Comparative assessment of indices of freshwater habitat conditions using different invertebrate taxon sets

Monitoring changes in population levels of a wide range of species in biodiversity research and conservation requires practical, easy-to-use and efficient assessment and monitoring methods. Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) are a valuable tool for assessing aquatic systems and have been used as indicators of ecological health, ecological integrity, and environmental change, including climatic change, as well as indicators of habitat recovery. We field-tested a freshwater ecological integrity index, the Dragonfly Biotic Index (DBI), based on dragonfly assemblages at the local scale, and compared the DBI to a biodiversity index (average taxonomic distinctness, AvTD) as well as to a standard freshwater benthic macroinvertebrate-based freshwater health index (South African Scoring System, using Average Score Per Taxon, ASPT). We sampled 20 river sites, selected a priori. Adult dragonflies and benthic macroinvertebrates were collected using standardized methods. Environmental variables were collected in situ, and water samples taken. Temperature and pH were the most important physical environmental variables in explaining the assemblage structure, and we found significant abiotic–biotic relationships, as well as biotic–biotic relationships. Overall, dragonflies were more sensitive to changes in river condition than were macroinvertebrates, in part because they were responding at the species rather than higher taxonomic level. AvTD scores did not show any significant relationship with changes in river condition. Furthermore, sites with low biotic scores (indicating disturbance) had high AvTD values. In contrast, DBI site value and ASPT scores were highly significantly correlated. We conclude that dragonfly assemblages in the form of a DBI are an excellent tool for environmental assessment and monitoring freshwater biodiversity, with the potential to replace labour-intensive benthic macroinvertebrate-based freshwater quality assessments, such as SASS.     

Comparative effects of urban and agricultural land transformation on Odonata assemblages in a biodiversity hotspot

Rivers of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) biodiversity hotspot are threatened by land transformation. This region is a centre of endemism for many taxa, including Odonata. These insects are highly sensitive to changes in physical habitat structure, which makes them good bioindicators, and this led to the development of the Dragonfly Biotic Index (DBI). We investigated the effects of local agricultural and urban land transformations on Odonata species richness, assemblage composition and DBI scores in three CFR rivers. A total of 48 sites were selected and categorized as natural, agricultural or urban land use. Adult male Odonata and four environmental variables were recorded over two seasons. Land transformation significantly influenced Odonata assemblage composition but did not always significantly reduce species richness. Average vegetation height also affected Odonata assemblage composition and decreased species richness. Agricultural and urban sites had Odonata assemblages differing from those in the natural areas. Agricultural and urban local land use types reduced opportunities for some endemic species but provided for the persistence and establishment of widespread, generalist species, as indicated by great changes in DBI scores. Mitigating the adverse influences of land transformation through establishment of protected areas is essential for the conservation of rare taxa, particularly in an area with a high number of endemic species.     

Species richness and taxonomic distinctness of lake macrophytes along environmental gradients in two continents

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Habitat suitability models to make conservation decisions based on areas of high species richness and endemism

Biodiversity positively relates with the provisioning of ecosystem services and preserving areas with elevated diversity of highly-functional species could help to ensure human well-being. Most studies addressed to make these decisions use maps relying on species occurrences, where sites containing several species are proposed as priority conservation areas. These maps, however, may underestimate species richness because of the incompleteness of occurrence data. To improve this methodology, we propose using habitat suitability models to estimate the potential distribution of species from occurrence data, and later shaping richness maps by overlapping these predicted distribution ranges. We tested this proposal with Mexican oaks because they provide several ecosystem services and habitat suitability models of species were calibrated with MaxEnt. We used linear regressions to compare the outputs of these predictive maps with those of maps based on species occurrences only and, for both mapping methods, we assessed how much surface of sites with elevated richness and endemism of oaks is currently included within nature reserves. Both mapping methods indicated that oak species are concentrated in mountain regions of Mexico, but predictive maps based on habitat suitability models indicated higher oak richness and endemism that maps based on species occurrences only. Our results also indicated that nature reserves cover a small fraction of areas harboring elevated richness and endemism of oaks. These results suggest that estimating richness across extensive geographic regions using habitat suitability models quickly provides accurate information to make conservation decisions for highly-functional species groups.     

