Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
2011-12-08 18:30 Is forest disturbance always harmful to forest
ecosystem? Evidence from Sal (Shorea robusta) forests in Nepal Terai
Sapkota, IP*, Ministry of Forests, Nepal Government;
Forest management strategy in Nepal has been guided by the assumptions
of either conservation or utilization; and till date very little research has
been made into how these both assumptions can go together, or utilization
related disturbances can be a part of forest management. Disturbances
such as selective logging and illicit felling have been widely practiced in
Sal forests since the inception of the timber and fuel-wood trade in the
region. Increasing rural demand for leaf fodder has increased grazing and
browsing pressure in the forests. Cutting and lopping for fuel-wood and
fodder, and the collection of ground litter for livestock feed and bedding
materials have occurred widely in Sal forests. Such diverse uses of Sal forests
signify that these forests are exceptionally disturbed. Witnessing their
inherent association with the forest system, disturbances are something that
cannot be avoided in Sal forests, but rather are something to deal with.
Therefore, multiple and simultaneous disturbances occurring in Sal forests
need a thorough study; and their synergistic effects on each component of
ecosystem of Sal forests should be assessed so that the forest management
policy and institutions can be made more realistic in terms of achieving
both goals of ecosystem based forest management- conservation and
sustainable use of forests. Methodology: The nexus between a set of existing
disturbances of varying intensities and the diversity and regeneration of
Nepalese Sal forests was examined. In addition, the effects of a single
disturbance factor – tree fall gaps – on species diversity, regeneration and
early growth of Sal forest were assessed. The intensity of the combined
disturbances in each of the studied forests was calculated using a relative
impact of each individual disturbance. Key findings: The study found out
that the total stem density of saplings and poles increased with increasing
disturbance intensity, to a certain level, while most of the tree species in
the community showed changing dispersion patterns along the disturbance
gradient. Socially preferred tree species displayed high regeneration
performance in forests subjected to moderate level of disturbance. Tree fall
gaps favored regeneration by increasing the density of seedlings of some
socially preferred tree species and promoted the maintenance of high
species diversity. However, neither overall species diversity nor regeneration
positively correlated with gap size; but the maintenance of species diversity
and regeneration in gaps are related more strongly to several other attributes
of gaps than gap size. The conclusions: Generally, forests subjected to
moderate level of disturbance maintained species diversity and enhanced
regeneration performance, which in turn was coupled with the regeneration
strategy of key species – in line with the Intermediate Disturbance and
Recruitment Limitation Hypotheses. In other words, the species of Sal
forests collectively embrace both functional phenomena of ecosystem while
they regenerate in a disturbed environment. Some of them show prolific
regeneration pattern upon receiving a mild level of disturbances (e.g. Sal);
and some of them lower their regeneration as they do often encounter a high
level of exploitation (e.g. several fodder species) and lack their propagules
in the regeneration process. Policy conclusions: - Mild disturbance with
limited public and herbivore access to the forests does not necessarily hinder
the overall stand regeneration and species diversity, but may enhance them.
- Since the rural population is highly dependent on these forests for their
subsistence needs, strict protection is neither feasible, nor does it result
in higher forest regeneration. - Ecosystem-based management, focusing
simultaneously on optimization of the consumptive forest products for
human populations and enhancement of species’ regeneration and diversity,
would be a viable management strategy for Sal forests in Nepal. The study
signifies that moderate level of disturbance may be touted as a management
tool for Sal forests.
2011-12-09 15:15 Multi-criteria analysis in the design of conservation
area networks
Sarkar, S.*, University of Texas;
This paper treats the prioritization of conservation areas as a goal that must
simultaneously icorporate multiple goals that may be in conflict and require
trade-offs. It shows how these goals can be achieved through the analysis
of an objectives hierarchy, the construction of an implicit or explicit value
function, and tradeoff estimation. The methodology can be incorporated
through a variety of heuristic, metaheuristic, and exact algorithms. In
particular, tabu search has proved to be an efficient metaheuristic framework
for the solution of these problems. The framework so developed is used to
design a conservation area network for a forestry concession in the Merauke
region of Papua province in Indonesian New Guinea.
