Need for multiscale planning for conservation of urban bats

For over a century there have been continual efforts to incorporate nature into urban planning. These efforts (i.e., urban reconciliation) aim to manage and create habitats that support biodiversity within cities. Given that species select habitat at different spatial scales, understanding the scale at which urban species respond to their environment is critical to the success of urban reconciliation efforts. We assessed species–habitat relationships for common bat species at 50‐m, 500‐m, and 1 km spatial scales in the Chicago (U.S.A.) metropolitan area and predicted bat activity across the greater Chicago region. Habitat characteristics across all measured scales were important predictors of silver‐haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) and eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) activity, and big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) activity was significantly lower at urban sites relative to rural sites. Open vegetation had a negative effect on silver‐haired bat activity at the 50‐m scale but a positive effect at the 500‐m scale, indicating potential shifts in the relative importance of some habitat characteristics at different scales. These results demonstrate that localized effects may be constrained by broader spatial patterns. Our findings highlight the importance of considering scale in urban reconciliation efforts and our landscape predictions provide information that can help prioritize urban conservation work.     

广州南沙红树林湿地鸟类群落多样性(2005～2010)

为探讨城市化对鸟类群落的影响,2005～2010年对广州南沙红树林湿地鸟类群落多样性进行了研究.结果表明:共记录鸟类149种,隶属于16目42科97属;其中冬候鸟或旅鸟77种,占51.7%,留鸟63种,占42.3%,夏候鸟9种,占6.0%;鸟类群落呈现出较强的季节性,从总体上看,物种数和总数量呈现秋冬季高峰,夏季最低.红树林湿地区具有最高的鸟类物种多样性与科属多样性,物种多样性和科属多样性变化趋势表现为红树林湿地区>河涌林带区>水域区.南沙红树林湿地的保护对丰富鸟类群落多样性具有重要作用.     

Enhancing Conservation,Ecosystem Services,and Local Livelihoods through a Wildlife Premium Mechanism

We propose the wildlife premium mechanism as an innovation to conserve endangered large vertebrates. The performance‐based payment scheme would allow stakeholders in lower‐income countries to generate revenue by recovering and maintaining threatened fauna that can also serve as umbrella species (i.e., species whose protection benefits other species with which they co‐occur). There are 3 possible options for applying the premium: option 1, embed premiums in a carbon payment; option 2, link premiums to a related carbon payment, but as independent and legally separate transactions; option 3, link premiums to noncarbon payments for conserving ecosystem services (PES). Each option presents advantages, such as incentive payments to improve livelihoods of rural poor who reside in or near areas harboring umbrella species, and challenges, such as the establishment of a subnational carbon credit scheme. In Kenya, Peru, and Nepal pilot premium projects are now underway or being finalized that largely follow option 1. The Kasigau (Kenya) project is the first voluntary carbon credit project to win approval from the 2 leading groups sanctioning such protocols and has already sold carbon credits totaling over $1.2 million since June 2011. A portion of the earnings is divided among community landowners and projects that support community members and has added over 350 jobs to the local economy. All 3 projects involve extensive community management because they occur on lands where locals hold the title or have a long‐term lease from the government. The monitoring, reporting, and verification required to make premium payments credible to investors include transparent methods for collecting data on key indices by trained community members and verification of their reporting by a biologist. A wildlife premium readiness fund would enable expansion of pilot programs needed to test options beyond those presented here. Mejora de la Conservación, Servicios del Ecosistema y Calidad de Vida Local Mediante un Mecanismo de Compensación de Vida Silvestre     

Effects of Road Clearings on Movement Patterns of Understory Rainforest Birds in Central Amazonia

Abstract:  The impacts of potential linear barriers such as roads, highways, and power lines on rainforest fauna are poorly understood. In the central Brazilian Amazon, we compared the frequency of local movements (≤300 m long) of understory birds within intact forest and across a 30- to 40-m-wide road over a 2-year period. Rainforest had regenerated along some road verges, to the extent that a nearly complete canopy was formed in some areas, so we also assessed whether this facilitated bird movement. Movement data were determined from 1212 recaptures of 3681 netted birds at six study sites. The road significantly inhibited total bird movement across roads at five of the six sites. Bird foraging guilds varied in their responses to the road and different ages of regrowth. Movements of frugivorous and edge and gap species were not inhibited at any site, whereas most forest-dependent insectivores (mixed-species flocks, terrestrial species, and army-ant followers) had markedly inhibited road-crossing movements, except at sites with extensive regrowth. Solitary understory species were especially vulnerable, rarely crossing even roads overgrown by tall regrowth. For sensitive species, road-crossing movements were inhibited because individuals tended to avoid both edge-affected habitat near the road and the road clearing itself. Our results suggest that even narrow roads with low traffic volumes can reduce local movements of many insectivorous birds in Amazonia.     

长沙市白蚁种类及危害情况调查

报道了长沙市区危害房屋及园林树木的白蚁种类及危害状况，经5年调查(2000年-2004年)结果表明：长沙市(不包括长、望、浏、宁四县)共有白蚁2科17种．主要危害房屋的为散白蚁及台湾乳白蚁，危害园林树木的是黑翅土白蚁及黄翅大白蚁．讨论了区系特点及近年危害新状况。     

Demographic Responses by Birds to Forest Fragmentation

Abstract:  Despite intensive recent research on the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on bird populations, our understanding of underlying demographic causes of population declines is limited. We reviewed avian demography in relation to habitat fragmentation. Then, through a meta-analysis, we compared specific demographic responses by forest birds to habitat fragmentation, providing a general perspective of factors that make some species and populations more vulnerable to fragmentation than others. We obtained data from the scientific literature on dispersal, survival, fecundity, and nesting success of birds. Birds were divided into subgroups on the basis of region, nest site, biogeographical history, and migration strategy. Species most sensitive to fragmentation were ground- or open-nesters nesting in shrubs or trees. Residents were equally sensitive to fragmentation in the Nearctic and Palearctic regions, but Nearctic migrants were more sensitive than Palearctic migrants. Old World species were less sensitive than New World species, which was predicted based on the history of forest fragmentation on these two continents. Pairing success was the variable most associated with fragmentation, suggesting an important role of dispersal. Fledgling number or condition, timing of nesting, and clutch size were not associated with sensitivity to fragmentation, suggesting that negative fragmentation effects on birds do not generally result from diminished food resources with increasing level of fragmentation. Future studies on demographic responses of birds to habitat fragmentation would be more effective if based on a combination of measures that can distinguish among the demographic mechanisms underlying population changes related to habitat fragmentation.     

克百威农药对我国湿地鸟类的威胁及其对策

介绍了我国湿地鸟类就地保护现状以及克百威农药在我国的使用,对鸟类的毒性、毒害途径和主要影响区域.针对当前我国克百威农药使用量大,对湿地鸟类构成严重威胁的实际情况,提出了具体的保护对策,包括:筛选一批重要湿地自然保护区进行严格管护;筛选出我国首批禁用克百威农药的市、县;完善湿地鸟类保护与自然保护区法律法规建设;调整农药产品结构,示范推广高效低毒的新农药品种;提高自然保护区管理水平,对毒害鸟类案件严格执法;加强对农药销售和使用的管理.