Copper Investment Policy in Chile 1973–1984

The present Government of Chile has retained under state ownership the large-scale copper mines nationalized by the Allende Government in 1971. At the same time it has pledged itself to open fully the Chilean economy to the free play of national and international market forces and to this end has elected to expand Chilean copper production by using foreign capital. The financial regimes created by the Government to attract such investment are described. Although the investment terms have been generous, the Government has not been as successful in attracting as much foreign investment as it had hoped. It is suggested that the Government could expand copper production more efficiently and at less cost to the nation by investing in the state-owned copper industry.     

Improving Environmental and Social Targeting through Adaptive Management in Mexico's Payments for Hydrological Services Program

Natural resource managers are often expected to achieve both environmental protection and economic development even when there are fundamental trade‐offs between these goals. Adaptive management provides a theoretical structure for program administrators to balance social priorities in the presence of trade‐offs and to improve conservation targeting. We used the case of Mexico's federal Payments for Hydrological Services program (PSAH) to illustrate the importance of adaptive management for improving program targeting. We documented adaptive elements of PSAH and corresponding changes in program eligibility and selection criteria. To evaluate whether these changes resulted in enrollment of lands of high environmental and social priority, we compared the environmental and social characteristics of the areas enrolled in the program with the characteristics of all forested areas in Mexico, all areas eligible for the program, and all areas submitted for application to the program. The program successfully enrolled areas of both high ecological and social priority, and over time, adaptive changes in the program's criteria for eligibility and selection led to increased enrollment of land scoring high on both dimensions. Three factors facilitated adaptive management in Mexico and are likely to be generally important for conservation managers: a supportive political environment, including financial backing and encouragement to experiment from the federal government; availability of relatively good social and environmental data; and active participation in the review process by stakeholders and outside evaluators. Mejorando los Objetivos Ambiental y Social Mediante el Manejo Adaptativo en el Programa de Pagos por Servicios Hidrológicos en México     

Conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract:  The Cerrado is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. In the last 35 years, more than 50% of its approximately 2 million km² has been transformed into pasture and agricultural lands planted in cash crops. The Cerrado has the richest flora among the world's savannas (>7000 species) and high levels of endemism. Species richness of birds, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, and insects is equally high, whereas mammal diversity is relatively low. Deforestation rates have been higher in the Cerrado than in the Amazon rainforest, and conservation efforts have been modest: only 2.2% of its area is under legal protection. Numerous animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, and an estimated 20% of threatened and endemic species do not occur in protected areas. Soil erosion, the degradation of the diverse Cerrado vegetation formations, and the spread of exotic grasses are widespread and major threats. The use of fire for clearing land and to encourage new growth for pasture has also caused damage, even though the Cerrado is a fire-adapted ecosystem. Ecosystem experiments and modeling show that change in land cover is altering the hydrology and affecting carbon stocks and fluxes. Cerrado agriculture is lucrative, and agricultural expansion is expected to continue, requiring improvements in and extension of the transportation infrastructure, which will affect not only the Cerrado but also the Amazon forest. Large-scale landscape modification and threats to numerous species have led to renewed interest from various sectors in promoting the conservation of the Cerrado, particularly through strengthening and enlarging the system of protected areas and improving farming practices and thus the livelihoods of local communities.     

Potato Diversity in the Andean Center of Crop Domestication

The diversity and population structure of potato landraces ( Solanum spp.) within their center of domestication was studied using isozyme surveys of four polymorphic loci. The objective in assessing the distribution of genetic diversity was to assist in planning conservation strategies of crop genetic resources that are threatened by genetic erosion. In situ conservation methods depend on this type of analysts. Research was conducted in the region of Cusco, Peru. Eight fields spread among two microregions were randomly sampled, and 610 tubers were studied from this sample. In addition, 503 tubers were collected from markets in seven different meso-regions (provinces) surrounding the regional center of Cusco. Thirty genotypes were identified in the field sample and 82 in the regional sample. The frequency and distribution of genotypes and alleles are described. A high degree of genotype endemism was found at both the field and regional levels. Genotypes were unevenly distributed, and most of the genotypic diversity was between rather than within populations. At the allele level, however, we found that a very high percentage of the diversity was within rather than between populations. The genotype is the key unit for maintaining the population of potato landraces. Our findings suggest that collections need to be both geographically extensive and intensive. Because farmers are able to maintain most alleles on relatively small portions of their land, in situ conservation is a viable strategy.     

