Assessing Risk and Guidance on Monitoring of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Europe through Identification of Taxonomic Selectivity of Infection

Amphibians are globally threatened, but not all species are affected equally by different threatening processes. This is true for the threat posed by the chytridiomycete fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). We compiled a European data set for B. dendrobatidis to analyze the trends of infection in European amphibians. The risk of infection was not randomly distributed geographically or taxonomically across Europe. Within countries with different prevalence, infection was nonrandom in certain amphibian taxa. Brown frogs of the genus Rana were unlikely to be infected, whereas frogs in the families Alytidae and Bombinatoridae were significantly more likely to be infected than predicted by chance. Frogs in the 2 families susceptible to B. dendrobatidis should form the core of attempts to develop spatial surveillance studies of chytridiomycosis in Europe. Ideally, surveys for B. dendrobatidis should be augmented by sampling the widespread genus Pelophylax because this taxon exhibits geographically inconsistent overinfection with B. dendrobatidis and surveillance of it may facilitate recognition of factors causing spatial variability of infection intensity. Several European amphibian taxa were not represented in our data set; however, surveillance of unsampled species should also occur when warranted. Evaluación de Riesgo y Orientación para el Monitoreo de Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis en Europa Mediante la Identificación de la Selectividad Taxonómica de la Infección     

Effects of Alternative Cotton Agriculture on Avian and Arthropod Populations

Abstract:  Among the major agricultural crops in the southeastern United States, cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) generally provides the least suitable habitat for most early successional songbirds. Newer cropping approaches, such as use of conservation tillage and stripcover cropping, offer hope for improving the ecological value of cotton fields. We examined the effects of clover stripcover cropping with conservation tillage versus conventionally grown cotton with either conventional or conservation tillage on avian and arthropod species composition and field use in east-central Georgia. Stripcover fields had higher bird densities and biomass and higher relative abundance of arthropods than both conservation tillage and conventional fields. During migration and breeding periods, total bird densities on stripcover fields were 2–6 times and 7–20 times greater than on conservation and conventional fields, respectively. Abundance and biomass for epigeal arthropods were also greatest on stripcover fields during much of the breeding season. Although the clover treatment attracted the highest avian and arthropod densities, conservation fields still provided more wildlife and agronomic benefits than conventional management. Our findings suggest that both conservation tillage and stripcropping systems will improve conditions for birds in cotton, with stripcropped fields providing superior habitat. The reduction of inputs possible with the clover system could allow farmers to lower costs associated with conventional cotton production by $282–317/ha. This reduction of input, coupled with similar or possibly increased yield over conventional systems makes stripcover cropping not only a good choice for reducing negative impacts on wildlife and surrounding ecosystems, but also an economically desirable one.     

Status Assessment of New Zealand's Naturally Uncommon Ecosystems

Abstract: Globally, ecosystems are under increasing anthropogenic pressure; thus, many are at risk of elimination. This situation has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to propose a quantitative approach to ecosystem‐risk assessment. However, there is a need for their proposed criteria to be evaluated through practical examples spanning a diverse range of ecosystems and scales. We applied the IUCN's ecosystem red‐list criteria, which are based on changes in extent of ecosystems and reductions in ecosystem processes, to New Zealand's 72 naturally uncommon ecosystems. We aimed to test the applicability of the proposed criteria to ecosystems that are naturally uncommon (i.e., those that would naturally occur over a small area in the absence of human activity) and to provide information on the probability of ecosystem elimination so that conservation priorities might be set. We also tested the hypothesis that naturally uncommon ecosystems classified as threatened on the basis of IUCN Red List criteria contain more threatened plant species than those classified as nonthreatened. We identified 18 critically endangered, 17 endangered, and 10 vulnerable ecosystems. We estimated that naturally uncommon ecosystems contained 145 (85%) of mainland New Zealand's taxonomically distinct nationally critical, nationally endangered, and nationally vulnerable plant species, 66 (46%) of which were endemic to naturally uncommon ecosystems. We estimated there was a greater number of threatened plant species (per unit area) in critically endangered ecosystems than in ecosystems classified as nonthreatened. With their high levels of endemism and rapid and relatively well‐documented history of anthropogenic change, New Zealand's naturally uncommon ecosystems provide an excellent case‐study for the ongoing development of international criteria for threatened ecosystems. We suggest that interactions and synergies among decline in area, decline in function, and the scale of application of the criteria be used to improve the IUCN criteria for threatened ecosystems.     

