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25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 which is then licked and eaten. PAPP represents the first of a new class of active ingredients which have humaneness and low risk of bioaccumulation. PAPP is partially selective for cats and stoats but is not toxic to rats (Rattus Novegivus). Using PAPP as a lead compound, we have systematically designed novel chemistries, completed synthesis of >50 different compounds and tested their potential to be a PAPP-like rodenticide. To date we have identified one compound that comes close to meeting the performance criteria for a candidate rodenticide and further designs will be synthesized and tested to see if a more potent analogue can be developed for rodent control. 2011-12-09 14:15 Spatio-temporal changes in the landscape structure of old-growth forests in northern Sweden Ecke, F, Research Assistant; Magnusson, M*, Postgraduate Student; Hörnfeldt, B, Professor; Altered forest landscape structure has been suggested as a possible cause to the decline of several forest specialist species in Fennoscandia. For the first time, we present a detailed time series of landscape changes in 1954- 2005 of 16 5x5 km landscapes in boreal Sweden, based on aerial photo interpretation. We divided the studied area into a western (inland) and an eastern (coastal) part based on different timing of landscape changes. Mean patch area of old-growth forest declined from a mean of about 90 ha in 1954 to 10 ha in 2005 in the inland and from 30 ha to ca. 5 ha in the coastal area. Forest types that are important for several forest specialist species have been fragmented and declined in for example mean patch size. For common vegetation types such as mesic and moist coniferous forest, similar changes in landscape structure occurred in all landscapes. In contrast, changes in the landscape structure of rare forest types such as dry, lichen rich coniferous forest and wet coniferous were restricted to particular 5x5km squares. In the coastal areas, clearcuts in 1954 made up ca. 10% of the whole landscape and today clearcuts cover more than 40%. In contrast and accordingly, oldgrowth forests covered about 60% of the total landscape in 1954, compared to about 28% in 2005. In future studies, our detailed landscape data can be used to verify if changes in the forest structure in northern Sweden are indeed the cause for the decline of several forest specialist species. 2011-12-09 14:36 Impact of landmines on the Environment and Biodiversity, the case of Tigray, Ethiopia Edem eniang *, university of uyo, Nigeria; Amleset Haile , Mekelle University, Ethiopia ; Teshale Yihdego, Tigray research center ; Africa is reputed to the most heavily mined continent in the world. Tigray region, Ethiopia is a vast sensitive and fragile dry-land with great potential for biodiversity conservation and ecotourism. the kafta Humera Wildlife reserve,Northwestern Tigray, Ethiopia offers a critical case in point demonstrating the conservation impacts of land-mines. Although the region development organization has intended to develop the area for wildlife preservation during the late 1960s, the site was not assessed for about thirty years due to the border war conflict which left the reserve and its biodiversity in serious problems. Ground survey and elephant aerial survey indicated that a number of larger ungulates have been found dead in unexpected circumstances in the reserve and land-mines are suspected since carcasses of smaller mammals have not been found in the area. Thus,the continues field evidence showed that human pressure couped with abandoned mines have impacted directly on the migratory large mammalian populations of the reserve. Carcass of elephants have been discovered in the reserve in recent years with their tusks intact. Despite the risk of land-mines especially in the war affected areas, all effort must be made to de- mine the reserve, this will ensure the conservation of the kafta humera wildlife reserve for obvious environmental and conservation as well as social benefits. 2011-12-07 12:00 Status and Trends of High Conservation value forests in Africa Edward N. Mwavu*, Makerere University; The African continent is home to forests of high conservation value featuring high levels of flora and fauna endemism that include the Albertine Rift, Congo Basin, Eastern Arc Mountains, Madagascan, and the coastal Mangroove forests. In most parts of Africa large proportion of the human population depends entirely on natural resources (including forests) for their livelihoods leading to increasing competing demands for utilisation, development and sustainable management. For these reasons there are increasing concerns of forest degradation and loss of forest cover. The study examines the causes of changes in forest cover and quality; and their implications for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Date 15:00 Data-poor management of African lion hunting: how to set quotas when the population size is unknown Edwards, CTT*, Imperial College London; Bunnefeld, N, Imperial College London; Balme, G, Panthera; Milner-Gulland, EJ, Imperial College London; Sustainable management of lion (Panthera leo) hunting requires managers to set quotas restricting annual offtake. This has to take place in the absence of reliable information on the population size and as a consequence quotas are often set in an arbitrary fashion. In this investigation we show how trends in a proximate indicator of lion abundance can be used to set quotas in a sustainable manner. A simple algorithm is developed to convert changes in the number of safari days required to kill a lion into a quota for the following year. This was tested against a simulation model of population dynamics, accounting for both demographic and observational uncertainty, and shown to reliably set quotas at a sustainable level. 