Trends in Deforestation and Forest Degradation after a Decade of Monitoring in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

We used aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys to monitor forest cover in the core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico from 2001 to 2012. We used our data to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions that involved local, state, and federal authorities and community members (e.g., local landowners and private and civil organizations) in one of the world's most iconic protected areas. From 2001 through 2012, 1254 ha were deforested (i.e., cleared areas had <10% canopy cover), 925 ha were degraded (i.e., areas for which canopy forest decreased), and 122 ha were affected by climatic conditions. Of the total 2179 ha of affected area, 2057 ha were affected by illegal logging: 1503 ha by large‐scale logging and 554 ha by small‐scale logging. Mexican authorities effectively enforced efforts to protect the monarch reserve, particularly from 2007 to 2012. Those efforts, together with the decade‐long financial support from Mexican and international philanthropists and businesses to create local alternative‐income generation and employment, resulted in the decrease of large‐scale illegal logging from 731 ha affected in 2005–2007 to none affected in 2012, although small‐scale logging is of growing concern. However, dire regional social and economic problems remain, and they must be addressed to ensure the reserve's long‐term conservation. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwintering colonies in Mexico—which engage in one of the longest known insect migrations—are threatened by deforestation, and a multistakeholder, regional, sustainable‐development strategy is needed to protect the reserve. Tendencias en la Deforestación y la Degradación de Forestal después de una Década de Monitoreo en la Reserva de la Biósfera de la Mariposa Monarca en México     

Epiphyte Biodiversity in the Coffee Agricultural Matrix: Canopy Stratification and Distance from Forest Fragments

Abstract: Quality of the agricultural matrix profoundly affects biodiversity and dispersal in agricultural areas. Vegetatively complex coffee agroecosystems maintain species richness at larger distances from the forest. Epiphytes colonize canopy trees and provide resources for birds and insects and thus effects of agricultural production on epiphytes may affect other species. We compared diversity, composition, and vertical stratification of epiphytes in a forest fragment and in two coffee farms differing in management intensity in southern Mexico. We also examined spatial distribution of epiphytes with respect to the forest fragment to examine quality of the two agricultural matrix types for epiphyte conservation. We sampled vascular epiphytes in a forest fragment, a shade polyculture farm, and a shade monoculture farm at 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m from the forest. Epiphyte and orchid richness was greater in the forest than in the monoculture but richness was similar in the forest and polyculture farm. Epiphyte species composition differed with habitat type, but not with distance from the forest. In the forest, epiphytes were distributed throughout tree canopies, but in the farms, epiphytes were primarily found on trunks and larger branches. Epiphyte richness and species similarity to forest species declined with distance from the forest fragment in the monoculture, but richness and similarity to forest species did not decline with distance from forest in the polyculture. This suggests polyculture coffee has greater conservation value. In contrast, monoculture coffee is likely a sink habitat for epiphytes dispersing from forests into coffee. Coffee farms differ from forests in terms of the habitat they provide and species composition, thus protecting forest fragments is essential for epiphyte conservation. Nonetheless, in agricultural landscapes, vegetatively complex coffee farms may contribute to conservation of epiphytes more than other agricultural land uses.     

长白山红松阔叶林不同恢复阶段蛾类组成和多样性研究

研究了长白山地区不同恢复阶段的红松阔叶林内蛾类的物种组成和多样性,分析了蛾类科属组成与林分不同恢复阶段间的关系.结果表明,2006～2007年调查蛾类23科,410种,共计6520头.红松阔叶林Ⅱ(MF)内物种多度以及Fisher'a和eH最高,4个林分内蛾类种-多度关系均趋于对数级数分布,符合生态位优先占领假说.单因素ANOVA分析表明,苔蛾科(Lithosiidae)、夜蛾科(Noctuidae)、螟蛾科(Pyralidae)、灯蛾科(Arctiidae)和卷蛾科(Tortricidae)蛾类物种数与林分干扰恢复程度显著相关,尺蛾科(Geometridae)、刺蛾科(Limacodidae)、天蛾科(Sphingidae)、舟蛾科(Notodontidae)蛾类头数与林分恢复阶段相关不显著.     

Spatial Structure and Population Extinction: A Study with Drosophila Flies

Abstract: The total amount of habitat and also its distribution and subdivision affect the extinction probability of a resident population Two species of Drosophila are studied in spatial configurations of a single large habitat patch, single small habitat patches, and two small but connected habitat patches in which a low rate of migration, roughly one fly per generation, is possible. The single large habitat patch shows the lowest extinction rate lower than the combined rate of two small patches of the same total size. For one of the species, the "corridor" between the pair of small patches seems to produce a "rescue effect" that lowers extinction rates, probably due to a decrease in the coefficient of variation in fluctuations of the population sire in this coupled system. The systems seem to have been influenced by demographic stochasticity, based on the relationship of population size to extinction probability.     

