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25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 whether increased food positively impacted body condition, survival, reproduction, density and colony expansion. Experimental results did not support food limitation. Reproduction and density increased from 2008–2009 but remained similar between control and treatment plots. Correlations between vegetation biomass and density suggest that natural food availability in 2008 may have driven population growth into 2009. Percentage of edible vegetation varied between 2008–2009, raising the question: are prairie dog populations’ food limited in some years but not others? A negative correlation between winter survival and summer density, suggests internal regulation through density-dependent mortality. Greater overwinter survival than summer was likely due to differences in predation pressure. Colony expansion was greater in the absence of food supplementation, suggesting food scarcity drives colony expansion. Results suggest that northern prairie dog populations may be functioning near environmental carrying capacity. This research has important implications for conservation and management of prairie dogs and reintroduced blackfooted ferrets (Mustela nigripes) in Canada. 2011-12-08 11:06 Specialist and generalist differential responses to different types of disturbances. Lorrilliere, R.*, MNHN UPMC CNRS UMR 7204; Couvet, D., MNHN UPMC CNRS UMR 7204 ; Robert, A., MNHN UPMC CNRS UMR 7204 ; Human activities are expected to result in a diversity of directional or stochastic constraints, affecting species either directly or through an effect on their resources. Numerous evidences have suggested that specialist species are particularly sensitive to these constraints, resulting in a biotic homogenization where numerous specialist species are replaced by few generalists. We developed a dynamic model that mimics the use of different types of resource by a community of interacting species with heterogeneous levels of specialization in resource use. We investigated the effects of different types of environmental constraints (directly affecting either the growth of species or the availability of resources), on the dynamics of theoretical communities of various sizes, structures and functional attributes. We found that : (1) moderate resource-mediated constraints lead to dramatic reductions of the average level of specialization of communities (CSI), whereas direct constraints have no effect on the CSI. (2) The type and magnitude of constraints affecting communities can be diagnosed only by using combinations of indicators (e.g., CSI + the distribution of species abundances...). Overall, the model helps to interpret of biodiversity metrics in the biotic homogenization context. 2011-12-08 15:15 Oceanographic drivers of recruitment, growth, and genetic diversity in a long-lived exploited marine fish Lotterhos, KE*, Florida State University; Markel, RW, University of British Columbia; Global warming is predicted to affect the timing and duration of oceanographic events that may be important to the reproductive success of marine species. Black rockfish (Sebastes melanops) are a long-lived marine fish whose populations have been declining since the 1980’s due to recreational fishing. Black rockfish release larvae (a process called parturition) into an uncertain oceanographic environment that is characterized by annual fluctuations in temperature as well as the strength and duration of upwelling. We monitored black rockfish recruitment for 5 years (2005- 2010) that differed substantially in their oceanographic regimes. We found that the abundance of recruits was determined largely by upwelling and secondly by temperature at settlement. Through otolith and genetic analysis we discovered that warmer temperatures between parturition and settlement increased genetic diversity and decreased relatedness among recruits, and upwelling at settlement increased the abundance of recruits but not the number of breeders that contributed to that cohort. These results suggest that colder temperatures and high upwelling cause sweepstakes-like processes to operate on black rockfish populations, in which fewer females produce a large cohort of fish. 2011-12-06 11:00 The Conservation Imperative in Twenty-first Century Amazonia Lovejoy, Thomas E*, George Mason University; A2, Heinz Center; The challenge for Amazonian conservation in this century includes climate change, deforestation, fire, gold mining,cattle and soybeans,infrastructure projects plus mining,oil and gas and forestry concessions. It is instructive to review what was effective in the past century in advancing conservation and sustainable management, but the lessons from the past are insufficient for the future. The Amazon needs to be managed as a system and requires an integrated Amazon policy. 2011-12-06 11:15 Out on a Limb: Using Education as a \ Lowman, MD*, North Carolina State University; Education of citizens, policy-makers, students (including K-through- Gray), and other community constituents is critical to foster stewardship of tropical forests. Innovative new partnerships and emerging educational tools can provide mechanisms for communicating the value of ecosystem services, inextricably linked to forest conservation. I present 3 case studies where education of diverse stakeholders led to actions that prioritized conservation: 1. working with religious leaders to save church forests in Ethiopia; 2. empowering indigenous people in tropical regions by building canopy walkways for education/ecotourism to provide revenue streams; and 3. reaching under-served audiences through innovative new technologies and social media to raise science literacy. When conservation biologists apply their tools and skills to engage in education outreach, positive conservation outcomes can be achieved. 