2011-12-08 18:30 DNA-Based Identification of Frog Remains in Mammalian Predator Stomach Contents Egeter, B*, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Robertson, BC, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Bishop, PJ, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Amphibians are declining worldwide and introduced predators are generally accepted as major agents of this decline. Wildlife management decisions regarding the control of introduced predators to protect endangered species are often based on data derived from predator diet studies. However, visually identifying frog remains in stomach contents of small mammals was found to be unreliable. We aimed to develop a technique that would reliably detect anuran remains in small mammal stomach contents. Species-specific genetic primers were developed for three frog species. Feeding trials were conducted whereby hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) were presented frogs (Litoria raniformis) as food items and subsequently euthanized at predetermined time intervals. Kill-trapping for wild mammals in frog habitat was also undertaken. Stomach contents from all predators were subjected to both visual and PCR analysis. Identification of prey remains was substantially more successful using the DNA-based technique. The half-lives of prey DNA detection in hedgehogs (5.8 h) and rats (5.72 h) suggest that prey DNA is amplifiable for the vast majority of the gastric emptying period. In the wild, hedgehogs were identified as predators of L. raniformis and ship rats (Rattus rattus) as predators of the critically endangered Archey’s frog (Leiopelma archeyi). This approach has the potential to be widely applicable to other mammalian predation studies. 2011-12-08 14:36 Impacts of human recreation on conservation of plant diversity in protected desert meadows El-Bana, M.I.*, Department of Plant Production, College of Agricultural & Food Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Assaeed, A.M., Department of Plant Production, College of Agricultural & Food Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Al-Rowaily, S.L., Department of Plant Production, College of Agricultural & Food Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; The meadows in arid and semi-arid regions are unique habitats for several rare, endangered and endemic plants and animals. In the hyper-arid central region of Saudi Arabia, they represent the natural recreational parks with high conservation value for plant diversity. The intensive human activities such as uncontrolled visitation, off-road vehicles, camping, trampling and fire-wood cutting have led to habitat fragmentation and severe impacts on native vegetation composition and diversity. This was associated with the spread and dominance of some ruderal weeds such as Malva parviflora and Cynodon dactylon. In addition, off-road vehicles especially 4-wheel 46
25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 drive led to great soil loss by wind and water erosion. We conclude that recreational impacts have great ecological consequences on conservation and management of plant diversity, especially in arid fragile environments that are sensitive to disturbance. 2011-12-09 14:00 Genetic issues in fragmented populations Eldridge, MDB*, Australian Museum; Habitat loss and fragmentation is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss. As remaining natural areas become increasingly fragmented, the continued survival of populations confined to these isolated habitat patches is uncertain, as small population size and isolation will increase their probability of extinction through demographic, environmental and genetic stochasticity (inbreeding and loss of evolutionary potential). Populations naturally occurring on offshore islands are a useful model system, as they are often small, have been isolated for hundreds of generations and have proved highly vulnerable to extinction. It is becoming increasingly clear that in small, isolated population, the loss of genetic diversity (=evolutionary potential) through random genetic drift and increased inbreeding elevates the risk of population extinction. Although these negative effects can be overcome by restoring gene flow, this occurs infrequently in practice, often due to concerns about outbreeding depression. As a consequence the current genetic management of most fragmented populations is inadequate and isolated populations of many plant and animal species will unnecessarily go extinct, largely for avoidable genetic reasons. The effective genetic management of recently fragmented populations requires an improved ability to predict the risk of outbreeding depression, increased understanding of optimal gene flow and planning for the impacts of global climate change. 2011-12-08 18:30 Conservation of Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in the Himalayas of Northwest Yunnan Province, Southwest China Elizabeth Georgian*, University of Wisconsin-Madison; This study focuses on the evolutionary relationships and ethnobotany of Rhododendron species and works to conserve ethnic knowledge and biodiversity in the hotspot of northwest Yunnan Province, southwest China. The untangling of the evolutionary relationships of Rhododendron subsection Neriiflora will allow for determination of how species will respond to environmental changes, habitat degradation/loss and climate change. Evolutionary relationships will be studied using traditional phylogenetic methods. Relationships within R. subsection Neriiflora and between closely related subsections call for a revision. Assessing the ethnobotanical importance of Rhododendron species to Yunnan natives will allow for observation of the role Rhododendron plays in the daily life of the region’s population and what, if any, conservation measures are employed. To collect ethnobotanical information key informants will be located through snowball sampling and informal and semi-structured interviews will be conducted. In Yunnan, the ever-present rhododendrons play a role in everyday life and constitute ethnic knowledge, but in some cases their use is not sustainable. An alternative education program designed in collaboration with a Chinese colleague will be employed to work towards preserving indigenous Tibetan ethnobotanical knowledge and biodiversity. This program will allow students to share knowledge about plants and to foster a feeling of pride towards ethnic knowledge and traditional culture. In many cases ethnobotanical information is not being transmitted to young generations. 