Synthesis and electromagnetic interference shielding of cellulose-derived carbon aerogels functionalized with α-Fe2O3 and polypyrrole.

PubMed

Wan, Caichao; Li, Jian

2017-04-01

Eco-friendly cellulose-derived carbon aerogels (CDCA) were employed as porous substrate to integrate with α-Fe 2 O 3 and polypyrrole (PPy) via pyrolysis and vapor-phase polymerization. The SEM and TEM observations present that the wrinkled PPy sheets and the α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were well dispersed in CDCA. The strong interactions (such as hydrogen bonding) between the substrate and the nanomaterials were demonstrated by the FTIR and XPS analysis. When utilized as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials, the α-Fe 2 O 3 /PPy/CDCA (FPCA) composite has the highest total shielding effectiveness (SE total ) of 39.4dB, about 2.0, 2.9, and 1.3 times that of the acid-treated CDCA (19.3dB), PPy (13.6dB), and α-Fe 2 O 3 /CDCA (29.3dB), respectively. Moreover, the shielding effectiveness due to absorption accounts for 78.2%-84.2% of SE total for FPCA, indicative of the absorption-dominant shielding mechanism contributing to alleviating secondary radiation. These features make the composite a useful alternative candidate for EMI shielding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Child Dental Control Assessment (CDCA) in youth: reliability, validity and cross-cultural differences.

PubMed

Coolidge, T; Heima, M; Heaton, L J; Nakai, Y; Höskuldsson, O; Smith, T A; Weinstein, P; Milgrom, P

2005-03-01

The Child Dental Control Assessment (CDCA) measures children's preferred control strategies in the dental situation. Three studies are reported, assessing aspects of this instrument in youths from the USA, Japan and Australia. In particular, measurements were made as to the reliability and validity of this instrument in this age group in the three cultures, as well as comparing some results across cultures. These studies used a questionnaire design. Questionnaires (including the CDCA and other measures) were given to youths aged 11-15 in the three cultures. In one culture, youths received the questionnaire twice, to compute test-retest reliability. The measure's reliability and validity were similar to those of other measures. The CDCA behaves similarly to the Revised Iowa Dental Control Index (R-IDCI). Youths in all three cultures showed similar responses, although the Japanese were less likely to endorse items. Internal reliability of the scale ranged from 0.74 to 0.85. Test- retest reliability was 0.74. Participants in the High Desire/Low Predicted classification on the R-IDCI scored higher on the CDCA (t (73) = 2.9, p < .01). In the Japanese and Australian samples the correlation between CDCA and dental fear was 0.29-0.33 (p < .001). The Australian and USA samples scored significantly higher than the Japanese sample (overall F(2,1544) = 383.98, p < .001, followed by Tukey's HSD, p < .001). These results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the CDCA in youth. It appears to measure the discrepancy between Desired and Predicted Control identified in the Revised Iowa Dental Control Index (R-IDCI). Responses of the youth in all three cultures were similar, indicating common dental control preferences for individuals of this age. However, consistent with cultural values, Japanese youth were less likely to endorse the control strategies. These results underline the need to develop culturally-specific, as well as situationally-specific control measures.

Protoscolicidal effects of chenodeoxycholic acid on protoscoleces of Echinococcus granulosus.

PubMed

Shi, Hongjuan; Lei, Ying; Wang, Bo; Wang, Zhuo; Xing, Guoqiang; Lv, Hailong; Jiang, Yufeng

2016-08-01

Dissemination of protoscoleces-rich fluid during surgical operation for cystic echinococcosis is a major cause of its recurrence. Instillation of a scolicidal agent into hydatid cysts to reduce the risk of spillage of viable protoscoleces is an integral part of the surgical technique employed by many surgeons. In this study, the protoscolicidal effect of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was investigated. Freshly isolated protoscoleces were subjected to CDCA treatment (500, 1000, 2000, and 3000 μmol/L), and the effects on protoscoleces were investigated with the help of 0.1% eosin staining, electron microscopy, and colorimetric assay of caspase-3 like activity. Dose-dependent mortality of Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces was observed within a few days of CDCA treatment. The treated protoscoleces showed loss of viability, and morphological changes such as contraction of the soma region, formation of blebs, rostellar disorganization, loss of hooks, destruction of microtriches, and formation of vesicles, lipid droplets, and lamellar bodies. Apoptosis was evident in the treated protoscoleces, as compared to the control group, which were cultivated for nearly 3 months. Our study indicates a therapeutic potential for CDCA as a protoscolicidal agent against E. granulosus. However, further studies are needed to test the long-term effects of CDCA in animal models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metabolism of lithocholic and chenodeoxycholic acids in the squirrel monkey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suzuki, H.; Hamada, M.; Kato, F.

1985-09-01

Metabolism of lithocholic acid (LCA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was studied in the squirrel monkey to clarify the mechanism of the lack of toxicity of CDCA in this animal. Radioactive LCA was administered to squirrel monkeys with biliary fistula. Most radioactivity was excreted in the bile in the form of unsulfated lithocholyltaurine. The squirrel monkey thus differs from humans and chimpanzees, which efficiently sulfate LCA, and is similar to the rhesus monkey and baboon in that LCA is poorly sulfated. When labeled CDCA was orally administered to squirrel monkeys, less than 20% of the dosed radioactivity was recovered as LCAmore » and its further metabolites in feces over 3 days, indicating that bacterial metabolism of CDCA into LCA is strikingly less than in other animals and in humans. It therefore appears that LCA, known as a hepatotoxic secondary bile acid, is not accumulated in the squirrel monkey, not because of its rapid turnover through sulfation, but because of the low order of its production.« less

77 FR 55224 - Notice of Availability of the Proposed Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area Management Plan and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-07

...: Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens- Williams, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383. Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens- Williams, 20 M Street SE...; and visual resources. The Proposed Imperial Sand Dunes RAMP and CDCA Plan Amendment/Final EIS includes...

Nucleation time of gall bladder bile in gall stone patients: influence of bile acid treatment.

PubMed Central

Sahlin, S; Ahlberg, J; Angelin, B; Reihnér, E; Einarsson, K

1991-01-01

The time required for precipitation of cholesterol crystals (nucleation time, NT) was determined and related to the cholesterol saturation in gall bladder bile of gall stone free subjects (n = 11), patients with pigment stones (n = 3), and patients with cholesterol gall stones (n = 30) undergoing cholecystectomy. Seven of the gall stone patients had been treated with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and nine with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), 15 mg/kg/day for three weeks before operation. NT was longer in gall stone free subjects (mean, 20 days), patients with pigment stones (14 days) and patients treated with CDCA (24 days) and UDCA (17 days) compared with untreated patients with cholesterol gall stones (1.5 days). In spite of low cholesterol saturation and prolonged NT, and in contrast to those treated with CDCA, four of the nine patients treated with UDCA had cholesterol crystals in their bile. These observations give further support to the concept that the mechanism for inducing gall stone dissolution may be different for CDCA and UDCA. PMID:1773966

76 FR 56466 - Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Document and Proposed Plan Amendment for the West...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-13

... Vehicle Access Element of the CDCA Plan for the WEMO area; and (2) Alternative processes for designating.... Identification of the process and decision criteria that should be used to designate routes in the sub-regional... analysis, and guide the entire process from plan decision-making to route designation review in order to...

75 FR 65650 - Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Calico Solar Project and Associated...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-26

..., the BLM is also amending the CDCA Plan to allow for the siting of a solar energy power plant on the... Calico Solar Project into the Energy Production and Utility Corridors Element of the CDCA Plan. The BLM's..., LVRAM109AA03] Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Calico Solar Project and Associated...

Coral Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca records of ENSO variability in the Gulf of California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carriquiry, J. D.; Villaescusa, J. A.

2010-06-01

We analyzed the trace element ratios Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca in three coral colonies (Porites panamensis (1967-1989), Pavona clivosa (1967-1989) and Pavona gigantea (1979-1989)) from Cabo Pulmo reef, Southern Gulf of California, Mexico, to assess the oceanographic changes caused by El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP). Interannual variations in the coral Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios showed clear evidence that incorporation of Cd and Mn in the coral skeleton was influenced by ENSO conditions, but the response for each metal was controlled by different processes. The Mn/Ca ratios were significantly higher during ENSO years (p<0.05) relative to non-ENSO years for the three species of coral. In contrast, the Cd/Ca was systematically lower during ENSO years, but the difference was significant (p<0.05) only in Pavona gigantea. A decrease in the incorporation of Cd and a marked increase in Mn indicated strongly reduced vertical mixing in the Gulf of California during the mature phase of El Niño. The oceanic warming during El Niño events produces a relaxation of upwelling and a stabilization of the thermocline, which may act as a physical barrier limiting the transport of Cd from deeper waters into the surface layer. In turn, this oceanic condition can increase the residence time of particulate-Mn in surface waters, allowing an increase in the photo-reduction of particulate-Mn and the release of available Mn into the dissolved phase. These results support the use of Mn/Ca and Cd/Ca ratios in biogenic carbonates as tracers of increases in ocean stratification and trade wind weakening and/or collapse in the ETNP during ENSO episodes.

Coral Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca records of El Niño variability in the Gulf of California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carriquiry, J. D.; Villaescusa, J. A.

2010-02-01

We analyzed the trace element ratios Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca in three coral colonies (Pavona gigantea, Pavona clivosa and Porites panamensis) from Cabo Pulmo reef, Southern Gulf of California, Mexico, to assess the oceanographic changes caused by El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP). The interannual variations in the coral Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios show clear evidence that incorporation of Cd and Mn in the coral skeleton are influenced by ENSO conditions, but the response for each metal is controlled by different process. The Mn/Ca ratios were significantly higher during ENSO years (p<0.05) relative to non-ENSO years for the three species of coral. In contrast, the Cd/Ca was systematically lower during ENSO years, but it was significant (p<0.05) only in P. gigantea. The decrease in the incorporation of Cd, and the marked increase in Mn during the mature phase of El Niño indicate strongly reduced vertical mixing in the Gulf of California. The oceanic warming during El Niño events produces a relaxation of upwelling and a stabilization of the thermocline which acts as a physical barrier limiting the transport of Cd from deeper waters into the surface layer. In turn, this oceanic condition can increase the residence time of particulate-Mn in surface waters, which in turn increases the photo-reduction of particulate-Mn and the release of the available Mn into the dissolved phase. These results provide validation for using Mn/Ca and Cd/Ca in biogenic carbonates as tracers of changes in ocean stratification and trade wind weakening and/or collapse in the ETNP during ENSO episodes.

Efficacy of Magnesium Trihydrate of Ursodeoxycholic Acid and Chenodeoxycholic Acid for Gallstone Dissolution: A Prospective Multicenter Trial.

PubMed

Hyun, Jong Jin; Lee, Hong Sik; Kim, Chang Duck; Dong, Seok Ho; Lee, Seung-Ok; Ryu, Ji Kon; Lee, Don Haeng; Jeong, Seok; Kim, Tae Nyeun; Lee, Jin; Koh, Dong Hee; Park, Eun Taek; Lee, In-Seok; Yoo, Byung Moo; Kim, Jin Hong

2015-07-01

Cholecystectomy is necessary for the treatment of symptomatic or complicated gallbladder (GB) stones, but oral litholysis with bile acids is an attractive alternative therapeutic option for asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of magnesium trihydrate of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) on gallstone dissolution and to investigate improvements in gallstone-related symptoms. A prospective, multicenter, phase 4 clinical study to determine the efficacy of orally administered magnesium trihydrate of UDCA and CDCA was performed from January 2011 to June 2013. The inclusion criteria were GB stone diameter ≤15 mm, GB ejection fraction ≥50%, radiolucency on plain X-ray, and asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic patients. The patients were prescribed one capsule of magnesium trihydrate of UDCA and CDCA at breakfast and two capsules at bedtime for 6 months. The dissolution rate, response rate, and change in symptom score were evaluated. A total of 237 subjects were enrolled, and 195 subjects completed the treatment. The dissolution rate was 45.1% and the response rate was 47.2% (92/195) after 6 months of administration of magnesium trihydrate of UDCA and CDCA. Only the stone diameter was significantly associated with the response rate. Both the symptom score and the number of patients with symptoms significantly decreased regardless of stone dissolution. Adverse events necessitating discontinuation of the drug, surgery, or endoscopic management occurred in 2.5% (6/237) of patients. Magnesium trihydrate of UDCA and CDCA is a well-tolerated bile acid that showed similar efficacy for gallstone dissolution and improvement of gallstone-related symptoms as that shown in previous studies.

Liver Dysfunction and Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase Signalling in Early Sepsis: Experimental Studies in Rodent Models of Peritonitis

PubMed Central

Westermann, Martin; Lambeck, Sandro; Lupp, Amelie; Rudiger, Alain; Dyson, Alex; Carré, Jane E.; Kortgen, Andreas; Krafft, Christoph; Popp, Jürgen; Sponholz, Christoph; Fuhrmann, Valentin; Hilger, Ingrid; Claus, Ralf A.; Riedemann, Niels C.; Wetzker, Reinhard; Singer, Mervyn; Trauner, Michael; Bauer, Michael

2012-01-01

Background Hepatic dysfunction and jaundice are traditionally viewed as late features of sepsis and portend poor outcomes. We hypothesized that changes in liver function occur early in the onset of sepsis, yet pass undetected by standard laboratory tests. Methods and Findings In a long-term rat model of faecal peritonitis, biotransformation and hepatobiliary transport were impaired, depending on subsequent disease severity, as early as 6 h after peritoneal contamination. Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) signalling was simultaneously induced at this time point. At 15 h there was hepatocellular accumulation of bilirubin, bile acids, and xenobiotics, with disturbed bile acid conjugation and drug metabolism. Cholestasis was preceded by disruption of the bile acid and organic anion transport machinery at the canalicular pole. Inhibitors of PI3K partially prevented cytokine-induced loss of villi in cultured HepG2 cells. Notably, mice lacking the PI3Kγ gene were protected against cholestasis and impaired bile acid conjugation. This was partially confirmed by an increase in plasma bile acids (e.g., chenodeoxycholic acid [CDCA] and taurodeoxycholic acid [TDCA]) observed in 48 patients on the day severe sepsis was diagnosed; unlike bilirubin (area under the receiver-operating curve: 0.59), these bile acids predicted 28-d mortality with high sensitivity and specificity (area under the receiver-operating curve: CDCA: 0.77; TDCA: 0.72; CDCA+TDCA: 0.87). Conclusions Liver dysfunction is an early and commonplace event in the rat model of sepsis studied here; PI3K signalling seems to play a crucial role. All aspects of hepatic biotransformation are affected, with severity relating to subsequent prognosis. Detected changes significantly precede conventional markers and are reflected by early alterations in plasma bile acids. These observations carry important implications for the diagnosis of liver dysfunction and pharmacotherapy in the critically ill. Further clinical work is necessary to extend these concepts into clinical practice. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary PMID:23152722

Sensitivity and Specificity of Biochemical Tests for Diagnosis of Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy.

PubMed

Jurate, Kondrackiene; Rimantas, Zalinkevicius; Jolanta, Sumskiene; Vladas, Gintautas; Limas, Kupcinskas

2017-01-01

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is linked with increased risk of fetal complications. An accurate diagnostic test is needed to diagnose this disorder on time. We aimed to assess sensitivity and specificity of laboratory tests used for diagnosis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and determine more reliable cut-off values of transaminases. Sixty one symptomatic patients with ICP and 29 healthy pregnant women were included in the retrospective analysis. ICP patients had higher total bile acids (TBA) levels than healthy women (32 vs. 6; P < 0.0001) due to increase in cholic acid (CA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA). CA/CDCA ratio was significantly higher in ICP patients compared to healthy pregnant women (1.13 vs. 0.68; P < 0.00002). TBA, CA, CDCA and CA/CDCA ratio demonstrate the following sensitivity (94%, 96%, 89%, 71.9%) and specificity (63%, 63%, 59%, 79.3%, respectively) for ICP diagnosis. Lowering cut-off values for ALT (31 U/L) and AST (30 U/L) resulted only in minimal increase of sensitivity to 92.2% vs. 90.1% for ALT and to 92.2%, vs. 90.6% for AST. The present study did not reveal any single specific and sensitive marker for reliable diagnosis of ICP. Establishment of lower cut-off values for transaminases activity might only minimally increase the accuracy of diagnosing ICP.

Mesomorphic properties of multi-arm chenodeoxycholic acid-derived liquid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Liang; Yao, Miao; Wu, Shuang-jie; Yao, Dan-Shu; Hu, Jian-She; He, Xiao-zhi; Tian, Mei

2017-12-01

Four multi-arm liquid crystals (LCs) based on chenodeoxycholic acid, termed as 2G-PD, 2G-IB, 2G-BD and 5G-GC, respectively, have been synthesised by convergent method, which nematic LC, 6-(4-((4-ethoxybenzoyl)oxy)phenoxy)-6-oxohexanoic acid, was used as side arm, and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was used as the first core, 1,2-propanediol (PD), isosorbide (IB), 4,4‧-biphenyldiol (BD) and glucose (GC) were used as the second core, respectively. The first generation product, CDCA2EA, displayed cholesteric phase. The second generation products 2G-BD and 5G-GC displayed cholesteric phase, while 2G-PD and 2G-IB exhibited nematic phase. The multi-arm LC, 2G-IB, did not display cholesteric phase although the two cores were all chiral ones. The result indicated that chirality of the second core sometimes made the multi-arm LCs display nematic phase when cholesteric CDCA-derivative were introduced into the second core. Some attention should be paid on molecular conformation besides the introduction of chiral cores for multi-chiral-core LCs to obtain cholesteric phase.

Mineral resource potential map of the Bighorn Mountains Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-217), San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Matti, Jonathan C.; Cox, Brett F.; Rodriguez, Eduardo A.; Obi, Curtis M.; Powell, Robert E.; Hinkle, Margaret E.; Griscom, Andrew; Sabine, Charles; Cwick, Gary J.

1982-01-01

Geological, geochemical, and geophysical evidence, together with a review of historical mining and prospecting activities, suggests that most of the Bighorn Mountains Wilderness Study Area has low potential for the discovery of all types of mineral and energy resources-including precious and base metals, building stone and aggregate, fossil fuels, radioactive-mineral resources, and geothermal resources. Low-grade mineralization has been documented in one small area near Rattlesnake Canyon, and this area has low to moderate potential for future small-scale exploration and development of precious and base metals. Thorium and uranium enrichment have been documented in two small areas in the eastern part of the wilderness study area; these two areas have low to moderate potential for future small-scale exploration and development of radioactive-mineral resources.

OY-TES-1 may regulate the malignant behavior of liver cancer via NANOG, CD9, CCND2 and CDCA3: a bioinformatic analysis combine with RNAi and oligonucleotide microarray.

PubMed

Hu, Qiping; Fu, Jun; Luo, Bin; Huang, Miao; Guo, Wenwen; Lin, Yongda; Xie, Xiaoxun; Xiao, Shaowen

2015-04-01

Given its tumor-specific expression, including liver cancer, OY-TES-1 is a potential molecular marker for the diagnosis and immunotherapy of liver cancers. However, investigations of the mechanisms and the role of OY-TES-1 in liver cancer are rare. In the present study, based on a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis combined with RNA interference (RNAi) and oligonucleotide microarray, we report for the first time that downregulation of OY-TES-1 resulted in significant changes in expression of NANOG, CD9, CCND2 and CDCA3 in the liver cancer cell line BEL-7404. NANOG, CD9, CCND2 and CDCA3 may be involved in cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis, yet also may be functionally related to each other and OY-TES-1. Among these molecules, we identified that NANOG, containing a Kazal-2 binding motif and homeobox, may be the most likely candidate protein interacting with OY-TES-1 in liver cancer. Thus, the present study may provide important information for further investigation of the roles of OY-TES-1 in liver cancer.

Activation of farnesoid X receptor promotes triglycerides lowering by suppressing phospholipase A2 G12B expression.

PubMed

Liu, Qingli; Yang, Meng; Fu, Xuekun; Liu, Renzhong; Sun, Caijun; Pan, Haobo; Wong, Chi-Wai; Guan, Min

2016-11-15

As a novel mediator of hepatic very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) secretion, phospholipase A2 G12B (PLA2G12B) is transcriptionally regulated by hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 alpha (HNF-4α). Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) plays a critical role in maintaining bile acids and triglycerides (TG) homeostasis. Here we report that FXR regulates serum TG level in part through PLA2G12B. Activation of FXR by chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) or GW4064 significantly decreased PLA2G12B expression in HepG2 cells. PLA2G12B expression was transcriptionally repressed due to an FXR-mediated up-regulation of small heterodimer partner (SHP) which functionally suppresses HNF-4α activity. We found that hepatic PLA2G12B expression was suppressed and serum TG level reduced in high fat diet mice treated with CDCA. Concurrently, CDCA treatment lowered hepatic VLDL-TG secretion. Our data demonstrate that activation of FXR promotes TG lowering, not only by decreasing de novo lipogenesis but also reducing hepatic secretion of TG-rich VLDL particles in part through suppressing PLA2G12B expression. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A mid-twentieth century reduction in tropical upwelling inferred from coralline trace element proxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reuer, Matthew K.; Boyle, Edward A.; Cole, Julia E.

2003-05-01

The Cariaco Basin is an important archive of past climate variability given its response to inter- and extratropical climate forcing and the accumulation of annually laminated sediments within an anoxic water column. This study presents high-resolution surface coral trace element records ( Montastrea annularis and Siderastrea siderea) from Isla Tortuga, Venezuela, located within the upwelling center of this region. A two-fold reduction in Cd/Ca ratios (3.5-1.7 nmol/mol) is observed from 1946 to 1952 with no concurrent shift in Ba/Ca ratios. This reduction agrees with the hydrographic distribution of dissolved cadmium and barium and their expected response to upwelling. Significant anthropogenic variability is also observed from Pb/Ca analysis, observing three lead maxima since 1920. Kinetic control of trace element ratios is inferred from an interspecies comparison of Cd/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios (consistent with the Sr/Ca kinetic artifact), but these artifacts are smaller than the environmental signal and do not explain the Cd/Ca transition. The trace element records agree with historical climate data and differ from sedimentary faunal abundance records, suggesting a linear response to North Atlantic extratropical forcing cannot account for the observed historical variability in this region.

Behavior of atypical amphiphilic molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ko, John

1997-08-01

The physical behavior of several atypical amphiphilic molecules was studied in various environments including micelles, model bilayer membranes, and emulsions. The molecules under investigation were nor-chenodeoxycholic acid (nor-CDCA), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), sphingosine (Sp), sphingosine hydrochloride (SpċHCl), and tetrahydrolipstatin (THL). The bile acids, nor-CDCA and UDCA, were studied using 13C-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ([13C) -NMR) in micelles of taurocholate and in bilayers of phosphatidylcholine. The pK a values of the bile acids in each environment were determined by [13C) -NMR and are as follows: 6.08 ±.03 for nor-CDCA and 6.27 ±.01 for UDCA in micelles, and 7.04 ± 12 for nor-CDCA and 6.89 ±.05 for UDCA in vesicles. Using line shape analysis, the transbilayer movement rate at 36oC for nor-CDCA and UDCA was calculated to be 580 sec--1 and 409 sec-1, respectively. [13C) -NMR titration of Sp gave pK a values of 9.09 ±.02 in micelles and 9.69 ±.21 in bilayers. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction were used to establish the Spċwater and SpċHClċwater phase diagrams. Anhydrous and hydrated samples ranging from 5- 90% water were analyzed. The DSC thermograms traced out the transition temperatures of each molecule while the X- ray diffraction patterns revealed their chain and crystalline lattice packing structures. In general, sphingosine exists as a hydrated crystal with β packing phase below 43oC and melts into an Lα phase. Sphingosine hydrochloride, however, exists as a gel phase (L_beta or /beta/sp') below 42oC that swells to 61% hydration. At low water concentrations (0-64%), a lamellar liquid crystal phase (L_alpha) is formed above the chain melting transition of 42oC. At medium concentration (65%), a Hexagonal I phase is present, and at high water concentrations (66-90%), a micellar phase is present. THL, a specific inhibitor of lipases, was analyzed with [ 13C) -NMR to study its behavior in various environments, ranging from carbon tetrachloride to water to pure triolein. THL was also incorporated into phosphatidylcholine bilayers and into microemulsions of triolein and phosphatidylcholine. [ 13C) -NMR analysis revealed that THL gets incorporated into the surface of vesicles, and into both the surface and core of microemulsion particles.

Mineral resources of the Fort Piute Wilderness Study Area, San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nielson, Jane E.; Frisken, James G.; Jachens, Robert C.; McDonnell, John R.

1987-01-01

The Fort Piute Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-267) is in northeastern San Bernardino County, California, near the boundary between California and Nevada. Mineral surveys were requested for 31,371 acres of the Fort Piute Wilderness Study Area. In this report the area studied is referred to as "the study area". Examination of mines and prospects in the area was accomplished by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1981 and 1982. Field investigations of the area were carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1983 and 1985. No mines or prospects, few mining claims, and no identified resources are located within the wilderness study area. Moderate and low potential for gold resources appears limited to outcrops of gneiss and granite exposed along the eastern side of the Piute Range. Available information indicates that there is no potential for energy resources, including oil and gas, uranium, or geothermal, in the study area.

Trace element evidence for abrupt changes in deep South Atlantic Ocean nutrient and carbonate chemistry across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farmer, J. R.; Hoenisch, B.; Haynes, L.; Kroon, D.; Bell, D. B.; Jung, S.; Seguí, M. J.; Raymo, M. E.; Goldstein, S. L.; Pena, L. D.

2016-12-01

Pleistocene glaciations underwent a profound transition from lower amplitude 40 kyr cycles to high amplitude 100 kyr cycles between 1.2 and 0.8 Ma, an interval termed the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). While the underlying causes of the MPT are uncertain, previous studies show quasi-contemporaneous reductions in North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) export1 and glacial atmospheric pCO22 around 0.9 Ma. Although this suggests a possible role for enhanced deep-ocean carbon storage in amplifying climate change across the MPT, few direct records of deep ocean carbonate chemistry exist for this interval to test this hypothesis. Here we present South Atlantic benthic foraminiferal B/Ca and Cd/Ca records from International Ocean Discovery Program Sites 1088, 1264 and 1267 (2.1 to 4.3 km water depth) as part of a larger study of Atlantic-wide changes in deep ocean chemistry and circulation spanning the MPT. Results show an abrupt 15-20% decrease in benthic B/Ca and 40-50% increase in Cd/Ca at 4.3 km depth (Site 1267) between 1.0 and 0.9 Ma. Site 1088, which at 2.1 km depth is sensitive to input of southern-sourced Upper Circumpolar Deep Water, shows a prolonged 25% decrease in B/Ca and 50% increase in Cd/Ca from 1.0 to 0.6 Ma. In contrast, at Site 1264 ( 2.5 km depth within the core of modern NADW) B/Ca and Cd/Ca changes across the MPT are more modest (-5% and +10%, respectively). These observations reflect on the accumulation of regenerated carbon and nutrients in the deep South Atlantic, and varying contributions of northern- and southern-sourced watermasses to each core site. Implications for deep-ocean carbon storage and forcing of the MPT will be discussed. 1Pena, L. and Goldstein, S. (2014), Science 345, 318 2Hönisch, B. et al. (2009), Science 324, 1551

Biliary Bile Acids in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis: Effect of Ursodeoxycholic Acid

PubMed Central

Combes, Burton; Carithers, Robert L.; Maddrey, Willis C.; Munoz, Santiago; Garcia-Tsao, Guadalupe; Bonner, Gregory F.; Boyer, James L.; Luketic, Velimir A.; Shiffman, Mitchell L.; Peters, Marion G.; White, Heather; Zetterman, Rowen K.; Risser, Richard; Rossi, Stephen S.; Hofmann, Alan F.

2014-01-01

Bile acid composition in fasting duodenal bile was assessed at entry and at 2 years in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) (10–12 mg/kg/d) taken as a single bedtime dose. Specimens were analyzed by a high-pressure liquid chromatography method that had been validated against gas chromatography. Percent composition in bile (mean ± SD) for 98 patients at entry for cholic (CA), chenodeoxycholic (CDCA), deoxycholic (DCA), lithocholic (LCA), and ursodeoxycholic (UDCA) acids, respectively, were 57.4 ± 18.6, 31.5 ± 15.5, 8.0 ± 9.3, 0.3 ± 1.0, and 0.6 ± 0.9. Values for CA were increased, whereas those for CDCA, DCA, LCA, and UDCA were decreased when compared with values in normal persons. Bile acid composition of the major bile acids did not change after 2 years on placebo medication. By contrast, in patients receiving UDCA for 2 years, bile became enriched with UDCA on average to 40.1%, and significant decreases were noted for CA (to 32.2%) and CDCA (to 19.5%). No change in percent composition was observed for DCA and LCA. Percent composition at entry and changes in composition after 2 years on UDCA were similar in patients with varying severity of PBC. In patients whose bile was not enriched in UDCA (entry and placebo-treated specimens), CA, CDCA, DCA, and the small amount of UDCA found in some of these specimens were conjugated to a greater extent with glycine (52%–64%) than with taurine (36%–48%). Treatment with UDCA caused the proportion of all endogenous bile acids conjugated with glycine to increase to 69% to 78%, while the proportion conjugated with taurine (22%–31%) fell (P < .05). Administered UDCA was also conjugated predominantly with glycine (87%). PMID:10347103

A novel methodology to investigate isotopic biosignatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horner, T. J.; Lee, R. B. Y.; Henderson, G. M.; Rickaby, R. E. M.

2012-04-01

An enduring goal of trace metal isotopic studies of Earth History is to find isotopic 'fingerprints' of life or of life's individual physiochemical processes. Generally, such signatures are sought by relating an isotopic effect observed in controlled laboratory conditions or a well-characterized environment to a more complex system or the geological record. However, such an approach is ultimately limited because life exerts numerous isotopic fractionations on any one element so it is hard to dissect the resultant net fractionation into its individual components. Further, different organisms, often with the same apparent cellular function, can express different isotopic fractionation factors. We have used a novel method to investigate the isotopic fractionation associated with a single physiological process-enzyme specific isotopic fractionation. We selected Cd isotopes since only one biological use of Cd is known, CdCA (a Cd/Zn carbonic anhydrase from the coastal diatom T. Weissflogii). Thus, our investigation can also inform the long standing mystery as to why this generally toxic element appears to have a nutrient-like dissolved isotopic and concentration profile in the oceans. We used the pET-15b plasmid to insert the CdCA gene into the E. coli genome. There is no known biochemical function for Cd in E. coli, making it an ideal vector for studying distinct physiological processes within a single organism. The uptake of Cd and associated isotopic fractionation was determined for both normal cells and those expressing CdCA. It was found that whole cells always exhibited a preference for the light isotopes of Cd, regardless of the expression of CdCA; adsorption of Cd to cell surfaces was not seen to cause isotopic fractionation. However, the cleaning procedure employed exerted a strong control on the observed isotopic composition of cells. Using existing protein purification techniques, we measured the Cd isotopic composition of different subcellular fractions of E. coli (e.g. membranes, cytosol, etc.), including the catalytic metal atoms within CdCA. These experiments allow isotopic exchange reactions to be observed in biological systems at an unparalleled resolution, demonstrating that isotopic fractionation can occur, in vivo, on length scales as small as a few Å. We will explore future applications of this technique using the marine geochemistry of Cd as a case study. This experimental approach has great promise for studying the individual isotopic biosignatures of other biochemical reactions, in particular those which may have been active during early Earth History.

Individual bile acids have differential effects on bile acid signaling in mice

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Song, Peizhen, E-mail: songacad@gmail.com; Rockwell, Cheryl E., E-mail: rockwelc@msu.edu; Cui, Julia Yue, E-mail: juliacui@uw.edu

2015-02-15

Bile acids (BAs) are known to regulate BA synthesis and transport by the farnesoid X receptor in the liver (FXR-SHP) and intestine (FXR-Fgf15). However, the relative importance of individual BAs in regulating these processes is not known. Therefore, mice were fed various doses of five individual BAs, including cholic acid (CA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), deoxoycholic acid (DCA), lithocholic acid (LCA), and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in their diets at various concentrations for one week to increase the concentration of one BA in the enterohepatic circulation. The mRNA of BA synthesis and transporting genes in liver and ileum were quantified. In themore » liver, the mRNA of SHP, which is the prototypical target gene of FXR, increased in mice fed all concentrations of BAs. In the ileum, the mRNA of the intestinal FXR target gene Fgf15 was increased at lower doses and to a higher extent by CA and DCA than by CDCA and LCA. Cyp7a1, the rate-limiting enzyme in BA synthesis, was decreased more by CA and DCA than CDCA and LCA. Cyp8b1, the enzyme that 12-hydroxylates BAs and is thus responsible for the synthesis of CA, was decreased much more by CA and DCA than CDCA and LCA. Surprisingly, neither a decrease in the conjugated BA uptake transporter (Ntcp) nor increase in BA efflux transporter (Bsep) was observed by FXR activation, but an increase in the cholesterol efflux transporter (Abcg5/Abcg8) was observed with FXR activation. Thus in conclusion, CA and DCA are more potent FXR activators than CDCA and LCA when fed to mice, and thus they are more effective in decreasing the expression of the rate limiting gene in BA synthesis Cyp7a1 and the 12-hydroxylation of BAs Cyp8b1, and are also more effective in increasing the expression of Abcg5/Abcg8, which is responsible for biliary cholesterol excretion. However, feeding BAs do not alter the mRNA or protein levels of Ntcp or Bsep, suggesting that the uptake or efflux of BAs is not regulated by FXR at physiological and pharmacological concentrations of BAs. - Highlights: • All four major bile acids in humans activate the FXR in liver and intestine. • These bile acids decreased the mRNA of the bile acid synthetic enzymes Cyp7a1 and Cyp8b1. • These BAs did not alter the mRNA or protein of the conjugated BA transporters (Ntcp and Bsep). • Cholic acid and deoxycholic acid are more potent activators of FXR than chenodeoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid.« less

Bile acid receptor TGR5 overexpression is associated with decreased intestinal mucosal injury and epithelial cell proliferation in obstructive jaundice.

PubMed

Ji, Chen-Guang; Xie, Xiao-Li; Yin, Jie; Qi, Wei; Chen, Lei; Bai, Yun; Wang, Na; Zhao, Dong-Qiang; Jiang, Xiao-Yu; Jiang, Hui-Qing

2017-04-01

Bile acids stimulate intestinal epithelial proliferation in vitro. We sought to investigate the role of the bile acid receptor TGR5 in the protection of intestinal epithelial proliferation in obstructive jaundice. Intestinal tissues and serum samples were obtained from patients with malignant obstructive jaundice and from bile duct ligation (BDL) rats. Intestinal permeability and morphological changes in the intestinal mucosa were observed. The functions of TGR5 in cell proliferation in intestinal epithelial injury were determined by overexpression or knockdown studies in Caco-2 and FHs 74 Int cells pretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Internal biliary drainage was superior to external biliary drainage in recovering intestinal permeability and mucosal histology in patients with obstructive jaundice. In BDL rats, feeding of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) decreased intestinal mucosa injury. The levels of PCNA, a marker of proliferation, increased in response to CDCA feeding and were paralleled by elevated TGR5 expression. CDCA upregulated TGR5 expression and promoted proliferation in Caco-2 and FHs 74 Int cells pretreated with LPS. Overexpression of TGR5 resulted in increased PCNA, cell viability, EdU incorporation, and the proportion of cells in S phase, whereas knockdown of TGR5 had the opposite effect. Our data indicate that bile acids promote intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and decrease mucosal injury by upregulating TGR5 expression in obstructive jaundice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multi-proxy Reconstructions of Deglacial Variability of Antarctic Intermediate Water Circulation in the Western Tropical Atlantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, K.; Oppo, D.; Curry, W. B.

2012-12-01

Reconstruction of changes in Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) circulation across the last deglaciation is critical in constraining the links between AAIW and Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and understanding how AAIW influences oceanic heat transport and carbon budget across abrupt climate events. Here we systematically establish in situ calibrations for carbonate saturation state (B/Ca), nutrient (Cd/Ca and δ13C) and watermass proxies (ɛNd) in foraminifera using multicore tops and ambient seawater samples collected from the Demerara Rise, western tropical Atlantic. Through the multi-proxy reconstructions, deglacial variability of intermediate water circulation in the western tropical Atlantic can be further constrained. The reconstructed seawater Cd record from the Demerara Rise sediment core (KNR197-3-46CDH, at 947 m water depth) over the last 21 kyrs suggests reduced presence of AAIW during the cold intervals (LGM, H1 and YD) when AMOC was reduced. Down-core B/Ca record shows elevated intermediate water Δ[CO32-] during these cold intervals, further indicating a weaker influence of AAIW in the western tropical Atlantic. The δ13C record exhibits a pronounced deglacial minimum and a clear decoupling between δ13C and Cd/Ca after the AMOC completely recovered at around 8 kyr BP. This could be due to the carbonate ion effect on benthic Cd/Ca or the influence of organic matter remineralization on benthic δ13C. A new ɛNd record for the last deglaciation will be provided to evaluate the relative proportions of southern and northern waters at this intermediate site in the western tropical Atlantic.

Validation of cooking times and temperatures for thermal inactivation of Yersinia pestis strains KIM5 and CDC-A1122 in irradiated ground beef.

PubMed

Porto-Fett, Anna C S; Juneja, Vijay K; Tamplin, Mark L; Luchansky, John B

2009-03-01

Irradiated ground beef samples (ca. 3-g portions with ca. 25% fat) inoculated with Yersina pestis strain KIM5 (ca. 6.7 log CFU/g) were heated in a circulating water bath stabilized at 48.9, 50, 52.5, 55, 57.5, or 60 degrees C (120, 122, 126.5, 131, 135.5, and 140 degrees F, respectively). Average D-values were 192.17, 34.38, 17.11, 3.87, 1.32, and 0.56 min, respectively, with a corresponding z-value of 4.67 degrees C (8.41 degrees F). In related experiments, irradiated ground beef patties (ca. 95 g per patty with ca. 25% fat) were inoculated with Y. pestis strains KIMS or CDC-A1122 (ca. 6.0 log CFU/g) and cooked on an open-flame gas grill or on a clam-shell type electric grill to internal target temperatures of 48.9, 60, and 71.1 degrees C (120, 140, and 160 degrees F, respectively). For patties cooked on the gas grill, strain KIM5 populations decreased from ca. 6.24 to 4.32, 3.51, and < or = 0.7 log CFU/g at 48.9, 60, and 71.1 degrees C, respectively, and strain CDC-A1122 populations decreased to 3.46 log CFU/g at 48.9 degrees C and to < or = 0.7 log CFU/g at both 60 and 71.1 degrees C. For patties cooked on the clam-shell grill, strain KIM5 populations decreased from ca. 5.96 to 2.53 log CFU/g at 48.9 degrees C and to < or = 0.7 log CFU/g at 60 or 71.1 degrees C, and strain CDC-A1122 populations decreased from ca. 5.98 to < or = 0.7 log CFU/g at all three cooking temperatures. These data confirm that cooking ground beef on an open-flame gas grill or on a clam-shell type electric grill to the temperatures and times recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Code, appreciably lessens the likelihood, severity, and/or magnitude of consumer illness if the ground beef were purposefully contaminated even with relatively high levels of Y. pestis.

Mineral resources of the Castle Peaks Wilderness Study Area, San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, David A.W.; Frisken, James G.; Jachens, Robert C.; Gese, Diann D.

1986-01-01

The Castle Peaks Wilderness Study Area (CDCA266) comprises approximately 45,000 acres in the northern New York Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, 39,303 acres of the wilderness study area were studied. The area was investigated during 1982-1985 using combined geologic, geochemical, and geophysical methods. are considered preliminarily suitable for wilderness deignation. There are no mineral reserves or identified resources in the study area. Fluorspar, occurring in sparse veins, has moderate resource potential, as do silver and lead in fault zones, and gold and silver in sparse, high-grade veins and fault breccia. Each area of moderate resource potential encompasses less than one square mile. These same commodities have low resource potential in similar occurrences throughout much of the study area. In addition, there is low resource potential for gold in placer deposits, uranium in altered breccia and gouge, and rare-earth elements in pegmatite dikes. There is no resource potential for oil and gas resources over most of the study area, but the potential is unknown along its western margin. In this report, the area studied is referred to"the wilderness study area", or simply "the study area."

The organic solute transporters alpha and beta are induced by hypoxia in human hepatocytes

PubMed Central

Schaffner, Carlos A; Mwinyi, Jessica; Gai, Zhibo; Thasler, Wolfgang E; Eloranta, Jyrki J; Kullak-Ublick, Gerd A

2015-01-01

Background & Aims The organic solute transporters alpha and beta (OSTα-OSTβ) form a heterodimeric transporter located at the basolateral membrane of intestinal epithelial cells and hepatocytes. Liver injury caused by ischaemia-reperfusion, cancer, inflammation or cholestasis can induce a state of hypoxia in hepatocytes. Here, we studied the effect of hypoxia on the expression of OSTα-OSTβ. Methods OSTα-OSTβ expression was measured in Huh7 cells and primary human hepatocytes (PHH) exposed to chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), hypoxia or both. OSTα-OSTβ promoter activity was analysed in luciferase reporter gene assays. Binding of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) to the OSTα-OSTβ gene promoters was studied in electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). Results Expression of OSTα and OSTβ increased in PHH under conditions of hypoxia. Exposure of Huh7 cells or PHH to CDCA (50 μM) enhanced the effect of hypoxia on OSTα mRNA levels. In luciferase assays and EMSA, the inducing effect of low oxygen could be assigned to HIF-1α, which binds to hypoxia responsive elements (HRE) in the OSTα and OSTβ gene promoters. Site-directed mutagenesis of either the predicted HRE or the bile acid responsive FXR binding site abolished inducibility of the OSTα promoter, indicating that both elements need to be intact for induction by hypoxia and CDCA. In a rat model of chronic renal failure, the known increase in hepatic OSTα expression was associated with an increase in HIF-1α protein levels. Conclusion OSTα-OSTβ expression is induced by hypoxia. FXR and HIF-1α bind in close proximity to the OSTα gene promoter and produce synergistic effects on OSTα expression. PMID:24703425

Intracellular Cadmium Isotope Fractionation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horner, T. J.; Lee, R. B.; Henderson, G. M.; Rickaby, R. E.

2011-12-01

Recent stable isotope studies into the biological utilization of transition metals (e.g. Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd) suggest several stepwise cellular processes can fractionate isotopes in both culture and nature. However, the determination of fractionation factors is often unsatisfactory, as significant variability can exist - even between different organisms with the same cellular functions. Thus, it has not been possible to adequately understand the source and mechanisms of metal isotopic fractionation. In order to address this problem, we investigated the biological fractionation of Cd isotopes within genetically-modified bacteria (E. coli). There is currently only one known biological use or requirement of Cd, a Cd/Zn carbonic anhydrase (CdCA, from the marine diatom T. weissfloggii), which we introduce into the E. coli genome. We have also developed a cleaning procedure that allows for the treating of bacteria so as to study the isotopic composition of different cellular components. We find that whole cells always exhibit a preference for uptake of the lighter isotopes of Cd. Notably, whole cells appear to have a similar Cd isotopic composition regardless of the expression of CdCA within the E. coli. However, isotopic fractionation can occur within the genetically modified E. coli during Cd use, such that Cd bound in CdCA can display a distinct isotopic composition compared to the cell as a whole. Thus, the externally observed fractionation is independent of the internal uses of Cd, with the largest Cd isotope fractionation occurring during cross-membrane transport. A general implication of these experiments is that trace metal isotopic fractionation most likely reflects metal transport into biological cells (either actively or passively), rather than relating to expression of specific physiological function and genetic expression of different metalloenzymes.

CDCA7L and Mechanisms of Increased Male Bias in Glioma

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-01

described in the previous annual report, these tasks will be replaced by the direct engineering of cells using CRISPR technology. Task 8: Test...knockdown of transcription factors and CRISPR modification of SNPs in transcription factor binding sites. This will help us understand whether

Enteral obeticholic acid promotes intestinal growth in total parenteral nutrition fed neonatal pigs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Intestinal atrophy is an adverse outcome associated with prolonged total parenteral nutrition (PN) partly due to disruption of normal enterohepatic circulation of bile acids. Previously we showed that enteral treatment with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), a dual agonist for the nuclear receptor, farne...

F-box proteins Pof3 and Pof1 regulate Wee1 degradation and mitotic entry in fission yeast.

PubMed

Qiu, Cui; Yi, Yuan-Yuan; Lucena, Rafael; Wu, Meng-Juan; Sun, Jia-Hao; Wang, Xi; Jin, Quan-Wen; Wang, Yamei

2018-02-02

The key cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk1 (Cdc2) promotes irreversible mitotic entry, mainly by activating the phosphatase Cdc25 while suppressing the tyrosine kinase Wee1. Wee1 needs to be downregulated at the onset of mitosis to ensure rapid activation of Cdk1. In human somatic cells, one mechanism of suppressing Wee1 activity is mediated by ubiquitylation-dependent proteolysis through the Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein (SCF) ubiquitin E3 ligase complex. This mechanism is believed to be conserved from yeasts to humans. So far, the best-characterized human F-box proteins involved in recognition of Wee1 are β-TrCP (BTRCP) and Tome-1 (CDCA3). Although fission yeast Wee1 was the first identified member of its conserved kinase family, the F-box proteins involved in recognition and ubiquitylation of Wee1 have not been identified in this organism. In this study, our screen using Wee1- Renilla luciferase as the reporter revealed that two F-box proteins, Pof1 and Pof3, are required for downregulating Wee1 and are possibly responsible for recruiting Wee1 to SCF. Our genetic analyses supported a functional relevance between Pof1 and Pof3 and the rate of mitotic entry, and Pof3 might play a major role in this process. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Targeted Approaches to Overcoming Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

NM_001012271 BUB1 BUB1 budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles 1 homolog AF053305 CDC20 Cell division cycle 20 homolog BG256659 CDC25B Cell division cycle...by benzimidazoles 1 homolog), BIRC5/ Survivin, CDCA8 (cell division cycle-associated protein 8), AURKB (aurora kinase B), CDC25B (cell division cycle

Targeted Approaches to Overcoming Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

kinase B CD049340 BIRC5 Effector cell peptidase receptor 1 NM_001012271 BUB1 BUB1 budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles 1 homolog AF053305 CDC20 Cell...P ≤ 0.0001). Among these were BUB1 (bud- ding uninhibited by benzimidazoles 1 homolog), BIRC5/ Survivin, CDCA8 (cell division cycle-associated

Simultaneous Determination of Ursodeoxycholic Acid and Chenodeoxycholic Acid in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form by HPLC-UV Detection.

PubMed

Khairy, Mostafa A; Mansour, Fotouh R

2017-01-01

A reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and the epimeric isomer, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), in their synthetic mixtures and in tablet dosage form. The proposed HPLC method uses a C18 column and mobile phase consisting of an acetonitrile-phosphate buffer mixture (pH 2.3, 100 mM; 50 + 50, v/v) at a flow rate of 2.0 mL/min with UV detection at 210 nm. The method was validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines; and linearity, range, accuracy, precision, robustness, and system suitability were studied. The LOD and LOQ were also calculated and found to be 1.23 and 3.73 μg/mL for UDCA and 0.83 and 2.52 μg/mL for CDCA, respectively. The method was adapted for UHPLC, in which baseline separation was achieved in <2.5 min. The assay results of Ursomix tablets by the developed method were statistically compared with those obtained by the reference method using t- and F-tests, and no significant differences were observed.

Profiling serum bile acid glucuronides in humans: gender divergences, genetic determinants and response to fenofibrate

PubMed Central

Trottier, Jocelyn; Perreault, Martin; Rudkowska, Iwona; Levy, Cynthia; Dallaire-Theroux, Amélie; Verreault, Mélanie; Caron, Patrick; Staels, Bart; Vohl, Marie-Claude; Straka, Robert J.; Barbier, Olivier

2014-01-01

Glucuronidation, catalyzed by UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzymes detoxifies cholestatic bile acids (BAs). We aimed at i) characterizing the circulating BA-glucuronide (-G) pool composition in humans, ii) evaluating how sex and UGT polymorphisms influence this composition, and iii) analyzing the effects of lipid-lowering drug fenofibrate on the circulating BA-G profile in 300 volunteers and 5 cholestatic patients. Eleven BA-Gs were determined in pre- and post-fenofibrate samples. Men exhibited higher BA-G concentrations, and various genotype/BA-G associations were discovered in relevant UGT genes. The chenodeoxycholic acid-3G concentration was associated with the UGT2B7 802C>T polymorphism. Glucuronidation assays confirmed the predominant role of UGT2B7 and UGT1A4 in CDCA-3G formation. Fenofibrate exposure increased the serum levels of 5 BA-G species, including CDCA-3G, and up-regulated expression of UGT1A4, but not UGT2B7, in hepatic cells. This study demonstrates that fenofibrate stimulates BA glucuronidation in humans, and thus reduces bile acid toxicity in the liver. PMID:23756370

Molecular Analysis of Congenital Hypothyroidism in Saudi Arabia: SLC26A7 Mutation Is a Novel Defect in Thyroid Dyshormonogenesis.

PubMed

Zou, Minjing; Alzahrani, Ali S; Al-Odaib, Ali; Alqahtani, Mohammad A; Babiker, Omer; Al-Rijjal, Roua A; BinEssa, Huda A; Kattan, Walaa E; Al-Enezi, Anwar F; Al Qarni, Ali; Al-Faham, Manar S A; Baitei, Essa Y; Alsagheir, Afaf; Meyer, Brian F; Shi, Yufei

2018-05-01

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common neonatal endocrine disorder, affecting one in 3000 to 4000 newborns. Since the introduction of a newborn screening program in 1988, more than 300 cases have been identified. The underlying genetic defects have not been systematically studied. To identify the mutation spectrum of CH-causing genes. Fifty-five patients from 47 families were studied by next-generation exome sequencing. Mutations were identified in 52.7% of patients (29 of 55) in the following 11 genes: TG, TPO, DUOX2, SLC26A4, SLC26A7, TSHB, TSHR, NKX2-1, PAX8, CDCA8, and HOXB3. Among 30 patients with thyroid dyshormonogenesis, biallelic TG mutations were found in 12 patients (40%), followed by biallelic mutations in TPO (6.7%), SLC26A7 (6.7%), and DUOX2 (3.3%). Monoallelic SLC26A4 mutations were found in two patients, one of them coexisting with two tandem biallelic deletions in SLC26A7. In 25 patients with thyroid dysgenesis, biallelic mutations in TSHR were found in six patients (24%). Biallelic mutations in TSHB, PAX 8, NKX2-1, or HOXB3 were found once in four different patients. A monoallelic CDCA8 mutation was found in one patient. Most mutations were novel, including three TG, two TSHR, and one each in DUOX2, TPO, SLC26A7, TSHB, NKX2-1, PAX8, CDCA8, and HOXB3. SLC26A7 and HOXB3 were novel genes associated with thyroid dyshormonogenesis and dysgenesis, respectively. TG and TSHR mutations are the most common genetic defects in Saudi patients with CH. The prevalence of other disease-causing mutations is low, reflecting the consanguineous nature of the population. SLC26A7 mutations appear to be associated with thyroid dyshormonogenesis.

75 FR 51479 - Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Chevron Energy...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-20

... (EIS) for the Chevron Energy Solutions/Solar Millennium (CESSM), LLC's Blythe Solar Power Plant (BSPP... project and amend the CDCA Plan to prohibit solar energy projects on the project site. The BLM will take..., LVRWB09B2600] Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Chevron Energy...

75 FR 17762 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Staff Assessment for the Solar...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-07

... related to the RSPP by any of the following methods: Web site: http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solar..., California Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, California 95814. Copies of the Solar... available or unavailable to solar energy projects. The CDCA Plan (1980, as amended), while recognizing the...

76 FR 5396 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Rising Tree Wind...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-31

...] Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Rising Tree Wind Farm... on issues and alternatives related to the Rising Tree Wind Farm Draft EIS/EIR and possible CDCA PA by...-megawatt Rising Tree Wind Farm. The proposed project is approximately three miles west of the town of...

Analytical results and sample locality map of heavy-mineral-concentrate and rock samples from the Castle Peaks Wilderness Study Area (CDCA- 266), San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adrian, B.M.; Frisken, J.G.; Malcolm, M.J.; Crock, J.G.

1986-01-01

The report presents water-quality and geohydrologic information for 106 public water-supply wells in Illinois. These wells were sampled during April to December 1984 as part of a pilot program to develop a ground-water observation network in the State. The pilot program was designed to sample single-aquifer wells from three major aquifer systems--(1) sand and gravel, both confined and unconfined; (2) Silurian dolomite; and (3) the Ironton-Galesville deep sandstone. Data are tabulated for water temperature, pH, specific conductance, oxidation-reduction potential, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate + nitrite nitrogen, phosphorus, silica, arsenic, lead, mercury, fluoride, chloride, sulfate, cyanide, phenols, selenium, residue on evaporation at 180 degrees Celsius, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, barium, boron, beryllium, cadmium, chormium, copper, cobalt, iron, aluminum, manganese, nickel, silver, strontium, vanadium, zinc, and selected geohydrologic information.

Analytical results and sample locality map of heavy-mineral- concentrate and rock samples from the Kingston Range Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-222), San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adrian, B.M.; Frisken, J.G.; Malcolm, M.J.; Crock, J.G.; Briggs, P.H.

1986-01-01

During 1984, 60 stream sites were sampled for the presence of Giardia sp. cysts. The sampling sites ranged in elevation from 6 ,000 to 12,000 feet, and were distributed over a distance of more than 200 miles, from the Lake Tahoe basin in the north to Mt. Whitney in the south. Cysts of Giardia were detected in 27 of 78 samples. The number of cysts detected ranged from 1 to 41. Of the 27 samples positive for Giardia, only 1 cyst was detected in each of 10 samples, 2 cysts were detected in each of 8 samples, 3 cysts were detected in each of 3 samples, 4 cysts were detected in each of 2 samples, and 5, 6, 14, and 41 cysts were detected in 1 sample each. (USGS)

[Rapid identification of two new isomers in bear bile powder by LC-Q-TOF-MS combined with PCC oxidation].

PubMed

Jian, Long-Hai; Hu, Chun; Yu, Hong; Wang, Ke; Ji, Shen

2013-07-01

A rapid method of Liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS) combined with pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) oxidation has been developed to determine chemical structures of two novel isomers in bear bile powder. Derivatives of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) were semi-synthesized by PCC oxidation, then were analyzed by LC-Q-TOF-MS. Separation was carried out on a reverse column with the mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid (45:55). The data of Q-TOF-MS was acquired by MS, MS/MS, positive and negative modes. Since UDCA and CDCA were stereochemical isomeric at an alcohol position, two oxidation products were same and have been confirmed by LC-Q-TOF-MS. Other two products were also determined based on the PCC oxidation theory. Samples of bear bile powder were dissolved by methanol and measured by LC-Q-TOF-MS. Two unknown peaks were found and identified by matching their retention times and accurate mass spectra ions with PCC oxidation productS. Finally, the structures of two new bile acids in bear bile powder were confirmed as 3alpha-hydroxy-7-oxo-5beta-cholanic acid, 7alpha-hydroxy-3-oxo-5beta-cholanic acid, respectively.

Mineral resources of the Turtle Mountains Wilderness Study Area, San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howard, Keith A.; Nielson, Jane E.; Simpson, Robert W.; Hazlett, Richard W.; Alminas, Henry V.; Nakata, John K.; McDonnell, John R.

1988-01-01

At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, approximately 105,200 acres of the Turtle Mountains Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-307) were evaluated for mineral resources (known) and resource potential (undiscovered). In this report, the area studied is referred to as "the wilderness study area" or simply "the study area"; any reference to the Turtle Mountain Wilderness Study Area refers only to that part of the wilderness study area for which a mineral survey was requested by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.The wilderness study area is in southeastern San Bernardino County, Calif. Gold, silver, copper, and lead have been mined within and adjacent to the study area. Copper-zinc-silver-gold mineral occurrences are found in the southern part and gold-silver mineral occurrences are found in the northern part of the study area; identified low- to moderate-grade gold-silver resources occur adjacent to the study area along the western boundary. Six areas in the south-central and northwestern parts of the study area have high resource potential, two broad areas have moderate resource potential, and part of the southwest corner has low resource potential for lode gold, silver, and associated copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and tungsten. Alluvium locally within one of these areas has moderate resource potential for placer gold and silver, and the entire area has low resource potential for placer gold and silver. There is low resource potential for perlite, ornamental stone (onyx marble and opal), manganese, uranium and thorium, pegmatite minerals, and oil and gas within the study area. Sand and gravel are abundant but are readily available outside the wilderness study area.

Profiling of urinary bile acids in piglets by a combination of enzymatic deconjugation and targeted LC-MRM-MS[S

PubMed Central

Fang, Nianbai; Yu, Shanggong; Adams, Sean H.; Ronis, Martin J. J.; Badger, Thomas M.

2016-01-01

We present a method using a combination of enzymatic deconjugation and targeted LC-multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-MS analysis for analyzing all common bile acids (BAs) in piglet urine, and in particular, for detecting conjugated BAs either in the absence of their standards, or when present in low concentrations. Initially, before enzymatic deconjugation, 19 unconjugated BAs (FBAs) were detected where the total concentration of the detected FBAs was 9.90 μmol/l. Sixty-seven conjugated BAs were identified by LC-MRM-MS analysis before and after enzymatic deconjugation. Four enzymatic assays were used to deconjugate the BA conjugates. FBAs in urine after cholylglycine hydrolase/sulfatase treatment were 33.40 μmol/l, indicating the urinary BAs were comprised of 29.75% FBAs and 70.25% conjugated BAs in single and multiple conjugated forms. For the conjugates in single form, released FBAs from cholylglycine hydrolase deconjugation indicated that the conjugates with amino acids were 14.54% of urinary BAs, 16.27% glycosidic conjugates were found by β-glucuronidase treatment, and sulfatase with glucuronidase inhibitor treatment liberated FBAs that constituted 16.67% of urinary BAs. Notably, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was initially detected only in trace amounts in urine, but was found at significant levels after the enzymatic assays above. These results support that CDCA is a precursor of γ-muricholic acid in BA biosynthesis in piglets. PMID:27538824

Serum bile acid level and fatty acid composition in Chinese children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

PubMed

Lu, Li Ping; Wan, Yan Ping; Xun, Peng Cheng; Zhou, Ke Jun; Chen, Cheng; Cheng, Si Yang; Zhang, Min Zhong; Wu, Chun Hua; Lin, Wei Wei; Jiang, Ying; Feng, Hai Xia; Wang, Jia Lu; He, Ka; Cai, Wei

2017-08-01

To determine serum bile acid (BA) and fatty acid (FA) profiles in Chinese children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). A total 76 children aged 4-17 years were categorized into three groups according to the presence and absence of as well as the severity of NAFLD, that is, non-NAFLD (control), mild and moderate to severe NAFLD groups, respectively, based on their liver ultrasonography findings. Serum BA and FA profiles were quantified separately by mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. General linear models were performed to assess the differences among the groups. After adjusted for potential confounders, children with NAFLD had higher levels of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), unconjugated primary BAs (CDCA + cholic acid) but lower levels of deoxycholic acid (DCA), taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA), glycodeoxycholic acid (GDCA), total DCA (DCA + TDCA + GDCA), glycolithocholic acid (GLCA) and total lithocholic acid (GLCA + taurolithocholic acid) than children without NAFLD. As for FAs, children with mild and moderate to severe NAFLD had higher levels of n-7 monounsaturated FA. Circulating BA and FA profiles may change in children with NAFLD. Further studies are needed to determine their associations and to understand the underlying mechanism of action. © 2017 Chinese Medical Association Shanghai Branch, Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Profiling of urinary bile acids in piglets by a combination of enzymatic deconjugation and targeted LC-MRM-MS.

