What does IUCN species action planning contribute to the conservation process?

More than 60 Species Action Plans have been published by the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of IUCN—The World Conservation Union. They are designed to assess the status of threatened species and their habitats, and provide prioritised recommendations for action, but there is debate about the effectiveness of such plans in stimulating conservation action and research. We evaluated three Action Plans covering a group of large terrestrial birds, published in 1995. Of 54 projects suggested in these plans, 33 had been initiated in the 5 years since publication, and 35 specific conservation actions were undertaken. Forty-five peer-reviewed papers were published, and at least 88 other outputs in the form of symposium presentations, posters and popular articles were produced. Although it is impossible to demonstrate the effectiveness of species action planning through rigorous scientific assessment, these results indicate a substantial amount of conservation-relevant activity directly attributable to the process. They also highlight the need for a clear definition of the role of Action Plans. We suggest that many of the criticisms directed toward species action plans result from an over-optimistic view of their power to catalyse action, and conclude by presenting a new model describing their niche within the wider context of conservation biology and policy.     

What drives farmers to increase soil organic matter? Insights from the Netherlands

Soil organic matter (SOM) is an important resource base for arable farming. For policies on SOM to be effective, insight is needed on why and under which conditions farmers are willing to increase SOM content. This study used the theory of planned behaviour to analyse what prevents or encourages Dutch farmers to increase the SOM content of their fields. In an online survey, 435 arable farmers were asked questions to understand their attitude (perceived benefits), subjective norm (social pressure) and perceived behavioural control (anticipated impediments and obstacles) related to management of SOM. Farmers’ answers were related to their intention to increase SOM content, use of organic materials and perceived increase in SOM content. Our results showed that Dutch farmers are well aware of the possible benefits of SOM content for crop productivity. Farmers’ attitude, subjective norm and perceived decrease in SOM content were significantly related to their intention to increase SOM content. In our farm survey, this intention was very strong: 90% of the farmers stated a high or very high intention to increase the SOM content of their fields. A higher intention to increase SOM content was correlated with the use of organic materials as expressed as total and effective C (P  = 0.003 and P  = 0.002, respectively), but this did not lead to a perceived increase in SOM content. From a farmer's point of view, this indicates that increasing SOM content is to a large degree beyond their direct influence. The Dutch Manure and Fertiliser Act, costs of organic inputs and the need to cultivate profitable crops (such as potatoes or sugar beet) were indicated as important impeding factors for increasing SOM content.     

Frugal conservation: What does it take to detect changes in fish populations?

Many conservation projects have to develop practical and feasible ways to detect changes in populations. We compare the ecological information obtained using intensive monitoring of coral-reef fish populations with that which would be procured from less exhaustive sampling. At each of four sites in the Philippines, we surveyed all non-cryptic fish species in eight transects every month for up to 3 years. We first tested for changes across years and seasons in fish density, size and species richness. We then compared these results obtained by using all data to those obtained in simulated protocols that restricted effort in ways that were relevant in practical marine resource management. We demonstrate the potential for reducing time in the water (number of surveys or number of transects) or in the number of species surveyed (proportions of those that were easily identified or locally fished) with little loss of information. Bimonthly surveys detected most of the overall but few of the seasonal trends that were identified with monthly sampling; far fewer trends were detected with less frequent surveying. Similarly, most trends were detected when at least four transects were carried out monthly. Most trends were also detected when all possible easily-identified species or at least 75% of fished species were considered. Indeed, ability to detect overall trends remained high even when only fished species were considered in four transects monthly. We conclude that some selective sampling protocols can be sufficiently sensitive to detect important trends, and that the choice of protocol will depend on the objective of the research or management.     

Integrating development with conservation: A means to a conservation end, or a mean end to conservation?

