Responses of Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) to Experimental Manipulation of Woody Debris Supply in Boreal Northeastern Ontario

Maintenance of woody debris supplies is increasingly being recognized as an integral part of forest management. In order to better manage this resource, it is important to understand its role in supporting biodiversity. We investigated the responses of carabid beetles to experimental manipulation of downed woody debris supply in variously aged mature mixedwood boreal forests that provided qualitative differences in woody debris types among stands. Total carabid abundance and abundances of eight species declined significantly with decreasing wood volumes, whereas abundances of four species increased. The change in community composition under decreasing wood volumes reflected a shift from species more characteristic of mesic habitats to those more characteristic of xeric habitats. For species that decreased in abundance, various types of woody debris were important, but particularly large-diameter, late decay coniferous wood. This type of wood is a primary target of harvesting operations and is most likely to become limiting in managed forests of boreal Ontario. These findings suggest that reductions in woody debris will have negative consequences for carabids and indicate the need to ensure a diverse and abundant supply of woody debris in managed landscapes. Our results suggest that the more intensive harvest operations become (such as through decreased rotation lengths, more intensive fiber removal, and less residual leave), the greater the impacts will be on carabids.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods have been successfully used to detect amphibians in high-gradient streams, but several challenges remain for implementing this approach to monitor native and invasive vertebrate species. To test the efficacy and limitations of this method, we designed molecular qPCR assays for two amphibians (Idaho Giant Salamanders, Dicamptodon aterrimus; Rocky Mountain Tailed Frogs, Ascaphus montanus). We then tested how water collection methods affected detection probabilities and eDNA concentrations in 1L water samples pumped through cellulose nitrate filters. Preliminary results suggest minimal differences between sample collection methods, allowing the user to choose the most convenient method for their particular application. When eDNA was at low levels in the stream, or when few replicates were collected, eDNA concentration estimates had relatively low precision due to occasionally high or low amounts of eDNA in replicate samples. We found that eDNA concentrations were positively associated with field-based estimates of density, biomass, and proportion of transects occupied across 13 streams, especially when outlying replicates were removed. We expected eDNA concentrations to be higher when water samples were collected just downstream from animals, but our analyses suggest that eDNA concentrations were not influenced by distance from animal, location in the stream, or time of day. We detected an increasing amount of eDNA within 6-24 hours after animals arrived into a previously unoccupied stream and we found that eDNA degraded exponentially until it was undetectable within 8-18 days depending on exposure to sun and temperature. More work is required to test the limitations of eDNA applications; however, our preliminary findings suggest that this technique has the potential to be a highly sensitive and cost-efficient tool for monitoring aquatic species, even in high-gradient streams.

Cape Sable seaside-sparrows live in the freshwater marshes of the Everglades. These seasonally flood as rains resume in early June. Water levels start receding early in the year. The deepest part of the Slough may remain flooded for years on end. Peripheral areas are dry March to May and the sparrow nests there. Up to 1992, range-wide surveys found most birds west of the Slough. This changed from 1993 onwards, when water managers released historically unprecedented water flows across the water control gates, which are due north of these western sparrows, flooding them during the breeding season, and destroying ~95% of this area’s birds. The proposed critical habitat designation included all the areas where surveys had found birds. The final designation eliminated the populations in the west — where the majority of the birds and potential habitat occurred. FWS provided three rationales for excluding these areas: (1) opposition from other agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers, (2) limited palynological data that suggested some of the area may not have historically supported the sparrow, and (3) an assertion that designation of the area as critical habitat may limit Everglades restoration. FWS provided no evidence that any agencies would cease their participation were critical habitat to be designated. Their scientific evidence was deeply flawed. When challenged legally, they did not defend it, arguing instead for their rights to make decisions without explanation.

Marine conservation strategies worldwide are designed around species distributions and biogeographic patterns, often under the assumption that these patterns are relatively stable. With climate change, however, distributions are shifting as species seek more suitable conditions. There is an urgent need for credible predictions of future species distributions to guide conservation planning. We therefore tested projection methods against four decades of scientific surveys for 360 marine taxa on the continental shelves of North America. We found that much of the variation in species shifts in both latitude and depth could be explained by the rate and direction of local climate velocity. We also found evidence that fishing affected range shifts and that bottom-dwelling taxa lagged behind their thermal niches more than other taxa. Our results suggest that species shift at different rates, and even in different directions, because they are tracking the complex mosaic of local climate velocities. These findings imply that projections of species distributions based on downscaled IPCC-class climate models will be useful tools for evaluating existing conservation plans and for guiding a new generation of climate-ready marine conservation and fisheries management.

