Use of Basic Biological Information for Rapid Prediction of the Response of Species to Habitat Loss

Abstract:  Much research has focused on identifying traits that can act as useful indicators of how habitat loss affects the extinction risk of species, and the results are mixed. We developed 2 simple, rapid-assessment models of the susceptibility of species to habitat loss. We based both on an index of range size, but one also incorporated an index of body mass and the other an index combining habitat and dietary specialization. We applied the models to samples of birds (Accipitridae and Bucerotidae) and to the lemurs of Madagascar and compared the models' classifications of risk with the IUCN's global threat status of each species. The model derived from ecological attributes was much more robust than the one derived from body mass. Ecological attributes identified threatened birds and lemurs with an average of 80% accuracy and endangered and critically endangered species with 100% accuracy and identified some species not currently listed as threatened that almost certainly warrant conservation consideration. Appropriate analysis of even fairly crude biological information can help raise early-warning flags to the relative susceptibilities of species to habitat loss and thus provide a useful and rapid technique for highlighting potential species-level conservation issues. Advantages of this approach to classifying risk include flexibility in the specialization parameters used as well as its applicability at a range of spatial scales.     

Specific features of distribution of resident bat species (chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in the eastern East European plain and adjacent regions

Some specific features of the distribution of resident Chiroptera (10 forms) in the eastern East European Plain and adjacent areas (44°–65° N, 40°–60° E) are described. It is noted that in different seasons of the year,Myotis dasycneme, M. daubentonii, M. nattereri, M. mystacinus, M. brandtii, Plecotus auritus, Eptesicus nilssoni, andE. serotinus serotinus are found more often in upland areas with karst and other erosional forms of relief, whereasE. serotinus turcomanus andPipistrellus kuhlii display no preference for these types of relief.     

基于中低分辨率遥感影像的分类方法对比研究——以鄱阳湖水鸟栖息地遥感分类为例

选取中国鄱阳湖南矶山湿地为研究范围,通过分析候鸟在越冬期的栖息特征,构建适宜于提取候鸟栖息地的湿地分类系统。以Landsat8卫星OLI遥感影像为数据源,采用面向对象分类方法,通过多尺度分割、特征提取和决策树建立等关键步骤,实现湿地信息的快速提取;通过与传统像元法的分类结果对比,系统分析了面向对象方法在基于中低分辨率遥感影像的湿地信息提取中的有效性。研究表明:在面向对象湿地信息提取中,构建不同等级的分割尺度,在多个尺度上提取同一地物,可以更好识别复杂的湿地景观类型;相比仅依据像元光谱特征进行分类的传统像元方法,面向对象方法综合利用光谱、空间、形状和纹理等多种特征,因此可以获得更高的精度(总体分类精度达到87.64%,Kappa系数为 0.855 2);基于中低分辨率遥感影像,采用面向对象分类方法,能够获得较高精度的湿地景观分布,是一种成本较低且行之有效的技术手段。     

Relationship between heavy metals concentrations in egret species,their environment and food chain differences from two Headworks of Pakistan

Concentration of ten metals (Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were analyzed in the egg contents, prey and soil samples of little egret (Egretta garzetta) and cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) from two Headworks to determine habitat and species-specific differences; to assess the importance of prey and habitat contamination as an exposure source for heavy metals. Concentration of Cu, Mn, Cr and Pb in egg contents, Fe, Co, Cu, Mn, Zn in prey and Fe, Co, Cu, Ni, Li in surface soils were significantly different (P < 0.05). Mean metal concentrations of Cr, Pb and Cd were relatively higher in little egret whereas Cu and Mn were higher in the egg contents of cattle egret. The mean concentrations of Cu, Mn and Zn were higher in prey samples of cattle egrets and Cr, Cd and Pb in prey samples of little egrets. In soil samples collected from little egret heronries metal concentrations were higher except Cu and Ni. Correlation Analysis and Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis (HACA) identified relatively similar associations of metals and their source identification. Metals such as Fe, Cu, Mn, and Li were related with geochemical origin from parent rock material as well as anthropogenic input whereas Cr, Cd, Pb, Ni, Co and Zn were associated mostly with anthropogenic activities. The study suggested that eggs are useful bio-monitor of local heavy metal contamination.     

