More on Wildlife Corridors

The other day I was discussing with my friend Ramesh the pros and cons of corridors. The paper Consequences and Costs of Conservation Corridors was a good starting point for our conversation.

Corridors could alleviate threats from inbreeding depression and demographic stochasticity. Some species require more resources than are available in single refuges. Here a network of refuges connected by corridors may allow persistence. Corridors in riparian forest may constitute an important habitat in its own right.

Now here come the negative impacts. They could transmit contagious diseases. They could be a causative factor for fires, and other catastrophes. They may increase exposure of animals to predation, domestic animals, and poachers. They could prove expensive in economic terms. The researchers say a bridge that would maintain a riparian corridor costs about 13 times as much per lane-mile as would a road that would sever the corridor. Per-unit-area management costs may be larger for corridors than for refuges. Here it may be cheaper to manage some species by moving individuals between refuges rather than by buying and maintaining corridors.

Adequate studies are indeed needed in the field before we recommend the type of corridor.  The researchers say right now a dearth of information on the degree to which different species use corridors makes it difficult to tell which of these potential advantages will be realized in any particular case. Each case must be judged on its own merits because species-environment interactions differ.

Consequences and Costs of Conservation Corridors

DANIEL SIMBERLOFF^, JAMES COX

Article first published online: 21 APR 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.1987.tb00010.x

Sometimes back I had posted an item titled “Tools for modeling wildlife corridors” in my other blog Highrangetidings.blogspot.com (I have discontinued this blog). Ramesh feels that this post needs to be posted here as he feels that it would be of use to the wildlife managers. So guys here it comes

The copyright for the entire description belong to corridordesign.org

Here is what is available at corridordesign.org.  They are best suited for designing corridors in a heterogenous landscape at a regional (e.g. 2 - 500 km long) scale.

CorridorDesigner 

CorridorDesigner  provides one method of modeling wildlife corridors with ArcGIS.

Here are some other free tools for modeling wildlife or ecological corridors, connectivity, or habitat.

CIRCUITSCAPE

Circuitscape is a stand-alone Python program which borrows algorithms from circuit theory to predict patterns of movement, gene flow, and genetic differentiation among populations in heterogeneous landscapes. It uses raster habitat maps as input, and predicts connectivity and movement patterns between user-defined points on the landscape. Circuitscape is distributed by Brad McRae of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at University of California, Santa Barbara.

CONNECTIVITY ANALYSIS TOOLKIT

The Connectivity Analysis Toolkit provides conservation planners with newly-developed tools for both linkage mapping and landscape-level 'centrality' analysis. Centrality refers to a group of landscape metrics that rank the importance of sites as gatekeepers for flow across a landscape network. The Toolkit allows users to develop and compare three contrasting centrality metrics based on input data representing habitat suitability or permeability, in order to determine which areas, across the landscape as a whole, would be priorities for conservation measures that might facilitate connectivity and dispersal. The Toolkit also allows application of these approaches to the more common question of mapping the best habitat linkages between a source and a target patch.

FUNCONN - FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY TOOLS

FunConn is a functional connectivity modeling toolbox for ArcGIS, distributed by Dave Theobald and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University. The goal of the functional connectivity model is to allow landscape connectivity to be examined from a functional perspective. Functional connectivity recognizes that individuals, species or processes respond functionally (or behaviorally) to the physical structure of the landscape. From this perspective, landscape connectivity is specific to a landscape and species/individual/process under investigation.

HABMOD/CONNMOD/ARCRSTATS - HABITAT MODELING TOOLBOX

Formerly called ArcRstats, the HabMod/ConnMod toolboxes produce multivariate habitat prediction rasters using ArcGIS and the open-source R statistical package for implementing classification and regression (CART), generalized linear models (GLM) and generalized additive models (GAM), and includes a connectivity modeling toolbox. The toolbox is distributed by Pat Halpin and the Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory at Duke University

CONEFOR SENSINODE

Conefor Sensinode quantifies the importance of habitat areas for the maintenance or improvement of landscape connectivity. It is conceived as a tool for decision-making support in landscape planning and habitat conservation, through the identification and prioritization of critical sites for ecological connectivity.

