Remote sensing for conservation monitoring: Assessing protected areas,habitat extent,habitat condition,species diversity,and threats

Monitoring protected areas and their surrounds at local to regional scales is essential given their vulnerability to anthropogenic pressures, including those associated with climatic fluctuation, and important for management and fulfilment of national and international directives and agreements. Whilst monitoring has commonly revolved around field data, remote sensing can play a key role in establishing baselines of the extent and condition of habitats and associated species diversity as well as quantifying losses, degradation or recovery associated with specific events or processes. Landsat images constitute a major data source for habitat monitoring, capturing broad scale information on changes in habitat extent and spatial patterns of fragmentation that allow disturbances in protected areas to be identified. These data are, however, less able to provide information on changes in habitat quality, species distribution and fine-scale disturbances, and hence data from other spaceborne optical sensors are increasingly being considered. Very High Resolution (VHR) optical datasets have been exploited to a lesser extent, partly because of the relative recency of spaceborne observations and challenges associated with obtaining and routinely extracting information from airborne multi-spectral and hyperspectral datasets. The lack of a shortwave infrared band in many VHR datasets and provision of too much detail (e.g., shadows within and from landscape objects) also present challenges in some cases. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, particularly when used synergistically with optical data, have benefited the detection of changes in the three-dimensional structure of habitats. This review shows that remote sensing has a strong, yet underexploited potential to assist in the monitoring of protected areas. However, the data generated need to be utilized more effectively to enable better management of the condition of protected areas and their surrounds, prepare for climate change, and assist planning for future landscape management.     

Assessing the conservation potential of fish and corals in aquariums globally

Aquatic ecosystems are indispensable for life on earth and yet despite their essential function and service roles, marine and freshwater biomes are facing unprecedented threats from both traditional and emerging anthropogenic stressors. The resultant species and ecosystem-level threat severity requires an urgent response from the conservation community. With their care facilities, veterinary and conservation breeding expertise, reintroduction and restoration, and public communication reach, stand-alone aquariums and zoos holding aquatic taxa have great collective potential to help address the current biodiversity crisis, which is now greater in freshwater than land habitats. However, uncertainty regarding the number of species kept in such facilities hinders assessment of their conservation value. Here we analyzed, standardized and shared data of zoological institution members of Species360, for fish and Anthozoa species (i.e. Actinopterygii, Elasmobranchii, Holocephali, Myxini, Sarcopterygii and Anthozoa). To assess the conservation potential of populations held in these institutions, we cross-referenced the Species360 records with the following conservation schemes: the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), the IUCN Red List of Threatened species, climate change vulnerability, Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) and The Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE). We found that aquariums hold four of the six fish species listed by the IUCN Red List as ‘Extinct in the Wild’, 31% of Anthozoa species listed by Foden et al. (2013) as vulnerable to climate change, 19 out of the 111 Anthozoa EDGE species, and none of the species prioritized by the AZE. However, it is very likely that significant additional species of high conservation value are held in aquariums that do not manage their records in standardized, sharable platforms such as Species360. Our study highlights both the great value of aquarium and zoo collections for addressing the aquatic biodiversity crisis, as well as the importance that they maintain comprehensive, standardised, globally-shared taxonomic data.     

Impact of terrestrial protected areas on the fish diversity and habitat quality: Evidence from tropical river Pranhita,India

The conservation and management of inland fish and freshwater ecosystems immensely contribute to global sustainable development. The existing ‘Protected Area’ (PA) network does not represent freshwater resources well and seldom considers its fish communities, while designating PAs. A study was undertaken to quantitatively assess the role played by the three terrestrial PAs (IUCN category IV) in conserving fish diversity and preserving habitat quality in the river reaches bordering the three PAs of the river Pranhita. It is a unique river system in the Indian Deccan Plateau in terms of fish diversity and community structure. Field surveys were conducted during the non-monsoon and monsoon seasons in 2020–21, that recorded 53 species including endemic and threatened fishes from river Pranhita, which represent more than one-third the number of fish species of Telangana state. The higher diversity and lower dominance index value (p < 0.01) reported in PAs compared to Eco Sensitive Zones and unprotected areas during the non-monsoon season indicate the role of intact physical habitat in providing refuges to the fish species in monsoon dependent tropical rivers. The optimal water quality revealed no significant difference (p > 0.0001) between protected and unprotected river reaches, and healthy biotic integrity assessed on the basis of fish community structure was attributed to the contiguous flow and less anthropogenic disturbance. This study supports that it can be considered as a representative zone for the conservation and protection of indigenous and endemic fish species of the Godavari Basin. The results concluded that the scope of the terrestrial PA network in India could be potentially extended to their bordering aquatic ecosystems, especially rivers to maintain pristine habitat conditions and conserve the fish genetic resources to ensure the flow of ecosystem services.     