Potential Effects of a Forest Management Plan on Bachman's Sparrows (Aimophila aestivalis): Linking a Spatially Explicit Model with GIS

By combining a spatially explicit, individual-based population simulation model with a geographic information system, we have simulated the potential effects of a U.S. Forest Service management plan on the population dynamics of Bachman's Sparrow ( Aimophila aestivalis ) at the Savannah River Site, a U.S. Department of Energy facility in South Carolina. Although the Forest Service's management plan explicitly sets management goals for many species, most of the prescribed management strategy deals with the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker ( Picoides borealis ) because of legal requirements. We explored how a species (the sparrow) that is not the target of specific management strategies but that shares some habitat requirements with the woodpecker, would fare under the management plan. We found that the major components of the proposed management plan may allow the sparrow population to reach and exceed the minimum management goal set for this species, but only after a substantial initial decline in sparrow numbers and a prolonged transition period. In the model, the sparrow population dynamics were most sensitive to demographic variables such as adult and juvenile survivorship and to landscape variables such as the suitability of young clearcuts and mature pine stands. Using various assumptions about habitat suitability, we estimated that the 50-year probability of population extinction is at least 5% or may be much higher if juvenile survivorship is low. We believe, however, that modest changes in the management plan might greatly increase the sparrow population and presumably decrease the probability of extinction. Our results suggest that management plans focusing on one or a few endangered species may potentially threaten other species of management concern. Spatially explicit population models are a useful tool in designing modifications of management plans that can reduce the impact on nontarget species of management concern.     

Using Age Structure to Detect Impacts on Threatened Populations: a Case Study with Steller Sea Lions

Abstract:   A delayed response to change is often a characteristic of long-lived species and presents a major challenge to monitoring their status. However, rapid shifts in age structure can occur even while population size remains relatively static. We used time-varying matrix models to study age-structure information as a tool for improving detection of survivorship and fecundity change and status. We applied the methods to Steller sea lions (  Eumetopias jubatus ), a long-lived endangered marine mammal found throughout the North Pacific Rim. Population and newborn counts were supplemented with information on the fraction of the population that was juvenile, obtained by measuring animals in aerial photographs taken during range-wide censuses. By fitting the model to 1976–1998 data, we obtained maximum-likelihood estimates and 95% confidence intervals for juvenile survivorship, adult survivorship, and adult fecundity in the mid-1980s, late 1980s, and 1990s. We used a series of nested models to test whether the data were best fit by a model with one, two, or three temporal changes in demographic rates, and we fit the models to different lengths of data to test the number of years of data needed to detect a demographic change. The declines in the early 1980s were associated with severely low juvenile survivorship, whereas declines in the 1990s were associated with disproportionately low fecundity. We repeated these analyses, fitting only to the count data without the juvenile-fraction information, to determine whether the age-structure information changed the conclusions and/or changed the certainty and speed with which demographic-rate changes could be detected. The juvenile-fraction data substantially improved the degree to which estimates from the model were consistent with field data and significantly improved the speed and certainty with which changes in demographic rates were detected.     

Spatial and temporal dynamics at manakin leks: reconciling lek traditionality with male turnover

Leks, display grounds where males congregate and females visit to copulate, are typically traditional in location, despite often high turnover of individual males. How leks can persist in face of male turnover is not well understood, in part due to a lack of detailed field data allowing for a clear understanding of lek dynamics. We followed the fate of individual males at 11 to 15 leks of the blue-crowned manakin Lepidothrix coronata across four breeding seasons to gain insights on how leks are formed and changed in space and time. Between years, leks were traditional in location despite changes in territory ownership due to male disappearance and recruitment. New males were equally likely to recruit by taking over existing territories or by establishing new territories. Recruitment was influenced by age, as recruits were more likely to be adults than subadults. Lek size did not affect the probabilities of a male recruiting or persisting at a territory, and vocalization rate, a correlate of mating success in this population, did not affect male persistence. We used our field data to model changes in lek size and composition over longer periods of time (100 years) to understand how lek traditionality can be reconciled with high male turnover. Our simulations showed that leks in our population rapidly stabilize in size despite changes in territory ownership and that rates of male recruitment and disappearance compensate each other, such that leks have the potential to persist for several decades after the original males have disappeared from them.     

