Over the past decades, biodiversity conservation in China has achieved a number of successes. However, due to inadequate conservation policies, poor implementation and lack of financial support, wild ...plant species that are extremely small in population size and therefore seriously threatened have not had the attention they require. But the new concept of plant species with extremely small populations (PSESP), first promulgated in Yunnan Province, is becoming more widely accepted in China. Several national and regional-level conservation strategies and actions for conserving China’s PSESP are being implemented over the next 5 years. With this new policy framework leading the way, plant conservation in China is set to make important new advances.
This volume explores how the scientific tools of ecology can be used more effectively in dealing with a variety of complex environmental problems. Part I discusses the usefulness of such ecological ...knowledge as population dynamics and interactions, community ecology, life histories, and the impact of various materials and energy sources on the environment. Part II contains 13 original and instructive case studies pertaining to the biological side of environmental problems, which Nature described as "carefully chosen and extremely interesting."
Expert knowledge is used widely in the science and practice of conservation because of the complexity of problems, relative lack of data, and the imminent nature of many conservation decisions. ...Expert knowledge is substantive information on a particular topic that is not widely known by others. An expert is someone who holds this knowledge and who is often deferred to in its interpretation. We refer to predictions by experts of what may happen in a particular context as expert judgments. In general, an expert-elicitation approach consists of five steps: deciding how information will be used, determining what to elicit, designing the elicitation process, performing the elicitation, and translating the elicited information into quantitative statements that can be used in a model or directly to make decisions. This last step is known as encoding. Some of the considerations in eliciting expert knowledge include determining how to work with multiple experts and how to combine multiple judgments, minimizing bias in the elicited information, and verifying the accuracy of expert information. We highlight structured elicitation techniques that, if adopted, will improve the accuracy and information content of expert judgment and ensure uncertainty is captured accurately. We suggest four aspects of an expert elicitation exercise be examined to determine its comprehensiveness and effectiveness: study design and context, elicitation design, elicitation method, and elicitation output. Just as the reliability of empirical data depends on the rigor with which it was acquired so too does that of expert knowledge. El conocimiento de expertos es utilizado ampliamente en la ciencia y práctica de la conservación por la complejidad de los problemas, la falta relativa de datos y la naturaleza inminente de muchas decisiones de conservación. El conocimiento de expertos es información sustancial sobre un tópico particular que no es conocido ampliamente por otros. Un experto es alguien que tiene ese conocimiento y a quien se recurre a menudo para su interpretación. Nos referimos a las predicciones de expertos de lo que puede suceder en un contexto particular como juicio de expertos. En general, un método de obtención de expertos consiste en cinco pasos: decidir como se utilizará la información, determinar que se va a obtener, diseñar el proceso de obtención, llevar a cabo la obtención y traducir la información obtenida en datos cuantitativos que puedan ser utilizados directamente o en un modelo para tomar decisiones. Este último paso es conocido como codificación. Algunas de las consideraciones en la obtención de conocimiento de expertos incluyen determinar como trabajar con múltiples expertos y como combinar múltiples juicios, minimizando el sesgo en la información obtenida, y verificando la precisión de la información de expertos. Resaltamos técnicas estructuradas de obtención que, de ser adoptadas, mejorarán la precisión y contenido de información del juicio de expertos y asegurarán que la incertidumbre sea capturada con precisión. Sugerimos que se examinen cuatro aspectos de un ejercicio de obtención de expertos para determinar su amplitud y efectividad: estudiar el diseño y el contexto, diseño de la obtención, método de obtención y resultado de la obtención. Tal como la confiabilidad de los datos empíricos depende del rigor con que fueron obtenidos, también lo es para el conocimiento de expertos.
Conservation funds are grossly inadequate to address the plight of threatened species. Government and conservation organizations faced with the task of conserving threatened species desperately need ...simple strategies for allocating limited resources. The academic literature dedicated to systematic priority setting usually recommends ranking species on several criteria, including level of endangerment and metrics of species value such as evolutionary distinctiveness, ecological importance, and social significance. These approaches ignore 2 crucial factors: the cost of management and the likelihood that the management will succeed. These oversights will result in misallocation of scarce conservation resources and possibly unnecessary losses. We devised a project prioritization protocol (PPP) to optimize resource allocation among New Zealand's threatened-species projects, where costs, benefits (including species values), and the likelihood of management success were considered simultaneously. We compared the number of species managed and the expected benefits gained with 5 prioritization criteria: PPP with weightings based on species value; PPP with species weighted equally; management costs; species value; and threat status. We found that the rational use of cost and success information substantially increased the number of species managed, and prioritizing management projects according to species value or threat status in isolation was inefficient and resulted in fewer species managed. In addition, we found a clear trade-off between funding management of a greater number of the most cost-efficient and least risky projects and funding fewer projects to manage the species of higher value. Specifically, 11 of 32 species projects could be funded if projects were weighted by species value compared with 16 projects if projects were not weighted. This highlights the value of a transparent decision-making process, which enables a careful consideration of trade-offs. The use of PPP can substantially improve conservation outcomes for threatened species by increasing efficiency and ensuring transparency of management decisions.