天津市自然保护地与区域生境质量的时空演变格局

生境质量是反映区域生物多样性水平的重要指标,而规划科学、管理有效的自然保护地对于维护生境质量、巩固区域生态安全具有重要作用。以天津市为例,运用InVEST模型Habitat Quality模块评估了天津市2000、2005、2010、2015、2018年生境质量时空变化格局,基于叠加分析自然保护地内外生境质量变化探讨自然保护地对维护区域生境质量发挥的作用。结果表明：(1)2000—2018年间天津市生境质量总体下降了13.18%,并呈现出明显的由中心城区向环城四区扩散的趋势,高质量区域仅占天津陆域国土面积的4%,主要分布在天津北部山区和于桥水库、团泊洼、北大港、大黄堡等湿地。(2)天津保护地空间分布上呈集中分布态势,覆盖了天津市约75%的高质量生境区域和25%的较高质量生境区域。(3)从整体上看不同类型的自然保护地内生境质量保护效果不同,自然保护区优于其它类保护地,其生境质量明显得到提升。所有保护地中有10处保护地生境质量略有下降,但低于全域下降水平,只有盘山风景名胜区和古海岸与湿地自然保护区生境质量下降高于全域平均水平。(4)自然保护地对天津市生境质量下降的趋势起到了一定缓冲作用,其...     

Forest mammal roadkills as related to habitat connectivity in protected areas

Fragmentation of wildlife habitat by road development is a major threat to biodiversity. Hence, conservation and enhancement of habitat connectivity in roaded landscapes are crucial for effectively maintaining long-term persistence of ecological processes, such as gene flow and migration. Using multivariate statistical techniques combined with graph theoretical methods, we investigated the influence of road-crossing habitat connectivity and road-related features on roadkill abundance of forest mammals in protected areas of South Korea. Because species have different dispersal abilities and thus connectivity would differ between them, we explored three different groups of road-killed mammals, categorized as small, intermediate, and large ones. We found that in all three mammal groups, roadkills are increased on roads that intersect high-connectivity routes. Furthermore, the effect of habitat connectivity on roadkill abundance was scale-dependent. The roadkill abundances of small, intermediate, and large mammals were related with connectivity measured at scales ranging between 100 and 300 m, between 5 and 7 km, and between 10 and 25 km, respectively. Our finding with regard to scale-dependency highlights the importance of maintaining movement and connectivity across roads at multiple scales based on the dispersal potential of different species when planning conservation strategies for forest mammalian roadkill mitigation.     

Assessing the conservation effectiveness of wetland protected areas in Northeast China

The evaluation of conservation effectiveness for wetland protected areas (WPAs) is essential to underpin knowledge-based conservation policies and funding decisions by government and managers. In this paper, the conservation effectiveness for 28 WPAs in Northeast China from 2000 to 2012 was quantitatively evaluated using landsat thematic mapper image data and a maximum entropy model (Maxent). The spatial distribution of conservation effectiveness and the influence of human activities on conservation effectiveness were determined by combining a landscape development intensity (LDI) index and spatial analysis in a geographical information system. The results showed that the natural wetland area of all WPAs in Northeast China declined by 11.5 % and the conservation effectiveness of most of these WPAs decreased between 2000 and 2012. A significant negative correlation between the LDI index and conservation effectiveness (r = ?0.824, p < 0.01) suggested that human activities were responsible for the low conservation effectiveness of WPAs. The WPAs with the high conservation effectiveness were mainly located in the Da-Xing’an and Xiao-Xing’an Mountains, where anthropogenic activities were limited. The reduction in the conservation effectiveness of WPAs in the Songnen and Sanjiang Plains, which showed the most degradation, was due to conversion of wetlands to croplands. This research offers an efficient and effective method to evaluate the conservation effectiveness of WPAs. The results of this study will inform future ecological conservation and management of WPAs in China.     