新疆鸟类和哺乳动物物种丰富度空间异质性及其多尺度效应

基于新疆维吾尔自治区鸟类和哺乳动10km×10km物种空间分布数据及1km×1km土地利用数据,引入NDVI、海拔和地理纬度等辅助数据,分别对物种和土地利用数据进行尺度变换,计算分析了1～10km尺度下的景观指数,并进一步在生态系统层面进行尺度效应研究,以探究表征物种多样性空间异质性的合理尺度.结果表明:新疆总体的景观...     

Reallocating budgets among ongoing and emerging conservation projects

Conserving biodiversity and combating ecological hazards require cost-effective allocation of limited resources among potential management projects. Project priorities, however, can change over time as underlying social-ecological systems progress, novel priorities emerge, and management capabilities evolve. Thus, reallocation of ongoing investments in response to shifting priorities could improve management outcomes and address urgent demands, especially when additional funding is not available immediately. Resource reallocation, however, could incur transaction costs, require additional monitoring and reassessment, and be constrained by ongoing project commitments. Such complexities may prevent managers from considering potentially beneficial reallocation strategies, reducing long-term effectiveness. We propose an iterative project prioritization approach, based on marginal return-on-investment estimation and portfolio optimization, that guides resource reallocation among ongoing and new projects. Using simulation experiments in 2 case studies, we explored how this approach can improve efficacy under varying reallocation constraints, frequencies, costs, and rates of project portfolio change. Periodic budget reallocation could enhance the management of stochastically emerging invasive weeds in Australia and thus reduce the overall risk by up to 50% compared with a static budget. Reallocation frequency and the rate of new weed incursion synergistically increased the conservation gains achieved by allowing unconstrained reallocation. Conversely, budget reallocation would not improve the International Union for Conservation of Nature conservation status of threatened Australian birds due to slow rates of transition among conservation states; extinction risk could increase if portfolio reassessment is costly. Although other project prioritization studies may recommend periodic reassessment and reallocation, our findings revealed conditions when reallocation is valuable and demonstrated a structured approach that can help conservation agencies schedule and implement iterative budget-allocation decisions cost-effectively.     

Effects of Natura 2000 on nontarget bird and butterfly species based on citizen science data

The European Union's Natura 2000 (N2000) is among the largest international networks of protected areas. One of its aims is to secure the status of a predetermined set of (targeted) bird and butterfly species. However, nontarget species may also benefit from N2000. We evaluated how the terrestrial component of this network affects the abundance of nontargeted, more common bird and butterfly species based on data from long-term volunteer-based monitoring programs in 9602 sites for birds and 2001 sites for butterflies. In almost half of the 155 bird species assessed, and particularly among woodland specialists, abundance increased (slope estimates ranged from 0.101 [SD 0.042] to 3.51 [SD 1.30]) as the proportion of landscape covered by N2000 sites increased. This positive relationship existed for 27 of the 104 butterfly species (estimates ranged from 0.382 [SD 0.163] to 4.28 [SD 0.768]), although most butterflies were generalists. For most species, when land-cover covariates were accounted for these positive relationships were not evident, meaning land cover may be a determinant of positive effects of the N2000 network. The increase in abundance as N2000 coverage increased correlated with the specialization index for birds, but not for butterflies. Although the N2000 network supports high abundance of a large spectrum of species, the low number of specialist butterflies with a positive association with the N2000 network shows the need to improve the habitat quality of N2000 sites that could harbor open-land butterfly specialists. For a better understanding of the processes involved, we advocate for standardized collection of data at N2000 sites.     

