Grouping and prioritization of vascular plant species for conservation: combining natural rarity and management need

National and International Red Lists and Legal Acts specify species with conservation needs, mainly on the basis of personal experiences. For effective conservation we need scientifically justified prioritization and grouping of these species. We propose a new combined approach where species are grouped according to the similar activities needed for their conservation. We used the national list of vascular plant species with conservation need for Estonia (301 species), and linked these species to eight qualitative conservation characteristics, four reflecting natural causes of rarity (restricted global distribution; restricted local distribution within a country; always small populations; very rare habitat type), and four connected with nature management (species needing the management of semi-natural grasslands; species needing local disturbances like forest fires; species needing traditional extensive agriculture; species which may be threatened by collecting). Only one positive association occurred among the characteristics - between restricted local distribution and small size of populations. Thus, natural causes of rarity and management aspects are not overlapping, and both should be used in conservation activities. Species grouping by different conservation characteristics allows one to focus on species groups with similar conservation needs instead of individual species. Prioritization of species with conservation needs can be based on the number of conservation characteristics that are associated with a particular species. Our prioritization did not correlate with the categories of the national Red Data Book, but a positive association was found with legal protection categories. The legislation, however, covers only the natural causes of rarity. We propose a new combined approach for plant species’ conservation planning that starts by considering human induced rarity and progresses through to natural rarity causes.     

Measuring uncertainty in estimates of biodiversity loss: The example of biodiversity intactness variance

Developing adequate indicators of biodiversity change is an urgent task for biodiversity studies and policy. An important component of any indicator is a measure of the uncertainty in the estimates it produces. In this paper, we derive the biodiversity intactness variance (BIV) as a formal measure of uncertainty to accompany the recently developed biodiversity intactness index (BII) (Scholes and Biggs [Scholes, R.J., Biggs, R., 2005. A biodiversity intactness index. Nature 434, 45–49]). The BII is based on estimates of baseline species richness, the area of different land-uses, and the abundance of different species under different land uses. The BIV quantifies uncertainty in the abundance estimates, which are the main source of uncertainty in BII. The BII for southern Africa in the year 2000 has been estimated at 84.4%. We calculate the accompanying BIV at 50.4, providing a 95% confidence interval of 76.6–92.2% for BII. By applying the BIV, we can quantify the major sources of uncertainty in the BII for southern Africa: they stem from the abundance estimates for mammals and birds, and for savanna regions and degraded areas. The BIV therefore provides a means for better assessing the state of biodiversity loss and for highlighting research priorities.     

Designing protected areas to conserve riverine biodiversity: Lessons from a hypothetical redesign of the Kruger National Park

The process of designing protected areas to represent all ecosystems in an area adequately is becoming increasingly sophisticated. To date freshwater aquatic ecosystems have seldom been considered in this process. How much of a difference does it make when they are considered as well?This study examined the conservation of riverine biodiversity within 17 assessment units contained by the catchment areas of five perennial rivers flowing through Kruger National Park and two seasonal rivers that are largely contained within this park. Physical river types, fish species and invertebrate families or genera were used as surrogates of riverine biodiversity. Conservation planning software was used to select an optimal set of planning units to represent and maintain riverine biodiversity.The current spatial configuration of Kruger National Park, largely an accident of history, is particularly poor when assessed against the objective of conserving riverine biodiversity. Several alternative layouts are examined. These options are theoretical since there is little current opportunity to reassign land uses in the region. This study shows that substantially improved layouts for both riverine and terrestrial biodiversity are possible, under the constraint of the same total area under protection. The study also shows that even these optimal layouts are only partially successful in efforts to conserve fully representative samples of riverine biodiversity. Because of the longitudinal connectivity of rivers, conservation strategies that extend beyond protected areas are essential. Explicit conservation visions, targets and strategies need to be included in integrated water resource management plans.Based on the results of this study, nine recommendations are provided for increasing the effectiveness of current and future protected areas in conserving riverine biodiversity. These are to use systematic conservation planning to make biodiversity benefits explicit; mend the disconnect between terrestrial and freshwater conservation; use multiple surrogates wherever possible; be strategic about the collection and management of primary data; strive for maximum hydrologic connectivity; resist development pressure; foster good relationships across park fences; where relevant, pursue multi-national cooperation at the basin scale; and engage the value debate and resolve awareness and capacity constraints.     