Assessing marine ecosystem acoustic diversity across ocean basins

Concurrent with the elevation of the concern over the state of sound in the ocean, advances in terrestrial acoustic monitoring techniques have produced concepts and tools that may be applicable to the underwater world. Several index values that convey information related to acoustic diversity with a single numeric measurement made from acoustic recordings have been proposed for rapidly assessing community biodiversity. Here we apply the acoustic biodiversity index method to low frequency recordings made from three different ocean basins to assess its appropriateness for characterizing species richness in the marine environment. Initial results indicated that raw acoustic entropy (H) values did not correspond to biological patterns identified from individual signal detections and classification. Noise from seismic airgun activity masked the weaker biological signals and confounded the entropy calculation. A simple background removal technique that subtracted an average complex spectrum characteristic of seismic exploration signals from the average spectra of each analysis period that contained seismic signals was applied to compensate for salient seismic airgun signals present in all locations. The noise compensated (H_N) entropy index was more reflective of biological patterns and holds promise for the use of rapid acoustic biodiversity in the marine environment as an indicator of habitat biodiversity and health.     

Bats of Borneo: diversity,distributions and representation in protected areas

Protected areas are valuable in conserving tropical biodiversity, but an insufficient understanding of species diversity and distributions makes it difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. This is especially true on Borneo, a species rich island shared by three countries, and is particularly concerning for bats, a poorly known component of mammal diversity that may be highly susceptible to landscape changes. We reviewed the diversity, distributions and conservation status of 54 bat species to determine the representation of these taxa in Borneo’s protected areas, and whether these reserves complement each other in terms of bat diversity. Lower and upper bound estimates of bat species composition were characterised in 23 protected areas and the proposed boundaries of the Heart of Borneo conservation area. We used lower and upper bound estimates of species composition. By using actual inventories, species representation was highly irregular, and even if some reserves were included in the Heart of Borneo, the protected area network would still exhibit low complementarity. By inferring species presence from distributions, composition between most reserves was similar, and complementarity was much higher. Predicting species richness using abundance information suggested that bat species representation in reserves may lie between these two extremes. We recommend that researchers better sample biodiversity over the island and address the conservation threats faced in Borneo both within and outside protected areas. While the Heart of Borneo Initiative is commendable, it should not divert attention from other conservation areas.     

村落文化林与非文化林多尺度物种多样性加性分配

文化林是指村民按照文化传统、风俗习惯或宗教信仰自觉保护和管理的森林,具有一定社会文化功能。目前国内外对文化林物种多样性研究主要为定性描述,缺乏对文化林和非文化林生物多样性的定量比较及差异来源分析。利用物种多样性加性分配方法,将总的Gamma 多样性分成样格内的Alpha多样性以及样格间、样方间和林型间Beta多样性,对中国亚热带地区3个村落文化林的乔木层、灌木层、草本层和藤本层进行物种多样性的多尺度分析。调查发现:(1)文化林共有维管束植物296种,以苦槠,樟和米槠为优势种,非文化林共有维管束植物189种,以杉木、马尾松和毛竹为优势种。文化林乔木层和灌木层物种数显著高于非文化林,草本层和藤本层物种数差异不显著。(2)Beta多样性随尺度增大而增加,林型间Beta多样性最高,占区域总Gamma多样性的41.9%-62.8%,其次是样方间Beta多样性(18.6%-31.9%),对区域多样性贡献最小为样格内Alpha和样格间Beta多样性。(3)林型间的多样性对区域物种多样性的贡献中,文化林占主导作用,乔木层占54.4%-81.0%,灌木层占51.2%-60.2%,草本层占42.9%-64.1%,藤本层占49.9%-62.2%。(4) 物种累积-面积曲线表明,在各个尺度上,文化林物种多样性始终高于非文化林,从而在相同面积下保护了更多的物种。加性分配模型在多个空间尺度上阐明了Alpha和Beta多样性的变化,突出了文化林对区域物种多样性的贡献,对保护对象和保护范围的决策以及生物多样性的保护与恢复具有重要意义。     

Bird diversity and selection of protected areas in a large neotropical forest tract

The unbroken primary rain forest currently covering the interior ofFrench Guiana still offers a unique opportunity to establish a network of largeprotected areas. Bird species richness was surveyed within 20 study areasspreadover the country to assess the relative abundance and frequency of occurrenceofforest interior and natural gap taxa (391 species, excluding raptors andnon-resident birds). Richness, rarity, restricted range, hot spot andconservation value algorithms were used to rank sites in decreasing orders ofimportance and draw sets of survey sites likely to maximize bird diversity. Inmost sets from different methodological approaches, the southern regionconsistently emerged as a priority area for conservation, with the centralmountain range contributing some specialized taxa and the northern regionincorporating additional species, mostly from marginal habitats and moretypicalof the nearby coastal zone. Estimates of areas likely to preserve an almostcomplete sample of the regional biodiversity amounted to about 1–2millionhectares, either in one large area (national park) or divided into 2–3reserves overlapping regional hot spots. However, representation of all speciesand habitats in a protected area system is not an assurance of long-termviability when minimum viable population sizes and demographic patterns arelittle known, and when the risks and impacts of persistent human disturbancessuch as mining, logging and hunting are growing.     

