Effects of Detectability on Estimates of Geographic Range Size in Bignonieae

Abstract: Extinction risk has not been evaluated for 96% of all described plant species. Given that the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation proposes preliminary conservation assessments of all described plant species by 2010, herbarium specimens (i.e., primary occurrence data) are increasingly being used to infer threat components from estimates of geographic range size. Nevertheless, estimates of range size based on herbarium data may be inaccurate due to collection bias associated with interspecific variation in detectability. We used data on 377 species of Bignonieae to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between detectability and estimates of geographic range size derived from herbarium specimens. This relationship is expected if the proportion of the true geographic range size of a species that is documented by herbarium specimens is given by the product of the true geographic range size and the detectability of the species, assuming no relationship between true geographic range size and detectability. We developed 4 measures of detectability that can be estimated from herbarium data and examined the relationship between detectability and 2 types of estimates of geographic range size: area of occupancy and extent of occurrence. Our results from regressing estimates of extent of occurrence and area of occupancy on detectability across genera provided no support for this hypothesis. The same was true for regressions of estimated extent of occurrence on detectability across species within genera. Nevertheless, regressions of estimated area of occupancy on detectability across species within genera provided partial support for our hypothesis. We considered 3 possible explanations for this mixed outcome: violation of the assumption of no relationship between true geographic range size and detectability; the relationships between estimated geographic range size and detectability may be an artifact of a negative relationship between estimated area of occupancy and the sampling variance of detectability; detectability may have had 2 opposite effects on estimated species range sizes: one determines the proportion of the true range of a species documented by herbarium specimens and the other determines the distribution of true range size for the species actually observed with herbarium data. Our findings should help improve understanding of the potential biases incurred with the use of herbarium data.     

螃蟹活动对闽江河口互花米草沼泽湿地土壤温室气体排放通量的影响

于2015年1月（冬季）、4月（春季）、6月（夏季）和9月（秋季）,以闽江河口互花米草沼泽湿地为研究区,采用静态箱与气相色谱结合的方法,研究螃蟹对湿地土壤CO₂、CH₄和N₂O排放通量及综合增温潜势的影响。研究表明：温室气体排放季节变化较为显著,CO₂、CH₄排放通量最大值均出现在夏季,N₂O排放通量最大值出现在秋季,CO₂、CH₄和N₂O排放通量最小值均出现在春季。与无螃蟹组相比,高潮滩和中潮滩螃蟹组CO₂、CH₄和N₂O排放通量均值都增大,其中高潮滩螃蟹组CO₂、CH₄和N₂O排放通量依次增大了46.36%、66.67%和69.66%,中潮滩螃蟹组CO₂、CH₄和N₂O排放通量依次增大了53.57%、142.97%、73.08%。相关性分析结果表明：土壤CO₂排放通量与土壤温度显著正相关（n=96,p＜0.05）,CH₄和N₂O排放通量与土壤温度显著正相关（n=96,p＜0.01）;N₂O排放通量与土壤pH显著正相关（n=96,p＜0.01）,与土壤含水量显著正相关（n=96,p＜0.05）。综上所述,螃蟹活动对闽江河口互花米草沼泽湿地土壤的干扰促进了温室气体的排放,为有效调节湿地碳、氮固持作用和湿地生态系统科学管理提供了参考。     

长江口浮游植物分布情况及与径流关系的初步探讨

利用2004—2008年5月（春季）和8月（夏季）共10个季度月航次调查资料,结合同时期长江口径流量的数据,研究了长江口海域浮游植物的分布特征、及其受长江径流影响的关系。分布情况的结果显示：同一年中,夏季调查航次鉴定的浮游植物种类数明显多于春季的种类数;浮游植物数量的基本趋势逐年增加,其中2008年调查航次的浮游植物数量急剧暴发;同时生物多样性指数呈逐年下降趋势,海域水质污染程度日趋严重。对浮游植物与长江口径流量的关系分析得到：拟合长江口5、8月平均径流量与对应调查航次的浮游植物数量呈正相关的幂函数关系,径流量与浮游植物多样度呈负相关的指数函数关系,径流量与浮游植物优势种数量百分比呈正相关的幂函数关系,关系都明显显著。其中长江口径流量的输入对优势种尤其是近岸低盐性的中肋骨条藻（Skeletonema costatum）分布有着决定性的影响;长江径流把大量的N、P等无机营养物质携带入海,导致长江口水域严重富营养化,造成长江口海域的局部区域频发赤潮。     

Modeling estuarine-shelf exchanges in a deltaic estuary: Implications for coastal carbon budgets and hypoxia

