Biology for Queensland
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Biocultural Indicators to Support Locally Led Environmental Management and Monitoring
Copyright © 2019 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. DeRoy, B. C., C. T. Darimont, and C. N. Service. 2019. Biocultural indicators to support locally led environmental management and monitoring. Ecology and Society 24(4):21. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11120-240421 Synthesis Biocultural indicators to support locally led environmental management and monitoring Bryant C. DeRoy 1,2, Chris T. Darimont 1,2 and Christina N. Service 1,2,3 ABSTRACT. Environmental management (EM) requires indicators to inform objectives and monitor the impacts or efficacy of management practices. One common approach uses “functional ecological” indicators, which are typically species whose presence or abundance are tied to functional ecological processes, such as nutrient productivity and availability, trophic interactions, and habitat connectivity. In contrast, and used for millennia by Indigenous peoples, biocultural indicators are rooted in local values and place- based relationships between nature and people. In many landscapes today where Indigenous peoples are reasserting sovereignty and governance authority over natural resources, the functional ecological approach to indicator development does not capture fundamental values and ties to the natural world that have supported social-ecological systems over the long term. Accordingly, we argue that the development and use of biocultural indicators to shape, monitor, and evaluate the success of EM projects will be critical to achieving ecological and social sustainability today. We have provided a framework composed of criteria to be considered when selecting and applying meaningful and efficacious biocultural indicators among the diverse array of potential species and values. We used a case study from a region now referred to as coastal British Columbia, Canada, to show how the suggested application of functional ecological indicators by the provincial government created barriers to the development of meaningful cogovernance. -
EDGE of EXISTENCE 1Prioritising the Weird and Wonderful 3Making an Impact in the Field 2Empowering New Conservation Leaders A
EDGE OF EXISTENCE CALEB ON THE TRAIL OF THE TOGO SLIPPERY FROG Prioritising the Empowering new 10 weird and wonderful conservation leaders 1 2 From the very beginning, EDGE of Once you have identified the animals most in Existence was a unique idea. It is the need of action, you need to find the right people only conservation programme in the to protect them. Developing conservationists’ world to focus on animals that are both abilities in the countries where EDGE species YEARS Evolutionarily Distinct (ED) and Globally exist is the most effective and sustainable way to Endangered (GE). Highly ED species ensure the long-term survival of these species. have few or no close relatives on the tree From tracking wildlife populations to measuring of life; they represent millions of years the impact of a social media awareness ON THE of unique evolutionary history. Their campaign, the skill set of today’s conservation GE status tells us how threatened they champions is wide-ranging. Every year, around As ZSL’s EDGE of Existence conservation programme reaches are. ZSL conservationists use a scientific 10 early-career conservationists are awarded its first decade of protecting the planet’s most Evolutionarily framework to identify the animals that one of ZSL’s two-year EDGE Fellowships. With Making an impact are both highly distinct and threatened. mentorship from ZSL experts, and a grant to set in the field Distinct and Globally Endangered animals, we celebrate 10 The resulting EDGE species are unique up their own project on an EDGE species, each 3 highlights from its extraordinary work animals on the verge of extinction – the Fellow gains a rigorous scientific grounding Over the past decade, nearly 70 truly weird and wonderful. -
Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity Within the Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada by Breanna Beaver Submit
Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity within The Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada by Breanna Beaver Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Environmental Science Program YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY December, 2017 Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity within The Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada Breanna Beaver I hereby release this thesis to the public. I understand that this thesis will be made available from the OhioLINK ETD Center and the Maag Library Circulation Desk for public access. I also authorize the University or other individuals to make copies of this thesis as needed for scholarly research. Signature: Breanna Beaver, Student Date Approvals: Dawna Cerney, Thesis Advisor Date Peter Kimosop, Committee Member Date Felicia Armstrong, Committee Member Date Clayton Whitesides, Committee Member Date Dr. Salvatore A. Sanders, Dean of Graduate Studies Date Abstract Habitat fragmentation is an important subject of research needed by park management planners, particularly for conservation management. The Castle Parks, in southwest Alberta, Canada, exhibit extensive habitat fragmentation from recreational and resource use activities. Umbrella and keystone species within The Castle Parks include grizzly bears, wolverines, cougars, and elk which are important animals used for conservation agendas to help protect the matrix of the ecosystem. This study identified and analyzed the nature of habitat fragmentation within The Castle Parks for these species, and has identified geographic areas of habitat fragmentation concern. This was accomplished using remote sensing, ArcGIS, and statistical analyses, to develop models of fragmentation for ecosystem cover type and Digital Elevation Models of slope, which acted as proxies for species habitat suitability. -
