Evaluating Local Benefits from Conservation in Nepal’s Annapurna Conservation Area

Protected areas are integral to the global effort to conserve biodiversity, and, over the past two decades, protected area managers have begun to recognize that conservation objectives are next to impossible to achieve without considering the needs and concerns of local communities. Incentive-based programs (IBPs) have become a favored approach to protected area management, geared at fostering local stewardship by delivering benefits tied to conservation to local people. Effective IBPs require benefits to accrue to and be recognized by those experiencing the greatest consequences as a result of the protected area, and those likely to continue extractive activities if their livelihood needs are compromised. This research examines dispersal of IBP benefits, as perceived by local residents in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Results reported here are based on questionnaire interviews with 188 households conducted between September and December 2004. Results indicate that local residents primarily identify benefits from social development activities, provisions for resource extraction, and economic opportunities. Overall, benefits have been dispersed equally to households in villages on and off the main tourist route, and regardless of a household's participation in tourism. However, benefits are not effectively targeted to poorer residents, those highly dependent on natural resources, and those experiencing the most crop damage and livestock loss from protected wildlife. This article provides several suggestions for improving the delivery of conservation incentives.     

Temperature and water pressure head effects on the degradation of the diketonitrile metabolite of isoxaflutole in a loamy soil under two tillage systems

Laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of temperature and water pressure head on the degradation of the diketonitrile metabolite (DKN) of isoxaflutole during 84 d in samples collected in a loamy soil under conventional (CT) and conservation (MT) tillage systems. Soil temperature was the major factor controlling DKN degradation in the two tillage systems. The shortest half-lives (T_1/2) were measured in the seedbed samples under MT at 25 °C and −33 cm water pressure head. We found that mouldboard ploughing under CT was responsible for the spatial variability of herbicide degradation properties, whereas under MT herbicide degradation was associated to the vertical distribution of organic matter.     

Invasion of Pinus halepensis Mill. following a wildfire in an Argentine grassland nature reserve

The Ernesto Tornquist nature reserve is a relict of native Pampas vegetation in Argentina. Alien trees were introduced to the reserve in the 1950s, mainly to "improve" the natural landscape, resulting in the arrival of a totally new life form. In 1987, a fire affected an area planted with Pinus halepensis resulting in its massive expansion. In 1999, we removed trees from 17 circular plots of 10 m diameter placed systematically within the area that was colonized after the fire. Trunks were cut 20 cm from the ground and growth rings were counted. We studied the age structure of the population in order to reconstruct the colonizing events after the fire. We found that recruitment occurred throughout this period, except in the three years after the disturbance. We suggest that this delay in recruitment might be caused by low seedling survival under water stress conditions due to low rainfall, combined with scarce vegetation cover after fire. This could have been associated with an initial reduction in propagule pressure due to the scarcity of surviving trees in the vicinity and with the fact that fire occurred after the peak of seed release, during an extremely dry summer, probably killing a great number of seeds that were already in the soil. In the following years, recruitment was probably aided by pioneer trees and later by seeds shed from established pines. Alien trees had been allowed to reach maturity due to wildfire prevention and control in the years preceding the fire and the accumulated dry matter resulted in increased fire intensity that reduced the ability of grasses to re-sprout. As a consequence, the invasion window that allowed the expansion of pines remained open for at least 12 years.     

Should Habitat Trading Be Based on Mitigation Ratios Derived from Landscape Indices? A Model-Based Analysis of Compensatory Restoration Options for the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker

Many species of conservation concern are spatially structured and require dispersal to be persistent. For such species, altering the distribution of suitable habitats on the landscape can affect population dynamics in ways that are difficult to predict from simple models. We argue that for such species, individual-based and spatially explicit population models (SEPMs) should be used to determine appropriate levels of off-site restoration to compensate for on-site loss of ecologic resources. Such approaches are necessary when interactions between biologic processes occur at different spatial scales (i.e., local [recruitment] and landscape [migration]). The sites of restoration and habitat loss may be linked to each other, but, more importantly, they may be linked to other resources in the landscape by regional biologic processes, primarily migration. The common management approach for determining appropriate levels of off-site restoration is to derive mitigation ratios based on best professional judgment or pre-existing data. Mitigation ratios assume that the ecologic benefits at the site of restoration are independent of the ecologic costs at the site of habitat loss. Using an SEPM for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, we show that the spatial configuration of habitat restoration can simultaneously influence both the rate of recruitment within breeding groups and the rate of migration among groups, implying that simple mitigation ratios may be inadequate.     

