Projects Come,Projects Go: Lessons from Participatory Monitoring in Southern Laos

This paper examines how a biodiversity monitoring system based on data collected by protected area staff and local communities was established and maintained in Xe Pian national protected area, Laos. Monitoring activities commenced with project support in 1998. Protected area staff, district forestry staff and villagers continued the monitoring work after 2001 when the external advisers left. More than 2500 records of wildlife, natural resource use and threats to the protected area were collected by villagers and protected area staff, mainly through use of patrols, village discussions and village logbooks. The management interventions that followed the monitoring activities were a reaction to immediate threats or perceived trends in biodiversity rather than to trends revealed by analyses of the collected data. Patrols and village discussions came to a virtual standstill when external funding ceased, probably because of lack of supporting national policies. The annual running cost of the monitoring system was only about US$ 4000 or 0.02 per ha of forest habitat.     

Madagascar Fish Eagle productivity in the Tsimembo-Manambolomaty Protected Area and surrounding habitat of western Madagascar

We monitored the productivity of the critically endangered Madagascar Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides inside and outside of the Tsimembo-Manambolomaty Protected Area (T-M PA), western Madagascar from 2010 to 2015. We recorded 14 breeding pairs inside and 13 outside T-M PA. The T-M PA and surrounding habitat hosted respectively 10 and six breeding polyandrous pairs, composed of one adult female and two adult males. During the six-year study period, 101 eggs were laid in nests in T-M PA of which 60 hatched and 58 young fledged. We recorded 62 eggs laid in nests outside the T-M PA of which 39 hatched and 36 young fledged. Productivity was similar at both sites, inside and outside T-M PA, with 0.84 (58/69) and 0.76 (36/47) fledgling per nesting attempt and 0.69 (58/84) and 0.5 (36/72) fledglings per territorial pair, respectively. Polyandrous pairs have higher productivity compared with normal pairs. Threats to Madagascar Fish Eagles and their habitat were low due to the existence of a community-based resource management system called the Local Management Secured System (GELOSE) inside and outside the T-M PA. This system is based on strengthening local traditional customs and rules, and involving local people in managing their natural resources sustainably along with biodiversity conservation.     

Participatory Resource Monitoring as a Means for Promoting Social Change in Yunnan,China

Recent international forest policies stimulate involvement of communities in forest management as a strategy to improve biodiversity conservation and the quality of local livelihoods. Increasingly, the role of local people in monitoring forest resources is also acknowledged. This paper presents a participatory resources monitoring (PRM) system developed and implemented by representatives of 12 villages, six each within and adjacent to two nature reserves in Yunnan, China. The short-term objectives are to monitor resource and wildlife abundance, resource use, wildlife damage to crops, and land use. Main methods used by the village monitoring team are: (1) observation through forest walk, (2) village interview, and (3) market survey. Monitoring is implemented throughout the year to fit in the daily work of villagers. Staff from the nature reserve or forestry bureau provide support by visiting the villages several days per year. Results indicate that participatory monitoring is a valuable tool for villagers to engage in self-owned management actions. We discuss how monitoring is also a process which could lead to social change. Based on narratives we suggest that participatory monitoring builds trust between stakeholders, changes perceptions and attitudes and leads to more democratic and transparent decision-making. In discussing accuracy, we argue that all stakeholders perceive and interpret nature differently based on different worldviews, knowledge systems, values and beliefs. We argue that if participatory monitoring is to be sustainable, community-based monitoring – preferably linked to scientific monitoring and patrolling – should be designed as a discursive institution where the process of building social capital and inter-actor learning is extremely important. Finally, we briefly reflect upon efforts to scale up participatory monitoring.     

The Obvious Aspects of Ecological Underprivilege in Ankarana, Northern Madagascar

On the basis of research conducted in the Ankarana region of northern Madagascar, I discuss the speculating that Malagasy participants in the local sapphire trade do about foreign ecotourists who come to this region. Although some have been promoting international ecotourism in the region as a viable means to a sustainable future for local people and ecosystems, others, including many of the observers discussed here, see the rise of the ecotourist trade and the increasing presence of its clients in Ankarana as signs of foreigners' long-standing interests in Malagasy resources. I argue that to understand the perspectives of these critical observers, it is necessary to appreciate what they take to be obvious about ecotourism and the conservation projects with which they are commonly associated.     

