Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.106923
Lilli Stenger, Anke Große Hovest, T. Nguyen, C. Pham, Anna Rauhaus, M. Le, Dennis Rödder, T. Ziegler
Since the world is currently in the midst of a major biodiversity crisis, scientists have assigned high conservation priority to 36 biodiversity hotspots around the world. As part of one of the leading hotspots in terms of species richness and local endemism, Vietnam is considered a country with high conservation priority. The reptile fauna of Vietnam is known for its high level of diversity and an outstanding number of endemic species. Vietnamese reptiles are highly threatened due to habitat loss and overharvesting for domestic and international trade, traditional medicine and food, making them a group of great conservation concern. As a baseline for improved reptile conservation in Vietnam, we conducted a conservation assessment of Vietnamese reptile species by evaluating data from a variety of sources. Our study results show that approximately 32.9% (n = 159) of the total reptile species (n = 484) present in Vietnam are endemic to the country, of which more than half are only known from their type locality and about one-third restricted to a particular subregion, making the species particularly vulnerable to threats. Furthermore, 33.5% (n = 53) of 158 endemic taxa included in the protected area analysis have not yet been recorded from any protected area. Among all 418 Vietnamese reptile species listed on the IUCN Red List, 17.7% (n = 74) are threatened with extinction, 46.0% (n = 34) of the total 74 threatened species are endemic to Vietnam. The fact that 135 species are either listed as DD or have not yet been evaluated by the IUCN highlights the urgency of further research. Moreover, only very few species are protected by national or international legislation, and further assessments are needed to protect reptiles of particular concern. A Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) analysis revealed that 22.5% (n = 109) of all reptiles occurring in Vietnam and only 6.3% (n = 10) of the endemic Vietnamese reptiles are currently kept in zoos worldwide. Although 60.8% (n = 45) of the threatened reptiles (n = 74) from Vietnam are currently held in zoos, only 23.5 (n = 8) of the endemic threatened species (n = 34) are held there. Following the IUCNCPSG`s One Plan Approach to Conservation, it is therefore recommended to increase the number of threatened and endemic species in breeding stations and zoos to maintain assurance populations, suitable for restocking measures. Despite ongoing efforts in Vietnam, further conservation measures are required. We therefore also identify areas of highest reptile diversity and with the largest number of threatened species and provide a list of 50 most threatened species (10% of total species) as a guide for further research and conservation action in Vietnam.
{"title":"Assessment of the threat status of reptile species from Vietnam - Implementation of the One Plan Approach to Conservation","authors":"Lilli Stenger, Anke Große Hovest, T. Nguyen, C. Pham, Anna Rauhaus, M. Le, Dennis Rödder, T. Ziegler","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.106923","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.106923","url":null,"abstract":"Since the world is currently in the midst of a major biodiversity crisis, scientists have assigned high conservation priority to 36 biodiversity hotspots around the world. As part of one of the leading hotspots in terms of species richness and local endemism, Vietnam is considered a country with high conservation priority. The reptile fauna of Vietnam is known for its high level of diversity and an outstanding number of endemic species. Vietnamese reptiles are highly threatened due to habitat loss and overharvesting for domestic and international trade, traditional medicine and food, making them a group of great conservation concern. As a baseline for improved reptile conservation in Vietnam, we conducted a conservation assessment of Vietnamese reptile species by evaluating data from a variety of sources. Our study results show that approximately 32.9% (n = 159) of the total reptile species (n = 484) present in Vietnam are endemic to the country, of which more than half are only known from their type locality and about one-third restricted to a particular subregion, making the species particularly vulnerable to threats. Furthermore, 33.5% (n = 53) of 158 endemic taxa included in the protected area analysis have not yet been recorded from any protected area. Among all 418 Vietnamese reptile species listed on the IUCN Red List, 17.7% (n = 74) are threatened with extinction, 46.0% (n = 34) of the total 74 threatened species are endemic to Vietnam. The fact that 135 species are either listed as DD or have not yet been evaluated by the IUCN highlights the urgency of further research. Moreover, only very few species are protected by national or international legislation, and further assessments are needed to protect reptiles of particular concern. A Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) analysis revealed that 22.5% (n = 109) of all reptiles occurring in Vietnam and only 6.3% (n = 10) of the endemic Vietnamese reptiles are currently kept in zoos worldwide. Although 60.8% (n = 45) of the threatened reptiles (n = 74) from Vietnam are currently held in zoos, only 23.5 (n = 8) of the endemic threatened species (n = 34) are held there. Following the IUCNCPSG`s One Plan Approach to Conservation, it is therefore recommended to increase the number of threatened and endemic species in breeding stations and zoos to maintain assurance populations, suitable for restocking measures. Despite ongoing efforts in Vietnam, further conservation measures are required. We therefore also identify areas of highest reptile diversity and with the largest number of threatened species and provide a list of 50 most threatened species (10% of total species) as a guide for further research and conservation action in Vietnam.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79303038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.106406
