Why conserve biodiversity? A multi-national exploration of stakeholders’ views on the arguments for biodiversity conservation

Given the concern about biodiversity loss, there are a number of arguments used for biodiversity conservation ranging from those emphasising the intrinsic value of biodiversity to those on the direct use value of ecosystems. Yet arguing the case for biodiversity conservation effectively requires an understanding of why people value biodiversity. We used Q methodology to explore and understand how different conservation practitioners (social and natural science researchers, environmental non-Governmental organisations and decision-makers) in nine European countries argue for conservation. We found that there was a plurality of views about biodiversity and its conservation. A moral argument and some arguments around the intrinsic and ecological value of biodiversity were held by all stakeholder groups. They also shared the view that species valuation does not justify the destruction of nature. However, there were also some differences within and between the groups, which primarily reflected the espousal of either ecocentric or anthropocentric viewpoints. Our findings suggest that moral arguments and those around biodiversity’s intrinsic and ecological value could potentially serve as a starting point for building consensus among conservation practitioners.     

Integrating biodiversity conservation into land consolidation in hilly areas – A case study in southwest China

Based on the analysis of land consolidation engineering effects on biodiversity conservation in hilly areas, this study considers integrating biodiversity conservation into traditional land consolidation projects and integration biodiversity conservation measures into land consolidation engineering from the overall planning, land leveling engineering, farmland water conservancy engineering, roads and landscape construction engineering respectively. It aims to conserve biodiversity and improve eco-environment and arable land quality for increase yields of crops by integration biodiversity conservation ideas and measures into land consolidation activities in advance.     

Are current protections of land snails in Hungary relevant to conservation?

Legal instruments for species conservation have been criticised because they take a long time to draw up and implement and because invertebrates are highly underrepresented. For these reasons legal documents need regular re-evaluation as more data and effective methods are available. The effectiveness of the Hungarian legislative texts was assessed by the congruence between protection status and conservation priority of the species. Species were prioritised according to the conservation priority index (CPI = MRI × PBR), which included mollusca rarity index (MRI) and protection-by-reserves score (PBR). Mollusca rarity index was an additive scoring method including global range size, local frequency, and a correction factor due to the biased frequency estimate or special importance of some species. PBR scores expressed the lack of congruence between distribution of reserves and distribution of species. I used the distribution data of 121 Hungarian land snail species based on 10 × 10 km resolution grid system. Current protection status of the species was associated with rarity, whereas the congruence between species occurrences and the location of existing reserves has been overlooked. Based on the 25% of the species with highest CPI scores, the species Helicigona planospira was highly recommended and 9 other species was recommended for protection. Two thirds of the occurrences of the strictly protected and endemic species Hygromia kovacsi and more than 25% of the occurrences of 10 protected species were located outside of current reserves. Local populations of these species need monitoring in order to detect changes in the area of occupancy.     

Is the amount and focus of ecological research in New Zealand sufficient to sustain indigenous biodiversity on private land?

By summarising ecological publications over the last 30 years, this paper provides an assessment of the amount and focus of New Zealand ecological research with respect to land tenure. While the number of published articles that deal with private land has increased over the last 30 years, the majority of New Zealand ecological research publications (65%) still focuses on public conservation lands, despite these only accounting for c. 30% of the land area. Even with the increasing emphasis in ecological research on private land there is still a need to better understand both the distribution of indigenous biodiversity and the interactions that occur between land management and indigenous biodiversity on private land. Such research is essential if we are to sustain indigenous biodiversity in lowland New Zealand.     

