Validating graph-based connectivity models with independent presence–absence and genetic data sets

Habitat connectivity is a key objective of current conservation policies and is commonly modeled by landscape graphs (i.e., sets of habitat patches [nodes] connected by potential dispersal paths [links]). These graphs are often built based on expert opinion or species distribution models (SDMs) and therefore lack empirical validation from data more closely reflecting functional connectivity. Accordingly, we tested whether landscape graphs reflect how habitat connectivity influences gene flow, which is one of the main ecoevolutionary processes. To that purpose, we modeled the habitat network of a forest bird (plumbeous warbler [Setophaga plumbea]) on Guadeloupe with graphs based on expert opinion, Jacobs’ specialization indices, and an SDM. We used genetic data (712 birds from 27 populations) to compute local genetic indices and pairwise genetic distances. Finally, we assessed the relationships between genetic distances or indices and cost distances or connectivity metrics with maximum-likelihood population-effects distance models and Spearman correlations between metrics. Overall, the landscape graphs reliably reflected the influence of connectivity on population genetic structure; validation R² was up to 0.30 and correlation coefficients were up to 0.71. Yet, the relationship among graph ecological relevance, data requirements, and construction and analysis methods was not straightforward because the graph based on the most complex construction method (species distribution modeling) sometimes had less ecological relevance than the others. Cross-validation methods and sensitivity analyzes allowed us to make the advantages and limitations of each construction method spatially explicit. We confirmed the relevance of landscape graphs for conservation modeling but recommend a case-specific consideration of the cost-effectiveness of their construction methods. We hope the replication of independent validation approaches across species and landscapes will strengthen the ecological relevance of connectivity models.     

南亚热带森林3层次物种多度之广义泊松分布模型

生物群落中物种多度分布(species abundance distribution)呈典型的倒J形,即其中存在许多稀有种、少量常见种.物种多度分布模型研究有助于解决森林生态恢复中的物种配置等实际问题.本研究考察了一种过分散(over-dispersion,或称超分布,即方差大于均值)的离散型分布,即具有λ和α两个参数...     

湖北省榉树自然种群分布研究

对湖北省天然榉树的自然种群分布现状、种群特征及种群分布格局进行了研究。结果表明：湖北榉树资源主要分布在海拔500~1 000 m地带,不同程度地分割包围在谷底和山腰,地理分布点呈收缩集群分布,种群规模较小;采用方差/均值法对榉树地理分布格局类型进行分析,其值=1.66>1,表明其分布点的地理分布趋于集群分布。湖北榉树种群星散间隔的地理分布形式,使地理分布点间产生空间间隔,成为相互间基因交错的障碍,而较小的种群规模,增加了遗传漂变的机率,导致遗传上的不稳定性增加,影响种群的生存能力,这些是导致物种趋向濒危的重要原因。湖北榉树种群这种分布现状产生的原因,一方面是物种自身的生物学特性及对生境的特定要求所致,另一方面是由于人类对榉树资源的过度开发利用以及人类经济活动导致的生境片段化。应借助于人为帮助,改善生态环境,扩大其种群规模,促进不同种群之间的基因交流,以利保护。     

中国珍稀格氏栲林的数量特征

运用伽玛分布，对数正态分布、韦布（Weibull)分布，正态分布等4种概率分布模型对格氏栲林的乔木层、灌木层、藤本层，草本层的物种-多度关系进行拟合分析，并用多种物种多样性指标测定格氏栲林各层次数量特征。结果表明：格氏栲林群落各层次物种-多度关系均符合伽玛分布，即伽玛分布模型应用于格氏栲林物种-多度分布研究是理想的；格氏栲林物种多样性指标介于中亚热带常绿阔叶林与南亚热带季风常绿阔叶林之间，表5参20。     

东北过伐林灌木层物种多样性与林分因子的典型相关分析

研究林分特征尤其是经营上可以控制的因子对生物多样性的影响，将有助于制定合理的经营措施来维持和保护生物多样性，本文作者以我国东北过伐林区3种典型天然林类型为对象，采用典型相关分析方法，研究影响灌木层物种多样性的主要因子。结果表明：影响灌木层物种多样性的主要因子包括土壤含水率，树种多样性和林分密度；灌木层多样性组的变异被林分组第一典型变量解释的比例为68.32%,仍有31.68%的变异不能得到解释。     