PubMed

Fang, Nianbai; Yu, Shanggong; Adams, Sean H; Ronis, Martin J J; Badger, Thomas M

2016-10-01

We present a method using a combination of enzymatic deconjugation and targeted LC-multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-MS analysis for analyzing all common bile acids (BAs) in piglet urine, and in particular, for detecting conjugated BAs either in the absence of their standards, or when present in low concentrations. Initially, before enzymatic deconjugation, 19 unconjugated BAs (FBAs) were detected where the total concentration of the detected FBAs was 9.90 μmol/l. Sixty-seven conjugated BAs were identified by LC-MRM-MS analysis before and after enzymatic deconjugation. Four enzymatic assays were used to deconjugate the BA conjugates. FBAs in urine after cholylglycine hydrolase/sulfatase treatment were 33.40 μmol/l, indicating the urinary BAs were comprised of 29.75% FBAs and 70.25% conjugated BAs in single and multiple conjugated forms. For the conjugates in single form, released FBAs from cholylglycine hydrolase deconjugation indicated that the conjugates with amino acids were 14.54% of urinary BAs, 16.27% glycosidic conjugates were found by β-glucuronidase treatment, and sulfatase with glucuronidase inhibitor treatment liberated FBAs that constituted 16.67% of urinary BAs. Notably, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) was initially detected only in trace amounts in urine, but was found at significant levels after the enzymatic assays above. These results support that CDCA is a precursor of γ-muricholic acid in BA biosynthesis in piglets. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Establishment of HLA-DR4 Transgenic Mice for the Identification of CD4+ T Cell Epitopes of Tumor-Associated Antigens

PubMed Central

Harada, Kumiko; Michibata, Yayoi; Tsukamoto, Hirotake; Senju, Satoru; Tomita, Yusuke; Yuno, Akira; Hirayama, Masatoshi; Abu Sayem, Mohammad; Takeda, Naoki; Shibuya, Isao; Sogo, Shinji; Fujiki, Fumihiro; Sugiyama, Haruo; Eto, Masatoshi; Nishimura, Yasuharu

2013-01-01

Reports have shown that activation of tumor-specific CD4+ helper T (Th) cells is crucial for effective anti-tumor immunity and identification of Th-cell epitopes is critical for peptide vaccine-based cancer immunotherapy. Although computer algorithms are available to predict peptides with high binding affinity to a specific HLA class II molecule, the ability of those peptides to induce Th-cell responses must be evaluated. We have established HLA-DR4 (HLA-DRA*01:01/HLA-DRB1*04:05) transgenic mice (Tgm), since this HLA-DR allele is most frequent (13.6%) in Japanese population, to evaluate HLA-DR4-restricted Th-cell responses to tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-derived peptides predicted to bind to HLA-DR4. To avoid weak binding between mouse CD4 and HLA-DR4, Tgm were designed to express chimeric HLA-DR4/I-Ed, where I-Ed α1 and β1 domains were replaced with those from HLA-DR4. Th cells isolated from Tgm immunized with adjuvant and HLA-DR4-binding cytomegalovirus-derived peptide proliferated when stimulated with peptide-pulsed HLA-DR4-transduced mouse L cells, indicating chimeric HLA-DR4/I-Ed has equivalent antigen presenting capacity to HLA-DR4. Immunization with CDCA155-78 peptide, a computer algorithm-predicted HLA-DR4-binding peptide derived from TAA CDCA1, successfully induced Th-cell responses in Tgm, while immunization of HLA-DR4-binding Wilms' tumor 1 antigen-derived peptide with identical amino acid sequence to mouse ortholog failed. This was overcome by using peptide-pulsed syngeneic bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DC) followed by immunization with peptide/CFA booster. BM-DC-based immunization of KIF20A494-517 peptide from another TAA KIF20A, with an almost identical HLA-binding core amino acid sequence to mouse ortholog, successfully induced Th-cell responses in Tgm. Notably, both CDCA155-78 and KIF20A494-517 peptides induced human Th-cell responses in PBMCs from HLA-DR4-positive donors. Finally, an HLA-DR4 binding DEPDC1191-213 peptide from a new TAA DEPDC1 overexpressed in bladder cancer induced strong Th-cell responses both in Tgm and in PBMCs from an HLA-DR4-positive donor. Thus, the HLA-DR4 Tgm combined with computer algorithm was useful for preliminary screening of candidate peptides for vaccination. PMID:24386437

Silicate Weathering and Carbon Cycle Controls on the Oligocene-Miocene Transition Glaciation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, Joseph A.; James, Rachael H.; Anand, Pallavi; Wilson, Paul A.

2017-10-01

Changes in both silicate weathering rates and organic carbon burial have been proposed as drivers of the transient "Mi-1" glaciation event at the Oligocene-Miocene transition (OMT; 23 Ma). However, detailed geochemical proxy data are required to test these hypotheses. Here we present records of Li/Ca, Mg/Ca, Cd/Ca, U/Ca, δ18O, δ13C, and shell weight in planktonic foraminifera from marine sediments spanning the OMT in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Li/Ca values increase by 1 μmol/mol across this interval. We interpret this to indicate an 20% increase in silicate weathering rates, which would have lowered atmospheric CO2, potentially forcing the Antarctic glaciation 23 Ma. δ13C of thermocline dwelling planktonic foraminifera track the global increase in seawater δ13C across the OMT and during the Mi-1 event, hence supporting a hypothesized global increase in organic carbon burial rates. High δ13C previously measured in epipelagic planktonic foraminifera and high Cd/Ca ratios during Mi-1 are interpreted to represent locally enhanced primary productivity, stimulated by increased nutrients supply to surface waters. The fingerprint of high export production and associated organic carbon burial at this site is found in reduced bottom water oxygenation (inferred from high foraminiferal U/Ca) and enhanced respiratory dissolution of carbonates, characterized by reduced foraminiferal shell weight. Replication of our results elsewhere would strengthen the case that weathering-induced CO2 sequestration preconditioned climate for Antarctic ice sheet growth across the OMT, and increased burial of organic carbon acted as a feedback that intensified cooling at this time.

78 FR 30870 - Nomination of Existing Marine Protected Areas to the National System of Marine Protected Areas

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-23

... Reserve Big Flat State Marine Conservation Area Big River Estuary State Marine Conservation Area Bird Rock... Conservation Area Navarro River Estuary State Marine Conservation Area Painted Cave (Santa Cruz Island) State... Marine Conservation Area Ten Mile Estuary State Marine Conservation Area Ten Mile State Marine Reserve...

A solid-phase extraction procedure coupled to 1H NMR, with chemometric analysis, to seek reliable markers of the botanical origin of honey.

PubMed

Beretta, Giangiacomo; Caneva, Enrico; Regazzoni, Luca; Bakhtyari, Nazanin Golbamaki; Maffei Facino, Roberto

2008-07-14

The aim of this work was to establish an analytical method for identifying the botanical origin of honey, as an alternative to conventional melissopalynological, organoleptic and instrumental methods (gas-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography HPLC). The procedure is based on the (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) profile coupled, when necessary, with electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and two-dimensional NMR analyses of solid-phase extraction (SPE)-purified honey samples, followed by chemometric analyses. Extracts of 44 commercial Italian honeys from 20 different botanical sources were analyzed. Honeydew, chestnut and linden honeys showed constant, specific, well-resolved resonances, suitable for use as markers of origin. Honeydew honey contained the typical resonances of an aliphatic component, very likely deriving from the plant phloem sap or excreted into it by sap-sucking aphids. Chestnut honey contained the typical signals of kynurenic acid and some structurally related metabolite. In linden honey the (1)H NMR profile gave strong signals attributable to the mono-terpene derivative cyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylic acid (CDCA) and to its 1-O-beta-gentiobiosyl ester (CDCA-GBE). These markers were not detectable in the other honeys, except for the less common nectar honey from rosa mosqueta. We compared and analyzed the data by multivariate techniques. Principal component analysis found different clusters of honeys based on the presence of these specific markers. The results, although obviously only preliminary, suggest that the (1)H NMR profile (with HPLC-MS analysis when necessary) can be used as a reference framework for identifying the botanical origin of honey.

Ursodeoxycholic acid attenuates colonic epithelial secretory function

PubMed Central

Kelly, Orlaith B; Mroz, Magdalena S; Ward, Joseph B J; Colliva, Carolina; Scharl, Michael; Pellicciari, Roberto; Gilmer, John F; Fallon, Padraic G; Hofmann, Alan F; Roda, Aldo; Murray, Frank E; Keely, Stephen J

2013-01-01

Dihydroxy bile acids, such as chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), are well known to promote colonic fluid and electrolyte secretion, thereby causing diarrhoea associated with bile acid malabsorption. However, CDCA is rapidly metabolised by colonic bacteria to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), the effects of which on epithelial transport are poorly characterised. Here, we investigated the role of UDCA in the regulation of colonic epithelial secretion. Cl− secretion was measured across voltage-clamped monolayers of T84 cells and muscle-stripped sections of mouse or human colon. Cell surface biotinylation was used to assess abundance/surface expression of transport proteins. Acute (15 min) treatment of T84 cells with bilateral UDCA attenuated Cl− secretory responses to the Ca2+ and cAMP-dependent secretagogues carbachol (CCh) and forskolin (FSK) to 14.0 ± 3.8 and 40.2 ± 7.4% of controls, respectively (n= 18, P < 0.001). Investigation of the molecular targets involved revealed that UDCA acts by inhibiting Na+/K+-ATPase activity and basolateral K+ channel currents, without altering their cell surface expression. In contrast, intraperitoneal administration of UDCA (25 mg kg−1) to mice enhanced agonist-induced colonic secretory responses, an effect we hypothesised to be due to bacterial metabolism of UDCA to lithocholic acid (LCA). Accordingly, LCA (50–200 μm) enhanced agonist-induced secretory responses in vitro and a metabolically stable UDCA analogue, 6α-methyl-UDCA, exerted anti-secretory actions in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, UDCA exerts direct anti-secretory actions on colonic epithelial cells and metabolically stable derivatives of the bile acid may offer a new approach for treating intestinal diseases associated with diarrhoea. PMID:23507881

Ursodeoxycholic acid inhibits overexpression of P-glycoprotein induced by doxorubicin in HepG2 cells.

PubMed

Komori, Yuki; Arisawa, Sakiko; Takai, Miho; Yokoyama, Kunihiro; Honda, Minako; Hayashi, Kazuhiko; Ishigami, Masatoshi; Katano, Yoshiaki; Goto, Hidemi; Ueyama, Jun; Ishikawa, Tetsuya; Wakusawa, Shinya

2014-02-05

The hepatoprotective action of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was previously suggested to be partially dependent on its antioxidative effect. Doxorubicin (DOX) and reactive oxygen species have also been implicated in the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which is encoded by the MDR1 gene and causes antitumor multidrug resistance. In the present study, we assessed the effects of UDCA on the expression of MDR1 mRNA, P-gp, and intracellular reactive oxygen species levels in DOX-treated HepG2 cells and compared them to those of other bile acids. DOX-induced increases in reactive oxygen species levels and the expression of MDR1 mRNA were inhibited by N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant, and the DOX-induced increase in reactive oxygen species levels and DOX-induced overexpression of MDR1 mRNA and P-gp were inhibited by UDCA. Cells treated with UDCA showed improved rhodamine 123 uptake, which was decreased in cells treated with DOX alone. Moreover, cells exposed to DOX for 24h combined with UDCA accumulated more DOX than that of cells treated with DOX alone. Thus, UDCA may have inhibited the overexpression of P-gp by suppressing DOX-induced reactive oxygen species production. Chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) also exhibited these effects, whereas deoxycholic acid and litocholic acid were ineffective. In conclusion, UDCA and CDCA had an inhibitory effect on the induction of P-gp expression and reactive oxygen species by DOX in HepG2 cells. The administration of UDCA may be beneficial due to its ability to prevent the overexpression of reactive oxygen species and acquisition of multidrug resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maximizing species conservation in continental Ecuador: a case of systematic conservation planning for biodiverse regions

PubMed Central

Lessmann, Janeth; Muñoz, Jesús; Bonaccorso, Elisa

2014-01-01

Ecuador has the largest number of species by area worldwide, but also a low representation of species within its protected areas. Here, we applied systematic conservation planning to identify potential areas for conservation in continental Ecuador, with the aim of increasing the representation of terrestrial species diversity in the protected area network. We selected 809 terrestrial species (amphibians, birds, mammals, and plants), for which distributions were estimated via species distribution models (SDMs), using Maxent. For each species we established conservation goals based on conservation priorities, and estimated new potential protected areas using Marxan conservation planning software. For each selected area, we determined their conservation priority and feasibility of establishment, two important aspects in the decision-making processes. We found that according to our conservation goals, the current protected area network contains large conservation gaps. Potential areas for conservation almost double the surface area of currently protected areas. Most of the newly proposed areas are located in the Coast, a region with large conservation gaps and irreversible changes in land use. The most feasible areas for conservation were found in the Amazon and Andes regions, which encompass more undisturbed habitats, and already harbor most of the current reserves. Our study allows defining a viable strategy for preserving Ecuador's biodiversity, by combining SDMs, GIS-based decision-support software, and priority and feasibility assessments of the selected areas. This approach is useful for complementing protected area networks in countries with great biodiversity, insufficient biological information, and limited resources for conservation. PMID:25360277

77 FR 2754 - Establishment of Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-19

...-FF04R02000] Establishment of Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area AGENCY... Refuge and Conservation Area in Polk, Osceola, Highlands, and Okeechobee Counties, Florida. The Service establishes the Refuge and Conservation Area in order to support a connected conservation landscape; to...

Use of biocidal products (insect sprays and electro-vaporizer) in indoor areas--exposure scenarios and exposure modeling.

PubMed

Berger-Preiss, Edith; Koch, Wolfgang; Gerling, Susanne; Kock, Heiko; Appel, Klaus E

2009-09-01

Five commercially available insect sprays were applied in a model room. Spraying was performed in accordance with the manufacturers' instructions and in an overdosed manner in order to simulate worst-case conditions or an unforeseeable misuse. In addition, we examined electro-vaporizers. The Respicon aerosol monitoring system was applied to determine inhalation exposure. During normal spraying (10 seconds) and during the following 2-3 minutes, exposure concentrations ranged from 70 to 590 microg/m3 for the pyrethroids tetramethrin, d-phenothrin, cyfluthrin, bioallethrin, and the pyrethrins. Calculated inhalable doses were 2-16 microg. A concentration of approximately 850 microg chlorpyrifos/m(3) (inhalable dose: approximately 20 microg) was determined when the "Contra insect fly spray" was applied. Highest exposure concentrations (1100-2100 microg/m3) were measured for piperonyl butoxide (PBO), corresponding to an inhalation intake of 30-60microg. When simulating worst-case conditions, exposure concentrations of 200-3400microg/m3 and inhalable doses of 10-210microg were determined for the various active substances. Highest concentrations (4800-8000 microg/m3) were measured for PBO (inhalable: 290-480 microg). By applying the electro-vaporizer "Nexa Lotte" plug-in mosquito killer concentrations for d-allethrin were in the range of 5-12microg/m3 and 0.5-2 microg/m3 for PBO while with the "Paral" plug-in mosquito killer concentrations of 0.4-5microg/m3 for pyrethrins and 1-7 microg/m3 for PBO were measured. Potential dermal exposures were determined using exposure pads. Between 80 and 1000microg active substance (tetramethrin, phenothrin, cyfluthrin, bioallethrin, pyrethrins, chlorpyrifos) were deposited on the clothing of the total body surface area of the spray user. Highest levels (up to 3000 microg) were determined for PBO. Worst-case uses of the sprays led to 5-9 times higher concentrations. Also a 2-hour stay nearby an operating electro-vaporizer led to a contamination of the clothing (total amounts on the whole body were 450 microg d-allethrin and 50 microg PBO for "Nexa Lotte" plug-in mosquito killer and 80 microg pyrethrins and 190 microg PBO for "Paral" plug-in mosquito killer). Human biomonitoring data revealed urine concentrations of the metabolite (E)-trans-chrysanthemum dicarboxylic acid ((E)-trans-CDCA) between 1.7 microg/l and 7.1 microg/l after 5 minutes of exposure to the different sprays. Also the use of electro-vaporizers led to (E)-trans-CDCA concentrations in the urine in the range of 1.0 microg/l to 6.2 microg/l (1-3 hours exposure period). The exposure data presented can be used for performing human risk assessment when these biocidal products were applied indoors. The airborne concentrations of the non-volatile active chemical compounds could be predicted from first principles using a deterministic exposure model (SprayExpo).

Climate change threatens European conservation areas

PubMed Central

Araújo, Miguel B; Alagador, Diogo; Cabeza, Mar; Nogués-Bravo, David; Thuiller, Wilfried

2011-01-01

Europe has the world's most extensive network of conservation areas. Conservation areas are selected without taking into account the effects of climate change. How effectively would such areas conserve biodiversity under climate change? We assess the effectiveness of protected areas and the Natura 2000 network in conserving a large proportion of European plant and terrestrial vertebrate species under climate change. We found that by 2080, 58 ± 2.6% of the species would lose suitable climate in protected areas, whereas losses affected 63 ± 2.1% of the species of European concern occurring in Natura 2000 areas. Protected areas are expected to retain climatic suitability for species better than unprotected areas (P<0.001), but Natura 2000 areas retain climate suitability for species no better and sometimes less effectively than unprotected areas. The risk is high that ongoing efforts to conserve Europe's biodiversity are jeopardized by climate change. New policies are required to avert this risk. PMID:21447141

Comparative mtDNA analyses of three sympatric macropodids from a conservation area on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.

PubMed

McGreevy, Thomas J; Dabek, Lisa; Husband, Thomas P

2016-07-01

Matschie's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), New Guinea pademelon (Thylogale browni), and small dorcopsis (Dorcopsulus vanheurni) are sympatric macropodid taxa, of conservation concern, that inhabit the Yopno-Urawa-Som (YUS) Conservation Area on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. We sequenced three partial mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes from the three taxa to (i) investigate network structure; and (ii) identify conservation units within the YUS Conservation Area. All three taxa displayed a similar pattern in the spatial distribution of their mtDNA haplotypes and the Urawa and Som rivers on the Huon may have acted as a barrier to maternal gene flow. Matschie's tree kangaroo and New Guinea pademelon within the YUS Conservation Area should be managed as single conservation units because mtDNA nucleotides were not fixed for a given geographic area. However, two distinct conservation units were identified for small dorcopsis from the two different mountain ranges within the YUS Conservation Area.

Inequity in ecosystem service delivery: Socioeconomic gaps in the public-private conservation network

USGS Publications Warehouse

Villamagna, Amy M.; Mogollón, Beatriz; Angermeier, Paul L.

2017-01-01

Conservation areas, both public and private, are critical tools to protect biodiversity and deliver important ecosystem services (ES) to society. Although societal benefits from such ES are increasingly used to promote public support of conservation, the number of beneficiaries, their identity, and the magnitude of benefits are largely unknown for the vast majority of conservation areas in the United States public-private conservation network. The location of conservation areas in relation to people strongly influences the direction and magnitude of ES flows as well as the identity of beneficiaries. We analyzed benefit zones, the areas to which selected ES could be conveyed to beneficiaries, to assess who benefits from a typical conservation network. Better knowledge of ES flows and beneficiaries will help land conservationists make a stronger case for the broad collateral benefits of conservation and help to address issues of social-environmental justice. To evaluate who benefits the most from the current public-private conservation network, we delineated the benefit zones for local ES (within 16 km) that are conveyed along hydrological paths from public (federal and state) and private (easements) conservation lands in the states of North Carolina and Virginia, USA. We also discuss the challenges and demonstrate an approach for delineating nonhydrological benefits that are passively conveyed to beneficiaries. We mapped and compared the geographic distribution of benefit zones within and among conservation area types. We further compared beneficiary demographics across benefit zones of the conservation area types and found that hydrological benefit zones of federal protected areas encompass disproportionately fewer minority beneficiaries compared to statewide demographic patterns. In contrast, benefit zones of state protected areas and private easements encompassed a much greater proportion of minority beneficiaries (~22–25%). Benefit zones associated with private conservation lands included beneficiaries of significantly greater household income than benefit zones of other types of conservation areas. Our analysis of ES flows revealed significant socioeconomic gaps in how the current public-private conservation network benefits the public. These gaps warrant consideration in regional conservation plans and suggest that private conservation initiatives may be best suited for responding to the equity challenge. Enhancing the ecosystem benefits and the equity of benefit delivery from private conservation networks could build public and political support for long-term conservation strategies and ultimately enhance conservation efficacy.

75 FR 10814 - Proposed Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement for the Sacramento River Conservation Area Forum in...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-09

...] Proposed Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement for the Sacramento River Conservation Area Forum in Shasta... Enhancement of Survival Permit from the Sacramento River Conservation Area Forum (applicant) under the... Conservation Area Forum under the Act (16 U.S.C 1531 et seq.). The permit application includes a proposed Safe...

Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas.

PubMed

Veach, Victoria; Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

2017-01-01

Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results identify areas where limited resources should be allocated to mitigate risks to vertebrate species from habitat loss.

Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas

PubMed Central

Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

2017-01-01

Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results identify areas where limited resources should be allocated to mitigate risks to vertebrate species from habitat loss. PMID:29182662

A Policy Alternative Analysis and Simplified Scoring Method to Assess Policy Options for Marine Conservation Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharuga, S. M.; Reams, M.

2016-02-01

Traditional approaches to marine conservation and management are increasingly being found as inadequate; and, consequently, more complex ecosystem-based approaches to protecting marine ecosystems are growing in popularity. Ecosystem-based approaches, however, can be particularly challenging at a local level where resources and knowledge of specific marine conservation components may be limited. Marine conservation areas are known by a variety of names globally, but can be divided into four general types: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Marine Reserves, Fishery Reserves, and Ecological Reserves (i.e. "no take zones"). Each type of conservation area involves specific objectives, program elements and likely socioeconomic consequences. As an aid to community stakeholders and decision makers considering establishment of a marine conservation area, a simple method to compare and score the objectives and attributes of these four approaches is presented. A range of evaluation criteria are considered, including conservation of biodiversity and habitat, effective fishery management, overall cost-effectiveness, fairness to current users, enhancement of recreational activities, fairness to taxpayers, and conservation of genetic diversity. Environmental and socioeconomic costs and benefits of each type of conservation area are also considered. When exploring options for managing the marine environment, particular resource conservation needs must be evaluated individually on a case-by-case basis and the type of conservation area established must be tailored accordingly. However, MPAs are often more successful than other conservation areas because they offer a compromise between the needs of society and the environment, and therefore represent a viable option for ecosystem-based management.

A Policy Alternative Analysis and Simplified Scoring Method to Assess Policy Options for Marine Conservation Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharuga, S. M.; Reams, M.

2016-12-01

Traditional approaches to marine conservation and management are increasingly being found as inadequate; and, consequently, more complex ecosystem-based approaches to protecting marine ecosystems are growing in popularity. Ecosystem-based approaches, however, can be particularly challenging at a local level where resources and knowledge of specific marine conservation components may be limited. Marine conservation areas are known by a variety of names globally, but can be divided into four general types: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Marine Reserves, Fishery Reserves, and Ecological Reserves (i.e. "no take zones"). Each type of conservation area involves specific objectives, program elements and likely socioeconomic consequences. As an aid to community stakeholders and decision makers considering establishment of a marine conservation area, a simple method to compare and score the objectives and attributes of these four approaches is presented. A range of evaluation criteria are considered, including conservation of biodiversity and habitat, effective fishery management, overall cost-effectiveness, fairness to current users, enhancement of recreational activities, fairness to taxpayers, and conservation of genetic diversity. Environmental and socioeconomic costs and benefits of each type of conservation area are also considered. When exploring options for managing the marine environment, particular resource conservation needs must be evaluated individually on a case-by-case basis and the type of conservation area established must be tailored accordingly. However, MPAs are often more successful than other conservation areas because they offer a compromise between the needs of society and the environment, and therefore represent a viable option for ecosystem-based management.

Global priorities for conservation across multiple dimensions of mammalian diversity

PubMed Central

Graham, Catherine H.; Costa, Gabriel C.; Hedges, S. Blair; Penone, Caterina; Radeloff, Volker C.; Rondinini, Carlo; Davidson, Ana D.

2017-01-01

Conservation priorities that are based on species distribution, endemism, and vulnerability may underrepresent biologically unique species as well as their functional roles and evolutionary histories. To ensure that priorities are biologically comprehensive, multiple dimensions of diversity must be considered. Further, understanding how the different dimensions relate to one another spatially is important for conservation prioritization, but the relationship remains poorly understood. Here, we use spatial conservation planning to (i) identify and compare priority regions for global mammal conservation across three key dimensions of biodiversity—taxonomic, phylogenetic, and traits—and (ii) determine the overlap of these regions with the locations of threatened species and existing protected areas. We show that priority areas for mammal conservation exhibit low overlap across the three dimensions, highlighting the need for an integrative approach for biodiversity conservation. Additionally, currently protected areas poorly represent the three dimensions of mammalian biodiversity. We identify areas of high conservation priority among and across the dimensions that should receive special attention for expanding the global protected area network. These high-priority areas, combined with areas of high priority for other taxonomic groups and with social, economic, and political considerations, provide a biological foundation for future conservation planning efforts. PMID:28674013

Global priorities for conservation across multiple dimensions of mammalian diversity.

PubMed

Brum, Fernanda T; Graham, Catherine H; Costa, Gabriel C; Hedges, S Blair; Penone, Caterina; Radeloff, Volker C; Rondinini, Carlo; Loyola, Rafael; Davidson, Ana D

2017-07-18

Conservation priorities that are based on species distribution, endemism, and vulnerability may underrepresent biologically unique species as well as their functional roles and evolutionary histories. To ensure that priorities are biologically comprehensive, multiple dimensions of diversity must be considered. Further, understanding how the different dimensions relate to one another spatially is important for conservation prioritization, but the relationship remains poorly understood. Here, we use spatial conservation planning to ( i ) identify and compare priority regions for global mammal conservation across three key dimensions of biodiversity-taxonomic, phylogenetic, and traits-and ( ii ) determine the overlap of these regions with the locations of threatened species and existing protected areas. We show that priority areas for mammal conservation exhibit low overlap across the three dimensions, highlighting the need for an integrative approach for biodiversity conservation. Additionally, currently protected areas poorly represent the three dimensions of mammalian biodiversity. We identify areas of high conservation priority among and across the dimensions that should receive special attention for expanding the global protected area network. These high-priority areas, combined with areas of high priority for other taxonomic groups and with social, economic, and political considerations, provide a biological foundation for future conservation planning efforts.

Reconstruction of an Integrated Genome-Scale Co-Expression Network Reveals Key Modules Involved in Lung Adenocarcinoma

PubMed Central

Hosseini Ashtiani, Saman; Moeini, Ali; Nowzari-Dalini, Abbas; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali

2013-01-01

Our goal of this study was to reconstruct a “genome-scale co-expression network” and find important modules in lung adenocarcinoma so that we could identify the genes involved in lung adenocarcinoma. We integrated gene mutation, GWAS, CGH, array-CGH and SNP array data in order to identify important genes and loci in genome-scale. Afterwards, on the basis of the identified genes a co-expression network was reconstructed from the co-expression data. The reconstructed network was named “genome-scale co-expression network”. As the next step, 23 key modules were disclosed through clustering. In this study a number of genes have been identified for the first time to be implicated in lung adenocarcinoma by analyzing the modules. The genes EGFR, PIK3CA, TAF15, XIAP, VAPB, Appl1, Rab5a, ARF4, CLPTM1L, SP4, ZNF124, LPP, FOXP1, SOX18, MSX2, NFE2L2, SMARCC1, TRA2B, CBX3, PRPF6, ATP6V1C1, MYBBP1A, MACF1, GRM2, TBXA2R, PRKAR2A, PTK2, PGF and MYO10 are among the genes that belong to modules 1 and 22. All these genes, being implicated in at least one of the phenomena, namely cell survival, proliferation and metastasis, have an over-expression pattern similar to that of EGFR. In few modules, the genes such as CCNA2 (Cyclin A2), CCNB2 (Cyclin B2), CDK1, CDK5, CDC27, CDCA5, CDCA8, ASPM, BUB1, KIF15, KIF2C, NEK2, NUSAP1, PRC1, SMC4, SYCE2, TFDP1, CDC42 and ARHGEF9 are present that play a crucial role in cell cycle progression. In addition to the mentioned genes, there are some other genes (i.e. DLGAP5, BIRC5, PSMD2, Src, TTK, SENP2, PSMD2, DOK2, FUS and etc.) in the modules. PMID:23874428

Reconstruction of an integrated genome-scale co-expression network reveals key modules involved in lung adenocarcinoma.

PubMed

Bidkhori, Gholamreza; Narimani, Zahra; Hosseini Ashtiani, Saman; Moeini, Ali; Nowzari-Dalini, Abbas; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali

2013-01-01

Our goal of this study was to reconstruct a "genome-scale co-expression network" and find important modules in lung adenocarcinoma so that we could identify the genes involved in lung adenocarcinoma. We integrated gene mutation, GWAS, CGH, array-CGH and SNP array data in order to identify important genes and loci in genome-scale. Afterwards, on the basis of the identified genes a co-expression network was reconstructed from the co-expression data. The reconstructed network was named "genome-scale co-expression network". As the next step, 23 key modules were disclosed through clustering. In this study a number of genes have been identified for the first time to be implicated in lung adenocarcinoma by analyzing the modules. The genes EGFR, PIK3CA, TAF15, XIAP, VAPB, Appl1, Rab5a, ARF4, CLPTM1L, SP4, ZNF124, LPP, FOXP1, SOX18, MSX2, NFE2L2, SMARCC1, TRA2B, CBX3, PRPF6, ATP6V1C1, MYBBP1A, MACF1, GRM2, TBXA2R, PRKAR2A, PTK2, PGF and MYO10 are among the genes that belong to modules 1 and 22. All these genes, being implicated in at least one of the phenomena, namely cell survival, proliferation and metastasis, have an over-expression pattern similar to that of EGFR. In few modules, the genes such as CCNA2 (Cyclin A2), CCNB2 (Cyclin B2), CDK1, CDK5, CDC27, CDCA5, CDCA8, ASPM, BUB1, KIF15, KIF2C, NEK2, NUSAP1, PRC1, SMC4, SYCE2, TFDP1, CDC42 and ARHGEF9 are present that play a crucial role in cell cycle progression. In addition to the mentioned genes, there are some other genes (i.e. DLGAP5, BIRC5, PSMD2, Src, TTK, SENP2, PSMD2, DOK2, FUS and etc.) in the modules.

Interacting Social and Environmental Predictors for the Spatial Distribution of Conservation Lands

PubMed Central

Baldwin, Robert F.; Leonard, Paul B.

2015-01-01

Conservation decisions should be evaluated for how they meet conservation goals at multiple spatial extents. Conservation easements are land use decisions resulting from a combination of social and environmental conditions. An emerging area of research is the evaluation of spatial distribution of easements and their spatial correlates. We tested the relative influence of interacting social and environmental variables on the spatial distribution of conservation easements by ownership category and conservation status. For the Appalachian region of the United States, an area with a long history of human occupation and complex land uses including public-private conservation, we found that settlement, economic, topographic, and environmental data associated with spatial distribution of easements (N = 4813). Compared to random locations, easements were more likely to be found in lower elevations, in areas of greater agricultural productivity, farther from public protected areas, and nearer other human features. Analysis of ownership and conservation status revealed sources of variation, with important differences between local and state government ownerships relative to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP program status levels. NGOs were more likely to have easements nearer protected areas, and higher conservation status, while local governments held easements closer to settlement, and on lands of greater agricultural potential. Logistic interactions revealed environmental variables having effects modified by social correlates, and the strongest predictors overall were social (distance to urban area, median household income, housing density, distance to land trust office). Spatial distribution of conservation lands may be affected by geographic area of influence of conservation groups, suggesting that multi-scale conservation planning strategies may be necessary to satisfy local and regional needs for reserve networks. Our results support previous findings and provide an ecoregion-scale view that conservation easements may provide, at local scales, conservation functions on productive, more developable lands. Conservation easements may complement functions of public protected areas but more research should examine relative landscape-level ecological functions of both forms of protection. PMID:26465155

Interacting Social and Environmental Predictors for the Spatial Distribution of Conservation Lands.

PubMed

Baldwin, Robert F; Leonard, Paul B

2015-01-01

Conservation decisions should be evaluated for how they meet conservation goals at multiple spatial extents. Conservation easements are land use decisions resulting from a combination of social and environmental conditions. An emerging area of research is the evaluation of spatial distribution of easements and their spatial correlates. We tested the relative influence of interacting social and environmental variables on the spatial distribution of conservation easements by ownership category and conservation status. For the Appalachian region of the United States, an area with a long history of human occupation and complex land uses including public-private conservation, we found that settlement, economic, topographic, and environmental data associated with spatial distribution of easements (N = 4813). Compared to random locations, easements were more likely to be found in lower elevations, in areas of greater agricultural productivity, farther from public protected areas, and nearer other human features. Analysis of ownership and conservation status revealed sources of variation, with important differences between local and state government ownerships relative to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP program status levels. NGOs were more likely to have easements nearer protected areas, and higher conservation status, while local governments held easements closer to settlement, and on lands of greater agricultural potential. Logistic interactions revealed environmental variables having effects modified by social correlates, and the strongest predictors overall were social (distance to urban area, median household income, housing density, distance to land trust office). Spatial distribution of conservation lands may be affected by geographic area of influence of conservation groups, suggesting that multi-scale conservation planning strategies may be necessary to satisfy local and regional needs for reserve networks. Our results support previous findings and provide an ecoregion-scale view that conservation easements may provide, at local scales, conservation functions on productive, more developable lands. Conservation easements may complement functions of public protected areas but more research should examine relative landscape-level ecological functions of both forms of protection.

Countering resistance to protected-area extension.

PubMed

Lindenmayer, David; Thorn, Simon; Noss, Reed

2018-04-01

The establishment of protected areas is a critical strategy for conserving biodiversity. Key policy directives like the Aichi targets seek to expand protected areas to 17% of Earth's land surface, with calls by some conservation biologists for much more. However, in places such as the United States, Germany, and Australia, attempts to increase protected areas are meeting strong resistance from communities, industry groups, and governments. We examined case studies of such resistance in Victoria, Australia, Bavaria, Germany, and Florida, United States. We considered 4 ways to tackle this problem. First, broaden the case for protected areas beyond nature conservation to include economic, human health, and other benefits, and translate these into a persuasive business case for protected areas. Second, better communicate the conservation values of protected areas. This should include highlighting how many species, communities, and ecosystems have been conserved by protected areas and the counterfactual (i.e., what would have been lost without protected area establishment). Third, consider zoning of activities to ensure the maintenance of effective management. Finally, remind citizens to think about conservation when they vote, including holding politicians accountable for their environmental promises. Without tackling resistance to expanding the protected estate, it will be impossible to reach conservation targets, and this will undermine attempts to stem the global extinction crisis. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

50 CFR 660.78 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Oregon. 660.78 Section 660.78 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... West Coast Groundfish Fisheries § 660.78 EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon. Boundary line coordinates for EFH Conservation Areas off Oregon are provided in this section. Fishing activity that is...

50 CFR 660.78 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Oregon. 660.78 Section 660.78 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... West Coast Groundfish Fisheries § 660.78 EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon. Boundary line coordinates for EFH Conservation Areas off Oregon are provided in this section. Fishing activity that is...

50 CFR 660.78 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Oregon. 660.78 Section 660.78 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... West Coast Groundfish Fisheries § 660.78 EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon. Boundary line coordinates for EFH Conservation Areas off Oregon are provided in this section. Fishing activity that is...

77 FR 15121 - Final Land Protection Plan and Final Environmental Assessment for Everglades Headwaters National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

... Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice of... Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Conservation Area in Polk, Osceola, Highlands, and Okeechobee.... We established the refuge and conservation area to support a connected conservation landscape; to...

Diversity and distribution of aquatic insects in Southern Brazil wetlands: implications for biodiversity conservation in a Neotropical region.

PubMed

Maltchik, Leonardo; Dalzochio, Marina Schmidt; Stenert, Cristina; Rolon, Ana Silvia

2012-03-01

The selection of priority areas is an enormous challenge for biodiversity conservation. Some biogeographic methods have been used to identify the priority areas to conservation, and panbiogeography is one of them. This study aimed at the utilization of panbiogeographic tools, to identify the distribution patterns of aquatic insect genera, in wetland systems of an extensive area in the Neotropical region (approximately 280 000km2), and to compare the distribution of the biogeographic units identified by the aquatic insects, with the conservation units of Southern Brazil. We analyzed the distribution pattern of 82 genera distributed in four orders of aquatic insects (Diptera, Odonata, Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera) in Southern Brazil wetlands. Therefore, 32 biogeographic nodes corresponded to the priority areas for conservation of the aquatic insect diversity. Among this total, 13 were located in the Atlantic Rainforest, 16 in the Pampa and three amongst both biomes. The distribution of nodes showed that only 15% of the dispersion centers of insects were inserted in conservation units. The four priority areas pointed by node cluster criterion must be considered in further inclusions of areas for biodiversity conservation in Southern Brazil wetlands, since such areas present species from different ancestral biota. The inclusion of such areas into the conservation units would be a strong way to conserve the aquatic biodiversity in this region.

Conserving migratory mule deer through the umbrella of sage-grouse

USGS Publications Warehouse

Copeland, H. E.; Sawyer, H.; Monteith, K. L.; Naugle, D.E.; Pocewicz, Amy; Graf, N.; Kauffman, Matthew J.

2014-01-01

Conserving migratory ungulates in increasingly human-dominated landscapes presents a difficult challenge to land managers and conservation practitioners. Nevertheless, ungulates may receive ancillary benefits from conservation actions designed to protect species of greater conservation priority where their ranges are sympatric. Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocerus urophasianus), for example, have been proposed as an umbrella species for other sagebrush (Artemesia spp.)-dependent fauna. We examined a landscape where conservation efforts for sage-grouse overlap spatially with mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) to determine whether sage-grouse conservation measures also might protect important mule deer migration routes and seasonal ranges. We conducted a spatial analysis to determine what proportion of migration routes, stopover areas, and winter ranges used by mule deer were located in areas managed for sage-grouse conservation. Conservation measures overlapped with 66–70% of migration corridors, 74–75% of stopovers, and 52–91% of wintering areas for two mule deer populations in the upper Green River Basin of Wyoming. Of those proportions, conservation actions targeted towards sage-grouse accounted for approximately half of the overlap in corridors and stopover areas, and nearly all overlap on winter ranges, indicating that sage-grouse conservation efforts represent an important step in conserving migratory mule deer. Conservation of migratory species presents unique challenges because although overlap with conserved lands may be high, connectivity of the entire route must be maintained as barriers to movement anywhere within the migration corridor could render it unviable. Where mule deer habitats overlap with sage-grouse core areas, our results indicate that increased protection is afforded to winter ranges and migration routes within the umbrella of sage-grouse conservation, but this protection is contingent on concentrated developments within core areas not intersecting with high-priority stopovers or corridors, and that the policy in turn does not encourage development on deer ranges outside of core areas. With the goal of protecting entire migration routes, our analysis highlights areas of potential conservation focus for mule deer, which are characterized by high exposure to residential development and use by a large proportion of migrating deer.

50 CFR 660.398 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Oregon. 660.398 Section 660.398 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... West Coast Groundfish Fisheries § 660.398 EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon. Boundary line coordinates for EFH Conservation Areas off Oregon are provided in this § 660.398. Fishing activity that is...

50 CFR Table 42 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 42 Table 42 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 42 Table 42 to Part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude...

50 CFR Table 42 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 42 Table 42 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 42 Table 42 to Part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude...

50 CFR Table 42 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 42 Table 42 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 42 Table 42 to Part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude...

50 CFR Table 42 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 42 Table 42 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 42 Table 42 to Part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude...

50 CFR Table 42 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 42 Table 42 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 42 Table 42 to Part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude...

Using a distribution and conservation status weighted hotspot approach to identify areas in need of conservation action to benefit Idaho bird species

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haines, Aaron M.; Leu, Matthias; Svancara, Leona K.; Wilson, Gina; Scott, J. Michael

2010-01-01

Identification of biodiversity hotspots (hereafter, hotspots) has become a common strategy to delineate important areas for wildlife conservation. However, the use of hotspots has not often incorporated important habitat types, ecosystem services, anthropogenic activity, or consistency in identifying important conservation areas. The purpose of this study was to identify hotspots to improve avian conservation efforts for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the state of Idaho, United States. We evaluated multiple approaches to define hotspots and used a unique approach based on weighting species by their distribution size and conservation status to identify hotspot areas. All hotspot approaches identified bodies of water (Bear Lake, Grays Lake, and American Falls Reservoir) as important hotspots for Idaho avian SGCN, but we found that the weighted approach produced more congruent hotspot areas when compared to other hotspot approaches. To incorporate anthropogenic activity into hotspot analysis, we grouped species based on their sensitivity to specific human threats (i.e., urban development, agriculture, fire suppression, grazing, roads, and logging) and identified ecological sections within Idaho that may require specific conservation actions to address these human threats using the weighted approach. The Snake River Basalts and Overthrust Mountains ecological sections were important areas for potential implementation of conservation actions to conserve biodiversity. Our approach to identifying hotspots may be useful as part of a larger conservation strategy to aid land managers or local governments in applying conservation actions on the ground.

Representation of critical natural capital in China.

PubMed

Lü, Yihe; Zhang, Liwei; Zeng, Yuan; Fu, Bojie; Whitham, Charlotte; Liu, Shuguang; Wu, Bingfang

2017-08-01

Traditional means of assessing representativeness of conservation value in protected areas depend on measures of structural biodiversity. The effectiveness of priority conservation areas at representing critical natural capital (CNC) (i.e., an essential and renewable subset of natural capital) remains largely unknown. We analyzed the representativeness of CNC-conservation priority areas in national nature reserves (i.e., nature reserves under jurisdiction of the central government with large spatial distribution across the provinces) in China with a new biophysical-based composite indicator approach. With this approach, we integrated the net primary production of vegetation, topography, soil, and climate variables to map and rank terrestrial ecosystems capacities to generate CNC. National nature reserves accounted for 6.7% of CNC-conservation priority areas across China. Considerable gaps (35.2%) existed between overall (or potential) CNC representativeness nationally and CNC representation in national reserves, and there was significant spatial heterogeneity of representativeness in CNC-conservation priority areas at the regional and provincial levels. For example, the best and worst representations were, respectively, 13.0% and 1.6% regionally and 28.9% and 0.0% provincially. Policy in China is transitioning toward the goal of an ecologically sustainable civilization. We identified CNC-conservation priority areas and conservation gaps and thus contribute to the policy goals of optimization of the national nature reserve network and the demarcation of areas critical to improving the representativeness and conservation of highly functioning areas of natural capital. Moreover, our method for assessing representation of CNC can be easily adapted to other large-scale networks of conservation areas because few data are needed, and our model is relatively simple. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

A Selected List of Filmstrips on the Conservation of Natural Resources, Number 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Jean Larson; Michaud, Howard H.

This pamphlet describes 115 conservation filmstrips as to content, sources, suggested grade level(s), curriculum area(s), and notes of interest to the user. The filmstrips are divided into the following areas: (1) general conservation, (2) ecology and resource interrelationships, (3) forest trees and other plants, (4) forest conservation, (5)…

50 CFR Figure 17 to Part 679 - Northern Bering Sea Research Area and St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Northern Bering Sea Research Area and St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 17 Figure 17 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY... Sea Research Area and St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.011 [73 FR 43371, July 25...

A review of conservation legislation in Nepal: Past progress and future needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinen, Joel T.; Kattel, Bijaya

1992-11-01

Nepal is considered a leader among developing nations with regard to conservation legislation and programs; it was among the first Asian nations to develop national conservation legislation, sign CITES, and develop a national conservation strategy. We review the history of modern conservation law in Nepal from the Rana period (early 1950s) to the present. The early legislation focused mainly on strict preservation of areas and species; this phase culminated in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973. Subsequent legislation has evolved more in the direction of an integrated, holistic approach to conservation and is beginning to incorporate the participation of local people; subsequent amendments to the 1973 act allowed greater rights to rural villagers, and the designation of conservation areas in addition to the more strictly defined protected areas (national parks, wildlife reserves, etc.). Our review of conservation legislation suggests that Nepal has had many successes to date; the country has a protected area system covering over 10% of its land area, and many target species are recovering in parks and reserves. There are also some causes of concern, including staff shortages, financial constraints within the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, and the fact that there is little legal infrastructure outside of protected areas to enforce conservation laws; further, some aspects of hunting regulations are in need of revision. Primary needs include a comprehensive review of these policies and a nationalized strategy to ameliorate the shortcomings.

Combined Use of Systematic Conservation Planning, Species Distribution Modelling, and Connectivity Analysis Reveals Severe Conservation Gaps in a Megadiverse Country (Peru)

PubMed Central

Fajardo, Javier; Lessmann, Janeth; Bonaccorso, Elisa; Devenish, Christian; Muñoz, Jesús

2014-01-01

Conservation planning is crucial for megadiverse countries where biodiversity is coupled with incomplete reserve systems and limited resources to invest in conservation. Using Peru as an example of a megadiverse country, we asked whether the national system of protected areas satisfies biodiversity conservation needs. Further, to complement the existing reserve system, we identified and prioritized potential conservation areas using a combination of species distribution modeling, conservation planning and connectivity analysis. Based on a set of 2,869 species, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and plants, we used species distribution models to represent species' geographic ranges to reduce the effect of biased sampling and partial knowledge about species' distributions. A site-selection algorithm then searched for efficient and complementary proposals, based on the above distributions, for a more representative system of protection. Finally, we incorporated connectivity among areas in an innovative post-hoc analysis to prioritize those areas maximizing connectivity within the system. Our results highlight severe conservation gaps in the Coastal and Andean regions, and we propose several areas, which are not currently covered by the existing network of protected areas. Our approach helps to find areas that contribute to creating a more representative, connected and efficient network. PMID:25479411

50 CFR Table 44 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 44 Table 44 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude 1651.54W 6045.54N* 1627.01W...

50 CFR Figure 21 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 21 Figure 21 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.012 [73 FR 43372, July 25, 2008] ...

50 CFR Figure 21 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 21 Figure 21 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.012 [73 FR 43372, July 25, 2008] ...

50 CFR Figure 21 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 21 Figure 21 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.012 [73 FR 43372, July 25, 2008] ...

50 CFR Table 44 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 44 Table 44 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude 1651.54W 6045.54N* 1627.01W...

50 CFR Table 44 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 44 Table 44 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude 1651.54W 6045.54N* 1627.01W...

50 CFR Table 44 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 44 Table 44 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude 1651.54W 6045.54N* 1627.01W...

50 CFR Figure 21 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 21 Figure 21 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.012 [73 FR 43372, July 25, 2008] ...

50 CFR Figure 21 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 21 Figure 21 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.012 [73 FR 43372, July 25, 2008] ...

50 CFR Table 44 to Part 679 - Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Nunivak Island, Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area 44 Table 44 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION..., Etolin Strait, and Kuskokwim Bay Habitat Conservation Area Longitude Latitude 1651.54W 6045.54N* 1627.01W...

50 CFR Figure 16 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 16 Figure 16 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 16 Figure 16 to part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.010 [73 FR...

50 CFR Figure 16 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 16 Figure 16 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 16 Figure 16 to part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.010 [73 FR...

50 CFR Figure 16 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 16 Figure 16 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 16 Figure 16 to part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.010 [73 FR...

50 CFR Figure 16 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 16 Figure 16 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 16 Figure 16 to part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.010 [73 FR...

50 CFR Figure 16 to Part 679 - Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area 16 Figure 16 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 16 Figure 16 to part 679—Bering Sea Habitat Conservation Area ER25JY08.010 [73 FR...

Delineating Focus Areas for Bird Conservation in the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region

Treesearch

Jane A. Fitzgerald; C. Diane True; David D. Diamond; Troy Ettel; Laurel Moore; Timothy A. Nigh; Shawchyi Vorisek; Greg Wathen

2005-01-01

This paper reports on a process used to identify landscape-scale focus areas for the conservation of priority grassland, grass-shrubland, wetland and forest-woodland birds in the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region (CHBCR). The areas were delineated by biologists and other technical staff of partner agencies and organizations in the CHBCR with the use of...

The development of learning model for natural science based on environmental in conservation area of Bengkulu University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karyadi, B.; Susanta, A.; Winari, E. W.; Ekaputri, R. Z.; Enersi, D.

2018-05-01

Research on development of a learning model for Natural Science base on conservation area in Bengkulu University has been conducted. The research methods were referred to the standard steps of Research and Development. Stage activities were (a) analysis of needs, (b) observation of the ecological aspects of conservation area as a learning resource, and (c) instructional design based on conservation area for secondary school students. The observation results on the ecological aspects revealed that the diversity of plants and animals, at the conservation area were sufficient as a source for learning. The instructional design was prepared in three phase activities namely Introduction-Exploration-Interpretation (IEI), and then it was compiled in a teaching material Based on Surrounding Natural Environment” (BSNE). The results of a limited scale trial at secondary school students in two districts of Bengkulu province showed that, the students who learned using the IEI model at the conservation area have a good performance and critical thinking. The product from the research is a book named BSNE that can be used for teachers and conservation practitioners in doing the learning activities on environmental conservation which involved public participation.

50 CFR Figure 20 to Part 679 - Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea 20 Figure 20 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT... EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 20 Figure 20 to Part 679—Steller sea lion conservation area...

50 CFR Figure 20 to Part 679 - Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea 20 Figure 20 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT... EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 20 Figure 20 to Part 679—Steller sea lion conservation area...

50 CFR Figure 20 to Part 679 - Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea 20 Figure 20 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT... EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 20 Figure 20 to Part 679—Steller sea lion conservation area...

50 CFR Figure 20 to Part 679 - Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea 20 Figure 20 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT... EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 20 Figure 20 to Part 679—Steller sea lion conservation area...

50 CFR Figure 20 to Part 679 - Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Steller sea lion conservation area (SCA) of the Bering Sea 20 Figure 20 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT... EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 20 Figure 20 to Part 679—Steller sea lion conservation area...

Forest Conservation Opportunity Areas - Conservative Model (ECO_RES.COA_FORREST66)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This layer designates areas with potential for forest conservation. These are areas of natural or semi-natural forest land cover patches that area at least 395 meters away from roads and away from patch edges. OAs were modeled by creating distance grids using the National Land Cover Database and the Census Bureau's TIGER road files.

Environmental globalization, organizational form, and expected benefits from protected areas in Central America

Treesearch

Max J. Pfeffer; John W. Schelhas; Catherine Meola

2006-01-01

Environmental globalization has led to the implementation of conservation efforts like the creation of protected areas that often promote the interests of core countries in poorer regions. The creation of protected areas in poor areas frequently creates tensions between human needs like - food and shelter and environmental conservation. Support for such conservation...

Incorporating threat in hotspots and coldspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

PubMed

Schröter, Matthias; Kraemer, Roland; Ceauşu, Silvia; Rusch, Graciela M

2017-11-01

Spatial prioritization could help target conservation actions directed to maintain both biodiversity and ecosystem services. We delineate hotspots and coldspots of two biodiversity conservation features and five regulating and cultural services by incorporating an indicator of 'threat', i.e. timber harvest profitability for forest areas in Telemark (Norway). We found hotspots, where high values of biodiversity, ecosystem services and threat coincide, ranging from 0.1 to 7.1% of the area, depending on varying threshold levels. Targeting of these areas for conservation follows reactive conservation approaches. In coldspots, high biodiversity and ecosystem service values coincide with low levels of threat, and cover 0.1-3.4% of the forest area. These areas might serve proactive conservation approaches at lower opportunity cost (foregone timber harvest profits). We conclude that a combination of indicators of biodiversity, ecosystem services and potential threat is an appropriate approach for spatial prioritization of proactive and reactive conservation strategies.

Bird conservation would complement landslide prevention in the Central Andes of Colombia

PubMed Central

Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia

2015-01-01

Conservation and restoration priorities often focus on separate ecosystem problems. Inspired by the November 11th (2011) landslide event near Manizales, and the current poor results of Colombia’s Article 111 of Law 99 of 1993 as a conservation measure in this country, we set out to prioritize conservation and restoration areas where landslide prevention would complement bird conservation in the Central Andes. This area is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, but also one of the most threatened. Using the case of the Rio Blanco Reserve, near Manizales, we identified areas for conservation where endemic and small-range bird diversity was high, and where landslide risk was also high. We further prioritized restoration areas by overlapping these conservation priorities with a forest cover map. Restoring forests in bare areas of high landslide risk and important bird diversity yields benefits for both biodiversity and people. We developed a simple landslide susceptibility model using slope, forest cover, aspect, and stream proximity. Using publicly available bird range maps, refined by elevation, we mapped concentrations of endemic and small-range bird species. We identified 1.54 km2 of potential restoration areas in the Rio Blanco Reserve, and 886 km2 in the Central Andes region. By prioritizing these areas, we facilitate the application of Article 111 which requires local and regional governments to invest in land purchases for the conservation of watersheds. PMID:25737819

Bird conservation would complement landslide prevention in the Central Andes of Colombia.

PubMed

Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

2015-01-01

Conservation and restoration priorities often focus on separate ecosystem problems. Inspired by the November 11th (2011) landslide event near Manizales, and the current poor results of Colombia's Article 111 of Law 99 of 1993 as a conservation measure in this country, we set out to prioritize conservation and restoration areas where landslide prevention would complement bird conservation in the Central Andes. This area is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, but also one of the most threatened. Using the case of the Rio Blanco Reserve, near Manizales, we identified areas for conservation where endemic and small-range bird diversity was high, and where landslide risk was also high. We further prioritized restoration areas by overlapping these conservation priorities with a forest cover map. Restoring forests in bare areas of high landslide risk and important bird diversity yields benefits for both biodiversity and people. We developed a simple landslide susceptibility model using slope, forest cover, aspect, and stream proximity. Using publicly available bird range maps, refined by elevation, we mapped concentrations of endemic and small-range bird species. We identified 1.54 km(2) of potential restoration areas in the Rio Blanco Reserve, and 886 km(2) in the Central Andes region. By prioritizing these areas, we facilitate the application of Article 111 which requires local and regional governments to invest in land purchases for the conservation of watersheds.

[Potential distribution of jaguar, Panthera onca (Carnivora: Felidae) in Guerrero, Mexico: persistence of areas for its conservation].

PubMed

Cuervo-Robayo, Angela P; Monroy-Vilchis, Octavio

2012-09-01

Studies about the permanence of natural protected areas are important, because they contribute to the promotion of the conservation target and to optimize economical and human resources of specific areas. Although there are no natural protected areas in Guerrero, it has suitable habitat for the jaguar, a common species used for planning and management of conservation areas. Since, there is actual evidence that environmental and anthropogenic variables may modify vertebrate species distribution with time, in this study we predicted the potential distribution of Panthera onca using MaxEnt for this Southeastern region. In addition, we made a projection considering the effect of a moderate climate change scenario, to evaluate the stability of the conservation area for a period of 24 years. Furthermore, we applied three threat scenarios for the actual prediction to define conservation priorities areas. In our results, we have found that 18 361Km2 (29%) of this state has a permanent suitable habitat for jaguar conservation in the Sierra Madre del Sur and Pacific coast, with a possible loss of 2 000km2 in 24 years. This habitat is characterized by a 56% of temperate forest (mainly conifers and hardwoods 34%), and 35% of tropical deciduous forest. With the projections, the Southeastern region resulted with the higher anthropogenic impacts, while at the same time, an area of 7 900km2 in the Central-Western state was determined as a priority for conservation. To assure jaguar conservation, we propose the inclusion of this new conservation area, which is located in the Sierra Madre del Sur, with which we may potentially preserve other 250 species of threatened vertebrates. This way, the suggested habitat conservation may represent a local effort in Guerrero and will strengthen the biological corridor network for P. onca protection in Latin America.

Measuring the difference made by conservation initiatives: protected areas and their environmental and social impacts.

PubMed

Ferraro, Paul J; Pressey, Robert L

2015-11-05

Success in conservation depends on our ability to reduce human pressures in areas that harbour biological diversity and ecosystem services. Legally protecting some of these areas through the creation of protected areas is a key component of conservation efforts globally. To develop effective protected area networks, practitioners need credible, scientific evidence about the degree to which protected areas affect environmental and social outcomes, and how these effects vary with context. Such evidence has been lacking, but the situation is changing as conservation scientists adopt more sophisticated research designs for evaluating protected areas' past impacts and for predicting their future impacts. Complementing these scientific advances, conservation funders and practitioners are paying increasing attention to evaluating their investments with more scientifically rigorous evaluation designs. This theme issue highlights recent advances in the science of protected area evaluations and explores the challenges to developing a more credible evidence base that can help societies achieve their goals of protecting nature while enhancing human welfare. © 2015 The Author(s).

Measuring the difference made by conservation initiatives: protected areas and their environmental and social impacts

PubMed Central

Ferraro, Paul J.; Pressey, Robert L.

2015-01-01

Success in conservation depends on our ability to reduce human pressures in areas that harbour biological diversity and ecosystem services. Legally protecting some of these areas through the creation of protected areas is a key component of conservation efforts globally. To develop effective protected area networks, practitioners need credible, scientific evidence about the degree to which protected areas affect environmental and social outcomes, and how these effects vary with context. Such evidence has been lacking, but the situation is changing as conservation scientists adopt more sophisticated research designs for evaluating protected areas' past impacts and for predicting their future impacts. Complementing these scientific advances, conservation funders and practitioners are paying increasing attention to evaluating their investments with more scientifically rigorous evaluation designs. This theme issue highlights recent advances in the science of protected area evaluations and explores the challenges to developing a more credible evidence base that can help societies achieve their goals of protecting nature while enhancing human welfare. PMID:26460123

Mammal indicator species for protected areas and managed forests in a landscape conservation area in northern India

Treesearch

Pradeep K. Mathur; Harish Kumar; John F. Lehmkuhl; Anshuman Tripathi; Vishwas B. Sawarkar; Rupak De

2010-01-01

There is a realization that managed forests and other natural areas in the landscape matrix can and must make significant contributions to biodiversity conservation. Often, however, there are no consistent baseline vegetation or wildlife data for assessing the status of biodiversity elements across protected and managed areas for conservation planning, nor is there a...

50 CFR Figure 17 to Part 679 - Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA)

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) 17 Figure 17 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE...

50 CFR Figure 17 to Part 679 - Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA)

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) 17 Figure 17 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE...

50 CFR Figure 17 to Part 679 - Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA)

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) 17 Figure 17 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE...

50 CFR Figure 17 to Part 679 - Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA)

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Northern Bering Sea Research Area and Saint Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) 17 Figure 17 to part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE...

7 CFR 1468.4 - Establishing Conservation Farm Option (CFO) pilot project areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Establishing Conservation Farm Option (CFO) pilot...) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CONSERVATION FARM OPTION General Provisions § 1468.4 Establishing Conservation Farm Option (CFO) pilot project areas...

78 FR 26308 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Threatened Status for Coral Pink Sand...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-06

... appropriate habitat is found, the area will be considered for experimental introduction. The conservation committee will increase research efforts in experimental translocations in Conservation Area B and evaluate... conduct experimental vegetation treatments within existing conservation areas to determine if this...

[Geographic distribution of birds in the Sierra Madre Oriental of San Luis Potosi, Mexico: a regional analysis of conservation status].