Impact of land use on plant biodiversity and measures for biodiversity conservation in the Loess Plateau in China – a case study in a hilly-gully region of the Northern Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau is a special natural–cultural unit in northern China. Intensive land use in the past has had, and forestation and grass planting at present will have inevitable impacts on plant biodiversity in the Loess Plateau. Based on the analysis of floristic features within three sampling sites with different land use practices and analysis of species richness among different land use types, we discuss impacts of land use on species richness and floristic features in the Northern Loess Plateau. The results drawn from this case study are as follows: (1) It appears that forestation and grass planting have had a positive influence on the local species diversity, but they have contributed little to the native vegetation in terms of conserving its floristic features. (2) Caragana intermedia shrubland, Pinus tabulaeformis forestland, and natural grassland have made important contributions to supporting indigenous species and maintaining local plant biodiversity. (3) There is a significant positive correlation between land use diversity and species richness. These results imply that practicing biodiversity conservation in situ is feasible and the suitable choice for the Loess Plateau. Concrete measures for biodiversity conservation in the area can include setting up small nature reserves and diversifying land use patterns to maintain as much habitat as possible for native vegetation. The artificial Hippophae rhamnoides shrubland should not be further promoted, considering its negative influence on biodiversity conservation.     

How do biodiversity and conservation values relate to landscape preferences? A case study from the Swiss Alps

The importance of the values underlying different concepts of biodiversity conservation and landscape planning is increasingly recognised, and yet these value judgements of the public and of experts are still poorly understood. Although landscape and conservation management are closely interrelated and measures in one field are likely to have effects on the other, the relationship between biodiversity and conservation values on the one hand, and landscape preferences on the other hand, has been hardly explored so far. This study represents a first attempt to empirically examine this relationship from an integrated perspective, considering philosophical, ecological and economic aspects and using items focused on biodiversity. We used a quantitative survey of the general Swiss population with visualisations of potential landscape developments in the Swiss Alps and items related to biodiversity- and conservation-values. Our research shows that respondents who prefer reforested landscapes tend to be more concerned about the conservation of species, landscapes, and natural processes than people preferring cultural landscapes. Respondents who prefer cultural landscapes are more oriented towards utilitarian values and are overrepresented in mountain areas as compared to the lowlands, thus in areas that are more likely to become the target of conservation measures. Our findings have practical implications for conservation in Switzerland and other mountainous areas, particularly in times of agricultural decline and land abandonment and their associated changes in landscape and biodiversity.     

Can rice field channels contribute to biodiversity conservation in Southern Brazilian wetlands?

Conservation of species in agroecosystems has attracted attention. Irrigation channels can improve habitats and offer conditions for freshwater species conservation. Two questions from biodiversity conservation point of view are: 1) Can the irrigated channels maintain a rich diversity of macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and amphibians over the cultivation cycle? 2) Do richness, abundance and composition of aquatic species change over the rice cultivation cycle? For this, a set of four rice field channels was randomly selected in Southern Brazilian wetlands. In each channel, six sample collection events were carried out over the rice cultivation cycle (June 2005 to June 2006). A total of 160 taxa were identified in irrigated channels, including 59 macrophyte species, 91 taxa of macroinvertebrate and 10 amphibian species. The richness and abundance of macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and amphibians did not change significantly over the rice cultivation cycle. However, the species composition of these groups in the irrigation channels varied between uncultivated and cultivated periods. Our results showed that the species diversity found in the irrigation channels, together with the permanence of water enables these man-made aquatic networks to function as important systems that can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in regions where the wetlands were converted into rice fields. The conservation of the species in agriculture, such as rice field channels, may be an important alternative for biodiversity conservation in Southern Brazil, where more than 90% of wetland systems have already been lost and the remaining ones are still at high risk due to the expansion of rice production.     

Failure to achieve 2010 biodiversity’s target in developing countries: How can conservation help?

Conservation and wise management of biodiversity is critical for better livelihoods, especially in developing countries. Given the failure to achieve the global target set under convention on biological diversity (CBD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, developing countries more than ever need better technologies to conserve and manage biodiversity. Despite billions of poor people depending on biodiversity as their main source of health care needs and food the lack of effective strategy or coherent policy instrument for biodiversity conservation remains a key issue. The importance of biodiversity conservation for the benefit of developing countries is inextricably linked to developments in biotechnology, particularly genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The Rio+20 meeting in June 2012 and CBD conference of the parties 11 in October 2012 are the next real opportunities to strengthen existing frameworks and prioritize types of technological innovation to enhance biodiversity conservation and development.     

