Effects of habitat degradation on the abundance, richness and diversity of raptors across Neotropical biomes

Population growth and human development result in biodiversity loss and biological homogenization not only in developed countries, but increasingly in the less developed countries as well. In those countries, where urbanization and agricultural intensification occur at a faster rate than in developed countries, habitat degradation appears to be the leading cause of wildlife loss. During the breeding seasons of 2002–2005 we conducted road surveys across five biomes of Argentina to detect variations in raptor community attributes as potential indicators of broad scale habitat degradation. Abundance of individuals, richness and diversity of species were calculated to assess the effects of habitat transformation and patch size on these community attributes. Raptor communities strongly varied in relation to habitat transformations, with lower abundance of individuals, richness and diversity of species in more transformed landscapes. Small patches of natural vegetation and locations in which natural and cultivated lands where interspersed showed lower richness and diversity of raptors than large patches. Fragmentation was the main cause of reductions in abundance of individuals. Although the relative contribution of our two estimates of habitat degradation to abundance, richness and diversity of raptors varied among biomes, these community attributes proved useful as predictors of habitat degradation. This was especially true in habitats where raptor communities are more complex although overall patterns remained constant across biomes, from forests to deserts. Taking into account current trends of habitat transformation (drastic increments in monocultures, urban areas, and habitat patchiness), the conservation of raptor communities in these biomes could be seriously compromised. In terms of species-specific responses of raptors to habitat degradation, a rapid process of homogenization can be expected, resulting in only a few winner species within a general scenario of losers.     

Forest loss and fragmentation effects on woody plant species richness in Great Britain

Studies on the effect of forest loss and fragmentation on plant species richness at different spatial scales have yielded contradictory results that have been attributed to different ways to measure fragmentation. The main goal of this study was to investigate the independent and combined effects of forest loss and habitat fragmentation on woody species richness. Woody species were grouped according to their habitat requirements (forest specialists, forest generalists, non-forest and total woody species). We used regression models to investigate the effect of fragmentation and human occupation on woody species richness. The underlying factors were investigated by partitioning of the variation, i.e. decomposing the variation in species richness between the pure effects of forest loss, fragmentation and human occupation. The relationship between species richness and forest loss resulted extremely non-linear. The models for forest specialist, generalist and total woody species richness accounted for 35%, 31% and 33% of the total variance respectively. Model for non-forest species richness only accounted for 7% of the total variance. The largest fraction of variability in species richness was accounted by fragmentation variables for all groups (except for non-forest species). Results emphasize the larger independent effect of fragmentation over forest loss, suggesting that species variation is mainly conditioned by the spatial configuration of the habitat.     

树桩盆景的养护管理技术

通过介绍生境管理，盆土管理和树上管理来讲述树桩盆景的养护管理技术。     

From multi-criteria approach to simple protocol: Assessing habitat patches for conservation value using species rarity

We investigated conservation value (CV) related to the quality of spider communities in different non-wooded habitat patches - ranging from arable land to natural grasslands. The study was conducted in two ecologically distinct regions of Hungary: the Hungarian Great Plain and the Buda Hills. We used seven variables to indicate CV which together formed a multi-criteria space of spider community characteristics. These variables were either related to species characters obtained from an extensive background database: abundance and frequency based rarity, specialist status, association to natural habitats; or were calculated for the community at the given patch: species richness, functional diversity and species evenness. Using the variables in an ordination analysis we could establish a gradient of the patches in the multi-criteria space of the spider community characteristics. Position of patches along the first axis of the ordination was taken as the multi-criteria measure of CV. CVs established this way were strongly and positively correlated with an independent botanical CV assessment. We also sought a simpler measure of spider CV by: (a) calculating only one variable out of the seven and using it as a surrogate for the multi-criteria CV measurement; by (b) calculating this variable only for a short time period or (c) for only one spider family. Average abundance based rarity value of the species proved to be the best surrogate of the multi-criteria CV measure for both regions, and it also performed very well when sample size was restricted to two sampling occasions per patch or to a single family. This adds further evidence to, what has been found in other studies, that species rarity is a sensitive and reliable measure of the ecological and conservational status of communities.     

浙东平原乡村人居林建设模式探讨——以浙江省余姚市小路下村为例

以浙江省余姚市泗门镇小路下村为例,通过问卷调查和实地走访,研究了村民对户外植物的认知程度、对庭院植物的熟悉程度及村民对不同绿化模式的认知与喜爱程度。在此基础上,提出了乡村人居林建设的3种主要绿化模式。     

Habitat selection of Guizhou golden monkey （Phinopithecus roxellanae brelichi）in Fanjing Mountain Biosphere Reserve, China

Guizhou golden monkey (Phinopithecus roxellanae brelichi) is a peculiar, rare and endangered species. It is distributed most narrowly and requires a rigorous habitat. In this study the habitats of Guizhou Golden Monkey were divided into three habitats: most suitable habitats, suitable habitats and marginally suitable habitats. The characteristics of the vegetation community, environmental factors and extreme environmental factors in the three habitats were systematically analyzed. The seasonal activity rule, activity area and the food characteristic of Guizhou golden monkey were also study at the same time. The results indicate that the evergreen and deciduous broadleaf mixed forest is the optimal living vegetation community for Guizhoug olden Monkey, and the suitable annual temperature is 8-15℃, the extremely lowest temperature is -2.5℃, the extremely highest temperature is 25℃, and the optimal living altitude is 1500-1700 m. In the same area, the higher the vegetation diversitythe more suitable it is for the life of Guizhou golden monkey. Temperature and food are the main habitat factors in determining the activity scope of the guizhou golden monkey community. The Altitude, temperature and the characteristics of the vegetation community are the main limitina factors for habitat selection.     

Conifer leader browsing by roe deer in English upland forests: Effects of deer density and understorey vegetation

At moderate to high densities ungulates can impact negatively on forest crops and these may be managed by lethal control. In production forestry an understanding of the relationship between ungulate density, habitat-related factors and the incidence of tree damage may promote more efficient ungulate damage management than by lethal control alone. In plantation forests in the north east of England, the incidence of conifer leader browsing by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) was positively associated with an index of deer density (at the site scale) and planted crop tree density (at the feeding patch scale) and was negatively associated with the relative abundance of palatable understorey vegetation (at the site scale). An interaction between the deer density index and palatable understorey browse abundance was positively associated with leader browsing. Coefficients from the optimal model were used to construct a browse probability surface across a matrix of values of deer dung density and palatable understorey vegetation abundance. This illustrated a very different relationship between dung density and conifer leader browsing probability across the various levels of palatable understorey vegetation abundance. From this we hypothesise that in areas of limited palatable understorey vegetation abundance, higher levels of culling may be required to achieve reductions in the incidence of conifer leader browsing than would be necessary in areas with moderate to high palatable understorey vegetation abundance. Improvements to understorey vegetation in concert with roe deer population control may enhance the efficiency of deer damage management in upland areas with nutrient-poor soils.