Amin U. Khan, Asad Abbas, Faiza Sharif, Asma Mansoor, Z. Siddiq
The southern tip of the Thal desert in Pakistan harbors the remnants of the original tropical thorn forest, amounting to two percent, which covered the province of Punjab a hundred years ago. In the past three decades, there has been a progressive decline in woody species cover on dunes, which is directly related to the increase in population in the surrounding area. Stabilized and destabilized dunes were subjectively selected followed by quantification of cover and diversity of woody species on the top and lower slopes. Dunes closely resembling the overall cover were grouped to suggest corresponding restoration measures. The results suggest that trends of decrease in cover and diversity of woody species were evident in the upper slopes of some stabilized dunes having less than 50% cover. The destabilized dunes with less than 20% cover are highly vulnerable to erosion. A general trend observed among dunes was that with a decrease in the cover of upper slopes, there is a decrease in the cover on lower slopes. The number of destabilized dunes is increasing without effective restoration measures against the prevailing trends of disturbances. Ranking dunes on the basis of cover could help in proposing simple restoration measures as a first step towards developing an understanding of designing adaptive strategies to restore the woody cover.
{"title":"Conserving the threatened woody vegetation on dune slopes: Monitoring the decline and designing adaptive strategies for restoration","authors":"Amin U. Khan, Asad Abbas, Faiza Sharif, Asma Mansoor, Z. Siddiq","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.106406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.106406","url":null,"abstract":"The southern tip of the Thal desert in Pakistan harbors the remnants of the original tropical thorn forest, amounting to two percent, which covered the province of Punjab a hundred years ago. In the past three decades, there has been a progressive decline in woody species cover on dunes, which is directly related to the increase in population in the surrounding area. Stabilized and destabilized dunes were subjectively selected followed by quantification of cover and diversity of woody species on the top and lower slopes. Dunes closely resembling the overall cover were grouped to suggest corresponding restoration measures. The results suggest that trends of decrease in cover and diversity of woody species were evident in the upper slopes of some stabilized dunes having less than 50% cover. The destabilized dunes with less than 20% cover are highly vulnerable to erosion. A general trend observed among dunes was that with a decrease in the cover of upper slopes, there is a decrease in the cover on lower slopes. The number of destabilized dunes is increasing without effective restoration measures against the prevailing trends of disturbances. Ranking dunes on the basis of cover could help in proposing simple restoration measures as a first step towards developing an understanding of designing adaptive strategies to restore the woody cover.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80133869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.110961
C. Pereira, D. Negreiros, Milton Barbosa, Fernando Figueiredo Goulart, Rodrigo de Loyola Dias, Maria Clara Melillo, F. Camarota, Mariana Antunes Pimenta, Marina Cruz, G. W. Fernandes
Since the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), decision-makers have realised that periodic assessments were needed to closely monitor climate change. Studies on it became widespread and include the science of greenhouse gas emissions, the composition of these gases and the extent to which humans have been responsible for climate change. In this sense, the United Nations summit has made significant progress since the Rio Conference (Eco 92), with the creation of the Conference of the Parties (COPs). However, governments should not solely focus on curbing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In a society with broad and deep environmental problems, governments, the private sector and non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) efforts should include biodiversity conservation in their agenda. Solving a single problem, the climate crisis is honourable and urgently needed, but to constrain our ever-increasing land-use footprints on the planet needs the tackling of another equally challenging problem, the loss of biodiversity. The destruction of ecosystems undermines nature’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and protect against extreme weather, thus accelerating climate change and increasing our vulnerability to it. Therefore, tackling environmental challenges means more than building electric cars, investing in “clean” energy and imposing fines on those who burn forests. To save the environment, scientists, industry, policy-makers and the wider society urgently need to look at other aspects of ecosystem conservation and restoration in the same way they look at the climate agenda.
