Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners’ use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain‐referral survey. We then used a workshop‐based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real‐time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing‐derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?     

Storage and distribution of trace metals and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) from atmospheric deposition in the catchment peats of Lochnagar, Scotland.

Lochnagar is a remote mountain lake to the south-east of the Cairngorm region in Scotland. Its catchment receives anthropogenic trace metals solely from atmospheric deposition. Ten peat cores were taken from the catchment and analysis confirmed that they have been contaminated by trace metals. The peats have an high affinity for trace metals and this results in metal accumulation in the surface peat layers. The formation of trace metal sulphides may also reduce remobilisation. In this way, trace metals derived from atmospheric deposition have been scavenged and accumulated. In contaminated peat layers, 77.4% Hg, 89.6% Pb, 93.4% Cu, 72.4% Zn and 86.5% Cd of the total stored are from anthropogenic sources. The accumulated trace metals in the peats can potentially influence the lake system through erosion. Spheroidal carbonaceous particle (SCP) profiles were used to date the peat cores. By referring to the SCP profiles in the peats and comparing these with the trace metal profiles in the lake sediments, the mobility of trace metals in the catchment peats is confirmed.     

Uncovering the Connections Among Sustainability, Governance and GDP

This paper examines the connections among sustainability, governance and GDP, using the data from 123 countries. Sustainability is found to be related with GDP in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, growth in GDP strengthens a nation＇s ability to maintain favorable environmental conditions into the future. On the other hand, GDP growth is built on more consumption of natural resources, and therefore generates a larger ＂foot-print＂ on the Earth. Governance plays a key role in sustainable development. However, it is not helping to reduce our footprint on the Earth. In fact, good governance is linked to a larger footprint. This reflects our materialist value and human impulse. When a society prefers the comfort and wellbeing of human beings to the welfare of its environment, democratic governance might be used as an effective tool against nature.     

Early ultrasound diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome

We report the mid-trimester prenatal diagnosis of Neu–Laxova syndrome (NLS) in two at risk families utilizing serial sonographic examinations. Ultrasound and pathologic findings from seven affected pregnancies, the largest case series of NLS to date, are presented. One fetus had anencephaly and incomplete rachischisis, an anomaly that has not been previously reported in association with NLS. Ultrasonographic detection of severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), abnormally postured limbs, microcephaly, and edema allowed prenatal diagnosis of NLS in five of these at risk pregnancies during the mid-trimester. Growth curves derived from serial sonograms reveal abnormalities of all standard biometric measurements. The growth discrepancy was most pronounced in the measurements of the biparietal diameter, which were consistently less than two standard deviations below the mean across all gestational ages. This case series confirms that aberrant growth and anomalies may be detected sufficiently early in gestation to permit prenatal diagnosis of NLS. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Records of atmospheric delivery of pyrolysis-derived pollutants in recent mountain lake sediments of the Julian Alps (NW Slovenia)

The historical record of the input of pyrolysis-derived pollutants via the atmosphere, i.e. black carbon (BC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP) was measured in the sediments of three remote alpine lakes situated in the Julian Alps, northwest Slovenia. Parallel sedimentary trends for BC, PAH and SCP were observed across the Julian Alps and relationships among these contaminants are discussed. Inputs of these pyrolytic-contaminants to sediments of remote lakes started to rise at the end of the 19th century, while their peak inputs were observed in the mid-20th century, amounting up to 6.0 gm(-2) yr(-1) for BC, 5200 x 10(4) m(-2) yr(-1) for SCP and 2900 microg m(-2) yr(-1) for PAH. In the last two to three decades, inputs decreased substantially, by a factor of up to 3 for BC, 7 for SCP and at least 3 for PAH.     

Improving inferences about private land conservation by accounting for incomplete reporting

Private lands provide key habitat for imperiled species and are core components of function protectected area networks; yet, their incorporation into national and regional conservation planning has been challenging. Identifying locations where private landowners are likely to participate in conservation initiatives can help avoid conflict and clarify trade-offs between ecological benefits and sociopolitical costs. Empirical, spatially explicit assessment of the factors associated with conservation on private land is an emerging tool for identifying future conservation opportunities. However, most data on private land conservation are voluntarily reported and incomplete, which complicates these assessments. We used a novel application of occupancy models to analyze the occurrence of conservation easements on private land. We compared multiple formulations of occupancy models with a logistic regression model to predict the locations of conservation easements based on a spatially explicit social–ecological systems framework. We combined a simulation experiment with a case study of easement data in Idaho and Montana (United States) to illustrate the utility of the occupancy framework for modeling conservation on private land. Occupancy models that explicitly accounted for variation in reporting produced estimates of predictors that were substantially less biased than estimates produced by logistic regression under all simulated conditions. Occupancy models produced estimates for the 6 predictors we evaluated in our case study that were larger in magnitude, but less certain than those produced by logistic regression. These results suggest that occupancy models result in qualitatively different inferences regarding the effects of predictors on conservation easement occurrence than logistic regression and highlight the importance of integrating variable and incomplete reporting of participation in empirical analysis of conservation initiatives. Failure to do so can lead to emphasizing the wrong social, institutional, and environmental factors that enable conservation and underestimating conservation opportunities in landscapes where social norms or institutional constraints inhibit reporting.     

Spatio-temporal use of the urban habitat by feral pigeons (Columba livia )

Feral pigeons are descendants of wild rock pigeons that have adapted to the urban habitat. They have partially conserved the foraging behaviour of their wild ancestors (flights to agricultural areas) but have also developed new habits. Previous studies on the foraging strategies of feral pigeons have given various results, e.g. maximum distances reached by the pigeons (measured in a straight line from the resting places) differed between 0.3–0.5 km and 18–25 km. This study focuses on the spatio-temporal activity of feral pigeons in the urban habitat. We equipped 80 free-living feral pigeons from Basel, Switzerland with GPS receivers. We found three different foraging strategies for pigeons in Basel: (1) in the streets, squares and parks near the home loft, (2) in agricultural areas surrounding the city, (3) on docks and railway lines in harbours. The maximum distance reached by a pigeon was 5.29 km. More than 32% of the pigeons remained within 0.3 km of the home lofts and only 7.5% flew distances of more than 2 km. Females covered significantly longer distances than males, preferring to fly to more abundant and predictable food sources. Temporal activity patterns showed to be influenced by sex, breeding state and season. In contrast to wild rock pigeons and to feral pigeons in other cities, pigeons in Basel showed a clear bimodal activity pattern for breeding birds only. The differences between our results and those of other studies seem to be partly method-dependent, as the GPS-technique allows to record the pigeons’ localisations continuously in contrast to other methods. Other differences might be due to different kinds of food supply in the various cities. Our study shows that feral pigeons have individual foraging strategies and are flexible enough to adapt to different urban environments.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Observations on organic carbon utilization by photosynthetic marine microalgae

Organic carbon utilization was studied in 13 species of axenic unicellular marine algae. The compounds tested were 15 sugars, 19 acids, and 16 alcohols. Heterotrophy occurred in only three chlorophyte strains with acetate and ethanol; one strain with glucose. Mixotrophy was observed with the following compounds: glyceraldehyde, 1 species; acetate, 4 species; glycolic acid, 5 species; pyruvic acid, 9 species; caproic acid, 3 species; lactic acid, 1 species; ethanol, 3 species; glycerol, 9 species. Some ecological implications are discussed.