Restoring Intertidal Boulder‐Fields as Habitat for “Specialist” and “Generalist” Animals

Restoration is important in urban areas where habitat destruction is greatest. It incorporates many levels of intervention, with creation of new habitat the most extreme form. Most research on habitat creation has been terrestrial, or in marine habitats dominated by large structuring biota, such as mangroves. Intertidal boulder‐fields in urban areas are vulnerable to disturbances and habitat loss, which adversely affect numerous habitat specialists. This study describes experiments in which quarried stones were used to create new habitat outside natural boulder‐fields as a practical approach to restoring habitat. Colonization by specialist fauna and by common algae and invertebrates was measured for a year after deployment. Despite sessile assemblages on new boulders differing from those on natural boulders, common and rare animals rapidly colonized the new habitat. There was no clear succession, but colonization was variable and patchy at all scales examined, although diversities and abundances of some species in this novel habitat matched those of natural boulders within a few months. Rare and common animals generally colonized the new habitat as adults moving in from surrounding areas. Creating new boulder‐fields using quarried rocks is a successful approach to restoration and conservation of fauna where natural boulder‐fields are threatened.     

A Study of Energy Consumption and Exhaust Emissions from Beijing's Civil Vehicles from Years 2008 to 2020

The number of Beijing's civil vehicles is growing rapidly due to the great support of the automobile industry and the Chinese government and the increasing average per capita income of China's people. Exhaust emissions from vehicles have already become the main source of Beijing's air pollution. Based on the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP), this article predicts the energy consumption and exhaust emissions from Beijing's civil vehicles. Also, we estimated the reduction potentials of China's new fuel consumption standards and exhaust pollutants standards that will be implemented from 2008 to 2020. Two scenarios were developed: “Business as Usual” (BAU) and “New Standard” (NS). In the BAU scenario, the Chinese government would do nothing to improve the fuel consumption standards and exhaust pollutants standards in the future. In the NS scenario, the Chinese government would implement more strict fuel consumption standards and exhaust pollutants standards for Beijing's civil vehicles. By comparing the results of the two scenarios for year 2020, the energy consumption will experience a reduction of 7.8%, and the exhaust pollutants CO, HC, NO_X, PM, and the emissions of CO₂ would decrease by 43.3%, 36.4%, 60.3%, 81.2%, and 7.8%, respectively.     

Three new species of Fancy Case caterpillars from threatened forests of Hawaii (Lepidoptera, Cosmopterigidae, Hyposmocoma)

The endemic Hawaiian moth genus Hyposmocoma includes 348 described species and perhaps twice as many that remain undescribed. The genus is unusual within Lepidoptera in that its larvae create distinctive silk cases in which they perambulate while protected and camouflaged. An extraordinary diversity of case types exists, and to date more than ten different types have been identified, each corresponding roughly to a separate evolutionary lineage. In this study, we describe three new species of Hyposmocoma: Hyposmocoma ipohapuusp. n. from Big Island, Hyposmocoma makawaosp. n. from Makawao Forest Reserve in Mauiand Hyposmocoma tantalasp. n. from Mt. Tantalus, Oahu, all of which produce tubular purse cases during their larval stage. We also describe the female of Hyposmocoma inversella Walsingham, which was previously undescribed, and re-describe two closely related species, Hyposmocoma auropurpurea Walsingham and Hyposmocoma nebulifera Walsingham, neither which have been formally described in recent years. We present for the first time, primer sequences for a 705 bp fragment of CAD, designed for Hyposmocoma and relatives. The molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear loci demonstrates that all are distinct species. The discovery of a new, endemic species from Mt. Tantalus, an area with many invasive species, suggests that even relatively degraded areas in Hawaii would be worthy of active conservation efforts.     

