Showing papers in "Biological Conservation in 2011"

TL;DR: The background and limitations of win–win approaches to conservation and human well-being are explored, the prospect of approaching conservation challenges in terms of trade-offs and hard choices are discussed, and a set of guiding principles are presented that can serve to orient strategic analysis and communication regardingTrade-offs.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors synthesize findings to date from the world's largest and longest-running experimental study of habitat fragmentation, located in central Amazonia, and synthesize the results to date.

TL;DR: Seven impediments to invertebrates effective protection are identified and as possible solutions for the public dilemma: better public information and marketing, parataxonomy, citizen science programs and biodiversity informatics are suggested.

TL;DR: For the first time, the probability of extinction is determined for the world’s seagrass species under the Categories and Criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

TL;DR: The value of plant reintroductions as a conservation tool could be improved by an increased focus on species biology and using a higher number of transplants (preferring seedlings rather than seeds), and a consistent long-term monitoring after reintroduction.

TL;DR: In this paper, a synthesis of existing knowledge is needed to prioritize and direct management and research of the big sagebrush ecosystem to demonstrate this approach, and the authors concluded that efforts to restore higher elevation conifer-encroached, sagebrush communities were frequently successful, while restoration of exotic annual grass-invaded, lower elevation, Sagebrush communities often failed, and that a coordinated ecosystem conservation plan that focuses on applying successful practices and research to overcome limitations to conservation is most likely to yield success.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors applied decision analysis to management of whooping cranes (Grus americana), an endangered migratory bird that is being reintroduced in several places in North America.

TL;DR: This work conducts a review of studies that use graph theory to model connectivity among patches of habitat (patch-based graphs), with the intention of identifying typical research questions and their associated graph construction and analysis methods.

TL;DR: A typology of approaches that variously combine methods and guidelines developed in different regulatory contexts and how these relate to the objectives of offset policies and the components of biodiversity and ecosystems to which they apply is formulated.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the diversity of density-independent and density-dependent movement patterns, as well as what is currently known about their consequences for the conservation and fisheries effects of marine protected areas.

TL;DR: For instance, Turkey ranks 140th out of 163 countries in biodiversity and habitat conservation as mentioned in this paper, which is the lowest ranking of any country in the world in terms of biodiversity and habitats.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used camera trapping data and spatially explicit capture-recapture models to estimate jaguar density in Emas National Park in the central Brazilian Cerrado grassland, an ecological hotspot of international importance.

TL;DR: Reintroductions of the nationally threatened greater stick-nest rat, burrowing bettong, greater bilby and western barred bandicoot were all considered successful based on short and medium-term success criteria.

TL;DR: The potential use of lamps with larger wavelengths to effectively reduce the negative effect of light pollution on moth population dynamics and communities where moths play an important role is indicated.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a conceptual framework for evaluating arguments in the debate, distinguishing among the direct risks and benefits to species, ecosystems and society on the one hand, and other arguments regarding scientific justification, evidence-base and feasibility on the other.

TL;DR: This paper found that species classified as elevational specialists (upper or lower-zone specialists) are relatively more frequent in the American than Asia-Pacific tropics, with African tropics being intermediate.

TL;DR: The major impediments to implementing adaptive management are discussed, why adaptive management has been slow to be implemented and how this can be redressed.

TL;DR: Evaluating 48 species of Azorean arthropods and Iberian spiders and suggesting possible new criteria that were not considered in the current evaluation framework that could allow a more comprehensive and effective assessment of invertebrates shows that co-extinction could be introduced as an explicit part of the classification process.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an analysis of the new conservation debate, a still-evolving dispute in which conservation scientists and advocates defending a strong protected-areas approach (nature protectionists) have become pitted against more development-oriented conservationists (social conservationists) intent on reforming the dominant protected areas model to embrace sustainable use and poverty alleviation efforts.

TL;DR: Invasive species research has traditionally focused on the ecological aspects of invasions and their threats to biodiversity as mentioned in this paper, but few studies have incorporated social dimensions of invasive alien species (IAS) management.

TL;DR: The genetic effects of road-mediated mortality have been underappreciated and should be more often considered before prioritizing road-mitigation measures, and it is shown that the vast majority of potential variation in genetic diversity is governed by depletion rather than barrier effects.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the present and future predicted distributions of Iberian herptiles to analyze how dynamics and uncertainty in species distributions may affect decisions about resource allocation for conservation in space and time.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors identified the 10 major terrestrial and marine ecosystems in Australia most vulnerable to tipping points, in which modest environmental changes can cause disproportionately large changes in ecosystem properties.

TL;DR: Overall, dung beetle communities and associated ecosystem functions were robust to low-intensity but not high-intensity selective logging, highlighting the need to move beyond simplistic biodiversity-ecosystem functioning correlations to understand the functional consequences of habitat modification in high-diversity ecosystems.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used meta-analysis of 116 studies and 107 plant species to investigate the effects of population size, test environment, life history characteristics and stage on the magnitude of inbreeding depression in 13 different fitness traits.

TL;DR: Zhang et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated whether human-wildlife conflicts in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, resulted in increased bear poaching and found that negative and neutral attitudes toward bears were more negative among people who had previous interactions with bears or lived where bear encounters were more likely.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors quantitatively summarize the conservation ecology of one group of dead-wood-dependent organisms, the polyporous fungi, in boreal Europe, and suggest a heuristic 20/20/20 rule of thumb.

TL;DR: Multi-scale models offer an important tool for identifying conservation requirements at the fine landscape level that can guide national-level conservation management practices and highlight the potential importance of changes in agricultural practices in the past century for wildlife conservation.

TL;DR: It is concluded that, even though microhabitats are not equally distributed between managed and unmanaged forests, two trees with similar characteristics in similar site conditions have the same number and probability of occurrence of microhab itats, whatever the management type.

TL;DR: It is called for the conservation of small mammals and a conceptual model regarding the management of their populations is presented, where they occur at high numbers, and hence their effects on biodiversity are still of crucial importance, the persecution of these species should be avoided and their natural habitats preserved.