2011-12-08 18:30 Sustaining conservation on private lands- a case of
Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary from North Western Ghats, India
Sarnaik, JP*, Applied Environmental Research Foundation(AERF);
Godbole,AJ, Applied Environmental Research Foundation(AERF);
Punde,SP, Applied Environmental Research Foundation(AERF);
The alarming rate of biodiversity loss and growing realisation about
the crucial role of biodiversity in climate change adaptation has forced
proponents of conservation across the world to constantly devise
innovative strategies to address these complex environmental challenges
simultaneously. It has been widely accepted that the inadequacy of
protected area approach in conserving and sustaining biodiversity has
been the root cause of biodiversity loss in the countries rich in biodiversity.
Conservation on private lands through incentives is one such new approach
for halting deforestation and subsequent loss of biodiversity. Our efforts
in implementing this conservation strategy in the Bhimashankar Wildlife
Sanctuary in North Western Ghats – a global biodiversity hotspot- have
provided some insights with respect to sustainability of this approach.
Conservation agreements implemented by AERF have minimum duration
of five years. Our findings indicate that change in behaviour of private
landowner in favour of conservation can only be guaranteed if a) the
benefits sufficiently address most of his immediate needs b) a steady
stream of income is assured from the land under conservation agreement
c) a constant effort is made in building skills of the private landowner for
sustaining the strategy during the tenure of agreement by the implementing
agency.
2011-12-07 11:15 Demo-genetic processes and evaluation of
Conservation Translocation outcomes
Sarrazin, Francois*, University Pierre and Marie Curie; Jamieson,
Ian G., University of Otago; Robert, Alexandre, Muséum National
d\’Histoire Naturelle;
The goal of translocation is to establish long term viable populations. Thus
interactions between life history traits, local environment and release strategy
should minimize stochastic extinction risk, drift and inbreeding loads and
loss of evolutionary potential. Successfully translocated populations should
follow settlement, growth and regulation that determine their long term
viability. We address these demo-genetic issues to discuss the importance of
spatio-temporal designs of translocation strategies as well as the choice and
numbers of individuals to release that are necessary to preserve acceptable
levels of genetic diversity in various ecological scenarios. We also propose
a general framework to define success criteria accounting for demo-genetic
processes. We used population modeling to test whether IUCN criteria
for remnant populations (particularly the relation between extinction risk
and threshold number of mature individuals) may be relevant to assess
translocation success. From a demographic viewpoint threshold number
of mature individuals is a conservative proxy of extinction risk since only
populations having the most high and stable growth rates can reach these
threshold numbers. However, both selected and neutral genetic variations
may be influenced by translocation strategy with subsequent effects on
long-term viability as compared with remnant populations of the same size.
2011-12-08 18:30 An evolutionary perspective of anthropocentric
versus ecocentric approaches of conservation
Sarrazin, Francois, University Pierre and Marie Curie; Lecomte,
Jane*, University Paris-Sud 11;
Conservation issues are generally seen as present and future urgencies.
However past human evolutionary history might explain our inertia
to change relationship between human and biodiversity. Human traits
have been selected though comparative gains in fitness, similarly to most
function now used for the welfare of our phenotypes through our ability to
master our environments. Human interactions with biodiversity are thus
mostly anthropocentric as exhibited through ecological services. However
their impact on genetic and cultural information - i.e. on evolution of both
human and biodiversity traits - is rarely considered. We propose five main
basic scenarios: i) a “darwinian scenario” with no anticipation in human
actions and retroactions of selective pressures on environment on human
fitness ; ii) a “human fitness centered scenario” where biodiversity is totally
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