Maximising return on conservation investment in the conterminous USA

Efficient conservation planning requires knowledge about conservation targets, threats to those targets, costs of conservation and the marginal return to additional conservation efforts. Systematic conservation planning typically only takes a small piece of this complex puzzle into account. Here, we use a return‐on‐investment (ROI) approach to prioritise lands for conservation at the county level in the conterminous USA. Our approach accounts for species richness, county area, the proportion of species' ranges already protected, the threat of land conversion and land costs. Areas selected by a complementarity‐based greedy heuristic using our full ROI approach provided greater averted species losses per dollar spent compared with areas selected by heuristics accounting for richness alone or richness and cost, and avoided acquiring lands not threatened with conversion. In contrast to traditional prioritisation approaches, our results highlight conservation bargains, opportunities to avert the threat of development and places where conservation efforts are currently lacking.     

Do miners (Manorina spp.) affect bird assemblages in continuous savanna woodlands in north‐eastern Australia?

Overabundant native species can have a significant cascading effect on other components of wildlife, and those that deplete other species, often promoted by anthropogenic change to vegetation cover and habitat, are called reverse keystone species. Birds in the genus Manorina are widely reported as being such species, and in highly disturbed or fragmented environments, and some intact environments, noisy miners Manorina melanocephala can have a strong negative effect on small passerine species via hyper‐aggressive mobbing. The tropical savannas of northern Australia consist of largely unmodified woodlands, and two species of Manorina occur naturally in this region: the noisy miner and the yellow‐throated miner Manorina flavigula. Therefore, what effect do these species have on bird assemblage in predominantly continuous habitats, relative to other typical determinants of avifauna assemblage such as vegetation structure? We used data collected from bird surveys at 511 sites across northern Queensland (179 noisy miner M. melanocephala sites, 332 yellow‐throated miner M. flavigula sites) between 1998 and 2010. We examined the variation in bird composition at each site due to increasing abundance of Manorina spp. using uni‐ and multivariate techniques. We found total bird richness was significantly lower in sites where noisy and yellow‐throated miner abundances were highest, and passerine species seemed most affected. For species, 45 species varied significantly in abundance with increasing miner numbers, and the overall effect of yellow‐throated miners on other birds seemed more pronounced. However, vegetation structure was generally an equal or more important predictor of avifauna richness and abundance. We conclude that despite the superficially intact nature of northern Australian woodlands, pastoral intensification or poor land management might create disturbances that facilitate increases in the abundance of Manorina, causing localized overabundance and a compounding negative effect on other native bird species.     

Top predators as biodiversity regulators: the dingo Canis lupus dingo as a case study

Top‐order predators often have positive effects on biological diversity owing to their key functional roles in regulating trophic cascades and other ecological processes. Their loss has been identified as a major factor contributing to the decline of biodiversity in both aquatic and terrestrial systems. Consequently, restoring and maintaining the ecological function of top predators is a critical global imperative. Here we review studies of the ecological effects of the dingo Canis lupus dingo, Australia's largest land predator, using this as a case study to explore the influence of a top predator on biodiversity at a continental scale. The dingo was introduced to Australia by people at least 3500 years ago and has an ambiguous status owing to its brief history on the continent, its adverse impacts on livestock production and its role as an ecosystem architect. A large body of research now indicates that dingoes regulate ecological cascades, particularly in arid Australia, and that the removal of dingoes results in an increase in the abundances and impacts of herbivores and invasive mesopredators, most notably the red fox Vulpes vulpes. The loss of dingoes has been linked to widespread losses of small and medium‐sized native mammals, the depletion of plant biomass due to the effects of irrupting herbivore populations and increased predation rates by red foxes. We outline a suite of conceptual models to describe the effects of dingoes on vertebrate populations across different Australian environments. Finally, we discuss key issues that require consideration or warrant research before the ecological effects of dingoes can be incorporated formally into biodiversity conservation programs.     