To conserve ecological connectivity (the ability to support animal movement, gene flow, range shifts, and other ecological and evolutionary processes that require large areas), conservation ...professionals need coarse-grained maps to serve as decision-support tools or vision statements and fine-grained maps to prescribe site-specific interventions. To date, research has focused primarily on fine-grained maps (linkage designs) covering small areas. In contrast, we devised 7 steps to coarsely map dozens to hundreds of linkages over a large area, such as a nation, province, or ecoregion. We provide recommendations on how to perform each step on the basis of our experiences with 6 projects: California Missing Linkages (2001), Arizona Wildlife Linkage Assessment (2006), California Essential Habitat Connectivity (2010), Two Countries, One Forest (northeastern United States and southeastern Canada) (2010), Washington State Connected Landscapes (2010), and the Bhutan Biological Corridor Complex (2010). The 2 most difficult steps are mapping natural landscape blocks (areas whose conservation value derives from the species and ecological processes within them) and determining which pairs of blocks can feasibly be connected in a way that promotes conservation.Decision rules for mapping natural landscape blocks and determining which pairs of blocks to connect must reflect not only technical criteria, but also the values and priorities of stakeholders. We recommend blocks be mapped on the basis of a combination of naturalness, protection status, linear barriers, and habitat quality for selected species. We describe manual and automated procedures to identify currently functioning or restorable linkages. Once pairs of blocks have been identified, linkage polygons can be mapped by least-cost modeling, other approaches from graph theory, or individual-based movement models. The approaches we outline make assumptions explicit, have outputs that can be improved as underlying data are improved, and help implementers focus strictly on ecological connectivity. Para conservar la conectividad ecologica (la habilidad para soportar movimiento de animales, flujo de genes, cambios de rango de distribucion y otros procesos ecológicos y evolutivos que requieren áreas extensas), los profesionales de la conservación necesitan mapas de grano grueso que sirvan como herramientas de soporte para la toma de decisiones y mapas de grano fino para recomendar intervenciones en sitios especificos. A la fecha, la investigación se ha centrado principalmente en mapas de grano fino (diseño de conexiones) que abarcan areas pequeüas. En contraste, diseüamos 7 pasos para hacer mapas de grano grueso de docenas hasta centenas de conexiones en un área extensa, como un pais, provincia ecorregión. Proporcionamos recomendaciones de cómo llevar a cabo cada paso con base en nuestrasexperiencias con oproyectos: Conexiones Faltantes en California (2001), Evaluatión de la Conexión de Vida Silvestre en Arizona (2006), Conectividad de Hábitat Esencial de California (2010), Dos Paises-Un Bosque (noreste de Estados Unidos y sureste de Canadá) (2010), Paisajes Conectados del Estado de Washington (2010), y el Complejo del Corredor Biologico de Bután (2010). Los dos pasos mas difidles son el mapeo de los bloques de paisaje natural (áreas donde el valor de conservatión se dériva de las especies y sus procesos ecológicos) y la déterminatión de los pares de bloques que son factibles de conectarse de manera que promueva la conservatión. Las réglas de decisión para el mapeo de bloques de paisaje natural y la déterminatión de cuales pares de bloques sern conectados debe reflejar no solo criterios técnicos, sino también los valores yprioridades de los actores involucrados. Recomendamos que los bloques sean mapeados con base en una combination de naturalidad, estatus de protection, barreras lineales, y calidad del habitat para especies selectas. Describimos procedimientos manualesy automatizados para identificar las conexiones restaurables ofuncionales actualmente. Una vez que los pares de bloques han sido identificados, lospoligonos de conexion pueden ser mapeados por modelaje de costo minimo, otros métodos de teoria dégrafas modelos de movimiento basados en individuos. Los métodos que delineamos hacen suposiciones explicitas, tienen resultados que pueden ser mejorados a medida que mejoran los datos subyacentes y ayudan a que los implementadores se concentren estrictamente en la conectividad ecologica.