PATHMATRIX

Path Matrix is a tool for ArcView 3 to compute matrices of effective geographic distances among samples, based on a least-cost path algorithm. It was developed by Nicholas Ray of the Computational and Molecular Population Genetics Lab, University of Bern, Switzerland.

OPENMODELLER

openModeller aims to provide a flexible, user friendly, cross-platform environment where the entire process of conducting a fundamental niche modeling experiment can be carried out. The software includes facilities for reading species occurrence and environmental data, selection of environmental layers on which the model should be based, creating a fundamental niche model and projecting the model into an environmental scenario.

STATMOD ZONE

StatMod is an extension for ArcView 3.3 that helps users create logistic regression and CART models using the statistical packages SAS and S-PLUS. It is distributed by Chris Garard of Utah State University.

MAXENT

Maxent provides a maximum-entropy approach for species habitat modeling. The software takes as input a set of layers or environmental variables (such as elevation, precipitation, etc.), as well as a set of georeferenced occurrence locations, and produces a model of the range of the given species. It is distributed by Princeton University.

GRASP

GRASP (Generalized Regression and Spatial Prediction) is a package for the statistical softwares R and S-PLUS for creating predictive models of species distributions using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). It is distributed by A. Lehmann, J.R. Leathwick and J.McC. Overton at the Landcare Research Institute, New Zealand.

BIOMAPPER

BioMapper is a stand-alone package for developing ecological niche and habitat suitability models using only a species presence data. It is distributed by Alexandre Hirzel of the Laboratory For Conservation Biology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

DESKTOP GARP

DesktopGarp is a software package for biodiversity and ecologic research that allows the user to predict and analyze species distributions using presence data. The package is distributed by the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.

SPATIAL DATA MODELER

Spatial Data Modeler is a collection of geoprocessing tools for adding categorical maps with interval, ordinal, or ratio scale maps to produce a predictive map of where something of interest is likely to occur. The tools include the data-driven methods of Weights of Evidence, Logistic Regression, and two supervised and one unsupervised neural network methods, and a knowledge-driven method Fuzzy Logic.

PATCHMORPH PATCH DELINEATION TOOL

PatchMorph is an extension for ArcMap which delineates habitat patches from a habitat suitability or land cover map.

MARXAN

Marxan delivers decision support for reserve system design. Marxan finds reasonably efficient solutions to the problem of selecting a system of spatially cohesive sites that meet a suite of biodiversity targets.

PANDA

PANDA is a stand-alone application developed to provide a user friendly framework for systematic protected areas network design to ArcGIS users. Through the use of P.A.N.D.A. the designer can explore different hypothetical configurations of a system of protected areas in the planning area.

CLUZ

CLUZ is an ArcView GIS interface that allows users to design protected area networks and conservation landscapes. It can be used for on-screen planning and also acts as a link for the MARXAN conservation planning software. It is currently being developed at DICE and is funded by the British Government through their Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species.

LINK

LINK is a set of ArcGIS tools designed to analyze habitat patterns across a landscape. LINK uses species habitat matrices to model potential species habitat and habitat diversity. What sets LINK apart from its predecessors is that it uses raster data sources—raster data sources allow LINK to model habitat over a much larger area than its vector based ancestors.

JENNESS ENTERPRISES

Jenness Enterprises has created many extensions for ArcView 3.3 useful to ecological applications. Jeff Jenness created the CorridorDesigner ArcMap extension.

HAWTH'S TOOLS

Hawth's Analysis Tools is an extension for ArcGIS (specifically ArcMap). It is designed to perform spatial analysis and functions that cannot be conveniently accomplished with out-of-the-box ArcGIS. Most of these analysis tools have been written within the context of ecological applications such as movement analysis, resource selection, predator prey interactions and trophic cascades.