ODK is a free set of tools for: building a data collection survey form; collecting the data in the field on an Android mobile device, smartphone or tablet; aggregating the collected data on a server, locally or in the cloud; and extracting it in useful formats for analysis and visualization. The ODK approach has been successfully used worldwide in a variety of applications from socio-economic and health surveys to decision support for clinicians. In this presentation we will discuss one of the first applications of ODK to conservation in practice. Since 2009, the Jane Goodall Institute has been building capacity in 52 villages in western Tanzania to use ODK to monitor wildlife and threats on their village lands, with an emphasis on chimpanzees and forest habitats. Currently more than 90 Village Forest Monitors have been trained in the use of ODK running on 27 smartphones and 19 tablets. Communities use five forms to collect and report data on: patrolling efforts, presence of more than 20 species of wildlife, details on chimpanzee presence, more than 20 human activities identified as threats, and any other information that forest monitors consider important but that is not captured in other forms. The data are stored, managed and visualized on the Google Earth Engine/Maps Engine APIs and exported to Esri ArcGIS for further analysis. We will discuss lessons learned from community engagement, technology transfer, logistics, and the actual use of data in conservation decisions.

Wetland conservation in the U.S. often focuses on distinct aquatic features that fit into particular delineation categories based on geophysical characteristics and plant communities. Federal wetland policy does not protect isolated wetlands, despite their importance for maintaining biodiversity, unless a "significant nexus" with a traditional navigable water body is established. Determination of a significant nexus is currently based largely on surficial hydrological connectivity. However, if biodiversity conservation is to be a major goal of federal wetland policy, biological connectivity requires attention. We used radio-telemetry to track three anuran species to assess biological connectivity of aquatic features in two index landscapes with a variety of water bodies. Anurans moved among isolated wetlands and traditional navigable water bodies, suggesting a significant nexus based on biological connectivity exists among isolated wetlands and traditional navigable water bodies. Our results suggest that a significant nexus can exist among isolated wetlands and traditional navigable water bodies and it may be appropriate to regulate at least some isolated wetlands under the Clean Water Act. The regulation of isolated wetlands under the Clean Water Act may provide a powerful tool for protecting imperiled isolated wetland-dependent species that are not currently protected under policies targeting endangered species (e.g., Endangered Species Act).

Despite centuries long understanding of the toxicity of lead (Pb) and some regulatory successes in limiting dispersal into the environment (e.g. removal from some paints and gasolines), substantial dispersal from mining, smelting, shooting sports and other sources continues. Large numbers of people and other animals are still being poisoned and serious low-level effects have been described in numerous species. Fragments of Pb ammunition in prey and offal are a major route of exposure in raptors and scavengers. Such Pb poisoning is a major impediment to the conservation of the California condor and kills large numbers of bald eagles annually. Investigations show that people consuming game hunted with lead ammunition risk Pb exposure. Ingestion of Pb fishing gear is a major cause of toxic mortality in common loons and other species. This presentation will review current knowledge on the lifecycle of Pb and its ecological effects, as well as legal, policy, and community initiatives to move towards non-toxic alternatives.

Threats suffered by vertebrate species, including mammals, are predominantly induced by human activity. Although the main immediate causes of decline are habitat modification and direct prosecution, behind every direct threat there are political, economic and social decisions made by humans. The present work aims to clarify how these socioeconomic decisions influence the presence and abundance of threatened mammals at a country scale. We obtained several socioeconomic indicators for every country, grouped into seven categories according to the World Bank: agriculture, population, economy, environment, health, labour and social protection, and private sector. Mammals vulnerability to extinction was assessed using the Red List and distribution maps of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to assigned species to countries. Results from generalized linear models show that the economic (mainly trade of goods and services indicators) and population features of a country (e.g. percentage of urban/rural population) are those that best explain the presence and abundance of threatened mammals within its borders. These results show the relationship between socioeconomic human decisions and extinction risk at a global scale, and could aid in defining the changes to our lifestyle necessary to preserve the world mammals.

Roads have a major effect on wildlife worldwide. Two of the ways to mitigate the impact of roads are to improve connectivity or reduce mortality. However these are expensive actions that show varying levels of success. Thus deciding where and how to act in order achieve the greatest return on investment is crucial. Currently, there are no quantitative approaches to priorities different mitigation options or assess their cost-effectiveness. Here we use a decision theory framework to determine the most cost-effective combination of actions to mitigate the effects of roads on wildlife under budget constraints. We illustrate our approach using a case study of the threatened koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) population in South-East Queensland. We applied a spatially-explicit population model to explore the benefits of two kinds of mitigation, fences and/or crossings, for each road segment. We explored the trade-off between population viability and budget, and found that there is a strong need for mitigation, as the cheapest option (no mitigation) resulted in an unacceptably low population size. Additionally, species attributes (velocity and growth rate) affected population viability but not the choice of the optimal mitigation actions. Finally, the almost linear shape of the trade-off curves between investment and population viability indicates that a low cost solution is improbable and any reduction in the budget will result in a significant reduction in expected population size.