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES These Questions Are Indicative Only
MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS AND STUDY MATERIAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES These questions are indicative only. Not a complete list; For complete coverage, refer Textbook for Environmental Studies For Undergraduate Courses of all Branches of Higher Education by Erach Bharucha Part A: Important Questions (2 marks; one or two sentences) 1. Renewable resources 2. Non renewable resources 3. Ecosystem 4. Food chain 5. Food web 6. Energy pyramid 7. Estuary 8. Biodiversity 9. Climate change 10. Global warming 11. Acid rain 12. Population explosion 13. AIDS 14. Infectious diseases 15. Environmental health Part B Important Questions (5 marks; one page write up) 1. Difference between renewable and non renewable energy resources 2. Structure and functions of an ecosystem Eg Aquatic Ecosystem; Marine ecosystem etc 3. Food chains (elaborate with diagram and relationship) 4. Grassland ecosystem (elaborate with diagram and relationship) 5. Genetic, Species, Ecosystem Diversity 6. Hotspots Of Biodiversity 7. Threats To Biodiversity 8. Conservation Of Biodiversity 9. Solid Waste Management 10. Role Of Individuals In Pollution Prevention 11. Disaster Management 12. From Unsustainable To Sustainable Development 13. Urban Problems Related To Energy 14. Climate change and global warming 15. Environmental And Human Health 16. Role Of Information Technology In Environment And Human Health 17. Solid waste management 18. Vermicomposting Part C: Major questions 14 marks 4 pages write up 1. Different types of natural resources 2. Explain about forest resources 3. Structure and functions of any one of the ecosystem in details; Most important ecosystems are (a) aquatic ecosystem (b) marine ecosystem (c) and forest ecosystem. 4. Producers, Consumers and Decomposers-Details with examples 5. -
Minnesota's Wildlife Action Plan 2015-2025
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms Terms adaptive management. A decision process that promotes flexible decision making in the face of uncertainty or changing conditions, and allows for adaptation as the effect of management actions and outcomes become better understood. Monitoring of conservation actions and outcomes is a key component of adaptive management. biological diversity. The variety of living organisms that are recognized and analyzed by biologists at three levels of organization: ecosystems; the species that comprise those ecosystems; and the genetic variability within those species (Wilson 2001). Species present in an ecosystem include animals, plants, fungi, protists, and bacteria and range enormously in size and ecological functions. Functional diversity (see definition) is an aspect of biological diversity that some scientists believe may be of particular importance to ecosystem resilience. Biological diversity can be measured at different spatial scales (Whittaker 1960): • alpha-diversity: the number of species found in a small homogeneous area. • beta-diversity: extent of change in species composition among habitats or communities. • gamma-diversity: total species diversity in a landscape. Conservation Focus Areas. Priority areas for working with partners to identify, design, and implement conservation actions and report on the effectiveness toward achieving the goals and objectives defined in the Wildlife Action Plan. Conservation Focus Areas are intended to focus conservation efforts over the next 10 years to maintain and enhance the resiliency of the Wildlife Action Network. ecological classification system. A system used to identify, describe, and map progressively smaller areas of land with increasingly uniform ecological features. The system uses associations of biotic and environmental factors, including climate, geology, topography, soils, hydrology, and vegetation. -
Umbrella Species As a Conservation Planning Tool
Umbrella Species as a Conservation Planning Tool An Assessment Using Resident Birds in Hemiboreal and Boreal Forests Jean-Michel Roberge Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences Department of Conservation Biology Uppsala Doctoral thesis Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala 2006 Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae 2006: 84 ISSN 1652-6880 ISBN 91-576-7133-8 © 2006 Jean-Michel Roberge, Uppsala Tryck: SLU Service/Repro, Uppsala 2006 Abstract Roberge, J.-M. 2006. Umbrella species as a conservation planning tool: an assessment using resident birds in hemiboreal and boreal forests. Doctor’s dissertation. ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-7133-8. In northern Europe, a long history of anthropogenic land use has led to profound changes within forest ecosystems. One of the proposed approaches for conservation and restoration of forest biodiversity is the use of umbrella species, whose conservation would confer protection to large numbers of naturally co-occurring species. This thesis aims to evaluate some of the prerequisites to the umbrella species concept, focusing on resident birds in hemiboreal and boreal forests. The study was performed in four areas belonging to the southern Baltic Sea region: central and southern Sweden, south-central Lithuania and northeastern Poland. A review of empirical evaluations of the umbrella species concept performed in various systems suggested that multispecies approaches addressing the requirements of both the umbrellas and the beneficiary species have better potential than approaches based coarsely on the area needs of single species. An analysis of co-occurrence patterns among resident forest birds in landscape units of 100 ha showed that some species reliably indicated high species richness through their presence. -
Flagship Species of the Pamir Range, Pakistan: Exploring Status and Conservation Hotspots
Flagship Species of the Pamir Mountain Range, Pakistan: Exploring Status and Conservation Hotspots Final Report (January 2012 – July 2013) ©SLF/UMB/WCS Submitted by: Jaffar Ud Din Country Program Manager, Snow Leopard Foundation, Pakistan Page 1 of 23 Table of Contents S# Contents Page# 1. Executive summary................................................................................................ 3-4 2. Objectives………………......................................................................................... 5 3. Methods………………………................................................................................. 5-8 4. Results…….............................................................................................................. 8-11 5. Discussion……………………................................................................................... 11-12 6. Other activities……………………………….............................................................. 12-13 7. References………………………………………….................................................... 13-15 8. Tables…………………………………....................................................................... 16-17 9. Figures…………………………………………………................................................ 17-20 10. Plates………………………………………………...................................................... 21-23 Page 2 of 23 1. Executive summary: This report outlines the findings of the project titled as “Flagship species of Pamir Mountain Range, Pakistan: Exploring Status and Conservation Hotspots” funded by Snow Leopard Conservation Grant Program -
Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 9-2011 Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania Sadie S. Stevens University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Stevens, Sadie S., "Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania" (2011). Open Access Dissertations. 487. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/487 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLAGSHIP SPECIES, TOURISM, AND SUPPORT FOR RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA A Dissertation Presented by SADIE S. STEVENS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2011 Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation © Copyright by Sadie S. Stevens 2011 All Rights Reserved FLAGSHIP SPECIES, TOURISM, AND SUPPORT FOR RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA A Dissertation Presented by SADIE S. STEVENS Approved as to style and content by: __________________________________________ John F. Organ, Co-chair __________________________________________ Thomas L. Serfass, Co-chair -
Umbrella Species: Critique and Lessons from East Africa
Animal Conservation (2003) 6, 171–181 © 2003 The Zoological Society of London DOI:10.1017/S1367943003003214 Printed in the United Kingdom Umbrella species: critique and lessons from East Africa T. M. Caro Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 96516, USA Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, P.O. Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania (Received 28 April 2002; accepted 26 November 2002) Abstract Umbrella species are ‘species with large area requirements, which if given sufficient protected habitat area, will bring many other species under protection’. Historically, umbrella species were employed to delineate specific reserve boundaries but are now used in two senses: (1) as aids to identifying areas of species richness at a large geographic scale; (2) as a means of encompassing populations of co-occuring species at a local scale. In the second sense, there is a dilemma as to whether to maximize the number or viability of background populations; the umbrella population itself needs to be viable as well. Determining population viability is sufficiently onerous that it could damage the use of umbrella species as a conservation shortcut. The effectiveness of using the umbrella-species concept at a local scale was investigated in the real world by examining reserves in East Africa that were gazetted some 50 years ago using large mammals as umbrella species. Populations of these species are still numerous in most protected areas although a few have declined. Populations of other, background species have in general been well protected inside reserves; for those populations that have declined, the causes are unlikely to have been averted if reserves had been set up using other conservation tools. -