Community-based Monitoring of Fog Capture and Biodiversity at Loma Alta,Ecuador Enhance Social Capital and Institutional Cooperation

Monitoring of fog capture and bird communities helped to build social capital for conservation at Loma Alta, Ecuador and encouraged the local community to protect 3000 hectares of tropical forest. Data collected during monitoring were used to facilitate action and cooperation at local, regional, national, and international levels for conservation of biodiversity in western Ecuador, including the designation of an Important Bird Area in the region. Through involvement with the monitoring efforts, local people became more aware of the value of ecosystem services, learned about local birds and their conservation status, became familiar with ecotourism, and began to include conservation of biodiversity with sustainable development planning in their community. The context of monitoring, the objectives and participants, field methods, impacts in terms of conservation action, and the costs and benefits of the two monitoring initiatives are described.     

Did lemurs have sweepstake tickets? An exploration of Simpson's model for the colonization of Madagascar by mammals

Aim  To investigate the validity of Simpson's model of sweepstakes dispersal, particularly as it applies to the colonization of Madagascar by African mammals. We chose lemurs as a classic case.
Location  The East African coast, the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar.
Methods  First, we investigated the assumptions underlying Simpson's statistical model as it relates to dispersal events. Second, we modelled the fate of a natural raft carrying one or several migrating mammals under a range of environmental conditions: in the absence of winds or currents, in the presence of winds and currents, and with and without a sail. Finally, we investigated the possibility of an animal being transported across the Mozambique Channel by an extreme climatic event like a tornado or a cyclone .
Results  Our investigations show that Simpson's assumptions are consistently violated when applied to scenarios of over-water dispersal by mammals. We suggest that a simple binomial probability model is an inappropriate basis for extrapolating the likelihood of dispersal events. One possible alternative is to use a geometric probability model. Our estimates of current and wind trajectories show that the most likely fate for a raft emerging from an estuary on the east coast of Africa is to follow the Mozambique current and become beached back on the African coast. Given prevailing winds and currents, transport from Madagascar to Africa is very much more likely than the reverse process. Freak transport by means of a hurricane or tornado is even less likely than rafting for mammals.
Main conclusions  Our models suggest that the scenario of sweepstakes dispersal that currently enjoys wide support is not valid at either the theoretical or the applied level when applied to the hypothetical invasion of Madagascar by African mammals. Alternative explanations should be sought.     

Reptile, amphibian, and lemur diversity of the Malahelo Forest, a biogeographical transition zone in southeastern Madagascar

Ambatorongorongo Mountain lies at the historical intersection betweenhumid, spiny, and littoral forests in southeastern Madagascar. We report theresults of surveys of the herpetofauna and lemurs occurring in Malahelo Forest,a small (<25 ha) forest fragment lying on the western slope ofAmbatorongorongo Mountain. There are at least 41 reptile, 11 amphibian, and 7lemur species in this forest, including several that are endemic to southeasternMadagascar and are at severe risk of extinction. The species richness of theMalahelo fauna is comparable to that of even the largest forest reserves in theregion. We also evaluate the similarity of the Malahelo herpetofauna to that ofnearby humid, spiny, and littoral forests to assess the biogeographic affinitiesof its amphibians and reptile assemblages. Both groups contain speciescharacteristic of each of the three surrounding forest types, but thebiogeographic patterns appear to differ for amphibians and reptiles. Overall,the herpetofauna and lemurs of the Malahelo Forest indicate that it is a remnantof a biogeographic transition zone between the major forest types ofsoutheastern Madagascar. The combination of high species richness, regionalendemics, and unique herpetofaunal and lemur assemblages should make MalaheloForest a high conservation priority, and we give recommendations for protectingwhat remains of this important transitional forest.     

