

Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog – Only one frog left

                                           Photo courtesy: Zoo Atlanta

Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog (Ecnomiohyla rabborum) is named after conservationists George and Mary Rabb. The species was first identified by Mendelson, J.R. and an international team of scientists on a field expedition to Panama in 2005. Amphibian chytrid fungus has swiped out the population in the wild. They have not been observed in the wild since 2007.

The last known member of this species resides at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

A guest post

Here is a guest post from Ramesh, my friend

Perils of unbridled Ecotourism

I was in Eravikualm National Park recently,just before the closure of the park, after a gap of 15 years. Sea changes have occurred there. Community participation in conservation has taken strong roots and the community obviously benefits from tourism.  But I was a little bit peeved by the overkill in terms of opening up areas for ecotourism. Remember, Eravikualm is the abode of Nigiri tahr, one of the most endangered animals in the world. Any activity that is taken up should not have any negative impact on Nilgiri tahr.

Ecotourism is increasingly being marketed in our wildlife reserves as a panacea for all ills affecting the parks. This does not augur well for conservation. Ecotourism isn’t always a win-win situation for nature and local people. We must always be on the guard against the deleterious effects of ecotourism.

The main disadvantages in wildlife reserves are

1) Crowding by visitors

2) Overuse and ensuing soil erosion

3) Disturbance to wildlife

4) Noise pollution

 Biologist Henrik Brumm of the Free University of Berlin has found that male territorial nightingales in Berlin had to sing five times as loud in an area of heavy traffic. Henrik is sure that this could be affecting their vocal musculature and he wonders what is going to happen in future if the noise levels keep going up. I shudder to think about the implications.

International Journal of Primatology sometime back reported that tourism was causing changes in primate behaviour and could be a causing infant mortality. This report was the result of a 19-year study, “Primate Tourism, Range Restriction and Infant Risk Among Macaca thibetana at Mt. Huangshan, China,” led by anthropologist Carol Berman of University of Buffalo.

Disease transmission from human beings is another great risk. Scientists in the Chobe National Park, Botswana, have documented how tuberculosis was passed on to mongooses which led to two outbreaks of the disease in the Park. Mongooses picked up the illness from contaminated rubbish heaps left in the Park by the tourists.

Deliberate feeding of food to wildlife is an activity rife with problems. This tends to alter natural behaviour patterns of the denizens of the wild. We have clearly seen in many areas what dependency of monkeys on the human provided food can do to the animals and the nuisance it creates for us. In the mad rush to obtain food the animals sometimes harms one another. I remember one of my friends telling me about one tourist trying to feed Nilgiri tahr with IJ (Indian junk, a term used by foreigners for the Indian fast food item, mixture). The incident occurred a few years back

I remember Mohanji once telling me how stress by visitors brings in energetic demands on animals which in turn affect their capacity to breed. This energetic demand could have more impact than poaching on animals.

Another danger of over-dependence on ecotourism is that public funds for supporting nature conservation may be reduced and this could negatively impact nature conservation in the long run.

Ecotourism is fine but it has to be practised judiciously if it is to benefit our wildlife.

Tailpiece: My visit to Eravikualm threw up this question? What has happened to all the officers trained in wildlife management? They are obviously an endangered lot.

Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC's expert on rhino horn trade interviewed

Have a look at this hard hitting interview

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Remote-controlled plane as a potent tool for conservation

The Orangutan Conservancy, and the Denver Zoo, Lian Pin Koh, an ecologist at the University of Zurich, and Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust have devised an ingenious conservation drone equipped with cameras, sensors and GPS. The drone cost less than $2,000 and the user pre-programs each mission on a laptop computer. It offers a cost-effective way of counting wildlife over difficult terrain. The imagery is of far higher resolution than from satellites.

The researchers have put the drone to effective use to map deforestation and count orangutans in North Sumatra.

The drone certainly will be an effective conservation tool in difficult terrain. Tahrcountry exhorts conservationists to go in for this new tool and improve its functioning. I am very excited.

Have a look at the video

Geo-Wiki and efforts to fine tune land cover information available to policymakers and the research community

The other day I was discussing with my friend, Ramesh the strides made by Geo-Wiki project.

Geo-Wiki Project is a global network of volunteers whose desire is to improve the quality of global land cover maps.

Volunteers are asked to review hotspot maps of global land cover disagreement and determine, based on what they actually see in Google Earth and their local knowledge, if the land cover maps are correct or incorrect. The input is recorded in a database, along with uploaded photos. The aim is creation of a new and improved global land cover map.

