云雾山自然保护区优势植物种群分布格局的分形特征

对宁夏云雾山草原自然保护区植物种群分布格局的分形计盒维数进行了研究。结果表明：本氏针茅、铁杆蒿和百里香是该区的优势种。3种优势种的计盒维数在1．7左右，表明它们具有较大的空间占据能力。但是它们的计盒维数最大值出现的时间不同，本氏针茅、百里香计盒维数最大值出现存封育20a的样地中，铁杆蒿出现在封育25a的样地中。     

周边区域湿地景观变化对洪河保护区涉禽栖息地的影响

以三江平原洪河国家级保护区及其周边3个农场为研究区域，利用GIS技术和栖息地评价模型方法，探讨了周边区域湿地景观变化对保护区内景观结构以及丹顶鹤、东方白鹳栖息地的影响。结果显示：（1）自1983年区域土地开发以来，周边区域湿地景观面积减少了63％，景观类型多样性趋于单一化；（2）保护区内湿地景观结构改变明显，类型多样性呈降低趋势，丹顶鹤和东方白鹳栖息地面积和空间分布均发生变化；（3）保护区与周边区域湿地景观连通度降低了70％，其结果严重改变了保护区与周边区域的景观生态联系，削弱了保护区原有湿地景观多样性和涉禽栖息地功能；（4）必须从景观尺度，恢复保护区周边一定面积的湿地景观结构，维持保护区与周边区域适当的景观生态联系，是有效管理和维护保护区可持续发展的最佳手段之一。     

广东石门台保护区猴头杜鹃群落特征

应用植被样地调查法研究广东英德石门台保护区最高峰船底顶的山顶矮林猴头杜鹃群落的物种组成、科属的地理成分。结果表明,2500m2样方中有维管植物112种,隶属于47科78属。群落数量优势科为蔷薇科、杜鹃花科、壳斗科、樟科、冬青科和山茶科等,优势种为猴头杜鹃、广东松、疏齿木荷、矮冬青、树参、小叶罗汉松、异株木犀榄、南方铁杉和五列木等。群落的物种多样性Simpson指数和Shannon-Wiener指数分别为0.941和4.977。植物科的地理成分以泛热带和北温带分布型等占优势,属的地理成分以泛热带分布型和热带亚洲分布型为主,体现了南亚热带向中亚热带过渡的特点。种群年龄结构表明,建群种猴头杜鹃属于增长阶段,而优势种广东松属于衰退种群,针叶植物白豆杉和小叶罗汉松更新幼苗较多,有进一步发展的趋势。     

The importance of species range attributes and reserve configuration for the conservation of angiosperm diversity in Western Australia

In order to better understand the relationship between reserve design and the species represented by such designs, we examined the effectiveness of the Western Australian reserve system for conserving angiosperm diversity, and examined the characteristics of those species conserved. We overlayed species distribution data for 14 plant lineages with the distribution of the reserve system (8.5% of the State’s area) and identified the species that remained unprotected. We found that, depending upon the method employed, between 174 (5.7%) and 570 (18.7%) of species were not included within the reserve system. Two main unprotected regions were identified, one of which was also a centre of high diversity. Geographical range sizes of unprotected species were six times smaller than those species that were protected, while species richness of small-ranged endemic species coincided with general patterns of species richness. At the level of Western Australia’s bioregions we found that conservation effectiveness was most dependent on characteristics of the reserve system rather than characteristics (size and positioning) of species ranges. At this scale, the most effective way to conserve more species in Western Australia would be to conserve more land, while conservation would be most successful in a uniformly dispersed reserve system. Our results highlight the fact that reserve systems may take on two design approaches based on scale––at continental scales, reserves should be clustered around the hotspots of endemic species, while within regions, an evenly distributed reserve system will most adequately sample species.     

Geolocators reveal migratory connectivity between wintering and breeding areas of Golden‐winged Warblers

The conservation of migratory songbirds is often impeded by a lack of understanding of how populations in breeding and wintering areas are geographically linked (migratory connectivity). In recent years, light‐level geolocators have improved our understanding of migratory connectivity. Such information is valuable for evaluating how conservation efforts align between the breeding and non‐breeding areas of at‐risk species, and help to more effectively prioritize the allocation of conservation funding. Golden‐winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) are imperiled migratory songbirds, but the extent to which conservation efforts in their breeding and non‐breeding areas coincide with patterns of migratory connectivity are not well known. We used light‐level geolocators to evaluate the extent to which conservation actions targeting Golden‐winged Warblers in Nicaragua and in their breeding range in North America align with patterns of migratory connectivity. We recovered six of 22 geolocators that had been deployed on male Golden‐winged Warblers at the El Jaguar Reserve during the winter of 2015–2016. All six males migrated to breeding areas in the western Great Lakes region that includes eastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, southwestern Ontario, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. All six males also had similar migration routes, with spring stopovers in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, a trans‐Gulf flight, and a stopover in the region of Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and Texas. Our results, in combination with those of previous studies, demonstrate strong migratory connectivity between portions of the breeding and winter distributions of Golden‐winged Warblers currently targeted for conservation. However, additional studies are needed to improve our understanding of the stopover ecology of Golden‐winged Warblers, especially in areas where they remain for extended periods of time. Finally, patterns of migratory connectivity revealed in our study should be used in combination with existing demographic parameters for Golden‐winged Warblers in the western Great Lakes and Nicaragua to help inform full life cycle population models for this imperiled songbird.     

