The key elements of a comprehensive global mammal conservation strategy

A global strategy is necessary to achieve the level of coordination, synergy and therefore optimization of resources to achieve the broad goal of conserving mammals worldwide. Key elements for the development of such a strategy include: an institutional subject that owns the strategy; broad conservation goals, quantitative targets derived from them and appropriate indicators; data on the distribution of species, their threats, the cost-effectiveness of conservation actions; and a set of methods for the identification of conservation priorities. Previous global mammal research investigated phylogeny, extinction risk, and the species and areas that should be regarded as global conservation priorities. This theme issue presents new key elements: an updated Red List Index, a new list of evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species, new high-resolution mammal distribution models, a global connectivity analysis and scenarios of future mammal distribution based on climate and land-cover change. Area prioritization schemes account for mammalian phylogeny, governance and cost-benefit of measures to abate habitat loss. Three discussion papers lay the foundations for the development of a global unifying mammal conservation strategy, which should not be further deterred by the knowledge gaps still existing.     

Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA reveals isolation of imperilled grey nurse shark populations (Carcharias taurus)

Loss of sharks and other upper-trophic marine predators has sparked worldwide concern for the stability of ocean ecosystems. The grey nurse (ragged-tooth or sand tiger) shark ( Carcharias taurus ) is Vulnerable on a global scale, Critically Endangered in Australia and presumed extinct in parts of its historical range. We used 193 muscle and fin samples collected from six extant populations to assess global mtDNA and microsatellite diversity and the degree of global population genetic structure. Control region mtDNA diversity was low in every population, and two populations (eastern Australia and Japan) contained only a single mtDNA haplotype. Genetic signatures of recent losses of genetic variation were not yet apparent at microsatellite loci, indicating that this low mtDNA variation is not a result of anthropogenic population declines. Population differentiation was substantial between each population pair except Brazil and South Africa, F _ST values ranged from 0.050 to 0.699 and 0.100 to 1.00 for microsatellite and mitochondrial data respectively. Bayesian analysis clearly partitioned individuals into five of the populations from which they were sampled. Our data imply a low frequency of immigrant exchange among each of these regions and we suggest that each be recognized as a distinct evolutionary significant unit. In contrast to pelagic species such as whale shark and white shark that may cross ocean basins and where cooperative international efforts are necessary for conservation, grey nurse shark, like many coastal species, need to be managed regionally.     

Gaps in mammal conservation in China: An analysis with a framework based on minimum area requirements

Climate change, habitat loss, and human disturbance are major threats to biodiversity. Protecting habitats plays a pivotal role in biodiversity conservation, and there is a global imperative to establish an effective system of protected areas (PAs) to implement habitat conservation and halt biodiversity decline. However, the protected patch size of habitat for a species is just as important for biodiversity conservation as the expansion of areas already under protection. In China, conservation management is often carried out based on administrative divisions. Therefore, here, an analytical conservation management framework was developed based on administrative divisions to assess whether the current network of PAs can effectively meet species' conservation needs using the minimum area requirements (MARs) of species as criteria for medium and large-sized mammals in China. This study found that the MAR of medium and large-sized mammals was larger in the northwest and smaller in the southeast, while taking the Hu line as the dividing line. Precipitation seasonality, elevation, annual mean temperature, and annual precipitation are the main environmental factors driving the distribution of a species MAR. Compared with MAR for each species, the maximum protected patch size of habitat is severely undersized in most provinces where those species primarily distribute, and this is particularly true for large carnivores and threatened species. The densely populated provinces of eastern China are particularly affected by this. The present study's framework can identify the provinces needing to expand PAs or implement other effective area-based conservation measures and habitat restoration. This analytical framework is also relevant for biodiversity conservation in different taxa and regions around the globe.     