Turtles around the World in Distress

A report issued yesterday which is authored by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Turtle Conservation Coalition, has listed 25 turtle species from around the world as endangered. Seventeen of the 25 species are found in Asia, three are from South America, three from Africa, one from Australia, and one from Central America and Mexico.

Distressingly some of the species likeYangtze giant softshell turtle has less than five individuals. Wildlife Conservation Society veterinarians are working overtime with Chinese officials and other partners to breed the last known male/female pair of these giant turtles, which currently reside at China's Suzhou Zoo.

The report recommends better enforcement of existing trade laws, habitat protection, and captive breeding to preventing turtle species from going extinct while bolstering existing populations.

Re-introductions and the Use of simulation program VORTEX

Assessing re-introductions of the African Wild dog (Lycaon pictus) in the Limpopo Valley Conservancy, South Africa, using the stochastic simulation program VORTEX

Lars A. Bach, Rikke B.F. Pedersen, Matt Hayward, Jesper Stagegaard Volker Loeschcke and Cino Pertoldi

Journal for Nature Conservation
Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2010, Pages 237-246

Here is a good paper on reintroduction and use of simulation programme VORTEX. The work was done on African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), in the Limpopo Valley Conservancy, South Africa.

Even though it once ranged throughout Africa, currently the African wild dog only has populations larger than 300 individuals only in three countries (Botswana, Tanzania and South Africa).

In 1998, a plan was launched in South Africa for reintroduction of wild dogs into suitable conservation areas and periodic translocations among them.

The researchers used the stochastic population simulation model VORTEX to evaluate the Limpopo Valley Conservancy in the north of South Africa, as a possible reintroduction site for African wild dogs.

The simulations by the researchers showed that the size of the initial population released only had a small effect on the population dynamics. However, when individuals were supplemented and harvested over a longer period the probability of persistence increased.

Number of females breeding, male mortality, and carrying capacity were key factors in the population dynamics, but simulations by the  VORTEX showed that the severity of natural catastrophes had the greatest influence on the extinction risk and inbreeding.

The researchers suggest that the reintroduction program may be successful, if areas are properly secured, the dogs are held in a boma before release, wild animals or at least a mix of wild and captive animals are used for the release and the animals are vaccinated against rabies.  They reiterate that it is essential to continue monitoring followed by modelling efforts to re-evaluate the success of the reintroduction program.

Alarming Increase of Phosphorous in World’s freshwaters

Warning bells have been rung by Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin, US and Elena Bennett from McGill University, Canada about rapid increase of phosphorous in world’s freshwaters.    This excess phosphorous in water causes eutrophication. Eutrophication makes the water non-potable. It also leads to blooms of cyanobacteria that are toxic to humans, livestock and fish.

 The researchers found that current levels exceed all planetary boundaries for phosphorous in freshwater.

The concept of planetary boundaries was first introduced by in 2009 by Rockström et al . They categorized a planetary boundary as a human-determined acceptable level of a key global variable.

The researchers say the current alarming level is despite the fact that in some areas of the world we have a phosphorous shortage.

Dr Carpenter says there are some simple solutions to prevent eutrophication. His prescriptions say "Don't apply phosphorous to soils that don't need it and develop technology for recycling phosphorous.

The authors signs off with following conclusions.

Human release of P to the environment is causing widespread eutrophication of surface freshwaters. Yet the global distribution of P is uneven, and soils of many regions remain P-deficient even as soils of other regions are P-saturated (MacDonald et al 2011). Heterogeneity complicates the task of managing to provide both food and high quality freshwater, surely one of the key challenges of environmental management in the 21st century. The planetary boundary for freshwater eutrophication has been crossed while potential boundaries for ocean anoxic events and depletion of phosphate rock reserves loom in the future. The solution to this problem is widespread adoption of better practices for conserving P in agricultural ecosystems, so that P is cycled effectively among soil, crops, livestock and people without contributing to eutrophication of surface waters. At the same time, P-deficient regions of the world should be supplemented by P from P-rich regions. Such subsidies could come in the form of recycled P in fertilizer (e.g. solid P-rich material from manure digestors) or P in food.