Spatial and temporal patterns of changes in protected areas across the Southwestern United States

Protected areas are the core units for preserving habitats and ecological processes. Yet in most regions of the world their geographic, categorical, and institutional evolution remains poorly understood. Here, we report on changes in protected areas in the Southwestern US from 1890 to 2005. Our analysis used the dates of protection of individual parcels in the region to analyze changes by: (a) designating authority (e.g., congressional, administrative), (b) managing agency, (c) protected area types (e.g., wilderness), (d) elevation, (e) ecoregion, and (f) land cover class. In the 1990s, protected area additions tripled compared with the previous decade. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed the most protected area after 1990, surpassing that of the US Forest Service. Prior to 1990, most protected areas were found at high elevations, but more recent additions occurred at lower elevations. Land cover types represented in protected areas changed significantly over the last century, with protected areas in forest and woodland systems added prior to 1930 and shrubland, steppe, and savanna systems added after 1980. Additions by BLM occurred mostly by administrative designation. These areas are not permanently protected and so do not provide the level of protection afforded other additions. However these additions are critical for conservation of biodiversity across the region because they occur at elevations and in ecoregions and land cover types that are minimally protected otherwise. Our analysis yielded new insights about permanency, level of protection, and spatial distribution of protected areas, characteristics critical for biodiversity conservation.     

Assessing kinetic and epitopic diversity across orthogonal monoclonal antibody generation platforms

The ability of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to target specific antigens with high precision has led to an increasing demand to generate them for therapeutic use in many disease areas. Historically, the discovery of therapeutic mAbs has relied upon the immunization of mammals and various in vitro display technologies. While the routine immunization of rodents yields clones that are stable in serum and have been selected against vast arrays of endogenous, non-target self-antigens, it is often difficult to obtain species cross-reactive mAbs owing to the generally high sequence similarity shared across human antigens and their mammalian orthologs. In vitro display technologies bypass this limitation, but lack an in vivo screening mechanism, and thus may potentially generate mAbs with undesirable binding specificity and stability issues. Chicken immunization is emerging as an attractive mAb discovery method because it combines the benefits of both in vivo and in vitro display methods. Since chickens are phylogenetically separated from mammals, their proteins share less sequence homology with those of humans, so human proteins are often immunogenic and can readily elicit rodent cross-reactive clones, which are necessary for in vivo proof of mechanism studies. Here, we compare the binding characteristics of mAbs isolated from chicken immunization, mouse immunization, and phage display of human antibody libraries. Our results show that chicken-derived mAbs not only recapitulate the kinetic diversity of mAbs sourced from other methods, but appear to offer an expanded repertoire of epitopes. Further, chicken-derived mAbs can bind their native serum antigen with very high affinity, highlighting their therapeutic potential.     

The potential impacts of global climate change on marine protected areas

The potential effects of global climate changeon marine protected areas do not appear to havebeen addressed in the literature. This paperexamines the literature on protected areas,conservation biology, marine ecology,oceanography, and climate change, and reviewssome of the relevant differences between marineand terrestrial environments. Frameworks andclassifications systems used in protected areadesign are discussed. Finally, a frameworkthat summarizes some of the importantoceanographic processes and their links to thefood chain are reviewed. Species abundance anddistribution are expected to change as a resultof global climate change, potentiallycompromising the efficacy of marine protectedareas as biodiversity conservation tools. Thisreview suggests the need for: furtherinterdisciplinary research and the use oflinked models; an increase in marine protectedareas for biodiversity conservation and asresearch sites for teasing apart fishingeffects from climate effects; a temporallyresponsive approach to siting new marineprotected areas, shifting their locations ifnecessary; and large-scale ecosystem/integratedmanagement approaches to address the competinguses of the oceans and boundary-less threatssuch as global climate change and pollution.