Future battlegrounds for conservation under global change

Global biodiversity is under significant threat from the combined effects of human-induced climate and land-use change. Covering 12% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, protected areas are crucial for conserving biodiversity and supporting ecological processes beneficial to human well-being, but their selection and design are usually uninformed about future global change. Here, we quantify the exposure of the global reserve network to projected climate and land-use change according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and set these threats in relation to the conservation value and capacity of biogeographic and geopolitical regions. We find that geographical patterns of past human impact on the land cover only poorly predict those of forecasted change, thus revealing the inadequacy of existing global conservation prioritization templates. Projected conservation risk, measured as regional levels of land-cover change in relation to area protected, is the greatest at high latitudes (due to climate change) and tropics/subtropics (due to land-use change). Only some high-latitude nations prone to high conservation risk are also of high conservation value, but their high relative wealth may facilitate additional conservation efforts. In contrast, most low-latitude nations tend to be of high conservation value, but they often have limited capacity for conservation which may exacerbate the global biodiversity extinction crisis. While our approach will clearly benefit from improved land-cover projections and a thorough understanding of how species range will shift under climate change, our results provide a first global quantitative demonstration of the urgent need to consider future environmental change in reserve-based conservation planning. They further highlight the pressing need for new reserves in target regions and support a much extended 'north-south' transfer of conservation resources that maximizes biodiversity conservation while mitigating global climate change.     

Rivers in peril inside and outside protected areas: a systematic approach to conservation assessment of river ecosystems

This paper establishes a framework within which a rapid and pragmatic assessment of river ecosystems can be undertaken at a broad, subcontinental scale, highlighting some implications for achieving conservation of river biodiversity in water‐limited countries. The status of river ecosystems associated with main rivers in South Africa was assessed based on the extent to which each ecosystem had been altered from its natural condition. This requires consistent data on river integrity for the entire country, which was only available for main rivers; tributaries were thus excluded from the analyses. The state of main river ecosystems in South Africa is dire: 84% of the ecosystems are threatened, with a disturbing 54% critically endangered, 18% endangered, and 12% vulnerable. Protection levels were measured as the proportion of conservation target achieved within protected areas, where the conservation target was set as 20% of the total length of each river ecosystem. Sixteen of the 112 main river ecosystems are moderately to well represented within protected areas; the majority of the ecosystems have very low levels of representation, or are not represented at all within protected areas. Only 50% of rivers within protected areas are intact, but this is a higher proportion compared to rivers outside (28%), providing some of the first quantitative data on the positive role protected areas can play in conserving river ecosystems. This is also the first assessment of river ecosystems in South Africa to apply a similar approach to parallel assessments of terrestrial, marine, and estuarine ecosystems, and it revealed that main river ecosystems are in a critical state, far worse than terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystem status is likely to differ with the inclusion of tributaries, since options may well exist for conserving critically endangered ecosystems in intact tributaries, which are generally less regulated than main rivers. This study highlights the importance of healthy tributaries for achieving river conservation targets, and the need for managing main rivers as conduits across the landscape to support ecological processes that depend on connectivity. We also highlight the need for a paradigm shift in the way protected areas are designated, as well as the need for integrated river basin management plans to include explicit conservation visions, targets, and strategies to ensure the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide.     

系统保护规划的理论、方法及关键问题

为了减缓生物多样性丧失的趋势、将有限的保护资源用于关键区域,Margules等提出了系统保护规划(Systematic Conservation Planning)概念和方法,目前该方法已成为国际主流保护规划方法。与传统基于专家决策的保护体系规划方法不同,系统保护规划拥有量化的保护目标、保护成本,并综合考虑保护体系连通性、人为干扰因素,使用优化算法计算,从而获得空间明晰的生物多样性保护体系。在阐述规划理念、规划流程与方法的基础上,重点评述了生物多样性替代指标的选择、保护规划成本的计算、保护目标的设置、规划结果的可靠性评估等关键问题,并结合我国的具体情况,探讨了该方法在我国的应用前景,以期为推进我国生物多样性与生态服务功能的保护做出贡献。     

Life history predicts risk of species decline in a stochastic world

Understanding what traits determine the extinction risk of species has been a long-standing challenge. Natural populations increasingly experience reductions in habitat and population size concurrent with increasing novel environmental variation owing to anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. Recent studies show that a species risk of decline towards extinction is often non-random across species with different life histories. We propose that species with life histories in which all stage-specific vital rates are more evenly important to population growth rate may be less likely to decline towards extinction under these pressures. To test our prediction, we modelled declines in population growth rates under simulated stochastic disturbance to the vital rates of 105 species taken from the literature. Populations with more equally important vital rates, determined using elasticity analysis, declined more slowly across a gradient of increasing simulated environmental variation. Furthermore, higher evenness of elasticity was significantly correlated with a reduced chance of listing as Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. The relative importance of life-history traits of diverse species can help us infer how natural assemblages will be affected by novel anthropogenic and climatic disturbances.     