Why are Dormice rare? A case study in conservation biology

In the last 100 years, the Dormouse Muscardinus avellcmarius has disappeared from about half its geographical range in Britain. Evidence is presented which indicates that declining range and numbers are due to a complex interplay of factors which include fragmentation, deterioration and loss of specialized habitat. The Dormouse is unusual in being a relatively A-selected small mammal, with exacting ecological requirements which render it very vulnerable, particularly to habitat fragmentation. The Dormouse is also sensitive to climate, both directly and probably indirectly through the effects of weather on the timing and abundance of food (insects, flowers and fruits). Combined with low population density and low intrinsic rate of population increase, this makes the Dormouse highly vulnerable, not just to absolute climatic measures (e.g. temperature, rainfall), but especially to climatic stochasticity, particularly at the edge of its range. There are strong associations between the distribution and changing status of the Dormouse and various climatic parameters, and clear parallels with other climate-sensitive taxa, notably bats and butterflies.
The Dormouse is a very specialized species, highly sensitive to environmental change, resulting in its piecemeal, progressive extinction, particularly in northern counties. It is likely to be a very sensitive indicator species for monitoring future changing environments and an excellent model for studying the effects of habitat fragmentation, climatic shifts and climatic stochasticity.     

Role of capitals and capabilities in ensuring economic resilience of land conservation efforts: A case study of the grain for green project in China’s Loess Hills

The article describes how economic resilience of farming households can be measured using a composite indicator of revealed adaptive actions, and investigates how capabilities of farm households to recombine human, financial, natural and physical capitals are linked to observed economic resilience to land set-aside interventions. The land set-aside intervention known as the Grain for Green Project (GGP), which has been altering livelihoods of farming households in China’s Loess Hills since 1999, is taken as a case study. Household surveys were conducted in three V-shaped valleys and three riparian areas in Yanhe Township in northwestern China in an effort to measure household resilience and explore its’ relationship to forms of capital. A composite index of adaptive strategies that can reorganize livelihood activities under land set-aside intervention into a new economic equilibrium is crafted using an objective weighting scheme based on principal component analysis. Subsequently, a multiple regression model was utilized to examine the relationship between the composite resilience index and various indicators related to human, social, financial, natural and physical capitals. The results reveal the latent structure and internal correlations of adaptive strategies, and present quantitative evidence about the relationship between livelihood capitals and household economic resilience. The analysis shows that household resilience deteriorates when the ratio of GGP land to cultivated farmland goes above a threshold level, and revealed that interventions targeting various forms of capitals can enhance the economic resilience for households to conservation efforts.     

Mapping spatial pattern in biodiversity for regional conservation planning: where to from here?

Vast gaps in available information on the spatial distribution of biodiversity pose a major challenge for regional conservation planning in many parts of the world. This problem is often addressed by basing such planning on various biodiversity surrogates. In some situations, distributional data for selected taxa may be used as surrogates for biodiversity as a whole. However, this approach is less effective in data-poor regions, where there may be little choice but to base conservation planning on some form of remote environmental mapping, derived, for example, from interpretation of satellite imagery or from numerical classification of abiotic environmental layers. Although this alternative approach confers obvious benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness and rapidity of application, problems may arise if congruence is poor between mapped land-classes and actual biological distributions. I propose three strategies for making more effective use of available biological data and knowledge to alleviate such problems by (1) more closely integrating biological and environmental data through predictive modeling, with increased emphasis on modeling collective properties of biodiversity rather than individual entities; (2) making more rigorous use of remotely mapped surrogates in conservation planning by incorporating knowledge of heterogeneity within land-classes, and of varying levels of distinctiveness between classes, into measures of conservation priority and achievement; and (3) using relatively data-rich regions as test-beds for evaluating the performance of surrogates that can be readily applied across data-poor regions.     

