Identifying potential wildlife corridors to improve the connectivity between a Mediterranean nature park and its surroundings, using camera traps

Preventing habitat fragmentation is one of the means in wildlife conservation. This challenge is greater in a small country with rapid development, where conflicts between conservation and development are on decision makers' agenda daily. We examined ways to prevent isolation of a 500-hectare nature park in the Mediterranean region of Israel, extremely rich in fauna; It is monitored routinely as part of an LTER monitoring program to define the management that best conserves the local biodiversity. The park is surrounded by building, industry, railways and a quarry. The park's connectivity to nearby natural habitats is threatened by a significant widening of the road along its eastern border and the expansion of an adjacent industrial area. In order to identify passages most used by wildlife in and out of the park, we mapped and characterized potential passages along the park's eastern border. In the 18 best ranked ones we set camera traps and monitored their use for a whole year. Data from the camera traps was related to different sections of the border and to a roadkill survey conducted along the road nearby. While the proportion distribution of crossings by animals varied between sections, one section was favored by most species. This section, through which around 70% of all crossings occurred, was also adjacent to a roadkill hotspot. We therefore recommend that to preserve viable populations, a wildlife corridor should be created at that section.

In an increasingly dynamic and uncertain world due to climate change and other stressors, it is important to have decision support systems (DSS) that are living, flexible, transparent, and integrated. LandAdvisor DSS does this as a framework and tool to help organizations decide where to conserve, how (i.e. acquisition, stewardship, etc.), and why. It uses a "return on investment" approach to blend the objectives of NatureServe Vista, Marxan with Zones, and CorridorDesigner. A site valuation process combines with an algorithm allocating a variety of land management options in near-optimal solution sets while considering factors such as contiguity, representation, naturalness, management quality, and connectivity. The connectivity algorithm prioritizes not only paths within a linkage, but also linkages within a landscape. LandAdvisor is available as an open-access ArcGIS Toolbox. A consensus-based approach to setting some weights was a means for stakeholder collaboration. An assumptions sensitivity analysis evaluated the impact of various conservation planning assumptions made in the last two decades. Surprisingly, the biggest influence was properly valuing the contribution of private conservation areas to the conservation network. Meanwhile, assumptions affecting optimal representation had relatively low influence. LandAdvisor is an exciting new application for conservation planning and management, and also a framework for exploring the science of conservation.

The golden frog is an amphibian Supatá which was discovered in 2007. Since this event began the project "Golden Frog Supatá" thanks to its ecology studies have concluded that one of the most ameanzados amphibians to extinction in Colombia. The project's objective is to make the local community appropriates their preservation. For over five years, the foundation has implemented Colombia ecodiversity Management Plan and Conservation with various environmental activities and scientific research including community activities. The most outstanding achievements are 1.) This amphibian was declared a Natural Heritage of the municipality in 2008. 2.) Institutionalized the Golden Frog Festival which is now in its fifth version, 3.) 250 children have been trained as environmental leaders, whose overall objective is to develop a local conservation initiative that contributes to the conservation of amphibians in this county. 4.) Sustainability of the project was held in the town's first athletic career, these resources allow revegetation make a day in the habitat of this amphibian.

People living in coastal tropical communities depend on the social, ecological, and economical services that coral reefs offer for all or part of their livelihoods. Nonetheless, coral health worldwide continues to decline due to a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors. These declines threaten the ecosystems services reefs provide. One example of a drastic coral decline is the loss of >95% of the Acropora cervicornis corals over the last 40 years, prompting their listing for protection under the ESA in 2006. In the Dominican Republic, we are mitigating this problem by utilizing an active restoration technique called "Coral Gardening" to promote the propagation of A. cervicornis for reef restoration. To date, 6 coral nurseries have been established totaling >1.1 km of linear tissue in >1,300 staghorn fragments from 21 distinct genotypes; representing the largest genotypic diversity being tracked for A. cervicornis in the Caribbean excluding Florida. Outplanting activities in 2012 saw the establishment of 20 plots in 15 sites at 3 nursery localities resulting in >1,200 Acropora fragments and > 1 km of live tissue returned to denuded natural reefs; representing one of the largest restoration attempts for this species in the Caribbean to date. Outplanted corals have been observed to grow as well, or better than protected nursery corals, which provides reasons for optimism for the recovery of this species through active restoration.

Opportunism is a driving force in conservation spending. Failure to acknowledge the important role of opportunism in modern conservation has consigned many conservation plans to the graveyard for type III errors; good answers to the wrong question. I argue that we have entered an era where conservation will inevitably be even more opportunistic. Is it even possible to be strategic and opportunistic at the same time? I discuss the role of conservation planning in this brave new world, and how the discipline can change do to help navigate the complex terrain of opportunism. I conclude with a discussion about how the concept of opportunism can be integrated into conservation opportunity assessments.

