The role of the statutory bodies in ornithological conservation within the U.K.

The statutory bodies in the United Kingdom advise Government on U.K. nature conservation and undertake site and species conservation. Active partnerships with other organizations and individuals are an important aspect of how this conservation work is undertaken. Current work on birds includes studies on introduced species, reintroduced species, marine species and agricultural issues. The concepts of sustainable use and the conservation of biodiversity figure highly in commitments for the future and will direct efforts on research and monitoring.     

Biodiversity conservation in China: Legislation, Plans and Measures

China is one of the megadiversity countries with over 30,000 species of higher plants and 6347 species of vertebrates, including numerous endemic species and relict species. The vast territory, with its various climates and landforms have formed complex and manifold habitats and rich diversity of ecosystems. China is a signatory country to several international conventions and agreements related to biodiversity and has established a legislation framework for biodiversity conservation. State, interdepartmental, departmental plans related to biodiversity have been made, such as Chinas Agenda 21, the Chinese Country Study on Biological Diversity, the Chinese Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan, the Chinese Environmental Protection Action Plan, and the Guideline for Nature Reserve Development Planning in China (1996–2010). Great efforts have also been made to protect natural resources and the environment, including policies for in situ and ex situ conservation, ecological construction, scientific research, education and training, and international cooperation. However, under the high pressure of population and economy, severe contradiction exists between conservation and the exploitation of biodiversity. This paper describes such achievements and related problems.     

中国生物多样性就地保护成效与展望

生物多样性就地保护是指通过开展自然保护地体系的建立与管理, 结合自然保护地以外其他有效的基于区域的保护措施(other effective area-based conservation measures, OECMs), 从而实现物种种群及其栖息地的保护与恢复以及保障和提升生态系统服务的目标。就地保护是实现2020年全球生物多样性保护目标最为重要的措施之一。本文从自然保护地数量与面积、代表性、有效性, 以及其他生物多样性就地保护措施等方面, 整理和综述了国内外近年来的相关报道。总体来看, 我国基本建立了具有中国特色的生物多样性就地保护与管理体系, 实施了各项生物多样性保护恢复措施, 取得了一系列重大进展。自然保护地的面积和数量均呈现上升趋势, 已覆盖陆域国土面积的18%, 对一些重要生态系统及重点保护物种的保护取得了一定成效。正在建设的10处国家公园体制试点提升了部分重点物种的保护连通性。自然保护区总体管理状况相对较好, 保护了90%以上的哺乳动物和97%的兰科植物。此外, 其他有效的基于区域的保护措施亦为生物多样性就地保护贡献了民间力量。在此基础上, 本文对照《中国生物多样性保护战略与行动计划(2011-2030年)》中对“加强生物多样性就地保护”的各项要求, 分析总结了当前我国生物多样性就地保护仍然存在的问题与不足, 具体表现在以下几个方面: 自然保护地整体保护能力仍有待提升; 生物多样性保护优先区域仍然存在保护空缺; 自然保护区管理质量有待提升; 缺乏公共协商机制; 自然保护地以外的其他就地保护工作仍在探索阶段等。在此基础上, 对将来我国生物多样性就地保护提出了进一步建议与展望: (1)制定更为具体和量化的生物多样性就地保护目标; (2)加大力度减少物种受威胁程度, 特别是受关注较少的物种; (3)以保障和提升生态系统服务为目标, 提升生态系统保护修复的系统性与整体性; (4)加强自然保护地以外的生物多样性就地保护; (5)完善长期监测体系, 为生物多样性就地保护成效评估提供数据支撑。本文可为“2020年后全球生物多样性框架”特别是就地保护目标的制定与实施提供参考。     

Priorities for biodiversity monitoring in Europe: A review of supranational policies and a novel scheme for integrative prioritization

Trends and status of species and habitats need to be measured to assess whether global biodiversity policy targets have been achieved. However, it is impossible to monitor all species and habitats with a justifiable effort. Therefore, it is critical to prioritize the monitoring of specific biodiversity components. Priorities must be linked to key nature conservation policies to ensure that monitoring efforts are relevant to policy needs, achieve maximum impact, and obtain governmental support. Here we discuss priority setting in biodiversity monitoring in view of monitoring obligations and priorities in supranational biodiversity legislation and policies in Europe and assess overlaps in priorities among policies. While most supranational biodiversity regulations require monitoring of biodiversity, obligations are legally enforceable only for the Nature Directives, the Water Framework Directive, and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive of the European Union. Of the assessed international conventions and other relevant policy instruments about 50% explicitly designate priority species and most focus on vertebrates. Lower emphasis is given to habitats and geographical priorities are even less pronounced. Also, an overarching system for monitoring prioritization is still missing. Our prioritization system is based on three main criteria: (1) legal requirement for reporting, (2) wording used to define priority or importance, and (3) inclusion in lists that indicate importance of monitoring due to e.g. threats or relevance of a region for a species. Our system contains five main priority levels, within which an additional division differentiates priorities according to national/European responsibility criteria. Based on this system, we provide recommendations for allocating species and habitats enlisted by the reviewed policy tools to explicit non-overlapping priority levels. Our approach will facilitate synergies between monitoring activities for different policy needs, and contribute to alleviate the notorious resource shortage for biodiversity monitoring.     

