Priority areas for conservation of and research focused on terrestrial vertebrates

Effective conservation policies require comprehensive knowledge of biodiversity. However, knowledge shortfalls still remain, hindering possibilities to improve decision making and built such policies. During the last 2 decades, conservationists have made great efforts to allocate resources as efficiently as possible but have rarely considered the idea that if research investments are also strategically allocated, it would likely fill knowledge gaps while simultaneously improving conservation actions. Therefore, prioritizing areas where both conservation and research actions could be conducted becomes a critical endeavor that can further maximize return on investment. We used Zonation, a conservation planning tool and geographical distributions of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles to suggest and compare priority areas for conservation and research of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. We also evaluated the degree of human disturbance in both types of priority areas by describing the value of the human footprint index within such areas. The spatial concordance between priority conservation and research areas was low: 0.36% of the world's land area. In these areas, we found it would be possible to protect almost half of the currently threatened species and to gather information on nearly 42% of data-deficient (DD) species. We also found that 6199 protected areas worldwide are located in such places, although only 35% of them have strict conservation purposes. Areas of consensus between conservation and research areas represent an opportunity for simultaneously conserving and acquiring knowledge of threatened and DD species of vertebrates. Although the picture is not the most encouraging, joint conservation and research efforts are possible and should be fostered to save vertebrate species from our own ignorance and extinction.     

Contrasting effects of manure and compost on soil pH, heavy metal availability and growth of Chenopodium album L. in a soil contaminated by pyritic mine waste

Chenopodium album L. was found to be one of the initial plant species colonising a heavy metal-contaminated site, polluted by pyritic (sulphide-rich) waste from the Aznalcóllar mine spill (South-western Spain). This indicates its importance in the re-vegetation of this soil. In a pot experiment, C. album was sown in soil collected from the contaminated site, either non-amended or amended with cow manure or compost produced from olive leaves and olive mill wastewater, in order to study the effect on heavy metal bioavailability and soil pH. In non-amended and compost-amended soils, soil acidification, probably resulting from oxidation and hydrolysis of sulphide, led to increases in the concentrations of soluble sulphate and plant-available Cu, Zn and Mn in the soil (extractable with 0.1 M CaCl(2)). Under these conditions, shoot growth of C. album was negligible and shoot concentrations of Zn (2,420-5,585 microg g(-1)) and Mn (5,513-8,994 microg g(-1)) were phytotoxic. Manure application greatly increased shoot growth and reduced the shoot concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Mn, and their plant-available concentrations in the soil. These effects appeared to be related to an increase of soil pH, due to an inhibition of sulphide oxidation/hydrolysis, relative to the non-amended soil. For metal sulphides-contaminated soil, liable to acidification, manure application appears to be able to enhance the initial stages of re-vegetation, by species such as C. album.     

Seasonal evolution of beach waste and litter during the bathing season on the Catalan coast

Beach waste and litter composition and evolution on popular urban (located in the main nucleus of the municipality) and urbanized (located in residential areas outside the main nucleus) beaches of the Costa Brava (Catalan coast) were assessed during the bathing season. Waste and litter production (amount and composition) were affected by urbanization and varied during the summer. Urban beaches had higher densities of waste deposition and lower percentages of organic, domestic and other miscellaneous waste than urbanized beaches. Litter characteristics were also influenced by type of beach, and varied during the season as a consequence of beach use and cleaning practices, but not environmental factors. Urbanized beaches obtained higher scores for aesthetic quality of sand than urban beaches, and small-sized litter tended to accumulate during the season in the beach of Lloret Centre. The most important problems are management of recyclable materials, litter left by users on the sand, and separation of sand from litter. In addition, current efficiency of mechanical cleaning is low, especially in the withdrawal of cigarette butts. These analyses highlight problems that should be addressed in future management of area beaches.     

Development,larvicide activity,and toxicity in nontarget species of the Croton linearis Jacq essential oil nanoemulsion

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the essential oil (EO) from leaves of Croton linearis Jacq was extracted and characterized by GC/MS. The EO hydrophilic-lipophilic...     

Prevalence of chromosomal aberrations in Argentinean agricultural workers

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Little is known about biosecurity measures and toxic effects during pesticide application in the province of Jujuy, Argentina, particularly concerning...     

Uneven distribution of urban green spaces in a coastal city in northwest Mexico

ABSTRACT

Extent and distribution of urban green spaces (UGS) in Mazatlan (Mexico) are analysed using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Vegetated areas (2,270?ha), a third of the urban area in 2015, were reclassified into green spaces (GS), urban tree (UT) and open spaces (OS), based in the normalised difference vegetation index, relating them with demographic and socioeconomic data. UGS allocation per capita amount 55?m², mainly represented by the UT class, with the largest patches associated with low developed and very high marginalised areas, and also with very low marginalised sectors, while the lowest allocation correspond to medium and low marginalisation, highly populated sector, without significant correlations. Despite the USG allocation, it is required a better urban planning to maintain public UGS and to protect the local flora, threatened by the introduction of exotic, ornamental species (64% of UT), to guarantee the provision of ecosystem services to the population.     

Temporal variation in size-assortative mating and male mate choice in a spider with amphisexual care

Males should be more selective when they have a high investment in reproduction, especially in species with biparental or paternal care. In this context, male mate choice can promote size-assortative mating (SAM) when (1) large males win intrasexual disputes, (2) large females are more fecund, and (3) males prefer larger females to smaller ones. In the spider Manogea porracea, males exhibit high reproductive investment by building their webs above those of females and exhibiting extended care of offspring in the absence of females. Under these circumstances, we expect the occurrence of SAM and male preference for large females. Herein, we performed observations and experiments in the field to evaluate the hypotheses that (1) M. porracea mates assortatively by size and (2) SAM is influenced by male mate choice. Furthermore, we measured variables that could affect mating patterns, the sex ratios, and densities of both sexes. Pairing in M. porracea was positively size-assortative in 2012, but not in 2013. Large males won most disputes for mates and preferred larger females, which produced more eggs. The inconsistency in detection of SAM was due to population dynamics, namely variations in sex ratio and population density across the breeding season. Furthermore, we found that the significance of male mate choice on sexual selection of body size in M. porracea strongly depends on the competition intensity for mating opportunities. The traditional sexual selection hypothesis of SAM needs to be reviewed and must include measures of competition intensity.     

Learning from Tabasco’s floods by applying MORT

Natural disasters are increasing alarmingly worldwide in recent years. They have killed millions of people, and adversely affected the life of at least one billion people. Given this, natural disasters present a great challenge to society today concerning how they are to be mitigated so as to produce an acceptable risk is a question which has come to the fore in dramatic ways recently. In 2007, the state of Tabasco, Mexico, was flooded and it is believed that al least one million people were left homeless. The paper addresses the following question: what can be learnt from flood disasters? The paper presents some preliminary results of the analysis of the Tabasco’s flooding by applying the Management Oversight Risk Tree (MORT). The MORT technique may be regarded as a structured checklist in the form of a complex ‘fault-tree’ model that is intended to ensure that all aspects of an organization’s management are looked into when assessing the possible causes of an incident. One of the key conclusions of the present analysis is that the approach to decision making in relation ‘flood management’ at the time of the disaster has not been based explicitly on ‘flood risk assessment’. It is hoped that by conducting such analysis lessons can be learnt so that the impact of natural disasters such as the Tabasco’s flooding can be mitigated in the future.     

Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil

Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.