The use of predator-exclusion fencing as a management tool improves the breeding success of waders on lowland wet grassland

Waders breeding on lowland wet grassland have undergone dramatic declines across Europe in recent decades. Few species now achieve the levels of breeding success required for population stability and recovery, with predation from large mammals acting as a key compounding factor limiting nest survival and productivity. Predator management through lethal control is often controversial, yet alternative non-lethal methods are little tested in the context of grassland breeding waders. Excluding predators through the use of electric fences has led to improvements in nest and chick survival in other habitats. To test the applicability of this method to lowland wet grassland we constructed predator-exclusion fences on sites across the UK and, with Lapwing Vanellus vanellus as a study species, used historical and contemporary data to test whether excluding large mammalian predators leads to an increase in wader nest survival and productivity, and whether effects differ between fence designs. Lapwing nest survival was significantly higher in the presence of any type of predator-exclusion fence, with significantly fewer nests predated each day. Overall productivity also improved, with significantly higher numbers of chicks fledged per pair in years when fences were operational. Different designs and methods of powering fences resulted in different levels of success, with combination design fences and those powered by mains electricity performing best. Excluding large mammalian predators from areas of lowland wet grassland with predator-exclusion fencing successfully improves Lapwing nest survival and productivity, allowing breeding success to exceed the levels required for population recovery. Other wader species breeding in the same habitat are also likely to benefit from the increased protection from predation provided by fences. Predator-exclusion fencing is therefore an effective management tool for protecting restricted and declining populations of breeding waders on lowland wet grassland.     

Modelling space use and dispersal of mammals in real landscapes: a tool for conservation

Aim To explore the usefulness of Spatially Explicit Population Models (SEPMs), incorporating dispersal, as tools for animal conservation, as illustrated by the contrasting cases of four British mammals. Methods For each of the four species (American mink, Mustela vison, pine marten, Martes martes, dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius and water vole, Arvicola terrestris) a spatial dynamics model was developed based on an integrated geographical information system (GIS) population model that linked space use to the incidence of the species. Each model had, first, a GIS, which stored environmental, habitat and animal population information, and secondly, an individual‐based population dynamics module, which simulated home range formation, individual life histories and dispersal within the GIS‐held landscape. Results The four models illustrated different interactions between species life‐history variables and the landscape, particularly with respect to dispersal. As water voles and dormice occupy home ranges that are small relative to blocks of their habitat, they were most effectively modelled in terms of the dynamics of local populations within habitat blocks but linked by dispersal. In contrast, because the home ranges of American mink and pine marten are large relative to blocks of habitat, they were best modelled as individuals moving through a landscape of more or less useful patches of habitat. For the water vole, the most significant predictors of population size were the carrying capacity of each habitat and the annual number of litters. For the dormouse, the likelihood of catastrophe and the upper limit to dispersal movement were the key variables determining persistence. Adult mortality and home‐range size were the only significant partial correlates of total population size for the American mink. Adult mortality was also a significant correlate of total population size in the pine marten, as were litter size and juvenile mortality. In neither the marten nor the mink was dispersal distance a significant factor in determining their persistence in the landscape. Main conclusions At a landscape scale it is difficult to measure animal distributions directly and yet conservation planning often necessitates knowledge of where, and in what numbers, animals are found, and how their distributions will be affected by interventions. SEPMs offer a useful tool for predicting this, and for refining conservation plans before irreversible decisions are taken in practice.     

Effectiveness of natural protected areas to prevent land use and land cover change in Mexico

This study evaluated the extent to which natural protected areas (NPAs) in Mexico have been effective for preventing land use/land cover change, considered as a major cause of other degradation processes. We developed an effectiveness index including NPA percentage of transformed areas (agriculture, induced vegetation, forestry plantations, and human settlements) in 2002, the rate and absolute extent of change in these areas (1993–2002), the comparison between rates of change observed inside the NPA and in an equivalent surrounding area, and between the NPA and the state(s) in which it is located. We chose 69 terrestrial federal NPAs, decreed before 1997, that were larger than 1,000 ha, not urban/reforested with non-native vegetation, not islands and not coastal strips, and estimated the extent of transformed areas using 1993 and 2002 land use/land cover maps. Over 54% of NPAs were effective, and were heterogeneously distributed by management categories: 65% of Biosphere Reserves, 53% of Flora and Fauna Protection Areas, and 45% of National Parks. 23% of NPAs were regarded as weakly effective, and the remaining 23% as non-effective. We recognize the importance of NPAs as a relevant conservation instrument, as half of NPAs analyzed (particularly biosphere reserves) prevented natural vegetation loss compared with their geographic context. Our results suggest that conservation based on NPAs in Mexico still faces significant challenges. Our approach can be expanded for evaluating the effectiveness of NPA in other regions, as land use/land cover maps are now available almost worldwide.     