If a project team is integrating human socio-economic development into its conservation work, there are three options for structuring the project: (1) have an integrated mix of conservation and development ends, (2) use development means in service of strict conservation ends, and (3) explicitly link the project’s conservation ends to broader development ends. Although Option #1 is the most common solution, in this essay I argue that careful articulation of the theories of change behind conservation strategies reveals that it is often the worst choice. Project teams ultimately have to select either conservation or development goals, or risk achieving neither, especially in cases in which there is minimal linkage between the goals. Instead, a far better choice is Option #2 under which conservation agencies and organizations use the resources allocated to them by society in service of strict conservation ends. Under this option, project teams cannot ignore development concerns. Instead, they need to consider human needs in the context of both the threats at the site and their strategies – to use development means to achieve their desired conservation ends. Finally, in situations in which conservation teams need to increase available resources, it may be useful to show how conservation ends can also be a means to help achieve broader development ends over the long-term. Under Option #3, creating a clear “results chain” showing the team’s theory of change enables teams to explicitly explore and make use of the links between human and natural welfare needs, and provide appropriate authorities with the information needed to weigh tradeoffs and make required decisions.     

Universal criteria for species conservation priorities? Findings from a survey of public views across Europe

Decisions on biodiversity management and conservation are increasingly based on indicators. These imply, explicitly or implicitly, a number of criteria such as nativeness, rarity, endangeredness and (economic) value. We investigated to which degree such criteria matter to members of the general public and conducted a survey in eight sites across Europe (n = 2378). We explored the relationships between perceived desirability of a species’ population increase and six species-related attributes, including previous population change, rarity, vulnerability, harmfulness, value, attractiveness, and nativeness.For all three species types investigated, previous population change, followed by perceived harmfulness and value, had the strongest relationship with desirability of future increase. Perceived nativeness played only a minor role in informing a species’ desirability. A strong relationship between previous change and desirability of future increase could also be found in a number of additional species and six different habitat types, suggesting that previous change is a key criterion that the general public draws on to inform their attitudes towards biodiversity management.We compare the roles of such criteria for the general public to those used in the scientific and political discourse, and draw conclusions for the use of indicators in the conservation debate, arguing that biodiversity management that is strongly focused on nativeness might fall short of the interests of the citizenship, whereas other criteria, such as population trends, harmfulness and role and value of a species in the ecosystem strongly resonate with the views of the general public.     

How many herbarium specimens are needed to detect threatened species?

The distribution, ecology and conservation status of the majority of plant species are poorly known. One of the challenges ahead is to address this knowledge gap and give more emphasis to this important group of species that represents a critical component of earth’s biodiversity. Full conservation assessments require expert knowledge of the group concerned, but for the majority of plant species, especially those from the tropics, the best source of knowledge is specimens housed within herbaria. Digitisation projects are underway to render information from this important global biodiversity resource more accessible; the next step is to assemble and utilise these data to make better informed conservation decisions. One crucial question is: how many herbarium specimens are needed to detect threatened species? Such information would inform and help to prioritise digitisation efforts. Using 11,461 herbarium records we assessed species geographic range to determine a preliminary conservation status of 661 endemic species of Leguminosae and Orchidaceae from Madagascar, following the IUCN criteria. By capturing 15 georeferenced specimens per species we produced range estimates for use in conservation assessments consistent with estimates based on all known specimens, for more than 95% of species. None of the threatened species were misclassified as not threatened, and less than 3% of species would receive conservation support as a result of being falsely identified as threatened. This approach can therefore help progress towards the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation target of a conservation assessment for each plant species, while reducing digitisation effort by up to half.     

Strange bedfellows? Techno-fixes to solve the big conservation issues in southern Asia

The conservation challenges facing mega-biodiverse South and Southeast Asia in the 21st century are enormous. For millennia, much of the habitat of these regions was only lightly modified by human endeavour, yet now it is experiencing rampant deforestation, logging, biofuel cropping, invasive species expansion, and the synergies of climate change, drought, fire and sea-level rise. Although small-scale conservation management might assist some species and habitats, the broader sweep of problems requires big thinking and some radical solutions. Given the long expected lead times between progressive economic development and stabilization of human population size and consumption rates, we argue that ‘technological fixes’ cannot be ignored if we are to address social and fiscal drivers of environmental degradation and associated species extinctions in rapidly developing regions like southern Asia. The pursuit of cheap and abundant ‘clean’ energy from an economically rational mix of nuclear power, geothermal, solar, wind, and hydrogen-derivative ‘synfuels’, is fundamental to this goal. This will permit pathways of high-tech economic development that include intensified (high energy-input) agriculture over small land areas, full recycling of material goods, a transition from fossil-fuel use for transport and electricity generation, a rejection of tropical biofuels that require vast areas of arable land for production, and a viable alternative to the damming of major waterways like the Mekong, Murum and northern tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers for hydroelectricity. Rational approaches that work at large scales must be used to deal with the ultimate, rather than just proximate, drivers of biodiversity loss in the rapidly developing regions of southern Asia.     