2011-12-08 18:30 Secondary succession and factors determining change in soil condition from fallow to savannah in Sudanian Zone Emeline P.S., ASSEDE*, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Département d’Aménagement et de Gestion de l’Environnement; Aristide C., ADOMOU, Université d’Abomey- Calavi, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Département de Biologie Végétale; Brice, SINSIN, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Département d’Aménagement et de Gestion de l’Environnement; Land demand for agriculture in Sudanian Zone remains one of the greatest threats to their integrity in Africa. This work aimed to assess factors determining change in soil properties during fallow stage and it transition to savannah in Sudanian Zone of Benin. Fallow vegetation was stratified by age. Phyto-ecological inventories were performed within plots of 30 m x 30 m. Soil physico-chemical properties were determined in fallows that most represent the succession phases. Numerical vegetation data analyses resulted in four fallow types corresponding to the 4 succession phases empirically recognized. The first phase was characterized by the proliferation of large geographical spreading species that disappeared by the third phase. It exhibited the highest species richness with 18.6% exclusive to this stage. The transition from the first to the second phase was characterized by the disappearance of 77% of the overall species richness. The soil in the early succession presented a low value of organic carbon (1.4%), total nitrogen (0.067%), and organic matter (2.42%). After 8 years of fallow, very little quantitative changes occur in soil condition. The presence of Andropogon gayanus var. bisquamulatus, the importance of Leguminosae and Combretaceae made the third phase the ecological optimum for soil fertility recovery. 2011-12-08 18:30 Effects of habitat fragmentation on a sacred population of critically endangered Monkey (Cercopithecus sclateri) in Nigeria Eniang, Edem A.*, Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.; Egwali, Edwin C., Dept. of Zoology, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.; Effects of habitat fragmentation on a population of critically endangered Monkey (Cercopithecus sclateri) Nigeria were studied between 2000 and 2010 to determine population trends following large-scale habitat destruction and fragmentation. Several methods (broad /rapid sweeps) in conjunction with transect walks with pairs of observers searching in a zig-zag fashion within the forest. Observations were recorded on standard primate survey data sheets and subjected to analysis using descriptive/ inferential statistics. Results indicate that group sizes decreased insignificantly but significantly larger numbers of sub-adults and females carrying infants per foraging group. Total Population however increased by approximately 20% from estimated 148 in 2000 to 178 in 2010. A significant increase in infant to adult -female ratio and the observation of a first ever twin-birth in this species during mid-2010 suggested an expanding population possibly due to impacts of community –based primate conservation initiatives which began in 2004. Despite habitat disturbances, the monkeys’ apparently adapted to shrinking habitat and extended foraging areas to farms and orchards thereby bringing conflicts to human populations. Community sensitization, participatory forest regeneration using indigenous multipurpose-tree species with robust conservation action plan are recommended for conservation. 2011-12-09 17:00 Historic Data Informs Dynamics of Bird Distributions in Response to Climate Change Epanchin, PE*, University of California, Berkeley; Beissinger, SR, University of California, Berkeley; Moritz, C, University of California, Berkeley; Many species have been predicted to experience range shifts in response to climate change and other anthropogenic factors. We used empirical data to test the effects of climate change and land use change over the last 100 years on the distributions of over 90 songbirds in the California Coast Range (USA). Seventy sites were first surveyed between 1910 and 1940 and were resurveyed in 2009 and 2010. We used occupancy models to provide unbiased estimates of detectability, occupancy, colonization, and extinction. We used these models to test the effects of climate change on the distributions of over 90 bird species and compared these results to the current understanding of how species respond to climate change. While climate change was an important factor in explaining distributional shifts in some species, it did not explain occupancy patterns observed for others. Although these 70 sites did not undergo urbanization or gross habitat alteration between the two survey eras, varying degrees of habitat change did occur. Some species responded positively, while others responded negatively to measures of human alterations to the landscape. Our results illustrate that empirical historical data can be an important resource for understanding how species respond to various human-induced changes to their environments. 47
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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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