Conservation and human livelihoods at the crossroads: Local needs and knowledge in the management of Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining single block of indigenous dry coastal tropical forest in Eastern Africa. Households within a 5 km buffer zone depend heavily on the forest for their livelihood needs, and the pressure on forest resources is on the increase. In May 2015, 109 households were interviewed on resources they obtain from the forest, in terms of the self‐reported level of monthly income. We found household income and farm size significantly positively correlated with benefits from the forest, highlighting the possible influence of household wealth in exploiting forest resources. A large proportion of households (32%) had limited knowledge of local birds, while human–bird conflict was reported by 44% of the households. While many households were keen to participate in conservation projects that maintain the forest, 44% had no knowledge of the forest management plan, and 60% of those interviewed had no idea of how forest zones were designated for particular activities. Drivers for local community participation in conservation projects appear to be sustainable income and fulfilment of basic household needs.     

Preservation of biodiversity in small rainforest patches: rapid evaluations using butterfly trapping

Determining the capacity of small forest remnants to support biodiversity is of critical importance, especially in the tropics where high rates of land conversion coincide with extraordinarily high species richness and endemism. Using fruit-baited traps, we conducted rapid evaluations in 1993 and 1994 of the forest butterfly diversity of seven small patches (3–30 ha) and a single remaining large patch (227 ha) of Costa Rican mid-elevation moist forest. Our results suggest that even recently isolated 20–30 ha fragments of primary forest retain surprisingly depauperate butterfly faunas relative to that supported by the 227 ha patch only 0.5–1.0 km away. If forest butterflies are an index of the diversity of small-bodied organisms in general, preservation of the latter may require unexpectedly large patches. In 1994 we also surveyed a 16 ha botanical garden, situated between and contiguous to both the 227 ha patch and an exceptionally species-rich 25 ha patch. In the garden, we discovered adults of many butterfly species associated with forest interior, suggesting that even heavily managed systems of largely exotic plants (such as agricultural systems) could be designed to serve as corridors for butterflies and perhaps some other groups of organisms. We discuss some implications for a planned restoration of biotic connections between lowland and montane forests in southern Costa Rica.     

Conservation regulation: a backward step for biodiversity?

An analysis, particularly from the UK and European Community perspectives, of the way in which the law dealing with the conservation of species and habitats has the potential effect, in some cases, of frustrating the comprehensive preservation of biological diversity. It is proposed that this state of affairs may have come about through the emphasis of one species to the detriment of others or through the failure to address comprehensive inter-species and habitat relationships. One of the propositions is that the application of protection to specific species, through conservation and wild animal welfare provisions, has been implemented in an arbitrary manner in the context of biodiversity preservation or in terms of an animal's level of sentiency or position on the phylogenetic scale. Another proposition is that the law has failed to protect and preserve the 'commonplace' in biodiversity and thus risks losing key components of ecosystems. Finally, the analysis examines the way in which traditional practices such as hunting with hounds may contribute to or frustrate biodiversity preservation.     

Accessibility maps as a tool to predict sampling bias in historical biodiversity occurrence records

Historical biodiversity occurrence records are often discarded in spatial modeling analyses because of a lack of a method to quantify their sampling bias. Here we propose a new approach for predicting sampling bias in historical written records of occurrence, using a South African example as proof of concept. We modelled and mapped accessibility of the study area as the mean of proximity to freshwater and European settlements. We tested the model's ability to predict the location of historical biodiversity records from a dataset of 2612 large mammal occurrence records collected from historical written sources in South Africa in the period 1497–1920. We investigated temporal, spatial and environmental biases in these historical records and examined if the model prediction and occurrence dataset share similar environmental bias. We find a good agreement between the accessibility map and the distribution of sampling effort in the early historical period in South Africa. Environmental biases in the empirical data are identified, showing a preference for lower maximum temperature of the warmest month, higher mean monthly precipitation, higher net primary productivity and less arid biomes than expected by a uniform use of the study area. We find that the model prediction shares similar environmental bias as the empirical data. Accessibility maps, built with very simple statistical rules and in the absence of empirical data, can thus predict the spatial and environmental biases observed in historical biodiversity occurrence records. We recommend that this approach be used as a tool to estimate sampling bias in small datasets of occurrence and to improve the use of these data in spatial analyses in ecological and conservation studies.     

