Hair-Trap Efficacy for Detecting Mammalian Carnivores in the Tropics

Abstract: Direct studies of mammalian carnivores are challenging due to the animals' secretive nature and the high costs associated with their capture and handling. Use of noninvasive hair sampling to survey these reclusive species has great potential as an alternative, with wide applicability in ecology and conservation. Hair-trapping has been extensively used for focal studies of temperate mammals, but its use and applicability as a means to survey mammals in tropical environs has never been addressed. We evaluated the effectiveness of 2 hair-trap types and 2 scents along an elevational gradient within El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (ECBR, Mexico) to detect presence of carnivores. Hair-traps that used roofing nails as a hair-collecting surface collected more hairs and detected a greater number of species than did hair-traps that used velcro strips. Different scent treatments (commercial fragrance and catnip oil) did not differ for these same variables. Of successful nail hair-traps, 60% collected ≥20 hairs (max. = 439), providing enough material for DNA analyses. Hair-trap surveys detected 74% of the potential target mammal species at ECBR with only 19 days of field effort. Developing countries have limited budgets for biodiversity monitoring and hair-traps compare favorably with other methods with a high cost-benefit ratio. Hair-traps are inexpensive, portable, can be made with over-the-counter materials, and can be successfully used to collect data applicable to population and genetic studies of tropical carnivores.     

A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico, with comments on species relationships

The new species Ceratozamia vovidesii from a Pleistocene floristic refuge in southern Mexico is described and illustrated. It show an affinity with C. matudae Lundell and C. mirandae Vovides, Pérez-Farrera & Iglesias from Chiapas, but it differs from them in leaf, male and female cones, and trunk morphology.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 153 , 393–400.     

The rise of planning in nature conservation and the practitioners’ approach to conflicts. The inspiring case of the Northern French Alps nature reserves

This article examines how the rise of planning in conservation influences the conservation practitioners’ approach to conflicts in a region where protected areas have limited power. It is based on an analysis of the management plans of ten nature reserves of the Northern French Alps, complemented with interviews with the practitioners involved in elaborating these plans. It shows that the collaborative paradigm, predicated on the idea that deliberation between parties can lead to a shared understanding of the common good, has pervaded conservation planning. Collaborative planning enriches the planners’ view of the practices and values at work in the reserves. But it also encourages them to develop conflict avoiding strategies that contribute to maintaining existing power imbalances, which in such regions are often detrimental to conservation goals. Analysing the power relationships at play locally, encouraging the planners’ reflexivity, and increasing their agency would help realize the transformative potential of contentious situations.     

梵净山保护区同域分布黔金丝猴与藏酋猴的空间分布初探

正物种共存在一定程度上取决于对资源的竞争分化,使其都有足够的资源保障生存和繁殖(Macarthur and Levins,1967; Schoener,1974)。根据竞争排斥原则,生态相似的物种在资源竞争中必然存在生态位的分化(Hardin,1960)。在众多的生态维度中,栖息地分化所形成的空间分布差异是同域野生动物最为常见和重要的生态位分化形式(Schoener,1974)。同时,了解栖息地选择如何影响同域野生动物的空间分布是研究资源分配和竞争模式的必要前提(Rosenzweig,1981)。     

GRASSLAND BIRD USE OF RIPARIAN FILTER STRIPS IN SOUTHEAST IOWA

Abstract: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under its Continuous Enrollment Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has actively promoted establishment of conservation buffers. Although these programs are intended to benefit wildlife in addition to protecting soil and water resources, benefits to grassland birds may be compromised by narrow widths, presence of woody vegetation, and high predation pressure. During 2001 and 2002, we surveyed breeding grassland birds and searched for nests in 33 CRP filter strips that varied in planting mixture (cool-season vs. warm-season grasses) and adjacent edge type (non-wooded vs. wooded). The most abundant species in filter strips were red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), dickcissel (Spiza americana), song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), and common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas). Relative abundances of birds and nests were similar between cool-season and warm-season planting mixtures. Dickcissels and red-winged blackbirds and their nests were relatively less abundant at wooded than non-wooded sites. Our nest success estimates generally were low in all treatments, and nest success varied little with the variables we studied. Predation was the major cause of nest failure; 62% of all nests were depredated. Although the most common birds using filter strips are generalists, filter strips also have potential to provide breeding habitat for some species of management concern.     

卧龙竹类非结构性碳水化合物与叶氮含量对海拔的响应

山地由于海拔变化导致的环境因子显著差异,成为研究植物环境适应性及其对全球气候变化响应的理想区域。以卧龙自然保护区内油竹子(Fargesia angustissima Yi)与华西箭竹(Fargesia nitida(Mitford)Keng f.ex Yi)为对象,沿海拔梯度研究了两种竹子在各自海拔分布区间内组织非结构性碳水化合物(NSC)含量、比叶面积(SLA)、以及基于单位叶面积和单位叶质量的叶氮含量(Narea,Nmass)。除油竹子叶NSC,Narea和华西箭竹Nmass随海拔升高不发生变化外,两种竹子其它调查因子对海拔的响应均是非线性的,反映了环境因子随海拔的非线性变化。所有调查因子对海拔的响应均表现出明显的种间差别,这一结果除了种间生理生态特性差别的原因外,可能意味着两竹种对温度的敏感性不同。高海拔种(华西箭竹)比(中)低海拔种(油竹子)对全球气候暖化可能更加敏感。     

鹞落坪保护区模式地植物及乡土观赏树种研究

首次详细记录了鹞落坪国家级自然保护区模式地植物及其命名过程,并介绍保护区内具有较高观赏价值的乡土木本植物186种,隶属于53科104属,其中观花树木类50种;观形树木类37种;观果树木类18种;观叶树木类15种;树桩盆景与盆花类15种;行道树类21种;垂直绿化类25种;观赏竹类5种。对观赏特性和园林用途进行了初步探讨,以期为城市绿化及相关研究与资源利用提供参考。     

历山自然保护区蔷薇科植物区系分析

蔷薇科是历山自然保护区种子植物的第一大科。该区有蔷薇科植物4亚科,23属,85种（含变种7）。在历山蔷薇科植物的区系组成中,优势属明显,尤以中等属突出,中等属占其蔷薇科植物总属数的43．48％,所含种数占该区蔷薇科植物总种数（包括变种）的75．29％。该区的蔷薇科植物从属、种层次上都表现出典型的温带性质,且以北温带性质为主;在属级、种级水平上,温带分布分别占该区蔷薇科植物总属数和总种数的95．45％、51．76％。该区蔷薇科植物属、种的特有现象不平衡,没有中国特有属,有中国特有种40种。