{"title":"Has climate change hijacked the environmental agenda?","authors":"C. Pereira, D. Negreiros, Milton Barbosa, Fernando Figueiredo Goulart, Rodrigo de Loyola Dias, Maria Clara Melillo, F. Camarota, Mariana Antunes Pimenta, Marina Cruz, G. W. Fernandes","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.110961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.110961","url":null,"abstract":"Since the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), decision-makers have realised that periodic assessments were needed to closely monitor climate change. Studies on it became widespread and include the science of greenhouse gas emissions, the composition of these gases and the extent to which humans have been responsible for climate change. In this sense, the United Nations summit has made significant progress since the Rio Conference (Eco 92), with the creation of the Conference of the Parties (COPs). However, governments should not solely focus on curbing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In a society with broad and deep environmental problems, governments, the private sector and non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) efforts should include biodiversity conservation in their agenda. Solving a single problem, the climate crisis is honourable and urgently needed, but to constrain our ever-increasing land-use footprints on the planet needs the tackling of another equally challenging problem, the loss of biodiversity. The destruction of ecosystems undermines nature’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and protect against extreme weather, thus accelerating climate change and increasing our vulnerability to it. Therefore, tackling environmental challenges means more than building electric cars, investing in “clean” energy and imposing fines on those who burn forests. To save the environment, scientists, industry, policy-makers and the wider society urgently need to look at other aspects of ecosystem conservation and restoration in the same way they look at the climate agenda.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85066440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-16DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.102810
Ding Wang, Haiguang Hao, H. Liu, Lihui Sun, Yuyang Li
Habitat quality reflects the level of biodiversity, and habitat maintenance functions are related to human well-being and ecosystem stability. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a typical ecologically fragile region in Western China with complex human-nature relationships. Maintaining good habitat is not only a fundamental requirement for biodiversity conservation but also a necessary path for sustainable regional development. In this study, we assessed and analysed the spatial and temporal patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020, and explored the driving factors of habitat quality using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results indicated: (1) The overall habitat quality level in Ningxia was low to intermediate, with an upwards and then downwards trend during the past 20 years, showing a small change in overall magnitude. (2) The high- and higher-level habitat quality patches in Ningxia were mainly distributed in areas with high vegetation cover, such as the Helan Mountain and Liupan Mountain. The patches of moderate-level habitat quality mainly included cultivated land, while the low- and lower-level patches were mainly distributed in areas subjected to more frequent human activities, such as cultivated land and construction land. (3) The spatial and temporal distribution patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020 were mainly influenced by fractional vegetation cover (FVC), soil moisture content (SMC), proportion of construction land area (PCL), and proportion of cultivated land area (CLP). Among them, FVC and SMC were positive driving factors, and PCL and CLP were negative driving factors. The results support that increasing vegetation cover and reducing anthropogenic disturbance to natural habitats are important measures to maintain fragile habitats and that key ecological function areas such as nature reserves are crucial for habitat quality protection in ecologically fragile areas.