Ecoregion Prioritization Suggests an Armoury Not a Silver Bullet for Conservation Planning

In the face of accelerating species extinctions, map-based prioritization systems are increasingly useful to decide where to pursue conservation action most effectively. However, a number of seemingly inconsistent schemes have emerged, mostly focussing on endemism. Here we use global vertebrate distributions in terrestrial ecoregions to evaluate how continuous and categorical ranking schemes target and accumulate endangered taxa within the IUCN Red List, Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), and EDGE of Existence programme. We employed total, endemic and threatened species richness and an estimator for richness-adjusted endemism as metrics in continuous prioritization, and WWF''s Global200 and Conservation International''s (CI) Hotspots in categorical prioritization. Our results demonstrate that all metrics target endangerment more efficiently than by chance, but each selects unique sets of top-ranking ecoregions, which overlap only partially, and include different sets of threatened species. Using the top 100 ecoregions as defined by continuous prioritization metrics, we develop an inclusive map for global vertebrate conservation that incorporates important areas for endemism, richness, and threat. Finally, we assess human footprint and protection levels within these areas to reveal that endemism sites are more impacted but have more protection, in contrast to high richness and threat ones. Given such contrasts, major efforts to protect global biodiversity must involve complementary conservation approaches in areas of unique species as well as those with highest diversity and threat.     

Conserving freshwater biodiversity: The value,status and management of high quality ditch systems

Freshwater biodiversity is globally threatened and while most conservation efforts are focussed on natural and larger freshwater systems such as rivers and lakes, in many lowland agricultural landscapes artificial water bodies including ditches may be equally important as habitats for freshwater species. Ditches occur across the agricultural landscape but in particular, those associated with coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, have high conservation value. The importance of this habitat for rare and threatened species afforded priority status under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan is explored. The characteristics of ditches that have high conservation value are described and a set of targets against which such ditches can be assessed are presented. An analysis of the current condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the wider coastal and floodplain grazing marsh habitat demonstrates the range of pressures affecting these sites and highlights that alongside generic freshwater issues such as eutrophication and non-native species, these sites have a unique set of pressures associated with their ongoing management and the vulnerable location of many sites at the coast. Wider conservation strategies for freshwater biodiversity in lowland landscapes across Europe need to factor in the different management requirements of artificial habitats such as ditches alongside more ambitious restoration projects for natural waterbodies. In low lying coastal areas the threat of coastal squeeze for many important grazing marshes will require a strategic approach to allow upstream migration of important biodiversity.     

Spatial and seasonal distribution patterns of fish assemblages in the Río Champotón, southeastern Mexico

Río Champotón in the Yucatán Peninsula is within the Usumacinta Province, the most diverse in fish fauna in Mexico, and is part of the Mesoamerican hotspot, with high endemism and exceptional habitat loss. The spatial and seasonal variability of its fish fauna and their relation to physical habitat characteristics were studied, finding 53 taxa. Canonical correspondence analysis shows salinity, distance from the river mouth, and substratum type differentiate an estuarine and a freshwater region. Fish fauna replacement was observed, with taxa exclusive to each region: 26 estuarine and 27 freshwater species. Six freshwater species enter the estuarine region when the high river flow depletes salinity. Estuary showed greater seasonal differences in specific richness than the freshwater region, which have sites with higher local specific richness. Despite its small drainage, Río Champotón has a highly diverse fish fauna and some areas are affected by human activity and the hurricane season. Its conservation is of critical importance.     