Geometry of Zn(II) complexes with dissolved organic matter: X-ray studies at variable pH

The structure of Zn(II) complexes with dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an important consideration in developing molecular-level models of Zn(II) speciation, but recent reports favoring the tetrahedral geometry differ from earlier findings that geometry was largely octahedral. In general, the presence of thiolate ligands favors the tetrahedral geometry, while O and N ligands favor the octahedral geometry. This work presents extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopic results, indicating an octahedral geometry over the pH range of 5–9 for a freshwater DOM isolate. Changes in XANES derivatives as a function of pH can be explained in terms of ligand protonation and/or changing ligand groups. Tetrahedral Zn(II)–DOM geometry may be restricted to binding environments containing thiol groups.     

Robust photo-assisted removal of NO at room temperature:Experimental and density functional theory calculation with optical carrier

Photo-assisted SCR(PSCR) offers a potential solution for removal of NO at room temperature. MnTiO_x as PSCR catalyst exhibits superior performance with NO removal of 100% at the room temperature. Electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR) analysis revealed the presence of numerous oxygen vacancies on MnTiO_x. Optical carrier density functional theory(DFT) calculations showed that the threedimensional orbital hybridization of Mn and Ti is significantly enhanced under light irradiati...     

Genetic Polymorphisms and Their Relationships with Inbreeding and Breed Structure in Rare British Sheep: The Portland, Manx Loghtan, and Hebridean

Abstract: 320 sheep of three rare British breeds were typed for blood group and biochemical polymorphism. Genetic distance was least between the Manx Loghtan and Hebridean (D = 0.1241, supporting historical evidence of a close relationship between the breeds. Distances to the Portland breed were 0.144 and 0.186, respectively. The claim that the Portland is related to the Dorset Horn was substantiated by the fact that both breeds possess the i blood group allele. Pedigree analysis showed that most rare or unusual alleles in the three bee could be traced to particular ancestors, which had been accepted for registration as foundation stocks, i. e., there was little evidence of genetic introgression from other breeh. Highly inbred sheep showed the predicted lack of heterozygosity.
When these sheep were first registered (1973), foundation stocks were defined comprising animals of correct breed type. Today, the pedigree of each sheep reveals the percentages of its ancestry attributable to each foundation stock Sheep were classified according to these percentages into subgroups, each of which, therefore corresponds to a strain within the breed Genetic distances were calculated among these subgroups within each breed For the Portland these distances were rather large (D up to 0.069), but distances were rather small for the other two breeds (D up to 0.027). The Manx Loghtan and Hebridean breeds are therefore relatively homogeneous while the genetic distances among Portland subgroups reveal the genetic consequences of the reproductive isolation of certain important flocks     

Co-fermentation of waste activated sludge with food waste for short-chain fatty acids production: effect of pH at ambient temperature

Effect of pH ranging from 4.0 to 11.0 on co-fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) with food waste for short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production at ambient temperature was investigated in this study. Experimental results showed that the addition of food waste significantly improved the performance of WAS fermentation system, which resulted in the increases of SCFAs production and substrate reduction. The SCFAs production at pH 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 and fermentation time of 4 d was respectively 5022.7, 6540.5, 8236.6, and 7911.7 mg COD·L^-1, whereas in the blank tests (no pH adjustment, pH 8.0 (blank test 1), no food waste addition, pH 8.0 (blank test 2), and no WAS addition (blank test 3)) it was only 1006.9, 971.1, and 1468.5 mg COD·L^-1, respectively. The composition of SCFAs at pH from 6.0 to 9.0 was also different from other conditions and propionic acid was the most prevalent SCFA, which was followed by acetic and n-butyric acids, while acetic acid was the top product under other conditions. At pH 8.0 a higher volatile suspended solids (VSS) reduction of 16.6% for the mixture of WAS and food waste than the sole WAS indicated a synergistic effect existing in fermentation system with WAS and food waste. The influence of pH on the variations of nutrient content was also studied during anaerobic fermentation of the mixture of WAS and food waste at different pH conditions. The release of NH4+-N increased with fermentation time at all pH values investigated except 4.0, 5.0 and in blank test one. The concentrations of soluble phosphorus at acidic pHs and in the blank test one were higher than those obtained at alkaline pHs. Ammonia and phosphorus need to be removed before the SCFAs-enriched fermentation liquid from WAS and food waste was used as the carbon source.     