Reconsideration of the planetary boundary for phosphorus

Stephen R Carpenter and Elena M Bennett

Environ. Res. Lett. 6 (January-March 2011) 014009
doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/1/014009

Species Introduction in Grassland Restoration

New nature by sowing? The current state of species introduction in grassland restoration, and the road ahead

Petter Hedberg and Wiktor Kotowski

Journal for Nature Conservation
Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2010, Pages 304-308

Here is a good paper from Polish researchers on restoration ecology. The paper is authored by Dr Petter Hedberg and Dr Wiktor Kotowski. Both of them are from the Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Institute of Botany, University of Warsaw, Poland

In this paper the researchers reviews the current status of species introduction into semi-natural grasslands, and summarizes the results of published literature in this field.

The review shows that restoration through species introduction is an effective method of establishing dispersal limited species but concludes that we are yet to make use of the fact that Functional Diversity can add to restoration.

 The authors say no single study in their  search has followed up species introduction by measuring any of the currently available indices of functional diversity. According to the researchers this approach is necessary to gain knowledge on what traits are likely to be sorted out in species introduction cases in various environments.

Flagship Species - providing targeted background information in educational institutions might help strengthen appreciation for less attractive animals.

Attitudes towards potential animal flagship species in nature conservation: A survey among students of different educational institutions

Jürg Schlegel and Reto Rupf

Journal for Nature Conservation
Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2010, Pages 278-290

Here is a good paper on how students evaluate the concept of flagship species.  The survey was done in Switzerland. It could be replicated elsewhere for better handling of the concept of Flagship species.

Using a standardized questionnaire, a total of 415 students from two different Swiss primary schools, grammar schools and agricultural schools as well as students from a Swiss University of Applied Sciences were asked about their attitudes towards 27 different indigenous wildlife animal species.

Six mammal, five bird, two reptile, four amphibian and ten insect species, all with potential flagship quality, were presented to the students on a color photograph without any further background information.

The students were asked to give individual reasons for species-related affinity or antipathy. Their ability to correctly identify and name each species was also identified.

Butterflies, birds and most mammals were, on average, more appreciated than reptiles, insects and amphibians. Attitudes also varied according to the type of educational institution attended by the students.

There is no significant difference in attitudes to animals between males and females. Females showed significantly higher affinity for 'loveable animals' and a lesser degree of affinity for 'fear-relevant animals'.

The students exhibited higher affinity for species they can identify than for unfamiliar species.

The authors signs off saying that targeted background information in educational institutions might help soften rigid thinking patterns by strengthening appreciation for less attractive animals.

Nature Education and Protected Area Management

The role of education in protected area sustainable governance

Violeta Orlovic-Lovren

Violeta Orlovic-Lovren, (2011) "The role of education in protected area sustainable governance", Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 22 Iss: 1, pp.48 – 58

Education plays a key role in protected area management. This paper is based on the author’s experience in Serbia but has connotations that have relevance elsewhere. The author says the role assigned to education in promoting sustainability by international documents is yet to be applied to national strategies in many countries.

The focus of this paper is to promote a strategic approach and to identify techniques for analysis to be used in development of quality education programs, tailored to specific needs in protected areas and to sustainability goals in a particular social context.

The author uses an adult education approach and social science methodology to come up with a proposal for a research framework and hopes that this will pave way for better understanding of the role of education in improving sustainable protected area governance.

The existing gap in the field is discussed and a brief review of the issues present in Serbia as a country in transition is also given.

The author concludes that the approach detailed in the paper may be modified to specific contexts and goals, and applied with this purpose to other similar social environments, especially in countries in transition within the region. She is sure that this will lead lead to creating more adequate education programs and increased capacities for managing protected areas.

Prey Vulnerability can Influence Habitat Use

Foraging in the Landscape of Fear, the Predator’s Dilemma: Where Should I Hunt?
John W. Laundré, Jesús M. M. Calderas and Lucina Hernández 

Here is a good paper that I read recently. It appeared in the open ecology journal and is very fascinating in its implications. I am giving below the abstract as it is an open journal document.

