Abstracts available here - Society for Conservation Biology

25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011
with small helicopters not only can reduce project expenses by 50%, but
enables resource managers to tackle other issues by completing projects up
to 12 times faster than traditional methods. Case studies from the Channel
Islands and Tehachapi Mountains in California, USA where such techniques
have been used will be presented in detail. Tasks completed simultaneously
include: eradication of invasive plants and animals, monitoring of endemic
vertebrates and invader entry sites, and mapping of rare plants, hydrologic
features, illegal marijuana plantations, and infrastructure.
2011-12-08 10:30 Defining conservation problems for effective
planning solutions: learning the hard way to bridge the researchimplementation
gap.
Knight, AT*, Stellenbosch University;
Professionals involved in conservation planning, whether managers,
policy-makers or researchers, aim to be as effective as possible. Each
grapples with their “conservation problem” in the context of their personal
perspectives and goals, institutional or organizational mandates, available
resources, and various other influences. Although conservation problems
are often portrayed as globally homogenous phenomena, they are defined
differently by different individuals. In effect, conservation problems are not
“real”, but are context-specific human constructs defined by individuals
according to their orientation. The ways in which conservation problems
are defined determines both our individual and collective effectiveness
within conservation planning initiatives. Significant confusion is apparent
within the conservation planning fraternity as to how to define conservation
planning problems. This possibly results from several interacting factors,
including: 1) the absence of an explicitly-stated conservation planning
conceptual framework which focuses on re-orienting individuals mental
models towards effectively implementing conservation action; 2) operational
models for conservation planning being developed in theory without
being tested through ‘real-world’ practice; 3) problem orientation being
confused with problem formulation; 4) competing interests when defining
who constitutes valid ‘expert’ input in defining problems; 5) failure of our
universities to effectively prepare graduates as effective problem-solvers
capable of usefully applying mixed-methods approaches rather than
“professionals”; and 6) currently confusing terminology which fails to
differentiate between activities which implement action and those which
do not. These various challenges to bridging the research-implementation
gap are discussed through examples, and several possibly useful approaches
and tools are presented for minimizing this confusion and improving the
effectiveness of conservation planning initiatives.
2011-12-08 11:18 Feral Cats - Pest in the Indian Ocean
Koch, K*, 1Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F),
Siesmayerstrasse 70, 60323 Frankfurt; Algar,D, 2Department of
Environment and Conservation, Science Divison, 6026 Woodvale,
Western Australia; Schwenk,K, 1Biodiversity and Climate Research
Centre (BiK-F), Siesmayerstrasse 70, 60323 Frankfurt;
Cocos Keeling Island and Christmas Island are offshore islands halfway
between Indonesia and Western Australia in the Indian Ocean. Both islands
exhibit a low level of human disturbance since exploration of both islands
began around 1800 by European settlers. The fauna shows a high level of
endemism and it is severely threatened by invasive feral cats. Therefore,
a major cat eradication program started on the islands, conducted by
the Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia,
to protect the indigenous fauna. Cat population genetics will provide
important information about the demographics and population structure
which enables us to develop more effective control and eradication strategies.
We studied mitochondrial and nuclear genes (microsatellites) to evaluate
genetic diversity, assess gene flow from villages and identify the origin of
invasive populations by comparing them to various populations from
Western Australia. Results show that island populations are genetically
differentiated and cats of both islands originate from different European
regions. A reference library created to enable future biosecurity measures
which will determine if quarantine measures are efficient and long-lasting.
If post-eradication reinvasions take place, we will be able to determine the
origin of invaders and adjust the quarantine measures according to the
population genetic results.
2011-12-06 17:00 Knowledge of Indonesian University Students on
Biological Commons Dilemmas
Koch, Sebastian*, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Albrechtvon-Haller-Intitute
for Plant Sciences, Didactics of Biology;
Barkmann, Jan, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Department
of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development; Sundawati,
Leti, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Faculty of Forestry, Department of
Forest Management; Bögeholz, Susanne, Georg-August-Universität
Göttingen, Albrecht-von-Haller-Intitute for Plant Sciences, Didactics
of Biology;
Biological resource managers and educators need knowledge on several
dimensions of natural resource use. To examine the knowledge acquisition,
we compared knowledge of beginners and graduates of several natural
resources-related university programs of a leading Indonesian institution
of higher education (n=1044). We use a knowledge model differentiating
(1) situational, (2) conceptual and (3) procedural knowledge, and three
knowledge domains: (a) ecological, (b) socio-economic and (c) institutional
knowledge. Examples were taken from socio-ecological commons dilemmas
concerning non-timber forest products and local fisheries. Overall, graduates
had higher knowledge scores, but the effect size was small (p .001, Cohen’s
d= .264). At high scores, no differences were found in situational knowledge
showing that students were able to cope with the material presented.
Graduates had higher scores than beginners in the more the demanding
questions on conceptual and procedural knowledge (p .001, d= .417 and
.335). Here, overall scores were low. Within conceptual knowledge, only
the ecological and socio-economic knowledge domains improved (p .001,
d= .238 and .347). While institutional knowledge is often decisive for
successful biodiversity conservation, the investigated university programs
did not increase the low knowledge in this domain appreciably. Our study is
the first quantitative indication of this potentially serious deficit in tertiary
biodiversity education.
2011-12-06 11:45 Harnessing Technological and Social Trends for
Conservation: There’s an App for That!
Koh, LP*, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich);
Growing demands for water, food and energy are expected to intensify
land-use conflicts in the developing tropics where population growth has
been most rapid, the people are poorest, and biodiversity is richest and
yet most threatened globally. An emerging challenge for decision-makers
in these regions is to reconcile human development and environmental
protection. By 2015 there will be a billion additional internet users in the
developing tropics, many of whom will be accessing the web through mobile
communications devices, such as ‘smartphones’ and tablet computers.
These technological and social trends present exciting opportunities for
conservation scientists to communicate their work to the general public.
I present an ongoing effort in my group to develop science-based decisionsupport
tools through a combination of basic and applied research. As an
example, I discuss the development of a matrix-calibrated species-area model
that predicts biodiversity loss due to land-use change. By collaborating with
software developers, we produce a user-friendly mobile application for this
theoretical model. This tool helps to inform land-use and development
decisions in the tropics with regards to biodiversity impacts and tradeoffs.
Such radical and high-risk research normally falls outside of conventional
academic pursuits. It might, however, yield significant payoffs for advancing
conservation science, policy and practice to achieve more sustainable
development in the tropics.
2011-12-08 18:30 Habitat fragmentation accelerates the inter-specific
hybridization of stream salmonids
Koizumi, I*, Hokkaido University;
Habitat fragmentation causes different types of detrimental effects on
wild populations, such as reducing connectivity and increasing harsh
habitat edges. Here, I show for the first time that habitat fragmentation
also promotes inter-specific hybridization. Salmonid fishes have external
fertilization, which increases the chance of hybridization. In the wild,
however, reproductive isolation generally operates due to the shifts in
breeding timing, area and behavior. Sympatric charrs (Dolly Varden and
white-spotted charr) in the Sorachi River in central Hokkaido, Japan, rarely
produce their hybrid probably because Dolly Varden spawn later in the
season and upper reaches of streams although they are partially overlapped.
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