Due to economic decline and the recent rise in home foreclosure, many cities in the United States are faced with managing large acreages of vacant land. Interest in local food production on this land has the potential to dramatically reshape the composition of green space within urban landscapes and the beneficial arthropods which utilize these areas. In the cities of Akron and Cleveland, OH, we examined how the conversion of vacant land to community gardens influenced arthropod generalist predator populations and their ability to support biocontrol services. We found that the abundance of the majority of arthropod predators and levels of biocontrol services were either conserved or enhanced within community gardens established on former vacant lots. However, predators such as Dolichopodidae, Linyphiidae, and Opiliones declined within community gardens which may have implications for pest management. Based on these findings, we discuss the potential of the urban landscape to support generalist predators and sustainable community gardening and farming.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is arguably the most important infectious disease posing a threat to wildlife today. Despite the ability of this fungus to cause amphibian decline and species extinction, and its listing by the OIE, national and international plans to combat the threat of chytridiomycosis are thin on the ground. In Europe, lethal chytridiomycosis was first identified in 1997 and by 2005 infection had been detected in 5 countries. In response, a consortium of institutions acquired EU funding through the BiodivERsA scheme to better determine the scope of the problem in Europe and developed the European Threat Abatement Plan (ETAP). This project (R.A.C.E.; Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to Europe’s amphibians) completes in 2013 and I will report some of the findings that will be incorporated into the ETAP. These include: 1) evidence in support of introduction of infection through human activities; 2) the unpredictability of temperature as a factor influencing transmission, disease and mortality, and; 3) a preliminary risk assessment of species susceptibility

For this workshop we have managed to gather some of the best examples of amphibian conservationists doing work on the ground and advancing amphibian conservation from many different angles such as habitat conservation, combating infectious diseases, captive breeding efforts, building capacity in tropical countries, communicating with the public, etc. In this session we will hold a moderated discussion with all panelists and explore the overlaps between amphibian conservation and other large issues in the conservation agenda (e.g., freshwater management, land planning, ecosystem services, climate change, etc) with which it is necessary to strengthen ties and develop further collaboration.

Wetlands are the habitats for a diversity of plants and are also zones of feeding, resting and breeding for a large numbers of birds. However, these ecosystems are being threatened by habitat loss due to human activities. In the coastal fringe of the Atacama Desert, Chile, there are an important number of wetlands which are influenced by the increase in industrial activities and urban growth. Yet, little is known about these wetlands and the scarce information is highly dispersed. Our aims were: a) to describe the biodiversity and conservation status (IUCN) of plants and birds; b) to quantify, through photointerpretation of satellite imagery, the area impacted by human activities in the wetlands; and c) to prioritize the protection of wetlands by a habitat loss index (HLI) which considered nine variables (e.g., wetland size, road length, urbanized area). We found 611 plant species (180 native, 326 endemic, 105 alien), and 188 species of birds (53 visitors and 135 residents). The impacts of the most common human activities were construction of roads, proximity to urban centers, crops, and industrial activity. The most threatened wetlands were those which are inserted in urban zones, and we consider these as a priority sites for conservation. This type of information can provide valuable assistance to local decision makers and may allow better regulation of human activities in areas of high biodiversity.

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the world’s largest, most culturally treasured, and most productive estuaries—a scale that challenges and provides opportunities for conservation and management. Recent decades have been hard on Chesapeake Bay ecosystems and the people who depend on them. The wild oyster fishery that once shaped the region’s cultural identity has collapsed, a seasonal dead zone plagues the Bay mainstem, and there is heavy dependence on the blue crab fishery. We will review the history of the ecology and culture of this ecosystem as an introduction to the symposium, Despite what you’ve heard…Conservation success in the Chesapeake Bay.

The 'Human Footprint' index, published in 2002, was a static map widely used as a surrogate for human impacts on wild nature around the world. We have developed a spatially explicit and temporal map of the human footprint that is applicable globally at a resolution of 5 km2. This map is based on a comprehensive evaluation of nine different categories of threat to biodiversity and comprises the two global threat-layers which could be compared spatially and temporally. This map estimates not only accumulated global human pressure, but also shows how this has changed across geo-political regions and in protected areas. Over 15 years we find little support for the common perception of protected areas assigned less strict IUCN categories (V and VI) are always worse, and we also find great continental differences in protected area performance. These findings are discussed in relation to the effectiveness of protected areas at conserving habitat and species; the limitations of our approach are also elaborated and ways forward outlined.

The introduction of non-native pathogens has become a serious conservation issue. A prime example is the worldwide spread of the Asian tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi. This cestode causes mortality in fish hatcheries and compromises the recovery of threatened fish populations. In just a few decades, it has colonized every continent except Antarctica, and now infects as many as 200 fish species. Its spread in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River (GLSL) basin has also been rapid. Only 10 years after the first report in the Detroit River, it was discovered 1000 km downstream in the St. Lawrence River in 2012. To assess its distribution in the GLSL basin, a survey was launched in 2009. More than 1500 fish collected in the field or obtained from bait dealers were examined. So far, the Asian tapeworm has been found at 15 of 18 localities, where it infected up to 43% of fish. Published molecular data suggest that this parasite is a complex of morphologically indistinguishable species, some of which are limited to certain fish families. In the GLSL basin, we found B. acheilognathi exclusively in cyprinids (minnows) and our own molecular work indicates it is a single species, which is morphologically and genetically distinct from native Bothriocephalus species. The spread of this pathogen within the GLSL basin can hardly be halted, but its introduction in surrounding water bodies may be prevented through rapid, concerted efforts by fishermen, bait dealers and other stakeholders.