There are many areas where the information derived from satellite imagery is conflicting. The men behind the Geo-Wiki project hope to resolve the conflict with help from volunteers across the globe. Here is a toast for the magnificent effort

Have a look at Geo-Wiki website and see whether you are in a position to contribute. Click HERE to go to the website

Getting to know IUCN

Have a look at this video from IUCN

Bridging the research--implementation gap

Graduate students in conservation biology: Bridging the research–implementation gap

Jason R. Courter, Biological conservation Pages 62-64 Volume 20, Issue 1

There is no denying the fact that there is a chasm between precept and practice when it comes to academic research and the practice in the field by mangers.

In this paper the researcher review common recommendations for bridging the Research–Implementation Gap in conservation biology, highlight the unique abilities of graduate students to contribute solutions to this problem, and propose ways research institutions and professionals can encourage graduate students to participate in this process.

While many may argue that the main purpose of graduate school is to focus on research, the researcher  argue that being exposed early to the broader issues of research and implementation enhances the graduate research experience, helps train students to become leaders in conservation science, and contributes both immediate and long-term solutions to the research–implementation problem.

On the whole this paper is very thought provoking and deserves a look in to. 

Discover IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Have a look at this video produced by IUCN

Use of abundance data to detect species at risk of extinction may fail to detect initial declines in abundance

Variability in Population Abundance and the Classification of Extinction Risk

HOWARD B. WILSON, BRUCE E. KENDALL, HUGH P. POSSINGHAM

Conservation Biology, Volume 25, Issue 4, pages 747–757, August 2011

In conservation practice it is standard practice to Classify species according to their risk of extinction. The reliability of the classification depends on the accuracy of threat categorizations.  When it comes to errors in the process we have very limited info. It involves getting information from many sources. Understanding the quality of each source is de rigueur to evaluate the overall status of the species.

One common criterion used to classify extinction risk is a decline in abundance. Abundance is a direct measure of conservation status. So counts of individuals are generally the preferred method of evaluating whether populations are declining.

Using the thresholds from criterion A of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List (critically endangered, decline in abundance of >80% over 10 years or 3 generations; endangered, decline in abundance of 50–80%; vulnerable, decline in abundance of 30–50%; least concern or near threatened, decline in abundance of 0–30%), the researchers assessed 3 methods used to detect declines solely from estimates of abundance

1)      Use of just 2 estimates of abundance

2)       Use of linear regression on a time series of abundance;

3)      Use of state-space models on a time series of abundance.

The researchers generated simulation data from empirical estimates of the typical variability in abundance and assessed the 3 methods for classification errors.

The estimates of the proportion of falsely detected declines for linear regression and the state-space models were low (maximum 3–14%), but 33–75% of small declines (30–50% over 15 years) were not detected. Ignoring uncertainty in estimates of abundance (with just 2 estimates of abundance) allowed more power to detect small declines (95%), but there was a high percentage (50%) of false detections. For all 3 methods, the proportion of declines estimated to be >80% was higher than the true proportion

The researchers conclude that use of abundance data to detect species at risk of extinction may either fail to detect initial declines in abundance or have a high error rate.

Nilgiri tahr recovery plan

Several persons have requested me for a copy of the Nilgiri tahr recovery plan, prepared by, Easa, P. S., Alembath, M., Zacharias and J., Daniels.

Citation: Easa, P. S., Alembath, M., Zacharias and J., Daniels. Recovery Plan for the Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius).Asia Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Care EarthTrust

Click HERE to access the pdf version

Surveys along unpaved roads can be a valuable, unbiased source of information for species distribution models

Predicting Species Distributions from Samples Collected along Roadsides

KYLE P. MCCARTHY, ROBERT J. FLETCHER JR,CHRISTOPHER T. ROTA and RICHARD L. HUTTO

Conservation Biology

Volume 26, Issue 1, pages 68–77, February 2012

Currently we do not know whether roadside sampling limits the accuracy of predictions generated by species distribution models. The researchers here tested whether roadside sampling affects the accuracy of predictions generated by species distribution models by using a prospective sampling strategy designed specifically to address this issue. They built models from roadside data and validated model predictions at paired locations on unpaved roads and 200 m away from roads, spatially and temporally independent from the data used for model building.

 The researchers predicted species distributions of 15 bird species on the basis of point-count data from a landbird monitoring program in Montana and Idaho (U.S.A.). They used hierarchical occupancy models to account for imperfect detection. The researchers expected predictions of species distributions derived from roadside-sampling data would be less accurate when validated with data from off-road sampling than when it was validated with data from roadside sampling and that model accuracy would be differentially affected by whether species were generalists, associated with edges, or associated with interior forest. Model performance measures (kappa, area under the curve of a receiver operating characteristic plot, and true skill statistic) did not differ between model predictions of roadside and off-road distributions of species. Performance measures did not differ among edge, generalist, and interior species, despite a difference in vegetation structure along roadsides and off road.  2 of the 15 species were found more likely to occur along roadsides.

The researchers contend that surveys along unpaved roads can be a valuable, unbiased source of information for species distribution models.