Dendrobium wangliangii (Orchidaceae), a new species belonging to section Dendrobium from Yunnan, China

Dendrobium wangliangii G. W. Hu, C. L. Long & X. H. Jin, a new species from the north of the Yunnan Province in China is described and illustrated. The morphological differences between the new species and the related species, Dendrobium flexicaule , and its endangered status are discussed.  © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2008, 157 , 217–221.     

《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》核心目标与我国的保护行动建议

在中国作为主席国的引领下,联合国《生物多样性公约》(以下简称《公约》)第十五次缔约方大会(以下简称COP15)第二阶段会议通过了62项决定,特别是达成了以变革理论为基础的《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》(以下简称《昆蒙框架》),为全球生物多样性治理擘画了新的蓝图。该文就《昆蒙框架》的三个核心目标——保护地“3030目标”、资源调动、遗传资源数字序列信息进行解读,对保障《昆蒙框架》落地的相关决议进行简要介绍,并就我国未来的保护行动提出了相关建议:(1)加强生物多样性保护的主流化;(2)进一步制定详细的保护计划,明确保护区域的范围、目的和管理措施,并落实实施计划的责任部门和具体措施;(3)根据框架目标的监测要求,制定可操作的指标体系和监测计划;(4)继续加强生物多样性保护的意识和教育,提高公众对生物多样性保护的认识和重视程度,促进全社会的可持续生产和可持续消费;(5)大力推进国际合作,在更大尺度上探索和促进基于自然的解决方案,寻找对自然产生正面、积极效果的经济和社会发展路径。     

跨界自然保护区——实现生物多样性保护的新手段

随着区域合作和大尺度景观保护的需求不断增加,跨界资源管理越来越受到人们的关注,作为跨界资源管理的一种典型方式,跨界自然保护区正成为保护区研究中的热点问题。在对跨界自然保护区概念、类型及历史发展进行阐述的基础上,分析了建立跨界自然保护区的效益和代价及影响跨界自然保护区成败的因素,指出建立跨界自然保护区可能是在更大尺度上实现生态系统管理和生物多样性保护的有效途径。同时,分析了我国保护区的跨界现状和存在的问题,并对我国不同行政区间展开跨界合作的必要性进行了探讨。最后对跨界保护的未来研究提出展望。     

海南岛生物多样性保护优先区评价与系统保护规划

选择海南岛140个濒危物种为指示物种,在物种栖息地评价的基础上,利用系统保护规划工具MARXAN模型进行迭代运算,提出了海南岛生物多样性保护优先区域,并对保护优先区进行评价.结果表明:海南岛保护优先区面积5383.7km2,占海南岛陆地面积的15.6%,集中分布于鹦哥岭、尖峰岭、五指山等林区和北部湿地;在保护优先区中,11个I级指示物种栖息地的保护比例均超过各自栖息地总面积的65%.通过对保护优先区与现有自然保护区的空缺分析,建议扩充尖峰岭保护区群、鹦哥岭-黎母山保护区群、五指山-吊罗山保护区群;新建抱龙林场-林鼻岭-福万岭保护体系;在海南岛北部建立以水源保护为主,同时兼顾珍稀物种保护的水源地保护带.     

Incorporating climate change adaptation into marine protected area planning

Climate change is increasingly impacting marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks, yet adaptation strategies are rarely incorporated into MPA design and management plans according to the primary scientific literature. Here we review the state of knowledge for adapting existing and future MPAs to climate change and synthesize case studies (n = 27) of how marine conservation planning can respond to shifting environmental conditions. First, we derive a generalized conservation planning framework based on five published frameworks that incorporate climate change adaptation to inform MPA design. We then summarize examples from the scientific literature to assess how conservation goals were defined, vulnerability assessments performed and adaptation strategies incorporated into the design and management of existing or new MPAs. Our analysis revealed that 82% of real‐world examples of climate change adaptation in MPA planning derive from tropical reefs, highlighting the need for research in other ecosystems and habitat types. We found contrasting recommendations for adaptation strategies at the planning stage, either focusing only on climate refugia, or aiming for representative protection of areas encompassing the full range of expected climate change impacts. Recommendations for MPA management were more unified and focused on adaptative management approaches. Lastly, we evaluate common barriers to adopting climate change adaptation strategies based on reviewing studies which conducted interviews with MPA managers and other conservation practitioners. This highlights a lack of scientific studies evaluating different adaptation strategies and shortcomings in current governance structures as two major barriers, and we discuss how these could be overcome. Our review provides a comprehensive synthesis of planning frameworks, case studies, adaptation strategies and management actions which can inform a more coordinated global effort to adapt existing and future MPA networks to continued climate change.     

