Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
activities is necessary to conserve these areas for the benefit of both local
livelihoods and biodiversity. In the Western Ghats region of India, as in
many other tropical ecosystems, people use fire to manage wild plant
harvest and livestock grazing. We combine results from ecological studies
and interviews with local harvesters to understand how fire, leaf harvest and
grazing impact the population dynamics of a wild palm (Phoenix loureiri)
as well as the composition, structure and diversity of surrounding plant
communities. Matrix population models demonstrate that the potential for
sustainable palm leaf harvest depends on fire frequency. Increased grazing
following fire – along with increased harvesting intensity – reduces projected
population growth rates (λ). We find similar levels of plant diversity between
areas managed by local communities for leaf harvest and livestock grazing
and an adjacent protected area. However, areas with livestock grazing have
a greater abundance of common species and fewer rare species, suggesting
a trade-off between managing for local benefits and managing for plant
conservation. Understanding trade-offs between different management goals
is important to ensuring that conservation contributes both to human wellbeing
and the maintenance of biodiversity.
2011-12-08 11:00 Climate and the macroecology of abundance
Manne, Lisa*, City University of New York; Hawkins, Bradford,
University of California at Irvine; La Sorte, Frank, Yale University;
Characterizing the geographic pattern of distribution of abundance among
species allows analysis of community structure, predictors of this structure,
and how this structure changes over time. The North American Breeding
Bird Survey collects yearly point-counts of North American birds during the
summer breeding season across over 4000 routes. Using this information,
we asked three questions for bird species in each of four time periods:
1974-1976, 1984-1986, 1994-1996, and 2004-2006. 1) We hypothesized
that total abundance(summed across all species) is related to local climate.
Results were significant, but little variability in total abundance is explained
by local climate (R2 values were in the range 0.08 – 0.12). 2) We analyzed
the geographic pattern in variability of total abundance within relatively
large sampling units (one-degree grid cells). This variability shows a clear
latitudinal trend, with lower variability at the more northern latitudes. 3)
We characterized the distribution of abundance among species with Fisher’s
alpha, hypothesizing that this index would show a latitudinal trend, and
would become more variable in later time periods. Fisher’s alpha varies
geographically, though the pattern is somewhat anomalous due to lack of
significant alpha estimates in the prairies, and interestingly, this pattern does
not vary with time. Variability in total abundance shows a latitudinal trend,
which cannot be explained by the distribution of abundance among species.
2011-12-06 15:15 People, Production and Biodiversity Protection:
Bringing it all Together
Margules, C.*, Conservation International; Kirkman, A,
Conservation International;
Societies and governments now have to respond to radical changes in
ecosystem processes that previously have been taken for granted, unmeasured
and unpriced by markets. To make an analogy with the financial sector, if
we think of natural resources as our capital we are now faced with learning
how to live off the interest rather than running down the principal.
Alternative models of economic development that value and incorporate the
contribution of ecosystem processes and biodiversity need to be developed.
This paper describes two field demonstrations of alternative development
paradigms that are now being implemented and tested. One is in the Birds
Head Seascape, Papua Barat Province, Indonesia and the other in the Tonle
Sap, Cambodia. They were chosen because they are in global biodiversity
hotspots, because livelihoods and food security are at risk, because strategies
to adapt to climate change are needed in both, and in Tonle Sap, because
freshwater quality is at issue. There needs to be many more. There is ‘no
one size fits all’. Each is highly contextualized to place and to governance
arrangements, though changes to governance are likely to be part of the
process. But there are the commonalities of ecosystem-based management
and the aims of securing livelihoods into the future, while sustaining
ecosystems and biodiversity. This is a complex, time-consuming and
challenging process. It requires specialist knowledge from many disciplines,
new policies, a long-term view and adequate funding. But there needs to
emerge a viable alternative to business as usual.
2011-12-08 18:30 Distribution and Threat of Atlantic Forest Endemic
Birds under Climate Change Scenarios
Mariana M. Vale*, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Maria Alice S. Alves, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ);
Maria Lucia Lorini, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Tiago Vieira de Souza, Federal University of the State of Rio de
Janeiro (UNIRIO); Cristiane M. Medeiros, University of the State of
Rio de Janeiro (UERJ);
We model the re-distribution of 141 birds endemic to a biodiversity hotspot
– the Brazilian Atlantic Forest – under a “business as usual” scenario of
green house gas emission for 2050. We used Maximum Entropy distribution
modeling with eight environmental variables. We then estimated specie’
threat status by 2050, using IUCN’s extent of occurrence criterion. Of the
137 species with reliable models (AUC > 0.8), 117 are predicted to lose
distribution area under climate change, with an average range contraction
of 51% (or 287,180km2). The predicted reduction in distribution size will
bring six species to the threshold for threat. When we discount from the
modeled sitributions the areas that area already deforestation, the number of
predicted threatened species doubles. The contraction of species geographic
ranges reflected itself on the geographic patter of endemic bird richness in the
Atlantic Forest. The areas with the highest bird richness, in central Atlantic
Forest, are greatly reduced in the future scenario. One relatively small area
in northern Brazil, however, is predicted to have a moderate increase in bird
richness. That area, though, is highly deforested and therefore, might not
be able to fulfill its role as a “climatic refuge” for Atlantic Forest birds under
climate change.
2011-12-06 10:45 Biodiversity, biogeography and protected areas in
highly threatened portion of the Brazilian Cerrado
Mariana Napolitano e Ferreira*, Universidade de São Paulo,
departamento de Ecologia; Cristiano de Campos Nogueira,
Universidade de Brasília; Vania R. Pivello, Universidade de São
Paulo, departamento de Ecologia; Paula H Valdujo, Universidade
de São Paulo; Debora Silvano, Universidade de São Paulo; Luis
F Silveira, Universidade de São Paulo; Ana Paula Carmignotto,
Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos;
The establishment of representative protected area systems in poorly studied,
biologically diverse tropical areas poses a serious challenge to conservation,
especially in regions suffering extensive human pressure and habitat loss.
We assessed the representativeness of the regional protected area system in
the Brazilian state of Tocantins, northern portion of the Cerrado hotspot,
based on the distribution of 109 target species of vertebrates and plants. The
major aims of the study were to investigate the existence of significant, nonrandom
biogeographical patterns, and to evaluate the performance of current
reserves in protecting regional biodiversity patterns. Results indicated that
selected target species represent biogeographical patterns of Tocantins biota,
which are, however, only partially protected in current reserves. Significant
gaps were detected in the protection of the species and biotic elements
in the study system. Our results highlight the importance of considering
biogeographical patterns when selecting target species for conservation
planning, including endemic species that are both vulnerable to habitat loss
and important surrogates of evolutionary processes. Given appropriate data
collection and correct choice of target species, the scarcity of biodiversity
data is not an impediment to systematic conservation approaches in tropical
regions with high biodiversity levels and incipient reserve systems.
2011-12-09 10:30 The world’s temperate indigenous grasslands: their
conservation, values and sustainable management, from a New Zealand
perspective.
Mark, AF*, Alpine Ecology Research Group, University of Otago and
Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative, IUCN; Dickinson,
KJM, Alpine Ecology Research Group, Department of Botany,
University of Otago; Schwendenmann, L, School of Environment,
University of Auckland;
Temperate grasslands, one of the world’s great biomes, are in an altered and
highly endangered state. Occupying ~8% of the earth’s surface, only ~5%
of the biome is protected, despite the many ecosystem services,cultural and
social values it supports. Land transformation resulting from intensification
and the separate effects of grassland burning and grazing need assessment to
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