Identifying priority areas for invertebrate conservation using land snails as models

Mollusca is a megadiverse phylum with an estimated number of 70,000–76,000 described species which can inhabit a wide variety of environments. Among them, land snails are a main component of terrestrial ecosystems and they play a pivotal role in ecosystem functioning. They are suffering habitat loss, overexploitation and competition from introduced species, but are regarded as a “non-charismatic” group for conservation purposes. Orthalicoidea is a dominant faunal element in the Neotropics and in Argentina includes 104 species that inhabit a variety of environments. Their abundance, diversity, comprehensive taxonomy and widespread representation in different ecoregions makes this molluscan group an excellent model for biodiversity assessments. The database used here consisted of 985 unique geographic records of 104 species. Species distribution models were generated using the Maximum Entropy method and Zonation v 3.1 was used to evaluate the proposed conservation goals. Three analyses including species distributions, the current protected areas system (PAs) and the Human print layer were carried out. This allowed the identification of priority areas for conservation, the percentage of the species distribution under PAs and analysis of the potential impacts under current land use and in the priority areas detected above. Sixty-one species were modeled, and 59 of them were included in the priority area selection process due to their high area under curve (AUC) scores. Five high priority areas located in the different ecoregions, were identified: 1-dry Chaco, 2-humid Pampas, 3-Southern Andean Yungas, 4-Alto Paraná Atlantic Forests and 5-high Monte. A small percentage of the average distribution range of Orthalicoidean species (3%) was within the current protected areas. Highest-ranked priority areas for land snails are outside the current protected areas system. When human impact is considered, the priority areas are reduced in size and appear as small patches. However, highest priority areas for conservation continue being those detected in the above analyses. Most of the areas detected are used for economic purposes, creating conflicts of interest between the development of human activities and conservation. This study represents one of the first attempts to identify ecoregion level priority areas for a terrestrial invertebrate group. Further analyses, including new predictors and other molluscan taxa, would improve planning the conservation of poorly known invertebrate groups.     

Using probability of persistence to identify important areas for biodiversity conservation

Most attempts to identify important areas for biodiversity have sought to represent valued features from what is known of their current distribution, and have treated all included records as equivalent. We develop the idea that a more direct way of planning for conservation success is to consider the probability of persistence for the valued features. Probabilities also provide a consistent basis for integrating the many pattern and process factors affecting conservation success. To apply the approach, we describe a method for seeking networks of conservation areas that maximize probabilities of persistence across species. With data for European trees, this method requires less than half as many areas as an earlier method to represent all species with a probability of at least 0.95 (where possible). Alternatively, for trials choosing any number of areas between one and 50, the method increases the mean probability among species by more than 10%. This improvement benefits the least-widespread species the most and results in greater connectivity among selected areas. The proposed method can accommodate local differences in viability, vulnerability, threats, costs, or other social and political constraints, and is applicable in principle to any surrogate measure for biodiversity value.     

Large herbivore responses to surface water and land use in an East African savanna: implications for conservation and human-wildlife conflicts

Water, forage and predation constrain ungulate distributions in savannas. To understand these constraints, we characterized distributions of 15 herbivore species from water, locations of peak density and degree of clustering around the peaks using zero-inflated count data models and mapping census data collected in the Mara reserve and the adjoining pastoral ranches in Kenya during a wet and dry year. Herbivores followed a humped pattern (n = 46), suggesting constrained foraging in which they balance the benefits of proximity to water with the costs of foraging where food is depleted near water and travelling to more abundant food distant from water; an exponentially decreasing pattern (n = 11), indicating strong attraction to water or vegetation near water; or a uniform (n = 3) pattern. The details rather than the types of these patterns varied between years. Herbivores concentrated farther from water and more tightly around locations of their peak densities in the ranches than the reserve. Herbivores were more abundant and widely distributed from water in the wet than the dry year, and segregated along the distance-to-water gradient, presumably to minimize interspecific competition for food. Pastoralism compressed herbivore distributions and partially excluded some species (warthog, hartebeest, topi, wildebeest, zebra, eland, buffalo and elephant) from, while attracting others (Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, impala, giraffe) to the ranches, relative to the reserve. Regulating cultivation, fencing, settlements and livestock stocking levels in the ranches would allow continued wildlife access to water, reduce competition with, displacement or harassment of wildlife by people, livestock and dogs near water.     