Monitoring Matters: Examining the Potential of Locally-based Approaches

Monitoring of biodiversity and resource use by professional scientists is often costly and hard to sustain, especially in developing countries, where financial resources are limited. Moreover, such monitoring can be logistically and technically difficult and is often perceived to be irrelevant by resource managers and the local communities. Alternatives are emerging, carried out at a local scale and by individuals with little formal education. The methods adopted span a spectrum, from participatory monitoring where aims and objectives are defined by the community, to ranger-based monitoring in protected areas. What distinguishes these approaches is that local people or local government staff are directly involved in data collection and (in most instances) analysis. In this issue of Biodiversity and Conservation, 15 case studies examine whether these new approaches can address the limitations of professional monitoring in developing countries. The case studies evaluate ongoing locally-based monitoring schemes involving more than 1500 community members in 13 countries. The papers are based on a symposium held in Denmark in April 2004 (www. monitoringmatters.org). Here, we review how the case studies shed light on the following key issues concerning locally-based methods: cost, sustainability, their ability to detect true local or larger-scale trends, their links to management decisions and action, and the empowerment of local constituencies. Locally-based monitoring appears to be consistently cheap relative to the costs of management and of professional monitoring, even though the start-up costs can be high. Most local monitoring schemes are still young and thus their chances of being sustained over the longer term are not yet certain. However, we believe their chances of surviving are better than many professional schemes, particularly when they are institutionalised within existing management structures, and linked to the delivery of ecosystem goods or services to local communities. When properly designed, local schemes yield locally relevant results that can be as reliable as those derived from professional monitoring. Many management decisions emanate from local schemes. The decisions appear to be taken promptly, in response to immediate threats to the environment, and often lead to community-based actions to protect habitats, species or the local flow of ecosystem benefits; however, few local schemes have so far led to actions beyond the local scale. Locally-based monitoring schemes often reinforce existing community-based resource management systems and lead to change in the attitude of locals towards more environmentally sustainable resource management. Locally-derived data have considerable unexplored potential to elucidate global patterns of change in the status of populations and habitats, the services they provide, and the threats they face, but more effort is needed to develop effective modalities for feeding locally-derived data up to national and international levels.     

Leaf chemistry and the biomass of folivorous primates in tropical forests

Summary Recent results have suggested that the biomass of folivorous arboreal primates per unit area in Africa and Asia is positively correlated with the average quality of leaves, expressed as the ratio of protein to fiber concentrations in a given forest. This hypothesis has been tested in different forests of Madagascar. Leaf selection of all folivorous femus species was studied in relation to leaf chemistry. Except for two populations ofLepilemur subspecies all other folivorous lemur species (including two other subspecies ofLepilemur) select leaves with high concentrations of easily extractable protein or low concentrations of fiber, or both. This confirms the prominent role of these two components in leaf selection by folivorous lemurs. The average quality of mature leaves in a given forest, expressed as the ratio of protein to fiber concentrations, is positively correlated with the biomass of folivorous lemurs. This confirms the hypothesis tested and suggests rather uniform selection processes for arboreal folivorous primates across the world.     

Monitoring and Evaluation of Reef Protected Areas by Local Fishers in the Philippines: Tightening the Adaptive Management Cycle

Monitoring by local community managers tightens the adaptive management cycle by linking management more closely with its evaluation, so management actions become more responsive to the field situation. Local community volunteers, usually fishers, managing coral reef protected areas in the Philippines used simple methods (e.g. snorkeling fish visual census) to periodically monitor and evaluate reef protection together with professional marine biologists. Except for estimates of hard coral, data collected by local volunteers were not significantly correlated with data collected by biologists (specifically abundance estimates of sand, major reef fish carnivores, and fish herbivores). Community-collected fish data generally have higher variance and show higher abundances than biologist-collected data. Nonetheless, though the data was less precise, the locally based monitoring identified or confirmed the need for management actions that were generic in nature (e.g. stronger enforcement, organizational strengthening, etc.). The locally based monitoring also encouraged cooperation among stakeholders and prompted a management response. Little time and financing is required after initial establishment and replication has been increasing. However, sustainability depends upon the communities’ perceived added-value of undertaking the monitoring and input from a paid and/or more committed local person (e.g. government) who occasionally conducts monitoring himself/herself and supervises the community monitoring. Management impact depends heavily upon good integration with active management interventions outside the monitoring effort per se     

三江平原湿地生态脆弱性研究

建立了湿地生态脆弱性评价指标体系和方法,并利用该方法对三江平原湿地进行了评价,依据湿地生态特征和发展演化规律选择评价指标,利用层次分析法（AHP）进行指标权重,用综合指数法评价湿地生态脆弱性程度,实践表明该方法科学,实用,对湿地资源的合理利用与保护具有指导意义,具有推广价值。     