Ecological effects of cultivation on the machair sand dune systems of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland

The machair sand dune systems of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland are a unique habitat, which is rare within both a global and European context. Unusually, the machair habitat also represents an agricultural resource that is very important to the Hebridean people, having been subject to both grazing and cultivation throughout the historical period. Following designation as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) in 1988, the machairs of South Uist have been studied with the aim of understanding the links between agricultural practice and their plant community and ecosystem dynamics. This research focused primarily on the effects of cultivation practices and their role in maintaining plant species richness and community and ecosystem stability. Within two carefully selected areas, the successional plant communities of machair at different stages of recovery following ploughing and cultivation of cereals and potato patches or ‘lazy beds’ were identified at both a macro- and micro-level. Investigations of the vegetation recovery processes on turves taken from newly ploughed land indicated that the initial stages of recolonization are characterized primarily by rapid vegetative reproduction and growth, although re-vegetation by seeds is also an important factor. The implications of these findings for the long-term management of machair plant communities are discussed and in particular the need to maintain old cultivation practices such as shallow ploughing. The need for more detailed research into both seed banks and seed rain and into processes of vegetative reproduction is stressed. Nomenclature: Clapham et al. (1981) and Stace (1991, 1997) for vascular plants; Hubbard (1984) for grasses; Pankhurst & Mullin (1991) for the regional flora; Dobson (1992) for lichens; Watson (1981) for mosses and liverworts.     

Multiple-resource modeling as a tool for conservation: Its applicability in Mexico

The current Mexican environmental law provides the legal basis for comprehensive land-use planning. Under the law, development of natural ecosystems must combine goals, policies, and practices towards the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of biological diversity. Thus, ecosystem manipulation must be able to counter fragmentation of natural ecosystems and isolation of natural reserves, while providing for human needs. Assessment of the potential of natural ecosystems and management impacts are required. Multiple-resource simulation is an assessment and land-use planning tool that permits managers and decision makers to comply with the law, providing a flexible, user-oriented system that can meet the needs of managers, conservationists, and researchers. A multiple-resource model and an example of how it can be applied to meet planning needs is presented for discussion.     

鄱阳湖湿地植被的生物多样性及其保护和利用

鄱阳湖是我国最大的天然淡水湖泊，湖区湿地面积２６９８ｋｍ＾２，是我国湿地生态系统中植物资源及植被类型最丰富的地区之一。该处分布高等植物７５科２００余属３５０余种，湿地植被依其生态环境和群落特征可划分为水生群落、沼泽、草甸、沙洲４类型６０余个群系，保护与合理地持续利用这些植物群落是有效的保护和发展鄱阳湖湿地生态环境的根本途径。为些就切实制定鄱阳湖湿地总体规划，建立包括整个湖区面积在内的湿地生态系统自     

Ecological responses to reductions in freshwater supply and quality in South Africa’s estuaries: lessons for management and conservation

Fresh water, a fundamental element of all estuarine ecosystems, is South Africa’s most limited natural resource. Recent projections indicate that by the year 2020 the country will be utilizing all its exploitable freshwater sources. Steeply increasing demands by a rapidly growing population on this limited commodity have already resulted in a severe reduction of water supplies to natural users such as estuaries — this trend is predicted to increase in the future. Concurrent with excessive water abstraction, poor land husbandry (e.g. soil erosion) in many catchment basins and pollution (e.g. salinization) in return flows have led to a serious deterioration in water quality. In contrast, a review of estuarine responses to varying flow regimes stresses the strong dependence of local systems on riverine fresh water inputs of adequate quantity and quality. Freshwater dependence is i.a. expressed in: flooding events that scour accumulated sediments, riverine nutrient input to drive estuarine phyto- and zooplankton production, axial salinity gradients that increase habitat and species diversity, and maintenance of open tidal inlets that prevent salinity and temperature extremes and facilitate larval exchange, fish migrations and tidal flushing of salt marshes. Thus, estuarine conservation will have to encompass management of rivers and watersheds and play an increasingly political role in decision processes concerning water allocations among ‘human’ and ‘natural’ users.