Effects of temperature and precipitation on grassland bird nesting success as mediated by patch size

Grassland birds are declining faster than any other bird guild across North America. Shrinking ranges and population declines are attributed to widespread habitat loss and increasingly fragmented landscapes of agriculture and other land uses that are misaligned with grassland bird conservation. Concurrent with habitat loss and degradation, temperate grasslands have been disproportionally affected by climate change relative to most other terrestrial biomes. Distributions of grassland birds often correlate with gradients in climate, but few researchers have explored the consequences of weather on the demography of grassland birds inhabiting a range of grassland fragments. To do so, we modeled the effects of temperature and precipitation on nesting success rates of 12 grassland bird species inhabiting a range of grassland patches across North America (21,000 nests from 81 individual studies). Higher amounts of precipitation in the preceding year were associated with higher nesting success, but wetter conditions during the active breeding season reduced nesting success. Extremely cold or hot conditions during the early breeding season were associated with lower rates of nesting success. The direct and indirect influence of temperature and precipitation on nesting success was moderated by grassland patch size. The positive effects of precipitation in the preceding year on nesting success were strongest in relatively small grassland patches and had little effect in large patches. Conversely, warm temperatures reduced nesting success in small grassland patches but increased nesting success in large patches. Mechanisms underlying these differences may be patch‐size‐induced variation in microclimates and predator activity. Although the exact cause is unclear, large grassland patches, the most common metric of grassland conservation, appears to moderate the effects of weather on grassland‐bird demography and could be an effective component of climate‐change adaptation.     

Effects of howler monkey reintroduction on ecological interactions and processes

Rewilding has been an increasingly popular tool to restore plant–animal interactions and ecological processes impaired by defaunation. However, the reestablishment of such processes has seldom been assessed. We investigated the restoration of ecological interactions following the reintroduction of the brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba) to a defaunated Atlantic forest site. We expected the reintroduction to restore plant–animal interactions and interactions between howlers and dung beetles, which promote secondary seed dispersal. We estimated the number of interactions expected to be restored by the reintroduction to provide the baseline interaction richness that could be restored. We followed the reintroduced howler monkeys twice a week for 24 months (337 hours total) to assess their diet. We used howler monkey dung in secondary seed dispersal experiments with 2484 seed mimics to estimate the removal rates by dung beetles and collected the beetles to assess community attributes. We compared the potential future contribution of howler monkeys and other frugivores to seed dispersal based on the seed sizes they disperse in other areas where they occur. In 2 years, howler monkeys consumed 60 animal-dispersed plant species out of the 330 estimated. Twenty-one dung beetle species were attracted to experimentally provided dung; most of them were tunnelers, nocturnal, and large-sized (>10 mm). On average 30% (range 0–100%) of the large seed mimics (14 mm) were moved by dung beetles. About 91% of the species consumed by howlers (size range 0.3–34.3 mm) overlapped in seed size with those removed by dung beetles. In our study area, howler monkeys may consume more large-seeded fruit species than most other frugivores, highlighting their potential to affect forest regeneration. Our results show reintroductions may effectively restore ecological links and enhance ecological processes.     

Using individual-based movement information to identify spatial conservation priorities for mobile species

The optimal design of reserve networks and fisheries closures depends on species occurrence information and knowledge of how anthropogenic impacts interact with the species concerned. However, challenges in surveying mobile and cryptic species over adequate spatial and temporal scales can mask the importance of particular habitats, leading to uncertainty about which areas to protect to optimize conservation efforts. We investigated how telemetry-derived locations can help guide the scale and timing of fisheries closures with the aim of reducing threatened species bycatch. Forty juvenile speartooth sharks (Glyphis glyphis) were monitored over 22 months with implanted acoustic transmitters and an array of hydrophone receivers. Using the decision-support tool Marxan, we formulated a permanent fisheries closure that prioritized areas used more frequently by tagged sharks and considered areas perceived as having high value to fisheries. To explore how the size of the permanent closure compared with an alternative set of time-area closures (i.e., where different areas were closed to fishing at different times of year), we used a cluster analysis to group months that had similar arrangements of selected planning units (informed by shark movements during that month) into 2 time-area closures. Sharks were consistent in their timing and direction of migratory movements, but the number of tagged sharks made a big difference in the placement of the permanent closure; 30 individuals were needed to capture behavioral heterogeneity. The dry-season (May–January) and wet-season (February–April) time-area closures opened 20% and 25% more planning units to fishing, respectively, compared with the permanent closure with boundaries fixed in space and time. Our results show that telemetry has the potential to inform and improve spatial management of mobile species and that the temporal component of tracking data can be incorporated into prioritizations to reduce possible impacts of spatial closures on established fisheries.     

投影寻踪动态聚类模型及其在天然草地分类中的应用

投影寻踪聚类模型在多因素聚类分析中被广泛应用并取得了满意的效果,然而,该模型还存在如密度窗宽参数取值由经验确定等不足,有待改进提高.本文针对投影寻踪聚类模型的不足,首次把投影寻踪的思想和动态聚类方法结合起来,构造投影指标,提出了投影寻踪动态聚类新模型.新模型在整个运算过程中不需人为给定参数,聚类结果客观、明确,而且它还具有稳定性好、操作简便等特点.天然草地分类的实际应用表明,投影寻踪动态聚类模型切实可行,取得了很好的效果,在多因素聚类分析领域具有广阔的应用前景.     