Measuring the effectiveness of regional conservation assessments at representing biodiversity surrogates at a local scale: A case study in Réunion Island (Indian Ocean)

In a context of scarce financial and human resources, the allocation of conservation efforts needs to be optimized. Our analysis attempts to draw conclusions on the integration of regional and local conservation assessments, specifically, with regard to the acquisition of fine‐scale data to complement the regional assessment. This study undertaken in Réunion Island (Indian Ocean) assessed how biodiversity surrogates targeted at a regional scale represented other biodiversity surrogates at a local scale. Biodiversity surrogates at both scales consisted of species, habitats and processes. Habitats and processes at regional scale were defined using a coarser scale of thematic resolution than at local scale. The surrogacy was tested in terms of incidental representation of local‐scale features in the regional assessments, and correlation of irreplaceability values between scales. Near‐minimum sets and irreplaceability values were generated using MARXAN software. Our results revealed that conservation targets for processes at local scale were never met incidentally, while threatened species and fragmented habitats were also usually under‐represented. More specifically, requiring only 12% of the local planning domain, the application of species as surrogates at regional scale was the least effective option at representing biodiversity features at local scale. In contrast, habitats at a coarse scale of thematic resolution achieved a significant proportion of conservation targets incidentally (67%) and their irreplaceability values were well correlated with the irreplaceability values of surrogates at local scale. The results highlighted that all three types of biodiversity surrogates are complementary for assessing overall biodiversity. Because of the cost of data acquisition, we recommended that the most efficient strategy to develop nested regional/local conservation plans is to apply habitats and processes at a coarse scale of thematic resolution at regional scale, and threatened species and degraded habitats at local scale, with their fine‐scale mapping limited to highly transformed areas.     

Plant community composition and attributes reveal conservation implications for newly created grassland on capped landfill sites

Biodiversity conservation through restoring degraded habitats or creating new habitats is advocated in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Restored grasslands on capped landfill sites are semi-natural habitats that could potentially support a wide range of plant communities. However, it is unknown whether these re-created habitats represent a significant resource in terms of biodiversity conservation. The UK National Vegetation Classification (NVC) was used to study these communities on nine restored capped landfill sites together with paired reference sites in the East Midlands region of the UK during 2007. Plant species data were collected by random quadrats along two 100 m transects from each site. The effects of restoration were investigated by examining plant attributes and Ellenberg indicators on restored landfill sites in comparison to paired reference sites. A total of 170 plant species were found from both sets of sites. There were no significant differences for most of the plant attributes between restored landfill sites and reference sites, though reference sites had significantly higher mean frequencies of native plants, nationally decreasing species and perennial species. In total 26 broad NVC community types were identified of which more than 70% fell within mesotrophic grassland (MG). The diversity of NVC communities confirms that underlying environmental factors such as soil fertility are important, dictating the type of plant communities that exist. It is recommended that management of these capped landfill sites should be targeted towards specific NVC community types to meet conservation targets.     

European species and habitat monitoring: where are we now?

Biodiversity now is considered a highly valuable material, providing manifold services of high importance for the well-being of humankind. However, biodiversity globally is rapidly diminishing and, despite efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity, positive effects are hardly visible. Biodiversity monitoring, the close observation of our natural environment, is imperative to determine the state and trend of organism populations and their habitats. Therefore, it has become a centrepiece of nature conservation across the globe. However, monitoring activities are not centrally coordinated, differ vastly in their monitoring targets, sampling designs, and human resource needs. This special issue on biodiversity and monitoring presents an overview of the current state of biodiversity monitoring in Europe, gives suggestions for the integration of monitoring data to improve the geographical and taxonomic coverage, deals with general methodological aspects of monitoring biodiversity across different geographic scales, the involvement of the public in monitoring activities, and provides some monitoring case studies. The special issue is aimed to provide recommendations and suggestions for more standardized monitoring approaches, and is mainly based on the findings of the EU-project EuMon.     