BioBanking: an environmental scientist’s view of the role of biodiversity banking offsets in conservation

Offsets, first formalised in the United States of America in the 1970s for wetland mitigation, are now widely used globally with the aim to mitigate loss of biodiversity due to development. Embracing biodiversity offsets is one method of governments to meet their commitments under the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Resource extraction companies see them as a method of gaining access to land, while the community may perceive them as a way of enhancing environmental outcomes. In New South Wales, Australia, BioBanking legislation was introduced in late 2006 with the aim of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity associated with development, particularly expanding urban and coastal development. The strengths of the legislation are that it aims to enhance threatened species conservation, and raise the profile of conservation of threatened species and habitats. Weaknesses include (1) the narrowness of the definition of biodiversity; (2) the concepts are based on a flawed logic and immature, imprecise and complex science which results in difficulties in determining biodiversity values; (3) likely problems with management and compliance; and (4) an overall lack of resources for implementation and long-term monitoring. It is concluded that the legislation is a concerted effort to deal with biodiversity loss, however, stakeholders have concerns with the process, and it is unworkable with the complexity of such ecosystems (compared for example to carbon credit trading), and underdeveloped disciplines such as restoration biology and ecology. Despite these criticisms, there is a need for all stakeholders to work to improve the outcomes.     

Action plans for species conservation are an important tool to meet global and national biodiversity targets – A study case in Brazil

National action plans for the conservation of threatened fauna species (PANs) are instruments to promote the implementation of global biodiversity targets on a national scale. In Brazil, 74.8% of threatened animal species were covered with PANs by the end of 2019. In this study we evaluate the contribution of these PANs as tools for species conservation and for attaining Aichi targets. Between 2004 and 2019, 38 PANs were concluded, and 42.76% of the 2,044 actions, included in the PANs, were achieved. These actions promoted a series of conservation measures that contributed to 10 of the 20 Aichi targets, resulting in direct benefits for the target species.     

Do biodiversity patterns in Dutch wetland complexes relate to variation in urbanisation,intensity of agricultural land use or fragmentation?

Red list species densities of birds (maximally 22 km⁻²), and angiosperms (maximally 39 km⁻²) were used as biodiversity indicators in 21 larger complexes of wetlands across the Netherlands. Their covariability with a range of indicators of human land use was assessed, including population, road and visitor density, area covered by agriculture, open water, forest and residential housing. Data were collected on the wetland complexes as well as for a perimeter with 10 km radius. In a principal components analysis (PCA) with all land use variables, it was found that the population-density-related complex of urbanisation, fragmentation (by roads), and intensity of fertilizer use together explained most of the variability present (i.e. the first PCA axis explained 50%), whilst land use within these complexes was second with an additional 19% and waterside recreation third with 12%. Red list bird species density did not correlate with that of angiosperms, nor with any of the indicators used. For the 13 complexes on organic peatland, we observed an increase in maximum red list angiosperm species density with the proportion of open marshland (P < 0.01, r ² > 0.55), which, in turn, was negatively and closely correlated with the first PCA axis reflecting an urbanisation gradient across the Netherlands.     

Do acid-tolerant picocyanobacteria exist? A study of two strains isolated from humic lakes in Poland

The occurrence of picocyanobacteria, the smallest cell-size fraction of cyanobacteria, in low-pH waters, is still poorly studied. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that picocyanobacteria found occasionally in low-pH environments are adapted to such water conditions. We isolated picocyanobacteria by means of the cytometric method from two humic lakes with pH ≤5. We obtained two strains belonging to two cosmopolitan phylogenetic clades of picocyanobacteria: Cyanobium gracile cluster and Subalpine cluster I. Experiments on filtered lake water from low-pH (≤5) and slightly alkaline (pH 8.2) lakes, and with an acidified cyanobacterium medium (pH 4.5) were conducted to test the growth of the isolated picocyanobacteria in various pH conditions. The experimental results of this study showed that some picocyanobacteria strains were acid tolerant, achieving higher growth rates and reaching higher maximum numbers in humic, naturally acidic waters rather than in alkaline waters. We show that despite a close phylogenetic relationship, strains of picocyanobacteria exhibit significant physiological and ecological diversity and that at least some picocyanobacteria have the evolutionary potential to cope with low pH. Characterization of the genetic basis of acid tolerance in picocyanobacteria is important to understand how these microorganisms function in aquatic ecosystems and how their communities may respond to a changing environment.     