Prospects for biodiversity conservation in the Atlantic Forest: Lessons from aging human-modified landscapes

Recent global assessments have shown the limited coverage of protected areas across tropical biotas, fuelling a growing interest in the potential conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes. Here we examine the geographic distribution of biological diversity in the Atlantic Forest of South America, synthesize the most conspicuous forest biodiversity responses to human disturbances, propose further conservation initiatives for this biota, and offer a range of general insights into the prospects of forest species persistence in human-modified tropical forest landscapes worldwide. At the biome scale, the most extensive pre-Columbian habitats across the Atlantic Forest ranged across elevations below 800 masl, which still concentrate most areas within the major centers of species endemism. Unfortunately, up to 88% of the original forest habitat has been lost, mainly across these low to intermediate elevations, whereas protected areas are clearly skewed towards high elevations above 1200 masl. At the landscape scale, most remaining Atlantic Forest cover is embedded within dynamic agro-mosaics including elements such as small forest fragments, early-to-late secondary forest patches and exotic tree monocultures. In this sort of aging or long-term modified landscapes, habitat fragmentation appears to effectively drive edge-dominated portions of forest fragments towards an early-successional system, greatly limiting the long-term persistence of forest-obligate and forest-dependent species. However, the extent to which forest habitats approach early-successional systems, thereby threatening the bulk of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity, depends on both past and present landscape configuration. Many elements of human-modified landscapes (e.g. patches of early-secondary forests and tree monocultures) may offer excellent conservation opportunities, but they cannot replace the conservation value of protected areas and hitherto unprotected large patches of old-growth forests. Finally, the biodiversity conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes across Atlantic Forest and other tropical forest regions can be significantly augmented by coupling biodiversity corridor initiatives with biota-scale attempts to plug existing gaps in the representativeness of protected areas.     

Progress towards international targets for protected area coverage in mountains: A multi-scale assessment

Through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the world’s governments recently adopted a target to protect “at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas” by 2020. One of the CBD’s thematic programmes of work focuses on mountains, given their importance for biodiversity and other ecosystem services, and their vulnerability to global change. We evaluated current levels of protection for mountains at multiple scales. Encouragingly, the CBD’s 17% target has already been almost met at a global scale: 16.9% of the world’s mountain areas outside Antarctica fall within protected areas. However, protection of mountain areas at finer scales remains uneven and is largely insufficient, with 63% (125) of countries, 57% (4) of realms, 67% (8) of biomes, 61% (437) of ecoregions and 53% (100) of Global 200 priority ecoregions falling short of the target. The target also calls for protected areas to be focussed “especially [at] areas of particular importance for biodiversity”. Important Bird Areas and Alliance for Zero Extinction sites represent existing global networks of such sites. It is therefore of major concern that 39% and 45% respectively of these sites in mountain areas remain entirely unprotected. Achievement of the 2020 CBD target in mountain regions will require more focused expansion of the protected area network in addition to enhanced management of individual sites and the wider countryside in order to ensure long term conservation of montane biodiversity and the other ecosystem services it provides.     

The challenge of maintaining Atlantic forest biodiversity: A multi-taxa conservation assessment of specialist and generalist species in an agro-forestry mosaic in southern Bahia

