Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas 7, Vairão, Portugal;
Ablimit Abdukadir, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China;
Albano Beja-Pereira, CIBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and
Genetic Resources - Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando
Quintas 7, Vairão, Portugal;
In historic times the Asiatic Wild Ass had a wide distribution, ranging from
Mongolia in to Syria and northern Arabic Peninsula and as far south as
Pakistan and northwestern India. Approximately 12,000 years ago, during
a mass extinction, equids, as well as many large-bodied mammals, vanished
from numerous biogeographic regions. Concerning the Asiatic half asses,
their number has continued to decrease over the last centuries, mainly due
to Human-mediated actions that lead to habitat loss and fragmentation.
Currently, the most abundant subpopulation of this species is circumscribed
to the southern part of Mongolia and adjacent northern China. We have
collected faecal samples from two populations (n=66) in the Chinese
province of Xinjiang, less than 200 km from the Mongolian border. In
order to access genetic diversity levels and the existence of geographic
structure in these populations, we used a panel of 10 polymorphic
microsatellite markers and a 400 bp fragment of the mtDNA. Results
showed a high level of overall microsatellite diversity (He=0.724; MNA=8),
which is slightly lower than previously reported values for Mongolian wild
ass populations in the Gobi region. Ongoing sampling across the border
in Mongolia will allow us to compare diversity levels across populations
from a wide distribution range, as well as detect the existence of gene flow
between populations, calculate the effective population size and infer past
demographic events such as bottlenecks.
2011-12-07 17:00 Power poles and tall trees adjacent to sunflower
fields increase pest damage caused by the invasive Rose-ringed Parakeet
in Israel
Schäckermann, Jessica*, Leuphana University Lüneburg; Klein,
Alexandra-Maria, Leuphana University Lüneburg; Mandelik, Yael,
Hebrew Universtiy of Jerusalem;
The Rose-ringed Parakeet, Psittacula krameri, an invasive cavity-nesting
bird species, harms native bird populations by using their nesting places
and reduces their breeding success in many regions throughout the globe.
The Rose-ringed Parakeet is also known to be a pest to various agricultural
systems such as sunflowers, pomegranate, pecan nuts and maize. In Israel,
the Parakeets visit sunflower fields in big flocks and destroy large parts of
the harvest. Some sunflower farmers report massive damage while others
do not. We hypothesize that the availability of birds-standing-points (SP)
such as electric poles and lines, fences and trees adjacent to sunflower fields
increases the damage caused by the Parakeet. We compared the damage at
sunflower plants closest to SPs with sunflower plants more distanced to SPs
across 20 fields. Bird SP within a range of 50m in the surrounding landscape
of the sunflower fields increased the damage to harvest by an average of
16 % with a maximal damage of up to 57 %. If the next SP was further
than 50m we found on average less than 0,3 % damage. To reduce pest
damage caused by birds, farmers should avoid growing crops attractive for
the Parakeet closer than 50m to the next SP. By spreading this information
across farmers, pest damage, as well as habitats for Parakeets can be reduced
with the long-term conservation goal to control the populations of this
invasive bird species.
2011-12-08 15:15 Assessing cumulative effects: It is important to
include many taxa.
Schieck, Jim*, Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute; Huggard,
Dave, Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute; Boutin, Stan,
University of Alberta;
There is a great deal of literature exploring how to choose species and
species groups as ecological indicators. Focusing on a few highly responsive
indicators is advocated to both reduce costs and to facilitate targeted
research. However, it is poorly understood whether using a few indicators
will effectively track cumulative ecological changes in a region. During
the past 15 years government, industry, and academia in Alberta, Canada
have implemented a program to monitor biota, habitats, landscapes
and human disturbance using a grid of 1656 sites spaced throughout
the province. Ecological intactness is determined for each species
(0=degraded, 100=intact) by comparing the species observed abundance
to the abundance expected if no human development had been present.
Since the intactness scale is consistent among species, information can be
integrated to determine a single measure across species. In the boreal forest,
a region with little cumulative human development, mammals, birds,
vascular plants, and mites all had high intactness. In the prairies, a region
with high cumulative human development, intactness of vascular plants
closely reflected the degree of human disturbance whereas intactness for
mammals, birds and mites did not respond as greatly. In prairie wetlands,
intactness of vascular plants did not track disturbance. Given the variation
in results among taxa and among regions, the cumulative effects of human
disturbance are not well monitored by focusing on a few taxa.
2011-12-06 16:30 Impacts of the expansion of sugarcane on freshwater
communities in biodiversity hotspots
Schiesari, L*, University of Sao Paulo;
The prospect of a global adoption of biofuels is driving a continuous
expansion of agroindustrial production worldwide, particularly in
megadiverse tropical countries where suitable agricultural land is
comparatively abundant. Using algae, anuran larvae, and their predators
as the study system, I tested the hypothesis that the expansion of sugarcane
in a cerrado/semi-deciduous seasonal Atlantic Forest landscape in Brazil is
associated with significant changes in freshwater community composition,
diversity and structure, and that part of these changes are consistent
with agrochemical contamination. There was a strong signal of land use
on freshwater communities. Overall, there was an impoverishment of
amphibian and predator faunas as one moved from forests to pastures to
plantations. Certain species, however, were more frequent, more abundant
and presented higher biomass in plantations than in any other land use
form. Of the 62 active ingredients of pesticides registered for use in
sugarcane in Brazil, at least 8 were employed at the study site. Residue
analysis indicated some pesticide and metal contamination in field-caught
animals, and we witnessed tadpole dieoffs in ponds adjacent to plantations.
We are now conducting experiments testing the direct and indirect effects
of contaminants and other stressors in freshwater communities to test the
mechanisms mediating species loss and replacement across gradients of
environmental degradation in agroindustrial landscapes.
2011-12-09 11:22 Long-term Planning for Marine Sustainability in
Southwest Haiti
Schill, Steven*, The Nature Conserancy; Zenny, Nathalie, The
Nature Conservancy; Dominguez, Elianny, The Nature Conservancy;
Kleiberg, Marianne , The Nature Conservancy;
The coastal islands and associated shallow marine zone surrounding île
la Vache in southwest Haiti harbor some of the most intact reefs and
marine resources in Haiti. These resources are highly threatened from
overfishing and growing tourism and in urgent need of management via
a multi-objective framework that will enable long-term sustainability. In
support of the UNEP-led Cote Sud Initiative, a team from The Nature
Conservancy gathered baseline information on coastal habitats and
fisheries using satellite mapping techniques and fisher surveys. Results
were reviewed and verified through a community-led process, providing
the basis for developing a long-term plan that responds to the pressures
and impacts on the integrity of coastal and marine ecosystems. This effort
is part of a larger twenty-year multi-thematic program designed to address
the underlying drivers of poverty and environmental degradation, while
maintaining national ownership, private sector engagement and building
the institutional capacity of the government and local partners. Ultimately,
the hope is to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities and protect
biodiversity, while effectively managing fisheries, tourism and recreational
activities for the long term.
2011-12-08 18:30 Dispersal and translocation of the endangered
Pygmy Bluetongue Lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis)
Schofield, JA*, Flinders University of South Australia; Ebrahimi,
M, Flinders University of South Australia; Gardner, MG, Flinders
University of South Australia; Bull, CM, Flinders University of South
Australia;
One conservation tool for endangered species, translocation, has had
limited success, because translocated individuals tend to move away from
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