Effects of Pioneer Tree Species Hyperabundance on Forest Fragments in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract: Despite many studies on fragmentation of tropical forests, the extent to which plant and animal communities are altered in small, isolated forest fragments remains obscure if not controversial. We examined the hypothesis that fragmentation alters the relative abundance of tree species with different vegetative and reproductive traits. In a fragmented landscape (670 km²) of the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil, we categorized 4056 trees of 182 species by leafing pattern, reproductive phenology, and morphology of seeds and fruit. We calculated relative abundance of traits in 50 1‐ha plots in three types of forest configurations: forest edges, small forest fragments (3.4–83.6 ha), and interior of the largest forest fragment (3500 ha, old growth). Although evergreen species were the most abundant across all configurations, forest edges and small fragments had more deciduous and semideciduous species than interior forest. Edges lacked supra‐annual flowering and fruiting species and had more species and stems with drupes and small seeds than small forest fragments and forest interior areas. In an ordination of species similarity and life‐history traits, the three types of configurations formed clearly segregated clusters. Furthermore, the differences in the taxonomic and functional (i.e., trait‐based) composition of tree assemblages we documented were driven primarily by the higher abundance of pioneer species in the forest edge and small forest fragments. Our work provides strong evidence that long‐term transitions in phenology and seed and fruit morphology of tree functional groups are occurring in fragmented tropical forests. Our results also suggest that edge‐induced shifts in tree assemblages of tropical forests can be larger than previously documented.     

Consensus on Criteria for Potential Areas for Wolf Reintroduction in Mexico

Abstract: Given the conflict with human interests that in many cases results in the extirpation of large carnivores, acceptance of their reintroduction is a considerable challenge. By the 1980s Mexican wolves (Canis lupus) were extinct in the wild. In 1998 a population was reintroduced in the Blue Range Mountains of New Mexico (U.S.A.). Efforts to reintroduce the species in Mexico have been ongoing since the late 1980s. Four teams working independently identified 6 areas in northern Mexico in the historic range of Mexican wolves, where reintroductions could potentially be successful. Each team used different methods and criteria to identify the areas, which makes it difficult to prioritize among these areas. Therefore, members of the different teams worked together to devise criteria for use in identifying priority areas. They identified areas with high, intermediate, and low potential levels of conflict between wolves and humans. Areas with low potential conflict had larger buffers (i.e., distance from human settlement to areas suitable for wolves) around human settlements than high‐ and intermediate‐conflict areas and thus were thought most appropriate for the first reintroduction. High‐conflict areas contained habitat associated with wolf presence, but were closer to human activity. The first reintroduction of Mexican wolves to Mexico occurred in October 2011 in one of the identified low‐conflict areas. The identification of suitable areas for reintroduction represents a crucial step in the process toward the restoration of large carnivores. Choice of the first reintroduction area can determine whether the reintroduction is successful or fails. A failure may preclude future reintroduction efforts in a region or country.     

Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Secondary Forests

Abstract:  The interaction between land-use change and the sustainability of hunting is poorly understood but is critical for sustaining hunted vertebrate populations and a protein supply for the rural poor. We investigated sustainability of hunting in an Amazonian landscape mosaic, where a small human population had access to large areas of both primary and secondary forest. Harvestable production of mammals and birds was calculated from density estimates. We compared production with offtake from three villages and used catch-per-unit-effort as an independent measure of prey abundance. Most species were hunted unsustainably in primary forest, leading to local depletion of the largest primates and birds. The estimated sustainable supply of wild meat was higher for primary (39 kg · km⁻²· yr⁻¹) than secondary forest (22 kg · km⁻²· yr⁻¹) because four species were absent and three species at low abundance in secondary forests. Production of three disturbance-tolerant mammal species was 3 times higher in secondary than in primary forest, but hunting led to overexploitation of one species. Our data suggest that an average Amazonian smallholder would require ≥3.1 km² of secondary regrowth to ensure a sustainable harvest of forest vertebrates. We conclude that secondary forests can sustainably provide only 2% of the required protein intake of Amazonian smallholders and are unlikely to be sufficient for sustainable hunting in other tropical forest regions.     