Recent developments have highlighted the importance of forest amount at large spatial scales and of matrix quality for ecological processes in remnants. These developments, in turn, suggest the potential for reducing biodiversity loss through the maintenance of a high percentage of forest combined with sensitive management of anthropogenic areas. We conducted a multi-taxa survey to evaluate the potential for biodiversity maintenance in an Atlantic forest landscape that presented a favorable context from a theoretical perspective (high proportion of mature forest partly surrounded by structurally complex matrices). We sampled ferns, butterflies, frogs, lizards, bats, small mammals and birds in interiors and edges of large and small mature forest remnants and two matrices (second-growth forests and shade cacao plantations), as well as trees in interiors of small and large remnants. By considering richness, abundance and composition of forest specialists and generalists, we investigated the biodiversity value of matrix habitats (comparing them with interiors of large remnants for all groups except tree), and evaluated area (for all groups) and edge effects (for all groups except trees) in mature forest remnants. Our results suggest that in landscapes comprising high amounts of mature forest and low contrasting matrices: (1) shade cacao plantations and second-growth forests harbor an appreciable number of forest specialists; (2) most forest specialist assemblages are not affected by area or edge effects, while most generalist assemblages proliferate at edges of small remnants. Nevertheless, differences in tree assemblages, especially among smaller trees, suggest that observed patterns are unlikely to be stable over time.     

Beyond parks as monoliths: Spatially differentiating park-people relationships in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India

Parks represent spatially and socially heterogeneous conservation units, yet are often assessed and managed using spatially homogeneous approaches. This paper represents an effort to focus on the larger social-ecological landscapes within which protected areas are embedded, to understand why conservation succeeds and fails in different parts of the landscape. In a wildlife sanctuary in the central plains of India (Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve), we address: (i) how people living within and immediately outside a park differentially impact its resources and (ii) how the park differentially impacts communities living within. Using forest plots, satellite imagery and interviews, we evaluate park conservation by assessing plant diversity, land cover change, forest fragmentation, and attitudes of local communities towards conservation. We find that interior villages have a negative impact on regeneration, but there is a decline in tree species diversity, and increased forest cover change and fragmentation at the park periphery. Interior villages suffer greatly from crop and livestock depredations by wildlife and consider park rules to be unfairly devised. Yet, they affirm the importance of the park for conservation, and are willing to work with park authorities for stricter protection. Park authorities largely focus on resettlement of interior villages, when they should also pay attention to protecting the peripheral areas of the park from severe degradation by surrounding villages. In summary, we find that different parts of the park landscape face different conservation challenges. Taking into account spatial variations in the factors influencing conservation can greatly benefit the management of protected areas.     

The potential value of indicator groups in the selection of marine reserves

Efforts to systematically select networks of marine reserves to conserve biodiversity may be constrained by limited information on the distribution of biodiversity. A potential solution is the use of surrogates, such as indicator groups, that effectively represent other elements of biodiversity. The potential of macroalgae and molluscs to act as indicator groups for all species in the selection of intertidal marine reserves was tested for a sample of rocky shore locations in south-east Australia. Fifteen locations were surveyed between November 1999 and January 2000, and reserve selection for each of the potential indicator groups and for all species was undertaken using richness-based and rarity-based algorithms. The sets of locations chosen by both algorithms to conserve each of the indicator groups included around 95% of all species. There was 54% spatial correspondence of the sets of locations chosen for each of the indicator groups. Molluscs appeared to be a reliable indicator for areas of reservation ranging from 6.7 to 73.3% of the locations surveyed, including a similar percentage of all species as the locations selected for all species. Unlike macroalgae, locations chosen for molluscs included significantly more species than a set of locations chosen at random, and more species than the set of locations chosen for randomly selected subsets of species of the same richness as molluscs. There is significant scope for further research into the value of indicator groups in reserve selection in marine systems.     

Rapid monitoring of species abundance for biodiversity conservation: Consistency and reliability of the MacKinnon lists technique