{"title":"Dynamic change of habitat quality and its key driving factors in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China","authors":"Ding Wang, Haiguang Hao, H. Liu, Lihui Sun, Yuyang Li","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.102810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.102810","url":null,"abstract":"Habitat quality reflects the level of biodiversity, and habitat maintenance functions are related to human well-being and ecosystem stability. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a typical ecologically fragile region in Western China with complex human-nature relationships. Maintaining good habitat is not only a fundamental requirement for biodiversity conservation but also a necessary path for sustainable regional development. In this study, we assessed and analysed the spatial and temporal patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020, and explored the driving factors of habitat quality using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results indicated: (1) The overall habitat quality level in Ningxia was low to intermediate, with an upwards and then downwards trend during the past 20 years, showing a small change in overall magnitude. (2) The high- and higher-level habitat quality patches in Ningxia were mainly distributed in areas with high vegetation cover, such as the Helan Mountain and Liupan Mountain. The patches of moderate-level habitat quality mainly included cultivated land, while the low- and lower-level patches were mainly distributed in areas subjected to more frequent human activities, such as cultivated land and construction land. (3) The spatial and temporal distribution patterns and changes in habitat quality in Ningxia from 2000 to 2020 were mainly influenced by fractional vegetation cover (FVC), soil moisture content (SMC), proportion of construction land area (PCL), and proportion of cultivated land area (CLP). Among them, FVC and SMC were positive driving factors, and PCL and CLP were negative driving factors. The results support that increasing vegetation cover and reducing anthropogenic disturbance to natural habitats are important measures to maintain fragile habitats and that key ecological function areas such as nature reserves are crucial for habitat quality protection in ecologically fragile areas.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91282747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-10DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.86739
P. Giangregorio, N. Mucci, Anita J. Norman, L. Pedrotti, S. Filacorda, P. Molinari, G. Spong, F. Davoli
Determination of parentage provides valuable information for the conservation of wild populations, for instance, by allowing the monitoring of breeding success and inbreeding. Between 1999 and 2002, nine brown bears (Ursus arctos) were translocated to augment the remnant population of a few surviving individuals in the Italian Alps, but only part of them reproduced, with a higher inbreeding risk occurrence in the long-time. Currently, in the Alpine population, parentage tests are assessed through the analysis of 15 microsatellite loci (STRs), but the reduction of genetic variability in future generations will need the use of additional informative markers. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been proven to be useful and reliable in individual identification and family reconstruction; moreover, they can perform well on low-quality samples. In this study, we analysed 51 SNPs to generate a SNP multilocus genotype dataset of 54 Alpine brown bears (Ursus arctos) and compared its performance in parentage analysis with the validated STR dataset. We found that SNPs alone are not sufficient to determine parentage relationships, but the combination of SNPs and STRs provided unambiguous parentage assignments. The combined panel also performed better than STRs when true parents were not present in the dataset and, consequently, showed higher values of assignment probabilities.
{"title":"Performance of SNP markers for parentage analysis in the Italian Alpine brown bear using non-invasive samples","authors":"P. Giangregorio, N. Mucci, Anita J. Norman, L. Pedrotti, S. Filacorda, P. Molinari, G. Spong, F. Davoli","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.86739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.86739","url":null,"abstract":"Determination of parentage provides valuable information for the conservation of wild populations, for instance, by allowing the monitoring of breeding success and inbreeding. Between 1999 and 2002, nine brown bears (Ursus arctos) were translocated to augment the remnant population of a few surviving individuals in the Italian Alps, but only part of them reproduced, with a higher inbreeding risk occurrence in the long-time. Currently, in the Alpine population, parentage tests are assessed through the analysis of 15 microsatellite loci (STRs), but the reduction of genetic variability in future generations will need the use of additional informative markers. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been proven to be useful and reliable in individual identification and family reconstruction; moreover, they can perform well on low-quality samples. In this study, we analysed 51 SNPs to generate a SNP multilocus genotype dataset of 54 Alpine brown bears (Ursus arctos) and compared its performance in parentage analysis with the validated STR dataset. We found that SNPs alone are not sufficient to determine parentage relationships, but the combination of SNPs and STRs provided unambiguous parentage assignments. The combined panel also performed better than STRs when true parents were not present in the dataset and, consequently, showed higher values of assignment probabilities.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79461340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-18DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.85421