PubMed

Sahagún Sánchez, Francisco Javier; Navarro, Jaime Castro; Reyes Hernández, Humberto

2013-06-01

The Sierra Madre Oriental region in the mexican state of San Luis Potosi is a relevant place for bird conservation at a country level. Therefore the main goal of this study was to analyze the geographic patterns of distribution and the conservation current state of the birds, to support the needs to expand the conservation areas in the future. Data was collected from various databases of zoological museums and collections, and field sampling methods conducted from January 2009 to May 2011. Potential distributions were modeled for 284 species using GARP software and then a map was developed to determine areas with favorable environmental characteristics for the distribution of species richness. Finally, the importance of conservation areas for the potential distribution of birds in the region was evaluated. A total of 359 species were recorded of which 71.4% are permanent residents, 19% are winter migrants and 4% are summer residents. From this total, 41 species were endemic, 47 were species at risk and 149 were neotropical migrants. The largest species richness correspond to oak forests, cloud forests, and tropical moist forests located at altitudes from 100m to 1 500m. Their potential distribution was concentrated towards the center and Southeast of the study area. Only 10% of areas with a high potential conservation was included in areas of priority for bird conservation (AICA) and just 3% of all potential areas were under some governmental category of protection. However, no conservation area has a management plan currently applied and monitored. The information generated is important for the development of management proposals for birds conservation in the region.

Opuntia in México: Identifying Priority Areas for Conserving Biodiversity in a Multi-Use Landscape

PubMed Central

Illoldi-Rangel, Patricia; Ciarleglio, Michael; Sheinvar, Leia; Linaje, Miguel; Sánchez-Cordero, Victor; Sarkar, Sahotra

2012-01-01

Background México is one of the world's centers of species diversity (richness) for Opuntia cacti. Yet, in spite of their economic and ecological importance, Opuntia species remain poorly studied and protected in México. Many of the species are sparsely but widely distributed across the landscape and are subject to a variety of human uses, so devising implementable conservation plans for them presents formidable difficulties. Multi–criteria analysis can be used to design a spatially coherent conservation area network while permitting sustainable human usage. Methods and Findings Species distribution models were created for 60 Opuntia species using MaxEnt. Targets of representation within conservation area networks were assigned at 100% for the geographically rarest species and 10% for the most common ones. Three different conservation plans were developed to represent the species within these networks using total area, shape, and connectivity as relevant criteria. Multi–criteria analysis and a metaheuristic adaptive tabu search algorithm were used to search for optimal solutions. The plans were built on the existing protected areas of México and prioritized additional areas for management for the persistence of Opuntia species. All plans required around one–third of México's total area to be prioritized for attention for Opuntia conservation, underscoring the implausibility of Opuntia conservation through traditional land reservation. Tabu search turned out to be both computationally tractable and easily implementable for search problems of this kind. Conclusions Opuntia conservation in México require the management of large areas of land for multiple uses. The multi-criteria analyses identified priority areas and organized them in large contiguous blocks that can be effectively managed. A high level of connectivity was established among the prioritized areas resulting in the enhancement of possible modes of plant dispersal as well as only a small number of blocks that would be recommended for conservation management. PMID:22606279

The links between protected areas, faiths, and sacred natural sites.

PubMed

Dudley, Nigel; Higgins-Zogib, Liza; Mansourian, Stephanie

2009-06-01

Most people follow and are influenced by some kind of spiritual faith. We examined two ways in which religious faiths can in turn influence biodiversity conservation in protected areas. First, biodiversity conservation is influenced through the direct and often effective protection afforded to wild species in sacred natural sites and in seminatural habitats around religious buildings. Sacred natural sites are almost certainly the world's oldest form of habitat protection. Although some sacred natural sites exist inside official protected areas, many thousands more form a largely unrecognized "shadow" conservation network in many countries throughout the world, which can be more stringently protected than state-run reserves. Second, faiths have a profound impact on attitudes to protection of the natural world through their philosophy, teachings, investment choices, approaches to land they control, and religious-based management systems. We considered the interactions between faiths and protected areas with respect to all 11 mainstream faiths and to a number of local belief systems. The close links between faiths and habitat protection offer major conservation opportunities, but also pose challenges. Bringing a sacred natural site into a national protected-area system can increase protection for the site, but may compromise some of its spiritual values or even its conservation values. Most protected-area managers are not trained to manage natural sites for religious purposes, but many sacred natural sites are under threat from cultural changes and habitat degradation. Decisions about whether or not to make a sacred natural site an "official" protected area therefore need to be made on a case-by-case basis. Such sites can play an important role in conservation inside and outside official protected areas. More information about the conservation value of sacred lands is needed as is more informed experience in integrating these into wider conservation strategies. In addition, many protected-area staff need training in how to manage sensitive issues relating to faiths where important faith sites occur in protected areas. ©2009 Society for Conservation Biology.

Using Remote Sensing Technology on the Delimitation of the Conservation Area for the Jianan Irrigation System Cultural Landsccape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C. H.

2015-08-01

In recent years the cultural landscape has become an important issue for cultural heritages throughout the world. It represents the "combined works of nature and of man" designated in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention. When a landscape has a cultural heritage value, important features should be marked and mapped through the delimitation of a conservation area, which may be essential for further conservation work. However, a cultural landscape's spatial area is usually wider than the ordinary architectural type of cultural heritage, since various elements and impact factors, forming the cultural landscape's character, lie within a wide geographic area. It is argued that the conservation of a cultural landscape may be influenced by the delimitation of the conservation area, the corresponding land management measures, the limits and encouragements. The Jianan Irrigation System, an historical cultural landscape in southern Taiwan, was registered as a living cultural heritage site in 2009. However, the system's conservation should not be limited to just only the reservoir or canals, but expanded to irrigated areas where farmland may be the most relevant. Through the analysis process, only approximately 42,000 hectares was defined as a conservation area, but closely related to agricultural plantations and irrigated by the system. This is only half of the 1977 irrigated area due to urban sprawl and continuous industrial expansion.

Indicating disturbance content and context for preserved areas

Treesearch

N. Zaccarelli; K.H. Riitters; I. Petrosillo; G. Zurlini

2007-01-01

An accepted goal of conservation is to build a conservation network that is resilient to environmental change. The conceptual patch-corridor-matrix model views individual conservation areas as connected components of a regional network capable of sustaining metapopulations and biodiversity, and assessment of contextual conditions in the matrix surrounding conservation...

All Conservation Opportunity Areas (ECO.RES.ALL_OP_AREAS)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The All_OP_Areas GIS layer are all the Conservation Opportunity Areas identified by MoRAP (produced for EPA Region 7). They designate areas with potential for forest, grassland and forest/grassland mosaic conservation. These are areas of natural or semi-natural forest land cover that are at least 75 meters away from roads and away from patch edges. OAs were modeled by creating distance grids using the National Land Cover Database and the Census Bureau's TIGER roads files.

Setting Priorities for Regional Conservation Planning in the Mediterranean Sea

PubMed Central

Micheli, Fiorenza; Levin, Noam; Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Katsanevakis, Stelios; Abdulla, Ameer; Coll, Marta; Fraschetti, Simonetta; Kark, Salit; Koutsoubas, Drosos; Mackelworth, Peter; Maiorano, Luigi; Possingham, Hugh P.

2013-01-01

Spatial prioritization in conservation is required to direct limited resources to where actions are most urgently needed and most likely to produce effective conservation outcomes. In an effort to advance the protection of a highly threatened hotspot of marine biodiversity, the Mediterranean Sea, multiple spatial conservation plans have been developed in recent years. Here, we review and integrate these different plans with the goal of identifying priority conservation areas that represent the current consensus among the different initiatives. A review of six existing and twelve proposed conservation initiatives highlights gaps in conservation and management planning, particularly within the southern and eastern regions of the Mediterranean and for offshore and deep sea habitats. The eighteen initiatives vary substantially in their extent (covering 0.1–58.5% of the Mediterranean Sea) and in the location of additional proposed conservation and management areas. Differences in the criteria, approaches and data used explain such variation. Despite the diversity among proposals, our analyses identified ten areas, encompassing 10% of the Mediterranean Sea, that are consistently identified among the existing proposals, with an additional 10% selected by at least five proposals. These areas represent top priorities for immediate conservation action. Despite the plethora of initiatives, major challenges face Mediterranean biodiversity and conservation. These include the need for spatial prioritization within a comprehensive framework for regional conservation planning, the acquisition of additional information from data-poor areas, species or habitats, and addressing the challenges of establishing transboundary governance and collaboration in socially, culturally and politically complex conditions. Collective prioritised action, not new conservation plans, is needed for the north, western, and high seas of the Mediterranean, while developing initial information-based plans for the south and eastern Mediterranean is an urgent requirement for true regional conservation planning. PMID:23577060

78 FR 3026 - Establishment of Swan Valley Conservation Area, Montana

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-15

... Swan River National Wildlife Refuge. The project will help ensure the perpetual conservation of one of... wildlife resources in the conservation area, primarily through the purchase of perpetual easements and a...

15 CFR Appendix C to Subpart G of... - Marine Conservation Area Boundary

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Marine Conservation Area Boundary C... COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Pt. 922, Subpt. G, App. C Appendix C to Subpart G of Part 922—Marine Conservation Area Boundary C...

15 CFR Appendix C to Subpart G of... - Marine Conservation Area Boundary

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Marine Conservation Area Boundary C... COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Pt. 922, Subpt. G, App. C Appendix C to Subpart G of Part 922—Marine Conservation Area Boundary C...

15 CFR Appendix C to Subpart G of... - Marine Conservation Area Boundary

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Marine Conservation Area Boundary C... COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Pt. 922, Subpt. G, App. C Appendix C to Subpart G of Part 922—Marine Conservation Area Boundary C...

15 CFR Appendix C to Subpart G of... - Marine Conservation Area Boundary

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Marine Conservation Area Boundary C... COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Pt. 922, Subpt. G, App. C Appendix C to Subpart G of Part 922—Marine Conservation Area Boundary C...

15 CFR Appendix C to Subpart G of... - Marine Conservation Area Boundary

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Marine Conservation Area Boundary C... COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Pt. 922, Subpt. G, App. C Appendix C to Subpart G of Part 922—Marine Conservation Area Boundary C...

Global patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and conservation

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Clinton N.; Pimm, Stuart L.; Joppa, Lucas N.

2013-01-01

Identifying priority areas for biodiversity is essential for directing conservation resources. Fundamentally, we must know where individual species live, which ones are vulnerable, where human actions threaten them, and their levels of protection. As conservation knowledge and threats change, we must reevaluate priorities. We mapped priority areas for vertebrates using newly updated data on >21,000 species of mammals, amphibians, and birds. For each taxon, we identified centers of richness for all species, small-ranged species, and threatened species listed with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Importantly, all analyses were at a spatial grain of 10 × 10 km, 100 times finer than previous assessments. This fine scale is a significant methodological improvement, because it brings mapping to scales comparable with regional decisions on where to place protected areas. We also mapped recent species discoveries, because they suggest where as-yet-unknown species might be living. To assess the protection of the priority areas, we calculated the percentage of priority areas within protected areas using the latest data from the World Database of Protected Areas, providing a snapshot of how well the planet’s protected area system encompasses vertebrate biodiversity. Although the priority areas do have more protection than the global average, the level of protection still is insufficient given the importance of these areas for preventing vertebrate extinctions. We also found substantial differences between our identified vertebrate priorities and the leading map of global conservation priorities, the biodiversity hotspots. Our findings suggest a need to reassess the global allocation of conservation resources to reflect today’s improved knowledge of biodiversity and conservation. PMID:23803854

Agroforestry: a refuge for tropical biodiversity?

PubMed

Bhagwat, Shonil A; Willis, Katherine J; Birks, H John B; Whittaker, Robert J

2008-05-01

As rates of deforestation continue to rise in many parts of the tropics, the international conservation community is faced with the challenge of finding approaches which can reduce deforestation and provide rural livelihoods in addition to conserving biodiversity. Much of modern-day conservation is motivated by a desire to conserve 'pristine nature' in protected areas, while there is growing recognition of the long-term human involvement in forest dynamics and of the importance of conservation outside protected areas. Agroforestry -- intentional management of shade trees with agricultural crops -- has the potential for providing habitats outside formally protected land, connecting nature reserves and alleviating resource-use pressure on conservation areas. Here we examine the role of agroforestry systems in maintaining species diversity and conclude that these systems can play an important role in biodiversity conservation in human-dominated landscapes.

A systematic conservation planning approach to fire risk management in Natura 2000 sites.

PubMed

Foresta, Massimiliano; Carranza, Maria Laura; Garfì, Vittorio; Di Febbraro, Mirko; Marchetti, Marco; Loy, Anna

2016-10-01

A primary challenge in conservation biology is to preserve the most representative biodiversity while simultaneously optimizing the efforts associated with conservation. In Europe, the implementation of the Natura 2000 network requires protocols to recognize and map threats to biodiversity and to identify specific mitigation actions. We propose a systematic conservation planning approach to optimize management actions against specific threats based on two fundamental parameters: biodiversity values and threat pressure. We used the conservation planning software Marxan to optimize a fire management plan in a Natura 2000 coastal network in southern Italy. We address three primary questions: i) Which areas are at high fire risk? ii) Which areas are the most valuable for threatened biodiversity? iii) Which areas should receive priority risk-mitigation actions for the optimal effect?, iv) which fire-prevention actions are feasible in the management areas?. The biodiversity values for the Natura 2000 spatial units were derived from the distribution maps of 18 habitats and 89 vertebrate species of concern in Europe (Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC). The threat pressure map, defined as fire probability, was obtained from digital layers of fire risk and of fire frequency. Marxan settings were defined as follows: a) planning units of 40 × 40 m, b) conservation features defined as all habitats and vertebrate species of European concern occurring in the study area, c) conservation targets defined according with fire sensitivity and extinction risk of conservation features, and d) costs determined as the complement of fire probabilities. We identified 23 management areas in which to concentrate efforts for the optimal reduction of fire-induced effects. Because traditional fire prevention is not feasible for most of policy habitats included in the management areas, alternative prevention practices were identified that allows the conservation of the vegetation structure. The proposed approach has potential applications for multiple landscapes, threats and spatial scales and could be extended to other valuable natural areas, including protected areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bird Diversity, Birdwatching Tourism and Conservation in Peru: A Geographic Analysis

PubMed Central

Puhakka, Liisa; Salo, Matti; Sääksjärvi, Ilari E.

2011-01-01

In the face of the continuing global biodiversity loss, it is important not only to assess the need for conservation, through e.g. gap analyses, but also to seek practical solutions for protecting biodiversity. Environmentally and socially sustainable tourism can be one such solution. We present a method to spatially link data on conservation needs and tourism-based economic opportunities, using bird-related tourism in Peru as an example. Our analysis highlighted areas in Peru where potential for such projects could be particularly high. Several areas within the central and northern Andean regions, as well as within the lowland Amazonian regions of Madre de Dios and Loreto emerge as promising for this type of activity. Mechanisms to implement conservation in these areas include e.g. conservation and ecotourism concessions, private conservation areas, and conservation easements. Some of these mechanisms also offer opportunities for local communities seeking to secure their traditional land ownership and use rights. (Spanish language abstract, Abstract S1). PMID:22132078

Bird diversity, birdwatching tourism and conservation in Peru: a geographic analysis.

PubMed

Puhakka, Liisa; Salo, Matti; Sääksjärvi, Ilari E

2011-01-01

In the face of the continuing global biodiversity loss, it is important not only to assess the need for conservation, through e.g. gap analyses, but also to seek practical solutions for protecting biodiversity. Environmentally and socially sustainable tourism can be one such solution. We present a method to spatially link data on conservation needs and tourism-based economic opportunities, using bird-related tourism in Peru as an example. Our analysis highlighted areas in Peru where potential for such projects could be particularly high. Several areas within the central and northern Andean regions, as well as within the lowland Amazonian regions of Madre de Dios and Loreto emerge as promising for this type of activity. Mechanisms to implement conservation in these areas include e.g. conservation and ecotourism concessions, private conservation areas, and conservation easements. Some of these mechanisms also offer opportunities for local communities seeking to secure their traditional land ownership and use rights. (Spanish language abstract, Abstract S1).

Bridging the conservation design and delivery gap for wetland bird habitat maintenance and restoration in the Midwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thogmartin, W.E.; Potter, B.; Soulliere, G.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's adoption of Strategic Habitat Conservation is intended to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of conservation delivery by targeting effort in areas where biological benefits are greatest. Conservation funding has not often been allocated in accordance with explicit biological endpoints, and the gap between conservation design (the identification of conservation priority areas) and delivery needs to be bridged to better meet conservation goals for multiple species and landscapes. We introduce a regional prioritization scheme for North American Wetlands Conservation Act funding which explicitly addresses Midwest regional goals for wetland-dependent birds. We developed decision-support maps to guide conservation of breeding and non-breeding wetland bird habitat. This exercise suggested ~55% of the Midwest consists of potential wetland bird habitat, and areas suited for maintenance (protection) were distinguished from those most suited to restoration. Areas with greater maintenance focus were identified for central Minnesota, southeastern Wisconsin, the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and the shore of western Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay. The shores of Lakes Michigan and Superior accommodated fewer waterbird species overall, but were also important for wetland bird habitat maintenance. Abundant areas suited for wetland restoration occurred in agricultural regions of central Illinois, western Iowa, and northern Indiana and Ohio. Use of this prioritization scheme can increase effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and credibility to land and water conservation efforts for wetland birds in the Midwestern United States.

Assessing critical source areas in watersheds for conservation buffer planning and riparian restoration.

PubMed

Qiu, Zeyuan

2009-11-01

A science-based geographic information system (GIS) approach is presented to target critical source areas in watersheds for conservation buffer placement. Critical source areas are the intersection of hydrologically sensitive areas and pollutant source areas in watersheds. Hydrologically sensitive areas are areas that actively generate runoff in the watershed and are derived using a modified topographic index approach based on variable source area hydrology. Pollutant source areas are the areas in watersheds that are actively and intensively used for such activities as agricultural production. The method is applied to the Neshanic River watershed in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The capacity of the topographic index in predicting the spatial pattern of runoff generation and the runoff contribution to stream flow in the watershed is evaluated. A simple cost-effectiveness assessment is conducted to compare the conservation buffer placement scenario based on this GIS method to conventional riparian buffer scenarios for placing conservation buffers in agricultural lands in the watershed. The results show that the topographic index reasonably predicts the runoff generation in the watershed. The GIS-based conservation buffer scenario appears to be more cost-effective than the conventional riparian buffer scenarios.

Use of inverse spatial conservation prioritization to avoid biological diversity loss outside protected areas.

PubMed

Kareksela, Santtu; Moilanen, Atte; Tuominen, Seppo; Kotiaho, Janne S

2013-12-01

Globally expanding human land use sets constantly increasing pressure for maintenance of biological diversity and functioning ecosystems. To fight the decline of biological diversity, conservation science has broken ground with methods such as the operational model of systematic conservation planning (SCP), which focuses on design and on-the-ground implementation of conservation areas. The most commonly used method in SCP is reserve selection that focuses on the spatial design of reserve networks and their expansion. We expanded these methods by introducing another form of spatial allocation of conservation effort relevant for land-use zoning at the landscape scale that avoids negative ecological effects of human land use outside protected areas. We call our method inverse spatial conservation prioritization. It can be used to identify areas suitable for economic development while simultaneously limiting total ecological and environmental effects of that development at the landscape level by identifying areas with highest economic but lowest ecological value. Our method is not based on a priori targets, and as such it is applicable to cases where the effects of land use on, for example, individual species or ecosystem types are relatively small and would not lead to violation of regional or national conservation targets. We applied our method to land-use allocation to peat mining. Our method identified a combination of profitable production areas that provides the needed area for peat production while retaining most of the landscape-level ecological value of the ecosystem. The results of this inverse spatial conservation prioritization are being used in land-use zoning in the province of Central Finland. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Comparison on Response and Dissolution Rates Between Ursodeoxycholic Acid Alone or in Combination With Chenodeoxycholic Acid for Gallstone Dissolution According to Stone Density on CT Scan: Strobe Compliant Observation Study.

PubMed

Lee, Jae Min; Hyun, Jong Jin; Choi, In Young; Yeom, Suk Keu; Kim, Seung Young; Jung, Sung Woo; Jung, Young Kul; Koo, Ja Seol; Yim, Hyung Joon; Lee, Hong Sik; Lee, Sang Woo; Kim, Chang Duck

2015-12-01

Medical dissolution of gallstone is usually performed on radiolucent gallstones in a functioning gallbladder. However, absence of visible gallstone on plain abdominal x-ray does not always preclude calcification. This study aims to compare the response and dissolution rates between ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) alone or in combination with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) according to stone density on computed tomography (CT) scan. A total of 126 patients underwent dissolution therapy with either UDCA alone or combination of CDCA and UDCA (CNU) from December 2010 to March 2014 at Korea University Ansan Hospital. In the end, 81 patients (CNU group = 44, UDCA group = 37) completed dissolution therapy for 6 months. Dissolution rate (percentage reduction in the gallstone volume) and response to therapy (complete dissolution or partial dissolution defined as reduction in stone volume of >50%) were compared between the 2 groups. Dissolution and response rates of sludge was also compared between the 2 groups. The overall response rate was 50.6% (CNU group 43.2% vs UDCA group 59.5%, P = 0.14), and the overall dissolution rate was 48.34% (CNU group 41.5% vs UDCA group 56.5%, P = 0.13). When analyzed according to stone density, response rate was 33.3%, 87.1%, 30.0%, and 6.2% for hypodense, isodense, hyperdense, and calcified stones, respectively. Response rate (85.7% vs 88.2%, P = 0.83) and dissolution rate (81.01% vs 85.38%, P = 0.17) of isodense stones were similar between CNU and UDCA group. When only sludge was considered, the overall response rate was 87.5% (CNU group 71.4% vs UDCA group 94.1%, P = 0.19), and the overall dissolution rate was 85.42% (CNU group 67.9% vs UDCA group 92.7%, P = 0.23). Patients with isodense gallstones and sludge showed much better response to dissolution therapy with CNU and UDCA showing comparable efficacy. Therefore, CT scan should be performed before medication therapy if stone dissolution is intended.

Auction development for the price-based electric power industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dekrajangpetch, Somgiat

The restructuring of the electric power industry is to move away from the cost-based monopolistic environment of the past to the priced-based competitive environment. As the electric power industry is restructuring in many places, there are still many problems that need to be solved. The work in this dissertation contributes to solve some of the electric power auction problems. The majority of this work is aimed to help develop good markets. A LaGrangian relaxation (LR) Centralized Daily Commitment Auction (CDCA) has been implemented. It has been shown that the solution might not be optimal nor fair to some generation companies (GENCOs) when identical or similar generating units participate in a LR CDCA based auction. Supporting information for bidding strategies on how to change unit data to enhance the chances of bid acceptance has been developed. The majority of this work is based on Single Period Commodity Auction (SPCA). Alternative structures for the SPCA are outlined. Whether the optimal solution is degenerated is investigated. Good pricing criteria are summarized and the pricing method following good pricing criteria is developed. Electricity is generally considered as a homogeneous product. When availability level is used as additional characteristic to distinct electricity, electricity can be considered a heterogeneous product. The procedure to trade electricity as a heterogeneous product is developed. The SPCA is formulated as a linear program. The basic IPLP algorithm has been extended so that sensitivity analysis can be performed as in the simplex method. Sensitivity analysis is used to determine market reach. Additionally, sensitivity analysis is used in combination with the investigation of historical auction results to provide raw data for power system expansion. Market power is a critical issue in electric power deregulation. Firms with market power have an advantage over other competitor firms in terms of market reach. Various approaches to determine market power and market reach are to be investigated. How firms can acquire additional customers or additional transactions, given the auction results, is to be investigated. Additionally, how firms can utilize their market power to enhance their chances of success is to be investigated.

50 CFR 660.399 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... The boundary of the Harris Point EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and... commercial and recreational take of living marine resources is allowed, exists between the mean high water... Scorpion EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and a straight line connecting all of...

50 CFR 660.79 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

.... The boundary of the Harris Point EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and... commercial and recreational take of living marine resources is allowed, exists between the mean high water... Scorpion EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and a straight line connecting all of...

78 FR 64004 - Notice of Intent To Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-25

... To Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, UT... Intent to Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, UT, which contained erroneous information regarding the use of the America the Beautiful passes at...

Mineral resources of the Whipple Mountains and Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Areas, San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marsh, Sherman P.; Raines, Gary L.; Diggles, Michael F.; Howard, Keith A.; Simpson, Robert W.; Hoover, Donald B.; Ridenour, James; Moyle, Phillip R.; Willett, Spencee L.

1988-01-01

At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, approximately 85,100 acres of the Whipple Mountains Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-312) and 1,380 acres of the Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Area (AZ-050-010) were evaluated for identified mineral resources (known) and mineral resource potential (undiscovered). In this report, the Whipple Mountains and Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Areas are referred to as simply "the study area." Most of the mines and prospects with identified resources in the Whipple Mountains Wilderness Study Area are within areas designated as having mineral resource potential. The area in and around the Turk Silver mine and the Lucky Green group and the area near the northwest boundary of the study area have high mineral resource potential for copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver. An area along the west boundary of the study area has moderate resource potential for copper lead, zinc, gold, and silver. An area in the east adjacent to the Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Area has moderate resource potential for copper, gold, and silver resources. One area on the north boundary and one on the southeast boundary of the study area have low mineral resource potential for copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver. Two areas, one on the north boundary and one inside the east boundary of the study area, have moderate resource potential for manganese. A small area inside the south boundary of the study area has high resource potential for decorative building stone, and the entire study area has low resource potential for sand and gravel and other rock products suitable for construction. Two areas in the eastern part of the study area have low resource potential for uranium. There is no resource potential for oil and gas or geothermal resources in the Whipple Mountains Wilderness Study Area. Sites within the Whipple Mountains Wilderness Study Area with identified resources of copper, gold, silver, manganese and (or) decorative building stone are located at the Stewart mine, New American Eagle mine, Turk Silver mine, Twin Lode mine, decorative stone property, Lucky Green group, Blue Cloud mine, Nickel Plate mine, Crescent mine, Quadrangle Copper group, and the Copper Basin mine. The Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Area has moderate resource potential for copper, gold, and silver resources and low resource potential for sand and gravel and other rock products. There is no resource potential for oil and gas or for geothermal energy in the Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Area. Although there are no identified resources in the Whipple Mountains Addition Wilderness Study Area, sites within and immediately adjacent warrant further study because of gold assays from widespread, numerous samples.

Comparing spatially explicit ecological and social values for natural areas to identify effective conservation strategies.

PubMed

Bryan, Brett Anthony; Raymond, Christopher Mark; Crossman, Neville David; King, Darran

2011-02-01

Consideration of the social values people assign to relatively undisturbed native ecosystems is critical for the success of science-based conservation plans. We used an interview process to identify and map social values assigned to 31 ecosystem services provided by natural areas in an agricultural landscape in southern Australia. We then modeled the spatial distribution of 12 components of ecological value commonly used in setting spatial conservation priorities. We used the analytical hierarchy process to weight these components and used multiattribute utility theory to combine them into a single spatial layer of ecological value. Social values assigned to natural areas were negatively correlated with ecological values overall, but were positively correlated with some components of ecological value. In terms of the spatial distribution of values, people valued protected areas, whereas those natural areas underrepresented in the reserve system were of higher ecological value. The habitats of threatened animal species were assigned both high ecological value and high social value. Only small areas were assigned both high ecological value and high social value in the study area, whereas large areas of high ecological value were of low social value, and vice versa. We used the assigned ecological and social values to identify different conservation strategies (e.g., information sharing, community engagement, incentive payments) that may be effective for specific areas. We suggest that consideration of both ecological and social values in selection of conservation strategies can enhance the success of science-based conservation planning. ©2010 Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation biogeography of red oaks (Quercus, section Lobatae) in Mexico and Central America.

PubMed

Torres-Miranda, Andrés; Luna-Vega, Isolda; Oyama, Ken

2011-02-01

Oaks are dominant trees and key species in many temperate and subtropical forests in the world. In this study, we analyzed patterns of distribution of red oaks (Quercus, section Lobatae) occurring in Mexico and Central America to determine areas of species richness and endemism to propose areas of conservation. Patterns of richness and endemism of 75 red oak species were analyzed using three different units. Two complementarity algorithms based on species richness and three algorithms based on species rarity were used to identify important areas for conservation. A simulated annealing analysis was performed to evaluate and formulate effective new reserves for red oaks that are useful for conserving the ecosystems associated with them after the systematic conservation planning approach. Two main centers of species richness were detected. The northern Sierra Madre Oriental and Serranías Meridionales of Jalisco had the highest values of endemism. Fourteen areas were considered as priorities for conservation of red oak species based on the 26 priority political entities, 11 floristic units and the priority grid-cells obtained in the complementarity analysis. In the present network of Natural Protected Areas in Mexico and Central America, only 41.3% (31 species) of the red oak species are protected. The simulated annealing analysis indicated that to protect all 75 species of red oaks, 12 current natural protected areas need to be expanded by 120000 ha of additional land, and 26 new natural protected areas with 512500 ha need to be created. Red oaks are a useful model to identify areas for conservation based on species richness and endemism as a result of their wide geographic distribution and a high number of species. We evaluated and reformulated new reserves for red oaks that are also useful for the conservation of ecosystems associated with them.

Designing coastal conservation to deliver ecosystem and human well-being benefits.

PubMed

Annis, Gust M; Pearsall, Douglas R; Kahl, Katherine J; Washburn, Erika L; May, Christopher A; Franks Taylor, Rachael; Cole, James B; Ewert, David N; Game, Edward T; Doran, Patrick J

2017-01-01

Conservation scientists increasingly recognize that incorporating human values into conservation planning increases the chances for success by garnering broader project acceptance. However, methods for defining quantitative targets for the spatial representation of human well-being priorities are less developed. In this study we employ an approach for identifying regionally important human values and establishing specific spatial targets for their representation based on stakeholder outreach. Our primary objective was to develop a spatially-explicit conservation plan that identifies the most efficient locations for conservation actions to meet ecological goals while sustaining or enhancing human well-being values within the coastal and nearshore areas of the western Lake Erie basin (WLEB). We conducted an optimization analysis using 26 features representing ecological and human well-being priorities (13 of each), and included seven cost layers. The influence that including human well-being had on project results was tested by running five scenarios and setting targets for human well-being at different levels in each scenario. The most important areas for conservation to achieve multiple goals are clustered along the coast, reflecting a concentration of existing or potentially restorable coastal wetlands, coastal landbird stopover habitat and terrestrial biodiversity, as well as important recreational activities. Inland important areas tended to cluster around trails and high quality inland landbird stopover habitat. Most concentrated areas of importance also are centered on lands that are already conserved, reflecting the lower costs and higher benefits of enlarging these conserved areas rather than conserving isolated, dispersed areas. Including human well-being features in the analysis only influenced the solution at the highest target levels.

Designing coastal conservation to deliver ecosystem and human well-being benefits

PubMed Central

Pearsall, Douglas R.; Kahl, Katherine J.; Washburn, Erika L.; May, Christopher A.; Franks Taylor, Rachael; Cole, James B.; Ewert, David N.; Game, Edward T.; Doran, Patrick J.

2017-01-01

Conservation scientists increasingly recognize that incorporating human values into conservation planning increases the chances for success by garnering broader project acceptance. However, methods for defining quantitative targets for the spatial representation of human well-being priorities are less developed. In this study we employ an approach for identifying regionally important human values and establishing specific spatial targets for their representation based on stakeholder outreach. Our primary objective was to develop a spatially-explicit conservation plan that identifies the most efficient locations for conservation actions to meet ecological goals while sustaining or enhancing human well-being values within the coastal and nearshore areas of the western Lake Erie basin (WLEB). We conducted an optimization analysis using 26 features representing ecological and human well-being priorities (13 of each), and included seven cost layers. The influence that including human well-being had on project results was tested by running five scenarios and setting targets for human well-being at different levels in each scenario. The most important areas for conservation to achieve multiple goals are clustered along the coast, reflecting a concentration of existing or potentially restorable coastal wetlands, coastal landbird stopover habitat and terrestrial biodiversity, as well as important recreational activities. Inland important areas tended to cluster around trails and high quality inland landbird stopover habitat. Most concentrated areas of importance also are centered on lands that are already conserved, reflecting the lower costs and higher benefits of enlarging these conserved areas rather than conserving isolated, dispersed areas. Including human well-being features in the analysis only influenced the solution at the highest target levels. PMID:28241018

50 CFR Table 46 to Part 679 - St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 46 Table 46 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 46 Table 46 to Part 679—St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 45 to Part 679 - St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 45 Table 45 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 45 Table 45 to Part 679—St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 45 to Part 679 - St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 45 Table 45 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 45 Table 45 to Part 679—St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 27 to Part 679 - Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas 27 Table 27 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 27 Table 27 to Part 679—Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 27 to Part 679 - Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas 27 Table 27 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 27 Table 27 to Part 679—Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 27 to Part 679 - Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas 27 Table 27 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 27 Table 27 to Part 679—Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 45 to Part 679 - St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 45 Table 45 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 45 Table 45 to Part 679—St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 46 to Part 679 - St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 46 Table 46 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 46 Table 46 to Part 679—St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 27 to Part 679 - Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas 27 Table 27 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 27 Table 27 to Part 679—Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 45 to Part 679 - St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 45 Table 45 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 45 Table 45 to Part 679—St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 27 to Part 679 - Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation Areas 27 Table 27 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 27 Table 27 to Part 679—Gulf of Alaska Slope Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 46 to Part 679 - St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 46 Table 46 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 46 Table 46 to Part 679—St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 46 to Part 679 - St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 46 Table 46 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 46 Table 46 to Part 679—St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 45 to Part 679 - St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation Area 45 Table 45 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 45 Table 45 to Part 679—St. Lawrence Island Habitat Conservation...

50 CFR Table 46 to Part 679 - St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area 46 Table 46 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL... ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 46 Table 46 to Part 679—St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation...

Glade/woodland restoration in the St. Francis Mountain Bird Conservation Area

Treesearch

David A. Hasenbeck

2007-01-01

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service, and American Bird Conservancy, share goals to restore and manage high quality glade, savanna, and woodland habitats within the Saint Francis Bird Conservation Area. The partnership endeavors to maintain and enhance an ecosystem with native glade and...

The Orthoptera of Castro Verde Special Protection Area (Southern Portugal): new data and conservation value

PubMed Central

Pina, Sílvia; Vasconcelos, Sasha; Reino, Luís; Santana, Joana; Beja, Pedro; Sánchez-Oliver, Juan S.; Catry, Inês; Moreira, Francisco; Ferreira, Sónia

2017-01-01

Abstract With the increasing awareness of the need for Orthoptera conservation, greater efforts must be gathered to implement specific monitoring schemes. Despite recent surveys, little is known about Portuguese Orthoptera populations. This study was performed in 2014 and 2015 mainly in Castro Verde Special Protection Area (SPA), southern Portugal, and is the first Orthoptera inventory conducted in the area. A total of 35 Orthoptera species was recorded, with two new species reported for Portugal. We provide species’ habitat occurrences within the protected area and use information on the conservation status and the Iberian distribution of each documented species to discuss the importance of Castro Verde SPA for Orthoptera conservation. The data presented here sheds new light on Castro Verde SPA biodiversity and emphasizes the inclusion of this area in the conservation of Orthoptera diversity, particularly in the protection of threatened endemic species. PMID:29200922

The Orthoptera of Castro Verde Special Protection Area (Southern Portugal): new data and conservation value.

PubMed

Pina, Sílvia; Vasconcelos, Sasha; Reino, Luís; Santana, Joana; Beja, Pedro; Sánchez-Oliver, Juan S; Catry, Inês; Moreira, Francisco; Ferreira, Sónia

2017-01-01

With the increasing awareness of the need for Orthoptera conservation, greater efforts must be gathered to implement specific monitoring schemes. Despite recent surveys, little is known about Portuguese Orthoptera populations. This study was performed in 2014 and 2015 mainly in Castro Verde Special Protection Area (SPA), southern Portugal, and is the first Orthoptera inventory conducted in the area. A total of 35 Orthoptera species was recorded, with two new species reported for Portugal. We provide species' habitat occurrences within the protected area and use information on the conservation status and the Iberian distribution of each documented species to discuss the importance of Castro Verde SPA for Orthoptera conservation. The data presented here sheds new light on Castro Verde SPA biodiversity and emphasizes the inclusion of this area in the conservation of Orthoptera diversity, particularly in the protection of threatened endemic species.

Simulation of water-use conservation scenarios for the Mississippi Delta using an existing regional groundwater flow model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barlow, Jeannie R.B.; Clark, Brian R.

2011-01-01

The Mississippi River alluvial plain in northwestern Mississippi (referred to as the Delta), once a floodplain to the Mississippi River covered with hardwoods and marshland, is now a highly productive agricultural region of large economic importance to Mississippi. Water for irrigation is supplied primarily by the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, and although the alluvial aquifer has a large reserve, there is evidence that the current rate of water use from the alluvial aquifer is not sustainable. Using an existing regional groundwater flow model, conservation scenarios were developed for the alluvial aquifer underlying the Delta region in northwestern Mississippi to assess where the implementation of water-use conservation efforts would have the greatest effect on future water availability-either uniformly throughout the Delta, or focused on a cone of depression in the alluvial aquifer underlying the central part of the Delta. Five scenarios were simulated with the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study groundwater flow model: (1) a base scenario in which water use remained constant at 2007 rates throughout the entire simulation; (2) a 5-percent 'Delta-wide' conservation scenario in which water use across the Delta was decreased by 5 percent; (3) a 5-percent 'cone-equivalent' conservation scenario in which water use within the area of the cone of depression was decreased by 11 percent (a volume equivalent to the 5-percent Delta-wide conservation scenario); (4) a 25-percent Delta-wide conservation scenario in which water use across the Delta was decreased by 25 percent; and (5) a 25-percent cone-equivalent conservation scenario in which water use within the area of the cone of depression was decreased by 55 percent (a volume equivalent to the 25-percent Delta-wide conservation scenario). The Delta-wide scenarios result in greater average water-level improvements (relative to the base scenario) for the entire Delta area than the cone-equivalent scenarios; however, the cone-equivalent scenarios result in greater average water-level improvements within the area of the cone of depression because of focused conservation efforts within that area. Regardless of where conservation is located, the greatest average improvements in water level occur within the area of the cone of depression because of the corresponding large area of unsaturated aquifer material within the area of the cone of depression and the hydraulic gradient, which slopes from the periphery of the Delta towards the area of the cone of depression. Of the four conservation scenarios, the 25-percent cone-equivalent scenario resulted in the greatest increase in storage relative to the base scenario with a 32-percent improvement over the base scenario across the entire Delta and a 60-percent improvement within the area of the cone of depression. Overall, the results indicate that focusing conservation efforts within the area of the cone of depression, rather than distributing conservation efforts uniformly across the Delta, results in greater improvements in the amount of storage within the alluvial aquifer. Additionally, as the total amount of conservation increases (that is, from 5 to 25 percent), the difference in storage improvement between the Delta-wide and cone-equivalent scenarios also increases, resulting in greater gains in storage in the cone-equivalent scenario than in the Delta-wide scenario for the same amount of conservation.

Assessing Potential Conservation and Restoration Areas of Freshwater Fish Fauna in the Indian River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatt, Jay P.; Manish, Kumar; Mehta, Rajender; Pandit, Maharaj K.

2016-05-01

Conservation efforts globally are skewed toward terrestrial ecosystems. To date, conservation of aquatic ecosystems, in particular fish fauna, is largely neglected. We provide a country-wide assessment of Indian river ecosystems in order to identify and prioritize areas for protection and restoration of freshwater fish fauna. Using various biodiversity and anthropogenic attributes, coupled with tools of ecological modeling, we delineated areas for fish fauna conservation and restoration in the 20 major river basins of India. To do this, we used prioritization analyses and reserve selection algorithms to derive conservation value index (CVI) and vulnerability index (VI) of the river basins. CVI was estimated using endemicity, rarity, conservation value, and taxonomic singularity, while VI was estimated using a disturbance index derived from percent geographic area of the basin under human settlements, human population density, predominant land use, and total number of exotic fish species in each basin. The two indices, CVI and VI, were converted into geo-referenced maps, and each map was super-imposed onto species richness and forest cover maps, respectively. After superimposition, areas with high CVI and low VI shade intensities were delineated for conservation, while areas with high CVI and high VI shade intensities were demarcated for restoration. In view of the importance of freshwater fish for human livelihoods and consumption, and ecosystems of India's rivers, we call for urgent attention to the conservation of their fish fauna along with restoration of their degraded habitats.

Assessing Potential Conservation and Restoration Areas of Freshwater Fish Fauna in the Indian River Basins.

PubMed

Bhatt, Jay P; Manish, Kumar; Mehta, Rajender; Pandit, Maharaj K

2016-05-01

Conservation efforts globally are skewed toward terrestrial ecosystems. To date, conservation of aquatic ecosystems, in particular fish fauna, is largely neglected. We provide a country-wide assessment of Indian river ecosystems in order to identify and prioritize areas for protection and restoration of freshwater fish fauna. Using various biodiversity and anthropogenic attributes, coupled with tools of ecological modeling, we delineated areas for fish fauna conservation and restoration in the 20 major river basins of India. To do this, we used prioritization analyses and reserve selection algorithms to derive conservation value index (CVI) and vulnerability index (VI) of the river basins. CVI was estimated using endemicity, rarity, conservation value, and taxonomic singularity, while VI was estimated using a disturbance index derived from percent geographic area of the basin under human settlements, human population density, predominant land use, and total number of exotic fish species in each basin. The two indices, CVI and VI, were converted into geo-referenced maps, and each map was super-imposed onto species richness and forest cover maps, respectively. After superimposition, areas with high CVI and low VI shade intensities were delineated for conservation, while areas with high CVI and high VI shade intensities were demarcated for restoration. In view of the importance of freshwater fish for human livelihoods and consumption, and ecosystems of India's rivers, we call for urgent attention to the conservation of their fish fauna along with restoration of their degraded habitats.

Identifying appropriate protected areas for endangered fern species under climate change.

PubMed

Wang, Chun-Jing; Wan, Ji-Zhong; Zhang, Zhi-Xiang; Zhang, Gang-Min

2016-01-01

The management of protected areas (PAs) is widely used in the conservation of endangered plant species under climate change. However, studies that have identified appropriate PAs for endangered fern species are rare. To address this gap, we must develop a workflow to plan appropriate PAs for endangered fern species that will be further impacted by climate change. Here, we used endangered fern species in China as a case study, and we applied conservation planning software coupled with endangered fern species distribution data and distribution modeling to plan conservation areas with high priority protection needs under climate change. We identified appropriate PAs for endangered fern species under climate change based on the IUCN protected area categories (from Ia to VI) and planned additional PAs for endangered fern species. The high priority regions for protecting the endangered fern species were distributed throughout southern China. With decreasing temperature seasonality, the priority ranking of all endangered fern species is projected to increase in existing PAs. Accordingly, we need to establish conservation areas with low climate vulnerability in existing PAs and expand the conservation areas for endangered fern species in the high priority conservation regions.

Accommodating Dynamic Oceanographic Processes and Pelagic Biodiversity in Marine Conservation Planning

PubMed Central

Grantham, Hedley S.; Game, Edward T.; Lombard, Amanda T.; Hobday, Alistair J.; Richardson, Anthony J.; Beckley, Lynnath E.; Pressey, Robert L.; Huggett, Jenny A.; Coetzee, Janet C.; van der Lingen, Carl D.; Petersen, Samantha L.; Merkle, Dagmar; Possingham, Hugh P.

2011-01-01

Pelagic ecosystems support a significant and vital component of the ocean's productivity and biodiversity. They are also heavily exploited and, as a result, are the focus of numerous spatial planning initiatives. Over the past decade, there has been increasing enthusiasm for protected areas as a tool for pelagic conservation, however, few have been implemented. Here we demonstrate an approach to plan protected areas that address the physical and biological dynamics typical of the pelagic realm. Specifically, we provide an example of an approach to planning protected areas that integrates pelagic and benthic conservation in the southern Benguela and Agulhas Bank ecosystems off South Africa. Our aim was to represent species of importance to fisheries and species of conservation concern within protected areas. In addition to representation, we ensured that protected areas were designed to consider pelagic dynamics, characterized from time-series data on key oceanographic processes, together with data on the abundance of small pelagic fishes. We found that, to have the highest likelihood of reaching conservation targets, protected area selection should be based on time-specific data rather than data averaged across time. More generally, we argue that innovative methods are needed to conserve ephemeral and dynamic pelagic biodiversity. PMID:21311757

INTEGRATING REPRESENTATION AND VULNERABILITY: TWO APPROACHES FOR PRIORITIZING AREAS FOR CONSERVATION

EPA Science Inventory

One fundamental step in conservation planning involves determining where to concentrate efforts to protect conservation targets. Here we demonstrate two approaches to prioritizing areas based on both species composition and potential threats facing the species. The first approa...

Assessing the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans for species at risk across gradients of agricultural land use.

PubMed

Robillard, Cassandra M; Kerr, Jeremy T

2017-08-01

High costs of land in agricultural regions warrant spatial prioritization approaches to conservation that explicitly consider land prices to produce protected-area networks that accomplish targets efficiently. However, land-use changes in such regions and delays between plan design and implementation may render optimized plans obsolete before implementation occurs. To measure the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans, we simulated a land-acquisition and restoration initiative aimed at conserving species at risk in Canada's farmlands. We accounted for observed changes in land-acquisition costs and in agricultural intensity based on censuses of agriculture taken from 1986 to 2011. For each year of data, we mapped costs and areas of conservation priority designated using Marxan. We compared plans to test for changes through time in the arrangement of high-priority sites and in the total cost of each plan. For acquisition costs, we measured the savings from accounting for prices during site selection. Land-acquisition costs and land-use intensity generally rose over time independent of inflation (24-78%), although rates of change were heterogeneous through space and decreased in some areas. Accounting for spatial variation in land price lowered the cost of conservation plans by 1.73-13.9%, decreased the range of costs by 19-82%, and created unique solutions from which to choose. Despite the rise in plan costs over time, the high conservation priority of particular areas remained consistent. Delaying conservation in these critical areas may compromise what optimized conservation plans can achieve. In the case of Canadian farmland, rapid conservation action is cost-effective, even with moderate levels of uncertainty in how to implement restoration goals. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Tourism and the conservation of critically endangered frogs.

PubMed

Morrison, Clare; Simpkins, Clay; Castley, J Guy; Buckley, Ralf C

2012-01-01

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5-100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8-99%. Tourism's financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts.

Tourism and the Conservation of Critically Endangered Frogs

PubMed Central

Morrison, Clare; Simpkins, Clay; Castley, J. Guy; Buckley, Ralf C.

2012-01-01

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5–100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8–99%. Tourism's financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts. PMID:22984440

Viable contribution of Tibetan sacred mountains in southwestern China to forest conservation.

PubMed

Shen, Xiaoli; Li, Sheng; Wang, Dajun; Lu, Zhi

2015-12-01

The Tibetan sacred mountains (TSMs) cover a large area and may represent a landscape-scale conservation opportunity. We compared the conservation value of forests in these mountains with the conservation value of government-established nature reserves and unmanaged open-access areas in Danba County, southwestern China. We used Landsat satellite images to map forest cover and to estimate forest loss in 1974-1989, 1989-1999, and 1999-2013. The TSMs (n = 41) and nature reserves (n = 4) accounted for 21.6% and 29.7% of the county's land area, respectively. Remaining land was open-access areas (i.e., areas without any restrictions on resource use) (56.2%) and farmlands (2.2%). Within the elevation range suitable for forests, forest cover did not differ significantly between nature reserves (58.8%) and open-access areas (58.4%), but was significantly higher in TSMs (65.5%) after controlling for environmental factors such as aspect, slope, and elevation. The TSMs of great cultural importance had higher forest cover, but patrols by monastery staff were not necessarily associated with increased forest cover. The annual deforestation rate in nonsacred areas almost tripled in 1989-1999 (111.4 ha/year) relative to 1974-1989 (40.4 ha/year), whereas the rate in TSMs decreased in the later period (19.7 ha/year vs. 17.2 ha/year). The reduced forest loss in TSMs in 1989-1999 was possibly due to the renaissance of TSM worship and strengthened management by the local Buddhist community since late 1980s. The annual deforestation rate in Danba decreased dramatically to 4.4 ha/year in 1999-2013, which coincided with the implementation of a national ban on logging in 1998. As the only form of protected area across the Tibetan region during much of its history, TSMs have positively contributed to conserving forest at a landscape scale. Conservation of TSM forests largely relied on the strength of local religious institutions. Integrating community-based conservation of TSMs within the government conservation network would benefit the conservation of the Tibetan region. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Transportation Feasibility Study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-31

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a popular Bureau of Land Management natural area located near Las Vegas, Nevada. Red Rock Canyon experiences heavy congestion on its Scenic Drive and associated parking areas, due to high volumes of visit...

50 CFR 660.76 - EFH Conservation Areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false EFH Conservation Areas. 660.76 Section 660.76 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES West Coast Groundfish...

50 CFR 660.70 - Groundfish conservation areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Groundfish conservation areas. 660.70 Section 660.70 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES West Coast...

Evaluating local benefits from conservation in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area.

PubMed

Spiteri, Arian; Nepal, Sanjay K

2008-09-01

Protected areas are integral to the global effort to conserve biodiversity, and, over the past two decades, protected area managers have begun to recognize that conservation objectives are next to impossible to achieve without considering the needs and concerns of local communities. Incentive-based programs (IBPs) have become a favored approach to protected area management, geared at fostering local stewardship by delivering benefits tied to conservation to local people. Effective IBPs require benefits to accrue to and be recognized by those experiencing the greatest consequences as a result of the protected area, and those likely to continue extractive activities if their livelihood needs are compromised. This research examines dispersal of IBP benefits, as perceived by local residents in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Results reported here are based on questionnaire interviews with 188 households conducted between September and December 2004. Results indicate that local residents primarily identify benefits from social development activities, provisions for resource extraction, and economic opportunities. Overall, benefits have been dispersed equally to households in villages on and off the main tourist route, and regardless of a household's participation in tourism. However, benefits are not effectively targeted to poorer residents, those highly dependent on natural resources, and those experiencing the most crop damage and livestock loss from protected wildlife. This article provides several suggestions for improving the delivery of conservation incentives.

Saving the superstar: a review of the social factors affecting tiger conservation in India.

PubMed

Rastogi, Archi; Hickey, Gordon M; Badola, Ruchi; Hussain, Syed Ainul

2012-12-30

Tiger conservation in India represents an excellent case study of the many challenges facing conservation programs internationally. It is well understood that tigers are sensitive to human disturbances and large areas of habitat need to be protected for their conservation. Such protected areas in India are managed by the governments using an exclusionary approach. However, this approach is known to create several issues with local communities, including historical, legal, livelihood and management issues; with a volume of literature suggesting the inclusion of local communities in management. Yet, other evidence suggests that inclusion of communities in tiger conservation may lead to anthropogenic disturbances that can jeopardize tigers. The gravity of the situation is reflected in the recent disappearance of tigers from two key protected areas in India, the Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserves. This review paper connects the key literature from conservation biology, environmental history, management sciences, policy and political sciences to underline the gridlock of tiger conservation: it needs exclusive protected areas that antagonize communities, and it depends on the support of the same communities for success. We examine the possibility of reconciliation between these disciplines, and assert that research on tiger conservation needs to allow for an increasingly interdisciplinary approach. We call for a more integrated approach to tiger conservation, to examine the values inherent in conservation and to shed more light on the social factors that affect tiger conservation schemes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecosystem services-based SWOT analysis of protected areas for conservation strategies.

PubMed

Scolozzi, Rocco; Schirpke, Uta; Morri, Elisa; D'Amato, Dalia; Santolini, Riccardo

2014-12-15

An ecosystem services-based SWOT analysis is proposed in order to identify and quantify internal and external factors supporting or threatening the conservation effectiveness of protected areas. The proposed approach concerns both the ecological and the social perspective. Strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats were evaluated based on 12 selected environmental and socio-economic indicators for all terrestrial Italian protected areas, belonging to the Natura 2000 network, and for their 5-km buffer area. The indicators, used as criteria within a multi-criteria assessment, include: core area, cost-distance between protected areas, changes in ecosystem services values, intensification of land use, and urbanization. The results were aggregated for three biogeographical regions, Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean, indicating that Alpine sites have more opportunities and strengths than Continental and Mediterranean sites. The results call attention to where connectivity and land-use changes may have stronger influence on protected areas, in particular, whereas urbanization or intensification of agriculture may hamper conservation goals of protected areas. The proposed SWOT analysis provides helpful information for a multiple scale perspective and for identifying conservation priorities and for defining management strategies to assure biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extinction risks and the conservation of Madagascar's reptiles.

PubMed

Jenkins, Richard K B; Tognelli, Marcelo F; Bowles, Philip; Cox, Neil; Brown, Jason L; Chan, Lauren; Andreone, Franco; Andriamazava, Alain; Andriantsimanarilafy, Raphali R; Anjeriniaina, Mirana; Bora, Parfait; Brady, Lee D; Hantalalaina, Elisoa F; Glaw, Frank; Griffiths, Richard A; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Hoffmann, Michael; Katariya, Vineet; Rabibisoa, Nirhy H; Rafanomezantsoa, Jeannot; Rakotomalala, Domoina; Rakotondravony, Hery; Rakotondrazafy, Ny A; Ralambonirainy, Johans; Ramanamanjato, Jean-Baptiste; Randriamahazo, Herilala; Randrianantoandro, J Christian; Randrianasolo, Harison H; Randrianirina, Jasmin E; Randrianizahana, Hiarinirina; Raselimanana, Achille P; Rasolohery, Andriambolantsoa; Ratsoavina, Fanomezana M; Raxworthy, Christopher J; Robsomanitrandrasana, Eric; Rollande, Finoana; van Dijk, Peter P; Yoder, Anne D; Vences, Miguel

2014-01-01

An understanding of the conservation status of Madagascar's endemic reptile species is needed to underpin conservation planning and priority setting in this global biodiversity hotspot, and to complement existing information on the island's mammals, birds and amphibians. We report here on the first systematic assessment of the extinction risk of endemic and native non-marine Malagasy snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises. Species range maps from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species were analysed to determine patterns in the distribution of threatened reptile species. These data, in addition to information on threats, were used to identify priority areas and actions for conservation. Thirty-nine percent of the data-sufficient Malagasy reptiles in our analyses are threatened with extinction. Areas in the north, west and south-east were identified as having more threatened species than expected and are therefore conservation priorities. Habitat degradation caused by wood harvesting and non-timber crops was the most pervasive threat. The direct removal of reptiles for international trade and human consumption threatened relatively few species, but were the primary threats for tortoises. Nine threatened reptile species are endemic to recently created protected areas. With a few alarming exceptions, the threatened endemic reptiles of Madagascar occur within the national network of protected areas, including some taxa that are only found in new protected areas. Threats to these species, however, operate inside and outside protected area boundaries. This analysis has identified priority sites for reptile conservation and completes the conservation assessment of terrestrial vertebrates in Madagascar which will facilitate conservation planning, monitoring and wise-decision making. In sharp contrast with the amphibians, there is significant reptile diversity and regional endemism in the southern and western regions of Madagascar and this study highlights the importance of these arid regions to conserving the island's biodiversity.

Examining marginalized communities and local conservation institutions: the case of Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area.

PubMed

Dahal, Smriti; Nepal, Sanjay K; Schuett, Michael A

2014-01-01

In developing countries, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly for excluding marginalized groups which have led to unequal benefits. Using concepts from the literature on participation, conservation, and political ecology, this research explored the participation of marginal groups, i.e., poor, women, lower caste, and landless, in management institutions in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Field work for this research was conducted through the use of interviews and participant observation during August-October 2010. Results show that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was minimal and had not led to meaningful participation or empowerment to influence the decisions being made in conservation and development programs. Our study findings indicate that the involvement of marginal groups in local initiatives is complex and influenced by several factors. The study concludes that the Annapurna Conservation Area Project needs to re-orient its conservation projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and move beyond the quota system.

Examining Marginalized Communities and Local Conservation Institutions: The Case of Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahal, Smriti; Nepal, Sanjay K.; Schuett, Michael A.

2014-01-01

In developing countries, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly for excluding marginalized groups which have led to unequal benefits. Using concepts from the literature on participation, conservation, and political ecology, this research explored the participation of marginal groups, i.e., poor, women, lower caste, and landless, in management institutions in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Field work for this research was conducted through the use of interviews and participant observation during August-October 2010. Results show that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was minimal and had not led to meaningful participation or empowerment to influence the decisions being made in conservation and development programs. Our study findings indicate that the involvement of marginal groups in local initiatives is complex and influenced by several factors. The study concludes that the Annapurna Conservation Area Project needs to re-orient its conservation projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and move beyond the quota system.

[Assessment on the changing conditions of ecosystems in key ecological function zones in China].

PubMed

Huang, Lin; Cao, Wei; Wu, Dan; Gong, Guo-li; Zhao, Guo-song

2015-09-01

In this paper, the dynamics of ecosystem macrostructure, qualities and core services during 2000 and 2010 were analyzed for the key ecological function zones of China, which were classified into four types of water conservation, soil conservation, wind prevention and sand fixation, and biodiversity maintenance. In the water conservation ecological function zones, the areas of forest and grassland ecosystems were decreased whereas water bodies and wetland were increased in the past 11 years, and the water conservation volume of forest, grassland and wetland ecosystems increased by 2.9%. This region needs to reverse the decreasing trends of forest and grassland ecosystems. In the soil conservation ecological function zones, the area of farmland ecosystem was decreased, and the areas of forest, grassland, water bodies and wetland ecosystems were increased. The total amount of the soil erosion was reduced by 28.2%, however, the soil conservation amount of ecosystems increased by 38.1%. In the wind prevention and sand fixation ecological function zones, the areas of grassland, water bodies and wetland ecosystems were decreased, but forest and farmland ecosystems were increased. The unit amount of the soil. wind erosion was reduced and the sand fixation amount of ecosystems increased lightly. In this kind of region that is located in arid and semiarid areas, ecological conservation needs to reduce farmland area and give priority to the protection of the original ecological system. In the biodiversity maintenance ecological function zones, the areas of grassland and desert ecosystems were decreased and other types were increased. The human disturbances showed a weakly upward trend and needs to be reduced. The key ecological function zones should be aimed at the core services and the protecting objects, to assess quantitatively on the effectiveness of ecosystem conservation and improvement.

50 CFR Table 24 to Part 679 - Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open to Nonpelagic...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open to Nonpelagic Trawl Fishing 24 Table 24 to Part 679... Table 24 to Part 679—Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open...

50 CFR Table 24 to Part 679 - Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open to Nonpelagic...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open to Nonpelagic Trawl Fishing 24 Table 24 to Part 679 Wildlife and... 24 to Part 679—Except as Noted, Locations in the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area Open to...

Conservation Science Fair Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soil Conservation Society of America, Ankeny, IA.

Included are ideas, suggestions, and examples for selecting and designing conservation science projects. Over 70 possible conservation subject areas are presented with suggested projects. References are cited with each of these subject areas, and a separate list of annotated references is included. The references pertain to general subject…

Delineating priority habitat areas for the conservation of Andean bears in northern Ecuador

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peralvo, M.F.; Cuesta, F.; Van Manen, F.