2011-12-09 14:00 Meeting the challenges in spatial conservation prioritization in the 21st century Loyola, RD*, Universidade Federal de Goiás; Spatial conservation prioritization uses quantitative techniques to create spatial information on conservation priorities. In its beginnings, most studies addressed conceptual problems, definition of optimization methods for complex model formulations, and development of computational tools for providing community with a way to apply the principles of spatial prioritization to numerous conservation problems. Today, much of these issues are solved. Recent trends include the development of methods to cope with data and model uncertainties, and methods for understanding the consequences of climate change to biodiversity and the tree of life. Conservation practitioners also include economic costs of biodiversity conservation. Framing all these concerns is conservation opportunity, which ultimately drives the implementation of conservation strategies and help to develop national and international policies. Here I discuss the challenges for spatial conservation prioritization in a changing world. I address trending topics such as multi-action planning methods accounting for multiple costs; the inclusion of system dynamics, stochasticity and uncertainty in conservation planning; the incorporation of ecosystem and evolutionary processes in spatial prioritization; and how to engage all elements of the society into conservation planning development. 2011-12-09 12:15 Reassessing global conservation priorities with species richness estimates LUCAS N. JOPPA*, Microsoft Research; David Roberts, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent; Stuart Pimm, Nicholas School for the Environment, Duke University; For most organisms, the number of described species considerably underestimates how many exist. This is itself a problem and causes secondary complications given present high rates of species extinction. How different would conservation priorities be, were the species catalogue complete? Flowering plants form the basis of biodiversity “hotspots” — places where high levels of endemism and habitat loss coincide to produce high extinction rates. About 15% more species of flowering plant are likely unknown, almost certainly rare, and depending on where they live, suffer high risks of extinction from habitat loss and global climate disruption. Using a novel modeling approach, we show that regions predicted to contain large numbers of undiscovered species are already conservation priorities. Our results leave the ranked priorities more-or-less intact, but suggest considerably higher levels of species imperilment than previously acknowledged. 96
25th International Congress for Conservation Biology • Auckland, New Zealand • 5-9 December 2011 2011-12-06 16:30 Relations between urban bird and plant communities and human well-being and connection to nature Luck, G.W.*, Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University ; Davidson, P., Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University; Boxall, D. , School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University; Smallbone, L., Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University; In many cases, urbanization reduces the richness and abundance of native species. Living in highly modified environments with fewer opportunities to interact with a diversity of native species may adversely affect residents’ personal well-being and emotional connection to nature. We assessed the personal well-being, neighbourhood well-being (a measure of a person’s satisfaction with their neighborhood), and level of connection to nature of over 1000 residents in 36 residential neighborhoods in regional Australia. We modelled these response variables as a function of natural features of each neighborhood (e.g., species richness of birds and density of plants) and demographic characteristics of surveyed residents. Vegetation cover had the strongest positive relations with personal well-being, whereas residents’ level of connection to nature was weakly related to variation in bird species richness and plant density. Demographic characteristics such as age and level of activity explained the greatest proportion of variance in well-being and connection to nature. However, when controlling for variation in demographic characteristics, neighborhood well-being was positively related to a range of natural features, including bird species richness. Demographic characteristics and how well-being was quantified strongly influenced our results, and these factors must be considered when attempting to determine relations between the urban environment and human well-being. 2011-12-06 15:45 Collaborative Assessment of Extinction Risk of the Largest Avifauna in the World Luis Miguel Renjifo*, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Juan David Amaya, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; María Fernanda Gómez, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Jorge Ivan Velázquez, Stonny Brook University; Assessment of extinction risk is fundamental for conservation planning and practice. IUCN developed a system that can be objectively applied to most taxa. This is largely based on population and distribution sizes, and trends of change in them. These estimates are often opinions with no explicit link to empirical data or ecological knowledge. We assessed extinction risk of the bird species in Colombia in a highly collaborative process that allowed us to compile historical, recent and unpublished data. We invited ornithologists and highly qualified birdwatchers to provide information ranging from records to species accounts. Several institutions and researches provided information on: distributions, generation time, detailed climatic data, deforestation and other measures of habitat change across the country. We modeled species distributions using Maxent or produced expert models for little known species. We obtained estimates of population sizes using measurements of habitat and known population densities, and rates of deforestation as proxy for rates of change in population size. Though these methods involve high levels of uncertainty they are based on evidence. This approach could be used elsewhere to enhance accuracy of estimates in countries with high biodiversity and low information levels. 