The export of wetland-derived materials to the coastal ocean (i.e., the “Outwelling” hypothesis) has received considerable attention over the past several decades. While a number of studies have shown that estuaries export appreciable amounts of nutrients and carbon, few studies have attempted to estimate the importance of estuarine sources for the coastal carbon budgets in river-dominated coastal ecosystems. A novel tidal prism model was developed to examine estuarine-shelf exchanges in the Barataria estuary, a deltaic estuary located in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. This estuary has been the site of a massive wetland loss, and it has been hypothesized that carbon export from the eroding coastal wetlands supports the development of a large hypoxic zone in the coastal Gulf of Mexico. The model results show that the Barataria estuary receives nitrogen through the tidal passes and releases carbon to the coastal ocean. The mean calculated tidal water discharge of 6930 m³ s⁻¹ is equivalent to about 43% of the lower Mississippi River discharge. The annual total organic carbon (TOC) export is 109 million kg, or 57 gC m² yr⁻¹ when prorated to the total water area of the estuary. This carbon export is equivalent to a loss of 0.5 m of wetland soil horizon over an area of 8.4 km², and accounts for about 34% of the observed annual wetland loss in the estuary between 1978 and 2000. Compared to the lower Mississippi River, the Barataria estuary appears to be a very small source of TOC for the northern Gulf of Mexico (2.7% of riverine TOC), and is unlikely to have a significant influence on the development of the Gulf's hypoxia.     

Rookery Bay and Naples Bay circulation simulations: Applications to tides and fresh water inflow regulation

A three-dimensional, baroclinic numerical circulation model is applied to the combined Rookery Bay and Naples Bay estuary complex. We focus on two aspects of the model simulations: the tidal circulation, for which we have observations of sea level and currents at several stations spanning Rookery Bay, and the salinity variations, for which we have observations at one station. After establishing model veracity through quantitative comparisons with observations, we use the model to address salinity changes that could arise due to regulatory fresh water flow rate modifications. Two different sets of experiments are performed. The first considers the salinity changes in Rookery Bay by increasing the fresh water flow rates into Henderson Creek through the addition of either 1.4 m³/s or 2.8 m³/s to the ambient flow rates. The second considers the salinity changes in Naples Bay by decreasing the fresh water flow rates through the subtraction of 9.9 m³/s from the Golden Gate Canals’ ambient flow rates. All of these scenarios result in significant, quantifiable salinity changes within the Rookery Bay and Naples Bay estuary complexes, demonstrating the environmental management utility of using high resolution, three-dimensional, numerical circulation models, as applied herein, for assessing the water properties of complex, multi-connected estuarine systems.     

Modeling a spatially restricted distribution in the Neotropics: How the size of calibration area affects the performance of five presence-only methods

We here examine species distribution models for a Neotropical anuran restricted to ombrophilous areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hotspot. We extend the known occurrence for the treefrog Hypsiboas bischoffi (Anura: Hylidae) through GPS field surveys and use five modeling methods (BIOCLIM, DOMAIN, OM-GARP, SVM, and MAXENT) and selected bioclimatic and topographic variables to model the species distribution. Models were first trained using two calibration areas: the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF) and the whole of South America (SA). All modeling methods showed good levels of predictive power and accuracy with mean AUC ranging from 0.77 (BIOCLIM/BAF) to 0.99 (MAXENT/SA). MAXENT and SVM were the most accurate presence-only methods among those tested here. All but the SVM models calibrated with SA predicted larger distribution areas when compared to models calibrated in BAF. OM-GARP dramatically overpredicted the species distribution for the model calibrated in SA, with a predicted area around 10⁶ km² larger than predicted by other SDMs. With increased calibration area (and environmental space), OM-GARP predictions followed changes in the environmental space associated with the increased calibration area, while MAXENT models were more consistent across calibration areas. MAXENT was the only method that retrieved consistent predictions across calibration areas, while allowing for some overprediction, a result that may be relevant for modeling the distribution of other spatially restricted organisms.     

两种光照生境下4种常绿阔叶树的单位叶面积干重、光合能力与化学防御物质含量比较

亚热带常绿阔叶林下分布着可塑性强的耐荫植物,其叶片应对外界干扰的防御对策至少有物理性防御和化学性防御两种,这两种防御代价在一定的昆虫取食压力下在理论上应该存在权衡.为检验这种权衡是否普遍存在,分别测定了重庆缙云山4个常绿物种——光叶山矾(Symplocos lancifolia)、四川山矾(S.setchuensis)、四川毛蕊茶(Camellialawii)和细枝柃(Eurya loquaiana)在林窗和林下两种对照光环境下个体叶片的光饱和下的净光合速率、叶面积干重和部分化学防御物质含量.结果表明,4个物种生活在林窗的个体单位叶面积干重、叶片氮含量和单位面积净光合速率通常高于林下的个体,但是单位质量和单位面积的总酚含量和C/N值却低于林下的个体.蛋白质和非结构性碳水化合物含量在不同生境中没有显著差异.因为不同物种叶片对光照条件的响应不同,不同参数的变化在两种生境间的差异并不完全一致.本研究结果在一定程度上暗示了物种在林窗和林下分别倾向于采取物理和化学性防御对策,并初步证实了两种防御强度之间存在权衡关系.图4参40     