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.     

生物多样性重要区域识别——国外案例、国内研究进展

生物多样性丧失已经成为全球重大环境问题之一,重要区域或重要物种的识别是制定和实施保护计划的首要步骤,生物多样性保护的优先性研究成为保护生物学研究的焦点之一。优先保护的概念很早就被提出,保护国际(Conservation International,CI)一直倡导的热点地区途径受到国际社会的重视,生物多样性重要区域(KBAs)可以是综合的,也可以是单一类群的重要区域,如不同的国家已经开展了鸟类重要区域(important bird areas,IBAs)、植物重要区域(important plants areas,IPAs)、蝴蝶重要区域(prime butterfly areas,PBAs)和两栖爬行动物重要区域(important amphibians and reptiles areas,IARAs)等的识别研究工作。集中力量优先保护一些重要的地区是目前生物多样性保护较为现实和高效的途径。以佛得角群岛(the Cape Verde Islands)、意大利(Italy)、荷兰(the Netherlands)分别依据动物、植物单一类群或多个类群组合进行生物多样性重要区域识别为例,介绍了几个国家的生物多样性重要区域识别经验,概述国内在生物多样性重要区域识别领域的研究现状,详细介绍了海南岛生物多样性保护优先区识别案例,同时以国务院2010年批准实施的《中国生物多样性保护战略与行动计划(2011—2030年)》划定的32个陆地生物多样性保护优先区为例,提出中国未来应全面开展生物多样性本底调查,在充分获取生物多样性分布数据的基础上,依据植被类型和物种多样性以及受威胁因素等,在32个陆地生物多样性保护优先区内进一步客观准确地识别生物多样性重要区域(热点中的热点或重要区域中的重要区域),为中国未来的保护地规划、生物多样性监测、政策制定等提供科学支撑。     

山西省重点保护野生植物就地保护现状

建立自然保护区是生物多样性保护最为直接和有效的方法。开展重要保护物种的科学考察和研究, 评价其就地保护现状, 对区域内实施科学合理的保护与管理具有重要的意义。本文基于文献资料和野外调查, 分析了山西省重点保护野生植物的地理分布及就地保护现状, 结果显示: (1)山西省重点保护野生植物共57种, 其中有49种分布在自然保护区内, 就地保护率为86%; (2)在地理分布上, 晋城、运城、临汾和阳泉4个市的保护区内分布的保护植物种类最多; (3)采用“累计筛选法”共鉴别出6个保护贡献率最高的保护区, 其累计保护贡献率达到86%; (4)总体来说, 山西省重点保护野生植物受到较全面的就地保护, 但仍存在一些保护空缺, 这些保护空缺地的鉴别将为山西省自然保护区的进一步规划提供科学参考。     

Detectability counts when assessing populations for biodiversity targets

Efficient, practical and accurate estimates of population parameters are a necessary basis for effective conservation action to meet biodiversity targets. The brown hare is representative of many European farmland species: historically widespread and abundant but having undergone rapid declines as a result of agricultural intensification. As a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, it has national targets for population increase that are part of wider national environmental indicators. Previous research has indicated that brown hare declines have been greatest in pastural landscapes and that gains might be made by focussing conservation effort there. We therefore used hares in pastural landscapes to examine how basic changes in survey methodology can affect the precision of population density estimates and related these to national targets for biodiversity conservation in the UK. Line transects for hares carried out at night resulted in higher numbers of detections, had better-fitting detection functions and provided more robust density estimates with lower effort than those during the day, due primarily to the increased probability of detection of hares at night and the nature of hare responses to the observer. Hare spring densities varied widely within a single region, with a pooled mean of 20.6 hares km(-2), significantly higher than the reported national average of hares in pastures of 3.3 hares km(-2). The high number of encounters allowed us to resolve hare densities at site, season and year scales. We demonstrate how survey conduct can impact on data quantity and quality with implications for setting and monitoring biodiversity targets. Our case study of the brown hare provides evidence that for wildlife species with low detectability, large scale volunteer-based monitoring programmes, either species specific or generalist, might be more successfully and efficiently carried out by a small number of trained personnel able to employ methods that maximise detectability.     

