Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

150 PLENARY KEYNOTE THURSDAY HALL IIIPARALLEL SESSION HALL H III | ANDEAN BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT II151Session: KeynoteThursday, 24 February, 14:25, Hall H IIIChair: Heribert HoferGENETIC DIVERSITY AND TROPICAL BIODIVERSITYCONSERVATION: NEGLECTED COMPONENT OR NEEDLESSDISTRACTION?Thursday, 24 February, 15:15 | Hall H III | Second part of the session:THE ANDEAN BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT AND ITS FUTURE: BIODIVERSITY,ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING & ECOSYSTEM SERVICES UNDERENVIRONMENTAL CHANGEChairs: Jörg Bendix, Erwin BeckMichael Bruford, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, brufordmw@cf.ac.ukTHURSDAY 14:25 Hall H IIIGiven the numerous calls on conservation funding and the alarming rate atwhich tropical biodiversity is currently being lost, prioritisation of conservationaction and research is a necessity. Genetic diversity is considered by many tobe a relatively low priority in conservation of biodiversity. A commitment toconserve genetic diversity is absent from many national and internationalagreements and from the scientific underpinning of the CBD which, whileconcentrating on species diversity (Global Taxonomy Initiative) and ecosystemstability (Ecosystems Approach), neglects genetic diversity almost completely.No targets for the conservation of genetic diversity were set for 2010 within theEU. Yet genetic diversity is one of the three important components of biologicaldiversity and provides the raw material for natural selection and adaptation toenvironmental change which will certainly be needed in the future. I will usethis presentation to first ask why genetics is ignored in this way, and what cangeneticists do to change attitudes within the biodiversity community. Researchon genetic diversity of species in tropical ecosystems has yielded knowledge ofconservation relevance which was previously unsuspected and in the secondpart of my talk I will summarise what new knowledge has come from researchon tropical ecosystem genetics. Finally, evidence that genetic data may impactdirectly on management of tropical biodiversity and alter priorities for fundingand action may be considered equivocal, yet such examples are beginning tocome into the literature and in the third part of my talk I will use one exampleto illustrate how genetic data can alter the ’bottom line’ in tropical biodiversityconservation.FUNCTIONAL SOIL-LANDSCAPE MODELLING - ESTIMATING SLOPESTABILITY IN A STEEP ANDEAN MOUNTAIN FOREST REGIONMareike Liess 11Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, DE, mareike.liess@uni-bayreuth.deLandslides are a common phenomenon within the Ecuadorian Andes and havean impact on soil-landscape formation. Within the research area, landslidesare mainly composed of soil and mud slides, while rock slides occur to a muchlesser extent.Landslide susceptibility was determined in a steep mountain forest region inSouthern Ecuador. Soil mechanical and hydrological properties in addition toterrain steepness were hypothesized to be the major factors in causing soilslides. Hence, the factor of safety (FS) was calculated as the soil shear ratio thatis necessary to maintain the critical state equilibrium on a potential slidingsurface. Regression tree (RT) and Random Forest (RF) models were comparedin their predictive force to regionalise the depth of the failure plane and soilbulk density based on terrain parameters. The depth of the failure planewas assumed at the lower boundary of the stagnic soil layer or soil depthrespectively, depending on soils being stagnic or non-stagnic.Bulk density and the depth of the failure plane were regionalised with RFperforming better than RT. The FS was determined in dependence of soilwetness referring to 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 3 mm/h net rainfall rate. Sites with a FS≥ 1 at 3 mm/h (complete saturation) as unconditionally stable, sites with a FS