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25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 2011-12-09 11:15 Prairie dogs and ecosystem services: A key element in the maintenance of Mexican grasslands MARTINEZ-ESTEVEZ, LOURDES*, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de Fauna Silvestre, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 México, D.F. México.; Pacheco, Jesús, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de Fauna Silvestre, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 México, D.F. México.; Ceballos, Gerardo, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de Fauna Silvestre, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 México, D.F. México.; Grasslands are one of the most threaten ecosystems in the world due to human activities, loss of native species, and desertification. Prairie dogs are an extremely important feature of North American grasslands. They are considered a keystone species for their role in maintaining grasslands’ structure and function, and preventing desertification, especially in southern US and Mexico. Their decline to less than 2% of the original range has resulted in severe negative environmental effects, and has raised concerns on the impact on the provision of ecosystem services, especially those related to food production as habitat degradation reduces its ability to maintain agriculture and grazing. Here we compare grasslands and invading mesquite scrublands and provide solid evidence that prairie dogs are fundamental in the provision of ecosystem services. Water infiltration, prevention of soil erosion, soil characteristics (e.g. compactation layer), plant cover, and primary productivity were all higher or better in prairie dog grasslands when compared with the mesquite scrubland. These indicate severe loss of ecosystem services with the increasing landscape desertification, and have strong implications for conservation, land management, and human well – being. 2011-12-07 17:30 Cumulative impacts to coastal ecosystem services in British Columbia Martone, Rebecca G*, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia; Thompson, Allison, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia; Singh, Gerald G, Institute for Resources, Environment and SusInstitute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia; Chan, Kai M.A., Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia; To provide for the well-being of coastal communities and practice an ecosystem-based approach, resource management must contend with cumulative human impacts on ecosystem services, or the ecosystem processes that benefit people. Despite the increase in popularity of the ecosystem services framework, there is little information available on the impacts of multiple human activities on ecosystem service provisioning. What is missing is a transparent, transferable method to explicitly consider impacts to and trade-offs among ecosystem services to inform managers so that they can set priorities and plan human activities spatially. Using data available from the literature, we developed spatially explicit mechanistic models of how several land-based activities—agriculture, forestry practices, and coastal development—can lead to shellfish harvest closures along the British Columbia coast. We demonstrate the utility of a mechanistic approach, providing managers the detailed understanding necessary for making informed decisions about activities that cross ecosystem boundaries, and clarifying how human activities link to the benefits derived from marine systems. 2011-12-07 17:15 Using private agreements and collaborative research to design and test area-based fisheries management approaches Mary Gleason*, The Nature Conservancy; Michael Bell, The Nature Conservancy; Matt Merrifield, The Nature Conservancy; Steve Rienecke, The Nature Conservancy; Jono Wilson, Bren School, Univ. of California Santa Barbara; Chuck Cook, The Nature Conservancy; In California’s Central Coast region, a coalition of conservation, fishing interests, and academic partners are using the best available science and local knowledge to design and test area-based management approaches for the groundfish fishery. The Nature Conservancy purchased trawl permits in a quid pro quo arrangement with local fishermen to design and establish trawl closure areas through a regulatory process in 2006 to protect sensitive habitats and to reduce trawling effort. Since then, we have implemented further local zoning of fishing effort and converted some trawl effort to more selective gear through private legal agreements that incorporate mechanisms to capture better local data on spatial patterns of fishing effort, bycatch, and landings to facilitate the refinement over time of a regional area-based management plan. We have reduced the fishing footprint, reduced bycatch of 6 overfished species, and increased economic returns to participating fishermen. Collaborative research (eg. on trawling impacts), near real-time capture of spatial fishery information, performance metrics, and modeling have informed adaptive management of the fishery. As the fishery has transitioned to an Individual Transferable Quota (“catch shares”) system, we are using spatial fishery plans to further reduce bycatch of overfished species and maximize fishing opportunities in the “working seascape” outside of protected areas to achieve significant conservation and economic gains. 