Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
removal (biodiversity goals); and nuances in regional political and cultural
environments (the roles of people).
2011-12-06 11:45 Global Conservation Agreements and a Political
Ecology of Carbon Offshoring
Davidsen, C*, University of Calgary;
New global conservation models are on a desperate search for politically and
economically effective approaches to carbon and conservation, cooperation,
and an internalization of environmental costs on a global ecosystemic level.
Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative in the Upper Amazon rainforest proposes
a new type of international carbon-and-conservation cooperation model
that offers to leave oil reserves in the Ecuadorian Amazon under the surface
in exchange for international carbon investments which compensate the
state for not accessing these oil fields. The paper uses a political ecology
perspective to examine the politics and clashes of underlying conservation
cooperation agendas and the effects of carbon offshoring on shifting
power relationships between global investors and providers of carbon
and conservation. The analysis identifies key governance challenges of
global conservation cooperation in emerging multi-scale networks and
implementing states of the Global North and Global South in general.
2011-12-08 15:45 Determinants of Global Extinction Risk in Marine
Mammals
Davidson, AD*, Institute of Ecology, National University of Mexico;
Boyer, Alison G., Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
Yale University; Kim, Hwahwan, Computational Sciences and
Engineering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Pompa-Mansilla,
S, Institute of Ecology, National University of Mexico; Hamilton,
MJ, Santa Fe Institute; Costa, DP, Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz; Ceballos,
G, Institute of Ecology, National University of Mexico; Brown, JH,
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
The world’s oceans have undergone profound changes over the last
century as a result of human activities. However, the consequences of
escalating human impacts on marine mammal biodiversity remains poorly
understood. Currently almost 40% of all marine mammals are considered
data deficient by the IUCN Red List, and the potential impacts of climate
change on marine mammals are only beginning to be understood. With
the number and extent of human impacts on the marine environment
expected to increase with projected human population growth in coming
decades, a growing number of species will be subject to these threats.
Predictive models of species at risk are key to informing present and future
conservation needs, yet such models have not been explored for marine
mammals. We developed predictive and spatially explicit models of marine
mammal extinction risk using machine learning approaches coupled with
spatial analyses of habitat productivity and human impacts, including
climate change. We show that the speed of life history is overwhelmingly
the most important predictor of extinction risk in marine mammals. In
general, intrinsic traits are more important predictors of extinction risk
than extrinsic variables for marine mammals, as they measure the intrinsic
susceptibility of species to human impacts. We also show that 30% of all
marine mammals, including many data deficient species, are predicted to be
at risk of extinction, and identify 9 global hotspots of marine mammal risk.
2011-12-08 18:30 Poverty and provisioning ecosystem services in the
Solomon Islands
DAVIES, T*, St Andrews University; Fazey, I, St Andrews University;
Pettorelli, N, Institute of Zoology, ZSL;
There is geographical overlap between extreme poverty and areas of high
biodiversity, resulting in competition between biodiversity and food
provision. This project utilised a mixed-methods approach within a
participatory framework to investigate relationships between poverty and
provisioning ecosystem services in a remote and poorly studied region
where people are highly dependent on natural resources for subsistence.
This interdisciplinary approach ensured detailed local knowledge of the
environment was accessed alongside improving local capacity. Six villages
in the Kahua region of Makira-Ulawa Province, Solomon Islands were
surveyed, with 12 focus groups (separate groups for men and women in
each village) were held to identify indicators of poverty which was then
incorporated into the household survey which was also used to collect
data on a variety of provisioning ecosystem services used at the household
level, including building materials, medicines and wild foods. A total of
108 households were surveyed. The local importance and dependence on
provisioning ecosystem services was found to be high, and also under flux
as communities switch to a monetary economy those with income from
cash crops, such as cocoa were less dependent on wild foods. The use of
medicines was variable, as was bushmeat where a variety of endemic species
were found to be consumed (including the Prehensile-tailed skink (Corucia
zebrata) and the Yellow-bibbed fruit dove (Ptilinopus solomonensis).
2011-12-06 14:30 The Chagos/BIOT MPA: A cautionary case study on
marine spatial planning
Davies, TK*, Imperial College London;
In April 2010 the UK Government announced the creation of the
world’s largest no-take marine protected area within British Indian Ocean
Territory (BIOT). This designation, which came about after a year-long
process involving scientific review and public consultation, has been
heralded a success by conservation groups. However the decision-making
process leading to the designation has received wide criticism regarding
how environmental, social and political viewpoints were represented and
considered. Throughout the consultation process the impacts of the Chagos/
BIOT MPA on regional (external) conservation and resource management
objectives received little attention. In particular the reallocation of
fishing effort from the MPA largely ignored, yet this can alter spatial and
temporal patterns of exploitation and may prompt changes in the regional
management of tuna and bycatch species. I outline the potential effects
of fishing effort reallocation following the Chagos MPA designation, and
the potential impacts both on tuna and bycatch species. This case study
highlights important lessons regarding stakeholder participation in public
consultation as well as the necessity to consider the indirect effects of
designation via changes in resource user behaviour.
2011-12-08 14:00 An oily end? Can lowland forest birds persist in the
palm oil plantations of New Britain, Papua New Guinea?
Davis, RA*, School of Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan Universityh
Cowan;
The Island of New Britain lies in the Bismarck Archipelago to the immediate
east of Papua New Guinea and is characterized by a high endemism, with
at least 37 endemic or restricted-range bird species. Unfortunately, New
Britain is classed as one of the most at risk islands in the world due to
the rapid rate of deforestation, primarily driven by conversion of lowland
forest to oil palm plantations. Consequently Birdlife International recently
upgraded the number of threatened bird species on New Britain from 12
to 21, and there is an urgent need for ecological data on bird utilization of
palm oil plantations. We undertook 97 standardised surveys in remnant
lowland forest and 82 transects in palm oil plantations. A total of 61 species
were recorded from lowland forest and 32 in palm oil. However, only 5
generalist species accounted for the vast majority of regular sightings in
palm oil with most other species records being transitory. Over 55% of
the lowland forest birds were never recorded in palm oil. Over 100 hours
of surveys also failed to record a number of threatened endemic birds and
these species are considered to now be extremely rare or locally extinct.
I discuss these findings in result of generalist and specialist ecological
attributes and the implications for conserving birds in Papua New Guinea’s
palm oil landscapes.
2011-12-08 14:12 Recent status of Ortolan Bunting Emberiza
hortulana L., 1758 population in Ukraine
Davydenko I.*, Biol. Dept., Shevchenko National University,
Volodymyrska Str. 64, in Kiev, 01601; Serebryakov V., Biol. Dept.,
Shevchenko National University, Volodymyrska Str. 64, in Kiev,
01601;
According to the numerous available literature and personal data Ortolan
Bunting should be considered as common migratory breeding species
which is spread on the whole terrotiry of Ukraine but spatially. This species
is not recorded in the highlands of the Crimea and Carpathian Mountains.
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