J. Shaffer, D. Parks, K. Campbell, Anna Moragne, Bligh Hueske, Pamela Adams, Jenise M. Bauman
In this paper we assess long-term trends and habitat changes to understand the relationships between coastal beaver (Castor canadensis), salmon, shoreline alterations, large-scale dam removals and nearshore ecological restoration. From this work we conclude that the removal of two large scale dams in the Elwha River has benefited beaver use of the coastal zone through water quality changes that allow beaver to re-establish high-quality zones and the expansion of riparian zones that provide extensive new food resources to beaver. However, the lower river hydrodynamic processes continue to be disrupted by a 200-meter earthen dike installed by local government and landowners for flood protection in the Elwha coastal zone in the 1960’s. The dike acts as a driver of lower river geomorphology and has resulted in the formation of a large and persistent lateral bar along the lower river channel. Associated disrupted hydrodynamics are causing a critical coastal zone of the unimpounded lower river side channels to fill in. This channel habitat has decreased by 23%, with an annual average shrinkage rate of 13%, from pre-dam removal size, resulting in a decrease in both quality and quantity of nursery function for juvenile wild fish in a coastal zone that was historically documented to be the highest functioning for endangered juvenile salmon and trout. Inversely, physical changes including improved water quality in the adjacent impounded west side channel and continued expansion of riparian vegetation along the west delta lateral bar benefitted coastal beaver that recolonized the west delta after dam removals. The newly colonized coastal beaver may provide ecological engineering services to offset side channel loss as well as promote continued fish access. However recreational use was found to negatively impact beaver use of the area. We therefore recommend a series of additional ecosystem restoration actions that incorporate beaver as an ecosystem restoration component of the coastal zone. These actions include a public outreach program to encourage passive recreation measures to prevent negative impacts to beaver, and legacy, ecosystem scale restoration projects that reconnect the hydrodynamics of the west delta to complete Elwha ecosystem restoration. Together, these steps, if implemented, will result in a synergistic ecosystem restoration throughout the watershed to the benefit of the coastal ecosystem, including both beaver and salmon, as intended by the large-scale dam removal project.
{"title":"Coastal beaver, Chinook, coho, chum salmon and trout response to nearshore changes resulting from diking and large-scale dam removals: synergistic ecosystem engineering and restoration in the coastal zone","authors":"J. Shaffer, D. Parks, K. Campbell, Anna Moragne, Bligh Hueske, Pamela Adams, Jenise M. Bauman","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.85421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.85421","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we assess long-term trends and habitat changes to understand the relationships between coastal beaver (Castor canadensis), salmon, shoreline alterations, large-scale dam removals and nearshore ecological restoration. From this work we conclude that the removal of two large scale dams in the Elwha River has benefited beaver use of the coastal zone through water quality changes that allow beaver to re-establish high-quality zones and the expansion of riparian zones that provide extensive new food resources to beaver. However, the lower river hydrodynamic processes continue to be disrupted by a 200-meter earthen dike installed by local government and landowners for flood protection in the Elwha coastal zone in the 1960’s. The dike acts as a driver of lower river geomorphology and has resulted in the formation of a large and persistent lateral bar along the lower river channel. Associated disrupted hydrodynamics are causing a critical coastal zone of the unimpounded lower river side channels to fill in. This channel habitat has decreased by 23%, with an annual average shrinkage rate of 13%, from pre-dam removal size, resulting in a decrease in both quality and quantity of nursery function for juvenile wild fish in a coastal zone that was historically documented to be the highest functioning for endangered juvenile salmon and trout. Inversely, physical changes including improved water quality in the adjacent impounded west side channel and continued expansion of riparian vegetation along the west delta lateral bar benefitted coastal beaver that recolonized the west delta after dam removals. The newly colonized coastal beaver may provide ecological engineering services to offset side channel loss as well as promote continued fish access. However recreational use was found to negatively impact beaver use of the area. We therefore recommend a series of additional ecosystem restoration actions that incorporate beaver as an ecosystem restoration component of the coastal zone. These actions include a public outreach program to encourage passive recreation measures to prevent negative impacts to beaver, and legacy, ecosystem scale restoration projects that reconnect the hydrodynamics of the west delta to complete Elwha ecosystem restoration. Together, these steps, if implemented, will result in a synergistic ecosystem restoration throughout the watershed to the benefit of the coastal ecosystem, including both beaver and salmon, as intended by the large-scale dam removal project.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86440186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-07DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.104243