Use of Habitats as Surrogates of Biodiversity for Efficient Coral Reef Conservation Planning in Pacific Ocean Islands

Abstract: Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been highlighted as a means toward effective conservation of coral reefs. New strategies are required to more effectively select MPA locations and increase the pace of their implementation. Many criteria exist to design MPA networks, but generally, it is recommended that networks conserve a diversity of species selected for, among other attributes, their representativeness, rarity, or endemicity. Because knowledge of species’ spatial distribution remains scarce, efficient surrogates are urgently needed. We used five different levels of habitat maps and six spatial scales of analysis to identify under which circumstances habitat data used to design MPA networks for Wallis Island provided better representation of species than random choice alone. Protected‐area site selections were derived from a rarity–complementarity algorithm. Habitat surrogacy was tested for commercial fish species, all fish species, commercially harvested invertebrates, corals, and algae species. Efficiency of habitat surrogacy varied by species group, type of habitat map, and spatial scale of analysis. Maps with the highest habitat thematic complexity provided better surrogates than simpler maps and were more robust to changes in spatial scales. Surrogates were most efficient for commercial fishes, corals, and algae but not for commercial invertebrates. Conversely, other measurements of species‐habitat associations, such as richness congruence and composition similarities provided weak results. We provide, in part, a habitat‐mapping methodology for designation of MPAs for Pacific Ocean islands that are characterized by habitat zonations similar to Wallis. Given the increasing availability and affordability of space‐borne imagery to map habitats, our approach could appreciably facilitate and improve current approaches to coral reef conservation and enhance MPA implementation.     

The Quagga Mussel Crisis at Lake Mead National Recreation Area,Nevada (U.S.A.)

Abstract: Parks are cornerstones of conservation; and non‐native invasive species drive extensive changes to biological diversity in parks. Knowing this, national park staff at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the southwestern United States had a program in place for early detection of the non‐native, invasive quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis). Upon finding the mussel in January 2007, managers moved quickly to access funding and the best available science to implement a response. Managers considered four options—doing nothing, closing the park, restricting movement on the lakes, and educating and enforcing park visitors—and decided to focus on education and enforcing existing laws. Nonetheless, quagga spread throughout the park and soon began to appear throughout the western United States. I examined why efforts to control the expansion failed and determined the general lessons to be learned from this case. Concentrating human visitation on the lakes through land‐use zoning opened a pathway for invasion, reduced management options, and led to the rapid spread of quagga. To reconcile competing mandates to protect nature and provide recreation, zoning in parks has become a common practice worldwide. It reduces stress on some areas of a park by restricting and thus concentrating human activity in particular areas. Concentrating the human activity in one area does three things: cements pathways that repeatedly import and export vectors of non‐native invasive species; creates the disturbed area necessary to enable non‐native invasive species to gain a foothold; and, establishes a source of invasions that, without appropriate controls, can quickly spread to a park's wilderness areas.     

Mapping Human and Social Dimensions of Conservation Opportunity for the Scheduling of Conservation Action on Private Land

Abstract Spatial prioritization techniques are applied in conservation‐planning initiatives to allocate conservation resources. Although typically they are based on ecological data (e.g., species, habitats, ecological processes), increasingly they also include nonecological data, mostly on the vulnerability of valued features and economic costs of implementation. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of conservation actions implemented through conservation‐planning initiatives is a function of the human and social dimensions of social‐ecological systems, such as stakeholders’ willingness and capacity to participate. We assessed human and social factors hypothesized to define opportunities for implementing effective conservation action by individual land managers (those responsible for making day‐to‐day decisions on land use) and mapped these to schedule implementation of a private land conservation program. We surveyed 48 land managers who owned 301 land parcels in the Makana Municipality of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. Psychometric statistical and cluster analyses were applied to the interview data so as to map human and social factors of conservation opportunity across a landscape of regional conservation importance. Four groups of landowners were identified, in rank order, for a phased implementation process. Furthermore, using psychometric statistical techniques, we reduced the number of interview questions from 165 to 45, which is a preliminary step toward developing surrogates for human and social factors that can be developed rapidly and complemented with measures of conservation value, vulnerability, and economic cost to more‐effectively schedule conservation actions. This work provides conservation and land management professionals direction on where and how implementation of local‐scale conservation should be undertaken to ensure it is feasible.