2011-12-07 17:15 A seascape model of the impacts of disturbance on functional diversity of marine benthic communities Lundquist, Carolyn*, NIWA; Thrush, Simon, NIWA; Coco, Giovanni, NIWA; Pritchard, Mark, NIWA; Hewitt, Judi, NIWA; Phillips, Ngaire, NIWA; Bowden, David, NIWA; Marine soft sediment habitats are modified by disturbances from fishing, mining and other human and natural disturbances. However, the difficulty and expense of sampling in these habitats make it challenging to evaluate success of different strategies to manage disturbance impacts. Here, we present a seascape model of disturbance/recovery dynamics in benthic communities dominated by both infaunal and epifaunal taxa. We define eight functional species groups, each with different parameters for dispersal, age of maturity, age of mortality and interactions with other species, resulting in varying timelines of recovery from disturbance for each functional group. We translate ‘model’ functional group dynamics into functional attributes of organisms typically found in inshore and offshore communities with New Zealand’s EEZ. We validate the model using inshore data from Tasman and Golden Bays, and offshore data from the Chatham Rise and Challenger Plateau. Our results demonstrate links between spatial and temporal rates of disturbance and the persistence of various functional groups in soft sediment ecosystems. Our results further suggest that seascape models can be used to inform management scenarios to minimize disturbance impacts on seafloor communities. 2011-12-08 10:45 Predicted impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity Lundquist, CJ*, NIWA; Ramsay, D, NIWA; Bell, R, NIWA; Swales, A, NIWA; Kerr, S., Motu Economic and Public Policy Research; In New Zealand, climate change impacts have already been observed, and will increase in future decades. Average air temperature is predicted to warm by 2.1C by 2090 for a mid-range IPCC scenario (A1B), with larger increases possible for some IPCC scenarios with higher rates of future emissions. Sealevel rise projections range between 0.18 – 0.59 m by 2100, based on six IPCC future emission scenarios excluding future rapid dynamical changes in polar ice-sheet flow. Global surface ocean pH is predicted to decrease by an additional 0.14 – 0.35 units by 2100, with a similar decrease expected in New Zealand waters. Rainfall is predicted to change significantly, with increased precipitation in the west, and reduced precipitation in the east, and more intense rainfall events. Increasing temperature is likely to result in species’ range shifts southward and upward, and mortality during extreme heat events. Ocean acidification is expected to cause declines in carbonate communities, with cold water communities predicted to decline first due to a lower aragonite saturation horizon in cold waters. Sea-level rise is likely to impact on coastal biota, reducing coastal habitats, changing inundation patterns, and increasing vulnerability to storm surges and tides. Changes in storm and rainfall intensity are predicted to increase disturbance to terrestrial and aquatic communities. Areas with increased precipitation will amplify rates of disturbance, erosion and sedimentation into aquatic, estuarine and coastal ecosystems, while areas with low precipitation will experience increased fire risk. In New Zealand, climate change projections are being integrated into management, including increasing protection and improving management of coastal habitats. Contributing to a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, New Zealand is the first country to include forestry in their Emissions Trading Scheme, already positively affecting biodiversity by reducing deforestation. 2011-12-07 14:00 Invasive ant species: History and Impacts Luque, GM*, Universite Paris Sud XI; Courchamp, F, Universite Paris Sud XI; As social insects ants form populous, well-protected and long-lived colonies that often become abundant and can profoundly affect the ecosystems they invade. The complex and highly integrated behavior of ant colonies contributes importantly to the success of these introductions. We will review the documented ecological consequences of invasive ants including effects on invertebrates, vertebrates, plants and their associated arthropods, and soil, together with multiple and synergistic effects of ant invasions that may lead to large scale ecosystem level consequences, all which provides essential knowledge for prioritizing conservation efforts. We will review the different approaches carried out to lead to a comprehensive understanding of the causal factors that promote invasiveness, as well as the mechanisms that mediate the invasion process, including ecology, behavior and genetic studies, predictive modeling approaches, and examination of broad biogeographic and taxonomic patterns of introduction. This research determines whether invasion success may be tied to the evolution of characteristics related to geography rather than life history traits constrained by phylogeny. It also suggests clear ways by which predicting and preventing the future establishment of invasive ant species may be accomplished and helps to determine high risk geographic regions under current and future climatic conditions and which species are most likely to be problematic in many regions. 2011-12-09 14:30 Improving Conservation Outcomes Through Adaptive Management on the Connecticut River, USA Lutz, K*, The Nature Conservancy; Zimmerman, J, US Fish and Wildlife Service; Hatfield, C, US Army Corps of Engineers; Palmer, R, University of Massachusetts; 97
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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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