Under predation risk, prey species are more abundant in areas of low predation risk even at the expense of forage quality. As a result two predictions are possible, 1) predators should choose to hunt in areas with fewer but easier to catch prey than areas where they are more abundant but harder to catch; and 2) the frequency of prey species in the diet of predators using low risk areas should be greater than, or at least equal to, the diet of predators using high risk areas. To test these two predictions, we used data on coyote Canis latrans abundance and diet composition from two habitats in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico that have different abundances of jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) and rodents. We used the number of coyote scats found in transects in the two areas to assess coyote abundance and analyzed the contents of these scats to determine diet composition. We found significantly more coyote scats/yr (22.6 ± 4.7 (SE) vs. 12.2 ± 2.4 scats/yr, d.f. = 7, paired t = 3.80, P = 0.007) in the habitat with less jackrabbits and more rodents. However, the percent occurrence of jackrabbits (54.3 ± 6.7% vs. 60.1 ± 7.7%) and rodents (32.6 ± 6.5% vs. 30.1 ± 6.0%) in coyote scats did not differ between the two habitats. These results supported both the above cited predictions and the hypothesis that prey vulnerability can influence habitat use by coyotes.

100 Newly Discovered Species in a Single Scholarly Paper

It is raining species in a new scholarly paper.  102 lichenologists from 37 countries took part in the venture that has no parallels.

All the new species are lichens.  Molecular data analyzed by the team show that some characteristics biologists once regarded as minor really carry more importance. Every newly found species got its own Web site, part of the Encyclopedia of Life project.

100,000 fungal species, including 17,500 lichens, have been discovered and named so far. According to scientists there may be a million more species waiting to be noticed by science.

The whole project was coordinated by Field Museum scientist Dr Lumbsch and his colleague Dr Robert Lücking . The scientists hope to form more collaborative ventures in future.

Details appear in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Phytotaxa.

The Scent of Love

Detection of female mating status using chemical signals and cues

 Melissa L. Thomas

Journal Biological Reviews. Article first published online: 3 MAR 2010

In this fascinating paper author Melissa L. Thomas review evidence that chemical cues and signals are used widely by males to discriminate between mated and unmated females. Melissa also explores the mechanisms by which female odour changes post-mating.

The author says our understanding of the processes driving the evolution of chemical signals is rudimentary in comparison to auditory and visual traits, despite chemical signals being subject to the same kinds of natural and sexual selective forces.

Information content of chemical signals can allow receivers to discriminate conspecifics from heterospecifics, and determine their sex and dominance status as well as a range of other traits.

In this review the author elaborates specifically on the role of pheromones in the discrimination of a female's reproductive status (mated or unmated). Pheromones seem to be ideal indicators of transitory states such as changing reproductive status. Pheromones used for this type of discrimination can either be volatile, airborne pheromones and/or pheromones that require contact between the emitter and receiver.

Conspecifics and Habitat Models

Here is a good paper on habitat model that I ran in to recently. It is a 2008 paper worth a read. The authors say even though researchers attribute limitations in predictive ability of a habitat model to data deficiencies, missing parameters, error introduced by specifications of the statistical model, and natural Variation, few wildlife biologists have incorporated intra- and interspecific interactions (e.g., conspecific attraction, competition, predator-prey relationships) to increase predictive accuracy of habitat models.

The authors reiterate that conspecific attraction can be a primary factor influencing habitat selection in wildlife. It can lead to clustered distributions of wildlife within available habitat, reducing the predictive ability of habitat models based on vegetative and geographic parameters alone.

The authors suggest that wildlife biologists consider incorporating a parameter in habitat models for the clustered distribution of individuals within available habitat and investigate the mechanisms leading to clustered distributions of species, especially conspecific attraction.

Journal of Wildlife Management (2008) Volume: 72, Issue: 1, Publisher: Journal of Wildlife Management, Pages: 331-336

Flagships

In between my busy hopping I managed to read an excellent paper on flagships.