Effective monitoring of biodiversity for conservation requires information on spatial and temporal variation in species’ abundances. As conservation resources are limited, monitoring methods are required that enable rapid and cost effective data collection. There are many traditional methods of estimating absolute abundance, such as territory mapping and distance sampling. However, these typically require more time, expertise and finances than are available across much of the globe. This is especially so in the tropics, where high species richness, low densities of many species and structurally complex environments also make monitoring particularly challenging. The MacKinnon lists technique is a rapid assessment methodology designed for use in species rich environments. This method is typically used to estimate species richness, but it has also been suggested that it can generate consistent abundance indices, even when observer experience and environmental conditions vary. If this suggestion is correct, the MacKinnon lists method could be used to assess spatial or temporal changes in abundance using diverse survey data. Here, we provide the first detailed assessment of intra- and inter-observer consistency of the Mackinnon List method in generating species abundance indices that could be useful for conservation monitoring purposes. As a case study, we use one of the world’s most diverse avifaunas, that of the forested Bolivian Andes. We show that MacKinnon lists can provide species abundance indices that are consistent between observers of markedly different experience of the focal avifauna (zero to six years), and between assessments carried out in different stages of the breeding season, between which detectability of individuals differed significantly. We believe this is the first time that a biodiversity monitoring method has been demonstrated to produce consistent abundance indices for a highly diverse avian tropical assemblage. We also suggest that the MacKinnon lists methodology has the potential to be a very useful conservation monitoring tool for many taxa in species rich environments, such as the tropics.     

农业景观生物多样性功能和保护对策

研究表明,农业集约化生产和农业景观均质化导致农业景观生物多样性降低,致使生物多样性相关野生资源保护、自然授粉、害虫调节、水土涵养等生态系统服务功能受损,进而影响了农业可持续发展。本文对国内外农业景观生物多样性及其生态系统服务功能研究和实践进行了综述。分别探讨了农业景观在生物多样性保护、授粉服务、调节服务、水土涵养等多方面生态服务功能中发挥的作用及其生物多样性保护的意义,总结了欧美在农业景观生物多样性保护所采取的实践措施,指出中国虽然在生物多样性保护方面做出很多努力,但却忽略了对农业景观的保护,近些年的城市化和集约化发展都进一步加剧了农业景观生物多样性的丧失,亟需借鉴欧美国家经验提出我国的农业景观生物多样性保护策略。我们认为保护和提高农业景观生物多样性的生态集约化对维护农作物产量,改善品种具有重要的作用。农业景观生物多样性保护需要从农田生态系统和农业景观两个尺度上开展农业景观综合管理,提高农田作物和景观植物多样性和异质性,恢复和提高生物多样性及其生态服务功能。最后,针对我国农业可持续发展面临的问题和需求,建议从政策和法规、监测和评估、工程技术研发、技术集成示范、生态补贴制度、培训和推广等方面,开展农业景观生物多样性保护。     

Size of protected areas is the main determinant of species diversity in orchids

Efficient allocation of conservation resources will be achieved only if the priorities for biodiversity conservation – the “hotspots” – are correctly defined. To achieve this we need to pinpoint the main determinants of species diversity. Area, energy available and latitude are thought to be the most important determinants of species richness. Area is clearly the most important, but the relative importance of the other two is uncertain. To test the relative importance of energy available and latitude, data on the species richness of orchids was collected for various countries in the world, the influence of area factored out and the residuals correlated with energy available at these countries and with latitude. This was performed for both total area and that of the protected areas for the 67 countries from five continents, in order to determine which gives a better prediction. We show that – at the large scale considered – area is always very important, latitude is more important than energy available and the size of the protected areas gives a better fit than the total area of the country in most cases. This implies that conservation efforts should be directed to maximizing the size of the protected areas in each country.     

The efficacy of Romania’s protected areas network in conserving biodiversity

Romania’s protected areas network currently covers 19.29% of the national territory, a significant increase from the 4.1% protected prior to 1989. The increase occurred over the past 20 years with the creation of 27 National and Natural Parks, and recently of 382 protected areas as part of the pan-European Natura 2000 network. Considering the recent increase in number and area of protected lands, we investigated two core topics critical to achieving conservation goals: (1) conservation value and (2) resources for conservation. The newly created Natura 2000 sites overlapped 96.19% of the existing protected areas network, generating up to three different protection statuses for some sites. Conservation goals were often unclear, as the focus switched to protecting species and habitats of European-level concern. Despite the fivefold increase in protected area, many ecoregions were poorly represented in the new system. Planning for conservation neither involved the local communities nor utilized principles for spatial prioritization. Over 80% of the species of European conservation concern were included in at least one protected area, but plants and invertebrates were underrepresented. Administrative bodies were generally under-staffed and poorly financed, conditions that were reflected in a poor enforcement and implementation of conservation goals. Overall, Romania shares many conservation concerns with other Eastern and Central European countries. A regional approach to conserving biodiversity based on spatial prioritization, rigorous scientific documentation, and social acceptance is needed for the Natura 2000 network to achieve its goals.     