R. Kostova, R. Bekchiev, G. Popgeorgiev, Yurii V. Kornilev
Although Morimus asper, in particular the ssp. funereus, is considered as widespread throughout Bulgaria, a current national mapping of the species is missing. Thus, here we present the first exhaustive study on the distribution of M. asper in Bulgaria. Our research combined 967 georeferenced presence records from scientific publications, from the museum collection of the National Museum of Natural History-BAS, as well as authors’ and citizen scientists’ field observations. An Ecological Niche Model (ENM) was generated using software MaxEnt to identify the potential distribution of the species based on niche suitability. The potentially suitable area for the species was 26% of Bulgaria (29 059 km2). The main predictor variables in M. asper’s ENM assessed by а Jackknife test were the distance to mixed Fagus-Carpinus forests, the mean forest age, the mean tree height, the maximal temperature during the hottest month and the altitude. The percentage contribution to the model of the first two variables was also the largest – respectively 40% and 11%. The remaining variables contributed less than 10% each. Furthermore, we recommend some changes to the current species monitoring methodology to the National Biodiversity Monitoring System.
{"title":"First exhaustive distribution and habitat modelling of Morimus asper (Sulzer, 1776) sensu lato (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) in Bulgaria","authors":"R. Kostova, R. Bekchiev, G. Popgeorgiev, Yurii V. Kornilev","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.104243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.104243","url":null,"abstract":"Although Morimus asper, in particular the ssp. funereus, is considered as widespread throughout Bulgaria, a current national mapping of the species is missing. Thus, here we present the first exhaustive study on the distribution of M. asper in Bulgaria. Our research combined 967 georeferenced presence records from scientific publications, from the museum collection of the National Museum of Natural History-BAS, as well as authors’ and citizen scientists’ field observations. An Ecological Niche Model (ENM) was generated using software MaxEnt to identify the potential distribution of the species based on niche suitability. The potentially suitable area for the species was 26% of Bulgaria (29 059 km2). The main predictor variables in M. asper’s ENM assessed by а Jackknife test were the distance to mixed Fagus-Carpinus forests, the mean forest age, the mean tree height, the maximal temperature during the hottest month and the altitude. The percentage contribution to the model of the first two variables was also the largest – respectively 40% and 11%. The remaining variables contributed less than 10% each. Furthermore, we recommend some changes to the current species monitoring methodology to the National Biodiversity Monitoring System.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"115 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78993977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-16DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.53.97873
Gang Li, Shengming Dong, Hao Wang, Yanmei Guan, Patrick Tyler Deja, W. Nie
Afforestation is an approach for ecological restoration. Soil total phosphorus is one of the important ecological and evolutionary elements for carbon cycles and plant growth following afforestation. However, studies on soil total phosphorus of afforestation on abandoned ponds with different slopes are still lacking. Soil total phosphorus and other soil properties from afforestation sites with different slopes were investigated. Soil total phosphorus, total nitrogen, bulk density, soil water contents and pH of poplar (Populus spp.) plantation sites (Slope 1) with a steep slope and pond cypress (Taxodium spp.) plantation sites (Slope 2) with a flat slope were determined. Soil total nitrogen stocks, soil total phosphorus stocks and the ratio of soil total nitrogen to total phosphorus (N:P) were calculated. Results showed that soil bulk density, soil water content, total phosphorus, total phosphorus stocks and total nitrogen stocks of three soil layers at Slope 1 were significantly lower than those of Slope 2. N:P of Slope 1 was significantly higher, but no significant difference of total nitrogen and pH were found between the two sampling sites. Soil bulk density, soil water content and total nitrogen had significant positive relationships with both total phosphorus and total phosphorus stocks. No obvious correlation was found between pH and total phosphorus or total phosphorus stocks. Redundancy analysis (RDA analysis) suggested that soil water content and bulk density had the most important individual effect on total phosphorus and total phosphorus stocks with values at 59.3% and 59.5%, respectively. It is recommended that afforestation on a flat or gentle slope rather than on a steep gradient could be helpful for accumulation of soil total phosphorus and phosphorus stocks and could decrease the risk of soil phosphorus loss, when afforestation is used for ecological restoration.