谷地植物景观保育性调控策略——以鸡公山武胜关为例

武胜关谷地位于古北界和东洋界交汇处,独特的过渡地带造就了丰富植物资源,植物景观保育性调控有助于维持场地稳定可持续发展。基于对无人机技术和GIS的运用,获取了武胜关谷地的自然资源、地貌、水文、视域等特征,以及生态敏感性（保育等级）和植物生态位类型分布。结果显示：（1）研究地整体地势由西北向东南逐渐升高,且为典型的谷地类型;（2）多样的坡向变化带来了不同的太阳辐射和沿路可视域变化,主要呈现出研究地中段道路两侧太阳辐射量偏低且被人为干扰可能较大的特点;（3）高敏感地区主要分布在研究地南侧,高土壤肥力地区主要分布在阔叶林区、喜水植物适合分布在道路两侧汇水区、阴性植物主要适合分布在道路南侧。依据分析结果,结合生态位、景观异质性、边缘效应等理论,从分区控制、地带防护、植被斑块改造与植被选择以及可持续管护4个方面,提出了武胜关谷地植物景观保育性调控的系统性策略。研究在自然景观资源保护、植物景观资源的可持续发展等方面有着重要的意义,未来可在小尺度的可操作性上进行更进一步的探索。     

Integrating needs of the local community to conserve forest biodiversity in the state of Kelantan

Kelantan State, claimed to be one of the poorest states in Malaysia, has forest lands, nature reserves and other protected natural areas which are under increasing threat from a variety of human activities. At the same time, the State government lacks financial resources and skilled manpower to manage the protected forest lands adequately. The present strategies to manage protected forest areas are inadequate to overcome these constraints. Alternative strategies are needed to conserve Kelantan's forest biodiversity. Furthermore, conservation efforts will not be effective without the active cooperation and participation of people living in and near the forest areas. To achieve this, it is essential that the people share the benefits and responsibilities of forest resource management with the state government.A proposal to involve the local people in an integrated action plan is discussed in this paper. It aims to find options of protecting forest land encroachment in the State with an ultimate goal of increasing the capacity of the poor to carry out activities on a sustained basis. It is hoped that the proposed project will help the State government to improve economic status as well as environmental awareness and reduced dependence on forest lands.Much of the forest lands in Kelantan are threatened by encroachment from the people who live around the forest areas. This encroachment is not only the result of poverty and shortage of land, but is also due to the unclear forest boundaries. People also do not understand the significance of forest biodiversity. It is important therefore that the local people are encouraged not to encroach into the forest areas. There has to be support from the top in order to sustain integration efforts. Both the State and the central government agencies must be a part of the planning and implementation process. The challenge becomes one of integrating the needs of the local people with development priorities of the government. In practical terms, this paper hopes to arrive at a workable methodology rather than be a purely scientific exercise which can serve as a model to the other states experiencing similar problems.Presented at the Asean Seminar on Management and Conservation of Biodiversity, 29 November–1 December 1993, Kuala Lumpur.     