Kibale Forest Wild Coffee: Challenges to Market‐Based Conservation in Africa

Abstract: Declining rural security and pressures to reduce public‐sector expenditures in the late 1990s spurred efforts to develop alternative funding models for Uganda's Kibale National Park (KNP). The Wild Coffee Project, established in 1999 with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and the Ford Foundation, sought to develop a market for wild coffee that had been harvested traditionally from areas within today's KNP. The Kibale Forest Foundation, a U.S.‐based nonprofit organization, was created to legalize harvests, obtain third‐party wild and organic certification, and coordinate management between KNP, the coffee industry, and local communities. Although the project was successful in legalizing, harvesting, and processing the world's first certified wild and organic coffee, efforts to gain entry into the international marketplace failed. Chief among the lessons learned from this project is that for many wild‐grown products, the value of “the story”—in both human and conservation terms—is likely to far exceed actual product values. This value differential should be captured through high‐value niche markets to avoid low commodity pricing and subsequent pressures to improve financial returns through over harvesting. In addition, local producers should hold significant assets in whatever brands are developed, creating a shared‐equity approach that serves social responsibility goals, fosters project sustainability, and ensures a steady stream of positive stories for use in marketing to build brand value. Shared equity—in this case ownership interest in the intellectual property embodied in the brand—provides a second incentive beyond transactional profits that can only be realized if resource conservation is maintained.     

Effects of Landscape Features on the Distribution and Sustainability of Ungulate Hunting in Northern Congo

Abstract: Understanding the spatial dimensions of hunting and prey population dynamics is important in order to estimate the sustainability of hunting in tropical forests. We investigated how hunting offtake of vertebrates differed in mixed forest and monodominant forest (composed of Gilbertiodendron dewevrei) and over different spatial extents within the hunting catchment around the logging town of Kabo, Congo. In 9 months of recall surveys with hunters, we gathered information on over 1500 hunting trips in which ungulates were 65% of the species killed and 82% of harvested biomass. Hunters supplied information on animals killed and the hunting trip, including the area visited (i.e., hunting zone; 11 separate zones within a 506 km² catchment or commonly hunted area). Over 65% of all animals were killed in monodominant forest, which made up 28% of the hunting catchment, and zones with small amounts of monodominant forest were used most frequently by hunters. Given the large offtakes from monodominant forests, we suggest that animal dispersal may be maintaining high, localized harvests in these areas. We believe hunters preferred to hunt in monodominant forest because the understory was accessible and that areas with small amounts of monodominant forest and large amounts of mixed forest were more productive. The variation in hunting pressure we found between and within hunting zones differs from past examinations of spatial variation in hunting offtake, where entire hunting catchments were considered population sinks and areas with low to no hunting (no‐take zones) were outside hunting catchments. Future use of no‐take zones to manage hunting should incorporate variability in offtake within hunting catchments.     

THE INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS OF COPPER PROCESSING

Developing countries have increased their activity in smelting and refining of copper in order to retain a greater proportion of the value added and to achieve more control over production and marketing. This article examines the technology and economics of copper smelting and refining and considers the advantages and disadvantages to developing countries of increased investment in copper ore processing.
Les pays en développement ont accru leur activité dans le domaine de la fonte et du raffinage du cuivre dans le but de conserver une part plus grande de la valeur ajoutée et d'établir un contrôle plus efficace sur la production et la commercialisation de cette ressource. Cet article étudie les aspects techniques et économiques de la fonte et du raffinage du cuivre. Il compare les avantages et désavantages, pour les pays en développement, de la croissance des investissements dans le traitement du minerai de cuivre.
Los países en desarrollo han incrementado las actividades de fundición y refinado de cobre con el objeto de retener una porción mayor del valor agregado y de ejercer más control sobre la producción y el mercado. Este artículo examina la tecnología y economía de la fundición y refinado del cobre y considera las ventajas y desventajas de mayores inversiones en el procesado del mineral de cobre por los países en desarrollo.     

Changes in Size of Deforested Patches in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract: Different deforestation agents, such as small farmers and large agricultural businesses, create different spatial patterns of deforestation. We analyzed the proportion of deforestation associated with different‐sized clearings in the Brazilian Amazon from 2002 through 2009. We used annual deforestation maps to determine total area deforested and the size distribution of deforested patches per year. The size distribution of deforested areas changed over time in a consistent, directional manner. Large clearings (>1000 ha) comprised progressively smaller amounts of total annual deforestation. The number of smaller clearings (6.25–50.00 ha) remained unchanged over time. Small clearings accounted for 73% of all deforestation in 2009, up from 30% in 2002, whereas the proportion of deforestation attributable to large clearings decreased from 13% to 3% between 2002 and 2009. Large clearings were concentrated in Mato Grosso, but also occurred in eastern Pará and in Rondônia. In 2002 large clearings accounted for 17%, 15%, and 10% of all deforestation in Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia, respectively. Even in these states, where there is a highly developed agricultural business dominated by soybean production and cattle ranching, the proportional contribution of large clearings to total deforestation declined. By 2009 large clearings accounted for 2.5%, 3.5%, and 1% of all deforestation in Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia, respectively. These changes in deforestation patch size are coincident with the implementation of new conservation policies by the Brazilian government, which suggests that these policies are not effectively reducing the number of small clearings in primary forest, whether these are caused by large landholders or smallholders, but have been more effective at reducing the frequency of larger clearings.