2011-12-06 14:00 Understanding the Connections between Birds and People in Urban Areas Informs Conservation Marzluff, JM*, University of Washington; Urban bird communities can be extraordinarily diverse and engaging to human residents, yet fragile. I discuss the diverse and stimulating nature of urban bird communities and investigate the direct connections between human attitudes and actions and bird behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary responses. The response of birds to land cover change, resource supplementation, and persecution in urban areas is especially pronounced. Conserving birds in urban areas requires an understanding of these responses, and it may be enhanced by a mechanistic understanding of how human actions affect bird population processes (size, reproduction, survivorship, and dispersal in particular). While ecologists understand that population viability determines community richness, in most studies of avian ecology in urban areas population ecology is ignored. Rather, avian ecologists typically enumerate species richness and relate this metric directly to human actions. I will consider what, if anything, we lose by our focus on richness over mechanistic understanding. Those interested in conserving birds in urban areas face the challenge of balancing the needs of birds with those of people. I will argue that the more we understand the myriad direct, indirect, reinforcing and destabilizing connections between the populations of birds and people the more effective will be our efforts to conserve the urban biota. 2011-12-09 15:30 Marine protected areas and poverty alleviation: Insights from Papua, Indonesia Mascia, Michael B.*, WWF-US; Pakiding, Fitryanti, UNIPA; Fox, Helen E., WWF-US; Glew, Louise, WWF-US; Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an integral component of local, national, and international strategies for biodiversity conservation, but their impacts on human well-being remain contested. Advocates tout MPAs as a ‘win-win’ strategy that simultaneously alleviates poverty and conserves biodiversity, while skeptics argue that MPAs place the welfare of fish above that of impoverished fishing communities. To inform this debate, we initiated a pilot study to develop and test rigorous, quasi-experimental methods for documenting the social impacts of MPAs. We examine MPA impacts on ~30 indicators of social well-being across five social domains: economic well-being, health, political empowerment, education, and culture. We characterize the governance of marine resources in MPA and matched non-MPA communities, enabling us to explore if, and how the long-term impact of MPAs is shaped by the intervention itself. Baseline results from Teluk Cendrawasih National Park and Teluk Mayalibit KKLD highlight the importance of research design, sampling power, and measuring human wellbeing in multiple dimensions. Future research will continue to follow these sites and others over time, laying the foundation for rigorous documentation and exploration of protected area-poverty linkages. 104
25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 2011-12-09 14:45 Conservation in a human dominated landscape of Rwanda: What can we learn from the last decade of conservation of Nyungwe National Park? Masozera, Michel*, Wildlife Conservation Society; Conservation in Rwanda must be understood in the context of that nation’s recovery from a civil war and genocide and its chronic underlying problems of poverty, landlessness, and high population density. The newly created Nyungwe National Park is recognized sites of global importance for its biodiversity and endemism values. This park is also seen as primary source of tourism revenue and ecological services, such as water catchment, water supply, erosion control, and hydroelectric development potential. To address major threats to Nyungwe such as poaching and illegal cutting of forest woods, mining, and wildlife fire the park management has implemented a number of strategies ranging from law enforcement, community based conservation through enterprises development, tourism revenue sharing and establishment of conservation committee at village levels. A ranger based monitoring program (RBM) has been introduced to monitor key animal species and threats to biodiversity as well to assess the effectiveness of these solutions and refine future management actions as threats change in importance over time. Our experience demonstrates that RBM information collected has been useful in guiding management actions of the park especially in deciding to change the status of Nyungwe as a National Park. But to maintain the accuracy in data collection capacity building is necessary for field staff involved to understand why this information is collected and how the results are integrated in the park planning process. We have also realized that RBM information can have a wider impact if shared with local government authorities (district leaders) and development partners around Nyungwe National Park through joint action forum meetings. The lack of baseline information on socioeconomic conditions around Nyungwe hampers our ability to precisely quantify the impacts of conservation interventions on local livelihoods 2011-12-09 16:50 Higher survival and site fidelity of subadult than adult saddlebacks translocated to the New Zealand mainland Masuda, Bryce M.*, Department of Zoology, University of Otago; Jamieson, Ian G., Department of Zoology, University of Otago; Post-release mortality and dispersal can limit the effectiveness of animal translocations as a conservation management tool. However, by selecting and releasing individuals with a higher probability of survival and site fidelity, conservation managers can increase the likelihood of a successful translocation. We monitored a South Island saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus carunculatus) population for one year after release to understand the role of three individual characteristics (sex, age, and previous pairing history) and post-release mortality and dispersal on initial population establishment. Thirty-eight saddlebacks were translocated to a fenced mainland sanctuary near Dunedin, New Zealand in April 2009. Immediately following release, survival declined sharply in a similar fashion to post-release mortality observed after saddleback translocations onto offshore islands. Individuals continued to disappear more gradually from the sanctuary until after the start of the breeding season five months after release, likely due to dispersal. At one year after release, significantly more subadults survived and remained at the release site compared to adults. Our results suggest that releasing a greater proportion of subadults than adults could have a positive effect on reintroduction outcomes. Our results emphasize the importance post-release monitoring in reintroductions to determine individual characteristics associated with a higher probability of survival and site fidelity. 