2005-01-01

We sought to identify priority areas for the conservation of Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) habitat in the northern portion of the eastern Andean cordillera in Ecuador. The study area included pa??ramo and montane forest habitats within the Antisana and Cayambe-Coca ecological reserves, and unprotected areas north of these reserves with elevations ranging from 1,800 to 4,300 m. We collected data on bear occurrence along 53 transects during 2000-01 in the Oyacachi River basin, an area of indigenous communities within the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve. We used those data and a set of 7 environmental variables to predict suitability of Andean bear habitat using Mahalanobis distance, a multivariate measure of dissimilarity. The Mahalanobis distance values were classified into 5 classes of habitat suitability and generalized to a resolution of 1,650-m ?? 1,650-m grid cells. Clusters of grid cells with high suitability values were delineated from the generalized model and denned as important habitat areas (IHAs) for conservation. The IHAs were ranked using a weighted index that included factors of elevation range, influence from disturbed areas, and current conservation status. We identified 12 IHAs, which were mainly associated with pa??ramo and cloud forest habitats; 2 of these areas have high conservation priorities because they are outside existing reserves and close to areas of human pressure. The distribution of the IHAs highlighted the role of human land use as the main source of fragmentation of Andean bear habitat in this region, emphasizing the importance of preserving habitat connectivity to allow the seasonal movements among habitat types that we documented for this species. Furthermore, the existence of areas with high habitat suitability close to areas of intense human use indicates the importance of bear-human conflict management as a critical Andean bear conservation strategy. We suggest that a promising conservation opportunity for this species is linked to its occurrence in highland habitats, which play a key role in the maintenance of long-term water supplies.

Large-scale conservation planning in a multinational marine environment: cost matters.

PubMed

Mazor, Tessa; Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Kark, Salit; Possingham, Hugh P

2014-07-01

Explicitly including cost in marine conservation planning is essential for achieving feasible and efficient conservation outcomes. Yet, spatial priorities for marine conservation are still often based solely on biodiversity hotspots, species richness, and/or cumulative threat maps. This study aims to provide an approach for including cost when planning large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks that span multiple countries. Here, we explore the incorporation of cost in the complex setting of the Mediterranean Sea. In order to include cost in conservation prioritization, we developed surrogates that account for revenue from multiple marine sectors: commercial fishing, noncommercial fishing, and aquaculture. Such revenue can translate into an opportunity cost for the implementation of an MPA network. Using the software Marxan, we set conservation targets to protect 10% of the distribution of 77 threatened marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. We compared nine scenarios of opportunity cost by calculating the area and cost required to meet our targets. We further compared our spatial priorities with those that are considered consensus areas by several proposed prioritization schemes in the Mediterranean Sea, none of which explicitly considers cost. We found that for less than 10% of the Sea's area, our conservation targets can be achieved while incurring opportunity costs of less than 1%. In marine systems, we reveal that area is a poor cost surrogate and that the most effective surrogates are those that account for multiple sectors or stakeholders. Furthermore, our results indicate that including cost can greatly influence the selection of spatial priorities for marine conservation of threatened species. Although there are known limitations in multinational large-scale planning, attempting to devise more systematic and rigorous planning methods is especially critical given that collaborative conservation action is on the rise and global financial crisis restricts conservation investments.

Knowledge co-production and boundary work to promote implementation of conservation plans.

PubMed

Nel, Jeanne L; Roux, Dirk J; Driver, Amanda; Hill, Liesl; Maherry, Ashton C; Snaddon, Kate; Petersen, Chantel R; Smith-Adao, Lindie B; Van Deventer, Heidi; Reyers, Belinda

2016-02-01

Knowledge co-production and boundary work offer planners a new frame for critically designing a social process that fosters collaborative implementation of resulting plans. Knowledge co-production involves stakeholders from diverse knowledge systems working iteratively toward common vision and action. Boundary work is a means of creating permeable knowledge boundaries that satisfy the needs of multiple social groups while guarding the functional integrity of contributing knowledge systems. Resulting products are boundary objects of mutual interest that maintain coherence across all knowledge boundaries. We examined how knowledge co-production and boundary work can bridge the gap between planning and implementation and promote cross-sectoral cooperation. We applied these concepts to well-established stages in regional conservation planning within a national scale conservation planning project aimed at identifying areas for conserving rivers and wetlands of South Africa and developing an institutional environment for promoting their conservation. Knowledge co-production occurred iteratively over 4 years in interactive stake-holder workshops that included co-development of national freshwater conservation goals and spatial data on freshwater biodiversity and local conservation feasibility; translation of goals into quantitative inputs that were used in Marxan to select draft priority conservation areas; review of draft priority areas; and packaging of resulting map products into an atlas and implementation manual to promote application of the priority area maps in 37 different decision-making contexts. Knowledge co-production stimulated dialogue and negotiation and built capacity for multi-scale implementation beyond the project. The resulting maps and information integrated diverse knowledge types of over 450 stakeholders and represented >1000 years of collective experience. The maps provided a consistent national source of information on priority conservation areas for rivers and wetlands and have been applied in 25 of the 37 use contexts since their launch just over 3 years ago. When framed as a knowledge co-production process supported by boundary work, regional conservation plans can be developed into valuable boundary objects that offer a tangible tool for multi-agency cooperation around conservation. Our work provides practical guidance for promoting uptake of conservation science and contributes to an evidence base on how conservation efforts can be improved. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Wildlife Abundance and Diversity as Indicators of Tourism Potential in Northern Botswana.

PubMed

Winterbach, Christiaan W; Whitesell, Carolyn; Somers, Michael J

2015-01-01

Wildlife tourism can provide economic incentives for conservation. Due to the abundance of wildlife and the presence of charismatic species some areas are better suited to wildlife tourism. Our first objective was to develop criteria based on wildlife abundance and diversity to evaluate tourism potential in the Northern Conservation Zone of Botswana. Secondly we wanted to quantify and compare tourism experiences in areas with high and low tourism potential. We used aerial survey data to estimate wildlife biomass and diversity to determine tourism potential, while data from ground surveys quantified the tourist experience. Areas used for High Paying Low Volume tourism had significantly higher mean wildlife biomass and wildlife diversity than the areas avoided for this type of tourism. Only 22% of the Northern Conservation Zone has intermediate to high tourism potential. The areas with high tourism potential, as determined from the aerial survey data, provided tourists with significantly better wildlife sightings (ground surveys) than the low tourism potential areas. Even Low Paying tourism may not be economically viable in concessions that lack areas with intermediate to high tourism potential. The largest part of the Northern Conservation Zone has low tourism potential, but low tourism potential is not equal to low conservation value. Alternative conservation strategies should be developed to complement the economic incentive provided by wildlife-based tourism in Botswana.

Wildlife Abundance and Diversity as Indicators of Tourism Potential in Northern Botswana

PubMed Central

Winterbach, Christiaan W.; Whitesell, Carolyn; Somers, Michael J.

2015-01-01

Wildlife tourism can provide economic incentives for conservation. Due to the abundance of wildlife and the presence of charismatic species some areas are better suited to wildlife tourism. Our first objective was to develop criteria based on wildlife abundance and diversity to evaluate tourism potential in the Northern Conservation Zone of Botswana. Secondly we wanted to quantify and compare tourism experiences in areas with high and low tourism potential. We used aerial survey data to estimate wildlife biomass and diversity to determine tourism potential, while data from ground surveys quantified the tourist experience. Areas used for High Paying Low Volume tourism had significantly higher mean wildlife biomass and wildlife diversity than the areas avoided for this type of tourism. Only 22% of the Northern Conservation Zone has intermediate to high tourism potential. The areas with high tourism potential, as determined from the aerial survey data, provided tourists with significantly better wildlife sightings (ground surveys) than the low tourism potential areas. Even Low Paying tourism may not be economically viable in concessions that lack areas with intermediate to high tourism potential. The largest part of the Northern Conservation Zone has low tourism potential, but low tourism potential is not equal to low conservation value. Alternative conservation strategies should be developed to complement the economic incentive provided by wildlife-based tourism in Botswana. PMID:26308859

The New York State Bird Conservation Area (BCA) Program: A Model for the United States

Treesearch

M. F. Burger; D. J. Adams; T. Post; L. Sommers; B. Swift

2005-01-01

The New York State Bird Conservation Area (BCA) Program, modeled after the National Audubon Society?s Important Bird Areas Program, is based on legislation signed by Governor Pataki in 1997. New York is the first state in the nation to enact such a program. The BCA Program seeks to provide a comprehensive, ecosystem approach to conserving birds and their habitats on...

GRA prospectus: optimizing design and management of protected areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bernknopf, Richard; Halsing, David

2001-01-01

Protected areas comprise one major type of global conservation effort that has been in the form of parks, easements, or conservation concessions. Though protected areas are increasing in number and size throughout tropical ecosystems, there is no systematic method for optimally targeting specific local areas for protection, designing the protected area, and monitoring it, or for guiding follow-up actions to manage it or its surroundings over the long run. Without such a system, conservation projects often cost more than necessary and/or risk protecting ecosystems and biodiversity less efficiently than desired. Correcting these failures requires tools and strategies for improving the placement, design, and long-term management of protected areas. The objective of this project is to develop a set of spatially based analytical tools to improve the selection, design, and management of protected areas. In this project, several conservation concessions will be compared using an economic optimization technique. The forest land use portfolio model is an integrated assessment that measures investment in different land uses in a forest. The case studies of individual tropical ecosystems are developed as forest (land) use and preservation portfolios in a geographic information system (GIS). Conservation concessions involve a private organization purchasing development and resource access rights in a certain area and retiring them. Forests are put into conservation, and those people who would otherwise have benefited from extracting resources or selling the right to do so are compensated. Concessions are legal agreements wherein the exact amount and nature of the compensation result from a negotiated agreement between an agent of the conservation community and the local community. Funds are placed in a trust fund, and annual payments are made to local communities and regional/national governments. The payments are made pending third-party verification that the forest expanse and quality have been maintained.

Ecosystem Services Modeling as a Tool for Defining Priority Areas for Conservation.

PubMed

Duarte, Gabriela Teixeira; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Paglia, Adriano Pereira

2016-01-01

Conservationists often have difficulty obtaining financial and social support for protected areas that do not demonstrate their benefits for society. Therefore, ecosystem services have gained importance in conservation science in the last decade, as these services provide further justification for appropriate management and conservation of natural systems. We used InVEST software and a set of GIS procedures to quantify, spatialize and evaluated the overlap between ecosystem services-carbon stock and sediment retention-and a biodiversity proxy-habitat quality. In addition, we proposed a method that serves as an initial approach of a priority areas selection process. The method considers the synergism between ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Our study region is the Iron Quadrangle, an important Brazilian mining province and a conservation priority area located in the interface of two biodiversity hotspots, the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The resultant priority area for the maintenance of the highest values of ecosystem services and habitat quality was about 13% of the study area. Among those priority areas, 30% are already within established strictly protected areas, and 12% are in sustainable use protected areas. Following the transparent and highly replicable method we proposed in this study, conservation planners can better determine which areas fulfill multiple goals and can locate the trade-offs in the landscape. We also gave a step towards the improvement of the habitat quality model with a topography parameter. In areas of very rugged topography, we have to consider geomorfometric barriers for anthropogenic impacts and for species movement and we must think beyond the linear distances. Moreover, we used a model that considers the tree mortality caused by edge effects in the estimation of carbon stock. We found low spatial congruence among the modeled services, mostly because of the pattern of sediment retention distribution.

Ecosystem Services Modeling as a Tool for Defining Priority Areas for Conservation

PubMed Central

Duarte, Gabriela Teixeira; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Paglia, Adriano Pereira

2016-01-01

Conservationists often have difficulty obtaining financial and social support for protected areas that do not demonstrate their benefits for society. Therefore, ecosystem services have gained importance in conservation science in the last decade, as these services provide further justification for appropriate management and conservation of natural systems. We used InVEST software and a set of GIS procedures to quantify, spatialize and evaluated the overlap between ecosystem services—carbon stock and sediment retention—and a biodiversity proxy–habitat quality. In addition, we proposed a method that serves as an initial approach of a priority areas selection process. The method considers the synergism between ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Our study region is the Iron Quadrangle, an important Brazilian mining province and a conservation priority area located in the interface of two biodiversity hotspots, the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The resultant priority area for the maintenance of the highest values of ecosystem services and habitat quality was about 13% of the study area. Among those priority areas, 30% are already within established strictly protected areas, and 12% are in sustainable use protected areas. Following the transparent and highly replicable method we proposed in this study, conservation planners can better determine which areas fulfill multiple goals and can locate the trade-offs in the landscape. We also gave a step towards the improvement of the habitat quality model with a topography parameter. In areas of very rugged topography, we have to consider geomorfometric barriers for anthropogenic impacts and for species movement and we must think beyond the linear distances. Moreover, we used a model that considers the tree mortality caused by edge effects in the estimation of carbon stock. We found low spatial congruence among the modeled services, mostly because of the pattern of sediment retention distribution. PMID:27145031

Can private land conservation reduce wildfire risk to homes? A case study in San Diego County, California, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butsic, Van; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Bar-Massada, Avi

2017-01-01

The purchase of private land for conservation purposes is a common way to prevent the exploitation of sensitive ecological areas. However, private land conservation can also provide other benefits, one of these being natural hazard reduction. Here, we investigated the impacts of private land conservation on fire risk to homes in San Diego County, California. We coupled an econometric land use change model with a model that estimates the probability of house loss due to fire in order to compare fire risk at the county and municipality scale under alternative private land purchasing schemes and over a 20 year time horizon. We found that conservation purchases could reduce fire risk on this landscape, and the amount of risk reduction was related to the targeting approach used to choose which parcels were conserved. Conservation land purchases that targeted parcels designated as high fire hazard resulted in lower fire risk to homes than purchases that targeted low costs or high likelihood to subdivide. This result was driven by (1) preventing home placement in fire prone areas and (2) taking land off the market, and hence increasing development densities in other areas. These results raise the possibility that resource conservation and fire hazard reduction may benefit from combining efforts. With adequate planning, future conservation purchases could have synergistic effects beyond just protecting ecologically sensitive areas.

Filling gaps in a large reserve network to address freshwater conservation needs.

PubMed

Hermoso, Virgilio; Filipe, Ana Filipa; Segurado, Pedro; Beja, Pedro

2015-09-15

Freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity are among the most threatened at global scale, but efforts for their conservation have been mostly peripheral to terrestrial conservation. For example, Natura 2000, the world's largest network of protected areas, fails to cover adequately the distribution of rare and endangered aquatic species, and lacks of appropriate spatial design to make conservation for freshwater biodiversity effective. Here, we develop a framework to identify a complementary set of priority areas and enhance the conservation opportunities of Natura 2000 for freshwater biodiversity, using the Iberian Peninsula as a case study. We use a systematic planning approach to identify a minimum set of additional areas that would help i) adequately represent all freshwater fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles at three different target levels, ii) account for key ecological processes derived from riverscape connectivity, and iii) minimize the impact of threats, both within protected areas and propagated from upstream unprotected areas. Addressing all these goals would need an increase in area between 7 and 46%, depending on the conservation target used and strength of connectivity required. These new priority areas correspond to subcatchments inhabited by endangered and range restricted species, as well as additional subcatchments required to improve connectivity among existing protected areas and to increase protection against upstream threats. Our study should help guide future revisions of the design of Natura 2000, while providing a framework to address deficiencies in reserve networks for adequately protecting freshwater biodiversity elsewhere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A conservation planning approach to mitigate the impacts of leakage from protected area networks.

PubMed

Bode, Michael; Tulloch, Ayesha I T; Mills, Morena; Venter, Oscar; Ando, Amy W

2015-06-01

Protected area networks are designed to restrict anthropogenic pressures in areas of high biodiversity. Resource users respond by seeking to replace some or all of the lost resources from locations elsewhere in the landscape. Protected area networks thereby perturb the pattern of human pressures by displacing extractive effort from within protected areas into the broader landscape, a process known as leakage. The negative effects of leakage on conservation outcomes have been empirically documented and modeled using homogeneous descriptions of conservation landscapes. Human resource use and biodiversity vary greatly in space, however, and a theory of leakage must describe how this heterogeneity affects the magnitude, pattern, and biodiversity impacts of leakage. We combined models of household utility, adaptive human foraging, and biodiversity conservation to provide a bioeconomic model of leakage that accounts for spatial heterogeneity. Leakage had strong and divergent impacts on the performance of protected area networks, undermining biodiversity benefits but mitigating the negative impacts on local resource users. When leakage was present, our model showed that poorly designed protected area networks resulted in a substantial net loss of biodiversity. However, the effects of leakage can be mitigated if they are incorporated ex-ante into the conservation planning process. If protected areas are coupled with nonreserve policy instruments such as market subsidies, our model shows that the trade-offs between biodiversity and human well-being can be further and more directly reduced. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Integrating economic costs and biological traits into global conservation priorities for carnivores.

PubMed

Loyola, Rafael Dias; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues; Almeida-Neto, Mário; Nogueira, Denise Martins; Kubota, Umberto; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Lewinsohn, Thomas Michael

2009-08-27

Prioritization schemes usually highlight species-rich areas, where many species are at imminent risk of extinction. To be ecologically relevant these schemes should also include species biological traits into area-setting methods. Furthermore, in a world of limited funds for conservation, conservation action is constrained by land acquisition costs. Hence, including economic costs into conservation priorities can substantially improve their conservation cost-effectiveness. We examined four global conservation scenarios for carnivores based on the joint mapping of economic costs and species biological traits. These scenarios identify the most cost-effective priority sets of ecoregions, indicating best investment opportunities for safeguarding every carnivore species, and also establish priority sets that can maximize species representation in areas harboring highly vulnerable species. We compared these results with a scenario that minimizes the total number of ecoregions required for conserving all species, irrespective of other factors. We found that cost-effective conservation investments should focus on 41 ecoregions highlighted in the scenario that consider simultaneously both ecoregion vulnerability and economic costs of land acquisition. Ecoregions included in priority sets under these criteria should yield best returns of investments since they harbor species with high extinction risk and have lower mean land cost. Our study highlights ecoregions of particular importance for the conservation of the world's carnivores defining global conservation priorities in analyses that encompass socioeconomic and life-history factors. We consider the identification of a comprehensive priority-set of areas as a first step towards an in-situ biodiversity maintenance strategy.

Biodiversity conservation should focus on no-take Marine Reserves: 94% of Marine Protected Areas allow fishing.

PubMed

Costello, Mark J; Ballantine, Bill

2015-09-01

Conservation needs places where nature is left wild; but only a quarter of coastal countries have no-take Marine Reserves. 'Marine Protected Areas' (MPAs) have been used to indicate conservation progress but we found that 94% allow fishing and thus cannot protect all aspects of biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation should focus on Marine Reserves, not MPAs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic conservation planning for forest tree species in Western North America under future climate change: Employing a novel approach to identify conservation gaps

Treesearch

L.K. Gray; E.J. Russell; Q.E. Barber; A. Hamann

2017-01-01

Among the 17 provinces, territories, and states that comprise western North America, approximately 18 percent of the 8.4 million km2 of forested land base is designated as protected areas to ensure the in situ conservation of forest biodiversity. Jurisdictions vary substantially however, in their responsibilities, protected area coverage, and conservation policies....

Optimizing farm landscape by two decision-support tools for present and future: A case study in a mountainous farm of Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chou, S.; Lin, Y.

2013-12-01

Rapid expansion of agricultural land-use has been identified as the main factor degrading biodiversity. Many studies have indicated that habitat quality and connectivity for multiple species can be preserved by applying the systematic conservation planning and software programs for spatial conservation prioritizations are usually used by planners to solve conservation problems for present and future. However, each conservation software program uses different algorithms and may not be suitable or efficient for all case studies. Therefore, in this study we compared the performance of two commonly used decision-support tools, Marxan and Zonation, on identifying priority areas as reserve region for 16 bird species in the mountain area of Taiwan. The priority areas are considered as the results of the tradeoff between bird presence (biological factor) and agricultural products (economic factor). Marxan uses the minimum set approach to identify priority areas for meeting specific targets while Zonation uses the maximum coverage approach to identify priority areas given a fixed budget. Therefore, we design the scenario with the most comparable setting, which selects target-based planning as the removal rule and boundary length penalty option in zonation. The landscape composition and configuration of the simulated priority areas were further evaluated by using landscape metrics and their similarity were examined by using Spearman's rank tests. The results showed that Marxan performed more efficiently while Zonation generated the priority areas in better connectivity. As the selection of conservation programs depends on users objectives and needs for present and future, this study provides useful information on determining suitable and efficient decision-support tools for future bird conservation. Conservation maps for Zonation based on different BLP parameter. The conservation value for Zonation is based on the hierarchical solution output. (a)BLP =1000 (b)BLP =3000 (c)BLP =5000 (d)BLP =7000 Conservation maps for Marxan based on different BMP parameter. The conservation value for Marxan is based on the selection frequency. (a)BMP =2500 (b)BMP =5000 (c)BMP =7500 (d)BMP =10000

Micro-Credit and Community Wildlife Management: Complementary Strategies to Improve Conservation Outcomes in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaaya, Emmanuel; Chapman, Margaret

2017-09-01

Community wildlife management programs in African protected areas aim to deliver livelihood and social benefits to local communities in order to bolster support for their conservation objectives. Most of these benefits are delivered at the community level. However, many local people are also seeking more individual or household-level livelihood benefits from community wildlife management programs because it is at this level that many of the costs of protected area conservation are borne. Because community wildlife management delivers few benefits at this level, support for their conservation objectives amongst local people often declines. The study investigated the implications of this for reducing poaching in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Three community wildlife management initiatives undertaken by Park management were compared with regard to their capacity to deliver the individual and household-level benefits sought by local people: community conservation services, wildlife management areas and community conservation banks. Interviews were carried out with poachers and local people from four villages in the Western Serengeti including members of village conservation banks, as well as a number of key informants. The results suggest that community conservation banks could, as a complementary strategy to existing community wildlife management programs, potentially provide a more effective means of reducing poaching in African protected areas than community wildlife management programs alone.

50 CFR Figure 19 to Part 679 - Shelikof Strait Conservation Area

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Shelikof Strait Conservation Area 19 Figure 19 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF...

50 CFR 660.79 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California. 660.79 Section 660.79 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES...

50 CFR 660.78 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Oregon. 660.78 Section 660.78 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES...

50 CFR 660.77 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Washington.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of Washington. 660.77 Section 660.77 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES...

36 CFR 910.36 - Energy conservation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Energy conservation. 910.36... DEVELOPMENT AREA Standards Uniformly Applicable to the Development Area § 910.36 Energy conservation. All new development shall be designed to be economical in energy consumption. The Energy Guidelines of the Corporation...

36 CFR 910.36 - Energy conservation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Energy conservation. 910.36... DEVELOPMENT AREA Standards Uniformly Applicable to the Development Area § 910.36 Energy conservation. All new development shall be designed to be economical in energy consumption. The Energy Guidelines of the Corporation...

36 CFR 910.36 - Energy conservation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Energy conservation. 910.36... DEVELOPMENT AREA Standards Uniformly Applicable to the Development Area § 910.36 Energy conservation. All new development shall be designed to be economical in energy consumption. The Energy Guidelines of the Corporation...

36 CFR 910.36 - Energy conservation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Energy conservation. 910.36... DEVELOPMENT AREA Standards Uniformly Applicable to the Development Area § 910.36 Energy conservation. All new development shall be designed to be economical in energy consumption. The Energy Guidelines of the Corporation...

Using a social-ecological framework to inform the implementation of conservation plans.

PubMed

Guerrero, Angela M; Wilson, Kerrie A

2017-04-01

One of the key determinants of success in biodiversity conservation is how well conservation planning decisions account for the social system in which actions are to be implemented. Understanding elements of how the social and ecological systems interact can help identify opportunities for implementation. Utilizing data from a large-scale conservation initiative in southwestern of Australia, we explored how a social-ecological system framework can be applied to identify how social and ecological factors interact to influence the opportunities for conservation. Using data from semistructured interviews, an online survey, and publicly available data, we developed a conceptual model of the social-ecological system associated with the conservation of the Fitz-Stirling region. We used this model to identify the relevant variables (remnants of vegetation, stakeholder presence, collaboration between stakeholders, and their scale of management) that affect the implementation of conservation actions in the region. We combined measures for these variables to ascertain how areas associated with different levels of ecological importance coincided with areas associated with different levels of stakeholder presence, stakeholder collaboration, and scales of management. We identified areas that could benefit from different implementation strategies, from those suitable for immediate conservation action to areas requiring implementation over the long term to increase on-the-ground capacity and identify mechanisms to incentivize implementation. The application of a social-ecological framework can help conservation planners and practitioners facilitate the integration of ecological and social data to inform the translation of priorities for action into implementation strategies that account for the complexities of conservation problems in a focused way. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Identifying conservation priorities and management strategies based on ecosystem services to improve urban sustainability in Harbin, China

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Rapid urbanization and agricultural development has resulted in the degradation of ecosystems, while also negatively impacting ecosystem services (ES) and urban sustainability. Identifying conservation priorities for ES and applying reasonable management strategies have been found to be effective methods for mitigating this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to propose a comprehensive framework for identifying ES conservation priorities and associated management strategies for these planning areas. First, we incorporated 10 ES indicators within a systematic conservation planning (SCP) methodology in order to identify ES conservation priorities with high irreplaceability values based on conservation target goals associated with the potential distribution of ES indicators. Next, we assessed the efficiency of the ES conservation priorities for meeting the designated conservation target goals. Finally, ES conservation priorities were clustered into groups using a K-means clustering analysis in an effort to identify the dominant ES per location before formulating management strategies. We effectively identified 12 ES priorities to best represent conservation target goals for the ES indicators. These 12 priorities had a total areal coverage of 13,364 km2 representing 25.16% of the study area. The 12 priorities were further clustered into five significantly different groups (p-values between groups < 0.05), which helped to refine management strategies formulated to best enhance ES across the study area. The proposed method allows conservation and management plans to easily adapt to a wide variety of quantitative ES target goals within urban and agricultural areas, thereby preventing urban and agriculture sprawl and guiding sustainable urban development. PMID:29682412

Identifying conservation priorities and management strategies based on ecosystem services to improve urban sustainability in Harbin, China.

PubMed

Qu, Yi; Lu, Ming

2018-01-01

Rapid urbanization and agricultural development has resulted in the degradation of ecosystems, while also negatively impacting ecosystem services (ES) and urban sustainability. Identifying conservation priorities for ES and applying reasonable management strategies have been found to be effective methods for mitigating this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to propose a comprehensive framework for identifying ES conservation priorities and associated management strategies for these planning areas. First, we incorporated 10 ES indicators within a systematic conservation planning (SCP) methodology in order to identify ES conservation priorities with high irreplaceability values based on conservation target goals associated with the potential distribution of ES indicators. Next, we assessed the efficiency of the ES conservation priorities for meeting the designated conservation target goals. Finally, ES conservation priorities were clustered into groups using a K-means clustering analysis in an effort to identify the dominant ES per location before formulating management strategies. We effectively identified 12 ES priorities to best represent conservation target goals for the ES indicators. These 12 priorities had a total areal coverage of 13,364 km 2 representing 25.16% of the study area. The 12 priorities were further clustered into five significantly different groups ( p -values between groups < 0.05), which helped to refine management strategies formulated to best enhance ES across the study area. The proposed method allows conservation and management plans to easily adapt to a wide variety of quantitative ES target goals within urban and agricultural areas, thereby preventing urban and agriculture sprawl and guiding sustainable urban development.

Combining endangered plants and animals as surrogates to identify priority conservation areas in Yunnan, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Feiling; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Ruidong

2016-08-01

Suitable surrogates are critical for identifying optimal priority conservation areas (PCAs) to protect regional biodiversity. This study explored the efficiency of using endangered plants and animals as surrogates for identifying PCAs at the county level in Yunnan, southwest China. We ran the Dobson algorithm under three surrogate scenarios at 75% and 100% conservation levels and identified four types of PCAs. Assessment of the protection efficiencies of the four types of PCAs showed that endangered plants had higher surrogacy values than endangered animals but that the two were not substitutable; coupled endangered plants and animals as surrogates yielded a higher surrogacy value than endangered plants or animals as surrogates; the plant-animal priority areas (PAPAs) was the optimal among the four types of PCAs for conserving both endangered plants and animals in Yunnan. PAPAs could well represent overall species diversity distribution patterns and overlap with critical biogeographical regions in Yunnan. Fourteen priority units in PAPAs should be urgently considered as optimizing Yunnan’s protected area system. The spatial pattern of PAPAs at the 100% conservation level could be conceptualized into three connected conservation belts, providing a valuable reference for optimizing the layout of the in situ protected area system in Yunnan.

Recreational Use of the Countryside: No Evidence that High Nature Value Enhances a Key Ecosystem Service

PubMed Central

Hornigold, Karen; Lake, Iain; Dolman, Paul

2016-01-01

In Western Europe, recreational amenity is presented as an important cultural ecosystem service that, along with other values, helps justify policies to conserve biodiversity. However, whether recreational use by the public is enhanced at protected areas designated for nature conservation is unknown. This is the first study to model outdoor recreation at a national scale, examining habitat preferences with statutory designation (Site of Special Scientific Interest) as an indicator of nature conservation importance. Models were based on a massive, three year national household survey providing spatially-referenced recreational visits to the natural environment. Site characteristics including land cover were compared between these observed visit sites (n = 31,502) and randomly chosen control sites (n = 63,000). Recreationists preferred areas of coast, freshwater, broadleaved woodland and higher densities of footpaths and avoided arable, coniferous woodland and lowland heath. Although conservation designation offers similar or greater public access than undesignated areas of the same habitat, statutory designation decreased the probability of visitation to coastal and freshwater sites and gave no effect for broadleaved woodland. Thus general recreational use by the public did not represent an important ecosystem service of protected high-nature-value areas, so that intrinsic and existence values remain as the primary justifications for conservation of high nature value areas. Management of ‘green infrastructure’ sites of lower conservation value that offer desirable habitats and enhanced provision of footpaths, could mitigate recreational impacts on nearby valuable conservation areas. PMID:27828990

Identifying Important Atlantic Areas for the conservation of Balearic shearwaters: Spatial overlap with conservation areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pérez-Roda, Amparo; Delord, Karine; Boué, Amélie; Arcos, José Manuel; García, David; Micol, Thierry; Weimerskirch, Henri; Pinaud, David; Louzao, Maite

2017-07-01

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered one of the main tools in both fisheries and conservation management to protect threatened species and their habitats around the globe. However, MPAs are underrepresented in marine environments compared to terrestrial environments. Within this context, we studied the Atlantic non-breeding distribution of the southern population of Balearic shearwaters (Puffinus mauretanicus) breeding in Eivissa during the 2011-2012 period based on global location sensing (GLS) devices. Our objectives were (1) to identify overall Important Atlantic Areas (IAAs) from a southern population, (2) to describe spatio-temporal patterns of oceanographic habitat use, and (3) to assess whether existing conservation areas (Natura 2000 sites and marine Important Bird Areas (IBAs)) cover the main IAAs of Balearic shearwaters. Our results highlighted that the Atlantic staging (from June to October in 2011) dynamic of the southern population was driven by individual segregation at both spatial and temporal scales. Individuals ranged in the North-East Atlantic over four main IAAs (Bay of Biscay: BoB, Western Iberian shelf: WIS, Gulf of Cadiz: GoC, West of Morocco: WoM). While most individuals spent more time on the WIS or in the GoC, a small number of birds visited IAAs at the extremes of their Atlantic distribution range (i.e., BoB and WoM). The chronology of the arrivals to the IAAs showed a latitudinal gradient with northern areas reached earlier during the Atlantic staging. The IAAs coincided with the most productive areas (higher chlorophyll a values) in the NE Atlantic between July and October. The spatial overlap between IAAs and conservation areas was higher for Natura 2000 sites than marine IBAs (areas with and without legal protection, respectively). Concerning the use of these areas, a slightly higher proportion of estimated positions fell within marine IBAs compared to designated Natura 2000 sites, with Spanish and Portuguese conservation areas being the most visited. Our results support the current design of conservation areas in Spain and Portugal regarding the protection of adult breeders of this highly mobile species.

Implications of Spatial Data Variations for Protected Areas Management: An Example from East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dowhaniuk, Nicholas; Hartter, Joel; Ryan, Sadie J.

2014-09-01

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km2), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.

Implications of spatial data variations for protected areas management: an example from East Africa.

PubMed

Dowhaniuk, Nicholas; Hartter, Joel; Ryan, Sadie J

2014-09-01

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km(2)), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.

Identifying core habitat and connectivity for focal species in the interior cedar-hemlock forest of North America to complete a conservation area design

Treesearch

Lance Craighead; Baden Cross

2007-01-01

To identify the remaining areas of the Interior Cedar- Hemlock Forest of North America and prioritize them for conservation planning, the Craighead Environmental Research Institute has developed a 2-scale method for mapping critical habitat utilizing 1) a broad-scale model to identify important regional locations as the basis for a Conservation Area Design (CAD), and 2...

Tourism Revenue as a Conservation Tool for Threatened Birds in Protected Areas

PubMed Central

Steven, Rochelle; Castley, J. Guy; Buckley, Ralf

2013-01-01

Many bird populations worldwide are at risk of extinction, and rely heavily on protected area networks for their continued conservation. Tourism to these areas contributes to conservation by generating revenue for management. Here we quantify the contribution of tourism revenue for bird species in the IUCN Red List, using a simple accounting method. Relevant data are available for 90 (16%) of the 562 critically endangered and endangered species. Contributions of tourism to bird conservation are highest, 10–64%, in South America, Africa, and their neighbouring islands. Critically endangered bird species rely on tourism more heavily than endangered species (p<0.02). Many protected areas could also enhance their management budgets by promoting birdwatching tourism specifically. PMID:23667498

Deglacial Neodymium Isotopic Ratios in the Florida Straits and the Response of Intermediate Waters to Reduced Meridional Overturning Circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marcantonio, F.; Schmidt, M. W.; Franklin, A.; Lynch-Stieglitz, J. M.

2009-12-01

Neodymium behaves quasi-conservatively in seawater, and its isotopic signature can be used as a tracer for oceanic water masses. By analyzing Nd in the authigenic ferromanganese oxide component of marine sediments, past changes in water mass movements have been hypothesized. In the Atlantic Ocean, Nd isotope analysis has been used to trace the variable strength of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) during the last deglaciation (e.g., Pahnke et al., 2008). Here, we use Nd isotopes to investigate whether a decrease in the strength of the past MOC manifests itself as a reduction (Came et al., 2008) or an increase (Pahnke et al., 2008) in the northward incursion of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) into the North Atlantic. Sediments from two core sites currently bathed by AAIW within the Florida Straits (546 m and 751 m water depth) are well suited for profiling authigenic Nd isotope ratios. Because the Florida Current represents a major pathway of the Atlantic MOC surface return flow, the Florida Strait sites can shed light on how variations in AAIW are related to changes in Atlantic MOC strength. The sediments range in age from 0 to 25 kyr, and the high sedimentation rates (8 - 200 cm/kyr) ensure that millennial climate events during the deglaciation are captured. The range in ɛNd measured in the shallower core thus far is low (~ 1.5 epsilon units), but significant. There is a trend in the data which suggests more unradiogenic values during the Younger Dryas event when Atlantic MOC slowed down. Such a trend supports the idea based on benthic foraminiferal Cd/Ca data (Came et al., 2008) that, during the Younger Dryas, there was a reduction within the Florida Current of the flow of intermediate, southern-sourced waters. Came et al., 2008, Paleoceanography 23, PA1217. Pahnke et al., 2008, Nature Geoscience 1, 870-874.

Globalization and multi-spatial trends in the coverage of protected-area conservation (1980-2000).

PubMed

Zimmerer, Karl S; Galt, Ryan E; Buck, Margaret V

2004-12-01

This study is focused on the global expansion of protected-area coverage that occurred during the 1980--2000 period. We examine the multi-scale patterning of four of the basic facets of this expansion: i) estimated increases at the world-regional and country-level scales of total protected-area coverage; ii) transboundary protected areas; iii) conservation corridor projects; and iv) type of conservation management. Geospatial patterning of protected-area designations is a reflection of the priorities of global conservation organizations and the globalization of post-Cold War political and economic arrangements. Local and national-level factors (political leadership and infrastructure) as well as international relations such as multilateral and bilateral aid combine with these globalization processes to impact the extent, type, and location of protected-area designations. We conclude that the interaction of these factors led to the creation and reinforcement of marked spatial differences (rather than tendencies toward worldwide evenness or homogenization) in the course of protected-area expansion during the 1980--2000 period.

Cost-effective priorities for global mammal conservation.

PubMed

Carwardine, Josie; Wilson, Kerrie A; Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R; Naidoo, Robin; Iwamura, Takuya; Hajkowicz, Stefan A; Possingham, Hugh P

2008-08-12

Global biodiversity priority setting underpins the strategic allocation of conservation funds. In identifying the first comprehensive set of global priority areas for mammals, Ceballos et al. [Ceballos G, Ehrlich PR, Soberón J, Salazar I, Fay JP (2005) Science 309:603-607] found much potential for conflict between conservation and agricultural human activity. This is not surprising because, like other global priority-setting approaches, they set priorities without socioeconomic objectives. Here we present a priority-setting framework that seeks to minimize the conflicts and opportunity costs of meeting conservation goals. We use it to derive a new set of priority areas for investment in mammal conservation based on (i) agricultural opportunity cost and biodiversity importance, (ii) current levels of international funding, and (iii) degree of threat. Our approach achieves the same biodiversity outcomes as Ceballos et al.'s while reducing the opportunity costs and conflicts with agricultural human activity by up to 50%. We uncover shortfalls in the allocation of conservation funds in many threatened priority areas, highlighting a global conservation challenge.

Housing growth in and near United States protected areas limits their conservation value

Treesearch

Volker. C. Radeloff; Susan I. Stewart; Todd J. Hawbaker; Urs Gimmi; Anna M. Pidgeon; Curtis H. Flather; Roger. B. Hammer; David P. Helmers

2010-01-01

Protected areas are crucial for biodiversity conservation because they provide safe havens for species threatened by land-use change and resulting habitat loss. However, protected areas are only effective when they stop habitat loss within their boundaries, and are connected via corridors to other wild areas. The effectiveness of protected areas is threatened by...

Social and spatial relationships driving landowner attitudes towards aquatic conservation in a Piedmont-Blue Ridge landscape.

PubMed

Chambers, Samuel N; Baldwin, Robert F; Baldwin, Elizabeth Dennis; Bridges, William C; Fouch, Nakisha

2017-04-01

More than half of land in the U.S. is privately owned and covers most of known endangered species habitat. An understanding of private landowners' attitudes towards conservation may help to bridge the science-practice gap in regards to conservation initiatives. Aquatic biodiversity is particularly imperiled; in the United States headwaters and isolated wetlands receive little protection through regulations, becoming a focus of conservation planning. In an effort to assess how landowners view such efforts, a 27-question mixed methods survey was mailed to 409 landowners in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont ecoregions of South Carolina with wetland areas and where land was owned by a family or individual, not a corporation. We received 70 completed surveys and analyzed the results using an encapsulated mixed methods approach that analyzed both scaled and qualitative questions. The combined results gave a more contextual understanding of conservation on private lands in the study area. In this article we present a history of private land conservation and surveying landowners in understanding conservation potential. This demonstrates a need for a more comprehensive method needed in conservation planning. We then show our use of an integrated methodology, using quantitative and qualitative questions, to measure landowners' interest in conserving land. Through classification and spatial analysis, our study demonstrated that aquatic areas and wildlife are valued by and show influence on landowners' decisions. We also found that distance from protected area has a positive correlation to the willingness to protect aquatic areas. Landowners showed concern for threats of pollution from runoff and siltation. Disinterest in conservation seemed prevalent throughout many of the respondents' answers. These results suggest a relation to geographic distance and that the attitudes are more related near each other and specific places in the landscape. We conclude that any successful implementation of aquatic conservation initiatives must include focused outreach and communicating the benefits for society and landowners for building capacity for landscape-scale cooperation.

Considering the needs of indigenous and local populations in conservation programs.

PubMed

Kohler, Florent; Brondizio, Eduardo S

2017-04-01

Local rural and indigenous communities have assumed increasing responsibility for conservation within and between areas buffering the impacts of agricultural or resource-extraction zones and protected areas. Empowering local communities as central partners in conservation and climate-change mitigation has allowed many people to gain access to land and citizenship rights but has provided limited improvements in access to social services and economic opportunities even as expectation about their role as environmental stewards grows. These expectations, however, are inconsistent with reality. We conducted multiple field studies in Brazil since the mid-1980s to illustrate the discrepancies between conservation programs and local conditions and expectations. We suggest that public policies and conservation programs should not delegate responsibility for managing protected areas to local and indigenous communities without considering local needs and expectations and locals' attitudes toward conservation. In other words, behavior that maintains or improves the environment should not be treated as traditional based on the expectations of outsiders. Framing local populations as traditional environmentalists creates contradictions and frustrations for local populations and for conservation professionals and policy makers. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Ecological-niche modeling and prioritization of conservation-area networks for Mexican herpetofauna.

PubMed

Urbina-Cardona, J Nicolás; Flores-Villela, Oscar

2010-08-01

One of the most important tools in conservation biology is information on the geographic distribution of species and the variables determining those patterns. We used maximum-entropy niche modeling to run distribution models for 222 amphibian and 371 reptile species (49% endemics and 27% threatened) for which we had 34,619 single geographic records. The planning region is in southeastern Mexico, is 20% of the country's area, includes 80% of the country's herpetofauna, and lacks an adequate protected-area system. We used probabilistic data to build distribution models of herpetofauna for use in prioritizing conservation areas for three target groups (all species and threatened and endemic species). The accuracy of species-distribution models was better for endemic and threatened species than it was for all species. Forty-seven percent of the region has been deforested and additional conservation areas with 13.7% to 88.6% more native vegetation (76% to 96% of the areas are outside the current protected-area system) are needed. There was overlap in 26 of the main selected areas in the conservation-area network prioritized to preserve the target groups, and for all three target groups the proportion of vegetation types needed for their conservation was constant: 30% pine and oak forests, 22% tropical evergreen forest, 17% low deciduous forest, and 8% montane cloud forests. The fact that different groups of species require the same proportion of habitat types suggests that the pine and oak forests support the highest proportion of endemic and threatened species and should therefore be given priority over other types of vegetation for inclusion in the protected areas of southeastern Mexico.

Habitat monitoring and conservation prioritisation of protected areas in Western Ghats, Kerala, India.

PubMed

Athira, K; Reddy, C Sudhakar; Saranya, K R L; Joseph, Shijo; Jaishanker, R

2017-06-01

Spatially explicit approach is essential to prioritise the ecosystems for biodiversity conservation. In the present study, the conservation status of 20 protected areas of the Western Ghats of Kerala, India, was analysed based on long-term changes in forests (1975-1985-1995-2005-2013), landscape level changes in fragmentation and forest fires (2005-2015). This study has shown that a significant forest loss occurred in protected areas before declaration. Idukki is one of the major protected areas which showed a drastic reduction (18.83%) in its forest cover. During 1985-1995, Periyar tiger reserve had lost 24.19 km 2 core 3 forest area followed by Peppara (18.54 km 2 ), Parambikulam (17.93 km 2 ), Chimmony (17.71 km 2 ), Peechi-Vazhani (12.31 km 2 ) and Neyyar (11.67 km 2 ). An area of 71.33 km 2 of the protected area was affected by fires in 2014. Overall protected area-wise decadal analysis indicates Periyar has the highest number of fire incidences followed by Wayanad, Kurinjimala, Silent Valley and Eravikulam. Disturbances in the form of fires and fragmentation still exist and may have significant conservation threat to flora and fauna. Among protected areas, many are having a probability to go under threat or dynamic stage. Chinnar, Thattekkad and Kurinjimala sanctuaries are representing high levels of vulnerability, or they are near to decline stage. Habitat level monitoring of the anthropogenic disturbances can be efficiently useful for the strategic conservation planning. The present study has provided geospatial database on spatial patterns of deforestation, fragmentation and forest fires in protected areas of Kerala. Conservation prioritization approach based on these parameters will be useful for the strategic planning in the state of Kerala.

The geography of hotspots of rarity-weighted richness of birds and their coverage by Natura 2000

PubMed Central

de Albuquerque, Fábio Suzart; Gregory, Andrew

2017-01-01

A major challenge for biogeographers and conservation planners is to identify where to best locate or distribute high-priority areas for conservation and to explore whether these areas are well represented by conservation actions such as protected areas (PAs). We aimed to identify high-priority areas for conservation, expressed as hotpots of rarity-weighted richness (HRR)–sites that efficiently represent species–for birds across EU countries, and to explore whether HRR are well represented by the Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is an evolving network of PAs that seeks to conserve biodiversity through the persistence of the most patrimonial species and habitats across Europe. This network includes Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), where the latter regulated the designation of Special Protected Areas (SPA). Distribution maps for 416 bird species and complementarity-based approaches were used to map geographical patterns of rarity-weighted richness (RWR) and HRR for birds. We used species accumulation index to evaluate whether RWR was efficient surrogates to identify HRRs for birds. The results of our analysis support the proposition that prioritizing sites in order of RWR is a reliable way to identify sites that efficiently represent birds. HRRs were concentrated in the Mediterranean Basin and alpine and boreal biogeographical regions of northern Europe. The cells with high RWR values did not correspond to cells where Natura 2000 was present. We suggest that patterns of RWR could become a focus for conservation biogeography. Our analysis demonstrates that identifying HRR is a robust approach for prioritizing management actions, and reveals the need for more conservation actions, especially on HRR. PMID:28379991

The geography of hotspots of rarity-weighted richness of birds and their coverage by Natura 2000.

PubMed

Albuquerque, Fábio Suzart de; Gregory, Andrew

2017-01-01

A major challenge for biogeographers and conservation planners is to identify where to best locate or distribute high-priority areas for conservation and to explore whether these areas are well represented by conservation actions such as protected areas (PAs). We aimed to identify high-priority areas for conservation, expressed as hotpots of rarity-weighted richness (HRR)-sites that efficiently represent species-for birds across EU countries, and to explore whether HRR are well represented by the Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is an evolving network of PAs that seeks to conserve biodiversity through the persistence of the most patrimonial species and habitats across Europe. This network includes Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), where the latter regulated the designation of Special Protected Areas (SPA). Distribution maps for 416 bird species and complementarity-based approaches were used to map geographical patterns of rarity-weighted richness (RWR) and HRR for birds. We used species accumulation index to evaluate whether RWR was efficient surrogates to identify HRRs for birds. The results of our analysis support the proposition that prioritizing sites in order of RWR is a reliable way to identify sites that efficiently represent birds. HRRs were concentrated in the Mediterranean Basin and alpine and boreal biogeographical regions of northern Europe. The cells with high RWR values did not correspond to cells where Natura 2000 was present. We suggest that patterns of RWR could become a focus for conservation biogeography. Our analysis demonstrates that identifying HRR is a robust approach for prioritizing management actions, and reveals the need for more conservation actions, especially on HRR.

7 CFR 1468.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... to the State or territorial soil conservation district law, or tribal law. The subdivision may be a conservation district, soil conservation district, soil and water conservation district, resource conservation... county or area, in accordance with Sec. 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as...

7 CFR 1468.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... to the State or territorial soil conservation district law, or tribal law. The subdivision may be a conservation district, soil conservation district, soil and water conservation district, resource conservation... county or area, in accordance with Sec. 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as...

7 CFR 1468.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... to the State or territorial soil conservation district law, or tribal law. The subdivision may be a conservation district, soil conservation district, soil and water conservation district, resource conservation... county or area, in accordance with Sec. 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as...

Governing Portable Conservation and Development Landscapes: Reconsidering Evidence in the Context of the Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elgert, Laureen

2014-01-01

Conservation-with-development landscapes, such as UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Reserves, differentiate between areas of "nature" and "society". In Paraguay's Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve, as elsewhere, this model has been used to support governance that focuses on conservation in the "core area" and sustainable…

THE THREATENED AND THE IRREPLACEABLE: IDENTIFYING AREAS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF FAUNAL SPECIES DIVERSITY IN THE MIDDLE-ATLANTIC REGION OF THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

One fundamental step in conservation planning involves determining where to concentrate efforts to protect conservation targets. Here we demonstrate an approach to prioritizing areas based on both species composition and potential threats facing the species. First, we determine...

36 CFR § 910.36 - Energy conservation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true Energy conservation. § 910.36... DEVELOPMENT AREA Standards Uniformly Applicable to the Development Area § 910.36 Energy conservation. All new development shall be designed to be economical in energy consumption. The Energy Guidelines of the Corporation...

A case study of assigning conservation value to dispersed habitat units for conservation planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rohweder, Jason J.; Sara C. Vacek,; Crimmins, Shawn M.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.

2015-01-01

Resource managers are increasingly tasked with developing habitat conservation plans in the face of numerous, sometimes competing, objectives. These plans must often be implemented across dispersed habitat conservation units that may contribute unequally to overall conservation objectives. Using U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl production areas (WPA) in western Minnesota as our conservation landscape, we develop a landscape-scale approach for evaluating the conservation value of dispersed habitat conservation units with multiple conservation priorities. We evaluated conservation value based on a suite of variables directly applicable to conservation management practices, thus providing a direct link between conservation actions and outcomes. We developed spatial models specific to each of these conservation objectives and also developed two freely available prioritization tools to implement these analyses. We found that some WPAs provided high conservation value across a range of conservation objectives, suggesting that managing these specific areas would achieve multiple conservation goals. Conversely, other WPAs provided low conservation value for some objectives, suggesting they would be most effectively managed for a distinct set of specific conservation goals. Approaches such as ours provide a direct means of assessing the conservation value of dispersed habitat conservation units and could be useful in the development of habitat management plans, particularly when faced with multiple conservation objectives.

The effectiveness of surrogate taxa to conserve freshwater biodiversity.

PubMed

Stewart, David R; Underwood, Zachary E; Rahel, Frank J; Walters, Annika W

2018-02-01

Establishing protected areas has long been an effective conservation strategy and is often based on readily surveyed species. The potential of any freshwater taxa to be a surrogate for other aquatic groups has not been explored fully. We compiled occurrence data on 72 species of freshwater fishes, amphibians, mussels, and aquatic reptiles for the Great Plains, Wyoming (U.S.A.). We used hierarchical Bayesian multispecies mixture models and MaxEnt models to describe species' distributions and the program Zonation to identify areas of conservation priority for each aquatic group. The landscape-scale factors that best characterized aquatic species' distributions differed among groups. There was low agreement and congruence among taxa-specific conservation priorities (<20%), meaning no surrogate priority areas would include or protect the best habitats of other aquatic taxa. Common, wideranging aquatic species were included in taxa-specific priority areas, but rare freshwater species were not included. Thus, the development of conservation priorities based on a single freshwater aquatic group would not protect all species in the other aquatic groups. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Linking management effectiveness indicators to observed effects of protected areas on fire occurrence in the Amazon rainforest.

PubMed

Nolte, Christoph; Agrawal, Arun

2013-02-01

Management-effectiveness scores are used widely by donors and implementers of conservation projects to prioritize, track, and evaluate investments in protected areas. However, there is little evidence that these scores actually reflect the capacity of protected areas to deliver conservation outcomes. We examined the relation between indicators of management effectiveness in protected areas and the effectiveness of protected areas in reducing fire occurrence in the Amazon rainforest. We used data collected with the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) scorecard, adopted by some of the world's largest conservation organizations to track management characteristics believed to be crucial for protected-area effectiveness. We used the occurrence of forest fires from 2000 through 2010 as a measure of the effect of protected areas on undesired land-cover change in the Amazon basin. We used matching to compare the estimated effect of protected areas with low versus high METT scores on fire occurrence. We also estimated effects of individual protected areas on fire occurrence and explored the relation between these effects and METT scores. The relations between METT scores and effects of protected areas on fire occurrence were weak. Protected areas with higher METT scores in 2005 did not seem to have performed better than protected areas with lower METT scores at reducing fire occurrence over the last 10 years. Further research into the relations between management-effectiveness indicators and conservation outcomes in protected areas seems necessary, and our results show that the careful application of matching methods can be a suitable method for that purpose. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

The geochemistry of redox sensitive trace metals in sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morford, Jennifer L.; Emerson, Steven

1999-06-01

We analyzed the redox sensitive elements V, Mo, U, Re and Cd in surface sediments from the Northwest African margin, the U.S. Northwest margin and the Arabian Sea to determine their response under a range of redox conditions. Where oxygen penetrates 1 cm or less into the sediments, Mo and V diffuse to the overlying water as Mn is reduced and remobilized. Authigenic enrichments of U, Re and Cd are evident under these redox conditions. With the onset of sulfate reduction, all of the metals accumulate authigenically with Re being by far the most enriched. General trends in authigenic metal accumulation are described by calculating authigenic fluxes for the 3 main redox regimes: oxic, reducing where oxygen penetrates ≤1 cm, and anoxic conditions. Using a simple diagenesis model and global estimates of organic carbon rain rate and bottom water oxygen concentrations, we calculate the area of sediments below 1000 m water depth in which oxygen penetration is ≤1 cm to be 4% of the ocean floor. We conclude that sediments where oxygen penetrates ≤1 cm release Mn, V and Mo to seawater at rates of 140%-260%, 60%-150% and 5%-10% of their respective riverine fluxes, using the authigenic metal concentrations and accumulation rates from this work and other literature. These sediments are sinks for Re, Cd and U, with burial fluxes of 70%-140%, 30%-80% and 20%-40%, respectively, of their dissolved riverine inputs. We modeled the sensitivity of the response of seawater Re, Cd and V concentrations to changes in the area of reducing sediments where oxygen penetrates ≤1 cm. Our analysis suggests a negligible change in seawater Re concentration, whereas seawater concentrations of Cd and V could have decreased and increased, respectively, by 5%-10% over 20 kyr if the area of reducing sediments increased by a factor of 2 and by 10%-20% if the area increased by a factor of 3. The concentration variations for a factor of 2 increase in the area of reducing sediments are at about the level of uncertainty of Cd/Ca and V/Ca ratios observed in foraminifera shells over the last 40 kyr. This implies that the area of reducing sediments in the ocean deeper than 1000 m (4%) has not been greater than twice the present value in the recent past.

Local participation in biodiversity conservation initiatives: a comparative analysis of different models in South East Mexico.

PubMed

Méndez-López, María Elena; García-Frapolli, Eduardo; Pritchard, Diana J; Sánchez González, María Consuelo; Ruiz-Mallén, Isabel; Porter-Bolland, Luciana; Reyes-Garcia, Victoria

2014-12-01

In Mexico, biodiversity conservation is primarily implemented through three schemes: 1) protected areas, 2) payment-based schemes for environmental services, and 3) community-based conservation, officially recognized in some cases as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas. In this paper we compare levels of local participation across conservation schemes. Through a survey applied to 670 households across six communities in Southeast Mexico, we document local participation during the creation, design, and implementation of the management plan of different conservation schemes. To analyze the data, we first calculated the frequency of participation at the three different stages mentioned, then created a participation index that characterizes the presence and relative intensity of local participation for each conservation scheme. Results showed that there is a low level of local participation across all the conservation schemes explored in this study. Nonetheless, the payment for environmental services had the highest local participation while the protected areas had the least. Our findings suggest that local participation in biodiversity conservation schemes is not a predictable outcome of a specific (community-based) model, thus implying that other factors might be important in determining local participation. This has implications on future strategies that seek to encourage local involvement in conservation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multispecies genetic objectives in spatial conservation planning.

PubMed

Nielsen, Erica S; Beger, Maria; Henriques, Romina; Selkoe, Kimberly A; von der Heyden, Sophie

2017-08-01

Growing threats to biodiversity and global alteration of habitats and species distributions make it increasingly necessary to consider evolutionary patterns in conservation decision making. Yet, there is no clear-cut guidance on how genetic features can be incorporated into conservation-planning processes, despite multiple molecular markers and several genetic metrics for each marker type to choose from. Genetic patterns differ between species, but the potential tradeoffs among genetic objectives for multiple species in conservation planning are currently understudied. We compared spatial conservation prioritizations derived from 2 metrics of genetic diversity (nucleotide and haplotype diversity) and 2 metrics of genetic isolation (private haplotypes and local genetic differentiation) in mitochondrial DNA of 5 marine species. We compared outcomes of conservation plans based only on habitat representation with plans based on genetic data and habitat representation. Fewer priority areas were selected for conservation plans based solely on habitat representation than on plans that included habitat and genetic data. All 4 genetic metrics selected approximately similar conservation-priority areas, which is likely a result of prioritizing genetic patterns across a genetically diverse array of species. Largely, our results suggest that multispecies genetic conservation objectives are vital to creating protected-area networks that appropriately preserve community-level evolutionary patterns. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Local people's attitudes towards conservation and wildlife tourism around Sariska Tiger Reserve, India.

PubMed

Udaya Sekhar, Nagothu

2003-12-01

Conservationists in the recent years view local peoples' support for protected areas management as an important element of biodiversity conservation. This is often linked to the direct benefits, which local communities get from the protected areas. These benefits could be in the form of biomass resources, park funds diverted to local villages by state agencies and revenue from wildlife tourism. There are a very few studies which have attempted to study the direct relationship between benefits from wildlife tourism and local support for conservation. In India, wildlife tourism is restricted, and mostly controlled by state and private agencies. Wildlife conservation policy does not view tourism in protected areas as a source of revenue for the local communities. The present study examines the local people's attitudes towards wildlife tourism and the impact of benefits from tourism on the local support for Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR), India. STR is a flagship for tourism where protected areas are increasingly being visited and where local support for wildlife tourism has not been studied adequately. Results indicate that two-thirds of the respondents were positive towards tourism and support for conservation. The respondents were aware that more tourism benefits are possible from a well-conserved protected area. There appears to be correlation between benefits obtained by local people from wildlife tourism and other sources, and support for protected area existence, suggesting that benefits impact people's attitudes towards conservation. Some of the main problems are the unequal distribution of tourism benefits, lack of locals' involvement in tourism and development. There is a need to clearly address these issues, so that protected areas may get the support of local people, which may lead to sustainable development.

The role of macroinvertebrates for conservation of freshwater systems.

PubMed

Nieto, Carolina; Ovando, Ximena M C; Loyola, Rafael; Izquierdo, Andrea; Romero, Fátima; Molineri, Carlos; Rodríguez, José; Rueda Martín, Paola; Fernández, Hugo; Manzo, Verónica; Miranda, María José

2017-07-01

Freshwater ecosystems are the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. Argentinian-protected areas have been established mainly to protect vertebrates and plants in terrestrial ecosystems. In order to create a comprehensive biodiverse conservation plan, it is crucial to integrate both aquatic and terrestrial systems and to include macroinvertebrates. Here, we address this topic by proposing priority areas of conservation including invertebrates, aquatic ecosystems, and their connectivity and land uses. Northwest of Argentina. We modeled the ecological niches of different taxa of macroinvertebrates such as Coleoptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera, Lepidoptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Acari, and Mollusca. Based on these models, we analyzed the contribution of currently established protected areas in the conservation of the aquatic biodiversity and we propose a spatial prioritization taking into account possible conflict regarding different land uses. Our analysis units were the real watersheds, to which were added longitudinal connectivity up and down the rivers. A total of 132 species were modeled in the priority area analyses. The analysis 1 showed that only an insignificant percentage of the macroinvertebrates distribution is within the protected areas in the North West of Argentina. The analyses 2 and 3 recovered similar values of protection for the macroinvertebrate species. The upper part of Bermejo, Salí-Dulce, San Francisco, and the Upper part of Juramento basins were identified as priority areas of conservation. The aquatic ecosystems need special protection and 10% or even as much as 17% of land conservation is insufficient for species of macroinvertebrates. In turn the protected areas need to combine the aquatic and terrestrial systems and need to include macroinvertebrates as a key group to sustain the biodiversity. In many cases, the land uses are in conflict with the conservation of biodiversity; however, it is possible to apply the connectivity of the watersheds and create multiple-use modules.