Natural resource conservation and the health of people and animals are often seen as conflicting priorities, especially in areas with increasing human populations. Using an example from South Africa, this paper illustrates the utility of combining human, animal and environmental health for the benefit of conservation and communities in rural and under-resourced areas. We demonstrate that by recognising the links between land use, community health, livestock-based livelihoods, and the survival of protected and free-roaming wildlife populations, programmes can improve natural resource conservation while simultaneously reducing the risks of emerging disease. Using a combination of clinical, environmental and social data, we describe the process and benefits of encouraging expertise while implementing a trans-discipinary appoach to tackle emerging zoonotic and food-borne pathogens across traditionally separate health sectors, conservation services and spatial boundaries. Finally, by identifying the incentives and priorities of multiple-stakeholders, we argue that collaborative interventions may be developed to include community-led solutions as well as stimuulating policy-level change for improved human, animal and ecological health.

Congress has not enacted a major new environmental statute since 1990, and the current divided government means there is little prospect for a change in the coming several years. Thus it is necessary to focus on use of the existing statutory authorities. The principal such authority is the Clean Air Act (CAA). The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the CAA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases, and since the inauguration of President Obama in 2009, EPA has been using that authority. However, EPA can go considerably further. Using the CAA, EPA can regulate existing sources of GHGs, such as coal-fired power plants (and not just new ones); it can strengthen the GHG review of more categories of new sources; it can explore the use of market mechanisms in cooperation with the states; and it can regulate more classes of engines. The federal government can also use existing statutes to impose or tighten energy efficiency standards for more classes of equipment; to ease the siting and construction of renewable energy facilities; to require federal agencies, contractors and grant recipients to use energy efficient technologies, and to make preparations to adopt to anticipated climate change. This talk will explore these and other available legal techniques.

There are 34 species of rodents dwelling in Armenia. Among them one is endemic species Sicista armenica (Armenian birch mouse) for Armenian plateu, which is listed in IUCN Red List as endangered species. According to literature data last time 3 individuals of Armenian birch mouse were captured from Hanqavan province in 1986 by Sokolov and Baskevich. We started our study this summer tried to find the Armenian birch mouse in Hanqavan. During our researches we have caught 331 animals, (mainly shrews and voles) but no Armenian Birch mouse in both Pambak and Tcaghkuntanc ridge. We find data in old literature where described places for Siscista cacuasica: Sevan and Zangezur. We believe that animals were coated in Zangezur and Sevan and listed in old literature as Siscista cacuasica actually were Sicista armenica. Referring to this information we are going to continue our studies in Zangezur and Sevan.

Among the world's most vulnerable marine ecosystems are seagrasses. Although seagrass ecosystem services are highly valuable, their level of protection is inadequate, with multiple anthropogenic and natural stressors causing seagrass declines at high rates. There is a broad literature documenting threats on seagrasses, however few papers report specific actions linked to threat mitigation and none to our knowledge that associate seagrass conservation actions to their cost. Using the case study of Posidonia oceanica, an endemic seagrass to the Mediterranean Sea, we propose how to efficiently prioritize actions in space for seagrass conservation. We first distinguished between acute (e.g. trawling) and chronic stresses (e.g. effluents) and between direct actions on threats and indirect actions (avoidance of areas where chronic threats occur). Then we constructed a prioritization model for the selection of which conservation action(s) to take and where in order to achieve our conservation goal with minimum cost. The area selection is based on the intensity of threats at any location and the cost of potential conservation actions. This novel approach facilitates seagrass conservation decision-making as it explicitly accounts for cost. The approach is transferable to other seagrass ecosystems across the globe.

The National Wildlife Refuge System protects fish and wildlife habitats across a patchwork of 150 million acres of land and water. Home to 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species and more than 1,000 species of fish, the refuges also welcome more than 45 million human guests each year. Expanding anthropogenic activities on the surrounding landscapes are placing increasing pressure on refuges to provide recreational opportunities as well as food resources and breeding grounds for wildlife. This draws animals in to close contact with one another, with domestic animals, and with humans, exceeding the carrying capacity of protected areas and sometimes exacerbating annual disease cycles. Mortality surveillance and disease diagnosis have been conducted on Refuge lands for over 35 years, allowing identification of areas with emerging and chronic disease issues. Armed with historical and contemporary disease diagnostic information, it is now time to place increased emphasis on adjusting wildlife management strategies to prevent disease.