There is lot of uncertainty in the academic literature about the purpose of flagship species, even though it is frequently used by conservation practitioners to raise funds and awareness for reducing biodiversity loss.

In this paper the authors suggest a new definition that further emphasizes their marketing role and propose an interdisciplinary framework to improve flagship identification, which is based on methodologies from social marketing, environmental economics, and conservation biology. 

The authors recommend that the conservationists should specify the purpose of a campaign before working with the potential target audience to identify the most suitable species, and should monitor the success of their campaigns and feed this back into the marketing process. 

The authors goes on to discuss the return on investment analyses to determine when funds are best spent on high-profile flagships and when raising the profile of other species is more appropriate. 

The authors’ signs off saying that flagship concept can be applied to other aspects of biodiversity, such as priority regions and species sharing specific traits and argue for closer collaboration between researchers and marketing experts to ensure that marketing becomes a mainstream part of the interdisciplinary science of conservation.

Toward a systematic approach for identifying conservation flagships

Diogo Verissimo, Douglas C. MacMillan, Robert J. Smith

Article first published online: 29 NOV 2010 in Conservation Letters

Recognizing Gibbons from their Regional Accents

The other day, I read with great fascination, how scientists have been able to recognize the region from where Gibbons come from, from their accents.  I was under the impression that accents were a human trait.

The pioneering research was done by researchers from the German Primate Center, Goettingen.

The Crested gibbons (genus Nomascus) that live in rainforests of China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam communicate with other gibbons by singing. They do this to define territory and find a mate. Couples sing duets to strengthen pair bonding.

The researchers say gibbon song can be used to identify not only which species of Gibbon is singing but the area it is from. They compared the songs and the genetic diversity of 19 populations, covering 6 species of crested gibbons to their location to arrive at their conclusions. Genetic diversity between the species was measured by looking at mutations in the gene coding for mitochondrial cytochrome b.

The researchers say "Each gibbon has its own variable song but, much like people, there is a regional similarity between gibbons within the same location."

Details appear in the latest issue of open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Van Ngoc Thinh, Chris Hallam, Christian Roos, and Kurt Hammerschmidt. Concordance between vocal and genetic diversity in crested gibbons. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2011; 11: 36 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-36

Poor service by BSNL

Hi guys,
              My telephone line and internet connectivity went dead three weeks back and BSNL the provider is yet to repair it. The constant answer from local JE is cable fault. If even after 3 weeks they cannot pin point and repair the fault they should leave this job and hand over the service to private firms. Is it a deliberate ploy by interested quarters working hand in glove with private providers to destroy theBSNL ? It seems to be a real possibility. Kapil Sibalji are you listening.?

As I am constantly on the move and BSNL service is horrendous I am not in a position to update the blog on a regular basis

Population decline assessment, historical baselines, and conservation

Population decline assessment, historical baselines, and conservation

Timothy C. Bonebrake^, Jon Christensen^, Carol L. Boggs^, Paul R. Ehrlich

 Conservation Letters published online: 14 SEP 2010

Here us a good paper that discuses aspects of population decline assessment, historical baselines, and conservation

Scientific and historical knowledge of worldwide animal-population declines is not well documented. The data is very sparse. This knowledge however is absolute perquisite for the best efforts to preserve species.

In this paper the researchers reviewed the literature of long-term studies of population declines across a set of animal taxa and found that only 15% of the studies used data older than 100 years, and 58% of the studies lacked continuous data. The authors describe five general approaches to studying population declines: counting, correlative, evolutionary, geochemical, and historical. The most common method of population assessment was a census/counting approach (75% of studies). This was followed by a range mapping/correlative approach (17% of studies).

Evolutionary, geochemical, and historical approaches are used less often. The authors assert that in combination with traditional counting and correlative methods, they hold great potential as tools for conservation.

The authors signoff saying “The multidisciplinary approaches we identify and advocate here will be useful for understanding and potentially reversing population declines and ultimately stemming the tide of extinctions currently underway.”