Assumption‐versus data‐based approaches to summarizing species’ ranges

For conservation decision making, species’ geographic distributions are mapped using various approaches. Some such efforts have downscaled versions of coarse‐resolution extent‐of‐occurrence maps to fine resolutions for conservation planning. We examined the quality of the extent‐of‐occurrence maps as range summaries and the utility of refining those maps into fine‐resolution distributional hypotheses. Extent‐of‐occurrence maps tend to be overly simple, omit many known and well‐documented populations, and likely frequently include many areas not holding populations. Refinement steps involve typological assumptions about habitat preferences and elevational ranges of species, which can introduce substantial error in estimates of species’ true areas of distribution. However, no model‐evaluation steps are taken to assess the predictive ability of these models, so model inaccuracies are not noticed. Whereas range summaries derived by these methods may be useful in coarse‐grained, global‐extent studies, their continued use in on‐the‐ground conservation applications at fine spatial resolutions is not advisable in light of reliance on assumptions, lack of real spatial resolution, and lack of testing. In contrast, data‐driven techniques that integrate primary data on biodiversity occurrence with remotely sensed data that summarize environmental dimensions (i.e., ecological niche modeling or species distribution modeling) offer data‐driven solutions based on a minimum of assumptions that can be evaluated and validated quantitatively to offer a well‐founded, widely accepted method for summarizing species’ distributional patterns for conservation applications.     

Characteristics of Urban Natural Areas Influencing Winter Bird Use in Southern Ontario,Canada

Characteristics of urban natural areas and surrounding landscapes were identified that best explain winter bird use for 28 urban natural areas in southern Ontario, Canada. The research confirms for winter birds the importance of area (size) and natural vegetation, rather than managed, horticultural parkland, within urban natural areas as well as percent urban land use and natural habitat in surrounding landscapes. Alien bird density and percent ground feeding species increased with percent surrounding urban land use. Higher percent forest cover was associated with higher percentages of forest, bark feeding, small (<20 g) and insectivorous species. Natural area size (ha) was related to higher species richness, lower evenness and higher percentages of insectivorous, forest interior, area-sensitive, upper canopy, bark feeding, and non-resident species. Higher number of habitat types within natural areas and percent natural habitat in surrounding landscapes were also associated with higher species richness. Common, resident bird species dominated small areas (<6.5 ha), while less common non-residents increased with area, indicative of a nested distribution. Areas at least 6.5 ha and more generally >20 ha start to support some area-sensitive species. Areas similar to rural forests had >25% insectivores, >25% forest interior species, >25% small species, and <5% alien species. Indicator species separated urban natural areas from rural habitats and ordination placed urban natural areas along a gradient between urban development and undisturbed, rural forests. More attention is needed on issues of winter bird conservation in urban landscapes.     

Cost-effective mitigation strategies to reduce bycatch threats to cetaceans identified using return-on-investment analysis

Globally, fisheries bycatch threatens the survival of many whale and dolphin species. Strategies for reducing bycatch can be expensive. Management is inclined to prioritize investment in actions that are inexpensive, but these may not be the most effective. We used an economic tool, return-on-investment, to identify cost-effective measures to reduce cetacean bycatch in the trawl, net, and line fisheries of Australia. We examined 3 management actions: spatial closures, acoustic deterrents, and gear modifications. We compared an approach for which the primary goal was to reduce the cost of bycatch reduction to fisheries with an approach that aims solely to protect whale and dolphin species. Based on cost-effectiveness and at a fine spatial resolution, we identified the management strategies across Australia that most effectively abated dolphin and whale bycatch. Although trawl-net modifications were the cheapest strategy overall, there were many locations where spatial closures were the most cost-effective solution, despite their high costs to fisheries, due to their effectiveness in reducing all fisheries interactions. Our method can be used to delineate strategies to reduce bycatch threats to mobile marine species across diverse fisheries at relevant spatial scales to improve conservation outcomes.