Seed removal in a tropical North American desert: an evaluation of pre‐ and post‐dispersal seed removal in Stenocereus stellatus

• To determine seed removal influence on seed populations, we need to quantify pre‐ and post‐dispersal seed removal. Several studies have quantified seed removal in temperate American deserts, but few studies have been performed in tropical deserts. These studies have only quantified pre‐ or post‐dispersal seed removal, thus underestimating the influence of seed removal. We evaluated pre‐ and post‐dispersal seed removal in the columnar cactus Stenocereus stellatus in a Mexican tropical desert.
• We performed selective exclosure experiments to estimate percentage of seeds removed by ants, birds and rodents during the pre‐ and post‐dispersal phases. We also conducted field samplings to estimate abundance of the most common seed removers.
• Birds (10–28%) removed a higher percentage of seeds than ants (2%) and rodents (1–4%) during pre‐dispersal seed removal. Melanerpes hypopolius was probably the main bird removing seeds from fruits. Ants (62–64%) removed a higher percentage of seeds than birds (34–38%) and rodents (16–30%) during post‐dispersal seed removal. Pogonomyrmex barbatus was probably the main ant removing seeds from soil.
• Birds and ants are the main pre‐ and post‐dispersal seed removers in S. stellatus, respectively. Further studies in other S. stellatus populations and plants with different life forms and fruit types will contribute to evaluate seed removal in tropical American deserts.

     

Northern bobwhite response to Conservation Reserve Program habitat and landscape attributes

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter bobwhite) has experienced substantial population declines in recent decades in the United States, and especially in Maryland and Delaware. The United States Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) could provide additional habitat for bobwhites, leading to an increase in bobwhite abundance. I investigated if bobwhite abundance was related to the percent cover of CRP land and landscape attributes in local landscapes on Maryland's Eastern Shore and Delaware. Observers conducted bobwhite point transect surveys at 113 locations during the breeding seasons of 2006–2007, and I calculated landscape metrics for 500-m radius landscapes centered on each point transect location. Most CRP land in the study landscapes was planted to herbaceous vegetation. Bobwhite abundance was strongly positively associated with percent cover of CRP land in the landscape but was not strongly related to percent cover of agriculture or forest or to landscape patch density. These results suggest that the CRP has created additional habitat for bobwhites in Maryland and Delaware and that landscapes with greater proportions of herbaceous CRP practices support more bobwhites. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.     

Planning connectivity at multiple scales for large mammals in a human-dominated biodiversity hotspot

Connectivity for large mammals across human-altered landscapes results from movement by individuals that can be described via nested spatial scales as linkages (or zones or areas) with compatible land use types, constrictions that repeatedly funnel movement (as corridors) or impede it (as barriers), and the specific paths (or routes) across completely anthropogenic features (such as highways). Mitigation to facilitate animal movement through such landscapes requires similar attention to spatial scale, particularly when they involve complex topography, diverse types of human land use, and transportation infrastructure. We modeled connectivity for Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and gaur (Bos gaurus) in the Shencottah Gap, a multiple-use region separating two tiger reserves in the Western Ghats, India. Using 840 km of surveys for animal signs within a region of 621 km², we modeled landscape linkages via resource selection functions integrated across two spatial resolutions, and then potential dispersal corridors within these linkages using circuit theoretical models. Within these corridors, we further identified potential small-scale movement paths across a busy transportation route via least-cost paths and evaluated their viability. Both elephants and gaur avoided human-dominated habitat, resulting in broken connectivity across the Shencottah Gap. Predicted corridor locations were sensitive to analysis resolution, and corridors derived from scale-integrated habitat models correlated best with habitat quality. Less than 1% of elephant and gaur detections occurred in habitat that was poorer in quality than the lowest-quality component of the movement path across the transportation route, suggesting that connectivity will require habitat improvement. Only 28% of dispersal corridor area and 5% of movement path length overlapped with the upper 50% quantile of the landscape linkage; thus, jointly modeling these three components enabled a more nuanced evaluation of connectivity than any of them in isolation.