The establishment of marine protected areas is often viewed as a conflict between conservation and fishing. We considered consumptive and nonconsumptive interests of multiple stakeholders (i.e., ...fishers, scuba divers, conservationists, managers, scientists) in the systematic design of a network of marine protected areas along California's central coast in the context of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. With advice from managers, administrators, and scientists, a representative group of stakeholders defined biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic goals that accommodated social needs and conserved marine ecosystems, consistent with legal requirements. To satisfy biodiversity goals, we targeted 11 marine habitats across 5 depth zones, areas of high species diversity, and areas containing species of special status. We minimized adverse socioeconomic impacts by minimizing negative effects on fishers. We included fine-scale fishing data from the recreational and commercial fishing sectors across 24 fisheries. Protected areas designed with consideration of commercial and recreational fisheries reduced potential impact to the fisheries approximately 21% more than protected areas designed without consideration of fishing effort and resulted in a small increase in the total area protected (approximately 3.4%). We incorporated confidential fishing data without revealing the identity of specific fisheries or individual fishing grounds. We sited a portion of the protected areas near land parks, marine laboratories, and scientific monitoring sites to address nonconsumptive socioeconomic goals. Our results show that a stakeholder-driven design process can use systematic conservation-planning methods to successfully produce options for network design that satisfy multiple conservation and socioeconomic objectives.Marine protected areas that incorporate multiple stakeholder interests without compromising biodiversity conservation goals are more likely to protect marine ecosystems.
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits the rugged mountains in 12 countries of Central Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau. Due to poaching, decreased abundance of prey, and habitat degradation, ...it was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1972. Current conservation strategies, including nature reserves and incentive programs, have limited capacities to protect snow leopards. We investigated the role of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in snow leopard conservation in the Sanjiangyuan region in China's Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau. From 2009 to 2011, we systematically surveyed snow leopards in the Sanjiangyuan region. We used the MaxEnt model to determine the relation of their presence to environmental variables (e.g., elevation, ruggedness) and to predict snow leopard distribution. Model results showed 89,602 km² of snow leopard habitat in the Sanjiangyuan region, of which 7674 km² lay within Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve's core zones. We analyzed the spatial relation between snow leopard habitat and Buddhist monasteries and found that 46% of monasteries were located in snow leopard habitat and 90% were within 5 km of snow leopard habitat. The 336 monasteries in the Sanjiangyuan region could protect more snow leopard habitat (8342 km²) through social norms and active patrols than the nature reserve's core zones. We conducted 144 household interviews to identify local herders’ attitudes and behavior toward snow leopards and other wildlife. Most local herders claimed that they did not kill wildlife, and 42% said they did not kill wildlife because it was a sin in Buddhism. Our results indicate monasteries play an important role in snow leopard conservation. Monastery‐based snow leopard conservation could be extended to other Tibetan Buddhist regions that in total would encompass about 80% of the global range of snow leopards. Papel de los Monasterios Budistas Tibetanos en la Conservación del Leopardo de las Nieves
The challenge of biased evidence in conservation Christie, Alec P.; Amano, Tatsuya; Martin, Philip A. ...
Conservation biology,
February 2021, 2021-02-00, 20210201, Letnik:
35, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Efforts to tackle the current biodiversity crisis need to be as efficient and effective as possible given chronic underfunding. To inform decision‐makers of the most effective conservation actions, ...it is important to identify biases and gaps in the conservation literature to prioritize future evidence generation. We used the Conservation Evidence database to assess the state of the global literature that tests conservation actions for amphibians and birds. For the studies in the database, we investigated their spatial and taxonomic extent and distribution across biomes, effectiveness metrics, and study designs. Studies were heavily concentrated in Western Europe and North America for birds and particularly for amphibians, and temperate forest and grassland biomes were highly represented relative to their percentage of land coverage. Studies that used the most reliable study designs—before‐after control‐impact and randomized controlled trials—were the most geographically restricted and scarce in the evidence base. There were negative spatial relationships between the numbers of studies and the numbers of threatened and data‐deficient species worldwide. Taxonomic biases and gaps were apparent for amphibians and birds—some entire orders were absent from the evidence base—whereas others were poorly represented relative to the proportion of threatened species they contained. Metrics used to evaluate effectiveness of conservation actions were often inconsistent between studies, potentially making them less directly comparable and evidence synthesis more difficult. Testing conservation actions on threatened species outside Western Europe, North America, and Australasia should be prioritized. Standardizing metrics and improving the rigor of study designs used to test conservation actions would also improve the quality of the evidence base for synthesis and decision‐making.