2011-12-08 18:30 Crop-Raiding Patterns of Wildlife and Damage Mitigation around Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in Gabon Matsuura, N*, Kyoto University, Japan; Several conservation programs exist in central Africa, but management of the protected areas has been difficult, which can be partially attributed to the conflicts between conservation agencies and local communities. In particular, wildlife damage to crops is a major source of conflict because it threatens the survival of the local people. Therefore, it is essential to monitor and mitigate the actual damage to the fields by including the efforts of the local people. The author examines crop raiding by wildlife around Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in southwestern Gabon. Fortythree local people (28 males and 15 females) were interviewed about the extent and characteristics of crop raiding by several species. The fields of several locals were also monitored for about two years to assess actual crop damage by wildlife. Interview data indicated that according to the locals, crop raiding, especially by elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), is one of the most serious problems in the community, and they spend considerable time, physical effort, and money to protect their fields. Quantitative data from monitoring shows that crop raiding by large mammals is not frequent, but the extent of damage is large in one such event. On the basis of the results and discussions with local people, the author suggests that community guarding is an effective and sustainable method for mitigating damage. 2011-12-07 13:15 Marine Conservation and Satellite Telemetry: A Review and Framework for Effective Applications Maxwell, SA*, Marine Conservation Institute; Hart, KM, US Geological Survey; Costa, DP, University of California Santa Cruz; Crowder, LB, Stanford University; Satellite telemetry has emerged as one of the most prominent technologies in marine science and is a powerful conservation tool given the spatial nature of many management strategies. Despite resources applied to this costly technology, however, telemetry has yet to be used on a large scale to effectively drive conservation and management decision-making. We reviewed over 200 peer-reviewed articles focused on the satellite tracking of marine mega-fauna in major conservation and ecological journals to determine: (1) the focus of conservation telemetry studies; (2) the global distribution of studies; and (3) the level of quantification and resulting conservation impacts. The majority of studies focused on bycatch or protected areas, though only 40% of studies quantified telemetry study components, making outputs unable to adequately inform management. We found uneven geographic distribution of studies, with study sites in North America, Europe and Australia comprising over 56% of studies reviewed, with 34.4% of studies originating in South America, Africa and Asia; Antarctica accounted for remaining studies. Many studies lacked solid recommendations resulting from telemetry outputs. Based on our review, we detail an empirically-based framework that (1) emphasizes how resource managers can use telemetry as a powerful management tool, and (2) guides researchers who employ telemetry in conducting studies in a cost-effective way that maximizes aid to management decisions. 2011-12-09 14:44 The drivers of tropical deforestation: a comprehensive review of the literature MAY-TOBIN, CALEN*, Union of Concerned Scientists; Boucher, Doug, Union of Concerned Scientists; Elias, Pipa, Union of Concerned Scientists; Lininger, Katherine, Union of Concerned Scientists; Roquemore, Sarah, Union of Concerned Scientists; Saxon, Earl, Union of Concerned Scientists; Tropical forests are disappearing around the world. This clearing causes around 15% of global carbon emissions, leads to the rapid loss of biodiversity, and destroys the livelihoods of many indigenous peoples. We comprehensively reviewed the literature on drivers of tropical deforestation and found a number of trends. While deforestation was predominately driven by small farmers and government action in the 1970s and 1980s, since the 1990s most deforestation has been driven by large scale commercial agriculture. In Latin America, and Brazil in particular, forest clearing has mostly been due to expansion of cattle pastures and for a period in the late 1990s and early 2000s soy bean expansion. In Southeast Asia, deforestation has mainly been due to expansion of oil palm plantations and timber harvesting. In Africa small farmers and wood fuel collection still play a role, although deforestation rates are considerably lower there than in other regions. Additionally, increased urbanization and trends toward a diet based on meat, particularly beef, have helped drive deforestation. While deforestation continues, there are many ways that society can act to end it. Citizens can pressure companies to change their practices and no longer produce goods on deforested lands. Likewise, policies that increase productivity of tropical agriculture and provide a monetary value for maintaining intact forests can help conserve forests and benefit local communities. 105
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Index Benini, Rubens 42 Beniston, M
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Index DeWan, Amielle 14 Dianne Brun
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Index Hilborn, Ray 27 Hill, CM 176
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Index Loutit, R. 116 Louwe Kooijman
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Index Ottewell, K 81 Overton, J 61,
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Index Sequeira, Ana 151 Serebryakov
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Index Winandy, L 181 Winner, J. 112
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Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

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