中国生物多样性就地保护的研究与实践

中国是世界上生物多样性最丰富的地区之一,但面临着较大的生态衰退风险。中国生物多样性受到的威胁来自包括人口众多、经济发展模式单一落后、工业化进程加快、气候变化和外来物种入侵等多种因素。生物多样性的就地保护对于维护国家生态安全具有重要意义,同时也是中国可持续发展的需要。本文就中国生物多样性就地保护的研究成果和保护成就进行了回顾,提出了未来应该着重加强的研究领域。中国生物多样性的就地保护研究与实践主要集中在生物多样性资源调查、濒危物种管理和自然保护区建设等方面。中国政府在生物多样性就地保护领域开展了大量卓有成效的工作,发布实施了一系列的保护行动规划,不断提高了生物多样性的保护水平。中国的生物多样性就地保护经过了由数量发展到质量发展的阶段后,未来的研究重点应该集中在生物多样性形成与维持机制、生物多样性受胁原因与响应机制、生物多样性长期监测与评估、自然保护区有效管理和自然保护区立法等方面。     

基于物种分布的北京平原生态网络构建

高强度的城市化活动导致了生物栖息地破碎化、退化和消失,是生物多样性减少的主要原因。建立城市地区生态网络是保护生物多样性的重要途径。因其他物种数据可获得性差,以观测的典型鸟类群落为指示物种,探讨构建生态网络,可为城市生物多样性保护提供新思路。以北京市平原区为研究范围,重点基于86种鸟类分布大数据,通过Maxent模型掩膜生成栖息地源地并进行分级,在GIS技术的支撑下,以土地利用数据建立鸟类活动阻力面,采用最小累积阻力模型算法,模拟并形成了平原地区分级的生物多样性保护网络。研究结果表明,河湖湿地和城市公园组成了北京平原地区生态网络的优势景观类型,占平原区生态空间的81%。基于景观类型大小与物种数量的线性关系筛选出分级生物栖息地,其中一级生物栖息地58个,二级生物栖息地146个,通过模型模拟形成了平原地区生物多样性保护的一二级生态网络,共948条网络,长3760km。筛选出重要生态节点12处,关键生态廊道6条,是保护平原地区生物多样性的重要生态设施。该生态网络的实施对于提升首都平原区的生物多样性具有重要价值,研究结果可为国土生态空间优化提供重要科学依据和参考。     

Assessing Global Marine Biodiversity Status within a Coupled Socio-Ecological Perspective

People value the existence of a variety of marine species and habitats, many of which are negatively impacted by human activities. The Convention on Biological Diversity and other international and national policy agreements have set broad goals for reducing the rate of biodiversity loss. However, efforts to conserve biodiversity cannot be effective without comprehensive metrics both to assess progress towards meeting conservation goals and to account for measures that reduce pressures so that positive actions are encouraged. We developed an index based on a global assessment of the condition of marine biodiversity using publically available data to estimate the condition of species and habitats within 151 coastal countries. Our assessment also included data on social and ecological pressures on biodiversity as well as variables that indicate whether good governance is in place to reduce them. Thus, our index is a social as well as ecological measure of the current and likely future status of biodiversity. As part of our analyses, we set explicit reference points or targets that provide benchmarks for success and allow for comparative assessment of current conditions. Overall country-level scores ranged from 43 to 95 on a scale of 1 to 100, but countries that scored high for species did not necessarily score high for habitats. Although most current status scores were relatively high, likely future status scores for biodiversity were much lower in most countries due to negative trends for both species and habitats. We also found a strong positive relationship between the Human Development Index and resilience measures that could promote greater sustainability by reducing pressures. This relationship suggests that many developing countries lack effective governance, further jeopardizing their ability to maintain species and habitats in the future.     

Measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets

There are now over 100000 protected areas worldwide, covering over 12% of the Earth's land surface. These areas represent one of the most significant human resource use allocations on the planet. The importance of protected areas is reflected in their widely accepted role as an indicator for global targets and environmental assessments. However, measuring the number and extent of protected areas only provides a unidimensional indicator of political commitment to biodiversity conservation. Data on the geographic location and spatial extent of protected areas will not provide information on a key determinant for meeting global biodiversity targets: 'effectiveness' in conserving biodiversity. Although tools are being devised to assess management effectiveness, there is no globally accepted metric. Nevertheless, the numerical, spatial and geographic attributes of protected areas can be further enhanced by investigation of the biodiversity coverage of these protected areas, using species, habitats or biogeographic classifications. This paper reviews the current global extent of protected areas in terms of geopolitical and habitat coverage, and considers their value as a global indicator of conservation action or response. The paper discusses the role of the World Database on Protected Areas and collection and quality control issues, and identifies areas for improvement, including how conservation effectiveness indicators may be included in the database to improve the value of protected areas data as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets.     