A warrant for applied palaeozoology

It has been argued by some neozoologists (those who study living animals) that the palaeozoological record is biased and incomplete (relative to an existing biological community) and therefore should not be consulted for purposes of conservation biology. An article published in a biology journal in 2011 lists numerous reasons why natural history collections (NHCs) of skins and skulls of animals collected over the past century or two are exceptionally valuable to conservation biologists because those collections provide significant time depth to numerous variables that document global biological change. Many of those same variables can be, and have been, identified in the palaeozoological record. Those variables are of major value to conservation biology, whether their values are taken from 100‐year‐old NHCs or from palaeozoological remains. Empirical examples in which the identified variables are measured in palaeozoological contexts indicate that the palaeozoological record should indeed be consulted by conservation biologists and can no longer be considered unsatisfactory for modern resource management.     

Analysis of longitudinal changes in dyspnea of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an observational study

Background

Guidelines recommend that symptoms as well as lung function should be monitored for the management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, limited data are available regarding the longitudinal change in dyspnea, and it remains unknown which of relevant measurements might be used for following dyspnea.

Methods

We previously consecutively recruited 137 male outpatients with moderate to very severe COPD, and followed them every 6 months for 5 years. We then reviewed and reanalyzed the data focusing on the relationships between the change in dyspnea and the changes in other clinical measurements of lung function, exercise tolerance tests and psychological status. Dyspnea with activities of daily living was assessed with the Oxygen Cost Diagram (OCD) and modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale (mMRC), and two dimensions of disease-specific health status questionnaires of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRQ) and the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were also used. Dyspnea at the end of exercise tolerance tests was measured using the Borg scale.

Results

The mMRC, CRQ dyspnea and SGRQ activity significantly worsened over time (p < 0.001), but the OCD did not (p = 0.097). Multiple regression analyses revealed that the changes in the OCD, mMRC, CRQ dyspnea and SGRQ activity were significantly correlated to changes in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) (correlation of determination (r²) = 0.05-0.19), diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (r² = 0.04-0.08) and psychological status evaluated by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (r² = 0.14-0.17), although these correlations were weak. Peak Borg score decreased rather significantly, but was unrelated to changes in clinical measurements.

Conclusion

Dyspnea worsened over time in patients with COPD. However, as different dyspnea measurements showed different evaluative characteristics, it is important to follow dyspnea using appropriate measurements. Progressive dyspnea was related not only to progressive airflow limitation, but also to various factors such as worsening of diffusing capacity or psychological status. Changes in peak dyspnea at the end of exercise may evaluate different aspects from other dyspnea measurements.     

Modelling relationships between species spatial abundance patterns and climate

Aim To move towards modelling spatial abundance patterns and to evaluate the relative impacts of climatic change upon species abundances as opposed to range extents. Location Southern Africa, including Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Methods Quantitative response surface models were fitted for 78 bird species, mostly endemic (68) or near‐endemic to the region, to model relationships between species reporting rates (i.e. the proportion of checklists reporting a species for a particular grid cell), as recorded by the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, and four bioclimatic variables derived from climatic data for the period 1961–90. With caution, reporting rates can be used as a proxy for abundance. Models were used to project potential impacts of a series of projected climatic change scenarios upon species abundance patterns and range extents. Results Most models obtained were robust with good predictive power. Projections of potential future abundance patterns indicate that the magnitude of impacts upon a proxy for abundance are greater than those upon range extent for the majority of species (82% by 2071–2100). For most species (74%) both abundance and range extent are projected to decrease by 2100. Impacts are especially severe if species are unable to realize projected range changes; when only the area of a species' simulated present range is considered, overall abundance decreases of more than 80% are projected for 19 (24%) of species examined. Main conclusions Our results indicate that projected climatic changes are likely to elicit greater relative changes in species abundances than range extents. For most species examined changes were decreases, suggesting the impacts upon biodiversity are likely generally to be negative. These results also suggest that previous estimates of the proportion of species at increased risk of extinction as a result of climatic change may, in some cases, be under‐estimates.