El Desafío de la Evidencia Sesgada en la Conservación
Resumen
Los esfuerzos para lidiar con la actual crisis de la biodiversidad necesitan ser tan eficientes y efectivos como sea posible dado el crónico subfinanciamiento. Para informar a los órganos de decisión sobre las acciones de conservación más efectivas, es importante identificar los sesgos y las brechas en la literatura de la conservación para priorizar generación de evidencias en el futuro. Usamos la base de datos Conservation Evidence para evaluar el estado de la literatura mundial que analiza las acciones para la conservación de anfibios y aves. Para los estudios dentro de la base de datos, investigamos su extensión espacial y taxonómica y su distribución a lo largo de biomas, medidas de efectividad y diseños de estudio. Los estudios se concentraron principalmente en Europa Occidental y en América del Norte en el caso de las aves y particularmente para los anfibios. Los biomas con mayor representación en relación con su porcentaje de cobertura de suelo fueron el bosque templado y los pastizales. Los estudios que utilizaron el diseño más confiable ‐ impacto del control antes‐ después y ensayos controlados al azar ‐ fueron los que presentaron mayor restricción geográfica y menor presencia dentro de la base de evidencias. También encontramos relaciones espaciales negativas entre el número de estudios y el número de especies amenazadas o con pocos datos a nivel mundial. Los sesgos y las brechas taxonómicas fueron evidentes para los anfibios y las aves ‐ hubo órdenes enteros ausentes en la base de evidencias ‐ mientras que otros taxones estuvieron representados pobremente en relación con la proporción de especies amenazadas que albergan. Las medidas utilizadas para evaluar la efectividad de las acciones de conservación con frecuencia fueron incompatibles entre los estudios, lo que las hace potencialmente menos comparables directamente y también dificulta la síntesis de las evidencias. Se debe priorizar el análisis de las acciones para la conservación de las especies que se encuentran fuera de Europa Occidental, América del Norte y Australasia. La estandarización de las medidas y el mejoramiento del rigor de los diseños de estudio que se usan para evaluar las acciones de conservación también mejoraría la calidad de la base de evidencias para la síntesis y la toma de decisiones.
摘要
鉴于生物多样性保护长期面临着资金不足问题, 应对当下生物多样性危机的努力必须尽可能高效和有用。为了让决策者了解最有效的保护行动, 分辨保护文献中的偏倚和空缺来优先进行未来收集保护证据的工作十分重要。我们用保护证据数据库评估了全球两栖动物和鸟类保护行动的研究文献的情况, 并分析了数据库中研究的生物群系在空间和分类学上的范围和分布、有效性指标和研究设计。鸟类的研究主要集中在西欧和北美, 两栖动物也尤其如此, 另外, 对温带森林和草原的生物群系的研究相对于它们在陆地上的覆盖率有很高的代表性。采用最可靠的前后对照影响分析和随机对照试验设计的研究最容易受到地域限制且证据基础最少。全世界范围内, 研究数量与受威胁和缺乏数据的物种数量在空间上存在负相关关系。两栖动物和鸟类明显存在分类学偏倚和研究空缺, 有些目完全没有证据基础, 还有一些目相对于它们所包含的濒危物种的比例来说没有得到足够代表。此外, 用于评估保护行动有效性的指标在研究之间常常不一致, 可能导致研究不能直接比较, 而且证据的综合更加困难。我们提出, 应优先对西欧、北美和澳大拉西亚以外的濒危物种的保护行动进行调查。指标标准化、提高用于检验保护行动有效性研究设计的严谨性, 也将提高用于综合分析和决策的证据基础的质量。翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚
Article impact statement: Severe taxonomic and geographic biases threaten evidence‐based conservation efforts.
Most people follow and are influenced by some kind of spiritual faith. We examined two ways in which religious faiths can in turn influence biodiversity conservation in protected areas. First, ...biodiversity conservation is influenced through the direct and often effective protection afforded to wild species in sacred natural sites and in seminatural habitats around religious buildings. Sacred natural sites are almost certainly the world's oldest form of habitat protection. Although some sacred natural sites exist inside official protected areas, many thousands more form a largely unrecognized "shadow" conservation network in many countries throughout the world, which can be more stringently protected than state-run reserves. Second, faiths have a profound impact on attitudes to protection of the natural world through their philosophy, teachings, investment choices, approaches to land they control, and religious-based management systems. We considered the interactions between faiths and protected areas with respect to all 11 mainstream faiths and to a number of local belief systems. The close links between faiths and habitat protection offer major conservation opportunities, but also pose challenges. Bringing a sacred natural site into a national protected-area system can increase protection for the site, but may compromise some of its spiritual values or even its conservation values. Most protected-area managers are not trained to manage natural sites for religious purposes, but many sacred natural sites are under threat from cultural changes and habitat degradation. Decisions about whether or not to make a sacred natural site an "official" protected area therefore need to be made on a case-by-case basis. Such sites can play an important role in conservation inside and outside official protected areas. More information about the conservation value of sacred lands is needed as is more informed experience in integrating these into wider conservation strategies. In addition, many protected-area staff need training in how to manage sensitive issues relating to faiths where important faith sites occur in protected areas.
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