International cooperation in conserving biological diversity: a world strategy,international convention,and framework for action

Stimulated by the growing awareness of deforestation at all latitudes, the loss of species, declines in several fisheries, pollution, and other environmental threats, governments, citizen groups, academics, and indigenous peoples have been actively seeking ways to reverse current trends of impoverishment and achieve sustainable development. This paper considers the problems which confront managers of protected areas and proposes a six-point agenda for management based upon improved international policies, funding initiatives and other support mechanisms.     

Interface processes between protected and unprotected areas: A global review and ways forward

Land‐use changes and the expansion of protected areas (PAs) have amplified the interaction between protected and unprotected areas worldwide. In this context, ‘interface processes' (human–nature and cross‐boundary interactions inside and around PAs) have become central to issues around the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This scientific literature review aimed to explore current knowledge and research gaps on interface processes regarding terrestrial PAs. At first, 3,515 references related to the topic were extracted through a standardized search on the Web of Science and analyzed with scientometric techniques. Next, a full‐text analysis was conducted on a sample of 240 research papers. A keyword analysis revealed a wide diversity of research topics, from ‘pure' ecology to sociopolitical research. We found a bias in the geographical distribution of research, with half the papers focusing on eight countries. Additionally, we found that the spatial extent of cross‐boundary interactions was rarely assessed, preventing any clear delimitation of PA interactive zones. In the 240 research papers we scanned, we identified 403 processes that were studied. The ecological effects of PAs were well documented and appeared to be positive overall. In contrast, the effects of PAs on local communities were understudied and, according to the literature focusing on these, were very variable according to local contexts. Our findings highlight key research advances on interface processes, especially regarding the ecological outcomes of PAs, the influence of human activities on biodiversity, and PA governance issues. In contrast, main knowledge gaps concern the spatial extent of interactive zones, as well as the interactions between local people and conservation actions and how to promote synergies between them. While the review was limited to terrestrial PAs, its findings allow us to propose research priorities for tackling environmental and socioeconomic challenges in the face of a rapidly changing world.     

Analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates,biological water quality and conservation value of a tropical river and UNESCO‐protected environment

Despite the growing awareness in freshwater conservation, and the sociocultural significance of the Osun River in the designation of the Osun‐Osogbo Sacred Grove as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there is dearth of information on the biological water quality and conservation value of the river. In this study, the conservation value and biological water quality of the river which defines a UNESCO protected environment are assessed. Benthic macroinvertebrates and physicochemical water condition were studied quarterly from June 2015 to March 2016. The river's naturalness was also measured based on habitat alteration, land use and hydrological modifications. A total of 27 macroinvertebrate taxa were recorded, and the fauna was dominated by the Ephemeroptera, Odonata and Trichoptera (EOT) group. Taxa richness and/or abundance of macroinvertebrates showed a significant inverse response to vegetation removal, farming, total suspended solids, flow velocity, nitrate and phosphate. There is a notable occurrence of Margaritifera margaritifera which is considered a flagship and umbrella species in the river. This study further reveals the natural property of the sacred grove in addition to its cultural property as a WHS; hence, it may be re‐considered as a WHS based on mixed properties.     

Priority areas of intraspecific diversity: Larzac, a global hotspot for facultative paedomorphosis in amphibians

Although the designation of biodiversity hotspots is a valuable tool to improve conservation efforts, this is a concept primarily based on species diversity. In consequence, another component of biodiversity, adaptive variation, is often ignored in conservation and to my knowledge no attempt has been made to identify hotspots of remarkable intraspecific patterns. My aim was to focus on the process of facultative paedomorphosis (i.e. the retention of larval traits such as gills in adult variants), a rare developmental pathway. One hundred and seventy-four ponds were inventoried in Larzac (France) to determine the distribution and abundance of paedomorphic palmate newts Triturus helveticus (Amphibia, Caudata) and to compare these results with the current distribution of paedomorphs in this and other species. During this study, paedomorphic newts were found in 46 ponds, 32 of which were described here for the first time. Seventy-nine per cent of known paedomorphic populations of this species were found there, whereas this area covers only 0.5% of the distribution area of the species. This represents the highest known density of facultatively paedomorphic populations, all species being considered. Because these populations face a high threat of disappearance, Larzac should be designated as an intraspecific biodiversity hotspot in order to protect adaptive intraspecific variation. Future conservation-oriented work should focus not only on species distributions but also on phenotypically diverse but spatially localized variation.     

