Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
2011-12-07 15:45 Territorial Competition and Landscape Ecology in
Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia)
OZELSKI, ASHLEY*, CUNY Graduate Center; Manne, Lisa,
CUNY Graduate Center; Nott, Philip, The Institute for Bird
Populations;
At higher population densities, territorial birds may be distributed according
to an ideal-despotic model, in which more competitive individuals occupy and
secure the best territories. Since more competitive individuals often occupy
larger territories and exclude others from the area, this may skew measures
of habitat quality assessed via population density or occupancy. Here, we test
the scales at which despotism can be detected in Yellow Warblers (Dendroica
petechia) of the Midwest United States by utilizing available data from the
Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program. We
characterized sites as competitive and non-competitive based on bird size
and age parameters and tested for environmental differences between sites.
Proportions of habitat differed significantly between competitive and noncompetitive
sites; in many cases, more competitive individuals were found
in landscapes with smaller proportions of suitable habitat. This supports the
hypothesis that older, larger males occupy the best territories and exclude
less competitive males when habitat types are limited. Future studies will
determine if reproductive output also correlates with these detectable
competitive site differences. Identifying how landscapes and social dynamics
interact with reproductive success provides further insight on how land
management decisions can be used to conserve territorial species.
2011-12-07 12:15 Hunted Felids: Too Protected To Survive?
Palazy, L, University Lyon, France; Bonenfant, C, University Lyon,
France; Gaillard, J.-M., University Lyon, France; Courchamp, F*,
CNRS - University Paris Sud, France;
Trophy hunting is one of the most controversial issues in conservation
biology. In particular, proponents and opponents debate fiercely over its
innocuousness for hunted populations. Contrarily to common belief, trophy
hunting concerns an outstanding economic market and a surprisingly high
number of species. Focusing on felids, we show that trophy hunting could
constitute an overlooked threat to threatened species. Because humans value
rarity, protected species are disproportionately hunted, thereby become
even more vulnerable, which risks pushing them to extinction. With the
example of the ten different felids species that are hunted for their trophies,
we evidence that (i) the number of killed individuals increase with time,
in several cases exponentially, despite population declines, (ii) the price of
trophies is strongly dependent on species protection status, (iii) changes of
protection status result in counter-intuitive changes of hunting pressures:
protection increase leads to exacerbated hunting effort, while protection
relaxation generates relative disinterest; (iv) the increase of hunting observed
for the last 40 years cannot go on indefinitely, as exemplified by our
estimation of extinction times with simple mathematical models. The value
of rarity in trophy-hunted species implies specific management requirements
to avoid overexploitation if we are to sustainably use this recreational activity
as an income source for conservation.
2011-12-08 18:30 Motives and preferences for trophy hunting: who,
why and which ones?
Palazy, L.*, UMR CNRS 5558, Lab BBE, Université Lyon 1,
VIlleurbanne, France ; Bonenfant, C., UMR CNRS 5558, Lab
BBE, Université Lyon 1, VIlleurbanne, France ; Gaillard, J.M., UMR
CNRS 5558, Lab BBE, Université Lyon 1, VIlleurbanne, France ;
Courchamp, F., UMR CNRS 8079, Lab ESE, Université Paris-Sud,
Orsay, France;
Trophy hunting is of major relevance to conservation biology, both as a
significant source of financial outcomes and as a potential threat to many
species. There are however several major gaps in our understanding of this
considerable economic market. Notably, neither the motivations of hunters
(either related personal satisfaction, social interests or conservation concern)
nor the criteria driving species preferences are well understood. Until
recently only the trophy size and animal body mass were allegedly driving
the hunter’s choice of a species, but novel work highlighting species rarity
as a key preference criteria has raised new conservation concerns for the
biodiversity affected by this activity, supposing that hunters value species
differently. Estimating the value given by hunters to various species is,
however, difficult. The classically used trophy price is a good but indirect
indicator of species attractiveness and can thus be biased. Considering
those gaps and difficulties, we assessed the drivers of trophy hunting by
interviewing trophy hunters directly. With an online questionnaire targeting
the largest trophy-hunting club and trophy-hunting provider websites, we
characterized the motivations for hunting, the preferred hunted species and
the main criteria of choice for these species worldwide. Statistical analyses
were then conducted to assess the link between trophy hunting and species
threat.
2011-12-07 10:30 Disrupted seasonality by dams drives population
declines and range-wide losses of California river-breeding frogs
Palen, WJ*, Simon Fraser University; Kupferberg, SJ, University of
California-Berkeley; Lind, AJ, US Forest Service; Bobzien, S, East
Bay Regional Parks; Catenazzi, A, Gonzaga University; Drennan, J,
Garcia and Associates; Power, ME, University of California-Berkeley;
Alteration of natural hydrology by large dams combined with peak demands
for power and water in summer have resulted in frequent aseasonal flow
conditions in rivers of western North America. Native species in these
ecosystems have evolved with predictable annual flood-drought cycles,
and are vulnerable to disruption of the seasonal match between stable lowflow
conditions and the timing of life history. Here we evaluate the impact
of altered river flow regimes for a native frog in California at four scales:
changes in species distributions over the past half-century, differences in
current population abundance between regulated and unregulated rivers,
temporal trends among populations with different hydrologic histories, and
annual patterns of survival with seasonal hydrology. Foothill Yellow-legged
Frogs (Rana boylii) are absent downstream of large dams more often than
in unregulated rivers, and breeding populations are 4-5 times smaller in
regulated rivers. Time series data from five R. boylii populations across a
gradient of natural to highly artificial conditions suggest that variability of
flows in spring and summer result in high mortality of eggs and larvae. Both
models and field data suggest that such mortality can cause populationlevel
declines. Mitigation to stem biodiversity loss downstream of dams will
benefit from management that better mimics the natural flow regime.
2011-12-08 18:30 Effects of human and protected area impact on
freshwater ecosystem services of Nepal
Pandeya, B.*, King’s College London; Mulligan, M., King’s College
London;
We have assessed human influence and the protected area (PA) impact
on freshwater ecosystem services (ES) of Nepal. The study has analysed
the globally best data of bio-physical, environmental and socio-economic
properties available at 1km and 1ha spatial resolution. We applied advance
hydrological modelling tools that include Co$ting Nature tool and the
WaterWorld-Policy Support System (WW-PSS) to assess the quality and
quantity of freshwater ES. With the exception of PA catchments, increased
human footprint on freshwater ES is clearly noticed across the country.
However, low to minimal impact on freshwater ES is seen within, and
immediate downstream of, the PA catchments. The PA catchments are
supplying nearly 100% filtered freshwater. The reforestation and improved
management of PA catchments have resulted in better quality of freshwater
supply, although the water availability is slightly diminished because of
increased evapotranspiration ratio of the catchments. The research concludes
that the PA catchments are the major source of improved freshwater ES in
the region. Thus, the freshwater ES of PA catchments must be understood
for their primary role in providing better quality of freshwater supply to
people within the PA catchments and their immediate downstream areas.
2011-12-06 14:00 Patterns of local resource use by the Waorani in
Yasuní National Park, Amazonian Ecuador
Papworth, SK*, Imperial College London; Slocombe, K, University
of York; Bunnefeld, N, Imperial College London; Milner-Gulland,
EJ, Imperial College London;
Mapping resource use is important in conservation for the development
of appropriate no-take areas or reserves, defining land ownership and
measuring extraction sustainability. Mapping resource use often involves
one of two approaches: interviews and drawn maps, or researchers
accompanying individuals, either while they are extracting or afterwards.
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