Selecting Umbrella Species for Conservation: a Test of Habitat Models and Niche Overlap for Beach-Nesting Birds
Biological Conservation 203 (2016) 233–242 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bioc Selecting umbrella species for conservation: A test of habitat models and niche overlap for beach-nesting birds B. Maslo a,b,⁎,K.Leua, C. Faillace a,M.A.Westonc,T.Poverd,T.A.Schlachere a Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA b Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA c Centre for Integrative Biology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia d Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ, USA e School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Australia article info abstract Article history: Umbrella species are rarely selected systematically from a range of candidate species. On sandy beaches, birds Received 18 March 2016 that nest on the upper beach or in dunes are threatened globally and hence are prime candidates for conservation Received in revised form 8 August 2016 intervention and putative umbrella species status. Here we use a maximum-likelihood, multi-species distribution Accepted 12 September 2016 modeling approach to select an appropriate conservation umbrella from a group of candidate species occupying Available online xxxx similar habitats. We identify overlap in spatial extent and niche characteristics among four beach-nesting bird species of conservation concern, American oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus), black skimmers (Rynchops Keywords: Beach-nesting birds niger), least terns (Sterna antillarum) and piping plovers (Charadrius melodus), across their entire breeding Conservation shortcuts range in New Jersey, USA. -
Galaxy Frog, Melanobatrachus Indicus Beddome, 1878
Galaxy Frog, Melanobatrachus indicus Beddome, 1878 Authors: Rajkumar K.P. Benjamin Tapley, Jyoti Das, Claudia Gray, Easa P.S. Suggested citation: Rajkumar K.P. Benjamin Tapley, Jyoti Das, Claudia Gray, P.S. Easa. 2021. Survival blueprint for the conservation and management of Galaxy Frog and its habitat in the Southern Western Ghats, India. EDGE of Existence Programme, ZSL, London. 27pp 1. STATUS REVIEW 1.1 Taxonomy: Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Amphibia Order : Anura Family : Microhylidae Sub-family : Melanobatrachinae Genus : Melanobatrachus Species : indicus Scientific name: Melanobatrachus indicus Common name: Galaxy Frog, Black Microhylid Frog Local name: Cholakkarumbi (Malayalam) In 1878, R.H. Beddome described Melanobatrachus indicus based on the specimens collected from Anamalai, Southern Western Ghats. The genus was also described by Beddome (1878) and until now Melanobatrachus indicus is the only species in the genus. 1.2 Distribution and population status: Melanobatrachus indicus is endemic to Southern Western Ghats. The species was first reported and described from Anamalai (Beddome, 1878). After 50 years the species was again spotted from Valparai (Anamalai hill range) (Roux, 1928). Later the species was recorded from Kalakkad- Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (Vasudevan, 1997) and Periyar Tiger Reserve (Daltry and Martin, 1997), after 68 years. In 2004 it was again spotted from Mathikettan Shola National Park (Nixon and Bhuathy, 2007). After nine years the frog was again encountered in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (Kanagavel and Tapley, 2013) and Marayoor (Palot and Sureshan, 2017). The population status in all the known locations is unknown. Most of the records are sightings of one or two individuals, only the records from Periyar (8 individuals) and Marayoor (20 individuals) are exceptions. -
RESTORATION of MARITIME HABITATS on a BARRIER ISLAND USING the PAINTED BUNTING (Passerina Ciris) AS a FLAGSHIP SPECIES
RESTORATION OF MARITIME HABITATS ON A BARRIER ISLAND USING THE PAINTED BUNTING (Passerina ciris) AS A FLAGSHIP SPECIES A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE in ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES by SARAH ANN LATSHAW August 2011 at THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Approved by: Dr. Paul Nolan, Thesis Advisor Dr. Patrick Jodice Dr. Martin Jones Dr. Lindeke Mills Dr. Amy T. McCandless, Dean of the Graduate School ABSTRACT RESTORATION OF MARITIME HABITATS ON A BARRIER ISLAND USING THE PAINTED BUNTING (Passerina ciris) AS A FLAGSHIP SPECIES A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE in ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES by SARAH ANN LATSHAW August 2011 at THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON Habitat loss and degradation are major causes of the decline of many songbird species. One species, the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) has seen declines of over 60% from 1966-1995, according to Breeding Bird Surveys, mostly due to habitat losses. Because of this decline, the Painted Bunting has become high priority by many conservation organizations. Collaborating with the Kiawah Island Conservancy, and several Biologists, we used radio telemetry technology and vegetation sampling techniques to: 1) determine habitat use, 2) identify home range and territory size, and 3) create vegetation recommendations for the Kiawah Island Conservancy. We captured a total of 58 buntings representing all sexes and age classes between May-August 2007-2010, and tracked daily until the transmitter battery failed. Vegetation samples were also taken, measuring ground cover, midstory structure, and canopy cover.