农业系统中生物多样性利用的研究现状与未来思考

"现代农业"生产力高,但生物多样性简单化、生物之间的相互作用及其生态学效应常常被忽略,其生产力的稳定性主要依赖于化学肥料、农药、灌溉和高产品种等的投入。传统农业则是利用当地生物多样性(物种多样性和遗传多样性)和生物之间的相互作用来产出食物和维持系统的稳定。因而现代农业能否借鉴传统农业对生物多样性利用的经验,将工业化模式的现代农业转换为生物多样性利用与现代技术相结合的农业受到关注。本文分析了农业系统中生物多样性的特点及农业方式对农业生物多样性的影响;综述了农业系统中生物多样性利用模式与效应方面的研究进展;讨论了在现代农业系统中,利用生物多样性需要开展的研究,即区域上如何布局农业景观多样性,农田内如何根据生物之间的互惠关系配置物种多样性的种养体系,如何建设与生物多样性利用相应的田间设施和发展新型的农业机械、并建立以信息化为基础的管理体系。     

长期定位施肥小麦田间杂草生物多样性的变化研究

长期定位试验研究不同施肥小麦苗期田间杂草生物多样性的变化结果表明,不同施肥处理田间杂草种类与各杂草相对丰度均发生变化,且各处理间Shannon多样性指数(H′)、Shannon均匀度指数(E)和Margalef物种丰富度指数(DMG)均存在差异,其原因可能是由于不同施肥造成各处理间土壤养分的不同,各种杂草的生长因而受其不同影响所致。     

Just passing through: Global change and the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas

Climate and land-use changes are expected to cause many species to shift into or beyond the boundaries of protected areas, leading to large turnover in species composition. Here, we tested whether long-established protected areas in Canada were more robust to such climate change impacts than areas with no formal protection by measuring changes in modeled butterfly species distributions (n = 139) within them. We used a recently established distribution modeling technique, Maxent, to model butterfly species’ distributions in two epochs (1900-1930 and 1960-1990). We compared rates of butterfly species richness and composition change within protected areas against distributions of randomly selected, ecologically similar, but non-protected, areas. Change in species richness and composition within protected areas were, for the most part, the same as changes observed among random areas outside protected area boundaries. These results suggest that existing protected area networks in Canada have provided little buffer against the impacts of climate change on butterfly species richness, possibly because land-use change surrounding long-standing protected areas has not been substantial enough to elevate the habitat protection afforded by these protected areas relative to other areas. Although protected areas are unarguably beneficial in conserving biological diversity, their capacity to maintain habitat appears insufficient to prevent broader-scale climate changes from sweeping species beyond their boundaries.     

The challenge of monitoring biodiversity in payment for environmental service interventions

Payments for environmental services (PES) aim to improve the supply of environmental services by making payments to service providers, which are conditional on the provision of those services. Payments cannot be conditional unless the service can be effectively monitored, making monitoring of service provision a central feature of PES. We introduce a framework for designing monitoring programmes in PES schemes for biodiversity conservation. We suggest that decisions must be made concerning the indicators to be used (e.g. species, threats or positive actions), how they will be monitored (e.g. using ground-based or remote-sensed data) and how the monitoring information will be used to differentiate payments (e.g. trends over time, performance relative to neighbouring sites, performance against a target). We then use this framework to examine the feasibility of monitoring species and threat indicators in a community-based biodiversity payment scheme in Menabe, Madagascar. We find that detecting population changes, differences between sites, or whether a target has been met is only feasible for the most common indicators, suggesting that it may not be possible to base payments on the species conservationists are most interested in. If payments need to be based on relatively common indicators, threat indicators may be more appropriate than common species indicators due to a stronger relationship to the service of interest (presence of a rare species). It is, however, possible to incorporate information from rare indicators using accumulation curves to compare between sites. This study highlights the impact of indicator choice on the monitoring effort required in a biodiversity PES. We urge caution in the design of payment schemes and suggest it can be detrimental to structure a scheme around an indicator that cannot be effectively monitored.     