典型草原抗风蚀能力的实验研究

为了了解人为干扰对典型草原抗风蚀能力的影响,采用风洞实验的方法对不同干扰条件下典型草原原状土的抗风蚀能力进行了研究.不同时间禁牧草原的风洞实验结果表明,禁牧典型草原的风蚀量和风蚀率都明显低于自由放牧草原,而且,在相同风速下,禁牧时间越长,侵蚀率及侵蚀量越小;草原开垦后,土壤的侵蚀率和侵蚀量远远高于典型草原,而且风速越大,相差越大;草原土壤侵蚀率随风速的增加而增加,但受草原土壤可侵蚀量的限制.另外,人工模拟干扰实验表明,典型草原土壤的侵蚀率与干扰程度呈直线相关关系.结果说明:放牧及耕作会使典型草原的抗风蚀能力明显降低,而禁牧可以有效提高其抗风蚀能力.在典型草原区,实行禁牧是遏制草原退化的有效措施.     

Evaluating multispecies landscape connectivity in a threatened tropical mammal community

Habitat corridors are important tools for maintaining connectivity in increasingly fragmented landscapes, but generally they have been considered in single‐species approaches. Corridors intended to facilitate the movement of multiple species could increase persistence of entire communities, but at the likely cost of being less efficient for any given species than a corridor intended specifically for that species. There have been few tests of the trade‐offs between single‐ and multispecies corridor approaches. We assessed single‐species and multispecies habitat corridors for 5 threatened mammal species in tropical forests of Borneo. We generated maps of the cost of movement across the landscape for each species based on the species’ local abundance as estimated through hierarchical modeling of camera‐trap data with biophysical and anthropogenic covariates. Elevation influenced local abundance of banded civets (Hemigalus derbyanus) and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). Increased road density was associated with lower local abundance of Sunda clouded leopards (Neofelis diardi) and higher local abundance of sambar deer (Rusa unicolor). Pig‐tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) local abundance was lower in recently logged areas. An all‐species‐combined connectivity scenario with least‐cost paths and 1 km buffers generated total movement costs that were 27% and 23% higher for banded civets and clouded leopards, respectively, than the connectivity scenarios for those species individually. A carnivore multispecies connectivity scenario, however, increased movement cost by 2% for banded civets and clouded leopards. Likewise, an herbivore multispecies scenario provided more effective connectivity than the all‐species‐combined scenario for sambar and macaques. We suggest that multispecies habitat connectivity plans be tailored to groups of ecologically similar, disturbance‐sensitive species to maximize their effectiveness. Evaluación de la Conectividad de Terrenos Multiespecie en una Comunidad Tropical de Mamíferos     

Evaluating mortality rates with a novel integrated framework for nonmonogamous species

The conservation of wildlife requires management based on quantitative evidence, and especially for large carnivores, unraveling cause‐specific mortalities and understanding their impact on population dynamics is crucial. Acquiring this knowledge is challenging because it is difficult to obtain robust long‐term data sets on endangered populations and, usually, data are collected through diverse sampling strategies. Integrated population models (IPMs) offer a way to integrate data generated through different processes. However, IPMs are female‐based models that cannot account for mate availability, and this feature limits their applicability to monogamous species only. We extended classical IPMs to a two‐sex framework that allows investigation of population dynamics and quantification of cause‐specific mortality rates in nonmonogamous species. We illustrated our approach by simultaneously modeling different types of data from a reintroduced, unhunted brown bear (Ursus arctos) population living in an area with a dense human population. In a population mainly driven by adult survival, we estimated that on average 11% of cubs and 61% of adults died from human‐related causes. Although the population is currently not at risk, adult survival and thus population dynamics are driven by anthropogenic mortality. Given the recent increase of human‐bear conflicts in the area, removal of individuals for management purposes and through poaching may increase, reversing the positive population growth rate. Our approach can be generalized to other species affected by cause‐specific mortality and will be useful to inform conservation decisions for other nonmonogamous species, such as most large carnivores, for which data are scarce and diverse and thus data integration is highly desirable.     

新疆草原旅游资源可持续开发研究

新疆草原面积广阔、类型多样,旅游资源丰富,具有很大的发展潜力,但目前很少对新疆的草原旅游资源进行研究.分析了新疆草原旅游资源规模大、分布广、类型多样、民俗文化多元但自然生态和人文生态都极为脆弱等特征,对目前新疆草原旅游资源开发现状和存在的问题进行了全面和深入的探讨,提出了新疆草原旅游资源可持续开发的思路,以促进新疆草原地区旅游业发展.     

施用畜禽粪便堆肥品的蔬菜地CH4、N2O和NH3排放特征

农田是重要的温室气体排放来源之一,其中蔬菜地的温室气体排放日益受到人们关注.以北京市郊某温室种植的油麦菜地为研究对象,通过大棚试验,考察和比较了油麦菜地施用不同类型畜禽粪便堆肥产品的CH4、N2O和NH3排放特征及其影响因素.结果表明,油麦菜地NRM、RM、CF处理的CH4排放系数分别为0.2%、0.027%、0.004%;N2O排放系数分别为0.18%、0.63%、0.74%;NH3排放系数分别为2.00%、3.98%、2.53%.CH4排放通量与土壤温度和地表湿度相关,N2O排放通量与土壤温度、地表温度和湿度相关,CH4、N2O和NH3排放通量均受土壤含水率影响,而温室中的气温不是影响CH4、N2O和NH3排放的主要因素.