Extinction Risks and the Conservation of Madagascar's Reptiles

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Richard K. B.; Tognelli, Marcelo F.; Bowles, Philip; Cox, Neil; Brown, Jason L.; Chan, Lauren; Andreone, Franco; Andriamazava, Alain; Andriantsimanarilafy, Raphali R.; Anjeriniaina, Mirana; Bora, Parfait; Brady, Lee D.; Hantalalaina, Elisoa F.; Glaw, Frank; Griffiths, Richard A.; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Hoffmann, Michael; Katariya, Vineet; Rabibisoa, Nirhy H.; Rafanomezantsoa, Jeannot; Rakotomalala, Domoina; Rakotondravony, Hery; Rakotondrazafy, Ny A.; Ralambonirainy, Johans; Ramanamanjato, Jean-Baptiste; Randriamahazo, Herilala; Randrianantoandro, J. Christian; Randrianasolo, Harison H.; Randrianirina, Jasmin E.; Randrianizahana, Hiarinirina; Raselimanana, Achille P.; Rasolohery, Andriambolantsoa; Ratsoavina, Fanomezana M.; Raxworthy, Christopher J.; Robsomanitrandrasana, Eric; Rollande, Finoana; van Dijk, Peter P.; Yoder, Anne D.; Vences, Miguel

2014-01-01

Background An understanding of the conservation status of Madagascar's endemic reptile species is needed to underpin conservation planning and priority setting in this global biodiversity hotspot, and to complement existing information on the island's mammals, birds and amphibians. We report here on the first systematic assessment of the extinction risk of endemic and native non-marine Malagasy snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises. Methodology/Principal Findings Species range maps from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species were analysed to determine patterns in the distribution of threatened reptile species. These data, in addition to information on threats, were used to identify priority areas and actions for conservation. Thirty-nine percent of the data-sufficient Malagasy reptiles in our analyses are threatened with extinction. Areas in the north, west and south-east were identified as having more threatened species than expected and are therefore conservation priorities. Habitat degradation caused by wood harvesting and non-timber crops was the most pervasive threat. The direct removal of reptiles for international trade and human consumption threatened relatively few species, but were the primary threats for tortoises. Nine threatened reptile species are endemic to recently created protected areas. Conclusions/Significance With a few alarming exceptions, the threatened endemic reptiles of Madagascar occur within the national network of protected areas, including some taxa that are only found in new protected areas. Threats to these species, however, operate inside and outside protected area boundaries. This analysis has identified priority sites for reptile conservation and completes the conservation assessment of terrestrial vertebrates in Madagascar which will facilitate conservation planning, monitoring and wise-decision making. In sharp contrast with the amphibians, there is significant reptile diversity and regional endemism in the southern and western regions of Madagascar and this study highlights the importance of these arid regions to conserving the island's biodiversity. PMID:25111137

Integrating Economic Costs and Biological Traits into Global Conservation Priorities for Carnivores

PubMed Central

Loyola, Rafael Dias; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues; Almeida-Neto, Mário; Nogueira, Denise Martins; Kubota, Umberto; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Lewinsohn, Thomas Michael

2009-01-01

Background Prioritization schemes usually highlight species-rich areas, where many species are at imminent risk of extinction. To be ecologically relevant these schemes should also include species biological traits into area-setting methods. Furthermore, in a world of limited funds for conservation, conservation action is constrained by land acquisition costs. Hence, including economic costs into conservation priorities can substantially improve their conservation cost-effectiveness. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined four global conservation scenarios for carnivores based on the joint mapping of economic costs and species biological traits. These scenarios identify the most cost-effective priority sets of ecoregions, indicating best investment opportunities for safeguarding every carnivore species, and also establish priority sets that can maximize species representation in areas harboring highly vulnerable species. We compared these results with a scenario that minimizes the total number of ecoregions required for conserving all species, irrespective of other factors. We found that cost-effective conservation investments should focus on 41 ecoregions highlighted in the scenario that consider simultaneously both ecoregion vulnerability and economic costs of land acquisition. Ecoregions included in priority sets under these criteria should yield best returns of investments since they harbor species with high extinction risk and have lower mean land cost. Conclusions/Significance Our study highlights ecoregions of particular importance for the conservation of the world's carnivores defining global conservation priorities in analyses that encompass socioeconomic and life-history factors. We consider the identification of a comprehensive priority-set of areas as a first step towards an in-situ biodiversity maintenance strategy. PMID:19710911

Designing systematic conservation assessments that promote effective implementation: best practice from South Africa.

PubMed

Knight, Andrew T; Driver, Amanda; Cowling, Richard M; Maze, Kristal; Desmet, Philip G; Lombard, Amanda T; Rouget, Mathieu; Botha, Mark A; Boshoff, Andre F; Castley, J Guy; Goodman, Peter S; Mackinnon, Kathy; Pierce, Shirley M; Sims-Castley, Rebecca; Stewart, Warrick I; von Hase, Amrei

2006-06-01

Systematic conservation assessment and conservation planning are two distinct fields of conservation science often confused as one and the same. Systematic conservation assessment is the technical, often computer-based, identification of priority areas for conservation. Conservation planning is composed of a systematic conservation assessment coupled with processes for development of an implementation strategy and stakeholder collaboration. The peer-reviewed conservation biology literature abounds with studies analyzing the performance of assessments (e.g., area-selection techniques). This information alone, however can never deliver effective conservation action; it informs conservation planning. Examples of how to translate systematic assessment outputs into knowledge and then use them for "doing" conservation are rare. South Africa has received generous international and domestic funding for regional conservation planning since the mid-1990s. We reviewed eight South African conservation planning processes and identified key ingredients of best practice for undertaking systematic conservation assessments in a way that facilitates implementing conservation action. These key ingredients include the design of conservation planning processes, skills for conservation assessment teams, collaboration with stakeholders, and interpretation and mainstreaming of products (e.g., maps) for stakeholders. Social learning institutions are critical to the successful operationalization of assessments within broader conservation planning processes and should include not only conservation planners but also diverse interest groups, including rural landowners, politicians, and government employees.

Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Detect Changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet Conservation Area in the Western Cape, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duncan, P.; Lewarne, M.

2016-06-01

Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair.

Setting practical conservation priorities for birds in the Western Andes of Colombia.

PubMed

Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

2014-10-01

We aspired to set conservation priorities in ways that lead to direct conservation actions. Very large-scale strategic mapping leads to familiar conservation priorities exemplified by biodiversity hotspots. In contrast, tactical conservation actions unfold on much smaller geographical extents and they need to reflect the habitat loss and fragmentation that have sharply restricted where species now live. Our aspirations for direct, practical actions were demanding. First, we identified the global, strategic conservation priorities and then downscaled to practical local actions within the selected priorities. In doing this, we recognized the limitations of incomplete information. We started such a process in Colombia and used the results presented here to implement reforestation of degraded land to prevent the isolation of a large area of cloud forest. We used existing range maps of 171 bird species to identify priority conservation areas that would conserve the greatest number of species at risk in Colombia. By at risk species, we mean those that are endemic and have small ranges. The Western Andes had the highest concentrations of such species-100 in total-but the lowest densities of national parks. We then adjusted the priorities for this region by refining these species ranges by selecting only areas of suitable elevation and remaining habitat. The estimated ranges of these species shrank by 18-100% after accounting for habitat and suitable elevation. Setting conservation priorities on the basis of currently available range maps excluded priority areas in the Western Andes and, by extension, likely elsewhere and for other taxa. By incorporating detailed maps of remaining natural habitats, we made practical recommendations for conservation actions. One recommendation was to restore forest connections to a patch of cloud forest about to become isolated from the main Andes. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Mapping the economic costs and benefits of conservation.

PubMed

Naidoo, Robin; Ricketts, Taylor H

2006-10-01

Resources for biodiversity conservation are severely limited, requiring strategic investment. Understanding both the economic benefits and costs of conserving ecosystems will help to allocate scarce dollars most efficiently. However, although cost-benefit analyses are common in many areas of policy, they are not typically used in conservation planning. We conducted a spatial evaluation of the costs and benefits of conservation for a landscape in the Atlantic forests of Paraguay. We considered five ecosystem services (i.e., sustainable bushmeat harvest, sustainable timber harvest, bioprospecting for pharmaceutical products, existence value, and carbon storage in aboveground biomass) and compared them to estimates of the opportunity costs of conservation. We found a high degree of spatial variability in both costs and benefits over this relatively small (approximately 3,000 km(2)) landscape. Benefits exceeded costs in some areas, with carbon storage dominating the ecosystem service values and swamping opportunity costs. Other benefits associated with conservation were more modest and exceeded costs only in protected areas and indigenous reserves. We used this cost-benefit information to show that one potential corridor between two large forest patches had net benefits that were three times greater than two otherwise similar alternatives. Spatial cost-benefit analysis can powerfully inform conservation planning, even though the availability of relevant data may be limited, as was the case in our study area. It can help us understand the synergies between biodiversity conservation and economic development when the two are indeed aligned and to clearly understand the trade-offs when they are not.

Mapping the Economic Costs and Benefits of Conservation

PubMed Central

Naidoo, Robin; Ricketts, Taylor H

2006-01-01

Resources for biodiversity conservation are severely limited, requiring strategic investment. Understanding both the economic benefits and costs of conserving ecosystems will help to allocate scarce dollars most efficiently. However, although cost-benefit analyses are common in many areas of policy, they are not typically used in conservation planning. We conducted a spatial evaluation of the costs and benefits of conservation for a landscape in the Atlantic forests of Paraguay. We considered five ecosystem services (i.e., sustainable bushmeat harvest, sustainable timber harvest, bioprospecting for pharmaceutical products, existence value, and carbon storage in aboveground biomass) and compared them to estimates of the opportunity costs of conservation. We found a high degree of spatial variability in both costs and benefits over this relatively small (~3,000 km2) landscape. Benefits exceeded costs in some areas, with carbon storage dominating the ecosystem service values and swamping opportunity costs. Other benefits associated with conservation were more modest and exceeded costs only in protected areas and indigenous reserves. We used this cost-benefit information to show that one potential corridor between two large forest patches had net benefits that were three times greater than two otherwise similar alternatives. Spatial cost-benefit analysis can powerfully inform conservation planning, even though the availability of relevant data may be limited, as was the case in our study area. It can help us understand the synergies between biodiversity conservation and economic development when the two are indeed aligned and to clearly understand the trade-offs when they are not. PMID:17076583

Analysis of ecological context for identifying vegetation and animal conservation planning foci: An example from the arid South-western USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hamazaki, T.; Thompson, B.C.; Locke, B.A.; Boykin, K.G.

2003-01-01

In developing conservation strategies, it is important to maximize effects of conservation within a specified land tract and to maximize conservation effects on surrounding area (ecological context). The authors proposed two criteria to select biotic entities for conservation foci: (1) the relative occurrence of fauna or flora in a tract is greater than that of an ecological context region; and (2) occurrence of the fauna or flora is relatively limited in the ecological context region. Using extensive spatial data on vegetation and wildlife habitat distribution, the authors identified strategic vegetation and fauna conservation foci for the 400 000 ha Fort Bliss military reservation in New Mexico and Texas relative to a 164 km radius ecological context region intersecting seven ecological zones and the predicted habitat distribution of 616 animal species. The authors set two specific criteria: (1) predicted area of a species' occurrence is 5% (Fort Bliss is 4.2% of the region). These criteria selected one vegetation class and 40 animal species. Further, these vegetation and animal foci were primarily located in two areas of Fort Bliss. Sensitivity analyses with other analytical radii corroborated the context radius used. Conservation of the two areas and associated taxa will maximize the contribution of Fort Bliss's conservation efforts in its ecological proximity. This relatively simple but information-rich process represents economical and defensible preliminary contextual analysis for detailed conservation planning.

Environmental Globalization, Organizational Form, and Expected Benefits from Protected Areas in Central America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfeffer, Max J.; Schelhas, John W.; Meola, Catherine

2006-01-01

Environmental globalization has led to the implementation of conservation efforts like the creation of protected areas that often promote the interests of core countries in poorer regions. The creation of protected areas in poor areas frequently creates tensions between human needs like food and shelter and environmental conservation. Support for…

Area sensitivity in North American grassland birds: Patterns and processes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ribic, C.A.; Koford, Rolf R.; Herkert, J.R.; Johnson, D.H.; Niemuth, N.D.; Naugle, D.E.; Bakker, K.K.; Sample, D.W.; Renfrew, R.B.

2009-01-01

Grassland birds have declined more than other bird groups in North America in the past 35-40 years (Vickery and Herkert 2001, Sauer et al. 2008), prompting a wide variety of research aimed at understanding these declines, as well as conservation programs trying to reverse the declines (Askins et al. 2007). Area sensitivity, whereby the pattern of a species’ occurrence and density increases with patch area (Robbins et al. 1989), has been invoked as an important issue in grassland-bird conservation, and understanding the processes that drive area sensitivity in grassland birds is a major conservation need (Vickery and Herkert 2001). Here, we review the literature on North American grassland bird species that is relevant to the following questions: (1) What is the evidence for area sensitivity in grassland birds? (2) What are the historical explanations for area sensitivity? (3) What ecological processes could produce area sensitivity? And (5) what are the conservation implications of knowing the processes behind area sensitivity? Because of space limitations, we could not cite every paper we reviewed; the cited papers are given as examples of the literature in this field

The impact of human activities on sediments of San Francisco Bay, California: an overview

USGS Publications Warehouse

van Geen, Alexander; Luoma, Samuel N.

1999-01-01

This note introduces a set of eight papers devoted to a detailed study of two sediment cores from San Francisco Bay with an overview of the region and a chronology of human activities. Data used in this study to constrain the range of sediment ages at different depths include , and  concentrations in the sediment and the  age of shell fragments. In order of first detectable appearance in the record, the indicators of contamination that were analyzed include PAHs>Hg>Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn>DDT, PCB>foraminiferal Cd/Ca. This study also documents a large memory effect for estuarine contamination caused by sediment mixing and resuspension. Once an estuary such as San Francisco Bay has been contaminated, decades must pass before contaminant levels in surface sediment will return to background levels, even if external contaminant inputs have been entirely eliminated.

Relative availability of natural prey versus livestock predicts landscape suitability for cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in Botswana

PubMed Central

Winterbach, Christiaan W.; Boast, Lorraine K.; Klein, Rebecca; Somers, Michael J.

2015-01-01

Prey availability and human-carnivore conflict are strong determinants that govern the spatial distribution and abundance of large carnivore species and determine the suitability of areas for their conservation. For wide-ranging large carnivores such as cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), additional conservation areas beyond protected area boundaries are crucial to effectively conserve them both inside and outside protected areas. Although cheetahs prefer preying on wild prey, they also cause conflict with people by predating on especially small livestock. We investigated whether the distribution of cheetahs’ preferred prey and small livestock biomass could be used to explore the potential suitability of agricultural areas in Botswana for the long-term persistence of its cheetah population. We found it gave a good point of departure for identifying priority areas for land management, the threat to connectivity between cheetah populations, and areas where the reduction and mitigation of human-cheetah conflict is critical. Our analysis showed the existence of a wide prey base for cheetahs across large parts of Botswana’s agricultural areas, which provide additional large areas with high conservation potential. Twenty percent of wild prey biomass appears to be the critical point to distinguish between high and low probable levels of human-cheetah conflict. We identified focal areas in the agricultural zones where restoring wild prey numbers in concurrence with effective human-cheetah conflict mitigation efforts are the most immediate conservation strategies needed to maintain Botswana’s still large and contiguous cheetah population. PMID:26213646

Relative availability of natural prey versus livestock predicts landscape suitability for cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in Botswana.

PubMed

Winterbach, Hanlie E K; Winterbach, Christiaan W; Boast, Lorraine K; Klein, Rebecca; Somers, Michael J

2015-01-01

Prey availability and human-carnivore conflict are strong determinants that govern the spatial distribution and abundance of large carnivore species and determine the suitability of areas for their conservation. For wide-ranging large carnivores such as cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), additional conservation areas beyond protected area boundaries are crucial to effectively conserve them both inside and outside protected areas. Although cheetahs prefer preying on wild prey, they also cause conflict with people by predating on especially small livestock. We investigated whether the distribution of cheetahs' preferred prey and small livestock biomass could be used to explore the potential suitability of agricultural areas in Botswana for the long-term persistence of its cheetah population. We found it gave a good point of departure for identifying priority areas for land management, the threat to connectivity between cheetah populations, and areas where the reduction and mitigation of human-cheetah conflict is critical. Our analysis showed the existence of a wide prey base for cheetahs across large parts of Botswana's agricultural areas, which provide additional large areas with high conservation potential. Twenty percent of wild prey biomass appears to be the critical point to distinguish between high and low probable levels of human-cheetah conflict. We identified focal areas in the agricultural zones where restoring wild prey numbers in concurrence with effective human-cheetah conflict mitigation efforts are the most immediate conservation strategies needed to maintain Botswana's still large and contiguous cheetah population.

Estimating the effect of protected lands on the development and conservation of their surroundings.

PubMed

McDonald, Robert I; Yuan-Farrell, Chris; Fievet, Charles; Moeller, Matthias; Kareiva, Peter; Foster, David; Gragson, Ted; Kinzig, Ann; Kuby, Lauren; Redman, Charles

2007-12-01

The fate of private lands is widely seen as key to the fate of biodiversity in much of the world. Organizations that work to protect biodiversity on private lands often hope that conservation actions on one piece of land will leverage the actions of surrounding landowners. Few researchers have, however, examined whether protected lands do in fact encourage land conservation nearby or how protected lands affect development in the surrounding landscape. Using spatiotemporal data sets on land cover and land protection for three sites (western North Carolina, central Massachusetts, and central Arizona), we examined whether the existence of a protected area correlates with an increased rate of nearby land conservation or a decreased rate of nearby land development. At all sites, newly protected conservation areas tended to cluster close to preexisting protected areas. This may imply that the geography of contemporary conservation actions is influenced by past decisions on land protection, often made for reasons far removed from concerns about biodiversity. On the other hand, we found no evidence that proximity to protected areas correlates with a reduced rate of nearby land development. Indeed, on two of our three sites the development rate was significantly greater in regions with more protected land. This suggests that each conservation action should be justified and valued largely for what is protected on the targeted land, without much hope of broader conservation leverage effects.

Optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation in China: a systematic conservation planning perspective.

PubMed

Wu, Ruidong; Long, Yongcheng; Malanson, George P; Garber, Paul A; Zhang, Shuang; Li, Diqiang; Zhao, Peng; Wang, Longzhu; Duo, Hairui

2014-01-01

By addressing several key features overlooked in previous studies, i.e. human disturbance, integration of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and principles of complementarity and representativeness, we present the first national-scale systematic conservation planning for China to determine the optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation. We compiled a spatial database on the distributions of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and modeled a human disturbance index (HDI) by aggregating information using several socioeconomic proxies. We ran Marxan with two scenarios (HDI-ignored and HDI-considered) to investigate the effects of human disturbance, and explored the geographic patterns of the optimized spatial conservation priorities. Compared to when HDI was ignored, the HDI-considered scenario resulted in (1) a marked reduction (∼9%) in the total HDI score and a slight increase (∼7%) in the total area of the portfolio of priority units, (2) a significant increase (∼43%) in the total irreplaceable area and (3) more irreplaceable units being identified in almost all environmental zones and highly-disturbed provinces. Thus the inclusion of human disturbance is essential for cost-effective priority-setting. Attention should be targeted to the areas that are characterized as moderately-disturbed, <2,000 m in altitude, and/or intermediately- to extremely-rugged in terrain to identify potentially important regions for implementing cost-effective conservation. We delineated 23 primary large-scale priority areas that are significant for conserving China's biodiversity, but those isolated priority units in disturbed regions are in more urgent need of conservation actions so as to prevent immediate and severe biodiversity loss. This study presents a spatially optimized national-scale portfolio of conservation priorities--effectively representing the overall biodiversity of China while minimizing conflicts with economic development. Our results offer critical insights for current conservation and strategic land-use planning in China. The approach is transferable and easy to implement by end-users, and applicable for national- and local-scale systematic conservation prioritization practices.

Optimized Spatial Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation in China: A Systematic Conservation Planning Perspective

PubMed Central

Wu, Ruidong; Long, Yongcheng; Malanson, George P.; Garber, Paul A.; Zhang, Shuang; Li, Diqiang; Zhao, Peng; Wang, Longzhu; Duo, Hairui

2014-01-01

By addressing several key features overlooked in previous studies, i.e. human disturbance, integration of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and principles of complementarity and representativeness, we present the first national-scale systematic conservation planning for China to determine the optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation. We compiled a spatial database on the distributions of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and modeled a human disturbance index (HDI) by aggregating information using several socioeconomic proxies. We ran Marxan with two scenarios (HDI-ignored and HDI-considered) to investigate the effects of human disturbance, and explored the geographic patterns of the optimized spatial conservation priorities. Compared to when HDI was ignored, the HDI-considered scenario resulted in (1) a marked reduction (∼9%) in the total HDI score and a slight increase (∼7%) in the total area of the portfolio of priority units, (2) a significant increase (∼43%) in the total irreplaceable area and (3) more irreplaceable units being identified in almost all environmental zones and highly-disturbed provinces. Thus the inclusion of human disturbance is essential for cost-effective priority-setting. Attention should be targeted to the areas that are characterized as moderately-disturbed, <2,000 m in altitude, and/or intermediately- to extremely-rugged in terrain to identify potentially important regions for implementing cost-effective conservation. We delineated 23 primary large-scale priority areas that are significant for conserving China's biodiversity, but those isolated priority units in disturbed regions are in more urgent need of conservation actions so as to prevent immediate and severe biodiversity loss. This study presents a spatially optimized national-scale portfolio of conservation priorities – effectively representing the overall biodiversity of China while minimizing conflicts with economic development. Our results offer critical insights for current conservation and strategic land-use planning in China. The approach is transferable and easy to implement by end-users, and applicable for national- and local-scale systematic conservation prioritization practices. PMID:25072933

Combining endangered plants and animals as surrogates to identify priority conservation areas in Yunnan, China

PubMed Central

Yang, Feiling; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Ruidong

2016-01-01

Suitable surrogates are critical for identifying optimal priority conservation areas (PCAs) to protect regional biodiversity. This study explored the efficiency of using endangered plants and animals as surrogates for identifying PCAs at the county level in Yunnan, southwest China. We ran the Dobson algorithm under three surrogate scenarios at 75% and 100% conservation levels and identified four types of PCAs. Assessment of the protection efficiencies of the four types of PCAs showed that endangered plants had higher surrogacy values than endangered animals but that the two were not substitutable; coupled endangered plants and animals as surrogates yielded a higher surrogacy value than endangered plants or animals as surrogates; the plant-animal priority areas (PAPAs) was the optimal among the four types of PCAs for conserving both endangered plants and animals in Yunnan. PAPAs could well represent overall species diversity distribution patterns and overlap with critical biogeographical regions in Yunnan. Fourteen priority units in PAPAs should be urgently considered as optimizing Yunnan’s protected area system. The spatial pattern of PAPAs at the 100% conservation level could be conceptualized into three connected conservation belts, providing a valuable reference for optimizing the layout of the in situ protected area system in Yunnan. PMID:27538537

Ecology of Greater Sage-Grouse in the Bi-State Planning Area Final Report, September 2007

USGS Publications Warehouse

Casazza, Michael L.; Overton, Cory T.; Farinha, Melissa A.; Torregrosa, Alicia; Fleskes, Joseph P.; Miller, Michael R.; Sedinger, James S.; Kolada, Eric J.

2009-01-01

Conservation efforts for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), hereafter sage-grouse, are underway across the range of this species. Over 70 local working groups have been established and are implementing on-the-ground sage-grouse oriented conservation projects. Early on in this process, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) recognized the need to join in these efforts and received funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the Candidate Species Conservation Program to help develop a species conservation plan for sage-grouse in the Mono County area. This conservation plan covers portions of Alpine, Mono, and Inyo counties in California and Douglas, Esmeralda, Lyon, and Mineral counties in Nevada. A concurrent effort underway through the Nevada Governor's Sage-grouse Conservation Team established Local Area Working Groups across Nevada and eastern California. The Mono County populations of sage-grouse were encompassed by the Bi-State Local Planning Area, which was comprised of six population management units (PMUs). The state agencies from California (CDFG) and Nevada (Nevada Department of Wildlife; NDOW) responsible for the management of sage-grouse agreed to utilize the process that had begun with the Nevada Governor's Team in order to develop local plans for conservation planning and implementation. Resources from the USFWS were applied to several objectives in support of the development of the Bi-State Local Area Sage-grouse Conservation Plan through a grant to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Objectives included: (1) participate in the development of the Bi-State Conservation Plan, (2) compile and synthesize existing sage-grouse data, (3) document seasonal movements of sage-grouse, (4) identify habitats critical to sage-grouse, (5) determine survival rates and identify causal factors of mortality, (6) determine nest success and brood success of sage-grouse, and (7) identify sage-grouse lek sites. Progress reports completed in 2004 and 2005 addressed each of the specific objectives and this final report focuses on the biological information gathered in support of local conservation efforts. Participation in the development of the Bi-State Local Area Conservation Plan was accomplished on multiple scales. Beginning in the fall of 2002, USGS personnel began participating in meetings of local stakeholders involved in the development of a sage-grouse conservation plan for the Bi-State planning area. This included attendance at numerous local PMU group meetings and field trips as well as participating on the technical advisory committee (TAC) for the Bi-State group. Whenever appropriate, ongoing results and findings regarding sage-grouse ecology in the local area were incorporated into these working group meetings. In addition, the USGS partnered with CDFG to help reorganize one of the local PMU groups (South Mono) and edited that portion of the Bi-State plan. The USGS also worked closely with CDFG to draft a description of the state of knowledge for sage-grouse genetic information for inclusion in the Bi-State Conservation Plan. The first edition of the Bi-State Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse was completed in June 2004 (Bi-State Sage-grouse Conservation Team 2004). This report is organized primarily by PMU to facilitate the incorporation of these research findings into the individual PMU plans that compose the Bi-State plan. Information presented in this report was derived from over 7,000 radio-telemetry locations obtained on 145 individual sage-grouse during a three year period (2003-2005). In addition, we collected detailed vegetation measurements at over 590 habitat sampling plots within the study area including canopy cover, shrubs, forbs, and grasses diversity. Vegetation data collection focused on sage-grouse nests, and brood-use areas. Additionally we collected data at random sites to examine sage-grouse habitat relationships within the study area. The majori

78 FR 35639 - Establishment of the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Rio Mora Conservation Area, Colfax...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-13

...-acre Wind River Ranch in Mora County, New Mexico. ADDRESSES: A map depicting the approved boundary and... Mexico, and the Rio Mora Conservation Area, including portions of Colfax, Mora, and San Miguel Counties, New Mexico. The Service may pursue protection and management of wildlife resources in the conservation...

Exclusion of agricultural lands in spatial conservation prioritization strategies: consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service representation

PubMed Central

Durán, América P.; Duffy, James P.; Gaston, Kevin J.

2014-01-01

Agroecosystems have traditionally been considered incompatible with biological conservation goals, and often been excluded from spatial conservation prioritization strategies. The consequences for the representativeness of identified priority areas have been little explored. Here, we evaluate these for biodiversity and carbon storage representation when agricultural land areas are excluded from a spatial prioritization strategy for South America. Comparing different prioritization approaches, we also assess how the spatial overlap of priority areas changes. The exclusion of agricultural lands was detrimental to biodiversity representation, indicating that priority areas for agricultural production overlap with areas of relatively high occurrence of species. By contrast, exclusion of agricultural lands benefits representation of carbon storage within priority areas, as lands of high value for agriculture and carbon storage overlap little. When agricultural lands were included and equally weighted with biodiversity and carbon storage, a balanced representation resulted. Our findings suggest that with appropriate management, South American agroecosystems can significantly contribute to biodiversity conservation. PMID:25143040

Restricted-Range Fishes and the Conservation of Brazilian Freshwaters

PubMed Central

Nogueira, Cristiano; Buckup, Paulo A.; Menezes, Naercio A.; Oyakawa, Osvaldo T.; Kasecker, Thais P.; Ramos Neto, Mario B.; da Silva, José Maria C.

2010-01-01

Background Freshwaters are the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Although recent assessments provide data on global priority regions for freshwater conservation, local scale priorities remain unknown. Refining the scale of global biodiversity assessments (both at terrestrial and freshwater realms) and translating these into conservation priorities on the ground remains a major challenge to biodiversity science, and depends directly on species occurrence data of high taxonomic and geographic resolution. Brazil harbors the richest freshwater ichthyofauna in the world, but knowledge on endemic areas and conservation in Brazilian rivers is still scarce. Methodology/Principal Findings Using data on environmental threats and revised species distribution data we detect and delineate 540 small watershed areas harboring 819 restricted-range fishes in Brazil. Many of these areas are already highly threatened, as 159 (29%) watersheds have lost more than 70% of their original vegetation cover, and only 141 (26%) show significant overlap with formally protected areas or indigenous lands. We detected 220 (40%) critical watersheds overlapping hydroelectric dams or showing both poor formal protection and widespread habitat loss; these sites harbor 344 endemic fish species that may face extinction if no conservation action is in place in the near future. Conclusions/Significance We provide the first analysis of site-scale conservation priorities in the richest freshwater ecosystems of the globe. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that freshwater biodiversity has been neglected in former conservation assessments. The study provides a simple and straightforward method for detecting freshwater priority areas based on endemism and threat, and represents a starting point for integrating freshwater and terrestrial conservation in representative and biogeographically consistent site-scale conservation strategies, that may be scaled-up following naturally linked drainage systems. Proper management (e. g. forestry code enforcement, landscape planning) and conservation (e. g. formal protection) of the 540 watersheds detected herein will be decisive in avoiding species extinction in the richest aquatic ecosystems on the planet. PMID:20613986

Measuring the effectiveness of conservation: a novel framework to quantify the benefits of sage-grouse conservation policy and easements in Wyoming.

PubMed

Copeland, Holly E; Pocewicz, Amy; Naugle, David E; Griffiths, Tim; Keinath, Doug; Evans, Jeffrey; Platt, James

2013-01-01

Increasing energy and housing demands are impacting wildlife populations throughout western North America. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a species known for its sensitivity to landscape-scale disturbance, inhabits the same low elevation sage-steppe in which much of this development is occurring. Wyoming has committed to maintain sage-grouse populations through conservation easements and policy changes that conserves high bird abundance "core" habitat and encourages development in less sensitive landscapes. In this study, we built new predictive models of oil and gas, wind, and residential development and applied build-out scenarios to simulate future development and measure the efficacy of conservation actions for maintaining sage-grouse populations. Our approach predicts sage-grouse population losses averted through conservation action and quantifies return on investment for different conservation strategies. We estimate that without conservation, sage-grouse populations in Wyoming will decrease under our long-term scenario by 14-29% (95% CI: 4-46%). However, a conservation strategy that includes the "core area" policy and $250 million in targeted easements could reduce these losses to 9-15% (95% CI: 3-32%), cutting anticipated losses by roughly half statewide and nearly two-thirds within sage-grouse core breeding areas. Core area policy is the single most important component, and targeted easements are complementary to the overall strategy. There is considerable uncertainty around the magnitude of our estimates; however, the relative benefit of different conservation scenarios remains comparable because potential biases and assumptions are consistently applied regardless of the strategy. There is early evidence based on a 40% reduction in leased hectares inside core areas that Wyoming policy is reducing potential for future fragmentation inside core areas. Our framework using build-out scenarios to anticipate species declines provides estimates that could be used by decision makers to determine if expected population losses warrant ESA listing.

[Impact of rural land market on farm household's behavior of soil & water conservation and its regional difference: A case study of Xingguo, Shangrao, and Yujiang County in Jiangxi province ecologically vulnerable districts].

PubMed

Zhong, Tai-Yang; Huang, Xian-jin

2006-02-01

The paper analyzed the farm households' decision-making progress of soil & water conservation and its two-stage conceptual model. It also discussed the impacts of rural land market on the farm households' behavior of soil & water conservation. Given that, the article established models for the relations between the land market and soil & water conservation, and the models' parameters were estimated with Heckman's two-stage approach by using the farm household questionnaires in Xingguo, Shangrao and Yujiang counties of Jiangxi province. The paper analyzed the impact o f rural land market on farm household's behavior of soil & water conservation and its regional difference with the result of model estimation. The results show that the perception of soil & water loss and the tax & fee on the farm land have significant influence upon the soil and water conservation from the view of the population; however, because of different social and economic condition, and soil & water loss, there are differences of the influence among the three sample counties. These differences go as follows in detail: In Xingguo County, the rent-in land area and its cost have remarkable effect on the farm households' soil & water conservation behavior; In Yujiang County, the rent-in land area, rent-in cost and rent-out land area remarkably influence the farm households' behavior of soil and water conservation, with the influence of the rent-in land area being greater than Xingguo County; In Shangrao County, only rent-out land area has significant influence on the behaviors of soil & water conservation; In all samples, Xingguo County and Yujiang County samples, the rent-out income has no significant influence on the farm household's decision-making behavior soil and water conservation. Finally, the paper put forward some suggestions on how to bring the soil & water loss under control and use land resource in sustainable ways.

Restricted-range fishes and the conservation of Brazilian freshwaters.

PubMed

Nogueira, Cristiano; Buckup, Paulo A; Menezes, Naercio A; Oyakawa, Osvaldo T; Kasecker, Thais P; Ramos Neto, Mario B; da Silva, José Maria C

2010-06-30

Freshwaters are the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Although recent assessments provide data on global priority regions for freshwater conservation, local scale priorities remain unknown. Refining the scale of global biodiversity assessments (both at terrestrial and freshwater realms) and translating these into conservation priorities on the ground remains a major challenge to biodiversity science, and depends directly on species occurrence data of high taxonomic and geographic resolution. Brazil harbors the richest freshwater ichthyofauna in the world, but knowledge on endemic areas and conservation in Brazilian rivers is still scarce. Using data on environmental threats and revised species distribution data we detect and delineate 540 small watershed areas harboring 819 restricted-range fishes in Brazil. Many of these areas are already highly threatened, as 159 (29%) watersheds have lost more than 70% of their original vegetation cover, and only 141 (26%) show significant overlap with formally protected areas or indigenous lands. We detected 220 (40%) critical watersheds overlapping hydroelectric dams or showing both poor formal protection and widespread habitat loss; these sites harbor 344 endemic fish species that may face extinction if no conservation action is in place in the near future. We provide the first analysis of site-scale conservation priorities in the richest freshwater ecosystems of the globe. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that freshwater biodiversity has been neglected in former conservation assessments. The study provides a simple and straightforward method for detecting freshwater priority areas based on endemism and threat, and represents a starting point for integrating freshwater and terrestrial conservation in representative and biogeographically consistent site-scale conservation strategies, that may be scaled-up following naturally linked drainage systems. Proper management (e. g. forestry code enforcement, landscape planning) and conservation (e. g. formal protection) of the 540 watersheds detected herein will be decisive in avoiding species extinction in the richest aquatic ecosystems on the planet.

50 CFR Table 3 (north) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears North of 40°10′ N. Lat.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears North of 40°10â² N. Lat. 3 Table 3 (North) to Part 660, Subpart F...) to Part 660, Subpart F—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears...

50 CFR Table 3 (south) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears South of 40°10′ N. Lat.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears South of 40°10â² N. Lat. 3 Table 3 (South) to Part 660, Subpart F...) to Part 660, Subpart F—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears...

Human migration, protected areas, and conservation outreach in Tanzania.

PubMed

Salerno, Jonathan D; Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique; Kefauver, Shawn C

2014-06-01

A recent discussion debates the extent of human in-migration around protected areas (PAs) in the tropics. One proposed argument is that rural migrants move to bordering areas to access conservation outreach benefits. A counter proposal maintains that PAs have largely negative effects on local populations and that outreach initiatives even if successful present insufficient benefits to drive in-migration. Using data from Tanzania, we examined merits of statistical tests and spatial methods used previously to evaluate migration near PAs and applied hierarchical modeling with appropriate controls for demographic and geographic factors to advance the debate. Areas bordering national parks in Tanzania did not have elevated rates of in-migration. Low baseline population density and high vegetation productivity with low interannual variation rather than conservation outreach explained observed migration patterns. More generally we argue that to produce results of conservation policy significance, analyses must be conducted at appropriate scales, and we caution against use of demographic data without appropriate controls when drawing conclusions about migration dynamics. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Building Capacity for Protected Area Management in Lao PDR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Madhu; Johnson, Arlyne; Spence, Kelly; Sypasong, Ahnsany; Bynum, Nora; Sterling, Eleanor; Phimminith, Thavy; Praxaysombath, Bounthob

2014-04-01

Declining biodiversity in protected areas in Laos is attributed to unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. At a basic level, an important need is to develop capacity in academic and professional training institutions to provide relevant training to conservation professionals. The paper (a) describes the capacity building approach undertaken to achieve this goal, (b) evaluates the effectiveness of the approach in building capacity for implementing conservation and (c) reviews implementation outcomes. Strong linkages between organizations implementing field conservation, professional training institutions, and relevant Government agencies are central to enhancing effectiveness of capacity building initiatives aimed at improving the practice of conservation. Protected area management technical capacity needs will need to directly influence curriculum design to insure both relevance and effectiveness of training in improving protected area management. Sustainability of capacity building initiatives is largely dependent on the level of interest and commitment by host-country institutions within a supportive Government policy framework in addition to engagement of organizations implementing conservation.

The effectiveness of surrogate taxa to conserve freshwater biodiversity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stewart, David R.; Underwood, Zachary E.; Rahel, Frank J.; Walters, Annika W.

2018-01-01

Establishing protected areas has long been an effective conservation strategy, and is often based on more readily surveyed species. The potential of any freshwater taxa to be a surrogate of other aquatic groups has not been fully explored. We compiled occurrence data on 72 species of freshwater fish, amphibians, mussels, and aquatic reptiles for the Great Plains, Wyoming. We used hierarchical Bayesian multi-species mixture models and MaxEnt models to describe species distributions, and program Zonation to identify conservation priority areas for each aquatic group. The landscape-scale factors that best characterized aquatic species distributions differed among groups. There was low agreement and congruence among taxa-specific conservation priorities (<20%), meaning that no surrogate priority areas would include or protect the best habitats of other aquatic taxa. We found that common, wide-ranging aquatic species were included in taxa-specific priority areas, but rare freshwater species were not included. Thus, the development of conservation priorities based on a single freshwater aquatic group would not protect all species in the other aquatic groups.

Building capacity for protected area management in Lao PDR.

PubMed

Rao, Madhu; Johnson, Arlyne; Spence, Kelly; Sypasong, Ahnsany; Bynum, Nora; Sterling, Eleanor; Phimminith, Thavy; Praxaysombath, Bounthob

2014-04-01

Declining biodiversity in protected areas in Laos is attributed to unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. At a basic level, an important need is to develop capacity in academic and professional training institutions to provide relevant training to conservation professionals. The paper (a) describes the capacity building approach undertaken to achieve this goal, (b) evaluates the effectiveness of the approach in building capacity for implementing conservation and (c) reviews implementation outcomes. Strong linkages between organizations implementing field conservation, professional training institutions, and relevant Government agencies are central to enhancing effectiveness of capacity building initiatives aimed at improving the practice of conservation. Protected area management technical capacity needs will need to directly influence curriculum design to insure both relevance and effectiveness of training in improving protected area management. Sustainability of capacity building initiatives is largely dependent on the level of interest and commitment by host-country institutions within a supportive Government policy framework in addition to engagement of organizations implementing conservation.

Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Costs Shift Spatial Priorities for Conserving Forest Biodiversity

PubMed Central

Schröter, Matthias; Rusch, Graciela M.; Barton, David N.; Blumentrath, Stefan; Nordén, Björn

2014-01-01

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%. PMID:25393951

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

PubMed

Schröter, Matthias; Rusch, Graciela M; Barton, David N; Blumentrath, Stefan; Nordén, Björn

2014-01-01

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.

Ground-water flow and ground- and surface-water interaction at McBaine Bottoms, Columbia, Missouri--2000-02

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Brenda J.

2003-01-01

McBaine Bottoms southwest of Columbia, Missouri, is the site of 4,269 acres of the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation, about 130 acres of the city of Columbia wastewater-treat-ment wetlands, and the city of Columbia munici-pal-supply well field. The city of Columbia wastewater-treatment wetlands supply treated effluent to the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area. The presence of a sustained ground-water high underlying the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area has indicated that ground-water flow is toward the municipal well field that supplies drinking water to the city of Columbia. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the city of Columbia, measured the ground-water levels in about 88 monitoring wells and the surface-water elevation at 4 sites monthly during a 27-month period to determine the ground-water flow and the ground- and surface-water interaction at McBaine Bottoms. Lateral ground-water flow was dominated by the presence of a ground-water high that was beneath the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area and the presence of a cone of depression in the northern part of the study area. The ground-water high was present during all months of the study. Ground-water flow was radially away from the apex of the ground-water high; west and south of the high, flow was toward the Missouri River, east of the high, flow was toward Perche Creek, and north of the high, flow was toward the north toward the city of Columbia well field. The cone of depression was centered around the city of Columbia well field. Another permanent feature on the water-level maps was a ground-water high beneath treatment wetland unit 1. Although the ground-water high beneath the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area was present throughout the study period, the configuration of the high changed depending on hydrologic conditions. Generally in the spring, the height of the ground-water high began to decrease and hydraulic gradients around the high became more shallow than in the winter months. In early summer, the high was the least pronounced. During mid-sum-mer, the high became more pronounced, and it continued to become higher, increasing until it reached its maximum height in late fall or early winter. Fluctuations in the ground-water high were partially produced by the cycle of flooding of the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area wetland pools in the fall and subsequent drainage so crops could be planted in many of the wetland pools. The cone of depression in the northern part of the study area generally extended from the base of the ground-water high in the northern part of the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area throughout the rest of the study area. The depth of the cone primarily was affected by the altitude of the Missouri River and the quantity of water being pumped from the alluvial aquifer by the city of Columbia well field. Ground-water flow in the alluvial aquifer in McBaine Bottoms in the late 1960?s before the development of the city of Columbia well field and the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area was from northwest to southeast approximately parallel to the Missouri River. The ground-water high beneath the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area and the cone of depression around the city of Columbia well field were not present in water-level maps for 1968 and 1978. The Missouri River can be a source of recharge to the alluvial aquifer. Generally the altitude of the river in the northern part of the study area was higher than the water table in the aquifer. Ground-water flow in this area was from the river into the alluvial aquifer. In the southern part of the study area adjacent to the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, the Missouri River was lower than the water table in the alluvial aquifer, indicating that the river was receiving water from the alluvial aquifer beneath the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area.

Effectiveness of protected areas for vertebrates based on taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity.

PubMed

Quan, Qing; Che, Xianli; Wu, Yongjie; Wu, Yuchun; Zhang, Qiang; Zhang, Min; Zou, Fasheng

2018-04-01

Establishing protected areas is the primary goal and tool for preventing irreversible biodiversity loss. However, the effectiveness of protected areas that target specific species has been questioned for some time because targeting key species for conservation may impair the integral regional pool of species diversity and phylogenetic and functional diversity are seldom considered. We assessed the efficacy of protected areas in China for the conservation of phylogenetic diversity based on the ranges and phylogenies of 2279 terrestrial vertebrates. Phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity were strongly and positively correlated, and only 12.1-43.8% of priority conservation areas are currently protected. However, the patterns and coverage of phylogenetic diversity were affected when weighted by species richness. These results indicated that in China, protected areas targeting high species richness protected phylogenetic diversity well overall but failed to do so in some regions with more unique or threatened communities (e.g., coastal areas of eastern China, where severely threatened avian communities were less protected). Our results suggest that the current distribution of protected areas could be improved, although most protected areas protect both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Protection of mammal diversity in Central America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jenkins, Clinton N.; Giri, Chandra

2008-01-01

Central America is exceptionally rich in biodiversity, but varies widely in the attention its countries devote to conservation. Protected areas, widely considered the cornerstone of conservation, were not always created with the intent of conserving that biodiversity. We assessed how well the protected-area system of Central America includes the region's mammal diversity. This first required a refinement of existing range maps to reduce their extensive errors of commission (i.e., predicted presences in places where species do not occur). For this refinement, we used the ecological limits of each species to identify and remove unsuitable areas from the range. We then compared these maps with the locations of protected areas to measure the habitat protected for each of the region's 250 endemic mammals. The species most vulnerable to extinction—those with small ranges—were largely outside protected areas. Nevertheless, the most strictly protected areas tended toward areas with many small-ranged species. To improve the protection coverage of mammal diversity in the region, we identified a set of priority sites that would best complement the existing protected areas. Protecting these new sites would require a relatively small increase in the total area protected, but could greatly enhance mammal conservation.

Contests In Conservation and Horticulture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Richard D.

1977-01-01

Growing interest in conservation and horticulture in New York State has caused the addition of these specialized areas to the annual statewide agricultural education contests. Contest categories in both areas are listed. (MF)

A Holistic Approach Including Biological and Geological Criteria for Integrative Management in Protected Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peña, Lorena; Monge-Ganuzas, Manu; Onaindia, Miren; De Manuel, Beatriz Fernández; Mendia, Miren

2017-02-01

Biodiversity hotspots and geosites are indivisible parts of natural heritage. Therefore, an adequate spatial delimitation and understanding of both and their linkages are necessary in order to be able to establish conservation policies. Normally, biodiversity hotspots are a typical target for those policies but, generally, geosites are not taken into account. Thus, this paper aims to fill this gap by providing an easily replicable method for the identification and integration of the geosites and the biodiversity hotspots in a Network for Integrative Nature Conservation that highlights their linkages. The method here presented has been applied to Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve situated in southeastern of the Bay of Biscay. The obtained results indicate that some geosites that are not directly related with biodiversity hotspots remain unprotected. Thus, from the study carried out, it can be stated that we conserving just the biodiversity hotspots is not enough to conserve the whole natural heritage of a protected area, as some plots interesting due to their relevant geoheritage remain unprotected. Therefore, it is necessary to fully integrate geosites into the planning documents of protected areas as a part of an ecosystem approach. The ecosystem approach recognizes the integrity of abiotic and biotic elements in nature conservation policies. Moreover, the proposed framework and the innovative methodology can be used as an easy input to identify priority areas for conservation, to improve the protected areas conservation planning, and to demonstrate the linkages between biodiversity hotspots and geosites.

A Holistic Approach Including Biological and Geological Criteria for Integrative Management in Protected Areas.

PubMed

Peña, Lorena; Monge-Ganuzas, Manu; Onaindia, Miren; De Manuel, Beatriz Fernández; Mendia, Miren

2017-02-01

Biodiversity hotspots and geosites are indivisible parts of natural heritage. Therefore, an adequate spatial delimitation and understanding of both and their linkages are necessary in order to be able to establish conservation policies. Normally, biodiversity hotspots are a typical target for those policies but, generally, geosites are not taken into account. Thus, this paper aims to fill this gap by providing an easily replicable method for the identification and integration of the geosites and the biodiversity hotspots in a Network for Integrative Nature Conservation that highlights their linkages. The method here presented has been applied to Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve situated in southeastern of the Bay of Biscay. The obtained results indicate that some geosites that are not directly related with biodiversity hotspots remain unprotected. Thus, from the study carried out, it can be stated that we conserving just the biodiversity hotspots is not enough to conserve the whole natural heritage of a protected area, as some plots interesting due to their relevant geoheritage remain unprotected. Therefore, it is necessary to fully integrate geosites into the planning documents of protected areas as a part of an ecosystem approach. The ecosystem approach recognizes the integrity of abiotic and biotic elements in nature conservation policies. Moreover, the proposed framework and the innovative methodology can be used as an easy input to identify priority areas for conservation, to improve the protected areas conservation planning, and to demonstrate the linkages between biodiversity hotspots and geosites.

Socioeconomic issues for the Bear River Watershed Conservation Land Area Protection Plan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Catherine Cullinane; Huber, Christopher; Gascoigne, William; Koontz, Lynne

2012-01-01

The Bear River Watershed Conservation Area is located in the Bear River Watershed, a vast basin covering fourteen counties across three states. Located in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, the watershed spans roughly 7,500 squares miles: 1,500 squares miles in Wyoming; 2,700 squares miles in Idaho; and 3,300 squares miles in Utah (Utah Division of Water Resources, 2004). Three National Wildlife Refuges are currently contained within the boundary of the BRWCA: the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, and the Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a Preliminary Project Proposal and identified the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area as having high-value wildlife habitat. This finding initiated the Land Protection Planning process, which is used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study land conservation opportunities including adding lands to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to include part of the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area in the Refuge System by acquiring up to 920,000 acres of conservation easements from willing landowners to maintain landscape integrity and habitat connectivity in the region. The analysis described in this report provides a profile of the social and economic conditions in the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area and addresses social and economic questions and concerns raised during public involvement in the Land Protection Planning process.

Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation Practices on Crop Yield, Run-off, Soil Loss and Nutrient Loss in Ethiopia: Review and Synthesis.

PubMed

Adimassu, Zenebe; Langan, Simon; Johnston, Robyn; Mekuria, Wolde; Amede, Tilahun

2017-01-01

Research results published regarding the impact of soil and water conservation practices in the highland areas of Ethiopia have been inconsistent and scattered. In this paper, a detailed review and synthesis is reported that was conducted to identify the impacts of soil and water conservation practices on crop yield, surface run-off, soil loss, nutrient loss, and the economic viability, as well as to discuss the implications for an integrated approach and ecosystem services. The review and synthesis showed that most physical soil and water conservation practices such as soil bunds and stone bunds were very effective in reducing run-off, soil erosion and nutrient depletion. Despite these positive impacts on these services, the impact of physical soil and water conservation practices on crop yield was negative mainly due to the reduction of effective cultivable area by soil/stone bunds. In contrast, most agronomic soil and water conservation practices increase crop yield and reduce run-off and soil losses. This implies that integrating physical soil and water conservation practices with agronomic soil and water conservation practices are essential to increase both provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Additionally, effective use of unutilized land (the area occupied by bunds) by planting multipurpose grasses and trees on the bunds may offset the yield lost due to a reduction in planting area. If high value grasses and trees can be grown on this land, farmers can harvest fodder for animals or fuel wood, both in scarce supply in Ethiopia. Growing of these grasses and trees can also help the stability of the bunds and reduce maintenance cost. Economic feasibility analysis also showed that, soil and water conservation practices became economically more viable if physical and agronomic soil and water conservation practices are integrated.

Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation Practices on Crop Yield, Run-off, Soil Loss and Nutrient Loss in Ethiopia: Review and Synthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adimassu, Zenebe; Langan, Simon; Johnston, Robyn; Mekuria, Wolde; Amede, Tilahun

2017-01-01

Research results published regarding the impact of soil and water conservation practices in the highland areas of Ethiopia have been inconsistent and scattered. In this paper, a detailed review and synthesis is reported that was conducted to identify the impacts of soil and water conservation practices on crop yield, surface run-off, soil loss, nutrient loss, and the economic viability, as well as to discuss the implications for an integrated approach and ecosystem services. The review and synthesis showed that most physical soil and water conservation practices such as soil bunds and stone bunds were very effective in reducing run-off, soil erosion and nutrient depletion. Despite these positive impacts on these services, the impact of physical soil and water conservation practices on crop yield was negative mainly due to the reduction of effective cultivable area by soil/stone bunds. In contrast, most agronomic soil and water conservation practices increase crop yield and reduce run-off and soil losses. This implies that integrating physical soil and water conservation practices with agronomic soil and water conservation practices are essential to increase both provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Additionally, effective use of unutilized land (the area occupied by bunds) by planting multipurpose grasses and trees on the bunds may offset the yield lost due to a reduction in planting area. If high value grasses and trees can be grown on this land, farmers can harvest fodder for animals or fuel wood, both in scarce supply in Ethiopia. Growing of these grasses and trees can also help the stability of the bunds and reduce maintenance cost. Economic feasibility analysis also showed that, soil and water conservation practices became economically more viable if physical and agronomic soil and water conservation practices are integrated.

Model-based conservation planning of the genetic diversity of Phellodendron amurense Rupr due to climate change

PubMed Central

Wan, Jizhong; Wang, Chunjing; Yu, Jinghua; Nie, Siming; Han, Shijie; Zu, Yuangang; Chen, Changmei; Yuan, Shusheng; Wang, Qinggui

2014-01-01

Climate change affects both habitat suitability and the genetic diversity of wild plants. Therefore, predicting and establishing the most effective and coherent conservation areas is essential for the conservation of genetic diversity in response to climate change. This is because genetic variance is a product not only of habitat suitability in conservation areas but also of efficient protection and management. Phellodendron amurense Rupr. is a tree species (family Rutaceae) that is endangered due to excessive and illegal harvesting for use in Chinese medicine. Here, we test a general computational method for the prediction of priority conservation areas (PCAs) by measuring the genetic diversity of P. amurense across the entirety of northeast China using a single strand repeat analysis of twenty microsatellite markers. Using computational modeling, we evaluated the geographical distribution of the species, both now and in different future climate change scenarios. Different populations were analyzed according to genetic diversity, and PCAs were identified using a spatial conservation prioritization framework. These conservation areas were optimized to account for the geographical distribution of P. amurense both now and in the future, to effectively promote gene flow, and to have a long period of validity. In situ and ex situ conservation, strategies for vulnerable populations were proposed. Three populations with low genetic diversity are predicted to be negatively affected by climate change, making conservation of genetic diversity challenging due to decreasing habitat suitability. Habitat suitability was important for the assessment of genetic variability in existing nature reserves, which were found to be much smaller than the proposed PCAs. Finally, a simple set of conservation measures was established through modeling. This combined molecular and computational ecology approach provides a framework for planning the protection of species endangered by climate change. PMID:25165526

Representation of Ecological Systems within the Protected Areas Network of the Continental United States

PubMed Central

Aycrigg, Jocelyn L.; Davidson, Anne; Svancara, Leona K.; Gergely, Kevin J.; McKerrow, Alexa; Scott, J. Michael

2013-01-01

If conservation of biodiversity is the goal, then the protected areas network of the continental US may be one of our best conservation tools for safeguarding ecological systems (i.e., vegetation communities). We evaluated representation of ecological systems in the current protected areas network and found insufficient representation at three vegetation community levels within lower elevations and moderate to high productivity soils. We used national-level data for ecological systems and a protected areas database to explore alternative ways we might be able to increase representation of ecological systems within the continental US. By following one or more of these alternatives it may be possible to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network both quantitatively (from 10% up to 39%) and geographically and come closer to meeting the suggested Convention on Biological Diversity target of 17% for terrestrial areas. We used the Landscape Conservation Cooperative framework for regional analysis and found that increased conservation on some private and public lands may be important to the conservation of ecological systems in Western US, while increased public-private partnerships may be important in the conservation of ecological systems in Eastern US. We have not assessed the pros and cons of following the national or regional alternatives, but rather present them as possibilities that may be considered and evaluated as decisions are made to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network across their range of ecological, geographical, and geophysical occurrence in the continental US into the future. PMID:23372754

Representation of ecological systems within the protected areas network of the continental United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Aycrigg, Jocelyn L.; Davidson, Anne; Svancara, Leona K.; Gergely, Kevin J.; McKerrow, Alexa; Scott, J. Michael

2013-01-01

If conservation of biodiversity is the goal, then the protected areas network of the continental US may be one of our best conservation tools for safeguarding ecological systems (i.e., vegetation communities). We evaluated representation of ecological systems in the current protected areas network and found insufficient representation at three vegetation community levels within lower elevations and moderate to high productivity soils. We used national-level data for ecological systems and a protected areas database to explore alternative ways we might be able to increase representation of ecological systems within the continental US. By following one or more of these alternatives it may be possible to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network both quantitatively (from 10% up to 39%) and geographically and come closer to meeting the suggested Convention on Biological Diversity target of 17% for terrestrial areas. We used the Landscape Conservation Cooperative framework for regional analysis and found that increased conservation on some private and public lands may be important to the conservation of ecological systems in Western US, while increased public-private partnerships may be important in the conservation of ecological systems in Eastern US. We have not assessed the pros and cons of following the national or regional alternatives, but rather present them as possibilities that may be considered and evaluated as decisions are made to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network across their range of ecological, geographical, and geophysical occurrence in the continental US into the future.

A VSA-based strategy for placing conservation buffers in agricultural watersheds.

PubMed

Qiu, Zeyuan

2003-09-01

Conservation buffers have the potential to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution and improve terrestrial wildlife habitat, landscape biodiversity, flood control, recreation, and aesthetics. Conservation buffers, streamside areas and riparian wetlands are being used or have been proposed to control agricultural nonpoint source pollution. This paper proposes an innovative strategy for placing conservation buffers based on the able source area (VSA) hydrology. VSAs are small, variable but predictable portion of a watershed that regularly contributes to runoff generation. The VSA-based strategy involves the following three steps: first, identifying VSAs in landscapes based on natural characteristics such as hydrology, land use/cover, topography and soils; second, targeting areas within VSAs for conservation buffers; third, refining the size and location of conservation buffers based on other factors such as weather, environmental objectives, available funding and other best management practices. Building conservation buffers in VSAs allows agricultural runoff to more uniformly enter buffers and stay there longer, which increases the buffer's capacity to remove sediments and nutrients. A field-scale example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the within-VSA conservation buffer scenario relative to a typical edge-of-field buffer scenario. The results enhance the understanding of hydrological processes and interactions between agricultural lands and conservation buffers in agricultural landscapes, and provide practical guidance for land resource managers and conservationists who use conservation buffers to improve water quality and amenity values of agricultural landscape.

Avian response to pine restoration at Peck Ranch Conservation Area

Treesearch

Richard Clawson; Carrie Steen; Kim Houf; Terry Thompson

2007-01-01

Midco Pine Flats is a 2,223-acre region of Peck Ranch Conservation Area (CA) that is classified as a pine-oak plains land type association. Extensive logging in the early 1900s removed most overstory shortleaf pine allowing oak to become the primary overstory component. In 2000, Missouri Department of Conservation staff initiated a pineoak woodland restoration project...

50 CFR Figure 10 to Part 679 - Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea 10 Figure 10 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt....

50 CFR Figure 10 to Part 679 - Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea 10 Figure 10 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt....

50 CFR Figure 10 to Part 679 - Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea 10 Figure 10 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt....

50 CFR Figure 10 to Part 679 - Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea 10 Figure 10 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt....

50 CFR Figure 10 to Part 679 - Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Pribilof Islands Area Habitat Conservation Zone in the Bering Sea 10 Figure 10 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA Pt....

Efficiency of protected areas in Amazon and Atlantic Forest conservation: A spatio-temporal view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobral-Souza, Thadeu; Vancine, Maurício Humberto; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Lima-Ribeiro, Matheus S.

2018-02-01

The Amazon and Atlantic Forest are considered the world's most biodiverse biomes. Human and climate change impacts are the principal drivers of species loss in both biomes, more severely in the Atlantic Forest. In response to species loss, the main conservation action is the creation of protected areas (PAs). Current knowledge and research on the PA network's conservation efficiency is scarce, and existing studies have mainly considered a past temporal view. In this study, we tested the efficiency of the current PA network to maintain climatically stable areas (CSAs) across the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. To this, we used an ecological niche modeling approach to biome and paleoclimatic simulations. We propose three categories of conservation priority areas for both biomes, considering CSAs, PAs and intact forest remnants. The biomes vary in their respective PA networks' protection efficiency. Regarding protect CSAs, the Amazon PA network is four times more efficient than the Atlantic Forest PA network. New conservation efforts in these two forest biomes require different approaches. We discussed the conservation actions that should be taken in each biome to increase the efficiency of the PA network, considering both the creation and expansion of PAs as well as restoration programs.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Das, Amitabh, E-mail: amitabhdas.kn@gmail.com; Chai, Jin Choul, E-mail: jincchai@gmail.com; Jung, Kyoung Hwa, E-mail: khjung2@gmail.com

JMJD2A is a lysine trimethyl-specific histone demethylase that is highly expressed in a variety of tumours. The role of JMJD2A in tumour progression remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to identify JMJD2A-regulated genes and understand the function of JMJD2A in p53-null neuroectodermal stem cells (p53{sup −/−} NE-4Cs). We determined the effect of LPS as a model of inflammation in p53{sup −/−} NE-4Cs and investigated whether the epigenetic modifier JMJD2A alter the expression of tumourigenic inflammatory genes. Global gene expression was measured in JMJD2A knockdown (kd) p53{sup −/−} NE-4Cs and in LPS-stimulated JMJD2A-kd p53{sup −/−} NE-4C cells. JMJD2A attenuationmore » significantly down-regulated genes were Cdca2, Ccnd2, Ccnd1, Crebbp, IL6rα, and Stat3 related with cell cycle, proliferation, and inflammatory-disease responses. Importantly, some tumour-suppressor genes including Dapk3, Timp2 and TFPI were significantly up-regulated but were not affected by silencing of the JMJD2B. Furthermore, we confirmed the attenuation of JMJD2A also down-regulated Cdca2, Ccnd2, Crebbp, and Rest in primary NSCs isolated from the forebrains of E15 embryos of C57/BL6J mice with effective p53 inhibitor pifithrin-α (PFT-α). Transcription factor (TF) motif analysis revealed known binding patterns for CDC5, MYC, and CREB, as well as three novel motifs in JMJD2A-regulated genes. IPA established molecular networks. The molecular network signatures and functional gene-expression profiling data from this study warrants further investigation as an effective therapeutic target, and studies to elucidate the molecular mechanism of JMJD2A-kd-dependent effects in neuroectodermal stem cells should be performed. - Highlights: • Significant up-regulation of epigenetic modifier JMJD2A mRNA upon LPS treatment. • Inhibition of JMJD2A attenuated key inflammatory and tumourigenic genes. • Establishing IPA based functional genomics in JMJD2A-attenuated p53{sup −/−} NE4C cells. • Finding JMJD2A-based molecular targets and crucial pathways in p53{sup −/−} NE4C cells.« less

Improving effectiveness of systematic conservation planning with density data.