Is breakfast consumption related to mental distress and academic performance in adolescents?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between mental distress, academic performance and regular breakfast consumption across gender and immigration status. DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based study. Two four-page questionnaires were filled in during two school sessions. SETTING: All junior high schools in Oslo, Norway using the classroom as the setting for the study. SUBJECTS: All 10th grade students 15-16 years olds in 2000 and 2001. Of 8316 eligible students, 7343 (88.3%) participated in the study. RESULTS: All immigrant groups, except the Western countries group, are skipping breakfast more often than Norwegian students, and girls more often than boys (27 versus 19%). After adjustment for possible confounding factors, the odds ratio (OR) for being mentally distressed when eating breakfast seldom/never compared with every day was 3.0 (2.0-4.5) for boys, 1.6 (1.2-2.1) for girls and 1.6 (1.5-2.6) for the immigrant group. The comparable OR for having low school grades was similar for boys and girls, 2.0 (1.3-3.0), and 1.6 (1.5-2.6) for the immigrant groups. CONCLUSIONS: Skipping breakfast is a common feature among 10th grade students. The implications of skipping breakfast on mental distress and academic performance are stronger for boys than girls and stronger for Norwegians compared with immigrants.     

Are roads and railroads barriers to bumblebee movement in a temperate suburban conservation area?

We investigated how habitat fragmentation affects the movement of marked bumblebees between plant patches in a temperate conservation area in metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts. Our study was conducted on populations of sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia L. f.) separated by a road and natural woodland, and buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis L.) separated by a railroad. Bumblebees showed high site fidelity and only rarely crossed roads or railroads. When bees captured at one sweet pepperbush population were moved across a road to a new sweet pepperbush population and released, they returned to their original site, some within 20 min of their capture. When all inflorescences were removed from one sweet pepperbush patch, most bees moved to another sweet pepperbush population on the same side of the road. The results show that while bumblebees have the ability to cross a road and railroad, these human structures may restrict bumblebee movement and act to fragment plant populations because of the innate site fidelity displayed by foraging bees. Moreover, marked bees were almost never observed to move between populations unless they were displaced, or forced to seek additional forage sites.     

Fencing for conservation: Restriction of evolutionary potential or a riposte to threatening processes?

Fencing for conservation is an acknowledgement that we are failing to successfully coexist with and, ultimately, conserve biodiversity. Fences arose during the Neolithic revolution to demarcate resource-rich areas (food sources) and exclude threats (intruders). Fencing for conservation can be viewed as fulfilling a similar function. The aims of this paper were to identify when fencing can and is used to conserve biodiversity; highlight the costs and benefits of fencing for conservation; and make recommendations to ensure appropriate use of fencing for conservation in the future. The IUCN identifies ten major threatening processes and the impacts of eight of these can be mitigated via the use of fencing, however avoiding human-animal conflict and reducing the impact of introduced predators are the two most common uses. Fences implemented to achieve a conservation benefit are not necessarily physical barriers, but can also include ‘metaphorical’ fences of sound, smoke and smell, or even actual islands. Fences provide defined units for managers and separate biodiversity from threatening processes including human persecution, invasive species and disease. Conversely, they are costly to build and maintain; they have ecological costs through blocking migration routes, restriction of biodiversity range use which may result in overabundance, inbreeding and isolation; restriction of evolutionary potential; management; amenity and ethical costs. Despite these problems, fencing for conservation is likely to become increasingly utilized as biodiversity becomes increasingly threatened and methods of ameliorating threats lag behind. In the long-term, fences may ultimately prove to be as much a threat to biodiversity as the threats they are meant to exclude, and a new research agenda should arise to ensure that conservation fences do not remain a permanent part of the landscape.     