The current loss of biological diversity is one of the most severe global environmental problems. Despite their value, marine ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating; this is partly because roughly 60% of the world’s human population lives within 100 km of the coast line, and 20% of ecosystems adjacent to oceans have been highly modified. Because of those anthropogenic environmental changes, many marine species and populations have undergone local, regional, or global extinctions. Given this scenario, the NGO Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (FMCN), The Summit Charitable Foundation, and the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund) partnered to form The Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program (MAR Leadership), to boost reef conservation by empowering emerging leaders from the four nations of the MAR (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) with bolstered professional skills to develop innovative and replicable projects to conserve the region's coastal and marine ecosystems as well as improving the livelihoods of local communities that depend on this threatened marine resource. The Program operates via annual “cohorts” of 10-12 Fellows, whose professional endeavors bear a connection to the health and integrity of the coastal-marine environment. Each cohort cycle runs for 18 months and features group training, individually tailored training, seed funding for project design, peer-to-peer learning, mentoring, technical assistance, and other networking opportunities.

The conflict between South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) and fishermen on the southern coast of Brazil is characterized by dispute for fish and damage to fishing nets. This interaction with the fishing activity is considered a major conservation problem currently faced by sea lions. In order to assess emotions, attitudes and behaviors of the fishery community of Passo de Torres (29°19'S; 49°43'W), related to the conflict with sea lions, we conducted 35 interviews. Data were recorded on a Likert scale and analyzed by average and frequency. The results showed that the fishermen who had been fishing for a longer time (51%), and had spent fewer years in school had more negative attitudes (52%). The most salient feeling was anger (60%) towards the sea lion; respondents said they would like them to disappear from the area (69%). The behavior suggests that the fishermen would kill one in a moment of anger or if needed (63%). It is noticed that the community has a negative stance on the scenario, but at the same time, interest in participating in the decisions. As for the participation in decision-making regarding the management of the area, the fishermen are interested in attending to decisions (94%), they find it important to be heard (89%) and want to help in the decisions on the future of the area (83%). Thus, the practice of participatory management in the area may be the key to mitigating the conflict, since the stakeholders will feel as an important part of the system.

Conservation outcomes are principally achieved through the protection of intact habitat or the restoration of degraded habitat. Restoration is only recommended where protection is no longer practicable, because protection is thought to provide superior outcomes, at lower costs, without the time-delay required for restoration. Yet while it is broadly accepted that protection safeguards more biodiversity and generates greater ecosystem services per unit area, conservation lacks a theory that can coherently compare the relative outcomes of protection and restoration. Here, we use a dynamic habitat model to integrate these two actions into a unified conservation theory. Using nonlinear benefit functions, we show that both protection and restoration are crucial components of a conservation strategy that seeks to optimize either biodiversity conservation, or ecosystem services provision. In contrast to conservation orthodoxy, it can be optimal to begin restoration before all intact habitat is protected, and in some circumstances restoration should take precedence over protection. The relative priority of protection and restoration depends on their costs, and also the relative time-lags inherent in both actions. We use two examples to demonstrate these conclusions: bird conservation in tropical rainforests, and coastal protection from mangrove forests.

To avoid a dramatic loss of biodiversity we need to know what interventions are effective. Because conservation of biodiversity occurs within very complex socioeconomic and geopolitical spheres, where incomplete knowledge is the norm, the evaluation of interventions and outcome success is difficult. Evidence-based medicine and comparative effectiveness research have transformed both medical and veterinary oncology. Similarly, the use of methodologies ranging from Positive Deviance to the Success Case Method and Benchmarking, have altered how the most effective complex social and business practices can be identified. Utilizing systems borrowed from both medicine and business, I evaluated the most and least successful tiger reserves in India. We used the Cambridge Conservation Forum’s definition of success as increasing the likelihood of persistence of the tiger population and failure as the decline in the tiger population within the protected area over the period 1995-2005. The use of these techniques allowed us to compare variables with conservation outcomes, and determine that one can achieve tiger conservation success even within a densely populated human landscape where a high percentage of the population is involved in agriculture. The most important implication of this work is that this inter-disciplinary technique can be used to evaluate conservation interventions in a complex biologic and socioeconomic environment.

Human- tiger conflicts are serious issues of conflicts between local people and park authority and the conflicting situation potentially play negative role in park management. This study aimed (1) To determine the trend and nature of human-tiger conflicts (2) To understand peoples' perception and mitigation measures towards tiger conservation. Both primary and secondary data were used to determine human- tiger conflicts in Chitwan National Park. Systematic random sampling with 5% intensity was done to collect the perception of the villagers regarding human-tiger conflicts. The study sites were selected based on frequencies of incidences of human attacks and livestock depredation in Rajahar and Ayodhyapuri Village Development committes. The trend of human casualties by tiger has increased in last five year whereas the trend of livestock has decreased. Reportedly, between 2008 and 2012, tigers killed 22 people, injured 10 and killed at least 213 livestock. Conflict was less common in the park and more intense in the sub optimal habitats of Buffer Zone. Goat was the most vulnerable livestock followed by cattle.The livestock grazing and human intrusion into tiger habitat were the major causes of conflicts. Developing local stewardship and support for tiger conservation, livestock insurance, and compensation policy simplification may help reduce human-tiger conflicts.