基于C-Plan规划软件的生物多样性就地保护优先区规划——以中国东北地区为例

以中国东北地区为研究区域,根据生物多样性属性特征,选择研究区域内具有代表性的濒危物种作为指示物种,利用系统保护规划方法(Systematic Conservation Planning,SCP)和保护规划软件(C-Plan),对该区域进行了优先保护规划研究。通过计算规划单元的不可替代性值(Irreplaceability,IR),找出区域生物多样性热点地区和保护空缺地区,然后利用C-Plan规划软件对该地区进行保护优先等级划分,确定必须保护(Mandatory Reserved,MR)、协商保护(Negotiated Reserved,NR)和部分保护(PartiallyReserved,PR)3个等级保护区域的具体位置和面积,并针对保护现状提出保护规划建议。结果显示,必须保护区域的总面积占区域总面积的8.17%,主要分布于长白山核心地区和大兴安岭北部原始林区;协商保护区域占总面积的7.51%,主要分布于大兴安岭东南部和松嫩平原湿地;部分保护区域占总面积的9%。保护空缺分析结果显示,现有国家级自然保护区对生物多样性的保护存在3个明显的保护空缺,即长白山林区的龙岗山地区、老爷岭北部和张广才岭南部;大兴安岭北部原始林区、呼玛河—黑龙江流域的平原湿地和伊勒呼里山东南部山区;大兴安岭南部森林草原过渡区的东南部森林地区。结合区域内已建立的国家级自然保护区情况,利用C-Plan规划软件对不同时期建立的保护区实现保护目标的贡献率做了分析。截止2000年,已建保护区可实现预期保护目标的17.5%,通过对贡献率大小的比较确定了不同时期保护的有效程度。研究打破了传统的对称几何形状的单元划分方法,根据植被类型和自然地形地貌,采用自然多边形进行单元划分,提高了物种分布范围准确度。研究通过C-Plan规划软件的实际应用,丰富了系统保护规划研究的方法,从理论上为区域保护规划提供了科学依据,并可指导我国自然保护区管理政策的制定和中长期规划的编制。     

Challenging Wallacean and Linnean shortfalls: knowledge gradients and conservation planning in a biodiversity hotspot

Knowledge about biodiversity remains inadequate because most species living on Earth were still not formally described (the Linnean shortfall) and because geographical distributions of most species are poorly understood and usually contain many gaps (the Wallacean shortfall). In this paper, we developed models to infer the size and placement of geographical ranges of hypothetical non‐described species, based on the range size frequency distribution of anurans recently described in the Cerrado Biome, on the level of knowledge (number of inventories) and on surrogates for habitat suitability. The rationale for these models is as follow: (1) the range size frequency distribution of these species should be similar to the range‐restricted species, which have been most recently described in the Cerrado Biome; (2) the probability of new discoveries will increase in areas with low biodiversity knowledge, mainly in suitable areas, and (3) assuming range continuity, new species should occupy adjacent cells only if the level of knowledge is low enough to allow the existence of undiscovered species. We ran a model based on the number of inventories only, and two models combining effects of number of inventories and two different estimates of habitat suitability, for a total of 100 replicates each. Finally, we performed a complementary analysis using simulated annealing to solve the set‐covering problem for each simulation (i.e. finding the smallest number of cells so that all species are represented at least once), using extents of occurrence of 160 species (131 real anuran species plus 29 new simulated species). The revised reserve system that included information about unknown or poorly sampled taxa significantly shifted northwards, when compared to a system based on currently known species. This main result can be explained by the paucity of biodiversity data in this part of the biome, associated with its relatively high habitat suitability. As a precautionary measure, weighted by the inferred distribution data, the prioritization of a system of reserves in the north part of the biome appears to be defensible.     

Conservation planning and viability: problems associated with identifying priority sites in Swaziland using species list data

Conservation planning assessments based on species atlas data are known to select planning units containing ecotones because these areas are relatively species‐rich. However, this richness is often dependent on the presence of adjoining core habitat, so populations within these ecotones might not be viable. This suggests that atlas data may also fail to distinguish between planning units that are highly transformed by agriculture or urbanization with those from neighbouring untransformed units. These highly transformed units could also be identified as priority sites, based solely on the presence of species that require adjoining habitat patches to persist. This potential problem was investigated using bird and mammal atlas data from Swaziland and a landcover map and found that: (i) there was no correlation between planning unit species richness and proportion of natural landcover for both taxa; (ii) the priority areas that were identified for both birds and mammals were no less transformed than if the units had been chosen at random and (iii) an approach that aimed to meet conservation targets and minimize transformation levels failed to identify more viable priority areas. This third result probably arose because 4.8% of the bird species and 22% of the mammal species were recorded in only one planning unit, reducing the opportunity to choose between units when aiming to represent each species. Therefore, it is suggested that using species lists to design protected area networks at a fine spatial scale may not conserve species effectively unless population viability data are explicitly included in the analysis.     