A comparative measure of biodiversity based on species composition

In conservation planning, species richness and species endemism are the most often used metrics for describing the biodiversity importance of areas. However, when it comes to prioritizing regions for conservation actions these measures alone are insufficient because they do not reveal how similar or different the actual composition of species may be from one area to another. For comparative analysis an additional useful metric would be one that indicates the degree to which the species assemblage in one area is also represented in—or is distinct from—species assemblages of other areas. Here we describe a method for quantifying the compositional representativeness of species assemblages among geographic regions. The method generates asymmetric pairwise similarity coefficients that are then used to calculate separate measures for the representativeness and the distinctiveness of species assemblages in the regions being compared. We demonstrate the method by comparing fish communities among freshwater ecoregions of the Mississippi Basin, and then among smaller hydrological units within two individual freshwater ecoregions. At both scales of analysis, our measures of representativeness and distinctiveness reveal patterns of fish species composition that differ from patterns of species richness. This information can enhance conservation planning processes by ensuring that priority-setting explicitly consider the most representative and distinctive species assemblages.     

Tibetan sacred sites conserve old growth trees and cover in the eastern Himalayas

Khawa Karpo, in the eastern Himalayas, is a mountain considered sacred throughout Tibet, and is internationally recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. Numerous areas within this landscape are considered ‘sacred’ by the indigenous Tibetans of the region, who interact with these sites in ways potentially beneficial to conservation. Our previous remote sensing study indicated that sacred sites are found in habitats with greater species richness, diversity, and endemism than randomly selected non-sacred sites. This study examines the role of sanctity in biodiversity conservation within habitats in the Khawa Karpo region by pairing plots within the same habitats in sacred and non-sacred areas. Understory richness, diversity, cover, and number of useful species are measured; for trees, richness, diversity, cover, and density are measured. Results indicate that within habitats sanctity does not affect understory plant communities; however, within sacred areas trees are larger (p = 0.003) and forests have greater cover (p = 0.003) than non-sacred areas. Our results indicate that, whereas placement of sacred areas and preservation of vegetation cover affects useful plants, biodiversity and endemism, within habitats sacred sites preserve old growth trees and forest structure. In sum, Tibetan sacred sites are ecologically unique and important for conservation on varying scales of landscape, community, and species.     

Scale dependency of two endangered charismatic species as biodiversity surrogates

Charismatic megafauna have been used as icons and financial drivers of conservation efforts worldwide given that they are useful surrogates for biodiversity in general. However, tests of this premise have been constrained by data limitations, especially at large scales. Here we overcome this problem by combining large-scale citizen-sourced data with intensive expert observations of two endangered charismatic species, Blakiston’s fish owl (forest specialist) and the red-crowned crane (wetland specialist). We constructed large-scale maps of species richness for 52 forest and 23 grassland/wetland bird species using hierarchical community modeling and citizen-sourced data at 1, 2, 5, and 10-km grid resolutions. We compared the species richness of forest and grassland/wetland birds between the breeding and non-breeding sites of the two charismatic birds at each of the four spatial resolutions, and then assessed the scale dependency of the biodiversity surrogates. Regardless of the habitat amounts, owl and crane breeding sites had higher forest and grassland/wetland bird species richness, respectively. However, this surrogacy was more effective at finer scales (1–2-km resolutions), which corresponds to the charismatic species’ home range sizes (up to 9.4 ± 2.0 km² for fish owls, and 3–4 km² for cranes). Species richness showed the highest spatial variations at 1–2-km resolutions. We suggest that the agreement of functional scales between surrogate species and broader biodiversity is essential for successful surrogacy, and that habitat conservation and restoration targeting multiple charismatic species with different specialties can complement to biodiversity conservation.     