VALUING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF CHILEAN TEMPERATE RAINFORESTS

The Valdivian Rainforest Ecoregion (35°–48° S) in southern South America is among the ecosystems with highest conservation priority worldwide due to its rich diversity, degree of endemism, and critical conservation status. Temperate rainforests in this vast area are essential as source of biological resources and to maintain different ecosystem services which remain largely unmeasured and unvalued. Consequently, the benefits they provide are not reflected in decision-making regarding forest management and conservation. Based on existing studies and results from ongoing research we describe selected ecosystem services and provide estimates of their economic value. Timber benefits for secondary forests expressed as net present stumpage values were US$ 3742 ha⁻¹ and US$ 3093 ha⁻¹ for sustainable forest management (SFM) and unsustainable harvesting, respectively. Timber benefits for old growth forests␣equaled US$ 4546 ha⁻¹ and US$ 5718 ha⁻¹, for SFM and unsustainable harvesting, respectively, using an 8% discount rate. Annual benefits from recreation were US$ 1.6 ha⁻¹ and US$ 6.3 ha⁻¹ for the two most important national parks located in the study area. The annual value of maintaining soil fertility was US$ 26.3 ha⁻¹ using the replacement cost of nutrient losses due to soil erosion. The annual economic value of water supply for human consumption using the production function method was US$ 235 ha⁻¹. These results provide valuable information on the kind and magnitude of values that could be relevant in decision-making concerning conservation and management of native forests in the Valdivian Rainforest Ecoregion.     

Relative Contribution of Inbreeding Depression and Eroded Adaptive Diversity to Extinction Risk in Small Populations of Shore Campion

Abstract:  To study the relative importance of inbreeding depression and the loss of adaptive diversity in determining the extinction risk of small populations, we carried out an experiment in which we crossed and self-fertilized founder plants from a single, large population of shore campion ( Silene littorea Brot.). We used the seeds these plants produced to colonize 18 new locations within the distribution area of the species. The reintroduced populations were of three kinds: inbred and genetically homogeneous, each made up of selfed seed from a single plant; inbred and mixed, made up of a mixture of selfed seeds from all founder plants; and outbred and mixed, made up of a mixture of seeds obtained in outcrosses between the founders. We compared the inbred homogeneous populations with the inbred mixed to measure the effect of genetic diversity among individuals and the inbred mixed with the outbred mixed to measure the effect of inbreeding. Reintroduction success was seriously limited by inbreeding, whereas it was not affected by genetic diversity. This observation and the nonsignificant interaction between family and reintroduction location for individual plant characters suggest that the fixation of overall deleterious genes causing inbreeding depression posed a more serious threat to the short-term survival of the populations than the loss of genes involved in genotype and environment interactions. Thus, reintroduction success was related to adaptive diversity. Preventing such fixation might be the most important consideration in the genetic management and conservation of shore campion populations.     

Hierarchical Bayesian Spatial Models for Multispecies Conservation Planning and Monitoring

Abstract: Biologists who develop and apply habitat models are often familiar with the statistical challenges posed by their data's spatial structure but are unsure of whether the use of complex spatial models will increase the utility of model results in planning. We compared the relative performance of nonspatial and hierarchical Bayesian spatial models for three vertebrate and invertebrate taxa of conservation concern (Church's sideband snails [Monadenia churchi], red tree voles [Arborimus longicaudus], and Pacific fishers [Martes pennanti pacifica]) that provide examples of a range of distributional extents and dispersal abilities. We used presence–absence data derived from regional monitoring programs to develop models with both landscape and site‐level environmental covariates. We used Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms and a conditional autoregressive or intrinsic conditional autoregressive model framework to fit spatial models. The fit of Bayesian spatial models was between 35 and 55% better than the fit of nonspatial analogue models. Bayesian spatial models outperformed analogous models developed with maximum entropy (Maxent) methods. Although the best spatial and nonspatial models included similar environmental variables, spatial models provided estimates of residual spatial effects that suggested how ecological processes might structure distribution patterns. Spatial models built from presence–absence data improved fit most for localized endemic species with ranges constrained by poorly known biogeographic factors and for widely distributed species suspected to be strongly affected by unmeasured environmental variables or population processes. By treating spatial effects as a variable of interest rather than a nuisance, hierarchical Bayesian spatial models, especially when they are based on a common broad‐scale spatial lattice (here the national Forest Inventory and Analysis grid of 24 km² hexagons), can increase the relevance of habitat models to multispecies conservation planning.