SNP2RFLP: a computational tool to facilitate genetic mapping using benchtop analysis of SNPs

Genome-wide analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers is an extremely efficient means for genetic mapping of mutations or traits in mice. However, this approach often defines a relatively large recombinant interval. To facilitate the refinement of this interval, we developed the program SNP2RFLP. This program can be used to identify region-specific SNPs in which the polymorphic nucleotide creates a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) that can be readily assayed at the benchtop using restriction enzyme digestion of SNP-containing PCR products. The program permits user-defined queries that maximize the informative markers for a particular application. This facilitates fine-mapping in a region containing a mutation of interest, which should prove valuable to the mouse genetics community. SNP2RFLP and further details are publicly available at http://genetics.bwh.harvard.edu/snp2rflp/.

     

Cobble community DNA as a tool to monitor patterns of biodiversity within kelp forest ecosystems

Kelp forest ecosystems dominate 150,000 km of global temperate coastline, rivalling the coastal occurrence of coral reefs. Despite the astounding biological diversity and productive ecological communities associated with kelp forests, patterns of species richness and composition are difficult to monitor and compare. Crustose coralline algae are a critically important substrate for propagule settlement for a range of kelp forest species. Coralline‐covered cobbles are home to hundreds of species of benthic animals and algae and form a replicable unit for ecological assays. Here, we use DNA metabarcoding of bulk DNA extracts sampled from cobbles to explore patterns of species diversity in kelp forests of the central California coast. The data from 97 cobbles within kelp forest ecosystems at three sites in Central California show the presence of 752 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) and 53 MOTUs assigned up to the species level with >95% similarity to current databases. We are able to detect spatial patterns of important management targets such as abalone recruits, and localized abundance of sea stars in 2012. Comparison of classic ecological surveys of these sites reveals large differences in species targets for these two approaches. In order to make such comparisons more quantitative, we use Presence/Absence Metabarcoding, using the fraction of replicate cobbles showing a species as a measure of its local abundance. This approach provides a fast and repeatable survey method that can be applied for biodiversity assessments across systems to shed light on the impact of different ecological disturbances and the role played by marine protected areas.     

生物多样性保护优先区抽样调查策略研究——以武陵山地区为例

生物多样性保护优先区是我国为加强生物多样性保护和监管划定的重要区域,目前部分优先区已陆续开展生物本底资料的调查评估工作,但受限于经费、时间等条件,对区内所有县域或网格全覆盖式科考,既不现实也无必要,因而区域尺度的抽样设计是一个亟需解决的关键问题。以武陵山生物多样性保护优先区为例,结合层次聚类和系统抽样方法,同时考虑历史调查资料的系统完整程度和空间保护属性,提出了一个科学可行的抽样方案。首先将研究区域内的所有县域聚为5类,每类挑选出2个重点县域,共获得6个历史上进行过系统科学考察的县域和4个本底资料相对缺乏的县域,进而挑选出76个重点调查网格（10 km×10 km）,其中生物多样性富集网格36个,保护区外的人类干扰网格40个,抽样比例为11.09%,每个网格平均调查经费为2.52万元。该抽样策略区分了调查层次并突出重点区域,使调查和评估更有针对性,进一步完善了保护优先区基础调查系统,也强化了项目管理能力,对其他保护优先区项目开展具有一定参考价值。     

Conservation strategy of a nature reserve in Mediterranean ecosystems: the effects of protection from grazing on biodiversity