A test of traditional diversity measures and taxonomic distinctness indices on benthic diatoms of soda pans in the Carpathian basin

Saline lakes are threatened all over the world and their conservation has been a key issue. Various diversity indices are available for ecological status assessments, however, with poorly explored relevance and applicability in saline, alkaline pans. Therefore, traditional diversity measures (species richness and Shannon diversity) and taxonomic distinctness indices (Average [AvTD] and Variance of Taxonomic Distinctness [VarTD]) were tested in more than 100 sampling sites of 39 soda pans in Central-Europe to find sufficient indicators of the ecological condition and simultaneously to facilitate their preservation according to the modern conservation practices. Results of the analyses showed that healthy soda pan ecosystems with high level of natural stress and reduced habitat heterogeneity are characterized by low diversity diatom assemblages. In soda pans where the stress can be extremely high from natural reasons, oligopoly of closely related species can develop: the average taxonomic distinctness appeared between genus and family level. The non-DNA-sequence based phylogenetic diversity measures (AvTD and VarTD), were generally sensitive to the trophic state of the lakes, in contrast to traditional diversity metrics, which were unequivocally indicative for the special physical and chemical parameters (e.g. conductivity, pH) of the soda pans. In some cases, when the response of the diversity measures for a given environmental variable (pH, temperature) overlapped, the AvTD was found to be a more precise indicator of the environmental changes (pH) than traditional ones. The decreasing tendency of the AvTD along the intensified natural impact may be explained by the long available time for the species to adapt to these special environments.     

Freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) richness and endemism in the ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar based on comprehensive museum sampling

The objective of this study was to assess freshwater mussel (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoida) species distributions among the freshwater ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar to discover areas of high richness and endemism. These are among the top criteria for identifying biodiversity hotspots and establishing conservation priorities. Distributions were determined from museum specimens in 17 collections. In total, 5,612 records for 87 unionoid species could each be assigned to one of 90 freshwater ecoregions. The majority of species (55%) are known from only one (34 spp.) or two (14) ecoregions. Only three are known from more than 20 ecoregions: Etheria elliptica (38 ecoregions), Chambardia wahlbergi (25), and Mutela rostrata (21). The most species-rich ecoregions are Lake Victoria Basin (17 spp.), Upper Nile (16), Upper Congo (14), Senegal–Gambia (13), and Sudanic Congo–Oubangi (13). Those with the most endemic species are Lake Tanganyika (8 spp.), Lake Victoria Basin (6), Bangweulu–Mweru (4), and Lake Malawi (3). Twenty-five ecoregions have no known freshwater mussels. These patterns are significantly correlated with fish and general freshwater mollusk richness. Unionoid richness also varies significantly among major habitat types. These patterns are relevant to biogeography and conservation and indicate areas in need of further research. We argue that freshwater mussels are valuable as focal species for conservation assessments, and they themselves merit management consideration for their ecosystem functions and distributions in imperiled habitats. It is recommended that field surveys be conducted to determine the current status of species in all areas of Africa and Madagascar.     

Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forests: a functional approach to measuring restoration

Ecological restoration is increasingly applied in tropical forests to mitigate biodiversity loss and recover ecosystem functions. In restoration ecology, functional richness, rather than species richness, often determines community assembly, and measures of functional diversity provide a mechanistic link between diversity and ecological functioning of restored habitat. Vertebrate animals are important for ecosystem functioning. Here, we examine the functional diversity of small‐to‐medium sized mammals to evaluate the diversity and functional recovery of tropical rainforest. We assess how mammal species diversity and composition and functional diversity and composition, vary along a restoration chronosequence from degraded pasture to “old‐growth” tropical rainforest in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Species richness, diversity, evenness, and abundance did not vary, but total mammal biomass and mean species body mass increased with restoration age. Species composition in restoration forests converged on the composition of old‐growth rainforest and diverged from pasture with increasing restoration age. Functional metrics provided a clearer pattern of recovery than traditional species metrics, with most functional metrics significantly increasing with restoration age when taxonomic‐based metrics did not. Functional evenness and dispersion increased significantly with restoration age, suggesting that niche complementarity enhances species' abundances in restored sites. The change in community composition represented a functional shift from invasive, herbivorous, terrestrial habitat generalists and open environment specialists in pasture and young restoration sites, to predominantly endemic, folivorous, arboreal, and fossorial forest species in older restoration sites. This shift has positive implications for conservation and demonstrates the potential of tropical forest restoration to recover rainforest‐like, diverse faunal communities.     