{"title":"Effect of ecological restoration on topsoil phosphorus following afforestation on abandoned ponds in northern Chaohu Lake, China","authors":"Gang Li, Shengming Dong, Hao Wang, Yanmei Guan, Patrick Tyler Deja, W. Nie","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.53.97873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.97873","url":null,"abstract":"Afforestation is an approach for ecological restoration. Soil total phosphorus is one of the important ecological and evolutionary elements for carbon cycles and plant growth following afforestation. However, studies on soil total phosphorus of afforestation on abandoned ponds with different slopes are still lacking. Soil total phosphorus and other soil properties from afforestation sites with different slopes were investigated. Soil total phosphorus, total nitrogen, bulk density, soil water contents and pH of poplar (Populus spp.) plantation sites (Slope 1) with a steep slope and pond cypress (Taxodium spp.) plantation sites (Slope 2) with a flat slope were determined. Soil total nitrogen stocks, soil total phosphorus stocks and the ratio of soil total nitrogen to total phosphorus (N:P) were calculated. Results showed that soil bulk density, soil water content, total phosphorus, total phosphorus stocks and total nitrogen stocks of three soil layers at Slope 1 were significantly lower than those of Slope 2. N:P of Slope 1 was significantly higher, but no significant difference of total nitrogen and pH were found between the two sampling sites. Soil bulk density, soil water content and total nitrogen had significant positive relationships with both total phosphorus and total phosphorus stocks. No obvious correlation was found between pH and total phosphorus or total phosphorus stocks. Redundancy analysis (RDA analysis) suggested that soil water content and bulk density had the most important individual effect on total phosphorus and total phosphorus stocks with values at 59.3% and 59.5%, respectively. It is recommended that afforestation on a flat or gentle slope rather than on a steep gradient could be helpful for accumulation of soil total phosphorus and phosphorus stocks and could decrease the risk of soil phosphorus loss, when afforestation is used for ecological restoration.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85302584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.52.95916
Yifu Wang, S. Turvey, N. Leader‐Williams
Wildlife conservationists are increasingly concerned about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) due to the demands it places on many threatened species. In particular, pangolin populations in both Asia and Africa have experienced drastic declines driven by illegal trade. However, few studies have attempted to determine the level of this demand for traded species. In this study, we use social science approaches to investigate the pangolin scale trade within China, based upon interviews with informants from hospitals and pharmaceutical shops in two Chinese provinces (Henan and Hainan). Doctors from 41 hospitals and shop owners or shop assistants from 134 pharmaceutical shops were interviewed between October 2016 and April 2017. We show that pangolin scales are under heavy demand and products are available in 34% of the shops and 66% of the hospitals included in this study. Sale quantities were found to vary substantially amongst sellers and no significant factors were found to correlate with sale quantity. Moreover, quantities of products traded by permitted legal sellers are estimated to greatly exceed the supply capacity of legal sources. There is an urgent need to reduce demand from TCM on pangolin scales and revise the current legal pangolin scale trade system. We also highlight the importance of incorporating the TCM sector into combating illegal wildlife trade and species conservation beyond pangolins.