Incorporating multiple criteria into the design of conservation area networks: a minireview with recommendations

We provide a review of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods that may potentially be used during systematic conservation planning for the design of conservation area networks (CANs). We review 26 methods and present the core ideas of 19 of them. We suggest that the computation of the non-dominated set (NDS) be the first stage of any such analysis. This process requires only that alternatives be qualitatively ordered by each criterion. If the criteria can also be similarly ordered, at the next stage, Regime is the most appropriate method to refine the NDS. If the alternatives can also be given quantitative values by the criteria, Goal Programming will prove useful in many contexts. If both the alternatives and the criteria can be quantitatively evaluated, and the criteria are independent of each other but may be compounded, then multi-attribute value theory (MAVT) should be used (with preferences conveniently elicited by a modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (mAHP) provided that the number of criteria is not large).     

生态系统保护现状及保护等级评估——以江西省为例

基于生态系统的保护是防止生物多样性丧失的重要手段,已成为保护生物学研究的热点。对生态系统保护等级进行划分,确定局域、区域和全球尺度上生态系统保护的优先性,可为制定生态系统保护方案提供重要依据。目前,生态系统保护等级划分的常用指标包括面积流失率、幅度和代表性。以江西省生态系统为例,基于20世纪80年代的江西省植被图、生态系统图、2010年土地利用图和自然保护区图,在GIS环境下进行图层叠加运算和重分类,再进行定量评估和归一化,将江西省生态系统划分为极重要、重要和一般3个级别。结果表明:过去的30年间江西省自然生态系统面积共减少了82613.83km2,减少率超过了60%。全省的37个自然生态系统类型中有19个类型建有国家级自然保护区,但得到保护的面积比例较低。森林生态系统中极重要、重要和一般生态系统类型分别占省国土面积的16.7374%、5.5310%和3.8242%,受国家级自然保护区保护的比例分别为0.51%、3.73%和5.76%;灌丛生态系统中极重要、重要和一般生态系统类型分别占0.0975%、0.9335%和0.0100%,保护比例分别为1.72%、0.17%和0.70%;草地生态系统中极重要、重要和一般生态系统类型分别占0.2647%、0.0005%和0.1064%,保护比例分别为0.21%、0.00%和3.49%;湿地生态系统中极重要、重要和一般生态系统类型分别占0.3532%、0.0345%和1.5650%,保护比例分别为1.87%、0.00%和18.01%。从各级生态系统空间分布来看,极重要生态系统分布范围最广,主要分布在江西省的东南部和西北部;重要生态系统主要分布在西北部和东北部;一般生态系统分布范围最小,主要分布在北部。中部地区的自然生态系统多数由于经济发展而退变为农田、城市等人工生态系统。结合江西省生态系统现状,将极重要的生态系统作为重点保护范围,因而占江西省国土面积17.46%的生态系统应该得到优先保护。这一结果为有效地开展生态系统管理,制定有针对性的生态系统的保护规划具有重要参考价值。     

Incorporating landscape transformation into local conservation prioritization: a case study in the Western Ghats, India

In fast-changing tropical landscapes, effective strategies for conservation must incorporate information on ecosystems and species distribution with that on landscape change. A possible methodology for conservation prioritization is developed and illustrated using a 27.5 km² tropical landscape in the Western Ghats hill chain of southern India. Vegetation types or ecosystems within the landscape are ranked based on the ecosystem services they might provide: number of endemic species harbored, species richness, contribution to carbon uptake, economic value of produce per ha and contribution to soil renewal. For a vegetation type, the weighted average of these ranks indicates its net conservation value. Weights thus provide a means of ascribing differential importance to an ecosystem service. Information on landscape change is also summarized by a matrix depicting the likelihood of transformations between vegetation types present in the landscape, projected 5 years into the future. For each transformation between two vegetation types, information on ecosystem service and dynamics is then integrated. Implications from the perspective of conservation are assessed as the product of transformation probability and the resultant gain/loss in conservation value. Strongly positive transformations are likely to result in positive impacts on conservation value, and occur without any additional conservation effort. Strongly negative transformations are likely to occur and have a strong negative impact on conservation value. Maximum conservation effort may be directed at halting or reversing these. This study thus describes a method for conservation prioritization, which integrates information on ecosystem function and services with ecosystem dynamics.