基于站点的生物多样性星空地一体化遥感监测

科学制定生物多样性保护和恢复政策, 需要空间上连续、时间上高频的物种和生境分布以及物种迁移信息支持, 遥感是目前能满足该要求的有效技术手段。近年来, 遥感平台和载荷技术高速发展, 综合多平台、多尺度、多模式遥感技术, 开展基于站点的星空地一体化遥感观测试验, 可以对地表进行时空多维度、立体连续观测, 为生物多样性遥感监测提供了新的契机。本文总结了使用遥感技术监测生物多样性的主要方法, 回顾了典型的星空地一体化遥感观测试验。综述以往研究发现, 一方面, 现有遥感试验还缺少对生物多样性直接监测指标的观测, 另一方面, 生物多样性遥感监测方法也缺少星空地多维立体观测平台的支撑, 亟需加强两者的融合, 开展基于站点的生物多样性星空地一体化遥感监测研究。以设于我国四川王朗大熊猫国家级自然保护区内的王朗山地生态遥感综合观测试验站为例, 展示了星空地一体化遥感综合观测试验平台在生物多样性监测中的应用潜力。星空地一体化遥感观测可以提供物种和生境的综合定量信息, 与生态模型有机结合, 可以刻画生物多样性的时空格局与动态过程, 有助于挖掘过程机理, 提高生物多样性监测的信息化水平。     

Comparing survey methods to assess the conservation value of a community‐managed protected area in western Tanzania

The ability of low‐status protected areas under community management to achieve a conservation objective is frequently questioned, particularly in developing countries. The lack of sound, scientific‐based biodiversity monitoring frequently undermines attempts to evaluate the extent to which these areas are contributing to biodiversity conservation. Based on data collected between 2008 and 2010 in a Forest Reserve under community management in western Tanzania, our study tested fives methods: camera trapping, walking line transects, vehicle transects, opportunistic encounters and indirect signs, to find the most appropriate for future monitoring. Method comparisons confirmed a higher performance of camera trapping compared to other methods for the ability to detect species. However, our results identified the need of a better survey design to ensure a sound monitoring in the future. Besides method comparisons, our study provides the first fine‐scale data on mammal communities in such a low‐status protected area. Combined methods allow the identification of 49 species of medium and large mammals, a surprisingly high diversity for such area. These findings outline the potential conservation value of this type of protected area and call for better biodiversity monitoring throughout complexes of protected areas of different statuses and management regimes.     

中国履行《生物多样性公约》二十年: 行动、进展与展望

1992年6月联合国环境与发展大会(UNCED)通过了具有里程碑意义的《生物多样性公约》, 至今已经20年。在此期间, 中国1993年建立了履行《公约》的国家协调机制, 1995-1997年实施了“中国生物多样性国情研究”, 2007-2010年编制了《中国生物多样性保护国家战略与行动计划》, 2011年建立了“中国生物多样性保护国家委员会”, 并针对《生物多样性公约》的目标, 实施了多项生物多样性研究和保护行动, 包括森林、草原、荒漠、湿地、海洋等自然生态系统保护; 物种资源调查、编目、数据库建设以及珍稀濒危物种保护; 外来入侵种防治与转基因生物生态风险评估等。同时, 在生物多样性本底查明、监测体系建立、就地保护、遗传资源获取与惠益分享、传统知识的保护与应用等方面还存在很多挑战, 为此, 本文有针对性地提出了区域生物多样性本底查明、就地保护和遗传资源及相关传统知识获取与惠益分享等未来重点研究方向。     

Remote sensing of biodiversity: what to measure and monitor from space to species?

Global biodiversity monitoring systems through remote sensing can support consistent assessment, monitoring, modelling and reporting on biodiversity which are key activities intended for sustainable management. This work presents an overview of biodiversity monitoring components, i.e. biodiversity levels, essential biodiversity variables, biodiversity indicators, scale, biodiversity inventory, biodiversity models, habitat, ecosystem services, vegetation health and biogeochemical heterogeneity and discusses what remote sensing through Earth Observations has contributed to the study of biodiversity. The technological advancements in remote sensing have enabled information-rich data on biodiversity. Remote sensing data are making a strong contribution in providing unique information relevant to various biodiversity research and conservation applications. The extensive use of Earth observation data are not yet realized in biodiversity assessment, monitoring and conservation. The development of direct remote sensing approaches and the techniques for quantifying biodiversity at the community to species level is likely to be a great challenge for comprehensive earth observation-based monitoring strategy.