PubMed

Veloz, Samuel; Salas, Leonardo; Altman, Bob; Alexander, John; Jongsomjit, Dennis; Elliott, Nathan; Ballard, Grant

2015-08-01

Systematic conservation planning aims to design networks of protected areas that meet conservation goals across large landscapes. The optimal design of these conservation networks is most frequently based on the modeled habitat suitability or probability of occurrence of species, despite evidence that model predictions may not be highly correlated with species density. We hypothesized that conservation networks designed using species density distributions more efficiently conserve populations of all species considered than networks designed using probability of occurrence models. To test this hypothesis, we used the Zonation conservation prioritization algorithm to evaluate conservation network designs based on probability of occurrence versus density models for 26 land bird species in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. We assessed the efficacy of each conservation network based on predicted species densities and predicted species diversity. High-density model Zonation rankings protected more individuals per species when networks protected the highest priority 10-40% of the landscape. Compared with density-based models, the occurrence-based models protected more individuals in the lowest 50% priority areas of the landscape. The 2 approaches conserved species diversity in similar ways: predicted diversity was higher in higher priority locations in both conservation networks. We conclude that both density and probability of occurrence models can be useful for setting conservation priorities but that density-based models are best suited for identifying the highest priority areas. Developing methods to aggregate species count data from unrelated monitoring efforts and making these data widely available through ecoinformatics portals such as the Avian Knowledge Network will enable species count data to be more widely incorporated into systematic conservation planning efforts. © 2015, Society for Conservation Biology.

50 CFR 424.12 - Criteria for designating critical habitat.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... sufficiently well known to permit identification of an area as critical habitat. (b) In determining what areas... essential to the conservation of a given species and that may require special management considerations or... elements within the defined area that are essential to the conservation of the species. Known primary...

A Guide to Ohio Outdoor Education Areas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melvin, Ruth W.

More than 700 areas in Ohio, useful as sites for environmental and outdoor studies, are catalogued in this guide. They include national forests; state parks; forest and wildlife areas; historic sites and memorials; metropolitan, country, and city parks; agency and private camps; conservation agency properties; conservancy district lands and…

78 FR 35217 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; American Lobster Fishery

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-12

.... 080219213-3470-01] RIN 0648-AT31 Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; American... lobster trap fishery in Lobster Conservation Management Area 2 (Federal nearshore waters in Southern New England; Area 2), and in the Outer Cape Cod Lobster Conservation Management Area (Federal nearshore waters...

Motivational functionalism and urban conservation stewardship: implications for volunteer involvement

Treesearch

Stanley T. Asah; Dale J. Blahna

2012-01-01

Conservation in urban areas faces growing financial challenges and inadequate stakeholder involvement. Conservation psychology can mitigate these challenges in many ways. One way is through conservation volunteerism, if we attend to and capitalize on volunteers' motivations. Conservation volunteerism significantly contributes to ecological knowledge acquisition,...

Threats to intact tropical peatlands and opportunities for their conservation.

PubMed

Roucoux, K H; Lawson, I T; Baker, T R; Del Castillo Torres, D; Draper, F C; Lähteenoja, O; Gilmore, M P; Honorio Coronado, E N; Kelly, T J; Mitchard, E T A; Vriesendorp, C F

2017-12-01

Large, intact areas of tropical peatland are highly threatened at a global scale by the expansion of commercial agriculture and other forms of economic development. Conserving peatlands on a landscape scale, with their hydrology intact, is of international conservation importance to preserve their distinctive biodiversity and ecosystem services and maintain their resilience to future environmental change. We explored threats to and opportunities for conserving remaining intact tropical peatlands; thus, we excluded peatlands of Indonesia and Malaysia, where extensive deforestation, drainage, and conversion to plantations means conservation in this region can protect only small fragments of the original ecosystem. We focused on a case study, the Pastaza-Marañón Foreland Basin (PMFB) in Peru, which is among the largest known intact tropical peatland landscapes in the world and is representative of peatland vulnerability. Maintenance of the hydrological conditions critical for carbon storage and ecosystem function of peatlands is, in the PMFB, primarily threatened by expansion of commercial agriculture linked to new transport infrastructure that is facilitating access to remote areas. There remain opportunities in the PMFB and elsewhere to develop alternative, more sustainable land-use practices. Although some of the peatlands in the PMFB fall within existing legally protected areas, this protection does not include the most carbon-dense (domed pole forest) areas. New carbon-based conservation instruments (e.g., REDD+, Green Climate Fund), developing markets for sustainable peatland products, transferring land title to local communities, and expanding protected areas offer pathways to increased protection for intact tropical peatlands in Amazonia and elsewhere, such as those in New Guinea and Central Africa which remain, for the moment, broadly beyond the frontier of commercial development. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

A comparison of global conservation prioritization models with spatial spending patterns of conservation nongovernmental organizations.

PubMed

Holmes, George; Scholfield, Katherine; Brockington, Dan

2012-08-01

In recent decades, various conservation organizations have developed models to prioritize locations for conservation. Through a survey of the spending patterns of 281 conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we examined the relation between 2 such models and spatial patterns of spending by conservation NGOs in 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We tested whether, at the country level, the proportion of a country designated as a conservation priority was correlated with where NGOs spent money. For one model (the combination of Conservation International's hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, which are areas of high endemism with high or low levels of vegetation loss respectively), there was no relation between the proportion of a country designated as a priority and levels of NGO spending, including by the NGO associated with the model. In the second model (Global 200), the proportion of a country designated as a priority and the amount of money spent by NGOs were significantly and positively related. Less money was spent in countries in northern and western sub-Saharan Africa than countries in southern and eastern Africa, relative to the proportion of the country designated as a conservation priority. We suggest that on the basis of our results some NGOs consider increasing their spending on the areas designated as of conservation priority which are currently relatively underfunded, although there are economic, political, cultural, historical, biological, and practical reasons why current spending patterns may not align with priority sites. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Measuring impact of protected area management interventions: current and future use of the Global Database of Protected Area Management Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Coad, Lauren; Leverington, Fiona; Knights, Kathryn; Geldmann, Jonas; Eassom, April; Kapos, Valerie; Kingston, Naomi; de Lima, Marcelo; Zamora, Camilo; Cuardros, Ivon; Nolte, Christoph; Burgess, Neil D.; Hockings, Marc

2015-01-01

Protected areas (PAs) are at the forefront of conservation efforts, and yet despite considerable progress towards the global target of having 17% of the world's land area within protected areas by 2020, biodiversity continues to decline. The discrepancy between increasing PA coverage and negative biodiversity trends has resulted in renewed efforts to enhance PA effectiveness. The global conservation community has conducted thousands of assessments of protected area management effectiveness (PAME), and interest in the use of these data to help measure the conservation impact of PA management interventions is high. Here, we summarize the status of PAME assessment, review the published evidence for a link between PAME assessment results and the conservation impacts of PAs, and discuss the limitations and future use of PAME data in measuring the impact of PA management interventions on conservation outcomes. We conclude that PAME data, while designed as a tool for local adaptive management, may also help to provide insights into the impact of PA management interventions from the local-to-global scale. However, the subjective and ordinal characteristics of the data present significant limitations for their application in rigorous scientific impact evaluations, a problem that should be recognized and mitigated where possible. PMID:26460133

Climate change adaptation benefits of potential conservation partnerships.

PubMed

Monahan, William B; Theobald, David M

2018-01-01

We evaluate the world terrestrial network of protected areas (PAs) for its partnership potential in responding to climate change. That is, if a PA engaged in collaborative, trans-boundary management of species, by investing in conservation partnerships with neighboring areas, what climate change adaptation benefits might accrue? We consider core tenets of conservation biology related to protecting large areas with high environmental heterogeneity and low climate change velocity and ask how a series of biodiversity adaptation indicators change across spatial scales encompassing potential PA and non-PA partners. Less than 1% of current world terrestrial PAs equal or exceed the size of established and successful conservation partnerships. Partnering at this scale would increase the biodiversity adaptation indicators by factors up to two orders of magnitude, compared to a null model in which each PA is isolated. Most partnership area surrounding PAs is comprised of non-PAs (70%), indicating the importance of looking beyond the current network of PAs when promoting climate change adaptation. Given monumental challenges with PA-based species conservation in the face of climate change, partnerships provide a logical and achievable strategy for helping areas adapt. Our findings identify where strategic partnering efforts in highly vulnerable areas of the world may prove critical in safeguarding biodiversity.

Total mercury loadings in sediment from gold mining and conservation areas in Guyana.

PubMed

Howard, Joniqua; Trotz, Maya A; Thomas, Ken; Omisca, Erlande; Chiu, Hong Ting; Halfhide, Trina; Akiwumi, Fenda; Michael, Ryan; Stuart, Amy L

2011-08-01

The Low Carbon Development Strategy proposed in June 2009 by the government of Guyana in response to the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries program has triggered evaluation of forest-related activities, thereby acting as a catalyst for improvements in Guyana's small- to medium-scale gold mining industry. This has also shed light on areas committed to conservation, something that has also been handled by Non Governmental Organizations. This paper compares water quality and mercury concentrations in sediment from four main areas in Guyana, two that are heavily mined for gold using mercury amalgamation methods (Arakaka and Mahdia) and two that are considered conservation areas (Iwokrama and Konashen). Fifty-three sediment and soil mercury loadings ranged from 29 to 1,200 ng/g and averaged 215 ± 187 ng/g for all sites with similar averages in conservation and mining areas. Sediment loadings are within the range seen in French Guiana and Suriname, but conservation area samples had higher loadings than the corresponding uncontaminated baselines. Type of ore and location in the mining process seemed to influence mercury loadings. Mercury sediment loadings were slightly positively correlated with pH (correlation coefficient = 0.2; p value < 0.001) whereas no significant correlations were found with dissolved oxygen or turbidity.

From nature tourism to ecotourism? The case of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.

Treesearch

Susan Charnley

2005-01-01

This paper examines what is needed to transform nature tourism to protected areas into ecotourism, having genuine social benefits and serving as a tool for sustainable community development. It draws on the case of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania's most visited protected area, and a multiple land use zone inhabited by the pastoral Maasai peoples. I...

75 FR 38779 - Nomination of Existing Marine Protected Areas to the National System of Marine Protected Areas

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-06

... managing agencies to fill key conservation gaps in important ocean areas. DATES: Comments on the... conservation objectives of the Framework. Executive Order 13158 defines an MPA as: ``any area of the marine... term MPA as defined in the Framework refers only to the marine portion of a site (below the mean high...

Depauperate Avifauna in Plantations Compared to Forests and Exurban Areas

PubMed Central

Haskell, David G.; Evans, Jonathan P.; Pelkey, Neil W.

2006-01-01

Native forests are shrinking worldwide, causing a loss of biological diversity. Our ability to prioritize forest conservation actions is hampered by a lack of information about the relative impacts of different types of forest loss on biodiversity. In particular, we lack rigorous comparisons of the effects of clearing forests for tree plantations and for human settlements, two leading causes of deforestation worldwide. We compared avian diversity in forests, plantations and exurban areas on the Cumberland Plateau, USA, an area of global importance for biodiversity. By combining field surveys with digital habitat databases, and then analyzing diversity at multiple scales, we found that plantations had lower diversity and fewer conservation priority species than did other habitats. Exurban areas had higher diversity than did native forests, but native forests outscored exurban areas for some measures of conservation priority. Overall therefore, pine plantations had impoverished avian communities relative to both native forests and to exurban areas. Thus, reports on the status of forests give misleading signals about biological diversity when they include plantations in their estimates of forest cover but exclude forested areas in which humans live. Likewise, forest conservation programs should downgrade incentives for plantations and should include settled areas within their purview. PMID:17183694

Assessing shortfalls and complementary conservation areas for national plant biodiversity in South Korea.

PubMed

Choe, Hyeyeong; Thorne, James H; Huber, Patrick R; Lee, Dongkun; Quinn, James F

2018-01-01

Protected areas (PAs) are often considered the most important biodiversity conservation areas in national plans, but PAs often do not represent national-scale biodiversity. We evaluate the current conservation status of plant biodiversity within current existing PAs, and identify potential additional PAs for South Korea. We modeled species ranges for 2,297 plant species using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines and compared the level of mean range representation in South Korea's existing PAs, which comprise 5.7% of the country's mainland area, with an equal-area alternative PA strategy selected with the reserve algorithm Marxan. We also used Marxan to model two additional conservation scenarios that add lands to approach the Aichi Biodiversity Target objectives (17% of the country). Existing PAs in South Korea contain an average of 6.3% of each plant species' range, compared to 5.9% in the modeled equal-area alternative. However, existing PAs primarily represent a high percentage of the ranges for high-elevation and small range size species. The additional PAs scenario that adds lands to the existing PAs covers 14,587.55 km2, and would improve overall plant range representation to a mean of 16.8% of every species' range. The other additional PAs scenario, which selects new PAs from all lands and covers 13,197.35 km2, would improve overall plant range representation to a mean of 13.5%. Even though the additional PAs that includes existing PAs represents higher percentages of species' ranges, it is missing many biodiversity hotspots in non-mountainous areas and the additional PAs without locking in the existing PAs represent almost all species' ranges evenly, including low-elevation ones with larger ranges. Some priority conservation areas we identified are expansions of, or near, existing PAs, especially in northeastern and southern South Korea. However, lowland coastal areas and areas surrounding the capital city, Seoul, are also critical for biodiversity conservation in South Korea.

Assessing shortfalls and complementary conservation areas for national plant biodiversity in South Korea

PubMed Central

Thorne, James H.; Huber, Patrick R.; Lee, Dongkun; Quinn, James F.

2018-01-01

Protected areas (PAs) are often considered the most important biodiversity conservation areas in national plans, but PAs often do not represent national-scale biodiversity. We evaluate the current conservation status of plant biodiversity within current existing PAs, and identify potential additional PAs for South Korea. We modeled species ranges for 2,297 plant species using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines and compared the level of mean range representation in South Korea’s existing PAs, which comprise 5.7% of the country’s mainland area, with an equal-area alternative PA strategy selected with the reserve algorithm Marxan. We also used Marxan to model two additional conservation scenarios that add lands to approach the Aichi Biodiversity Target objectives (17% of the country). Existing PAs in South Korea contain an average of 6.3% of each plant species’ range, compared to 5.9% in the modeled equal-area alternative. However, existing PAs primarily represent a high percentage of the ranges for high-elevation and small range size species. The additional PAs scenario that adds lands to the existing PAs covers 14,587.55 km2, and would improve overall plant range representation to a mean of 16.8% of every species’ range. The other additional PAs scenario, which selects new PAs from all lands and covers 13,197.35 km2, would improve overall plant range representation to a mean of 13.5%. Even though the additional PAs that includes existing PAs represents higher percentages of species’ ranges, it is missing many biodiversity hotspots in non-mountainous areas and the additional PAs without locking in the existing PAs represent almost all species’ ranges evenly, including low-elevation ones with larger ranges. Some priority conservation areas we identified are expansions of, or near, existing PAs, especially in northeastern and southern South Korea. However, lowland coastal areas and areas surrounding the capital city, Seoul, are also critical for biodiversity conservation in South Korea. PMID:29474355

Local understandings of conservation in southeastern Mexico and their implications for community-based conservation as an alternative paradigm.

PubMed

Reyes-Garcia, Victoria; Ruiz-Mallen, Isabel; Porter-Bolland, Luciana; Garcia-Frapolli, Eduardo; Ellis, Edward A; Mendez, Maria-Elena; Pritchard, Diana J; Sanchez-Gonzalez, María-Consuelo

2013-08-01

Since the 1990s national and international programs have aimed to legitimize local conservation initiatives that might provide an alternative to the formal systems of state-managed or otherwise externally driven protected areas. We used discourse analysis (130 semistructured interviews with key informants) and descriptive statistics (679 surveys) to compare local perceptions of and experiences with state-driven versus community-driven conservation initiatives. We conducted our research in 6 communities in southeastern Mexico. Formalization of local conservation initiatives did not seem to be based on local knowledge and practices. Although interviewees thought community-based initiatives generated less conflict than state-managed conservation initiatives, the community-based initiatives conformed to the biodiversity conservation paradigm that emphasizes restricted use of and access to resources. This restrictive approach to community-based conservation in Mexico, promoted through state and international conservation organizations, increased the area of protected land and had local support but was not built on locally relevant and multifunctional landscapes, a model that community-based conservation is assumed to advance. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation planning under uncertainty in urban development and vegetation dynamics

PubMed Central

Carmel, Yohay

2018-01-01

Systematic conservation planning is a framework for optimally locating and prioritizing areas for conservation. An often-noted shortcoming of most conservation planning studies is that they do not address future uncertainty. The selection of protected areas that are intended to ensure the long-term persistence of biodiversity is often based on a snapshot of the current situation, ignoring processes such as climate change. Scenarios, in the sense of being accounts of plausible futures, can be utilized to identify conservation area portfolios that are robust to future uncertainty. We compared three approaches for utilizing scenarios in conservation area selection: considering a full set of scenarios (all-scenarios portfolio), assuming the realization of specific scenarios, and a reference strategy based on the current situation (current distributions portfolio). Our objective was to compare the robustness of these approaches in terms of their relative performance across future scenarios. We focused on breeding bird species in Israel’s Mediterranean region. We simulated urban development and vegetation dynamics scenarios 60 years into the future using DINAMICA-EGO, a cellular-automata simulation model. For each scenario, we mapped the target species’ available habitat distribution, identified conservation priority areas using the site-selection software MARXAN, and constructed conservation area portfolios using the three aforementioned strategies. We then assessed portfolio performance based on the number of species for which representation targets were met in each scenario. The all-scenarios portfolio consistently outperformed the other portfolios, and was more robust to ‘errors’ (e.g., when an assumed specific scenario did not occur). On average, the all-scenarios portfolio achieved representation targets for five additional species compared with the current distributions portfolio (approximately 33 versus 28 species). Our findings highlight the importance of considering a broad and meaningful set of scenarios, rather than relying on the current situation, the expected occurrence of specific scenarios, or the worst-case scenario. PMID:29621330

Conservation planning under uncertainty in urban development and vegetation dynamics.

PubMed

Troupin, David; Carmel, Yohay

2018-01-01

Systematic conservation planning is a framework for optimally locating and prioritizing areas for conservation. An often-noted shortcoming of most conservation planning studies is that they do not address future uncertainty. The selection of protected areas that are intended to ensure the long-term persistence of biodiversity is often based on a snapshot of the current situation, ignoring processes such as climate change. Scenarios, in the sense of being accounts of plausible futures, can be utilized to identify conservation area portfolios that are robust to future uncertainty. We compared three approaches for utilizing scenarios in conservation area selection: considering a full set of scenarios (all-scenarios portfolio), assuming the realization of specific scenarios, and a reference strategy based on the current situation (current distributions portfolio). Our objective was to compare the robustness of these approaches in terms of their relative performance across future scenarios. We focused on breeding bird species in Israel's Mediterranean region. We simulated urban development and vegetation dynamics scenarios 60 years into the future using DINAMICA-EGO, a cellular-automata simulation model. For each scenario, we mapped the target species' available habitat distribution, identified conservation priority areas using the site-selection software MARXAN, and constructed conservation area portfolios using the three aforementioned strategies. We then assessed portfolio performance based on the number of species for which representation targets were met in each scenario. The all-scenarios portfolio consistently outperformed the other portfolios, and was more robust to 'errors' (e.g., when an assumed specific scenario did not occur). On average, the all-scenarios portfolio achieved representation targets for five additional species compared with the current distributions portfolio (approximately 33 versus 28 species). Our findings highlight the importance of considering a broad and meaningful set of scenarios, rather than relying on the current situation, the expected occurrence of specific scenarios, or the worst-case scenario.

Spatial conservation planning framework for assessing conservation opportunities in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

PubMed Central

Giorgi, Ana Paula; Rovzar, Corey; Davis, Kelsey S.; Fuller, Trevon; Buermann, Wolfgang; Saatchi, Sassan; Smith, Thomas B.; Silveira, Luis Fabio; Gillespie, Thomas W.

2017-01-01

Historic rates of habitat change and growing exploitation of natural resources threaten avian biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot. We implemented a twostage framework for conservation planning in the Atlantic Forest. First, we used ecological niche modeling to predict the distributions of 23 endemic bird species using 19 climatic metrics and 12 spectral and radar remote sensing metrics. Second, we utilized the principle of complementarity to prioritize new sites to augment the Atlantic Forest's existing reserves. The best predictors of bird distributions were precipitation metrics (the seasonality of rainfall) and radar remote sensing metrics (QSCAT). The existing protected areas do not include 10% of the habitat of each of the 23 endemic species. We propose a more economical set of protected areas by reducing the extent to which new sites duplicate the biodiversity content of existing protected areas. There is a high concordance between the proposed conservation areas that we designed using computerized algorithms and Important Bird Areas prioritized by BirdLife International. Insofar as deforestation in the Atlantic Forest is similar to land conversion in other biodiversity hotspots, our methodology is applicable to conservation efforts elsewhere in the world. PMID:28210009

Combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs: a case study.

PubMed

Underwood, Jared G

2011-01-01

Habitat loss is a major factor in the endangerment and extinction of species around the world. One promising strategy to balance continued habitat loss and biodiversity conservation is that of biodiversity offsets. However, a major concern with offset programs is their consistency with landscape-level conservation goals. While merging offset policies and landscape-level conservation planning is thought to provide advantages over a traditional disconnected approach, few such landscape-level conservation-offset plans have been designed and implemented, so the effectiveness of such a strategy remains uncertain. In this study, we quantitatively assess the conservation impact of combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs by comparing regions of San Diego County, USA with the combined approach to regions with only an offset program. This comparison is generally very difficult due to a variety of complicating factors. We overcome these complications and quantify the benefits to rare and threatened species of implementing a combined approach by assessing the amount of each species' predicted distribution, and the number of documented locations, conserved in comparison to the same metric for areas with an offset policy alone. We found that adoption of the combined approach has increased conservation for many rare species, often 5-10 times more than in the comparison area, and that conservation has been focused in the areas most important for these species. The level of conservation achieved reduces uncertainty that these species will persist in the region into the future. This San Diego County example demonstrates the potential benefits of combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs.

Understanding the effects of different social data on selecting priority conservation areas.

PubMed

Karimi, Azadeh; Tulloch, Ayesha I T; Brown, Greg; Hockings, Marc

2017-12-01

Conservation success is contingent on assessing social and environmental factors so that cost-effective implementation of strategies and actions can be placed in a broad social-ecological context. Until now, the focus has been on how to include spatially explicit social data in conservation planning, whereas the value of different kinds of social data has received limited attention. In a regional systematic conservation planning case study in Australia, we examined the spatial concurrence of a range of spatially explicit social values and land-use preferences collected using a public participation geographic information system and biological data. We used Zonation to integrate the social data with the biological data in a series of spatial-prioritization scenarios to determine the effect of the different types of social data on spatial prioritization compared with biological data alone. The type of social data (i.e., conservation opportunities or constraints) significantly affected spatial prioritization outcomes. The integration of social values and land-use preferences under different scenarios was highly variable and generated spatial prioritizations 1.2-51% different from those based on biological data alone. The inclusion of conservation-compatible values and preferences added relatively few new areas to conservation priorities, whereas including noncompatible economic values and development preferences as costs significantly changed conservation priority areas (48.2% and 47.4%, respectively). Based on our results, a multifaceted conservation prioritization approach that combines spatially explicit social data with biological data can help conservation planners identify the type of social data to collect for more effective and feasible conservation actions. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

A global assessment of the social and conservation outcomes of protected areas.

PubMed

Oldekop, J A; Holmes, G; Harris, W E; Evans, K L

2016-02-01

Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy for protecting biological resources, but they vary considerably in their effectiveness and are frequently reported as having negative impacts on local people. This has contributed to a divisive and unresolved debate concerning the compatibility of environmental and socioeconomic development goals. Elucidating the relationship between positive and negative social impacts and conservation outcomes of PAs is key for the development of more effective and socially just conservation. We conducted a global meta-analysis on 165 PAs using data from 171 published studies. We assessed how PAs affect the well-being of local people, the factors associated with these impacts, and crucially the relationship between PAs' conservation and socioeconomic outcomes. Protected areas associated with positive socioeconomic outcomes were more likely to report positive conservation outcomes. Positive conservation and socioeconomic outcomes were more likely to occur when PAs adopted comanagement regimes, empowered local people, reduced economic inequalities, and maintained cultural and livelihood benefits. Whereas the strictest regimes of PA management attempted to exclude anthropogenic influences to achieve biological conservation objectives, PAs that explicitly integrated local people as stakeholders tended to be more effective at achieving joint biological conservation and socioeconomic development outcomes. Strict protection may be needed in some circumstances, yet our results demonstrate that conservation and development objectives can be synergistic and highlight management strategies that increase the probability of maximizing both conservation performance and development outcomes of PAs. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation and Education in Murchison Falls Conservation Area, Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordahl, Mark D.

2005-01-01

This thesis forms the foundation for a conservation education training manual to help guides in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, communicate to foreign visitors about conservation issues. For background information I used a combination of text-based research and interviews to examine the application of community conservation and…

78 FR 20942 - Niobrara Confluence and Ponca Bluffs Conservation Areas, NE and SD; Draft Environmental Impact...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-08

... that remains unchannelized, relatively free-flowing, and undeveloped. This area of the Missouri River's... resources to enhance conservation; enhance recreation; increase tourism; instill new money into local...

Designing marine reserve networks for both conservation and fisheries management.

PubMed

Gaines, Steven D; White, Crow; Carr, Mark H; Palumbi, Stephen R

2010-10-26

Marine protected areas (MPAs) that exclude fishing have been shown repeatedly to enhance the abundance, size, and diversity of species. These benefits, however, mean little to most marine species, because individual protected areas typically are small. To meet the larger-scale conservation challenges facing ocean ecosystems, several nations are expanding the benefits of individual protected areas by building networks of protected areas. Doing so successfully requires a detailed understanding of the ecological and physical characteristics of ocean ecosystems and the responses of humans to spatial closures. There has been enormous scientific interest in these topics, and frameworks for the design of MPA networks for meeting conservation and fishery management goals are emerging. Persistent in the literature is the perception of an inherent tradeoff between achieving conservation and fishery goals. Through a synthetic analysis across these conservation and bioeconomic studies, we construct guidelines for MPA network design that reduce or eliminate this tradeoff. We present size, spacing, location, and configuration guidelines for designing networks that simultaneously can enhance biological conservation and reduce fishery costs or even increase fishery yields and profits. Indeed, in some settings, a well-designed MPA network is critical to the optimal harvest strategy. When reserves benefit fisheries, the optimal area in reserves is moderately large (mode ≈30%). Assessing network design principals is limited currently by the absence of empirical data from large-scale networks. Emerging networks will soon rectify this constraint.

EPA Region 7 Aquatic Focus Areas (ECO_RES.R7_AQUATIC_FOCUS_AREAS)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This shapefile consists of 347 individual Aquatic Ecological System (AES) polygons that are the Aquatic Conservation Focus Areas for EPA Region 7. The focus areas are those areas within each aquatic ecological system types that, if preserved, would maintain the biological and ecological diversity extant within that ecological system type. The layer consists of those polygons from the R7_AES.shp shapefile that had the highest ranks. The AES polygons in the Missouri portion of the file were appended and are those that contain the 158 aquatic conservation opportunity areas identified in Missouri as part of another project (Missouri Department of Conservation Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment 2005). Note that the identifiers in the Missouri portion of this file will not match the ID's in any Missouri specific files.

Conservation Action Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Rifle Association, Washington, DC.

Conservation problems are identified, with some suggestions for action. General areas covered are: Wildlife Conservation, Soil Conservation, Clean Water, Air Pollution Action, and Outdoor Recreation Action. Appendices list private organizations or agencies concerned with natural resource use and/or management, congressional committees considering…

Measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets

PubMed Central

Chape, S; Harrison, J; Spalding, M; Lysenko, I

2005-01-01

There are now over 100 000 protected areas worldwide, covering over 12% of the Earth's land surface. These areas represent one of the most significant human resource use allocations on the planet. The importance of protected areas is reflected in their widely accepted role as an indicator for global targets and environmental assessments. However, measuring the number and extent of protected areas only provides a unidimensional indicator of political commitment to biodiversity conservation. Data on the geographic location and spatial extent of protected areas will not provide information on a key determinant for meeting global biodiversity targets: ‘effectiveness’ in conserving biodiversity. Although tools are being devised to assess management effectiveness, there is no globally accepted metric. Nevertheless, the numerical, spatial and geographic attributes of protected areas can be further enhanced by investigation of the biodiversity coverage of these protected areas, using species, habitats or biogeographic classifications. This paper reviews the current global extent of protected areas in terms of geopolitical and habitat coverage, and considers their value as a global indicator of conservation action or response. The paper discusses the role of the World Database on Protected Areas and collection and quality control issues, and identifies areas for improvement, including how conservation effectiveness indicators may be included in the database to improve the value of protected areas data as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets. PMID:15814356

Prioritizing Conservation of Ungulate Calving Resources in Multiple-Use Landscapes

PubMed Central

Dzialak, Matthew R.; Harju, Seth M.; Osborn, Robert G.; Wondzell, John J.; Hayden-Wing, Larry D.; Winstead, Jeffrey B.; Webb, Stephen L.

2011-01-01

Background Conserving animal populations in places where human activity is increasing is an ongoing challenge in many parts of the world. We investigated how human activity interacted with maternal status and individual variation in behavior to affect reliability of spatially-explicit models intended to guide conservation of critical ungulate calving resources. We studied Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) that occupy a region where 2900 natural gas wells have been drilled. Methodology/Principal Findings We present novel applications of generalized additive modeling to predict maternal status based on movement, and of random-effects resource selection models to provide population and individual-based inference on the effects of maternal status and human activity. We used a 2×2 factorial design (treatment vs. control) that included elk that were either parturient or non-parturient and in areas either with or without industrial development. Generalized additive models predicted maternal status (parturiency) correctly 93% of the time based on movement. Human activity played a larger role than maternal status in shaping resource use; elk showed strong spatiotemporal patterns of selection or avoidance and marked individual variation in developed areas, but no such pattern in undeveloped areas. This difference had direct consequences for landscape-level conservation planning. When relative probability of use was calculated across the study area, there was disparity throughout 72–88% of the landscape in terms of where conservation intervention should be prioritized depending on whether models were based on behavior in developed areas or undeveloped areas. Model validation showed that models based on behavior in developed areas had poor predictive accuracy, whereas the model based on behavior in undeveloped areas had high predictive accuracy. Conclusions/Significance By directly testing for differences between developed and undeveloped areas, and by modeling resource selection in a random-effects framework that provided individual-based inference, we conclude that: 1) amplified selection or avoidance behavior and individual variation, as responses to increasing human activity, complicate conservation planning in multiple-use landscapes, and 2) resource selection behavior in places where human activity is predictable or less dynamic may provide a more reliable basis from which to prioritize conservation action. PMID:21297866

50 CFR Table 2 (south) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear South of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (South) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

50 CFR Table 2 (south) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear South of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (South) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

50 CFR Table 2 (north) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear North of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (North) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

50 CFR Table 2 (south) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear South of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (South) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

50 CFR Table 2 (north) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear North of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (North) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

50 CFR Table 2 (north) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear North of 40°10...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., Subpart E Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Pt. 660, Subpt. E, Table 2 Table 2 (North) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited...

When roads appear jaguars decline: Increased access to an Amazonian wilderness area reduces potential for jaguar conservation

PubMed Central

Celis, Gerardo; Branch, Lyn C.

2018-01-01

Roads are a main threat to biodiversity conservation in the Amazon, in part, because roads increase access for hunters. We examine how increased landscape access by hunters may lead to cascading effects that influence the prey community and abundance of the jaguar (Panthera onca), the top Amazonian terrestrial predator. Understanding such ecological effects originating from anthropogenic actions is essential for conservation and management of wildlife populations in areas undergoing infrastructure development. Our study was conducted in Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, the protected area with highest potential for jaguar conservation in Ecuador, and an area both threatened by road development and inhabited by indigenous groups dependent upon bushmeat. We surveyed prey and jaguar abundance with camera traps in four sites that differed in accessibility to hunters and used site occupancy and spatially explicit capture-recapture analyses to evaluate prey occurrence and estimate jaguar density, respectively. Higher landscape accessibility to hunters was linked with lower occurrence and biomass of game, particularly white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), the primary game for hunters and prey for jaguars. Jaguar density was up to 18 times higher in the most remote site compared to the most accessible site. Our results provide a strong case for the need to: 1) consider conservation of large carnivores and other wildlife in policies about road construction in protected areas, 2) coordinate conservation initiatives with local governments so that development activities do not conflict with conservation objectives, and 3) promote development of community-based strategies for wildlife management that account for the needs of large carnivores. PMID:29298311

Energy and other resource conservation within urbanizing areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowe, Peter G.

1982-05-01

The reported research seeks to answer several questions regarding energy conservation within urbanizing areas. As a practical matter, to what extent can dependence upon exhaustible resources be reduced? Can these reductions be achieved without severely impairing social well-being and environmental quality? And, what seem to be the prevailing institutional constraints limiting energy conservation within urbanizing areas? The study area was the proposed “downtown” of The Woodlands, a new town north of Houston, Texas. Two plans were developed for this area. In one, no particular attempt was made to conserve energy (conventional plan), while in the other, energy conservation was a primary consideration (conservation plan). For both plans, estimates were made of energy consumption within buildings, in the transportation sector, and in the actual production of building materials themselves (embodied energy). In addition, economic and environmental analyses were performed, including investigation of other resource issues such as water supply, solid waste disposal, stormwater management, and atmospheric emissions. Alternative on-site power systems were also investigated. Within the bounds of economic feasibility and development practicality, it was found that application of energy-conserving methods could yield annual energy savings of as much as 23%, and reduce dependence on prime fuels by 30%. Adverse economic effects on consumers were found to be minimal and environmental quality could be sustained. The major institutional constraints appeared to be those associated with traditional property ownership and with the use of common property resources. The resistance to change of everyday practices in land development and building industries also seemed to constrain potential applications.

Does community-based conservation shape favorable attitudes among locals? an empirical study from nepal.

PubMed

Mehta, J N; Heinen, J T

2001-08-01

Like many developing countries, Nepal has adopted a community-based conservation (CBC) approach in recent years to manage its protected areas mainly in response to poor park-people relations. Among other things, under this approach the government has created new "people-oriented" conservation areas, formed and devolved legal authority to grassroots-level institutions to manage local resources, fostered infrastructure development, promoted tourism, and provided income-generating trainings to local people. Of interest to policy-makers and resource managers in Nepal and worldwide is whether this approach to conservation leads to improved attitudes on the part of local people. It is also important to know if personal costs and benefits associated with various intervention programs, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics influence these attitudes. We explore these questions by looking at the experiences in Annapurna and Makalu-Barun Conservation Areas, Nepal, which have largely adopted a CBC approach in policy formulation, planning, and management. The research was conducted during 1996 and 1997; the data collection methods included random household questionnaire surveys, informal interviews, and review of official records and published literature. The results indicated that the majority of local people held favorable attitudes toward these conservation areas. Logistic regression results revealed that participation in training, benefit from tourism, wildlife depredation issue, ethnicity, gender, and education level were the significant predictors of local attitudes in one or the other conservation area. We conclude that the CBC approach has potential to shape favorable local attitudes and that these attitudes will be mediated by some personal attributes.

Optimal investment for enhancing social concern about biodiversity conservation: a dynamic approach.

PubMed

Lee, Joung Hun; Iwasa, Yoh

2012-11-01

To maintain biodiversity conservation areas, we need to invest in activities, such as monitoring the condition of the ecosystem, preventing illegal exploitation, and removing harmful alien species. These require a constant supply of resources, the level of which is determined by the concern of the society about biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we study the optimal fraction of the resources to invest in activities for enhancing the social concern y(t) by environmental education, museum displays, publications, and media exposure. We search for the strategy that maximizes the time-integral of the quality of the conservation area x(t) with temporal discounting. Analyses based on dynamic programming and Pontryagin's maximum principle show that the optimal control consists of two phases: (1) in the first phase, the social concern level approaches to the final optimal value y(∗), (2) in the second phase, resources are allocated to both activities, and the social concern level is kept constant y(t) = y(∗). If the social concern starts from a low initial level, the optimal path includes a period in which the quality of the conservation area declines temporarily, because all the resources are invested to enhance the social concern. When the support rate increases with the quality of the conservation area itself x(t) as well as with the level of social concern y(t), both variables may increase simultaneously in the second phase. We discuss the implication of the results to good management of biodiversity conservation areas. 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

When roads appear jaguars decline: Increased access to an Amazonian wilderness area reduces potential for jaguar conservation.

PubMed

Espinosa, Santiago; Celis, Gerardo; Branch, Lyn C

2018-01-01

Roads are a main threat to biodiversity conservation in the Amazon, in part, because roads increase access for hunters. We examine how increased landscape access by hunters may lead to cascading effects that influence the prey community and abundance of the jaguar (Panthera onca), the top Amazonian terrestrial predator. Understanding such ecological effects originating from anthropogenic actions is essential for conservation and management of wildlife populations in areas undergoing infrastructure development. Our study was conducted in Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, the protected area with highest potential for jaguar conservation in Ecuador, and an area both threatened by road development and inhabited by indigenous groups dependent upon bushmeat. We surveyed prey and jaguar abundance with camera traps in four sites that differed in accessibility to hunters and used site occupancy and spatially explicit capture-recapture analyses to evaluate prey occurrence and estimate jaguar density, respectively. Higher landscape accessibility to hunters was linked with lower occurrence and biomass of game, particularly white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), the primary game for hunters and prey for jaguars. Jaguar density was up to 18 times higher in the most remote site compared to the most accessible site. Our results provide a strong case for the need to: 1) consider conservation of large carnivores and other wildlife in policies about road construction in protected areas, 2) coordinate conservation initiatives with local governments so that development activities do not conflict with conservation objectives, and 3) promote development of community-based strategies for wildlife management that account for the needs of large carnivores.

Identification of priority conservation areas and potential corridors for jaguars in the Caatinga biome, Brazil.

PubMed

Morato, Ronaldo Gonçalves; Ferraz, Katia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros; de Paula, Rogério Cunha; de Campos, Cláudia Bueno

2014-01-01

The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a top predator with the extant population found within the Brazilian Caatinga biome now known to be on the brink of extinction. Designing new conservation units and potential corridors are therefore crucial for the long-term survival of the species within the Caatinga biome. Thus, our aims were: 1) to recognize suitable areas for jaguar occurrence, 2) to delineate areas for jaguar conservation (PJCUs), 3) to design corridors among priority areas, and 4) to prioritize PJCUs. A total of 62 points records of jaguar occurrence and 10 potential predictors were analyzed in a GIS environment. A predictive distributional map was obtained using Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) as performed by the Maximum Entropy (Maxent) algorithm. Areas equal to or higher than the median suitability value of 0.595 were selected as of high suitability for jaguar occurrence and named as Priority Jaguar Conservation Units (PJCU). Ten PJCUs with sizes varying from 23.6 km2 to 4,311.0 km2 were identified. Afterwards, we combined the response curve, as generated by SDM, and expert opinions to create a permeability matrix and to identify least cost corridors and buffer zones between each PJCU pair. Connectivity corridors and buffer zone for jaguar movement included an area of 8.884,26 km2 and the total corridor length is about 160.94 km. Prioritizing criteria indicated the PJCU representing c.a. 68.61% of the total PJCU area (PJCU # 1) as of high priority for conservation and connectivity with others PJCUs (PJCUs # 4, 5 and 7) desirable for the long term survival of the species. In conclusion, by using the jaguar as a focal species and combining SDM and expert opinion we were able to create a valid framework for practical conservation actions at the Caatinga biome. The same approach could be used for the conservation of other carnivores.

Identification of Priority Conservation Areas and Potential Corridors for Jaguars in the Caatinga Biome, Brazil

PubMed Central

Morato, Ronaldo Gonçalves; Ferraz, Katia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros; de Paula, Rogério Cunha; de Campos, Cláudia Bueno

2014-01-01

The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a top predator with the extant population found within the Brazilian Caatinga biome now known to be on the brink of extinction. Designing new conservation units and potential corridors are therefore crucial for the long-term survival of the species within the Caatinga biome. Thus, our aims were: 1) to recognize suitable areas for jaguar occurrence, 2) to delineate areas for jaguar conservation (PJCUs), 3) to design corridors among priority areas, and 4) to prioritize PJCUs. A total of 62 points records of jaguar occurrence and 10 potential predictors were analyzed in a GIS environment. A predictive distributional map was obtained using Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) as performed by the Maximum Entropy (Maxent) algorithm. Areas equal to or higher than the median suitability value of 0.595 were selected as of high suitability for jaguar occurrence and named as Priority Jaguar Conservation Units (PJCU). Ten PJCUs with sizes varying from 23.6 km2 to 4,311.0 km2 were identified. Afterwards, we combined the response curve, as generated by SDM, and expert opinions to create a permeability matrix and to identify least cost corridors and buffer zones between each PJCU pair. Connectivity corridors and buffer zone for jaguar movement included an area of 8.884,26 km2 and the total corridor length is about 160.94 km. Prioritizing criteria indicated the PJCU representing c.a. 68.61% of the total PJCU area (PJCU # 1) as of high priority for conservation and connectivity with others PJCUs (PJCUs # 4, 5 and 7) desirable for the long term survival of the species. In conclusion, by using the jaguar as a focal species and combining SDM and expert opinion we were able to create a valid framework for practical conservation actions at the Caatinga biome. The same approach could be used for the conservation of other carnivores. PMID:24709817

Income level and regional policies, underlying factors associated with unwarranted variations in conservative breast cancer surgery in Spain

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Geographical variations in medical practice are expected to be small when the evidence about the effectiveness and safety of a particular technology is abundant. This would be the case of the prescription of conservative surgery in breast cancer patients. In these cases, when variation is larger than expected by need, socioeconomic factors have been argued as an explanation. Objectives: Using an ecologic design, our study aims at describing the variability in the use of surgical conservative versus non-conservative treatment. Additionally, it seeks to establish whether the socioeconomic status of the healthcare area influences the use of one or the other technique. Methods 81,868 mastectomies performed between 2002 and 2006 in 180 healthcare areas were studied. Standardized utilization rates of breast cancer conservative (CS) and non-conservative (NCS) procedures were estimated as well as the variation among areas, using small area statistics. Concentration curves and dominance tests were estimated to determine the impact of income and instruction levels in the healthcare area on surgery rates. Multilevel analyses were performed to determine the influence of regional policies. Results Variation in the use of CS was massive (4-fold factor between the highest and the lowest rate) and larger than in the case of NCS (2-fold), whichever the age group. Healthcare areas with higher economic and instruction levels showed highest rates of CS, regardless of the age group, while areas with lower economic and educational levels yielded higher rates of NCS interventions. Living in a particular Autonomous Community (AC), explained a substantial part of the CS residual variance (up to a 60.5% in women 50 to 70). Conclusion The place where a woman lives -income level and regional policies- explain the unexpectedly high variation found in utilization rates of conservative breast cancer surgery. PMID:21504577

Multi-level discrepancies with sharing data on protected areas: what we have and what we need for the global village.

PubMed

Bertzky, Monika; Stoll-Kleemann, Susanne

2009-01-01

Protected areas present a global heritage. Assessing conservation achievements in protected areas is of crucial importance with respect to the on-time delivery of international biodiversity conservation targets. However, monitoring data from publicly accessible databases for comparative studies of conservation achievements in the protected areas of the world are very scarce, if not non-existent. At first glance this is surprising because, with regards to protected areas, at least according to well established protected area management guidelines and widely accepted public mandates, a great deal of monitoring work and data gathering is to be conducted. This would imply that data on changes of biodiversity in protected areas could be expected to exist, and the constant progress in information technologies and Web tools engenders hope that some of it might even be available online for the global public. This review article presents the results of an extensive online search and review of existing monitoring data from freely accessible online databases for its use in an assessment of conservation achievements in a larger sample of protected areas. Results show two contrary sides to the status quo of accessible data from the World Wide Web for conservation science: data overkill and data scarcity with poor metadata provision. While ever more research is, in fact, based on open-access online data, such as extrapolations of species ranges used in conservation management and planning, it remains almost impossible to obtain a basic set of information for an assessment of conservation achievements within a larger number of protected areas. This awareness has triggered a detailed discussion about the discrepancies in sharing data at the level of protected areas; mismatching relationships between expected activities in protected areas and the capacity for delivering these requirements are certainly among the main challenges. In addition, the fear of data misuse potentially resulting in harm for nature, careers, and competencies still seems to be a critical barrier strictly controlling the willingness to share data. Various initiatives aimed at tackling technical and cultural obstacles are introduced and discussed to reach the goal of a modern resource management based on adaptive management using digital opportunities of the new millennium for a sustainable global village.

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Syphard, Alexandra D.; Butsic, Van; Bar-Massada, Avi; Keeley, Jon E.; Tracey, Jeff A.; Fisher, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely generalize to any place where high species richness overlaps with hazardous wildland vegetation.

Exclusion of agricultural lands in spatial conservation prioritization strategies: consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service representation.

PubMed

Durán, América P; Duffy, James P; Gaston, Kevin J

2014-10-07

Agroecosystems have traditionally been considered incompatible with biological conservation goals, and often been excluded from spatial conservation prioritization strategies. The consequences for the representativeness of identified priority areas have been little explored. Here, we evaluate these for biodiversity and carbon storage representation when agricultural land areas are excluded from a spatial prioritization strategy for South America. Comparing different prioritization approaches, we also assess how the spatial overlap of priority areas changes. The exclusion of agricultural lands was detrimental to biodiversity representation, indicating that priority areas for agricultural production overlap with areas of relatively high occurrence of species. By contrast, exclusion of agricultural lands benefits representation of carbon storage within priority areas, as lands of high value for agriculture and carbon storage overlap little. When agricultural lands were included and equally weighted with biodiversity and carbon storage, a balanced representation resulted. Our findings suggest that with appropriate management, South American agroecosystems can significantly contribute to biodiversity conservation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

50 CFR 660.79 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES....330; and §§ 660.360. (a) Eel River Canyon. The boundary of the Eel River Canyon EFH Conservation Area...

50 CFR 660.79 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES....330; and §§ 660.360. (a) Eel River Canyon. The boundary of the Eel River Canyon EFH Conservation Area...

77 FR 25962 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-02

... Collection; Comment Request; Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Planning, Protection or Restoration... recipients for planning, conservation, acquisition, protection, restoration, or construction projects. The... Conservation Program (CELCP) to protect important coastal and estuarine areas that have significant...

Sequencing Conservation Actions Through Threat Assessments in the Southeastern United States

Treesearch

Robert D. Sutter; Christopher C. Szell

2006-01-01

The identification of conservation priorities is one of the leading issues in conservation biology. We present a project of The Nature Conservancy, called Sequencing Conservation Actions, which prioritizes conservation areas and identifies foci for crosscutting strategies at various geographic scales. We use the term “Sequencing” to mean an ordering of actions over...

Prioritising in situ conservation of crop resources: A case study of African cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

PubMed Central

Moray, C.; Game, E. T.; Maxted, N.

2014-01-01

Conserving crop wild relatives (CWR) is critical for maintaining food security. However, CWR-focused conservation plans are lacking, and are often based on the entire genus, even though only a few taxa are useful for crop improvement. We used taxonomic and geographic prioritisation to identify the best locations for in situ conservation of the most important (priority) CWR, using African cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) as a case study. Cowpea is an important crop for subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, yet its CWR are under-collected, under-conserved and under-utilised in breeding. We identified the most efficient sites to focus in situ cowpea CWR conservation and assessed whether priority CWR would be adequately represented in a genus-based conservation plan. We also investigated whether priority cowpea CWR are likely to be found in existing conservation areas and in areas important for mammal conservation. The genus-based method captured most priority CWR, and the distributions of many priority CWR overlapped with established conservation reserves and targets. These results suggest that priority cowpea CWR can be conserved by building on conservation initiatives established for other species. PMID:24936740

Prioritising in situ conservation of crop resources: a case study of African cowpea (Vigna unguiculata).

PubMed

Moray, C; Game, E T; Maxted, N

2014-06-17

Conserving crop wild relatives (CWR) is critical for maintaining food security. However, CWR-focused conservation plans are lacking, and are often based on the entire genus, even though only a few taxa are useful for crop improvement. We used taxonomic and geographic prioritisation to identify the best locations for in situ conservation of the most important (priority) CWR, using African cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) as a case study. Cowpea is an important crop for subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, yet its CWR are under-collected, under-conserved and under-utilised in breeding. We identified the most efficient sites to focus in situ cowpea CWR conservation and assessed whether priority CWR would be adequately represented in a genus-based conservation plan. We also investigated whether priority cowpea CWR are likely to be found in existing conservation areas and in areas important for mammal conservation. The genus-based method captured most priority CWR, and the distributions of many priority CWR overlapped with established conservation reserves and targets. These results suggest that priority cowpea CWR can be conserved by building on conservation initiatives established for other species.

Conservation Action Based on Threatened Species Capture Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Richness in Breeding and Wintering Populations of Central Asian Birds

PubMed Central

Schweizer, Manuel; Ayé, Raffael; Kashkarov, Roman; Roth, Tobias

2014-01-01

Although phylogenetic diversity has been suggested to be relevant from a conservation point of view, its role is still limited in applied nature conservation. Recently, the practice of investing conservation resources based on threatened species was identified as a reason for the slow integration of phylogenetic diversity in nature conservation planning. One of the main arguments is based on the observation that threatened species are not evenly distributed over the phylogenetic tree. However this argument seems to dismiss the fact that conservation action is a spatially explicit process, and even if threatened species are not evenly distributed over the phylogenetic tree, the occurrence of threatened species could still indicate areas with above average phylogenetic diversity and consequently could protect phylogenetic diversity. Here we aim to study the selection of important bird areas in Central Asia, which were nominated largely based on the presence of threatened bird species. We show that although threatened species occurring in Central Asia do not capture phylogenetically more distinct species than expected by chance, the current spatially explicit conservation approach of selecting important bird areas covers above average taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of breeding and wintering birds. We conclude that the spatially explicit processes of conservation actions need to be considered in the current discussion of whether new prioritization methods are needed to complement conservation action based on threatened species. PMID:25337861

Suggestions for Forest Conservation Policy under Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choe, H.; Thorne, J. H.; Lee, D. K.; Seo, C.

2015-12-01

Climate change and the destruction of natural habitats by land-use change are two main factors in decreasing terrestrial biodiversity. Studying land-use and climate change and their impact under different scenarios can help suggest policy directions for future events. This study explores the spatial results of different land use and climate models on the extent of species rich areas in South Korea. We built land use models of forest conversion and created four 2050 scenarios: (1) a loss trend following current levels, resulting in 15.5% lost; (2) similar loss, but with forest conservation in areas with suitable future climates; (3) a reduction of forest loss by 50%; and (4) a combination of preservation of forest climate refugia and overall reduction of loss by 50%. Forest climate refugia were identified through the use of species distribution models run on 1,031 forest plant species to project current and 2050 distributions. We calculated change in species richness under four climate projections, permitting an assessment of forest refugia zones. We then crossed the four land use models with the climate-driven change in species richness. Forest areas predominantly convert to agricultural areas, while climate-suitable extents for forest plants decline and move northward, especially to higher elevations. Scenario 2, that has the higher level of deforestation but protects future species rich areas, conserves nearly as much future biodiversity as scenario 3, which reduced deforestation rates by 50%. This points to the importance of including biogeographic climate dynamics in forest policy. Scenario 4 was the most effective at conserving forest biodiversity. We suggest conserving forest areas with suitable climates for biodiversity conservation and the establishment of monoculture plantations targeted to areas where species richness will decline based on our results.

Local cultural conservation to support sustainable tourism in Kuta tourist area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murni, NGN S.; Kanca, I. N.; Antara, D. M. S.

2018-01-01

Cultural conservation is very important in the tourism area to support sustainable tourism. This study uses the cultural studies approach and tourism. The specific purposes of this research are (1) to know the forms of cultural conservation conducted by the people of Kuta Traditional Village (Desa Adat Kuta), (2) to know the impact of tourism on the conservation of local culture, (3) to find out the strategy in preserving local culture for the sustainability of tourism in Kuta tourist area. The method used is qualitative interpretative method. Data collection conducted through direct observation in 13 banjar (sub-village), through in-depth interviews, and documentation. The results showed (1) the forms of cultural conservation are traditional arts such as dance, music orchestra,. Crafts, traditional song, classical barong and calonarang art performance, and local culture pancayadnya (five offerings). (2) the impact of tourism on cultural conservation is positive impacts such as increase of culture creativities, conservation of local culture, and the negative impact such as loss of culture space, decrease traditional subak, reduce fishermen, change of cultural value, and life style.(3) Strategy of Desa Adat in preserving culture by carrying out the festival annually, Kuta Cultural Art Festival (FBK) and Kuta Beach Festival (KBF).

Solutions for ecosystem-level protection of ocean systems under climate change.

PubMed

Queirós, Ana M; Huebert, Klaus B; Keyl, Friedemann; Fernandes, Jose A; Stolte, Willem; Maar, Marie; Kay, Susan; Jones, Miranda C; Hamon, Katell G; Hendriksen, Gerrit; Vermard, Youen; Marchal, Paul; Teal, Lorna R; Somerfield, Paul J; Austen, Melanie C; Barange, Manuel; Sell, Anne F; Allen, Icarus; Peck, Myron A

2016-12-01

The Paris Conference of Parties (COP21) agreement renewed momentum for action against climate change, creating the space for solutions for conservation of the ocean addressing two of its largest threats: climate change and ocean acidification (CCOA). Recent arguments that ocean policies disregard a mature conservation research field and that protected areas cannot address climate change may be oversimplistic at this time when dynamic solutions for the management of changing oceans are needed. We propose a novel approach, based on spatial meta-analysis of climate impact models, to improve the positioning of marine protected areas to limit CCOA impacts. We do this by estimating the vulnerability of ocean ecosystems to CCOA in a spatially explicit manner and then co-mapping human activities such as the placement of renewable energy developments and the distribution of marine protected areas. We test this approach in the NE Atlantic considering also how CCOA impacts the base of the food web which supports protected species, an aspect often neglected in conservation studies. We found that, in this case, current regional conservation plans protect areas with low ecosystem-level vulnerability to CCOA, but disregard how species may redistribute to new, suitable and productive habitats. Under current plans, these areas remain open to commercial extraction and other uses. Here, and worldwide, ocean conservation strategies under CCOA must recognize the long-term importance of these habitat refuges, and studies such as this one are needed to identify them. Protecting these areas creates adaptive, climate-ready and ecosystem-level policy options for conservation, suitable for changing oceans. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Landscape Suitability in Botswana for the Conservation of Its Six Large African Carnivores

PubMed Central

Winterbach, Hanlie E. K.; Winterbach, Christiaan W.; Somers, Michael J.

2014-01-01

Wide-ranging large carnivores often range beyond the boundaries of protected areas into human-dominated areas. Mapping out potentially suitable habitats on a country-wide scale and identifying areas with potentially high levels of threats to large carnivore survival is necessary to develop national conservation action plans. We used a novel approach to map and identify these areas in Botswana for its large carnivore guild consisting of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). The habitat suitability for large carnivores depends primarily on prey availability, interspecific competition, and conflict with humans. Prey availability is most likely the strongest natural determinant. We used the distribution of biomass of typical wild ungulate species occurring in Botswana which is preyed upon by the six large carnivores to evaluate the potential suitability of the different management zones in the country to sustain large carnivore populations. In areas where a high biomass of large prey species occurred, we assumed interspecific competition between dominant and subordinated competitors to be high. This reduced the suitability of these areas for conservation of subordinate competitors, and vice versa. We used the percentage of prey biomass of the total prey and livestock biomass to identify areas with potentially high levels of conflict in agricultural areas. High to medium biomass of large prey was mostly confined to conservation zones, while small prey biomass was more evenly spread across large parts of the country. This necessitates different conservation strategies for carnivores with a preference for large prey, and those that can persist in the agricultural areas. To ensure connectivity between populations inside Botswana and also with its neighbours, a number of critical areas for priority management actions exist in the agricultural zones. PMID:24949735

Landscape suitability in Botswana for the conservation of its six large African carnivores.

PubMed

Winterbach, Hanlie E K; Winterbach, Christiaan W; Somers, Michael J

2014-01-01

Wide-ranging large carnivores often range beyond the boundaries of protected areas into human-dominated areas. Mapping out potentially suitable habitats on a country-wide scale and identifying areas with potentially high levels of threats to large carnivore survival is necessary to develop national conservation action plans. We used a novel approach to map and identify these areas in Botswana for its large carnivore guild consisting of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). The habitat suitability for large carnivores depends primarily on prey availability, interspecific competition, and conflict with humans. Prey availability is most likely the strongest natural determinant. We used the distribution of biomass of typical wild ungulate species occurring in Botswana which is preyed upon by the six large carnivores to evaluate the potential suitability of the different management zones in the country to sustain large carnivore populations. In areas where a high biomass of large prey species occurred, we assumed interspecific competition between dominant and subordinated competitors to be high. This reduced the suitability of these areas for conservation of subordinate competitors, and vice versa. We used the percentage of prey biomass of the total prey and livestock biomass to identify areas with potentially high levels of conflict in agricultural areas. High to medium biomass of large prey was mostly confined to conservation zones, while small prey biomass was more evenly spread across large parts of the country. This necessitates different conservation strategies for carnivores with a preference for large prey, and those that can persist in the agricultural areas. To ensure connectivity between populations inside Botswana and also with its neighbours, a number of critical areas for priority management actions exist in the agricultural zones.

7 CFR 766.110 - Conservation Contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... floodplains; (iii) Areas of high water quality or scenic value; (iv) Historic or cultural properties listed in..., or 50 years. (e) Conservation management plan. The Agency, through the recommendations of the Conservation Contract review team, is responsible for approving the conservation management plan. (f...

7 CFR 766.110 - Conservation Contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... floodplains; (iii) Areas of high water quality or scenic value; (iv) Historic or cultural properties listed in..., or 50 years. (e) Conservation management plan. The Agency, through the recommendations of the Conservation Contract review team, is responsible for approving the conservation management plan. (f...