{"title":"The scale of the problem: understanding the demand for medicinal pangolin products in China","authors":"Yifu Wang, S. Turvey, N. Leader‐Williams","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.52.95916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.52.95916","url":null,"abstract":"Wildlife conservationists are increasingly concerned about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) due to the demands it places on many threatened species. In particular, pangolin populations in both Asia and Africa have experienced drastic declines driven by illegal trade. However, few studies have attempted to determine the level of this demand for traded species. In this study, we use social science approaches to investigate the pangolin scale trade within China, based upon interviews with informants from hospitals and pharmaceutical shops in two Chinese provinces (Henan and Hainan). Doctors from 41 hospitals and shop owners or shop assistants from 134 pharmaceutical shops were interviewed between October 2016 and April 2017. We show that pangolin scales are under heavy demand and products are available in 34% of the shops and 66% of the hospitals included in this study. Sale quantities were found to vary substantially amongst sellers and no significant factors were found to correlate with sale quantity. Moreover, quantities of products traded by permitted legal sellers are estimated to greatly exceed the supply capacity of legal sources. There is an urgent need to reduce demand from TCM on pangolin scales and revise the current legal pangolin scale trade system. We also highlight the importance of incorporating the TCM sector into combating illegal wildlife trade and species conservation beyond pangolins.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78193858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-23DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.52.90452
P. Tájek, Aleš Tenčík, M. Konvička, V. John
A selection of sites occupied by the EU-protected marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) in western Czech Republic were subjected to a vegetation survey 15 years ago and again recently. In the 66 time-replicated 25 m2 plots from 12 sites, representing the diversity of E. aurinia-occupied oligotrophic grasslands in the Slavkovský les Protected Landscape Area (and covering a fifth of the currently-occupied Czech sites), we recorded quantitative representation of vascular plants and mosses. We analysed the data using multivariate ordinations, asking how the vegetation changed between the surveys, how was it affected by the conservation management applied and how it affected occupancy by the butterfly larval nests; the vegetation patterns were interpreted using Ellenberg’s plant indicator values. Between the two surveys, the overall representation of the larval host plant, Succisa pratensis, did not change; tree and herbs layers (both grasses and forbs) increased and the moss layer decreased. Across surveys, the main driver of vascular plants’ species composition was moisture, followed by soil reaction and nitrogen, whereas in mosses, nitrogen was the main factor. The main change between the surveys was the increase of nitrogen accompanied by decreased light, probably due to increase of competitively strong plants. Butterfly occupancy declined at sites with high soil moisture and increased at sites with higher soil reaction. Mowing of moist nitrogen-rich sites, but not drier nitrogen-poor sites, increased occupancy, illustrating the need for context-dependent interventions. All the evidence thus shows that E. aurinia prefers drier, warmer and less acidic conditions within the generally moist acidic grasslands and that ongoing eutrophication represents a potential problem in the future.
{"title":"Vegetation changes at oligotrophic grasslands managed for a declining butterfly","authors":"P. Tájek, Aleš Tenčík, M. Konvička, V. John","doi":"10.3897/natureconservation.52.90452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.52.90452","url":null,"abstract":"A selection of sites occupied by the EU-protected marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) in western Czech Republic were subjected to a vegetation survey 15 years ago and again recently. In the 66 time-replicated 25 m2 plots from 12 sites, representing the diversity of E. aurinia-occupied oligotrophic grasslands in the Slavkovský les Protected Landscape Area (and covering a fifth of the currently-occupied Czech sites), we recorded quantitative representation of vascular plants and mosses. We analysed the data using multivariate ordinations, asking how the vegetation changed between the surveys, how was it affected by the conservation management applied and how it affected occupancy by the butterfly larval nests; the vegetation patterns were interpreted using Ellenberg’s plant indicator values. Between the two surveys, the overall representation of the larval host plant, Succisa pratensis, did not change; tree and herbs layers (both grasses and forbs) increased and the moss layer decreased. Across surveys, the main driver of vascular plants’ species composition was moisture, followed by soil reaction and nitrogen, whereas in mosses, nitrogen was the main factor. The main change between the surveys was the increase of nitrogen accompanied by decreased light, probably due to increase of competitively strong plants. Butterfly occupancy declined at sites with high soil moisture and increased at sites with higher soil reaction. Mowing of moist nitrogen-rich sites, but not drier nitrogen-poor sites, increased occupancy, illustrating the need for context-dependent interventions. All the evidence thus shows that E. aurinia prefers drier, warmer and less acidic conditions within the generally moist acidic grasslands and that ongoing eutrophication represents a potential problem in the future.","PeriodicalId":54166,"journal":{"name":"Nature Conservation Research","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75966381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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