Spider community responses to grassland restoration: balancing trade‐offs between abundance and diversity

Spiders (Araneae) play key roles in ecosystems, not only as common and abundant generalist predators, but also as major contributors to biodiversity in many areas. In addition, due to their short generation times and high mobility, spiders respond rapidly to small changes in their environment, potentially making them useful indicators for restoration monitoring. However, few studies have focused on spider responses to grassland restoration in the United States. We compared degraded, native, and restored grassland sites to examine how spider communities and habitat respond to arid grassland restoration. We also examined how responses varied with the age of the restoration project. Spider communities in native sites differed from those in restored and degraded sites in several ways: native sites had fewer spiders and a different community composition than degraded and restored sites. However, native and restored sites had more species than degraded sites. Chronosequence data showed trends for lower abundance, higher species richness, and changing community composition as restoration projects mature. Several habitat variables were closely linked to variation in spider communities including cover of invasive annual grasses, litter, and biological soil crusts. Our data suggest that spider and vegetation responses to grassland restoration efforts can be successful in the long term—with resulting communities becoming more similar to native ones—and that spiders are useful indictors of grassland restoration. Our results also suggest that restoration may involve balancing trade‐offs between ecosystem services, with potential losses in predatory control offset by increases in biodiversity with restoration effort.     

Do hotspots fall within protected areas? A Geographic Approach to Planning analysis of regional freshwater biodiversity

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Biogeography of freshwater fishes of the Balkan Peninsula

Delineating biogeographical regions is a critical step towards the establishment and evaluation of conservation priorities. In the present study, we analysed the distribution patterns of the freshwater fish of an understudied European biodiversity hotspot, the Balkan Peninsula. Based on the most extensive available database of native freshwater fish species distributions, we performed a hierarchical clustering analysis to identify the major biogeographical regions of the Balkan Peninsula. We also highlighted the ‘hottest hotspots’ of freshwater fish diversity across the delimited biogeographical regions by describing the patterns of species richness, endemic and vulnerable species; indicator species were also determined. The bioregionalisation scheme consisted of eight groups of drainage basins that correspond to distinct regions of the Balkan Peninsula. Overall, the delineated biogeographical regions varied in terms of species richness, endemism, vulnerability (i.e. extinction threats) and indicator species composition. From a conservation perspective, this study emphasises the prioritisation of areas characterised by high levels of irreplaceability (endemism) and vulnerability (i.e. the Attikobeotia region, Ionian Sea and Prespa Lakes) and stresses the necessity of implementing a network of protected freshwater areas across the Balkan Peninsula.     

The influence of sampling intensity on the perception of the spatial distribution of tropical diversity and endemism: a case study of ferns from Bolivia

The distribution of tropical plant and animal diversity is still poorly documented, especially at spatial resolutions of practical use for conservation. In the present study, we evaluated the level to which geographical incomplete data availability of species occurrence affects the perception of biodiversity patterns (species richness and endemism) among pteridophytes in Bolivia. We used a data base of Bolivian pteridophytes (27,501 records), divided it into three time periods (1900–70, up to 1990 and up to 2006), and created grid-files at 15'-resolution for species richness and endemism. For each of these biodiversity properties we estimated the species richness (Chao 2) and the index of sampling completeness (C index) per grid, and then all these variables at both species richness and endemism were correlated. Patterns of richness were fairly consistent along all periods; the richest areas were placed along the humid-montane forest, even though they were strongly influenced by collecting intensity. Endemism had a lower degree of correlation with collecting intensity, but varied much more strongly through time than species richness. According to the C index, which gives the ratio between estimated (by Chao 2) and recorded values of species richness and endemism, both biodiversity properties tended to be undersampled in the richest grid cells. Inter-temporal correlations showed sharper differences of correlations for endemism than species richness. Consequently, already in 1970, botanists had a correct idea of the spatial distribution of pteridophyte richness in Bolivia (even though the magnitude was grossly underestimated). In contrast, patterns of endemism, which are of high conservation importance, may not even today be reliably known.     