Territorial user rights for fisheries as ancillary instruments for marine coastal conservation in Chile.

PubMed

Gelcich, Stefan; Fernández, Miriam; Godoy, Natalio; Canepa, Antonio; Prado, Luis; Castilla, Juan Carlos

2012-12-01

Territorial user rights for fisheries have been advocated as a way to achieve sustainable resource management. However, few researchers have empirically assessed their potential as ancillary marine conservation instruments by comparing them to no-take marine protected areas. In kelp (Lessonia trabeculata) forests of central Chile, we compared species richness, density, and biomass of macroinvertebrates and reef fishes among territorial-user-right areas with low-level and high-level enforcement, no-take marine protected areas, and open-access areas in 42 100-m subtidal transects. We also assessed structural complexity of the kelp forest and substratum composition. Multivariate randomized permutation tests indicated macroinvertebrate and reef fish communities associated with the different access regimes differed significantly. Substratum composition and structural complexity of kelp forest did not differ among access regimes. Univariate analyses showed species richness, biomass, and density of macroinvertebrates and reef fishes were greater in highly enforced territorial-user-right areas and no-take marine protected areas than in open-access areas. Densities of macroinvertebrates and reef fishes of economic importance were not significantly different between highly enforced territorial-user-right and no-take marine protected areas. Densities of economically important macroinvertebrates in areas with low-level enforcement were significantly lower than those in areas with high-level enforcement and no-take marine protected areas but were significantly higher than in areas with open access. Territorial-user-right areas could be important ancillary conservation instruments if they are well enforced. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Decentralizing conservation and diversifying livelihoods within Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal.

PubMed

Parker, Pete; Thapa, Brijesh; Jacob, Aerin

2015-12-01

To alleviate poverty and enhance conservation in resource dependent communities, managers must identify existing livelihood strategies and the associated factors that impede household access to livelihood assets. Researchers increasingly advocate reallocating management power from exclusionary central institutions to a decentralized system of management based on local and inclusive participation. However, it is yet to be shown if decentralizing conservation leads to diversified livelihoods within a protected area. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess factors affecting household livelihood diversification within Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project, the first protected area in Asia to decentralize conservation. We randomly surveyed 25% of Kanchenjunga households to assess household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and access to livelihood assets. We used a cluster analysis with the ten most common income generating activities (both on- and off-farm) to group the strategies households use to diversify livelihoods, and a multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of livelihood diversification. We found four distinct groups of household livelihood strategies with a range of diversification that directly corresponded to household income. The predictors of livelihood diversification were more related to pre-existing socioeconomic and demographic factors (e.g., more landholdings and livestock, fewer dependents, receiving remittances) than activities sponsored by decentralizing conservation (e.g., microcredit, training, education, interaction with project staff). Taken together, our findings indicate that without direct policies to target marginalized groups, decentralized conservation in Kanchenjunga will continue to exclude marginalized groups, limiting a household's ability to diversify their livelihood and perpetuating their dependence on natural resources. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cave Conservation Priority Index to Adopt a Rapid Protection Strategy: A Case Study in Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Souza Silva, Marconi; Martins, Rogério Parentoni; Ferreira, Rodrigo Lopes

2015-02-01

Cave environments are characterized by possessing specialized fauna living in high environmental stability with limited food conditions. These fauna are highly vulnerable to impacts, because this condition can frequently be easily altered. Moreover, environmental determinants of the biodiversity patterns of caves remain poorly understood and protected. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to propose a cave conservation priority index (CCPi) for a rapid assessment for troglobiotic and troglophile protection. Furthermore, the troglobiotic diversity, distribution and threats have been mapped in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. To propose the CCPi, the human impacts and richness of troglobiotic and troglophile species of 100 caves were associated. Data related to troglomorphic/troglobiotic fauna from another 200 caves were used to map the troglobiotic diversity and distribution. The CCPi reveals extremely high conservation priority for 15 % of the caves, high for 36 % and average for 46 % of the caves. Fourteen caves with extremely high priorities should have urgent conservation and management actions. The geographical distribution of the 221 known troglobiotic/troglomorphic species allowed us to select 19 karst areas that need conservation actions. Seven areas were considered to have urgent priority for conservation actions. The two richest areas correspond to the "iron quadrangle" with iron ore caves (67 spp.) and the "Açungui limestone group" (56 spp.). Both areas have several caves and are important aquifers. The use of the CCPi can prevent future losses because it helps assessors to select caves with priorities for conservation which should receive emergency attention in relation to protection, management and conservation actions.

Factoring economic costs into conservation planning may not improve agreement over priorities for protection.

PubMed

Armsworth, Paul R; Jackson, Heather B; Cho, Seong-Hoon; Clark, Melissa; Fargione, Joseph E; Iacona, Gwenllian D; Kim, Taeyoung; Larson, Eric R; Minney, Thomas; Sutton, Nathan A

2017-12-21

Conservation organizations must redouble efforts to protect habitat given continuing biodiversity declines. Prioritization of future areas for protection is hampered by disagreements over what the ecological targets of conservation should be. Here we test the claim that such disagreements will become less important as conservation moves away from prioritizing areas for protection based only on ecological considerations and accounts for varying costs of protection using return-on-investment (ROI) methods. We combine a simulation approach with a case study of forests in the eastern United States, paying particular attention to how covariation between ecological benefits and economic costs influences agreement levels. For many conservation goals, agreement over spatial priorities improves with ROI methods. However, we also show that a reliance on ROI-based prioritization can sometimes exacerbate disagreements over priorities. As such, accounting for costs in conservation planning does not enable society to sidestep careful consideration of the ecological goals of conservation.

Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve (Biscay, Spain): Conservation against development?

PubMed

Castillo-Eguskitza, Nekane; Rescia, Alejandro J; Onaindia, Miren

2017-08-15

The protected area approach has extended from conserving biodiversity to improving human well-being. However, the relationship between conservation and socioeconomic and cultural development continues to be controversial. This paper combines land use variables with socioeconomic and cultural variables through multivariate ordination analysis and evaluates their evolution in two areas inside and outside a Biosphere Reserve since the approval of the Governance Plan for Use and Management in the Reserve. The results indicate a similar tendency in the two areas, from the abandonment of traditional rural activities and decline in pine plantations to naturalness, urban sprawl and the growth of the tertiary economic sector, welfare indicators and sustainability index. However, it can be broadly observed that the region included inside the protected area presents better conservation features (native forest) and rural systems (forestry and primary economic sector) than the region outside the protected area while maintaining similar socioeconomic and cultural conditions. We suggest that the designation of the Biosphere Reserve does not influence the local population negatively but does safeguard its conservation, which could have enhanced socioeconomic and cultural development. Thus, even though certain changes must be made to replace the conifer plantations and encourage agricultural activities, the designation of the protected area fulfills its sustainability goal and enhances the local population's quality of life. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Forest Conservation Opportunity Areas - Liberal Model (ECO_RES.COA_FORREST33)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This layer designates areas with potential for forest conservation. These are areas of natural or semi-natural forest land cover patches that are at least 75 meters away from roads and away from patch edges. OAs were modeled by creating distance grids using the National Land Cover Database and the Census Bureau's TIGER roads files.

Assessment of range planting as a conservation practice

Treesearch

Stuart P. Hardegree; Bruce A. Roundy; Nancy L. Shaw; Corey A. Moffet; Thomas A. Monaco; Thomas A. Jones; Edward F. Redente

2009-01-01

NRCS range-planting Conservation Practice standards are used to develop management recommendations for improving vegetation composition an productivity of grazed plant communities. Individual Conservation Practice recommendations are implemented within a Conservation-Management-System in areas where the existing plant-community attributes are insufficient to meet...

Effects of Ethnic Settlements and Land Management Status on Species Distribution Patterns: A Case Study of Endangered Musk Deer (Moschus spp.) in Northwest Yunnan, China.

PubMed

Li, Xueyou; Bleisch, William V; Jiang, Xuelong

2016-01-01

Understanding the status and spatial distribution of endangered species in biologically and ethnologically diverse areas is important to address correlates of cultural and biological diversity. We developed models for endangered musk deer (Moschus spp.) abundance indices in and around protected areas inhabited by different ethnic groups in northwest Yunnan China to address different anthropogenic and management-related questions. We found that prediction of relative abundance of musk deer was best accomplished using ethnicity of settlements, conservation status and poaching pressure in an area. Musk deer were around 5 times more abundant in Tibetan regions relative to Lisu regions. We found no significant negative correlates of gathering and transhumance activities on musk deer abundance. Hunting pressure showed no significant differences between protected and non-protected areas, but showed significant differences among ethnic groups. Hunting pressures in areas adjacent to Lisu settlements was 7.1 times more than in areas adjacent to Tibetan settlements. Our findings indicate protected areas in southwest China are not fully effective in deterring human disturbance caused by traditional practices. We suggest that conservation and management strategies should engage traditional culture and practices with a positive conservation impact. Better understanding of indigenous culture may open up new opportunities for species conservation in much wider tracts of unprotected and human-dominated lands. Traditional practices that are not destructive to biodiversity should be allowed as a way of providing a link between the local communities and protected areas thereby creating incentives for conservation.

Salmon habitat assessment for conservation planning in the lower White Salmon River, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hardiman, Jill M.; Allen, M. Brady

2015-01-01

In 2011, Condit Dam was removed from the White Salmon River, Washington. Since dam removal, there has been interest among scientists (State and Federal), Tribes, non-profit organizations, and the general public in assessing Pacific salmon habitat and use in the White Salmon River for conservation planning and potential fishery management actions. The study area extended from the lower 6 miles of the White Salmon River to the confluence with the Columbia River, including the former reservoir area. The Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group received a grant to initiate efforts to plan for salmon habitat protection in the lower 6 river miles of the White Salmon River. As part of efforts by the Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group to conduct conservation planning, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used current and historical habitat information to assist in the planning process. The USGS compiled existing georeferenced habitat data into a Geographic Information System to identify areas of high quality habitat for salmon, potential areas for restoration/improvement, and areas that could be threatened. The primary sources of georeferenced data for this project include a lidar flight contracted by PacifiCorp, bathymetry from USGS, and fall Chinook salmon redd surveys from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Redd observations provided support that the study area is a migratory corridor for salmon and steelhead and that the lowest 2–3 miles had the highest concentration of documented fall Chinook salmon redds. The study area has potential for restoration/conservation areas to improve/conserve salmon habitat.

Land market feedbacks can undermine biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Armsworth, Paul R; Daily, Gretchen C; Kareiva, Peter; Sanchirico, James N

2006-04-04

The full or partial purchase of land has become a cornerstone of efforts to conserve biodiversity in countries with strong private property rights. Methods used to target areas for acquisition typically ignore land market dynamics. We show how conservation purchases affect land prices and generate feedbacks that can undermine conservation goals, either by displacing development toward biologically valuable areas or by accelerating its pace. The impact of these market feedbacks on the effectiveness of conservation depends on the ecological value of land outside nature reserves. Traditional, noneconomic approaches to site prioritization should perform adequately in places where land outside reserves supports little biodiversity. However, these approaches will perform poorly in locations where the countryside surrounding reserves is important for species' persistence. Conservation investments can sometimes even be counterproductive, condemning more species than they save. Conservation is most likely to be compromised in the absence of accurate information on species distributions, which provides a strong argument for improving inventories of biodiversity. Accounting for land market dynamics in conservation planning is crucial for making smart investment decisions.

Yet another empty forest: considering the conservation value of a recently established tropical nature reserve.

PubMed

Sreekar, Rachakonda; Zhang, Kai; Xu, Jianchu; Harrison, Rhett D

2015-01-01

The primary approach used to conserve tropical biodiversity is in the establishment of protected areas. However, many tropical nature reserves are performing poorly and interventions in the broader landscape may be essential for conserving biodiversity both within reserves and at large. Between October 2010 and 2012, we conducted bird surveys in and around a recently established nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, China. We constructed a checklist of observed species, previously recorded species, and species inferred to have occurred in the area from their distributions and habitat requirements. In addition, we assessed variation in community composition and habitat specificity at a landscape-scale. Despite the fact that the landscape supports a large area of natural forest habitat (~50,000 ha), we estimate that >40% of the bird fauna has been extirpated and abundant evidence suggests hunting is the primary cause. A large proportion (52%) of the bigger birds (>20 cm) were extirpated and for large birds there was a U-shaped relationship between habitat breadth and extirpation probability. Habitat specificity was low and bird communities were dominated by widespread species of limited conservation concern. We question whether extending tropical protected area networks will deliver desired conservation gains, unless much greater effort is channeled into addressing the hunting problem both within existing protected areas and in the broader landscape.

Conservation reaches new heights.

PubMed

Pepall, J; Khanal, P

1992-10-01

The conservation program with the management assistance of the Woodlands Mountain Institute in 2 contiguous parks, the Mount Everest National Park in Nepal and the Qomolangma Nature Reserve in China, in 2 countries is described. The focus is on conservation of the complex ecosystem with sustainable development by showing local people how to benefit from the park without environmental damage. Cultural diversity is as important as biological diversity. The area has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site with the "last pure ecological seed" of the Himalayas. The regional geography and culture are presented. Population growth has impacted natural resources through overgrazing, cultivation of marginal land, and deforestation; future plans to build a dam and road bordering the nature reserve pose other threats. Proposed management plans for the Makalu-Barun Nature Park (established in November 1991) and Conservation Area include a division of the park into nature reserve areas free of human activity, protected areas which permit traditional land use, and special sites and trail for tourists and religious pilgrims. The conservation area will act as a buffer for the park and provide economic opportunities; further subdivisions include land use for biodiversity protection, community forest and pasture, agroforestry, and agriculture and settlement. Efforts will be made to increase the welfare of women and local people; proposed projects include the introduction of higher milk-producing animals for stall feeding. Also proposed is a cultural and natural history museum. 70% of the project's resources will be directed to local community participation in consultation and park maintenance. The project is a model of how conservation and protection of natural resources can coexist with local economic development and participation; an integration of preservation of biological diversity, mountain wisdom, and the value of local people as resources for conservation.

An approach to enhance the conservation-compatibility of solar energy development.

PubMed

Cameron, D Richard; Cohen, Brian S; Morrison, Scott A

2012-01-01

The rapid pace of climate change poses a major threat to biodiversity. Utility-scale renewable energy development (>1 MW capacity) is a key strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but development of those facilities also can have adverse effects on biodiversity. Here, we examine the synergy between renewable energy generation goals and those for biodiversity conservation in the 13 M ha Mojave Desert of the southwestern USA. We integrated spatial data on biodiversity conservation value, solar energy potential, and land surface slope angle (a key determinant of development feasibility) and found there to be sufficient area to meet renewable energy goals without developing on lands of relatively high conservation value. Indeed, we found nearly 200,000 ha of lower conservation value land below the most restrictive slope angle (<1%); that area could meet the state of California's current 33% renewable energy goal 1.8 times over. We found over 740,000 ha below the highest slope angle (<5%)--an area that can meet California's renewable energy goal seven times over. Our analysis also suggests that the supply of high quality habitat on private land may be insufficient to mitigate impacts from future solar projects, so enhancing public land management may need to be considered among the options to offset such impacts. Using the approach presented here, planners could reduce development impacts on areas of higher conservation value, and so reduce trade-offs between converting to a green energy economy and conserving biodiversity.

Watershed prioritization in the upper Han River basin for soil and water conservation in the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (middle route) of China.

PubMed

Wu, Haibing

2018-01-01

Watershed prioritization with the objective of identifying critical areas to undertake soil and water conservation measures was conducted in the upper Han River basin, the water source area of approximately 95,000 km 2 for the middle route of China's South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Based on the estimated soil erosion intensity in uplands and clustering analysis of measured nutrient concentrations in rivers, the basin was grouped into very-high-, high-, moderate-, and low-priority regions for water and soil conservation, respectively. The results indicated that soil erosion was primarily controlled by topography, and nutrients in rivers were associated with land use and land cover in uplands. Also, there was large spatial disparity between soil erosion intensity in the uplands and nutrient concentrations in the rivers across the basin. Analysis was then performed to prioritize the basin by the integration of the soil erosion intensity and water quality on a GIS platform in order to identify critical areas for water and soil conservation in the basin. The identified high-priority regions which occupy 5.74% of the drainage areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation treatments, of which 5.28% is critical for soil erosion prevention and 0.46% for water conservation. Understandings of the basin environment and pollutant loading with spatial explicit are critical to the soil and water resource conservation for the interbasin water transfer project.

An Approach to Enhance the Conservation-Compatibility of Solar Energy Development

PubMed Central

Cameron, D. Richard; Cohen, Brian S.; Morrison, Scott A.

2012-01-01

The rapid pace of climate change poses a major threat to biodiversity. Utility-scale renewable energy development (>1 MW capacity) is a key strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but development of those facilities also can have adverse effects on biodiversity. Here, we examine the synergy between renewable energy generation goals and those for biodiversity conservation in the 13 M ha Mojave Desert of the southwestern USA. We integrated spatial data on biodiversity conservation value, solar energy potential, and land surface slope angle (a key determinant of development feasibility) and found there to be sufficient area to meet renewable energy goals without developing on lands of relatively high conservation value. Indeed, we found nearly 200,000 ha of lower conservation value land below the most restrictive slope angle (<1%); that area could meet the state of California’s current 33% renewable energy goal 1.8 times over. We found over 740,000 ha below the highest slope angle (<5%) – an area that can meet California’s renewable energy goal seven times over. Our analysis also suggests that the supply of high quality habitat on private land may be insufficient to mitigate impacts from future solar projects, so enhancing public land management may need to be considered among the options to offset such impacts. Using the approach presented here, planners could reduce development impacts on areas of higher conservation value, and so reduce trade-offs between converting to a green energy economy and conserving biodiversity. PMID:22685568

Measuring the Effectiveness of Conservation: A Novel Framework to Quantify the Benefits of Sage-Grouse Conservation Policy and Easements in Wyoming

PubMed Central

Copeland, Holly E.; Pocewicz, Amy; Naugle, David E.; Griffiths, Tim; Keinath, Doug; Evans, Jeffrey; Platt, James

2013-01-01

Increasing energy and housing demands are impacting wildlife populations throughout western North America. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a species known for its sensitivity to landscape-scale disturbance, inhabits the same low elevation sage-steppe in which much of this development is occurring. Wyoming has committed to maintain sage-grouse populations through conservation easements and policy changes that conserves high bird abundance “core” habitat and encourages development in less sensitive landscapes. In this study, we built new predictive models of oil and gas, wind, and residential development and applied build-out scenarios to simulate future development and measure the efficacy of conservation actions for maintaining sage-grouse populations. Our approach predicts sage-grouse population losses averted through conservation action and quantifies return on investment for different conservation strategies. We estimate that without conservation, sage-grouse populations in Wyoming will decrease under our long-term scenario by 14–29% (95% CI: 4–46%). However, a conservation strategy that includes the “core area” policy and $250 million in targeted easements could reduce these losses to 9–15% (95% CI: 3–32%), cutting anticipated losses by roughly half statewide and nearly two-thirds within sage-grouse core breeding areas. Core area policy is the single most important component, and targeted easements are complementary to the overall strategy. There is considerable uncertainty around the magnitude of our estimates; however, the relative benefit of different conservation scenarios remains comparable because potential biases and assumptions are consistently applied regardless of the strategy. There is early evidence based on a 40% reduction in leased hectares inside core areas that Wyoming policy is reducing potential for future fragmentation inside core areas. Our framework using build-out scenarios to anticipate species declines provides estimates that could be used by decision makers to determine if expected population losses warrant ESA listing. PMID:23826250

50 CFR Table 3 (south) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears South of 40°10′ N. Lat.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears South of 40°10ⲠN. Lat. 3 Table 3 (South) to Part 660, Subpart F Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION...

50 CFR Table 3 (north) to Part 660... - Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears North of 40°10′ N. Lat.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears North of 40°10ⲠN. Lat. 3 Table 3 (North) to Part 660, Subpart F Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION...

Resource management planning efforts on the Bureau of Land Management's Snake River birds of prey national conservation area

Treesearch

John Sullivan

2005-01-01

In 1993, Congress passed Public Law 103-64, which established the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA) for the purpose of conserving, protecting, and enhancing raptor populations and habitats. The NCA encompasses over 485,000 acres of public land along 130 km of the Snake River in southwest Idaho, and is located within a 30-minute drive of Boise...

The importance of protected areas for the forest and endemic avifauna of Sulawesi (Indonesia).

PubMed

Lee, Tien Ming; Sodhi, Navjot S; Prawiradilaga, Dewi M

2007-09-01

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of residual tropical forest biodiversity, yet many of these are being deforested by humans both within and outside of their administrative boundaries. Therefore, it is critical to document the significance of protected areas for conserving tropical biodiversity, particularly in mega-diverse Southeast Asia. We evaluated the importance of protected areas (national parks [NP], nature reserves [NR], and wildlife reserves [WR]) in preserving avifaunal diversity, particularly the endemic and forest species, on the island of Sulawesi. This island has one of the highest numbers of endemic avifauna genera (12) globally and is also experiencing heavy deforestation. Rarefaction analyses and species estimators showed that parks and reserves consistently recorded higher number of forest, endemic, and endemic forest bird species, in addition to larger population densities, than in their surrounding human-modified areas across eight protected areas (Gunung Manembo-nembo WR, Tangkoko-Batu Angus and Dua Saudara NR, Gunung Ambang NR, Bogani Nani Wartabone NP, Gunung Tinombala NR, Gunung Sojol NR, Lore Lindu NP, and Rawa Aopa Watumohai NP). This implies that protecting natural forests must remain as one of the fundamental conservation strategies in Sulawesi. Two small reserves (Gunung Manembo-nembo WR and Tangkoko-Batu Angus and Dua Saudara NR), however, had high number of forest and endemic bird species both within and outside their boundaries, suggesting the importance of buffer areas for augmenting small reserves so as to improve their conservation value. Ordination analyses revealed the differential response of bird species to different environmental factors (e.g., native tree cover), highlighting the significance of forested habitats with dense native vegetation cover for effective conservation of forest dependent and endemic avifauna. In addition, the distinctiveness in bird species composition among protected areas highlights the importance of establishing a reserve network across major altitudinal zones so as to achieve maximum complementarity for the conservation of Sulawesi's unique avifauna.

Cost-effective conservation of amphibian ecology and evolution

PubMed Central

Campos, Felipe S.; Lourenço-de-Moraes, Ricardo; Llorente, Gustavo A.; Solé, Mirco

2017-01-01

Habitat loss is the most important threat to species survival, and the efficient selection of priority areas is fundamental for good systematic conservation planning. Using amphibians as a conservation target, we designed an innovative assessment strategy, showing that prioritization models focused on functional, phylogenetic, and taxonomic diversity can include cost-effectiveness–based assessments of land values. We report new key conservation sites within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hot spot, revealing a congruence of ecological and evolutionary patterns. We suggest payment for ecosystem services through environmental set-asides on private land, establishing potential trade-offs for ecological and evolutionary processes. Our findings introduce additional effective area-based conservation parameters that set new priorities for biodiversity assessment in the Atlantic Forest, validating the usefulness of a novel approach to cost-effectiveness–based assessments of conservation value for other species-rich regions. PMID:28691084

Assessing conservation opportunity on private land: socio-economic, behavioral, and spatial dimensions.

PubMed

Raymond, Christopher M; Brown, Gregory

2011-10-01

This study presents a method for assessing conservation opportunity on private land based on landholders' socio-economic, behavioral, and farm characteristics. These characteristics include age, gender, education, level of off-farm income, farm size, proportion of remnant native vegetation on-farm, and ecological value of native vegetation on-farm. A sample of landholders who own greater than 2 ha of land in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin region were sent a mail-based survey about their values and preferences for environmental management (N = 659, 52% response). Cross-tabulations and ANOVA statistical analysis techniques were used to compare the socio-economic attributes across three landholder classes: disengaged, moderately engaged, and highly engaged in native vegetation planting. Results indicate that highly engaged landholders were more likely to be female, formally educated, hobby farmers who managed small parcels of land and have high off-farm incomes, whereas disengaged landholders held significantly stronger farming connections (more farming experience, family have lived on the farm for more generations). Spatial analysis revealed area-specific differences in conservation opportunity and conservation priority. In some areas, properties of high ecological value were managed by highly engaged landholders, but nearby properties of high value were managed by moderately engaged or disengaged landholders. Environmental managers therefore cannot assume areas of high conservation priority will be areas of high conservation opportunity. At the regional scale, the potential for revegetation seems most promising within the moderately engaged landholder group considering the vast amount of land managed by this group in areas of high ecological value, particularly within the less represented Mallee and Coorong and Rangelands sub-regions. We suggest that incentive schemes which purchase conservation need to be targeted at disengaged landholders; mentoring schemes led by commercial farmers highly engaged in native vegetation planting should be directed at moderately engaged landholders, and; awards programs which acknowledge conservation successes should be targeted at highly engaged landholders. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The First International Biosphere Reserve Congress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laird, John

1984-01-01

Presents objectives (and related activities) of a plan designed for international collaboration in conserving key natural areas (biosphere reserves) of the globe. The plan (focusing on such areas as management, conservation, research, monitoring, and environmental education/training) was formulated during the First International Biosphere Reserve…

Bias in protected-area location and its effects on long-term aspirations of biodiversity conventions.

PubMed

Venter, Oscar; Magrach, Ainhoa; Outram, Nick; Klein, Carissa Joy; Possingham, Hugh P; Di Marco, Moreno; Watson, James E M

2018-02-01

To contribute to the aspirations of recent international biodiversity conventions, protected areas (PAs) must be strategically located and not simply established on economically marginal lands as they have in the past. With refined international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity to target protected areas in places of "importance to biodiversity," perhaps they may now be. We analyzed location biases in PAs globally over historic (pre-2004) and recent periods. Specifically, we examined whether the location of protected areas are more closely associated with high concentrations of threatened vertebrate species or with areas of low agricultural opportunity costs. We found that both old and new protected areas did not target places with high concentrations of threatened vertebrate species. Instead, they appeared to be established in locations that minimize conflict with agriculturally suitable lands. This entrenchment of past trends has substantial implications for the contributions these protected areas are making to international commitments to conserve biodiversity. If protected-area growth from 2004 to 2014 had strategically targeted unrepresented threatened vertebrates, >30 times more species (3086 or 2553 potential vs. 85 actual new species represented) would have been protected for the same area or the same cost as the actual expansion. With the land available for conservation declining, nations must urgently focus new protection on places that provide for the conservation outcomes outlined in international treaties. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Plant composition in oak savanna and woodland restoration at Prairie Fork Conservation Area in Missouri

Treesearch

Nadia E. Navarrete-Tindall; J.W. Van Sambeek; Jamie Coe; Warren Taylor

2007-01-01

The wooded areas of the Prairie Fork Conservation Area in central Missouri are typical of the oak/hickory forest/prairie transition zone that will require active management to restore pre-settlement, grass dominated savannas and open woodlands to improve habitat for wildlife. We initiated a management program to restore savannas and woodlands by reducing the midstory (...

Terrestrial Birds and Conservation Priorities in Baja California Peninsula

Treesearch

Ricardo Rodriguez-Estrella

2005-01-01

The Baja California peninsula has been categorized as an Endemic Bird Area of the world and it is an important wintering area for a number of aquatic, wading and migratory landbird species. It is an important area for conservation of bird diversity in northwestern México. In spite of this importance, only few, scattered studies have been done on the ecology...

Grassland Bird Conservation Efforts in Missouri and Iowa: How Will We Measure Success?

Treesearch

Brad Jacobs; Rolf R. Koford; Frank R. Thompson III; Hope Woodward; Mike Hubbard; Jane A. Fitzgerald; James R. Herkert

2005-01-01

Missouri and Iowa have adopted the Bird Conservation Area (BCA) model of Partners in Flight and applied the BCA model to ten areas managed to benefit grassland birds. These ten BCAs have large core areas of continuous grassland centered on active lek sites of Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido). Management is focused on expanding the number...

Phylogenetic diversity meets conservation policy: small areas are key to preserving eucalypt lineages.

PubMed

Pollock, Laura J; Rosauer, Dan F; Thornhill, Andrew H; Kujala, Heini; Crisp, Michael D; Miller, Joseph T; McCarthy, Michael A

2015-02-19

Evolutionary and genetic knowledge is increasingly being valued in conservation theory, but is rarely considered in conservation planning and policy. Here, we integrate phylogenetic diversity (PD) with spatial reserve prioritization to evaluate how well the existing reserve system in Victoria, Australia captures the evolutionary lineages of eucalypts, which dominate forest canopies across the state. Forty-three per cent of remaining native woody vegetation in Victoria is located in protected areas (mostly national parks) representing 48% of the extant PD found in the state. A modest expansion in protected areas of 5% (less than 1% of the state area) would increase protected PD by 33% over current levels. In a recent policy change, portions of the national parks were opened for development. These tourism development zones hold over half the PD found in national parks with some species and clades falling entirely outside of protected zones within the national parks. This approach of using PD in spatial prioritization could be extended to any clade or area that has spatial and phylogenetic data. Our results demonstrate the relevance of PD to regional conservation policy by highlighting that small but strategically located areas disproportionally impact the preservation of evolutionary lineages.

Biodiversity of Coreoidea and Pentatomidae (Heteroptera) from Atlantic forest protected areas. Insights into their conservation.

PubMed

Dellapé, Gimena; Colpo, Karine D; Melo, María C; Montemayor, Sara I; Dellapé, Pablo M

2018-01-01

Although the majority of threatened species are likely to be tropical insects, knowledge of the diversity, ecological role and impact of insect biodiversity loss on ecosystem processes is very limited. Specimens belonging to four families of Heteroptera: Pentatomidae, Coreidae, Alydidae and Rhopalidae, were collected from a protected area in the Paraná Forest, the largest ecoregion of the Atlantic Forest, in Argentina. The assemblages were characterized and the biodiversity estimated, and they were compared with the assemblages found in five other protected areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In our study area, Pentatomidae had the greatest richness and diversity; Coreidae was the second most diverse family, with highest sampling deficit, highest percentage of singletons, and lowest inventory completeness; and Rhopalidae was the best sampled family with asymptotic rarefaction curves. We explored the application of the Species Conservation Importance index, following four criteria, to evaluate the relative importance of the pentatomid species studied and its usefulness for assigning conservation values to areas. We found similar Site Conservation Values among the six areas and noted that the use of criteria was limited by the lack of information, being crucial to increase the knowledge of most of the species.

Ecological Design of Fernery based on Bioregion Classification System in Ecopark Cibinong Science Center Botanic Gardens, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nafar, S.; Gunawan, A.

2017-10-01

Indonesia as mega biodiversity country has a wide variety of ferns. However, the natural habitats of ferns are currently degrading, particularly in lowlands due to the increasing level of urban-sprawl and industrial zones development. Therefore, Ecology Park (Ecopark) Cibinong Science Center-Botanic Gardens as an ex-situ conservation area is expected to be the best location to conserve the lowland ferns. The purpose of this study is to design a fernery through an ecological landscape design process. The main concept is The Journey of Fern, this concept aiming on providing users experiences in fernery by associating conservational, educational, and recreational aspects. Ecological landscape design as general is applied by the principal of reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R). Bioregion classification system is applied by grouping the plants based on the characteristics of light, water, soil, air, and temperature. The design concept is inspired by the morphology of fern and its growth patterns which is transformed into organic and geometric forms. The result of this study is a design of fernery which consist of welcome area, recreation area, service area, and conservation education area as the main area that providing 66 species of ferns.

[Effects of small hydropower substitute fuel project on forest ecosystem services].

PubMed

Yu, Hai Yan; Zha, Tong Gang; Nie, Li Shui; Lyu, Zhi Yuan

2016-10-01

Based on the Forest Ecosystem Services Assessment Standards (LY/T 1721－2008) issued by the State Forestry Administration, this paper evaluated four key functions of forest ecosystems, i.e., water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release, and nutrient accumulation. Focusing on the project area of Majiang County in Guizhou Province, this study provided some quantitative evidence that the implementation of the small hydropower substituting fuel project had positive effects on the values and material quantities of ecosystem service functions. The results showed that the small hydropower substituting fuel project had a significant effect on the increase of forest ecosystem services. Water conservation quantity of Pinus massoniana and Cupressus funebris plantations inside project area was 20662.04 m 3 ·hm -2 ·a -1 , 20.5% higher than outside project area, with soil conservation quantity of 119.1 t·hm -2 ·a -1 , 29.7% higher than outside project area, carbon fixation and oxygen release of 220.49 t·hm -2 ·a -1 , 40.2% higher than outside project area, and forest tree nutrition accumulation of 3.49 t·hm -2 ·a -1 , 48.5% higher than outside project area. Small hydropower substituting fuel project for increasing the quota of forest ecosystem service function value was in the order of carbon fixation and oxygen release function (71400 yuan·hm -2 ·a -1 ) > water conservation function (60100 yuan·hm -2 ·a -1 ) > tree nutrition accumulation function (13800 yuan·hm -2 ·a -1 ) > soil conservation function (8100 yuan·hm -2 ·a -1 ). Small hydropower substituting fuel project played an important role for improving the forest ecological service function value and realizing the sustainable development of forest.

Using changes in agricultural utility to quantify future climate-induced risk to conservation.

PubMed

Estes, Lyndon D; Paroz, Lydie-Line; Bradley, Bethany A; Green, Jonathan M H; Hole, David G; Holness, Stephen; Ziv, Guy; Oppenheimer, Michael G; Wilcove, David S

2014-04-01

Much of the biodiversity-related climate change impacts research has focused on the direct effects to species and ecosystems. Far less attention has been paid to the potential ecological consequences of human efforts to address the effects of climate change, which may equal or exceed the direct effects of climate change on biodiversity. One of the most significant human responses is likely to be mediated through changes in the agricultural utility of land. As farmers adapt their practices to changing climates, they may increase pressure on some areas that are important to conserve (conservation lands) whereas lessening it on others. We quantified how the agricultural utility of South African conservation lands may be altered by climate change. We assumed that the probability of an area being farmed is linked to the economic benefits of doing so, using land productivity values to represent production benefit and topographic ruggedness as a proxy for costs associated with mechanical workability. We computed current and future values of maize and wheat production in key conservation lands using the DSSAT4.5 model and 36 crop-climate response scenarios. Most conservation lands had, and were predicted to continue to have, low agricultural utility because of their location in rugged terrain. However, several areas were predicted to maintain or gain high agricultural utility and may therefore be at risk of near-term or future conversion to cropland. Conversely, some areas were predicted to decrease in agricultural utility and may therefore prove easier to protect from conversion. Our study provides an approximate but readily transferable method for incorporating potential human responses to climate change into conservation planning. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Protected areas: a prism for a changing world.

PubMed

Lovejoy, Thomas E

2006-06-01

The centrality of protected areas in biodiversity conservation has not changed over the past three decades, but we now know that biodiversity conservation represents a much more complex and dynamic picture than was once thought. In contrast to the earlier primarily aesthetic motivation (and still valid in its own right), the role of protected areas in biodiversity conservation is now widely accepted. Internationally, their importance has been recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity and by the creation of intergovernmental funding agencies such as the Global Environmental Facility. As I discuss here, the rate of creation of new protected areas has increased rapidly to meet the need for a protected representative set of the ecosystems of the world. But that is only the start of the task.

Global priorities for national carnivore conservation under land use change

PubMed Central

Di Minin, Enrico; Slotow, Rob; Hunter, Luke T. B.; Montesino Pouzols, Federico; Toivonen, Tuuli; Verburg, Peter H.; Leader-Williams, Nigel; Petracca, Lisanne; Moilanen, Atte

2016-01-01

Mammalian carnivores have suffered the biggest range contraction among all biodiversity and are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation. Therefore, we identified priority areas for the conservation of mammalian carnivores, while accounting for species-specific requirements for connectivity and expected agricultural and urban expansion. While prioritizing for carnivores only, we were also able to test their effectiveness as surrogates for 23,110 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles and 867 terrestrial ecoregions. We then assessed the risks to carnivore conservation within each country that makes a contribution to global carnivore conservation. We found that land use change will potentially lead to important range losses, particularly amongst already threatened carnivore species. In addition, the 17% of land targeted for protection under the Aichi Target 11 was found to be inadequate to conserve carnivores under expected land use change. Our results also highlight that land use change will decrease the effectiveness of carnivores to protect other threatened species, especially threatened amphibians. In addition, the risk of human-carnivore conflict is potentially high in countries where we identified spatial priorities for their conservation. As meeting the global biodiversity target will be inadequate for carnivore protection, innovative interventions are needed to conserve carnivores outside protected areas to compliment any proposed expansion of the protected area network. PMID:27034197

Major Issues Facing the Conservation Movement in the Coming Decade and Beyond.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strong, Maurice

1984-01-01

The key issues facing the conservation movement may be grouped into three areas: (1) threats to human health; (2) threats to food and fuel supplies; and (3) long-term threats to the biosphere. Each of these areas is discussed. (JN)

TESTING INDICATOR GROUPS FOR RESERVE SELECTION: ARE RARE SPECIES AT RISK OF BEING LEFT OUT?

EPA Science Inventory

Indicators of biodiversity are potential tools for selecting areas for conservation when information about species' distributions is scarce. The concept involves selecting areas based on groups of conservation targets whose distributions represent more broadly defined patterns o...

Protected Areas' Impacts on Brazilian Amazon Deforestation: Examining Conservation-Development Interactions to Inform Planning.

PubMed

Pfaff, Alexander; Robalino, Juan; Herrera, Diego; Sandoval, Catalina

2015-01-01

Protected areas are the leading forest conservation policy for species and ecoservices goals and they may feature in climate policy if countries with tropical forest rely on familiar tools. For Brazil's Legal Amazon, we estimate the average impact of protection upon deforestation and show how protected areas' forest impacts vary significantly with development pressure. We use matching, i.e., comparisons that are apples-to-apples in observed land characteristics, to address the fact that protected areas (PAs) tend to be located on lands facing less pressure. Correcting for that location bias lowers our estimates of PAs' forest impacts by roughly half. Further, it reveals significant variation in PA impacts along development-related dimensions: for example, the PAs that are closer to roads and the PAs closer to cities have higher impact. Planners have multiple conservation and development goals, and are constrained by cost, yet still conservation planning should reflect what our results imply about future impacts of PAs.

Entanglement conservation, ER=EPR, and a new classical area theorem for wormholes

DOE PAGES

Remmen, Grant N.; Bao, Ning; Pollack, Jason

2016-07-11

We consider the question of entanglement conservation in the context of the ER=EPR correspondence equating quantum entanglement with wormholes. In quantum mechanics, the entanglement between a system and its complement is conserved under unitary operations that act independently on each; ER=EPR suggests that an analogous statement should hold for wormholes. We accordingly prove a new area theorem in general relativity: for a collection of dynamical wormholes and black holes in a spacetime satisfying the null curvature condition, the maximin area for a subset of the horizons (giving the largest area attained by the minimal cross section of the multi-wormhole throatmore » separating the subset from its complement) is invariant under classical time evolution along the outermost apparent horizons. The evolution can be completely general, including horizon mergers and the addition of classical matter satisfying the null energy condition. In conclusion, this theorem is the gravitational dual of entanglement conservation and thus constitutes an explicit characterization of the ER=EPR duality in the classical limit.« less

Entanglement conservation, ER=EPR, and a new classical area theorem for wormholes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Remmen, Grant N.; Bao, Ning; Pollack, Jason

We consider the question of entanglement conservation in the context of the ER=EPR correspondence equating quantum entanglement with wormholes. In quantum mechanics, the entanglement between a system and its complement is conserved under unitary operations that act independently on each; ER=EPR suggests that an analogous statement should hold for wormholes. We accordingly prove a new area theorem in general relativity: for a collection of dynamical wormholes and black holes in a spacetime satisfying the null curvature condition, the maximin area for a subset of the horizons (giving the largest area attained by the minimal cross section of the multi-wormhole throatmore » separating the subset from its complement) is invariant under classical time evolution along the outermost apparent horizons. The evolution can be completely general, including horizon mergers and the addition of classical matter satisfying the null energy condition. In conclusion, this theorem is the gravitational dual of entanglement conservation and thus constitutes an explicit characterization of the ER=EPR duality in the classical limit.« less

Geospatial monitoring and prioritization of forest fire incidences in Andhra Pradesh, India.

PubMed

Manaswini, G; Sudhakar Reddy, C

2015-10-01

Forest fire has been identified as one of the key environmental issue for long-term conservation of biodiversity and has impact on global climate. Spatially multiple observations are necessary for monitoring of forest fires in tropics for understanding conservation efficacy and sustaining biodiversity in protected areas. The present work was carried out to estimate the spatial extent of forest burnt areas and fire frequency using Resourcesat Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014) in Andhra Pradesh, India. The spatio-temporal analysis shows that an area of 7514.10 km(2) (29.22% of total forest cover) has been affected by forest fires. Six major forest types are distributed in Andhra Pradesh, i.e. semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry evergreen, thorn and mangroves. Of the total forest burnt area, dry deciduous forests account for >75%. District-wise analysis shows that Kurnool, Prakasam and Cuddapah have shown >100 km(2) of burnt area every year. The total forest burnt area estimate covering protected areas ranges between 6.9 and 22.3% during the study period. Spatial burnt area analysis for protected areas in 2014 indicates 37.2% of fire incidences in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve followed by 20.2 % in the Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary, 20.1% in the Sri Venkateswara Wildlife Sanctuary and 17.4% in the Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary. The analysis of cumulative fire occurrences from 2009 to 2014 has helped in delineation of conservation priority hotspots using a spatial grid cell approach. Conservation priority hotspots I and II are distributed in major parts of study area including protected areas of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve and Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary. The spatial database generated will be useful in studies related to influence of fires on species adaptability, ecological damage assessment and conservation planning.

Rank aggregation of local expert knowledge for conservation planning of the critically endangered saola.

PubMed

Wilkinson, Nicholas M; Van Duc, Luong

2017-06-01

There has been much recent interest in using local knowledge and expert opinion for conservation planning, particularly for hard-to-detect species. Although it is possible to ask for direct estimation of quantities such as population size, relative abundance is easier to estimate. However, an expert's knowledge is often geographically restricted relative to the area of interest. Combining (or aggregating) experts' assessments of relative abundance is difficult when each expert only knows a part of the area of interest. We used Google's PageRank algorithm to aggregate ranked abundance scores elicited from local experts through a rapid rural-appraisal method. We applied this technique to conservation planning for the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), a poorly known bovid. Near a priority landscape for the species, composed of 3 contiguous protected areas, we asked groups of local people to indicate relative abundances of saola and other species by placing beans on community maps. For each village, we used this information to rank areas within the knowledge area of that village for saola abundance. We used simulations to compare alternative methods to aggregate the rankings from the different villages. The best-performing method was then used to produce a single map of relative abundance across the entire landscape, an area larger than that known to any one village. This map has informed prioritization of surveys and conservation action in the continued absence of direct information about the saola. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Assessment of Coastal Ecosystem Services for Conservation Strategies in South Korea.

PubMed

Chung, Min Gon; Kang, Hojeong; Choi, Sung-Uk

2015-01-01

Despite the fact that scientific and political consideration for ecosystem services has dramatically increased over the past decade, few studies have focused on marine and coastal ecosystem services for conservation strategies. We used an ecosystem services approach to assess spatial distributions of habitat risks and four ecosystem services (coastal protection, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality), and explored the tradeoffs among them in coastal areas of South Korea. Additionally, we analyzed how the social and ecological characteristics in coastal areas interact with conservation and development policies by using this approach. We found strong negative associations between the habitat risks and ecosystem services (aquaculture, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality) across the coastal counties. Our results showed that the intensity of the habitat risks and the provision of ecosystem services were significantly different between reclamation-dominated and conservation-dominated counties, except for coastal vulnerability. A generalized linear model suggested that reclamation projects were dependent on economic efficiency, whereas demographic pressures and habitat conditions influenced the designation of protected areas at a county level. The ecosystem services approach provided guidelines to achieve both sustainable development and environment conservation. By using the approach, we can select the priority areas for developments while we can minimize the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As cultural ecosystem services are evenly distributed throughout coastal areas of South Korea, decision makers may employ them to improve the conditions of coastal wetlands outside of protected areas.

Assessment of Coastal Ecosystem Services for Conservation Strategies in South Korea

PubMed Central

Chung, Min Gon; Kang, Hojeong; Choi, Sung-Uk

2015-01-01

Despite the fact that scientific and political consideration for ecosystem services has dramatically increased over the past decade, few studies have focused on marine and coastal ecosystem services for conservation strategies. We used an ecosystem services approach to assess spatial distributions of habitat risks and four ecosystem services (coastal protection, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality), and explored the tradeoffs among them in coastal areas of South Korea. Additionally, we analyzed how the social and ecological characteristics in coastal areas interact with conservation and development policies by using this approach. We found strong negative associations between the habitat risks and ecosystem services (aquaculture, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality) across the coastal counties. Our results showed that the intensity of the habitat risks and the provision of ecosystem services were significantly different between reclamation-dominated and conservation-dominated counties, except for coastal vulnerability. A generalized linear model suggested that reclamation projects were dependent on economic efficiency, whereas demographic pressures and habitat conditions influenced the designation of protected areas at a county level. The ecosystem services approach provided guidelines to achieve both sustainable development and environment conservation. By using the approach, we can select the priority areas for developments while we can minimize the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As cultural ecosystem services are evenly distributed throughout coastal areas of South Korea, decision makers may employ them to improve the conditions of coastal wetlands outside of protected areas. PMID:26221950

Size, age, and habitat determine effectiveness of Palau's Marine Protected Areas

PubMed Central

Golbuu, Yimnang; Ballesteros, Enric; Caselle, Jennifer E.; Gouezo, Marine; Olsudong, Dawnette; Sala, Enric

2017-01-01

Palau has a rich heritage of conservation that has evolved from the traditional moratoria on fishing, or “bul”, to more western Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), while still retaining elements of customary management and tenure. In 2003, the Palau Protected Areas Network (PAN) was created to conserve Palau’s unique biodiversity and culture, and is the country’s mechanism for achieving the goals of the Micronesia Challenge (MC), an initiative to conserve ≥30% of near-shore marine resources within the region by 2020. The PAN comprises a network of numerous MPAs within Palau that vary in age, size, level of management, and habitat, which provide an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses concerning MPA design and function using multiple discreet sampling units. Our sampling design provided a robust space for time comparison to evaluate the relative influence of potential drivers of MPA efficacy. Our results showed that no-take MPAs had, on average, nearly twice the biomass of resource fishes (i.e. those important commercially, culturally, or for subsistence) compared to nearby unprotected areas. Biomass of non-resource fishes showed no differences between no-take areas and areas open to fishing. The most striking difference between no-take MPAs and unprotected areas was the more than 5-fold greater biomass of piscivorous fishes in the MPAs compared to fished areas. The most important determinates of no-take MPA success in conserving resource fish biomass were MPA size and years of protection. Habitat and distance from shore had little effect on resource fish biomass. The extensive network of MPAs in Palau likely provides important conservation and tourism benefits to the Republic, and may also provide fisheries benefits by protecting spawning aggregation sites, and potentially through adult spillover. PMID:28358910

Memorandum on availability of ground water for irrigation in certain areas of eastern Arkansas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dennis, P.E.; ,

1957-01-01

This memorandum was prepared in response to a request from the Soil Conservation Service, Little Rock, Ark., for information on the future prospects of irrigation of rice with water from wells in certain areas in the basins of the Bache, St. Francis, and L'Anguille Rivers, Big and Dials Creeks, and Bayou Meto and the Bouef-Tensas-Macon basin. It was prepared as a aprt of the Statewide ground-water investigation in cooperation with the Arkansas Geological and Conservation Commission ad the University of Arkansas. The specific areas and water requirement specified by the Soil Conservation Service are listed in the appendix.

Ames Energy: A Consumer's Guide to Energy Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Women's Support Network, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA.

Presented is an annotated bibliography of energy-related materials for the consumer. Materials (which include books, videotape recordings, magazines, pamphlets, and other media) are arranged by subject area. These area include: (1) earth sheltered buildings; (2) fuels; (3) general (including general energy conservation and insulation); (4) heat…

Shortleaf pine natural community restoration on Peck Ranch Conservation Area in the Missouri Ozarks

Treesearch

John G. Tuttle; Kim J. Houf

2007-01-01

Oak decline has become a significantly increasing problem on Peck Ranch Conservation Area over the last several years. Most of the oak decline problems exist on past shortleaf pine sites. To address this issue, the area managers wrote a natural community restoration plan for 2,233 acres located on the Current-Eleven Point Oak-Pine Woodland Dissected Plain land type...

Ecology and conservation: contributions to One Health.

PubMed

Cleaveland, S; Borner, M; Gislason, M

2014-08-01

Although One Health is widely promoted as a more effective approach towards human, animal and ecosystem health, the momentum is still driven largely by health professionals, predominantly from the veterinary sector. While few can doubt the merits of interdisciplinary One Health approaches to tackle complex health problems, operating across the disciplines still presents many challenges. This paper focuses on the contributions of partners from ecology and conservation to One Health approaches, and identifies four broad areas which could act as a focus for practical engagement and bring ecological and conservation objectives more to the forefront of the One Health agenda: i) developing initiatives with shared conservation and health objectives, particularly in and around protected areas and including programmes addressing human reproductive health and mental health; ii) broadening concepts of health to extend beyond indicators of disease to include the assessment of ecological impacts; iii) the integration of ecological and epidemiological monitoring systems within protected areas to support conservation management and wildlife disease surveillance; iv) building partnerships to bring conservation, health, development and animal welfare agencies together to combat threats to global biodiversity and health from the international trade in wildlife and wildlife products.

Delimiting priority areas for the conservation of endemic and threatened Neotropical birds using a niche-based gap analysis

PubMed Central

Sousa-Neves, Tiago; Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira; Gonsioroski, Gustavo; Silva, Sofia Marques; Silva, Daniel Paiva; Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas

2017-01-01

Knowledge of spatiotemporal distribution of biodiversity is still very incomplete in the tropics. This is one of the major problems preventing the assessment and effectiveness of conservation actions. Mega-diverse tropical regions are being exposed to fast and profound environmental changes, and the amount of resources available to describe the distribution of species is generally limited. Thus, the tropics is losing species at unprecedented rates, without a proper assessment of its biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) can be used to fill such biogeographic gaps within a species’ range and, when allied with systematic conservation planning (e.g. analyses of representativeness, gap analysis), help transcend such data shortage and support practical conservation actions. Within the Neotropics, eastern Amazon and northern Cerrado present a high variety of environments and are some of the most interesting ecotonal areas within South America, but are also among the most threatened biogeographic provinces in the world. Here, we test the effectiveness of the current system of Protected Areas (PAs), in protecting 24 threatened and endemic bird species using SDMs. We found that taxa with wider distributions are potentially as protected as taxa with smaller ranges, and larger PAs were more efficient than smaller PAs, while protecting these bird species. Nonetheless, Cerrado PAs are mostly misallocated. We suggest six priority areas for conservation of Neotropical birds. Finally, we highlight the importance of indigenous lands in the conservation of Neotropical biodiversity, and recommend the development of community management plans to conserve the biological resources of the region. PMID:28187182

Delimiting priority areas for the conservation of endemic and threatened Neotropical birds using a niche-based gap analysis.

PubMed

de Carvalho, Dorinny Lisboa; Sousa-Neves, Tiago; Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira; Gonsioroski, Gustavo; Silva, Sofia Marques; Silva, Daniel Paiva; Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas

2017-01-01

Knowledge of spatiotemporal distribution of biodiversity is still very incomplete in the tropics. This is one of the major problems preventing the assessment and effectiveness of conservation actions. Mega-diverse tropical regions are being exposed to fast and profound environmental changes, and the amount of resources available to describe the distribution of species is generally limited. Thus, the tropics is losing species at unprecedented rates, without a proper assessment of its biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) can be used to fill such biogeographic gaps within a species' range and, when allied with systematic conservation planning (e.g. analyses of representativeness, gap analysis), help transcend such data shortage and support practical conservation actions. Within the Neotropics, eastern Amazon and northern Cerrado present a high variety of environments and are some of the most interesting ecotonal areas within South America, but are also among the most threatened biogeographic provinces in the world. Here, we test the effectiveness of the current system of Protected Areas (PAs), in protecting 24 threatened and endemic bird species using SDMs. We found that taxa with wider distributions are potentially as protected as taxa with smaller ranges, and larger PAs were more efficient than smaller PAs, while protecting these bird species. Nonetheless, Cerrado PAs are mostly misallocated. We suggest six priority areas for conservation of Neotropical birds. Finally, we highlight the importance of indigenous lands in the conservation of Neotropical biodiversity, and recommend the development of community management plans to conserve the biological resources of the region.

Agricultural implications of providing soil-based constraints on urban expansion: Land use forecasts to 2050.

PubMed

Smidt, Samuel J; Tayyebi, Amin; Kendall, Anthony D; Pijanowski, Bryan C; Hyndman, David W

2018-07-01

Urbanization onto adjacent farmlands directly reduces the agricultural area available to meet the resource needs of a growing society. Soil conservation is a common objective in urban planning, but little focus has been placed on targeting soil value as a metric for conservation. This study assigns commodity and water storage values to the agricultural soils across all of the watersheds in Michigan's Lower Peninsula to evaluate how cities might respond to a soil conservation-based urbanization strategy. Land Transformation Model (LTM) simulations representing both traditional and soil conservation-based urbanization, are used to forecast urban area growth from 2010 to 2050 at five year intervals. The expansion of urban areas onto adjacent farmland is then evaluated to quantify the conservation effects of soil-based development. Results indicate that a soil-based protection strategy significantly conserves total farmland, especially more fertile soils within each soil type. In terms of revenue, ∼$88 million (in current dollars) would be conserved in 2050 using soil-based constraints, with the projected savings from 2011 to 2050 totaling more than $1.5 billion. Soil-based urbanization also increased urban density for each major metropolitan area. For example, there were 94,640 more acres directly adjacent to urban land by 2050 under traditional development compared to the soil-based urbanization strategy, indicating that urban sprawl was more tightly contained when including soil value as a metric to guide development. This study indicates that implementing a soil-based urbanization strategy would better satisfy future agricultural resource needs than traditional urban planning. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Yet Another Empty Forest: Considering the Conservation Value of a Recently Established Tropical Nature Reserve

PubMed Central

Sreekar, Rachakonda; Zhang, Kai; Xu, Jianchu; Harrison, Rhett D.

2015-01-01

The primary approach used to conserve tropical biodiversity is in the establishment of protected areas. However, many tropical nature reserves are performing poorly and interventions in the broader landscape may be essential for conserving biodiversity both within reserves and at large. Between October 2010 and 2012, we conducted bird surveys in and around a recently established nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, China. We constructed a checklist of observed species, previously recorded species, and species inferred to have occurred in the area from their distributions and habitat requirements. In addition, we assessed variation in community composition and habitat specificity at a landscape-scale. Despite the fact that the landscape supports a large area of natural forest habitat (~50,000 ha), we estimate that >40% of the bird fauna has been extirpated and abundant evidence suggests hunting is the primary cause. A large proportion (52%) of the bigger birds (>20 cm) were extirpated and for large birds there was a U-shaped relationship between habitat breadth and extirpation probability. Habitat specificity was low and bird communities were dominated by widespread species of limited conservation concern. We question whether extending tropical protected area networks will deliver desired conservation gains, unless much greater effort is channeled into addressing the hunting problem both within existing protected areas and in the broader landscape. PMID:25668338

77 FR 9260 - Establishment of Dakota Grassland Conservation Area, North Dakota and South Dakota

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-16

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS-R6-R-2011-N212; FF06R06000...: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the U... conservation. SHC entails strategic biological planning and conservation design, integrated conservation...

The biogeography of globally threatened seabirds and island conservation opportunities.

PubMed

Spatz, Dena R; Newton, Kelly M; Heinz, Reina; Tershy, Bernie; Holmes, Nick D; Butchart, Stuart H M; Croll, Donald A

2014-10-01

Seabirds are the most threatened group of marine animals; 29% of species are at some risk of extinction. Significant threats to seabirds occur on islands where they breed, but in many cases, effective island conservation can mitigate these threats. To guide island-based seabird conservation actions, we identified all islands with extant or extirpated populations of the 98 globally threatened seabird species, as recognized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, and quantified the presence of threatening invasive species, protected areas, and human populations. We matched these results with island attributes to highlight feasible island conservation opportunities. We identified 1362 threatened breeding seabird populations on 968 islands. On 803 (83%) of these islands, we identified threatening invasive species (20%), incomplete protected area coverage (23%), or both (40%). Most islands with threatened seabirds are amenable to island-wide conservation action because they are small (57% were <1 km(2) ), uninhabited (74%), and occur in high- or middle-income countries (96%). Collectively these attributes make islands with threatened seabirds a rare opportunity for effective conservation at scale. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

The conservation of native priority medicinal plants in a Caatinga area in Ceará, northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Santos, Maria O; Almeida, Bianca V DE; Ribeiro, Daiany A; Macêdo, Delmacia G DE; Macêdo, Márcia J F; Macedo, Julimery G F; Sousa, Francisca F S DE; Oliveira, Liana G S DE; Saraiva, Manuele E; Araújo, Thatiane M S; Souza, Marta M A

2017-01-01

Much of the Brazilian semiarid region faces a considerable process of degradation of natural resources, and ethnobotanical studies have collaborated with important information about the use and traditional knowledge, serving as a tool to design conservation strategies of native plant species. Thus, this study aimed to determine medicinal species meriting conservation priorities in a "Caatinga" area in the northeastern of Brazilian territory. The ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key subjects selected through the "snowball" technique. The availability and species conservation priority was verified by relative density, risk of collection, local use and use of diversity in the forest fragment sampled. It was recorded 42 native medicinal plants and conservation priority score was calculated for seven species, including Mimosa tenuiflora, Hymenaea courbaril, Ximenia americana and Amburana cearensis need immediate conservation and attention, since their collection does not occur in a sustainable way. In order to ensure the perpetuation of the species and the sustainability of traditional therapeutic practice there needs to be a development of conservation practices of caatinga remaining to better conserve the species of the biome.

Land market feedbacks can undermine biodiversity conservation

PubMed Central

Armsworth, Paul R.; Daily, Gretchen C.; Kareiva, Peter; Sanchirico, James N.

2006-01-01

The full or partial purchase of land has become a cornerstone of efforts to conserve biodiversity in countries with strong private property rights. Methods used to target areas for acquisition typically ignore land market dynamics. We show how conservation purchases affect land prices and generate feedbacks that can undermine conservation goals, either by displacing development toward biologically valuable areas or by accelerating its pace. The impact of these market feedbacks on the effectiveness of conservation depends on the ecological value of land outside nature reserves. Traditional, noneconomic approaches to site prioritization should perform adequately in places where land outside reserves supports little biodiversity. However, these approaches will perform poorly in locations where the countryside surrounding reserves is important for species’ persistence. Conservation investments can sometimes even be counterproductive, condemning more species than they save. Conservation is most likely to be compromised in the absence of accurate information on species distributions, which provides a strong argument for improving inventories of biodiversity. Accounting for land market dynamics in conservation planning is crucial for making smart investment decisions. PMID:16554375

Induction of long-lived room temperature phosphorescence of carbon dots by water in hydrogen-bonded matrices.

PubMed

Li, Qijun; Zhou, Ming; Yang, Mingyang; Yang, Qingfeng; Zhang, Zhixun; Shi, Jing

2018-02-21

Phosphorescence shows great potential for application in bioimaging and ion detection because of its long-lived luminescence and high signal-to-noise ratio, but establishing phosphorescence emission in aqueous environments remains a challenge. Herein, we present a general design strategy that effectively promotes phosphorescence by utilising water molecules to construct hydrogen-bonded networks between carbon dots (CDs) and cyanuric acid (CA). Interestingly, water molecules not only cause no phosphorescence quenching but also greatly enhance the phosphorescence emission. This enhancement behaviour can be explained by the fact that the highly ordered bound water on the CA particle surface can construct robust bridge-like hydrogen-bonded networks between the CDs and CA, which not only effectively rigidifies the C=O bonds of the CDs but also greatly enhances the rigidity of the entire system. In addition, the CD-CA suspension exhibits a high phosphorescence lifetime (687 ms) and is successfully applied in ion detection based on its visible phosphorescence.