Protection of natural areas has caused the elimination of traditional grazing activity on many occasions. As a result, in Mediterranean ecosystems a loss of biodiversity is usually related to a decrease of grassland and grassland–bush mosaic areas. In order to establish relationships between land use and the relative importance of each type of habitat in terms of species richness and endemicity, the Font Roja Natural Park in Alicante Province (SE Iberian Peninsula) was studied. Four sites were selected representing the four different existing habitats: a wooded area (holm-oak forest), a dense shrubland, a dense grassland, and a grassland–shrubland mosaic area. In each site, the species composition of vegetation and dung beetle fauna were analysed. The results showed that the highest diversity and endemicity, for plants and beetles, were concentrated in the dense grasslands and the grassland–shrubland mosaic. Thus, controlled grazing activity of sheep and goats which maintained a diverse variegated landscape would favour the historical sustenance of the biodiversity of Mediterranean ecosystems, as that would allow a remarkable diversity of habitats with higher conservation levels of existing species richness and endemicity. Therefore, we propose a reintroduction of traditional grazing of sheep and goats throughout ecological, cultural and economical measures, which would include guidelines and regulations, set out to boost an integrated rural policy.     

Applying a framework for landscape planning under climate change for the conservation of biodiversity in the Finnish boreal forest

Conservation strategies are often established without consideration of the impact of climate change. However, this impact is expected to threaten species and ecosystem persistence and to have dramatic effects towards the end of the 21st century. Landscape suitability for species under climate change is determined by several interacting factors including dispersal and human land use. Designing effective conservation strategies at regional scales to improve landscape suitability requires measuring the vulnerabilities of specific regions to climate change and determining their conservation capacities. Although methods for defining vulnerability categories are available, methods for doing this in a systematic, cost‐effective way have not been identified. Here, we use an ecosystem model to define the potential resilience of the Finnish forest landscape by relating its current conservation capacity to its vulnerability to climate change. In applying this framework, we take into account the responses to climate change of a broad range of red‐listed species with different niche requirements. This framework allowed us to identify four categories in which representation in the landscape varies among three IPCC emission scenarios (B1, low; A1B, intermediate; A2, high emissions): (i) susceptible (B1 = 24.7%, A1B = 26.4%, A2 = 26.2%), the most intact forest landscapes vulnerable to climate change, requiring management for heterogeneity and resilience; (ii) resilient (B1 = 2.2%, A1B = 0.5%, A2 = 0.6%), intact areas with low vulnerability that represent potential climate refugia and require conservation capacity maintenance; (iii) resistant (B1 = 6.7%, A1B = 0.8%, A2 = 1.1%), landscapes with low current conservation capacity and low vulnerability that are suitable for restoration projects; (iv) sensitive (B1 = 66.4%, A1B = 72.3%, A2 = 72.0%), low conservation capacity landscapes that are vulnerable and for which alternative conservation measures are required depending on the intensity of climate change. Our results indicate that the Finnish landscape is likely to be dominated by a very high proportion of sensitive and susceptible forest patches, thereby increasing uncertainty for landscape managers in the choice of conservation strategies.     

构建促进保护地社区资源使用与保护目标协调的社会情境分析工具——武夷山国家公园试点区实践

结合"公共池塘资源"、"环境权利"和"社会-生态系统"意义认知理论,从话语分析入手研究社会-生态系统中,制度如何作用于社区行为而最终影响生态系统,并以提供政策建议为终点,形成一个针对保护地社区资源利用的社会情境分析工具。研究以武夷山国家公园体制试点区社区为对象,从社区主体认知和研究者外部观察的知识合作入手,首先分析社区资源禀赋和环境权利的实现。研究发现,影响资源权属和使用的关键制度包括宏观层面的土地政策,中观层面的保护地规划和管理,以及微观层面的乡规民约,凸显了法律与民间规范的共同作用。影响生态产品和服务获取以及福利转化等环境权利的关键因素是中观层面的正式制度,包括市场机制和信用体系,以及非正式制度,主要是长期形成并与时俱进的社区集体行动机制等。其次,分析影响社区权利可得性的协商机制。协商需要注意程序合法,重视社区环境自主权;在内容上尊重历史和传统,提供充分信息;在实施上有明确的成本-收益分析。这样才能推动社区认知与保护管理目标相一致,以制度变迁促进生态系统服务持续。研究表明,这一社会情境分析工具以国家公园体制试点为契机,可以帮助提出改善社区的资源禀赋和完善环境权利的专门政策,促进自然生态系统和社区福利双赢。