Mapping the Information Landscape: Discerning Peaks and Valleys for Ecological Monitoring

We investigate previously unreported phenomena that have a potentially significant impact on the design of surveillance monitoring programs for ecological systems. Ecological monitoring practitioners have long recognized that different species are differentially informative of a system’s dynamics, as codified in the well-known concepts of indicator or keystone species. Using a novel combination of analysis techniques from nonlinear dynamics, we describe marked variation among spatial sites in information content with respect to system dynamics in the entire region. We first observed these phenomena in a spatially extended predator–prey model, but we observed strikingly similar features in verified water-level data from a NOAA/NOS Great Lakes monitoring program. We suggest that these features may be widespread and the design of surveillance monitoring programs should reflect knowledge of their existence.     

Monitoring wetlands in a salinizing landscape: case studies from the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia

Three elements of wetland biodiversity (aquatic invertebrates, waterbirds and overstorey vegetation of the wetland edge) have been monitored since 1998 at Lake Eganu and Paperbark Swamp in the Western Australian Wheatbelt to provide information about the changes occurring in wetland biodiversity in a landscape that is severely affected by dryland salinization. Changes in extent of wetland vegetation since the 1960s were examined using historical aerial photographs and waterbird use of Lake Eganu during the early 1980s was compared with recent waterbird survey results. Lake Eganu, which is within a major drainage line, started to become salinized in the mid-1960s, about 70 years after land clearing began in the catchment, and its salinity has increased an order of magnitude. The extent of wetland overstorey vegetation and the richness of freshwater aquatic invertebrates have both declined about 80%. Waterbird richness has also declined over the past 20 years, with changes in species composition. Salinization has not occurred at Paperbark Swamp, which is in a small catchment off the main drainage line, and there has been no consistent change in the biodiversity elements monitored.     

Wordbirds: Developing a Web-based Data Collection System for the Global Monitoring of Bird Distribution and Abundance

There is an urgent need to develop simple and effective methods for monitoring bird populations that are cheap to deploy in resource-poor countries. This paper describes a newly developed system, provisionally referred to as, Wordbirds, that will provide a platform for the collection, storage and retrieval of new and existing data from bird observations recorded worldwide. This Internet-based global network of databases will capture field lists and ad hoc sightings routinely gathered by individuals observing birds recreationally and professionally. Huge numbers of lists are collected annually and could provide information on population trends spanning many years. By collecting these records, a valuable resource will be secured with the potential to map and monitor bird distributions and estimate trends in species abundance. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Demography and social organization of free-ranging Lemur catta in the Beza Mahafaly Reserve,Madagascar

In 1987, a long-term study of the demography of Lemur catta was begun in southern Madagascar. Eighty-five ringtailed lemurs were captured, marked, and released. Adult age classes were estimated using patterns of dental attrition. Including young, 155 individuals from nine groups were identified and monitored over 18 months. The study population of the reserve remained stable, with a growth rate of 0.98. Group sizes ranged from nine to 22 individuals (mean 14). Home ranges were larger (32 ha) and population densities lower (135/km²) than those for previously studied populations, and there was a relationship between habitat quality (e.g., no. of large trees) and these factors. At the beginning of the study, there were more adult males than females, but the sex ratio reached 1.00 by the last census. Females first gave birth at 3 years of age, and 80% or more of the females gave birth in 2 consecutive years. Fifty-two percent of the infants died in the first year and, given preliminary findings, only 40% of those born reach adulthood. Age-specific fertility patterns were similar to those reported for anthropoid primates. Forty-seven percent of the adult males migrated or were missing within a year. This included 78% of the 3–4 year olds and 38% of older age classes. No females were observed to migrate. One group split during the study. Demographic patterns are discussed and related to patterns in other populations of ringtailed lemurs as well as in anthropoids.     

Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on indri (Indri indri) health in Madagascar

Anthropogenic habitat disturbance impairs ecosystem health by fragmenting forested areas, introducing environmental contamination, and reducing the quality of habitat resources. The effect of this disturbance on wildlife health is of particular concern in Madagascar, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, where anthropogenic pressures on the environment remain high. Despite the conservation importance of threatened lemur populations in Madagascar, few data exist on the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on lemur health. To examine these impacts, indri (Indri indri) populations were evaluated from two forest reserves that differ in their exposure to anthropogenic disturbance. We compared the health status of 36 indri individuals from two sites: one population from a protected, undisturbed area of lowland evergreen humid forest and the other population from a reserve exposed to frequent tourism and forest degradation. Comparison of indri health parameters between sites suggests an impact of anthropogenic disturbance, including significant differences in leukocyte count and differential, 12 serum parameters, 6 trace minerals, and a higher diversity of parasites, with a significant difference in the presence of the louse, Trichophilopterus babakotophilus. These data suggest that indri living in disturbed forests may experience physiological changes and increased susceptibility to parasitism, which may ultimately impair reproductive success and survival.     

Optimal gillnet sampling design for the estimation of fish community indicators in heterogeneous freshwater ecosystems

Monitoring of biota in heterogeneous ecosystems requires sampling in different habitats and across environmental gradients. The resulting multivariate community data are typically aggregated into one or several indicator values for the entire ecosystem, but the relationship between the robustness of such indicators and sampling effort, including the identification of minimum acceptable sampling designs, is not fully understood.We address this issue for multi-mesh gillnet sampling of freshwater fish communities in deep-valley reservoirs, using data from 29 detailed annual surveys in eight reservoirs in the Czech Republic that account for the inherent longitudinal and depth gradients and the qualitatively different benthic and pelagic habitats. We evaluate the performance of eight sampling scenarios, created by variously reducing the full dataset. To this end, we use 31 fish-based, community-, size- and species-level indicators calculated separately for benthic and pelagic habitats, and fit the relationships between the indicator values based on the reduced and full sampling design using Bayesian generalized linear models.The ability of reduced data to estimate the “true” indicator value across the entire dataset, expressed as the adjusted R² value of the best model for the given indicator, increased with sampling effort. However, the relationships differed between indicators: R² values were higher for abundance-based than for biomass-based indicators. We identified three suitable reduced sampling designs: (1) sampling the entire longitudinal profile in the epilimnion, yielding on average the highest R² values (0.97), (2) same as before but limited to one sampling layer closest to the surface (R² = 0.91), and (3) sampling all depth strata at the farthest points of the longitudinal gradient (i.e., dam and tributary, R² = 0.83). These results demonstrate that, in order to obtain robust estimates of fish community indicators, current gillnet sampling protocols can be optimized to reduce effort and minimize unwanted fish mortality.     

小城镇土地利用变化的生态效应分析

采用系统生态学方法,尤其是应用了Simpson生物多样性指数法,前后相隔10年为时间跨度,对小城镇发展典型地区浙江省绍兴县某镇土地利用变化导致的生态效应进行了初步定量分析与研究.结果表明,由于土地使用功能的改变,导致了以绿色植物为计数的Simpson指数增加近2倍,而以土壤微生物为参照的工业和居住用地的Simpson指数均高于农业用地,反映该小城镇发展过程中生物多样性明显降低,并出现了局部气候的恶化(表现为镇区内年平均气温上升,而年平均相对湿度下降)等不良生态效应.     

Motivations for the Ownership of Captive Lemurs in Madagascar

The live capture of primates is occurring throughout the tropics and can be a threat to their conservation. Primates are owned as pets for a variety of reasons. Studies of the motivations for primate ownership have been conducted in several countries where they are endemic, but no study has examined this issue in Madagascar. Madagascar is home to the highest number of threatened primate taxa in any one country, and an estimated 28,000 lemurs were kept in illegal captivity from 2010 to mid-2013. We aimed to expand knowledge about the motivations of lemur ownership in Madagascar. Data were collected via a web-based survey (n = 229 respondents) and from the websites and social media pages of 25 hotels. We found that many lemurs (45%) were seen on the premises of a business or in a private home (27%). Many lemurs were perceived to be kept as personal pets (37%) or for money-making or tourism purposes (20%). When lemurs were used for money-making, owners could receive indirect (72% of the time) and direct benefits (28%). Hotels showing photographs of captive lemurs on their websites and social media sites charged USD 25.69 more per night for a standard room than hotels that did not show such photographs. We found little evidence that captive lemurs are kept as a social status symbol, for captive breeding, or as a fallback food. These findings provide evidence that the motivations for the ownership of, usually illegal, captive lemurs is typically linked with money-making or with the desire to have a lemur as a pet. These data can help target new outreach programs.