Passive restoration contributes to bird conservation in Brazilian Pampa grasslands

The global decline of biodiversity makes it important to find affordable ways to conserve and restore habitats. Restoration is useful for conserving native grasslands, with passive restoration defined as either natural colonization or unassisted recovery. Grasslands in southeastern South America have been transformed into croplands and impacted by other human activities. We describe the first assessment of passive restoration as a management tool to conserve birds in the Pampa grasslands of Brazil. We compared bird species richness using coverage‐based rarefaction and extrapolation, applying PERMANOVA for composition, and the abundance of bird communities between sites undergoing passive restoration (PR) and sites with native grasslands (NG). We employed fitted generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to quantify relationships between bird occurrence and vegetation structure and cover. We recorded 61 species of birds during our study (45 in PR and 46 in NG) and 762 individuals (333 in PR and 429 in NG). Of these species, 15 were restricted to PR and 16 to NG. Grassland specialists and threatened species were found in both PR and NG, and only vegetation height differed between PR and NG. We detected eight species of conservation concern, including three recorded only in PR, three only in NG, and two in both PR and NG. The absence of marked differences in species richness and composition of bird communities between passive‐restoration and native grasslands in our study suggests that grasslands in the process of passive restoration can provide habitat for many species of grassland birds and that passive restoration is an appropriate management tool for biodiversity conservation in Brazilian grasslands.     

基于系统发育的黄土高原地区木本植物多样性及特有性格局

黄土高原地区植被类型多样, 森林、草原和荒漠在此交汇并逐渐过渡。由于水热条件限制和人类活动加剧, 该地区生态环境脆弱, 生物多样性保护面临的形势日益严峻, 因此获取该区域物种多样性的空间分布格局并阐明其影响因素成为该地区生物多样性保护的首要任务。本研究首先结合标本采集记录与环境因子, 利用物种分布模型获取了293种木本植物的潜在分布区, 分析了物种丰富度和物种加权特有性的空间格局。其次, 引入系统发育信息, 分析系统发育多样性和系统发育特有性的空间格局, 并进一步利用环境因子对上述格局分别进行解释。最后, 对黄土高原地区的特有中心性质和显著性进行分析。结果表明, 生物多样性热点地区均出现在黄土高原南部水热条件较好的地区, 即秦岭和中条山一带。本区域的生物多样性空间格局由年平均降水量和最冷月最低温主导, 符合植物区系交汇带的特点。特有中心集中在南部地区和青海省, 由南向北分别是古特有中心和混合特有中心, 不存在单独的新特有中心。黄土高原地区木本植物起源较为古老, 生物多样性格局的形成以来源于热带或亚热带的物种扩散为主, 物种的分化不占主导地位。上述结果表明了将植物的进化历史纳入生物多样性保护的重要性。     

Acridids as indicators of disturbance in dry deciduous forest of West Bengal in India

Acridid communities are sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and the community structure of acridids plays vital role in functioning the forest ecosystem. They are potentially useful bioindicators for conservation planning and habitat disturbances. Acridid assemblages of three different habitat types based on degree of disturbance as follows five natural sites, five moderately disturbed sites and five highly disturbed sites in Chaupahari forest, West Bengal, India were studied. Diversity, abundance, equitability and species richness of acridid were observed in respect to undisturbed and disturbed habitats. The species richness and diversity of the sites tracked the intensity of disturbance, the greatest value being associated with the natural site followed by the moderately disturbed site and highly disturbed site. The highest species richness and diversity index indicate the suitable habitat for acridid population. Statistical analysis infers that different species show different behavior and the sites are also different in relation to different habitat types.