Do species life history traits explain population responses to roads? A meta-analysis

Efforts to mitigate road effects are now common in new highway construction projects. For effective mitigation of road effects it is important to identify the species whose populations are reduced by roads, so that mitigation efforts can be tailored to those species. We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 75 studies that quantified the relationship between roads and/or traffic and population abundance of at least one species to determine species life history characteristics and behavioral responses to roads and/or traffic that make species or species groups prone to negative road and/or traffic effects. We found that larger mammal species with lower reproductive rates, and greater mobilities, were more susceptible to negative road effects. In addition, more mobile birds were more susceptible to negative road and/or traffic effects than less mobile birds. Amphibians and reptiles were generally vulnerable to negative road effects, and anurans (frogs and toads) with lower reproductive rates, smaller body sizes, and younger ages at sexual maturity were more negatively affected by roads and/or traffic. Species that either do not avoid roads or are disturbed by traffic were more vulnerable to negative population-level effects of roads than species that avoid roads and are not disturbed by traffic. In general, our results imply that priority for mitigation should be directed towards wide-ranging large mammals with low reproductive rates, birds with larger territories, all amphibians and reptiles, and species that do not avoid roads or are disturbed by traffic.     

Which species? What kind of diversity? Which ecosystem function? Some problems in studies of relations between biodiversity and ecosystem function

I examine a number of problems that need to be identified and accounted for when examining the relationships between diversity and ecosystem function. Among these are measures of diversity and complexity in ecosystems: species richness, diversity indices, functional groups, keystone species, connectance, etc, all of which may be difficult to relate to ecosystem function. Several important distinctions, when testing diversity–function relationships empirically, are discussed: Diversity of functional groups, diversity within functional groups vs. total diversity; manipulating variables such as body-size distributions vs. manipulating diversity per se; effects of diversity vs. effects of biomass; and diversity–function relations under stable vs. changing conditions or perturbations. It is argued that for the management and development of sustainable ecosystems, it is probably more important to understand the linkages between key species or functional groups and ecosystem function, rather than focusing on species diversity. This is because there are possible mechanistic relations between what species do in ecosystems and ecosystem function. Diversity, being an abstract and aggregated property of the species in the context of communities and ecosystems, lacks such direct relations to ecosystem functions.     

Are all three components of conservation agriculture necessary for soil conservation in the Sudan Savanna?

ABSTRACT

Conservation agriculture (CA) as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations consists of three components: minimum soil disturbance, soil cover, and crop rotation/association. CA was expected to become an effective countermeasure against water erosion in the Sudan Savanna, but it has not been adopted by local smallholder farmers. As markets for grain legumes (including cowpea) have not been developed in the Sudan Savanna, crop rotation/association should be considered impractical for these farmers. Therefore, we examined whether legume intercropping as a crop rotation/association component is necessary for preventing soil erosion in the Sudan Savanna. Three-year field experiments were conducted in runoff plots at Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research Saria station. The four treatments were conventional practice (full tillage, no sorghum residue mulching, and no intercropping), two-component CA (minimum tillage (MT) and sorghum residue mulching without intercropping), and three-component CA with velvet bean (VB) or pigeon pea (PP) intercropping. It was revealed that: (1) MT and sorghum residue mulching (without intercropping) effectively reduced the annual soil loss by 54% mainly due to the improvement of soil permeability by the boring of termites and wolf spiders found under the sorghum stover mulch; (2) intercropping in combination with MT and crop residue mulching had no effect on soil erosion control mainly because: (a) PP did not survive the long dry season; (b) VB did not serve effectively as a cover crop since soil loss was concentrated at the beginning of the rainy season when VB was still too small; (c) unexpectedly, in combination with MT and crop residue mulching, intercropping with VB did not increase mulch biomass, especially sorghum biomass which prompts the boring of termites and wolf spiders. These results demonstrate that the third component of CA, namely legume intercropping, is not always necessary; rather, the two remaining components – minimum soil disturbance and soil cover – are sufficient for soil conservation in the Sudan Savanna. This finding lightens the burden of adopting CA and thus facilitates its future promotion to the smallholder farmers in the Sudan Savanna.     

Opportunity costs: Who really pays for conservation?