JPO2/CDCA7L and LEDGF/p75 Are Novel Mediators of PI3K/AKT Signaling and Aggressive Phenotypes in Medulloblastoma.

PubMed

Chan, Tiffany Sin Yu; Hawkins, Cynthia; Krieger, Jonathan R; McGlade, C Jane; Huang, Annie

2016-05-01

Substantial evidence links Myc-PI3K/AKT signaling to the most aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma and this axis in medulloblastoma therapy. In this study, we advance understanding of how Myc-PI3K/AKT signaling contributes to this malignancy, specifically, in identifying the Myc-interacting protein JPO2 and its partner binding protein LEDGF/p75 as critical modulators of PI3K/AKT signaling and metastasis in medulloblastoma. JPO2 overexpression induced metastatic medulloblastoma in vivo through two synergistic feed-forward regulatory circuits involving LEDGF/p75 and AKT that promote metastatic phenotypes in this setting. Overall, our findings highlight two novel prometastatic loci in medulloblastoma and point to the JPO2:LEDGF/p75 protein complex as a potentially new targetable component of PI3K/AKT signaling in medulloblastoma. Cancer Res; 76(9); 2802-12. ©2016 AACR. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

Role of metal mixtures (Ca, Cu and Pb) on Cd bioaccumulation and phytochelatin production by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

PubMed

Abboud, Pauline; Wilkinson, Kevin J

2013-08-01

The goal of the study was to determine whether metal uptake and biological effects could be predicted by free ion concentrations when organisms were exposed to Cd and a second metal. Bioaccumulation and algal phytochelatin (PC) concentrations were determined for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii following a 6-h exposure. Bioaccumulation results, after six hours of exposure, showed that Cd uptake decreased in the presence of relatively high concentrations of Ca, Cu and Pb, however, Cd bioaccumulation increased in the presence of ca. equimolar concentrations of Cu. A good correlation was observed between the production of PCs and the amount of metals bioaccumulated for the binary mixtures of Cd-Pb and Cd-Cu, but not the Cd-Ca mixture. Overall, the results suggested that, in the case of mixtures, bioaccumulated metal rather than free ion concentrations would be a better predictor of biological effect. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prioritizing conservation areas for coastal plant diversity under increasing urbanization.

PubMed

Doxa, Aggeliki; Albert, Cécile Hélène; Leriche, Agathe; Saatkamp, Arne

2017-10-01

Coastal urban expansion will continue to drive further biodiversity losses, if conservation targets for coastal ecosystems are not defined and met. Prioritizing areas for future protected area networks is thus an urgent task in such urbanization-threatened ecosystems. Our aim is to quantify past and future losses of coastal vegetation priority areas due to urbanization and assess the effectiveness of the existing protected area network for conservation. We conduct a prioritization analysis, based on 82 coastal plants, including common and IUCN red list species, in a highly-urbanized but biotically diverse region, in South-Eastern France. We evaluate the role of protected areas, by taking into account both strict and multi-use areas. We assess the impact of past and future urbanization on high priority areas, by combining prioritization analyses and urbanization models. We show that half of the highly diverse areas have already been lost due to urbanization. Remaining top priority areas are also among the most exposed to future urban expansion. The effectiveness of the existing protected area (PA) network is only partial. While strict PAs coincide well with top priority areas, they only represent less than one third of priority areas. The effectiveness of multi-use PAs, such as the Natura 2000 network, also remains limited. Our approach highlights the impact of urbanization on plant conservation targets. By modelling urbanization, we manage to identify those areas where protection could be more efficient to limit further losses. We suggest to use our approach in the future to expand the PA network in order to achieve the 2020 Aichi biodiversity targets. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ants as a measure of effectiveness of habitat conservation planning in southern California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mitrovich, Milan J.; Matsuda, Tritia; Pease, Krista H.; Fisher, Robert N.

2010-01-01

In the United States multispecies habitat conservation plans were meant to be the solution to conflicts between economic development and protection of biological diversity. Although now widely applied, questions exist concerning the scientific credibility of the conservation planning process and effectiveness of the plans. We used ants to assess performance of one of the first regional conservation plans developed in the United States, the Orange County Central-Coastal Natural Community Conservation Plan (NCCP), in meeting its broader conservation objectives of biodiversity and ecosystem-level protection. We collected pitfall data on ants for over 3 years on 172 sites established across a network of conservation lands in coastal southern California. Although recovered native ant diversity for the study area was high, site-occupancy models indicated the invasive and ecologically disruptive Argentine ant ( Linepithema humile) was present at 29% of sites, and sites located within 200 m of urban and agricultural areas were more likely to have been invaded. Within invaded sites, native ants were largely displaced, and their median species richness declined by more than 60% compared with uninvaded sites. At the time of planning, 24% of the 15,133-ha reserve system established by Orange County NCCP fell within 200 m of an urban or agricultural edge. With complete build out of lands surrounding the reserve, the proportion of the reserve system vulnerable to invasion will grow to 44%. Our data indicate that simply protecting designated areas from development is not enough. If habitat conservation plans are to fulfill their conservation promise of ecosystem-level protection, a more-integrated and systematic approach to the process of habitat conservation planning is needed.

Identification of areas in Brazil that optimize conservation of forest carbon, jaguars, and biodiversity.

PubMed

De Barros, Alan E; MacDonald, Ewan A; Matsumoto, Marcelo H; Paula, Rogério C; Nijhawan, Sahil; Malhi, Y; MacDonald, David W

2014-04-01

A major question in global environmental policy is whether schemes to reduce carbon pollution through forest management, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), can also benefit biodiversity conservation in tropical countries. We identified municipalities in Brazil that are priorities for reducing rates of deforestation and thus preserving carbon stocks that are also conservation targets for the endangered jaguar (Panthera onca) and biodiversity in general. Preliminary statistical analysis showed that municipalities with high biodiversity were positively associated with high forest carbon stocks. We used a multicriteria decision analysis to identify municipalities that offered the best opportunities for the conservation of forest carbon stocks and biodiversity conservation under a range of scenarios with different rates of deforestation and carbon values. We further categorized these areas by their representativeness of the entire country (through measures such as percent forest cover) and an indirect measure of cost (number of municipalities). The municipalities that offered optimal co-benefits for forest carbon stocks and conservation were termed REDDspots (n = 159), and their spatial distribution was compared with the distribution of current and proposed REDD projects (n = 135). We defined REDDspots as the municipalities that offer the best opportunities for co-benefits between the conservation of forest carbon stocks, jaguars, and other wildlife. These areas coincided in 25% (n = 40) of municipalities. We identified a further 95 municipalities that may have the greatest potential to develop additional REDD+ projects while also targeting biodiversity conservation. We concluded that REDD+ strategies could be an efficient tool for biodiversity conservation in key locations, especially in Amazonian and Atlantic Forest biomes. ©2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Ryo, E-mail: inter.takahashi@gmail.com; Todo, Yasuyuki, E-mail: yastodo@k.u-tokyo.ac.jp

In recent years, shade coffee certification programs have attracted increasing attention from forest conservation and development organizations. The certification programs could be expected to promote forest conservation by providing a premium price to shade coffee producers. However, little is known about the significance of the conservation efforts generated by certification programs. In particular, the relationship between the impact of the certification and producer characteristics has yet to be examined. The purpose of this study, which was conducted in Ethiopia, was to examine the impact of a shade coffee certification program on forest conservation and its relationship with the socioeconomic characteristicsmore » of the producers. Remote sensing data of 2005 and 2010 was used to gauge the changes in forest area. Employing a probit model, we found that a forest coffee area being certified increased the probability of forest conservation by 19.3 percentage points relative to forest coffee areas lacking certification. We also found that although economically poor producers tended to engage in forest clearing, the forest coffee certification program had a significant impact on these producers. This result suggests that the certification program significantly affects the behaviors of economically poor producers and motivates these producers to conserve the forest. -- Highlights: • We employed the probit mode to evaluate the impact of the shade coffee certification on forest conservation in Ethiopia. • We estimated how the impact of the certification varied among producers with different characteristics. • The certification increased the probability of conserving forest by 19.3 percentage points. • Certification program motivated the economically poor producers to conserve the forest.« less

Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network.

PubMed

Batllori, Enric; Parisien, Marc-André; Parks, Sean A; Moritz, Max A; Miller, Carol

2017-08-01

Ongoing climate change may undermine the effectiveness of protected area networks in preserving the set of biotic components and ecological processes they harbor, thereby jeopardizing their conservation capacity into the future. Metrics of climate change, particularly rates and spatial patterns of climatic alteration, can help assess potential threats. Here, we perform a continent-wide climate change vulnerability assessment whereby we compare the baseline climate of the protected area network in North America (Canada, United States, México-NAM) to the projected end-of-century climate (2071-2100). We estimated the projected pace at which climatic conditions may redistribute across NAM (i.e., climate velocity), and identified future nearest climate analogs to quantify patterns of climate relocation within, among, and outside protected areas. Also, we interpret climatic relocation patterns in terms of associated land-cover types. Our analysis suggests that the conservation capacity of the NAM protection network is likely to be severely compromised by a changing climate. The majority of protected areas (~80%) might be exposed to high rates of climate displacement that could promote important shifts in species abundance or distribution. A small fraction of protected areas (<10%) could be critical for future conservation plans, as they will host climates that represent analogs of conditions currently characterizing almost a fifth of the protected areas across NAM. However, the majority of nearest climatic analogs for protected areas are in nonprotected locations. Therefore, unprotected landscapes could pose additional threats, beyond climate forcing itself, as sensitive biota may have to migrate farther than what is prescribed by the climate velocity to reach a protected area destination. To mitigate future threats to the conservation capacity of the NAM protected area network, conservation plans will need to capitalize on opportunities provided by the existing availability of natural land-cover types outside the current network of NAM protected areas. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

78 FR 54909 - Notice of Availability of the Proposed Winnemucca District Resource Management Plan and Final...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-06

... Rock Desert-Highrock Canyon, Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA), except for... Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and Associated Wilderness, and..., closed, or subject to special stipulations or mitigation measures relating to minerals; and management of...

78 FR 10634 - Notice of Meetings, Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-14

...In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Dominguez- Escalante National Conservation Area Advisory Council (Council) will meet as indicated below.

18 CFR 415.32 - Permitted uses generally.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Permitted uses generally. 415.32 Section 415.32 Conservation of Power and Water Resources DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION... riding trails. (4) Uses such as lawns, gardens, parking areas and play areas. (b) Within the flood fringe...

Trade-offs and efficiencies in optimal budget-constrained multispecies corridor networks

Treesearch

Bistra Dilkina; Rachel Houtman; Carla P. Gomes; Claire A. Montgomery; Kevin S. McKelvey; Katherine Kendall; Tabitha A. Graves; Richard Bernstein; Michael K. Schwartz

2016-01-01

Conservation biologists recognize that a system of isolated protected areas will be necessary but insufficient to meet biodiversity objectives. Current approaches to connecting core conservation areas through corridors consider optimal corridor placement based on a single optimization goal: commonly, maximizing the movement for a target species across a...

ECOREGIONS AND VERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES: INVESTIGATING INDICATORS FOR PRIORITIZING AREAS OF CONSERVATION CONCERN

EPA Science Inventory

Surrogates and indicator groups have been proposed as useful tools for selecting areas for conservation when the knowledge of species distributions is limited. Tests of these concepts often produce a wide range of results which depend on the surrogates chosen as well as the spat...

50 CFR 679.3 - Relation to other laws.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... fishery and sport fishery in the East Area of the Salmon Management Area, defined at § 679.2, is delegated....3 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... fishing for groundfish. (1) The conservation and management of groundfish in waters of the territorial sea...

50 CFR 679.3 - Relation to other laws.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... fishery and sport fishery in the East Area of the Salmon Management Area, defined at § 679.2, is delegated....3 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... fishing for groundfish. (1) The conservation and management of groundfish in waters of the territorial sea...

Factoring attitudes towards armed conflict risk into selection of protected areas for conservation

PubMed Central

Hammill, E.; Tulloch, A. I. T.; Possingham, H. P.; Strange, N.; Wilson, K. A.

2016-01-01

The high incidence of armed conflicts in biodiverse regions poses significant challenges in achieving international conservation targets. Because attitudes towards risk vary, we assessed different strategies for protected area planning that reflected alternative attitudes towards the risk of armed conflicts. We find that ignoring conflict risk will deliver the lowest return on investment. Opting to completely avoid conflict-prone areas offers limited improvements and could lead to species receiving no protection. Accounting for conflict by protecting additional areas to offset the impacts of armed conflicts would not only increase the return on investment (an effect that is enhanced when high-risk areas are excluded) but also increase upfront conservation costs. Our results also demonstrate that fine-scale estimations of conflict risk could enhance the cost-effectiveness of investments. We conclude that achieving biodiversity targets in volatile regions will require greater initial investment and benefit from fine-resolution estimates of conflict risk. PMID:27025894

Factoring attitudes towards armed conflict risk into selection of protected areas for conservation.

PubMed

Hammill, E; Tulloch, A I T; Possingham, H P; Strange, N; Wilson, K A

2016-03-30

The high incidence of armed conflicts in biodiverse regions poses significant challenges in achieving international conservation targets. Because attitudes towards risk vary, we assessed different strategies for protected area planning that reflected alternative attitudes towards the risk of armed conflicts. We find that ignoring conflict risk will deliver the lowest return on investment. Opting to completely avoid conflict-prone areas offers limited improvements and could lead to species receiving no protection. Accounting for conflict by protecting additional areas to offset the impacts of armed conflicts would not only increase the return on investment (an effect that is enhanced when high-risk areas are excluded) but also increase upfront conservation costs. Our results also demonstrate that fine-scale estimations of conflict risk could enhance the cost-effectiveness of investments. We conclude that achieving biodiversity targets in volatile regions will require greater initial investment and benefit from fine-resolution estimates of conflict risk.

Managing scuba divers to meet ecological goals for coral reef conservation.

PubMed

Sorice, Michael G; Oh, Chi-Ok; Ditton, Robert B

2007-06-01

Marine protected areas increasingly are challenged to maintain or increase tourism benefits while adequately protecting resources. Although carrying capacity strategies can be used to cope with use-related impacts, there is little understanding of divers themselves, their management preferences, and how preferences relate to conservation goals. By using a stated preference choice modeling approach, we investigated the choices divers make in selecting diving trips to marine protected areas as defined by use level, access, level of supervision, fees, conservation education, and diving expectations. Logit models showed that divers preferred a more restrictive management scenario over the status quo. Divers favored reductions in the level of site use and increased levels of conservation education. Divers did not favor fees to access protected areas, having less access to the resource, or extensive supervision. Finally, divers were much more willing to accept increasingly restrictive management scenarios when they could expect to see increased marine life.

American Bird conservancy's approach to the U.S. Important Bird Area Program - identifying the top 500 global sites

Treesearch

Robert M. Chipley

2005-01-01

The idea for the Important Bird Area Program originated in a series of studies in the early 1980s conducted by BirdLife International. Recognizing that these studies could become a powerful tool for conservation, BirdLife International began an effort to identify and gather data regarding the most important areas for birds in Europe and to make this information...

Framing the relationship between people and nature in the context of European conservation.

PubMed

Linnell, John D C; Kaczensky, Petra; Wotschikowsky, Ulrich; Lescureux, Nicolas; Boitani, Luigi

2015-08-01

A key controversy in conservation is the framing of the relationship between people and nature. The extent to which the realms of nature and human culture are viewed as separate (dualistic view) or integrated is often discussed in the social sciences. To explore how this relationship is represented in the practice of conservation in Europe, we considered examples of cultural landscapes, wildlife (red deer, reindeer, horses), and protected area management. We found little support, for a dualistic worldview, where people and nature are regarded as separate in the traditional practice of conservation in Europe. The borders between nature and culture, wild and domestic, public land and private land, and between protected areas and the wider landscape were blurred and dynamic. The institutionalized (in practice and legislation) view is of an interactive mutualistic system in which humans and nature share the whole landscape. However, more dualistic ideals, such as wilderness and rewilding that are challenging established practices are expanding. In the context of modern day Europe, wilderness conservation and rewilding are not valid for the whole landscape, although it is possible to integrate some areas of low-intervention management into a wider matrix. A precondition for success is to recognize and plan for a plurality of values concerning the most valid approaches to conservation and to plan for this plurality at the landscape scale. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

The Efficacy of Landscape-Level Conservation in Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve, China

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jianliang; Liu, Fangzheng; Cui, Guofa

2014-01-01

Anthropogenic landscape alteration is rather common in many protected areas (PAs), jeopardizing the efficacy of PAs conservation. However, the general consensus is that PAs still remain effective in habitat conservation. To assess the efficacy of landscape-level conservation, we examined landscape alterations in the Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve (CMBR), which was established in 1960 as a “flagship” protected area in China. Based on analyses of high-resolution satellite images and data of forest inventory, field survey and interview, we developed two new indexes to assess the efficacy of landscape conservation, i.e. the quality index of protected landscape and the interference index of anthropogenic landscape. From 1993 to 2012, the quality index increased from 74.48 to 75.50, and the interference index decreased from 0.49 to 0.06, suggesting that the overall quality of protected landscape improved and the degree of anthropogenic interference decreased in CMBR. The increase in landscape quality was mainly due to the progressive vegetation recovery of previous cutover land in the windthrow area, the cease of the use of the cultivated land, and the amelioration of spatial pattern of protected landscape. We conclude that the current landscape conservation methods used in CMBR are effective, and the method we developed has the potential to be used to assess the efficacy of landscape-level conservation in nature reserves worldwide. PMID:24743693

Designing conservation strategies to preserve the genetic diversity of Astragalus edulis Bunge, an endangered species from western Mediterranean region.

PubMed

Peñas, Julio; Barrios, Sara; Bobo-Pinilla, Javier; Lorite, Juan; Martínez-Ortega, M Montserrat

2016-01-01

Astragalus edulis (Fabaceae) is an endangered annual species from the western Mediterranean region that colonized the SE Iberian Peninsula, NE and SW Morocco, and the easternmost Macaronesian islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura). Although in Spain some conservation measures have been adopted, it is still necessary to develop an appropriate management plan to preserve genetic diversity across the entire distribution area of the species. Our main objective was to use population genetics as well as ecological and phylogeographic data to select Relevant Genetic Units for Conservation (RGUCs) as the first step in designing conservation plans for A. edulis. We identified six RGUCs for in situ conservation, based on estimations of population genetic structure and probabilities of loss of rare alleles. Additionally, further population parameters, i.e. occupation area, population size, vulnerability, legal status of the population areas, and the historical haplotype distribution, were considered in order to establish which populations deserve conservation priority. Three populations from the Iberian Peninsula, two from Morocco, and one from the Canary Islands represent the total genetic diversity of the species and the rarest allelic variation. Ex situ conservation is recommended to complement the preservation of A. edulis, given that effective in situ population protection is not feasible in all cases. The consideration of complementary phylogeographic and ecological data is useful for management efforts to preserve the evolutionary potential of the species.

Designing conservation strategies to preserve the genetic diversity of Astragalus edulis Bunge, an endangered species from western Mediterranean region

PubMed Central

Barrios, Sara; Bobo-Pinilla, Javier; Lorite, Juan; Martínez-Ortega, M. Montserrat

2016-01-01

Astragalus edulis (Fabaceae) is an endangered annual species from the western Mediterranean region that colonized the SE Iberian Peninsula, NE and SW Morocco, and the easternmost Macaronesian islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura). Although in Spain some conservation measures have been adopted, it is still necessary to develop an appropriate management plan to preserve genetic diversity across the entire distribution area of the species. Our main objective was to use population genetics as well as ecological and phylogeographic data to select Relevant Genetic Units for Conservation (RGUCs) as the first step in designing conservation plans for A. edulis. We identified six RGUCs for in situ conservation, based on estimations of population genetic structure and probabilities of loss of rare alleles. Additionally, further population parameters, i.e. occupation area, population size, vulnerability, legal status of the population areas, and the historical haplotype distribution, were considered in order to establish which populations deserve conservation priority. Three populations from the Iberian Peninsula, two from Morocco, and one from the Canary Islands represent the total genetic diversity of the species and the rarest allelic variation. Ex situ conservation is recommended to complement the preservation of A. edulis, given that effective in situ population protection is not feasible in all cases. The consideration of complementary phylogeographic and ecological data is useful for management efforts to preserve the evolutionary potential of the species. PMID:26844014

SPECIES RICHNESS AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION PRIORITIES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

EPA Science Inventory

Patterns in the geographic distribution of seven species groups were used to identify important areas for conservation in British Columbia, Canada. Potential priority sites for conservation were determined using an integer programming algorithm that maximized the number of speci...

Incorporating seascape connectivity in conservation prioritisation.

PubMed

Weeks, Rebecca

2017-01-01

In conservation prioritisation, it is often implicit that representation targets for individual habitat types act as surrogates for the species that inhabit them. Yet for many commercially and ecologically important coral reef fish species, connectivity among different habitats in a seascape may be more important than any single habitat alone. Approaches to conservation prioritisation that consider seascape connectivity are thus warranted. I demonstrate an approach that can be implemented within a relatively data-poor context, using widely available conservation planning software. Based on clearly stated assumptions regarding species' habitat usage and movement ability, this approach can be adapted to different focal species and contexts, or refined as further data become available. I first derive a seascape connectivity metric based on area-weighted proximity between juvenile and adult habitat patches, and then apply this during spatial prioritisation using the decision-support software Marxan. Using a case study from Micronesia, I present two applications: first, to inform prioritisation for a network of marine protected areas to achieve regional objectives for habitat representation; and second, to identify nursery habitat patches that are most likely to supply juveniles to adult populations on reefs within existing protected areas. Incorporating seascape connectivity in conservation prioritisation highlights areas where small marine protected areas placed on coral reefs might benefit from proximity to other habitats in the seascape, and thus be more effective. Within the context of community tenure over resources, identification of critical nursery habitats to improve the effectiveness of existing marine protected areas indicates where collaboration across community boundaries might be required. Outputs from these analyses are likely to be most useful in regions where management is highly decentralised, imposing spatial constraints on the size of individual protected areas.

Incorporating seascape connectivity in conservation prioritisation

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

In conservation prioritisation, it is often implicit that representation targets for individual habitat types act as surrogates for the species that inhabit them. Yet for many commercially and ecologically important coral reef fish species, connectivity among different habitats in a seascape may be more important than any single habitat alone. Approaches to conservation prioritisation that consider seascape connectivity are thus warranted. I demonstrate an approach that can be implemented within a relatively data-poor context, using widely available conservation planning software. Based on clearly stated assumptions regarding species’ habitat usage and movement ability, this approach can be adapted to different focal species and contexts, or refined as further data become available. I first derive a seascape connectivity metric based on area-weighted proximity between juvenile and adult habitat patches, and then apply this during spatial prioritisation using the decision-support software Marxan. Using a case study from Micronesia, I present two applications: first, to inform prioritisation for a network of marine protected areas to achieve regional objectives for habitat representation; and second, to identify nursery habitat patches that are most likely to supply juveniles to adult populations on reefs within existing protected areas. Incorporating seascape connectivity in conservation prioritisation highlights areas where small marine protected areas placed on coral reefs might benefit from proximity to other habitats in the seascape, and thus be more effective. Within the context of community tenure over resources, identification of critical nursery habitats to improve the effectiveness of existing marine protected areas indicates where collaboration across community boundaries might be required. Outputs from these analyses are likely to be most useful in regions where management is highly decentralised, imposing spatial constraints on the size of individual protected areas. PMID:28753647

50 CFR Table 25 to Part 679 - Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone 25 Table 25 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 25 Table 25 to Part 679—Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone Area number Name...

50 CFR Table 25 to Part 679 - Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone 25 Table 25 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 25 Table 25 to Part 679—Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone Area number Name...

50 CFR Table 25 to Part 679 - Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone 25 Table 25 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 25 Table 25 to Part 679—Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone Area number Name...

50 CFR Table 25 to Part 679 - Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone 25 Table 25 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 25 Table 25 to Part 679—Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone Area number Name...

50 CFR Table 25 to Part 679 - Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone 25 Table 25 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Table 25 Table 25 to Part 679—Bowers Ridge Habitat Conservation Zone Area number Name...

Integrated Migratory Bird Planning in the Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain Bird Conservation Region

Treesearch

Chuck Hayes; Andrew Milliken; Randy Dettmers; Kevin Loftus; Brigitte Collins; Isabelle Ringuet

2005-01-01

The Atlantic Coast and Eastern Habitat Joint Ventures hosted two international planning workshops to begin the process of integrating bird conservation strategies under the North American Bird Conservation Initiative in the Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain Bird Conservation Region. The workshops identified priority species and habitats, delineated focus areas,...

Range-wide connectivity of priority areas for Greater Sage-Grouse: Implications for long-term conservation from graph theory

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crist, Michele R.; Knick, Steven T.; Hanser, Steven E.

2017-01-01

The delineation of priority areas in western North America for managing Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) represents a broad-scale experiment in conservation biology. The strategy of limiting spatial disturbance and focusing conservation actions within delineated areas may benefit the greatest proportion of Greater Sage-Grouse. However, land use under normal restrictions outside priority areas potentially limits dispersal and gene flow, which can isolate priority areas and lead to spatially disjunct populations. We used graph theory, representing priority areas as spatially distributed nodes interconnected by movement corridors, to understand the capacity of priority areas to function as connected networks in the Bi-State, Central, and Washington regions of the Greater Sage-Grouse range. The Bi-State and Central networks were highly centralized; the dominant pathways and shortest linkages primarily connected a small number of large and centrally located priority areas. These priority areas are likely strongholds for Greater Sage-Grouse populations and might also function as refugia and sources. Priority areas in the Central network were more connected than those in the Bi-State and Washington networks. Almost 90% of the priority areas in the Central network had ≥2 pathways to other priority areas when movement through the landscape was set at an upper threshold (effective resistance, ER12). At a lower threshold (ER4), 83 of 123 priority areas in the Central network were clustered in 9 interconnected subgroups. The current conservation strategy has risks; 45 of 61 priority areas in the Bi-State network, 68 of 123 in the Central network, and all 4 priority areas in the Washington network had ≤1 connection to another priority area at the lower ER4threshold. Priority areas with few linkages also averaged greater environmental resistance to movement along connecting pathways. Without maintaining corridors to larger priority areas or a clustered group, isolation of small priority areas could lead to regional loss of Greater Sage-Grouse

Identifying key areas of ecosystem services potential to improve ecological management in Chongqing City, southwest China.

PubMed

Xiao, Yang; Xiao, Qiang

2018-03-29

Because natural ecosystems and ecosystem services (ES) are both critical to the well-being of humankind, it is important to understand their relationships and congruence for conservation planning. Spatial conservation planning is required to set focused preservation priorities and to assess future ecological implications. This study uses the combined measures of ES models and ES potential to estimate and analyze all four groups of ecosystem services to generate opportunities to maximize ecosystem services. Subsequently, we identify the key areas of conservation priorities as future forestation and conservation hotspot zones to improve the ecological management in Chongqing City, located in the upper reaches of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China. Results show that ecosystem services potential is extremely obvious. Compared to ecosystem services from 2000, we determined that soil conservation could be increased by 59.11%, carbon sequestration by 129.51%, water flow regulation by 83.42%, and water purification by 84.42%. According to our prioritization results, approximately 48% of area converted to forests exhibited high improvements in all ecosystem services (categorized as hotspot-1, hotspot-2, and hotspot-3). The hotspots identified in this study can be used as an excellent surrogate for evaluation ecological engineering benefits and can be effectively applied in improving ecological management planning.

The role of green corridors for wildlife conservation in urban landscape: A literature review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aziz, H. A.; Rasidi, M. H.

2014-02-01

Green corridors are an attempt to mitigate negative effects of the built environment of cities and towns. The corridors act as conservation for rapidly extreme intervention and development of the urban environment. Most importantly, it enables dispersal movement of animals within city areas. Issues relate to wildlife conservation in urban areas has been studied for many years and thus, the research makes a review for how the green corridors contribute to the conservation of urban wildlife. This study reviews groups of articles in disciplines of urban landscape planning and biology conservation to discuss the relationship between elements of green corridors and urban wildlife dispersal movement behaviour in Malaysian context. Accordingly, this research is purposely studied to give understanding on how green corridors contribute to the animals' ability of moving and dispersing within the built-up areas. In advance, it is found that there are three factors contribute to the capability of colonization among urban wildlife which are individual, physical and social factor. Green corridor has been defined as one of the physical factor that influence urban wildlife behaviour movement. Consequently, safety area indicating to animals species for traversing in any time such as at night can be defined as the primary potential corridor.

Integrating habitat status, human population pressure, and protection status into biodiversity conservation priority setting

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shi, Hua; Singh, Ashbindu; Kant, S.; Zhu, Zhiliang; Waller, E.

2005-01-01

Priority setting is an essential component of biodiversity conservation. Existing methods to identify priority areas for conservation have focused almost entirely on biological factors. We suggest a new relative ranking method for identifying priority conservation areas that integrates both biological and social aspects. It is based on the following criteria: the habitat's status, human population pressure, human efforts to protect habitat, and number of endemic plant and vertebrate species. We used this method to rank 25 hotspots, 17 megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within each megadiverse country. We used consistent, comprehensive, georeferenced, and multiband data sets and analytical remote sensing and geographic information system tools to quantify habitat status, human population pressure, and protection status. The ranking suggests that the Philippines, Atlantic Forest, Mediterranean Basin, Caribbean Islands, Caucasus, and Indo-Burma are the hottest hotspots and that China, the Philippines, and India are the hottest megadiverse countries. The great variation in terms of habitat, protected areas, and population pressure among the hotspots, the megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within the same country suggests the need for hotspot- and country-specific conservation policies.

Zoos and public health: A partnership on the One Health frontier.

PubMed

Robinette, C; Saffran, L; Ruple, A; Deem, S L

2017-06-01

Today, accredited zoos are not just places for entertainment, they are actively involved in research for conservation and health. During recent decades in which the challenges for biodiversity conservation and public health have escalated, zoos have made significant changes to address these difficulties. Zoos increasingly have four key areas of focus: education, recreation, conservation, and research. These key areas are important in addressing an interrelated global conservation ( i.e. habitat and wildlife loss) and public health crisis. Zoo and public health professionals working together within a One Health framework represent a powerful alliance to address current and future conservation and public health problems around the world. For researchers, practitioners, and students, the collaboration between zoos and public health institutions offers the opportunity to both teach and operationalize this transdisciplinary approach. Using examples from our programs, we give a template for moving forward with collaborative initiatives and sustainable solutions involving partners in both zoos and public health institutions. We provide examples of cooperative programs and suggest a model for consideration in the development of further activities in this area.

Correspondence between the habitat of the threatened pudú (Cervidae) and the national protected-area system of Chile.

PubMed

Pavez-Fox, Melissa; Estay, Sergio A

2016-01-07

Currently, many species are facing serious conservation problems due to habitat loss. The impact of the potential loss of biodiversity associated with habitat loss is difficult to measure. This is particularly the case with inconspicuous species such as the threatened pudú (Pudu puda), an endemic Cervidae of temperate forests of Chile and Argentina. To evaluate the effectiveness of the Chilean protected-area system in protecting the habitat of the pudú, we measured the congruence between this specie's potential distribution and the geographical area occupied by the protected areas in central and southern Chile. The measurements of congruency were made using the Maxent modeling method. The potential habitat of the pudú was found to be poorly represented in the system (3-8%) and even the most suitable areas for the species are not currenly protected. According to these results, the protected area network cannot be considered as a key component of the conservation strategy for this species. The results presented here also serve as a guide for the reevaluation of current pudú conservation strategies, for the design of new field studies to detect the presence of this species in human-disturbed areas or remaining patches of native forest, and for the implementation of corridors to maximize the success of conservation efforts.

Ecological networks as conceptual frameworks or operational tools in conservation.

PubMed

Boitani, Luigi; Falcucci, Alessandra; Maiorano, Luigi; Rondinini, Carlo

2007-12-01

The establishment of ecological networks (ENs) has been proposed as an ideal way to counteract the increasing fragmentation of natural ecosystems and as a necessary complement to the establishment of protected areas for biodiversity conservation. This conservation tool, which comprises core areas, corridors, and buffer areas, has attracted the attention of several national and European institutions. It is thought that ENs can connect habitat patches and thus enable species to move across unsuitable areas. In Europe, however, ENs are proposed as an oversimplification of complex ecological concepts, and we maintain that they are of limited use for biodiversity conservation for several reasons. The ENs are species specific and operate on species-dependent scales. In addition, the information needed for their implementation is only available for a handful of species. To overcome these limitations, ENs have been proposed on a landscape scale (and for selected "focal" species), but there is no indication that the structural composition of core areas, corridors, and buffer areas could ensure the functional connectivity and improve the viability of more than a few species. The theory behind ENs fails to provide sufficient practical information on how to build them (e.g., width, shape, structure, content). In fact, no EN so far has been validated in practice (ensuring connectivity and increasing overall biodiversity conservation), and there are no signs that validation will be possible in the near future. In view of these limitations, it is difficult to justify spending economic and political resources on building systems that are at best working hypotheses that cannot be evaluated on a practical level.

The Effects of Governmental Protected Areas and Social Initiatives for Land Protection on the Conservation of Mexican Amphibians

PubMed Central

Ochoa-Ochoa, Leticia; Urbina-Cardona, J. Nicolás; Vázquez, Luis-Bernardo; Flores-Villela, Oscar; Bezaury-Creel, Juan

2009-01-01

Traditionally, biodiversity conservation gap analyses have been focused on governmental protected areas (PAs). However, an increasing number of social initiatives in conservation (SICs) are promoting a new perspective for analysis. SICs include all of the efforts that society implements to conserve biodiversity, such as land protection, from private reserves to community zoning plans some of which have generated community-protected areas. This is the first attempt to analyze the status of conservation in Latin America when some of these social initiatives are included. The analyses were focused on amphibians because they are one of the most threatened groups worldwide. Mexico is not an exception, where more than 60% of its amphibians are endemic. We used a niche model approach to map the potential and real geographical distribution (extracting the transformed areas) of the endemic amphibians. Based on remnant distribution, all the species have suffered some degree of loss, but 36 species have lost more than 50% of their potential distribution. For 50 micro-endemic species we could not model their potential distribution range due to the small number of records per species, therefore the analyses were performed using these records directly. We then evaluated the efficiency of the existing set of governmental protected areas and established the contribution of social initiatives (private and community) for land protection for amphibian conservation. We found that most of the species have some proportion of their potential ecological niche distribution protected, but 20% are not protected at all within governmental PAs. 73% of endemic and 26% of micro-endemic amphibians are represented within SICs. However, 30 micro-endemic species are not represented within either governmental PAs or SICs. This study shows how the role of land conservation through social initiatives is therefore becoming a crucial element for an important number of species not protected by governmental PAs. PMID:19721719

Impacts of climate change on prioritizing conservation areas of hydrological ecosystem services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lien, Wan Yu; Lin, Yu Pin

2015-04-01

Ecosystem services (ESs) including hydrological services play important roles in our daily life and provide a lot of benefits for human beings from ecological systems. The systems and their services may be threatened by climate change from global to local scales. We herein developed a systematic approach to assess the impacts of climate change on the hydrological ecosystem services, such as water yield, nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorous) retention, and soil retention in a watershed in Northern Taiwan. We first used an ecosystem service evaluation model, InVEST, to estimate the amount and spatial patterns of annual and monthly hydrological ecosystem services under historical weather data, and different climate change scenarios based on five GMSs. The monthly and annual spatiotemporal variations of the ESs were analyzed in this study. Finally, the multiple estimated ESs were considered as the protection conservation targets and regarded as the input data of the systematic conservation planning software, Zonation, to systematically prioritize reserve areas of the ESs under the climate change scenarios. The ES estimation results indicated that the increasing rainfall in wet season leads to the higher water yield and results in the higher sediment and nutrient export indirectly. The Zonation successfully fielded conservation priorities of the ESs. The conservation priorities of the ESs significantly varied spatially and monthly under the climate change scenarios. The ESs results also indicated that the areas where ESs values and conservation priorities with low resilience under climate change should be considered as high priority protected area to ensure the hydrological services in future. Our proposed approach is a novel systematic approach which can be applied to assess impacts of climate change on spatiotemporal variations of ESs as well as prioritize protected area of the ESs under various climate change scenarios. Keyword: climate change, ecosystem service, conservation planning, spatial analysis.

The role of agri-environment schemes in conservation and environmental management.

PubMed

Batáry, Péter; Dicks, Lynn V; Kleijn, David; Sutherland, William J

2015-08-01

Over half of the European landscape is under agricultural management and has been for millennia. Many species and ecosystems of conservation concern in Europe depend on agricultural management and are showing ongoing declines. Agri-environment schemes (AES) are designed partly to address this. They are a major source of nature conservation funding within the European Union (EU) and the highest conservation expenditure in Europe. We reviewed the structure of current AES across Europe. Since a 2003 review questioned the overall effectiveness of AES for biodiversity, there has been a plethora of case studies and meta-analyses examining their effectiveness. Most syntheses demonstrate general increases in farmland biodiversity in response to AES, with the size of the effect depending on the structure and management of the surrounding landscape. This is important in the light of successive EU enlargement and ongoing reforms of AES. We examined the change in effect size over time by merging the data sets of 3 recent meta-analyses and found that schemes implemented after revision of the EU's agri-environmental programs in 2007 were not more effective than schemes implemented before revision. Furthermore, schemes aimed at areas out of production (such as field margins and hedgerows) are more effective at enhancing species richness than those aimed at productive areas (such as arable crops or grasslands). Outstanding research questions include whether AES enhance ecosystem services, whether they are more effective in agriculturally marginal areas than in intensively farmed areas, whether they are more or less cost-effective for farmland biodiversity than protected areas, and how much their effectiveness is influenced by farmer training and advice? The general lesson from the European experience is that AES can be effective for conserving wildlife on farmland, but they are expensive and need to be carefully designed and targeted. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Large expansion of oil industry in the Ecuadorian Amazon: biodiversity vulnerability and conservation alternatives.

PubMed

Lessmann, Janeth; Fajardo, Javier; Muñoz, Jesús; Bonaccorso, Elisa

2016-07-01

Ecuador will experience a significant expansion of the oil industry in its Amazonian region, one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. In view of the changes that are about to come, we explore the conflicts between oil extraction interests and biodiversity protection and apply systematic conservation planning to identify priority areas that should be protected in different oil exploitation scenarios. First, we quantified the current extent of oil blocks and protected zones and their overlap with two biodiversity indicators: 25 ecosystems and 745 species (whose distributions were estimated via species distribution models). With the new scheme of oil exploitation, oil blocks cover 68% (68,196 km(2)) of the Ecuadorian Amazon; half of it occupied by new blocks open for bids in the southern Amazon. This region is especially vulnerable to biodiversity losses, because peaks of species diversity, 19 ecosystems, and a third of its protected zones coincide spatially with oil blocks. Under these circumstances, we used Marxan software to identify priority areas for conservation outside oil blocks, but their coverage was insufficient to completely represent biodiversity. Instead, priority areas that include southern oil blocks provide a higher representation of biodiversity indicators. Therefore, preserving the southern Amazon becomes essential to improve the protection of Amazonian biodiversity in Ecuador, and avoiding oil exploitation in these areas (33% of the extent of southern oil blocks) should be considered a conservation alternative. Also, it is highly recommended to improve current oil exploitation technology to reduce environmental impacts in the region, especially within five oil blocks that we identified as most valuable for the conservation of biodiversity. The application of these and other recommendations depends heavily on the Ecuadorian government, which needs to find a better balance between the use of the Amazon resources and biodiversity conservation.

Insights for integrated conservation from attitudes of people toward protected areas near Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Guerbois, Chloe; Dufour, Anne-Beatrice; Mtare, Godfrey; Fritz, Herve

2013-08-01

Increase in human settlements at the edge of protected areas (PAs) is perceived as a major threat to conservation of biodiversity. Although it is crucial to integrate the interests of surrounding communities into PA management, key drivers of changes in local populations and the effects of conservation on local livelihoods and perceptions remain poorly understood. We assessed population changes from 1990 to 2010 in 9 villages located between 2 PAs with different management policies (access to natural resources or not). We conducted semi-directive interviews at the household level (n =217) to document reasons for settlement in the area and villager's attitudes toward the PAs. We examined drivers of these attitudes relative to household typology, feelings about conservation, and concerns for the future with mixed linear models. Population increased by 61% from 2000 to 2010, a period of political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Forty-seven percent of immigrants were attracted by the area; others had been resettled from other villages or were returning to family lands. Attitudes toward PAs were generally positive, but immigrants attracted by the area and who used resources within the PA with fewer restrictions expressed more negative attitudes toward PAs. Household location, losses due to wild animals, and restrictions on access to natural resources were the main drivers of this negative attitude. Profit-seeking migrants did not expect these constraints and were particularly concerned with local overpopulation and access to natural resources. To avoid socio-ecological traps near PAs (i.e., unforeseen reduced adaptive capacity) integrated conservation should address mismatches between management policy and local expectations. This requires accounting for endogenous processes, for example, local socio-ecological dynamics and values that shape the coexistence between humans and wildlife. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Critical Source Area Delineation: The representation of hydrology in effective erosion modeling.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowler, A.; Boll, J.; Brooks, E. S.; Boylan, R. D.

2017-12-01

Despite decades of conservation and millions of conservation dollars, nonpoint source sediment loading associated with agricultural disturbance continues to be a significant problem in many parts of the world. Local and national conservation organizations are interested in targeting critical source areas for control strategy implementation. Currently, conservation practices are selected and located based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) hillslope erosion modeling, and the National Resource Conservation Service will soon be transiting to the Watershed Erosion Predict Project (WEPP) model for the same purpose. We present an assessment of critical source areas targeted with RUSLE, WEPP and a regionally validated hydrology model, the Soil Moisture Routing (SMR) model, to compare the location of critical areas for sediment loading and the effectiveness of control strategies. The three models are compared for the Palouse dryland cropping region of the inland northwest, with un-calibrated analyses of the Kamiache watershed using publicly available soils, land-use and long-term simulated climate data. Critical source areas were mapped and the side-by-side comparison exposes the differences in the location and timing of runoff and erosion predictions. RUSLE results appear most sensitive to slope driving processes associated with infiltration excess. SMR captured saturation excess driven runoff events located at the toe slope position, while WEPP was able to capture both infiltration excess and saturation excess processes depending on soil type and management. A methodology is presented for down-scaling basin level screening to the hillslope management scale for local control strategies. Information on the location of runoff and erosion, driven by the runoff mechanism, is critical for effective treatment and conservation.

Comparison of Drosophilidae (Diptera) assemblages from two highland Araucaria Forest fragments, with and without environmental conservation policies.

PubMed

Cavasini, R; Buschini, M L T; Machado, L P B; Mateus, R P

2014-11-01

Flies from the Drosophilidae family are model organisms for biological studies and are often suggested as bioindicators of environmental quality. The Araucaria Forest, one of Atlantic Forest phyto-physiognomy, displays a highly fragmented distribution due to the expansion of agriculture and urbanization. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate and compare the drosophilid assemblages from two highland Araucaria Forest fragments, one a conservation unit (PMA - Parque Municipal das Araucárias) and the other a private property without any conservational policy (FBL - Fazenda Brandalise), in space and time, using species abundances and richness, ecological indexes and Neotropical and exotic species proportions as parameters to establish the level of environmental quality of these fragments. Our results showed that the observed diversity in PMA (H' = 2.221) was approximately 40% higher than in FBL (H' = 1.592). This could be due to higher preservation quality and habitat diversity in PMA, indicating the importance of conservation units. However, richness were similar for these areas, with PMA (Dmg = 6.602) only 8% higher than FBL (Dmg = 6.128), which suggest that the larger distance from city limits and the larger size of FBL forested area could be compensating the higher disturbance caused by antrophic extractive exploitation of this fragment. This points out that, besides the quality of presevertion, the size and/or connection with other fragments should be considered for areas destined for biodiversity conservation. In general, both areas presented similar drosophilid assemblages, and the expressive abundance of both Neotropical species (mostly of the subgroup willistoni) and the exotic species D. kikkawai suggests that these areas are in intermediate stages of conservation.

Where have all the people gone? Enhancing global conservation using night lights and social media.

PubMed

Levin, Noam; Kark, Salit; Crandall, David

2015-12-01

Conservation prioritization at large scales is complex, combining biological, environmental, and social factors. While conservation scientists now more often aim to incorporate human-related factors, a critical yet unquantified challenge remains: to identify which areas people use for recreation outside urban centers. To address this gap in applied ecology and conservation, we developed a novel approach for quantifying human presence beyond populated areas by combining social media "big data" and remote sensing tools. We used data from the Flickr photo-sharing website as a surrogate for identifying spatial variation in visitation globally, and complemented this estimate with spatially explicit information on stable night lights between 2004 and 2012, used as a proxy for identifying urban and industrial centers. Natural and seminatural areas attracting visitors were defined as areas both highly photographed and non-lit. The number of Flickr photographers within protected areas was found to be a reliable surrogate for estimating visitor numbers as confirmed by local authority censuses (r = 0.8). Half of all visitors' photos taken in protected areas originated from under 1% of all protected areas on Earth (250 of -27 000). The most photographed protected areas globally included Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks (USA), and the Lake and Peak Districts (UK). Factors explaining the spatial variation in protected areas Flickr photo coverage included their type (e.g., UNESCO World Heritage sites have higher visitation) and accessibility to roads and trails. Using this approach, we identified photography hotspots, which draw many visitors and are also unlit (i.e., are located outside urban centers), but currently remain largely unprotected, such as Brazil's Pantanal and Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni. The integrated big data approach developed here demonstrates the benefits of combining remote sensing sources and novel geo-tagged and crowd-sourced information from social media in future efforts to identify spatial conservation gaps and pressures in real time, and their spatial and temporal variation globally.

Household location choices: implications for biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Peterson, M Nils; Chen, Xiaodong; Liu, Jianguo

2008-08-01

Successful conservation efforts require understanding human behaviors that directly affect biodiversity. Choice of household location represents an observable behavior that has direct effects on biodiversity conservation, but no one has examined the sociocultural predictors of this choice relative to its environmental impacts. We conducted a case study of the Teton Valley of Idaho and Wyoming (U.S.A.) that (1) explored relationships between sociodemographic variables, environmental attitudes, and the environmental impact of household location choices, (2) assessed the potential for small household sizes in natural areas to multiply the environmental impacts of household location decisions, and (3) evaluated how length of residency predicted the environmental attitudes of people living in natural areas. We collected sociodemographic data, spatial coordinates, and land-cover information in a survey of 416 households drawn from a random sample of Teton Valley residents (95% compliance rate). Immigrants (respondents not born in the study area) with the lowest education levels and least environmentally oriented attitudes lived in previously established residential areas in disproportionately high numbers, and older and more educated immigrants with the most environmentally oriented attitudes lived in natural areas in disproportionately high numbers. Income was not a significant predictor of household location decisions. Those living in natural areas had more environmental impact per person because of the location and because small households (<3 people/household) were 4 times as likely in natural areas as large households. Longer residency in natural areas predicted less environmentally oriented attitudes, suggesting that living in natural areas does not foster more concern for nature. Because populaces are rapidly aging, growing more educated, and potentially growing more environmentally oriented, these patterns are troubling for biodiversity conservation. Our results demonstrate a need for environmentalists to make household location decisions that reflect their environmental attitudes and future research to address how interactions between education level, environmental attitudes, population aging, and household location choices influence biodiversity conservation.

Plant and animal endemism in the eastern Andean slope: challenges to conservation.

PubMed

Swenson, Jennifer J; Young, Bruce E; Beck, Stephan; Comer, Pat; Córdova, Jesús H; Dyson, Jessica; Embert, Dirk; Encarnación, Filomeno; Ferreira, Wanderley; Franke, Irma; Grossman, Dennis; Hernandez, Pilar; Herzog, Sebastian K; Josse, Carmen; Navarro, Gonzalo; Pacheco, Víctor; Stein, Bruce A; Timaná, Martín; Tovar, Antonio; Tovar, Carolina; Vargas, Julieta; Zambrana-Torrelio, Carlos M

2012-01-27

The Andes-Amazon basin of Peru and Bolivia is one of the most data-poor, biologically rich, and rapidly changing areas of the world. Conservation scientists agree that this area hosts extremely high endemism, perhaps the highest in the world, yet we know little about the geographic distributions of these species and ecosystems within country boundaries. To address this need, we have developed conservation data on endemic biodiversity (~800 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and plants) and terrestrial ecological systems (~90; groups of vegetation communities resulting from the action of ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients) with which we conduct a fine scale conservation prioritization across the Amazon watershed of Peru and Bolivia. We modelled the geographic distributions of 435 endemic plants and all 347 endemic vertebrate species, from existing museum and herbaria specimens at a regional conservation practitioner's scale (1:250,000-1:1,000,000), based on the best available tools and geographic data. We mapped ecological systems, endemic species concentrations, and irreplaceable areas with respect to national level protected areas. We found that sizes of endemic species distributions ranged widely (< 20 km2 to > 200,000 km2) across the study area. Bird and mammal endemic species richness was greatest within a narrow 2500-3000 m elevation band along the length of the Andes Mountains. Endemic amphibian richness was highest at 1000-1500 m elevation and concentrated in the southern half of the study area. Geographical distribution of plant endemism was highly taxon-dependent. Irreplaceable areas, defined as locations with the highest number of species with narrow ranges, overlapped slightly with areas of high endemism, yet generally exhibited unique patterns across the study area by species group. We found that many endemic species and ecological systems are lacking national-level protection; a third of endemic species have distributions completely outside of national protected areas. Protected areas cover only 20% of areas of high endemism and 20% of irreplaceable areas. Almost 40% of the 91 ecological systems are in serious need of protection (= < 2% of their ranges protected). We identify for the first time, areas of high endemic species concentrations and high irreplaceability that have only been roughly indicated in the past at the continental scale. We conclude that new complementary protected areas are needed to safeguard these endemics and ecosystems. An expansion in protected areas will be challenged by geographically isolated micro-endemics, varied endemic patterns among taxa, increasing deforestation, resource extraction, and changes in climate. Relying on pre-existing collections, publically accessible datasets and tools, this working framework is exportable to other regions plagued by incomplete conservation data.

Plant and animal endemism in the eastern Andean slope: challenges to conservation

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The Andes-Amazon basin of Peru and Bolivia is one of the most data-poor, biologically rich, and rapidly changing areas of the world. Conservation scientists agree that this area hosts extremely high endemism, perhaps the highest in the world, yet we know little about the geographic distributions of these species and ecosystems within country boundaries. To address this need, we have developed conservation data on endemic biodiversity (~800 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and plants) and terrestrial ecological systems (~90; groups of vegetation communities resulting from the action of ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients) with which we conduct a fine scale conservation prioritization across the Amazon watershed of Peru and Bolivia. We modelled the geographic distributions of 435 endemic plants and all 347 endemic vertebrate species, from existing museum and herbaria specimens at a regional conservation practitioner's scale (1:250,000-1:1,000,000), based on the best available tools and geographic data. We mapped ecological systems, endemic species concentrations, and irreplaceable areas with respect to national level protected areas. Results We found that sizes of endemic species distributions ranged widely (< 20 km2 to > 200,000 km2) across the study area. Bird and mammal endemic species richness was greatest within a narrow 2500-3000 m elevation band along the length of the Andes Mountains. Endemic amphibian richness was highest at 1000-1500 m elevation and concentrated in the southern half of the study area. Geographical distribution of plant endemism was highly taxon-dependent. Irreplaceable areas, defined as locations with the highest number of species with narrow ranges, overlapped slightly with areas of high endemism, yet generally exhibited unique patterns across the study area by species group. We found that many endemic species and ecological systems are lacking national-level protection; a third of endemic species have distributions completely outside of national protected areas. Protected areas cover only 20% of areas of high endemism and 20% of irreplaceable areas. Almost 40% of the 91 ecological systems are in serious need of protection (= < 2% of their ranges protected). Conclusions We identify for the first time, areas of high endemic species concentrations and high irreplaceability that have only been roughly indicated in the past at the continental scale. We conclude that new complementary protected areas are needed to safeguard these endemics and ecosystems. An expansion in protected areas will be challenged by geographically isolated micro-endemics, varied endemic patterns among taxa, increasing deforestation, resource extraction, and changes in climate. Relying on pre-existing collections, publically accessible datasets and tools, this working framework is exportable to other regions plagued by incomplete conservation data. PMID:22284854

The utility of state parks as a conservation tool for isolated and ephemeral wetlands: A case study from the southern Blue Ridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, J. H.; Baldwin, R.; Pitt, A. L.; Baldwin, E. D.

2013-12-01

Biodiversity management has been historically confined to parks and protected areas and these types of formally-protected areas may help to mitigate the effects of climate change and habitat loss by preventing further fragmentation, degradation and the spread of invasive species. Much research has demonstrated the importance of parks and other such protected areas for their ecological, conservational, and socio-cultural benefits. Protected areas constitute ~ 12% of the earth's land surface and are described as an essential core unit for for in situ conservation. State parks provide a type of a priori conservation, allowing areas which are identified as ecologically important within state park boundaries to be more rapidly prioritized for conservation and management. The development of South Carolina's state parks strongly contributed to cultural, social and ecological improvement across the state and we demonstrate that this network of protected areas can also help scientists to better locate, study and conserve cryptic or unprotected habitats. Our goals for this study were to use the SC state park system to 1) examine the structural and functional differences between wetlands located inside versus outside the state park system, and 2) suggest a conservation framework for small wetlands incorporating both state parks and adjacent areas with variable ownership status. At each wetland, we variables at the within-pond and local (5 m buffer around pool) scales. We visited each study wetland (N = 41, park pool = 19, non-park pools = 22) 5 times during both 2010 and 2011; collected water quality data and recorded the presence and activity of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, phytoplankton and benthic algae. We hypothesized that wetlands within state parks would have better water quality and higher species richness compared to non-park wetlands. Our case study revealed that wetlands outside of state parks exhibited less variable depths and were deeper on average than park pools. We found significant differences in total taxonomic richness, invertebrate tolerance values and wetland depth between park and non-park wetlands. We relied heavily on local ecological knowledge (LEK) for identification and information on wetlands within parks. Furthermore, state parks played a vital role in the development of this project and our study was enriched as a result of utilizing state park personnel and their LEK. We were also able to interact with the public during our site visits and this two-way dialogue between scientists and the general public was useful for educating citizens about the importance of isolated/ephemeral wetlands and helped us better understand public perceptions of wetlands. State parks provided a number of study sites, various personnel who were knowledgeable about the locations and dynamics of wetlands and an a priori framework for conservation at the local scale which can help bolster conservation efforts at larger scales. We posit that state parks are an under-utilized but extremely important resource for filling the gaps in conservation.

Ursodeoxycholic acid increases low-density lipoprotein binding, uptake and degradation in isolated hamster hepatocytes.

PubMed Central

Bouscarel, B; Fromm, H; Ceryak, S; Cassidy, M M

1991-01-01

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), in contrast to both chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), its 7 alpha-epimer, and lithocholic acid, enhanced receptor-dependent low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and degradation in isolated hamster hepatocytes. The increase in cell-associated LDL was time- and concentration-dependent, with a maximum effect observed at approx. 60 min with 1 mM-UDCA. This increase was not associated with a detergent effect of UDCA, as no significant modifications were observed either in the cellular release of lactate dehydrogenase or in Trypan Blue exclusion. The effect of UDCA was not due to a modification of the LDL particle, but rather was receptor-related. UDCA (1 mM) maximally increased the number of 125I-LDL-binding sites (Bmax.) by 35%, from 176 to 240 ng/mg of protein, without a significant modification of the binding affinity. Furthermore, following proteolytic degradation of the LDL receptor with Pronase, specific LDL binding decreased to the level of non-specific binding, and the effect of UDCA was abolished. Conversely, the trihydroxy 7 beta-hydroxy bile acid ursocholic acid and its 7 alpha-epimer, cholic acid, induced a significant decrease in LDL binding by approx. 15%. The C23 analogue of UDCA (nor-UDCA) and CDCA did not affect LDL binding. On the other hand, UDCA conjugated with either glycine (GUDCA) or taurine (TUDCA), increased LDL binding to the same extent as did the free bile acid. The half maximum time (t1/2) to reach the full effect was 1-2 min for UDCA and TUDCA, while GUDCA had a much slower t1/2 of 8.3 min. Ketoconazole (50 microM), an antifungal agent, increased LDL binding, but this effect was not additive when tested in the presence of 0.7 mM-UDCA. The results of the studies indicate that, in isolated hamster hepatocytes, the UDCA-induced increase in receptor-dependent LDL binding and uptake represents a direct effect of this bile acid. The action of the bile acid is closely related to its specific structural conformation, since UDCA and its conjugates are the only bile acids shown to express this ability thus far. However, certain agents other than bile acids, such as ketoconazole, have a similar effect. Finally, the studies suggest that the recruitment of LDL receptors from a latent pool in the hepatocellular membrane may be the mechanism by which UDCA exerts its direct effect. Images Fig. 6. PMID:1764022

Allspice and Clove As Source of Triterpene Acids Activating the G Protein-Coupled Bile Acid Receptor TGR5

PubMed Central

Ladurner, Angela; Zehl, Martin; Grienke, Ulrike; Hofstadler, Christoph; Faur, Nadina; Pereira, Fátima C.; Berry, David; Dirsch, Verena M.; Rollinger, Judith M.

2017-01-01

Worldwide, metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic proportions. A major regulator of metabolic processes that gained interest in recent years is the bile acid receptor TGR5 (Takeda G protein-coupled receptor 5). This G protein-coupled membrane receptor can be found predominantly in the intestine, where it is mainly responsible for the secretion of the incretins glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY). The aim of this study was (i) to identify plant extracts with TGR5-activating potential, (ii) to narrow down their activity to the responsible constituents, and (iii) to assess whether the intestinal microbiota produces transformed metabolites with a different activity profile. Chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) served as positive control for both, the applied cell-based luciferase reporter gene assay for TGR5 activity and the biotransformation assay using mouse fecal slurry. The suitability of the workflow was demonstrated by the biotransformation of CDCA to lithocholic acid resulting in a distinct increase in TGR5 activity. Based on a traditional Tibetan formula, 19 plant extracts were selected and investigated for TGR5 activation. Extracts from the commonly used spices Syzygium aromaticum (SaroE, clove), Pimenta dioica (PdioE, allspice), and Kaempferia galanga (KgalE, aromatic ginger) significantly increased TGR5 activity. After biotransformation, only KgalE showed significant differences in its metabolite profile, which, however, did not alter its TGR5 activity compared to non-transformed KgalE. UHPLC-HRMS (high-resolution mass spectrometry) analysis revealed triterpene acids (TTAs) as the main constituents of the extracts SaroE and PdioE. Identification and quantification of TTAs in these two extracts as well as comparison of their TGR5 activity with reconstituted TTA mixtures allowed the attribution of the TGR5 activity to TTAs. EC50s were determined for the main TTAs, i.e., oleanolic acid (2.2 ± 1.6 μM), ursolic acid (1.1 ± 0.2 μM), as well as for the hitherto unknown TGR5 activators corosolic acid (0.5 ± 1.0 μM) and maslinic acid (3.7 ± 0.7 μM). In conclusion, extracts of clove, allspice, and aromatic ginger activate TGR5, which might play a pivotal role in their therapeutic use for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Moreover, the TGR5 activation of SaroE and PdioE could be pinpointed solely to TTAs. PMID:28769799