Invasion by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Artocarpus heterophyllus</Emphasis> (Moraceae) in an island in the Atlantic Forest Biome,Brazil: distribution at the landscape level,density and need for control

Invasion by alien species is one of the most critical factors affecting global biodiversity, leading to homogenization and species loss worldwide. Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Moraceae) is one of the most conspicuous invasive plants in Brazil. We studied jackfruit invasion in the Atlantic Forest in Ilha Grande State Park, located on an island (Ilha Grande), by assessing jackfruit distribution and density along 23 trails (90 km). Presence or absence was verified in a total of 857 plots. Data showed that jackfruit is spread all over Ilha Grande, and that plant density varied significantly along and between trails. Jackfruit was registered as the dominant tree species on some of the trails. Control by park managers is an urgent need in order to ensure the conservation of local biodiversity. A decision key for jackfruit management according to jackfruit density, age class and slope is provided.     

Growth and population structure of Lepidochitona cinereus (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) infected with Minchinia chitonis (Protozoa: Sporozoa) at Easthaven,Scotland

Growth and population structure of Lepidochitona cinereus was studied at Easthaven in Scotland. Length was isometrically related to height and breadth, while tissue dry weight was negatively allometric. Length-shell weight relationships were variable with the time of year. Periods of differential growth were associated with the onset of growth in spring and gonad development in July. The use of growth-check lines to age individuals is described. Population structure and growth was investigated using a combination of winter growth-check line and length-frequency analyses. Infection with the protozoan Minchinia chitonis is shown to cause enhanced growth and deviation from the normal growth curve. Individuals survived for a maximum of 5 winters and length-frequency data could be interpreted only after growth-check line analysis due to extensive overlap of year-class size ranges. Year-class success was variable, and the present population was dominated by older year-classes.     

Application of aerial photography in combination with GIS for coastal management at small spatial scales: a case study of shellfish aquaculture

Coastal zones are among the planets most threatened ecosystems and effective management of these systems requires spatial tools at appropriate spatial scales. Here we apply aerial photography with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to map the cumulative anthropogenic footprint of an industry in a spatially defined ecologically important region of the British Columbian coast. Resolution required for such an analysis was made possible through highly detailed aerial photography of the region taken at an elevation of 305 m, at a 1:3000 scale. The approach applied here was successful in accurately detailing the cumulative extent of the anthropogenic activity on the foreshore which could have not been achieved at a coarser resolution. Such information was then effectively applied to visualize and assess the potential impact of an industrial development of the foreshore on bird distribution within the spatially identified region. The degree of overlap between the anthropogenic footprint and small estuaries within the region was also successfully assessed. For ecologically important regions such as Marine Protected Areas, and other such designated sensitive coastal regions, detailed mapping through aerial photography and GIS can aid in first identifying the true extent of an anthropogenic activity and then secondly used to link to possible ecological consequences. This in turn greatly enhances our ability to best manage the region of interest such that conservation priorities can be met.     

Estimating demographic parameters for a critically endangered marine species with frequent reproductive omission: hawksbill turtles nesting at Varanus Island,Western Australia

The hawksbill marine turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered but little is known about its demography to support robust diagnosis of population trends. Moreover, adult female hawksbills do not nest each year due to environmentally mediated physiological constraints and this skipped breeding behaviour presents a major challenge in data collection and for estimating demographic parameters from such data sets. We estimated demographic parameters such as survival and breeding probabilities for a major Indo-Pacific nesting hawksbill population using a capture-mark-recapture (CMR) study and a multistate open robust design statistical modelling approach, which accounts for breeding omission and the staggered arrival and departure of nesters during each season. Our study used CMR histories for 413 nesting hawksbills tagged on Varanus Island (Western Australia) over a 4-month sampling period each year for 20 austral summer nesting seasons between 1987 and 2007. The estimated annual survival probability for these nesting hawksbills was constant over the 20 years at ca. 0.947 (95% CI: 0.91–0.97), which is encouragingly high for a population associated with industry. The estimated annual conditional nesting (breeding) probability for female hawksbills that had skipped the previous nesting season was time-specific ranging from 0.07 to 0.29 (mean = 0.18, CV = 41.3%), which presumably reflects the interaction between turtle physiology and in-water habitat quality. The mean conditional probability of breeding again having skipped 2 prior consecutive nesting seasons was ca. 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73–0.89), indicating a high frequency of breeding season omission. The annual nesting probability for females that had nested the previous season was 0, reflecting known obligate skipped breeding (reproductive omission) that is characteristic of hawksbill populations in response to high energy demands of vitellogenesis and breeding migration. These are the first estimates of annual survival and state-dependent breeding probabilities for any Indo-Pacific hawksbill stock that provide a basis for developing a better understanding of regional population dynamics for this critically endangered species.