Sediment-benthos relationships as a tool to assist in conservation practices in a coastal lagoon subjected to sediment change

This study explores the relation between sediment composition and intertidal macrobenthos populations in the Zwin nature reserve (Belgium and The Netherlands), a tidal lagoon that is included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance and has been designated as Natura 2000 area, among others due to its function as wintering habitat for shorebirds that feed upon macrobenthic invertebrates. Species response models show highest biomass of these prey species in organically enriched cohesive sediments and a distinct decline in probability of occurrence for most species in coarse sediments. Further, the biomass of macrobenthos declined between 2003 and 2010 in the extensive low intertidal inlet channel concurrent with the coarsening of the sediment over time in this hydrodynamically stressed habitat. In contrast, macrobenthos biomass increased in a sheltered shallow intertidal habitat that acted as a catchment area for finer sediments, therefore facilitating the succession towards a higher elevated habitat with salt marsh vegetation establishment. Hence, spatio-temporal sediment dynamics decreased site quality for intertidal predators due to a reduction in feeding areas over time, and a change in physical sediment properties that alter the macrobenthos species occurrence and population biomass. This study thus illustrates that sediment transport dynamics may affect the functioning of coastal shallow soft-sediment habitats, like coastal lagoons. The presented macrobenthos species response models provide a tool to assist in management actions that enable the conservation of cohesive low intertidal habitats that provide a high food supply to shorebirds, fish and macrocrustaceans.     

Procrustes analysis as a tool for land management

Generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA) is a multivariate technique that involves transformations of data matrices to provide optimal comparability. We propose GPA to quantify the concordance among sets of variables that characterize natural, human and productive subsystems. When the land use fits in with the physical support of agricultural production, people's well-being should be evident in a high concordance between the land use and the social conditions. In a situation of instability each set of variables operates in diverse directions resulting in lower resilience and sustainability. Two GPA were performed, between physical support and land use data sets (concordance = 67.4%), and between land use and social conditions data sets (concordance = 65.3%). The interplay between the pair of concordance values constitutes a bi-dimensional index which serves as an ecological indicator. Based on bootstrap confidence interval, the 49 counties of the Pampa Ecoregion, Argentina, were classified in medium, high or low concordance. The lack of concordance is an indicator of imbalances which may contribute to guide environmental management.     

Podcasting as a tool to take conservation education online

Traditional forms of higher learning include teaching in the classroom on college campuses and in‐person adult‐focused public outreach events for non‐students. Online college degree programs and public outreach platforms have been steadily emerging, and the COVID‐19 pandemic has, at least temporarily, forced all related ecology and evolutionary biology programs to move to online delivery. Podcasting is a form of online mass communication that is rapidly gaining popularity and has the flexibility to be incorporated into the pedagogical toolbox for the online classroom and remote public outreach programming. Podcasting is also becoming more popular in the ecology and evolutionary biology field. Here, we describe the great potential of podcasting to transform the learning experience, present a case study of success from the United States, provide a table of podcast recommended by ecologist responding to a listserv, and provide a road map for adoption and utilization of podcasting for the future.     

The understanding of phytopathogens as a tool in the conservation of heroic viticulture areas

The special characteristics of heroic viticulture combine the geographical features of the territory where particular vineyards are located and the unique production methods used in making their wines reflected in their status as special protection zones. This work sets out the results of a 2 year project in which the impact of the main cryptogamic diseases affecting vines in the Ribeira Sacra designation of origin (northwest Spain) was studied. The incidence of such diseases was assessed to develop strategies for offsetting the high costs incurred by production and the adverse impact on the environment. For this purpose, an aerobiological study of the fungal propagules during the life cycle of the red Mencía variety was carried out. The spore concentrations were correlated with the phenology, climatic conditions and the application of anti-fungal treatments. The analysis shows that greater effectiveness can be achieved in the control of phytopathogenic fungi by means of better identification of the epidemiological development of the pathogen. The determination of the right moment for the application of phytosanitary products is also considered, as well as the correct and most effective doses, and alternative measures that do not involve the use of phytosanitary products. The study contributes to the sustainability of the crop area by seeking to integrate three fundamental dimensions: the societal context, the economy and the environment.

     

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。     

Towards sustainable land use: identifying and managing the conflicts between human activities and biodiversity conservation in Europe

Conflicts between biodiversity conservation and human activities are becoming increasingly apparent in all European landscapes. The intensification of agricultural and silvicultural practices, land abandonment and other land uses such as recreation and hunting are all potential threats to biodiversity that can lead to conflicts between stakeholder livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. To address the global decline in biodiversity there is, therefore, a need to identify the drivers responsible for conflicts between human activities and the conservation of European biodiversity and to promote the management of these conflicts. Here, the drivers of biodiversity conflicts are analysed in a European context for five habitat types: agricultural landscapes, forests, grasslands, uplands and freshwater habitats. A multi- disciplinary approach to conflict management is described, with active stakeholder involvement at every stage of conflict identification and management as well as a range of other approaches including stakeholder dialogue and education, consumer education, improvement of political and legislative frameworks, financial incentives, and planning infrastructure.