The role of species—area relationships in reserve choice: A British example

The equilibrium theory of island biogeography (Mac Arthur & Wilson, 1967) presently dominates conservation studies. Reliance on the species—area relationship as a criterion for choosing reserves is critically examined using data for landbird species number on island reserves. It is suggested that taking several factors, rather than just area alone, is more meaningful when choosing between reserve sites. Data for islands or reserves can be interpreted without recourse to equilibrium theory; the case for its widespread acceptance is still unproven.     

High rates of forest clearance and fragmentation pre- and post-National Park establishment: The case of a Jamaican montane rainforest

The principal defense of tropical forests has been to designate them as protected areas, but few of these protected areas have been studied to determine their effectiveness at preventing forest clearance within their boundaries. We used remote sensing techniques to quantify three fundamental forest cover change processes: forest clearance, re-growth and fragmentation over a 19-year time period, in a National Park of Jamaica. Results show that forest clearance occurred at similar high levels prior and subsequent to the establishment of the area as a National Park in 1993: 1.50% yr⁻¹ (1983–1992) and 1.42% yr⁻¹ (1992–2002), respectively. Fragmentation continued post-establishment, and manifested itself in an increasing number of smaller more vulnerable fragments; the number of fragments increased by 60%, and the mean fragment size decreased by 40%. Core areas decreased with ensuing increases in edge lengths, and fragments became more isolated from one another. After designation as a National Park however, increased forest re-growth occurred, resulting in a 63% decline in the net deforestation rate from 0.80% yr⁻¹ (1983–1992) to 0.26% yr⁻¹ (1992–2002). Image classifications gave accuracies of 90–97% (Kappa 0.80–0.93). Although the decrease in net deforestation may indicate some level of success of this National Park, forest clearance and fragmentation, leading to species shifts and biodiversity loss were still present at pre-National Park levels. We then examined the preponderance of successful protected areas, and found that success may be an artifact of the most widely used method of assessment, which compares deforestation rates inside versus outside protected areas.     

The hydroecological controls and conservation value of beetles on exposed riverine sediments in England and Wales

There are large numbers of records of uncommon beetles from exposed riverine sediments (ERS) (gravel, sand and silt shoals) in the UK. However, systematic surveys of their occurrence in relation to environmental controls are seldom undertaken. Data are presented here from a survey of 69 shingle ERS across England and Wales and used to establish which factors were important in constraining species assemblages. Over 480 species of Coleoptera were collected by a combination of pitfall trapping, hand searching and excavation techniques. A total of 81 species with conservation status of Vulnerable, Rare or Nationally Scarce were recorded during the work and this includes six species on the United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) lists. A subset of 42 of these rare species can be classified as ERS specialists. The data were analysed using TWINSPAN, redundancy analysis (RDA), single factor ANOVA, general linear modelling (GLM) and correlation to examine the importance of selected environmental variables and their relationships with the species assemblages. The results indicate that: (i) ERS sites with large numbers of species that are either rare or exhibit strong fidelity to the sediments have a markedly western distribution in the UK and are found on unregulated rivers in Wales and a number of rivers in the south west of England, (ii) the type of substrate, habitat heterogeneity, the percentage of shade from trees, the percentage of fine sediments on the ERS, the amount of trampling and ERS size are important in determining invertebrate communities and (iii) ERS provide valuable and important habitats for rare beetles species in the UK. The importance of river regulation, engineering and trampling by stocking for ERS invertebrates is discussed.