Inadvertent advocacy

Policy advocacy is an issue regularly debated among conservation scientists. These debates have focused on intentional policy advocacy by scientists, but advocacy can also be unintentional. I define inadvertent policy advocacy as the act of unintentionally expressing personal policy preferences or ethical judgments in a way that is nearly indistinguishable from scientific judgments. A scientist may be well intentioned and intellectually honest but still inadvertently engage in policy advocacy. There are two ways to inadvertently engage in policy advocacy. First, a scientist expresses an opinion that she or he believes is a scientific judgment but it is actually an ethical judgment or personal policy preference. Second, a scientist expresses an opinion that he or she knows is an ethical judgment or personal policy preference but inadvertently fails to effectively communicate the nature of the opinion to policy makers or the public. I illustrate inadvertent advocacy with three examples: recovery criteria in recovery plans for species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, a scientific peer review of a recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature's definition of threatened. In each example, scientists expressed ethical judgments or policy preferences, but their value judgments were not identified as such, and, hence, their value judgments were opaque to policy makers and the public. Circumstances suggest their advocacy was inadvertent. I believe conservation scientists must become acutely aware of the line between science and policy and avoid inadvertent policy advocacy because it is professional negligence, erodes trust in scientists and science, and perpetuates an ethical vacuum that undermines the rational political discourse necessary for the evolution of society's values. The principal remedy for inadvertent advocacy is education of conservation scientists in an effort to help them understand how science and values interact to fulfill the mission of conservation science.     

Conservation of Vascular Epiphyte Diversity in Mexican Coffee Plantations

Abstract:  Coffee plantations have replaced many lower-montane forests in the Neotropics, and ongoing intensification is converting traditional polycultures with a variety of shade trees to plantations with no or monospecific shade trees. To evaluate the impact of coffee cultivation on epiphyte diversity, I surveyed vascular epiphytes on shade trees in nine different coffee plantations and compared records with those in four natural forests in central Veracruz, Mexico. Eighty-nine species occurred in coffee plantations, and 104 species occurred in natural forests. The number of epiphytic species in traditional polycultures with old shade trees, mostly of the genus Inga , was similar to that in forests, but plantations with small trees and sparse shade hosted fewer epiphytes than those with large trees. Epiphyte communities were, however, more homogeneous in coffee plantations than in forests, possibly because of a drier microclimate and the lack of large and long-lived trees. These results demonstrate the value of traditional polycultures for epiphyte diversity, show the importance of conserving large shade trees, and suggest that these coffee systems may not be suitable for all epiphytes.     

Use of Substitute Species in Conservation Biology

Abstract:  In conservation biology, researchers often want to study the reasons why an endangered population is faring poorly but are unable to study it directly for logistical or political reasons. Instead they study a species that substitutes for the one of concern in the hope that it will cast light on the conservation problem. Here we outline the assumptions underlying this approach. Substitutes can be different populations or species and may be chosen because they are similar biologically to the target or representatives of a constellation of species of which the target is one. They also may be used to develop a predictive model to which the conservation target can be related. For substitutes to be appropriate, they should share the same key ecological or behavioral traits that make the target sensitive to environmental disturbance and the relationship between population vital rates and level of disturbance should match that of the target. These conditions are unlikely to pertain in most circumstances and the use of substitute species to predict endangered populations' responses to disturbance is questionable.     

Effect of Invasive Plant Species on Temperate Wetland Plant Diversity

Abstract:  Invasive species are a major threat to global biodiversity and an important cause of biotic homogenization of ecosystems. Exotic plants have been identified as a particular concern because of the widely held belief that they competitively exclude native plant species. We examined the correlation between native and invasive species richness in 58 Ontario inland wetlands. The relationship between exotic and native species richness was positive even when we controlled for important covarying factors. In addition, we examined the relationship between the abundance of four native species (  Typha latifolia, T. angustifolia, Salix petiolaris, Nuphar variegatum ) and four invasive species (  Lythrum salicaria, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, Phalaris arundinacea, Rhamnus frangula ) that often dominate temperate wetlands and native and rare native species richness. Exotic species were no more likely to dominate a wetland than native species, and the proportion of dominant exotic species that had a significant negative effect on the native plant community was the same as the proportion of native species with a significant negative effect. We conclude that the key to conservation of inland wetland biodiversity is to discourage the spread of community dominants, regardless of geographical origin.     

历山山地草甸的物种多样性及其与土壤理化性质的关系

运用12种多样性指数综合分析了历山舜王坪草甸的物种多样性．随着放牧强度渐弱，物种多样性升高，土壤环境因子影响多样性指数，且有机质、N和K对各多样性指数的影响都较大．各群落多样性指数有大体一致的变化趋势，且其随Cu,K含量的增加而增加，说明土壤养分的增加有利于物种多样性的升高；而有机质和N增加群落多样性反而减少，这是因为人为干扰的影响超过了土壤环境因子的影响．综合以上分析得出，该研究地物种多样性指数的影响因子有放牧强度和土壤环境因子等，其中放牧的影响是最主要的．图3表3参15