Q’eqchi’ Maya healers’ traditional knowledge in prioritizing conservation of medicinal plants: culturally relative conservation in sustaining traditional holistic health promotion

This ethnobotanical study in the spirit of transdisciplinarity, and in collaboration with Q’eqchi’ Maya traditional healers, compares traditional Q’eqchi’ Maya ecosystem constructs or environmental zones with scientific ecosystems. To determine which categorization method better accommodates Q’eqchi’ Maya medicinal plant diversity, we analized 26 transects representing 160 medicinal plant occurrences. Our transect array encompasses a representative sampling of Q’eqchi’ Maya medicinal plant repertoire with use values broadly distributed over 17 usage categories. With a cumulative frequency of 2,235 medicinal plants through ecological zones, we conducted one-way ANOVA on the mean number of medicinal plant species identified in transects of the two conceptual schemes being contested. Our analysis reveals the Q’eqchi Maya environmental zones are the most salient. That is, knowledge of the Q’eqchi’ Maya environmental zones improves one’s ability to predict whether there will be a high or low abundance of Q’eqchi’ Maya medicinal plant species in a particular region, whereas knowledge of scientific ecosystems does not accomplish this feat as well. This is a notable finding as it suggests that if indeed Q’eqchi’ Maya medicinal plant diversity is better accounted for by the zones as envisioned by the Q’eqchi’ Maya, then it should be this mode of conceptualization that should be adopted by scientists and conservationists when trying to locate and protect regional Q’eqchi’ Maya medicinal plant diversity. These efforts serve as a model internationally in the conservation of medicinal plant biodiversity supportive of culturally relative holistic health promotion.     

How is adaptation to climate change reflected in current practice of forest management and conservation? A case study from Germany

Climate change is expected to challenge forest management and nature conservation in forests. Besides forest species, strategies and references for management and conservation will be affected. In this paper, we qualitatively analysed whether forest conservation and management practice have already adapted to the impacts of climate change and to what extent those practices reflect the adaptation strategies dealt with in international peer-reviewed literature. To this end, we conducted thirteen in-depth interviews with forest practitioners (forest officers/forest district officers) in four regions in Germany. The interview regions were selected to represent the variation in tree species composition, forest ownership regimes and vulnerability to climate change. Although interviewees claimed to take climate change and adaptation strategies into account, in practice such strategies have as yet only occasionally been implemented. Our results suggest that strategies for adapting forest management to climate change are just in the early stages of development or supplement existing strategies relating to general risk reduction or nature-orientated forest management. The extent to which climate change adaptation strategies have influenced overall management varies. This variation and the lack of specific strategies also reflect the existing uncertainties about future changes in climate and about the capacity of forest ecosystems to adapt. We conclude that, in the face of climate change, forest management will have a major influence on future biodiversity composition of forest ecosystems. Hence, a framework for conservation in forests providing recommendations which also take into account the consequences of climate change needs to be developed.     

Invasive species threats to native aquatic insect biodiversity and conservation measures in Hawai’i and French Polynesia

Impacts of invasive species, and of attempts to control them, on the aquatic invertebrate fauna of Hawaii and French Polynesia are reviewed and discussed, as a foundation for determining conservation need. Aquatic insects are poorly documented in the region, with many species undescribed, so that practical conservation must be pursued with highly incomplete basic taxonomic knowledge. The establishment of at least one dedicated reserve for aquatic invertebrates is recommended for each high island in an archipelago, as an aid to safeguarding local endemic species, and other recommendations include increased monitoring for new alien species (particularly of fish), planning for removal of alien species from selected water bodies where alien species are less likely to recolonize, effective protection of key sites with high biodiversity value, and securing sites for future restoration and translocation or rare and endangered species.