Designing conservation areas entails costs that, if considered explicitly, can be minimized while still achieving conservation targets. Here we focus on opportunity costs which measure forgone benefits from alternative land uses. Conservation planning studies often use partial estimates of costs, but the extent to which these result in actual efficiencies has not been demonstrated. Our study partitions land costs into three distinct opportunity costs to smallholder agriculture, soybean agriculture and ranching. We demonstrate that opportunity costs to single stakeholder groups can be inaccurate measures of true opportunity costs and can inadvertently shift conservation costs to affect groups of stakeholders disproportionately. Additionally, we examine how spatial correlations between costs as well as target size affect the performance of opportunity costs to single stakeholder groups as surrogate measures of true opportunity costs. We conclude that planning with opportunity costs to single stakeholder groups can result in cost burdens to other groups that could undermine the long-term success of conservation. Thus, an understanding of the spatial distributions of opportunity costs that are disaggregated to groups of stakeholders is necessary to make informed decisions about priority conservation areas.     

Are different biodiversity metrics related to the same factors? A case study from Mediterranean wetlands

Conservation biology is mainly interested in prioritizing sites on the basis of their high biodiversity. Although species richness is a commonly used criterion, it does not take other crucial aspects of identifying conservation priority sites into account, such as rarity or taxonomic distinctness. Additionally, management efforts are usually focused on the conservation of a small number of species, mainly vertebrates. However, the biodiversity patterns of these faunal groups and the main factors which determine them cannot be generalized to other faunal groups (e.g. aquatic invertebrates). Therefore, the objectives of the present study are: (1) to compare the response of 11 biodiversity metrics in order to know which ones are redundant, (2) to identify key environmental factors for biodiversity, and (3) to find out whether sites with high biodiversity values also have a good habitat condition and high protection status. The study was done at assemblage level (crustaceans and insects) in 91 wetlands in the NE Iberian Peninsula. Regression tree models were used to identify the key factors influencing biodiversity, including water, wetland and landscape characteristics as explanatory variables. Generalized Linear models were used to establish the relationship between biodiversity metrics and protection status and habitat condition. The results obtained by the two sampled seasons were compared. Conductivity was the main factor influencing biodiversity metrics. Positive significant relationships were found between some biodiversity metrics and wetland habitat condition, whereas there were none for protection status, indicating the inadequacy of conservation policies to protect wetland aquatic invertebrate biodiversity.     

Plant species response to ammonium‐nitrate concentration ratios

Most plants can use either nitrate (NO₃) or ammonium (NH₄) as a source of nitrogen. However, the degree of effectiveness of these two forms on plant growth and nutrient uptake is dependent on plant species and NH₄.: NO₃ ratio. The 77: 77 ppm NH₄: NO₃‐N concentration ratio in solution caused the most growth reduction for cabbage, melon, and corn, with corn being least affected. Bean seems to be well adapted to the use of NH₄, and was unaffected by equal concentrations of NH₄: NO₃‐N. The presence of 28 ppm NH₄‐N in the mixture reduced only cabbage growth, whereas growth of melon, bean and com was not affected. All of the species studied responded to the NH4 concentration increase by an increase in anion content in their leaf tissues. The K content in melon and corn leaf was increased with NH₄‐N up to 28 ppm. The K content in tomato and cabbage tissue was reduced at 28 ppm NH₄. The K content in all the species tested was reduced with 77: 77 ppm NH₄: NO₃‐N concentration treatment. Calcium composition reduction in all the plant species was affected at 28 ppm NH₄‐N with reduction to 50% that of all NO₃ nutrition at 77 ppm NH₄‐N. Magnesium composition of corn tissue was most severely reduced by the 77: 77 ppm NH₄: NO₃‐N nutrition. Bean Mg composition was not affected by the NH₄‐N concentration in the 14 to 77 ppm range. Magnesium was reduced in cabbage, melon, and corn by NH₄‐N concentrations above 28 ppm.     

How many plant species are cultivated?

Cultivation reflects an intense relationship between human and plants. Therefore, the number of cultivated plant species is of general interest. The number of cultivated crop species amounts to about 7,000 (“Mansfeld’s approach”). Amenity horticulture is a quickly developing area comprising ornamentals and other plants connected with gardening and landscaping. 28,000 plant species have been estimated to belong to this group. Cultivated forest plants are partly included in the first group and mostly in the second group. Thus, we propose that the total number of cultivated plants amounts to 35,000 species, i.e. about 14% of the number of higher plant species of the world.