Avifauna of the National Park Mljet: Focus on target species and their threats

Due to its complexity biodiversity cannot be measured easily – its quantification requires the selection of species which represent biodiversity. The systematic and criteria-based selection of target species provides a pragmatic solution. These target species are representative for the biocoenoses in the characteristic types of biotopes and ecosystems within a planning area. This approach allows to qualitatively and quantitatively derive and justify aims of nature conservation, to use them as simple indicators e. g. to prove the sustainability of a certain land use or the success of conservation measures, and to publicly communicate conservation objectives. This can be particularly helpful in large protected areas since they have to fulfil certain aims of conservation and sustainability as large-scale sections of the landscape. This paper defines the term and the functions of target species with a particular focus on large protected areas. It describes the methodical approach to establish a concept of target species including the applicable criteria using the examples of the nature parks Spessart and Diemelsee. For the nature park Diemelsee a particular emphasis has been laid on plant and animal species reacting sensitively to climate change since they require specific protection. Another innovative approach describes the use of target species in the context of the marketing of organic products from biosphere reserves which verifiably improve biodiversity. The selection of the target species has to ensure that their spatial demands are compatible with the respective planning level. Then the target species can integrate the planning target of biodiversity in spatially relevant planning projects. An evaluation based on target species allows the early identification of possible conflict issues and their mastering in the course of the planning process. This can help to relieve, accelerate and even cheapen the later planning process.

Characterizing the fishing strategies and the temporal dynamics of the small-scale fleet operating in the Cíes Islands (NW Spain)

The dark side of the Common Agricultural Policy

Free housing for declining populations: Optimizing the provision of artificial breeding structures

Agarwood is an important forest product due to its high economic value. However, the natural population of agarwood species has been decreasing rapidly because of over exploitation, therefore the international trade of the most important agarwood species (i.e. Aquilaria malaccensis) is restricted to just a small quota. This research was conducted in an attempt to provide basic information for the conservation of Aquilaria spp. by identifying the species spatial distribution and habitat characteristics and developing a linkage model between their abundance and habitat characteristics. Data were collected through a field survey at Kutai National Park in August 2006 with Aquilaria spp. as the target species. Data on the species localities were used to determine the species densities and the value of Distance Index of Dispersion. The ordinance levels between the target species and the surrounding other species were identified using a correspondence analysis, while the linkage model between the species abundance and habitat characteristics was established using an ordinal multinomial logit model. The results showed that Aquilaria spp. had a low density (0.01/ha) and were spatially distributed in a clump pattern. The abundance of Aquilaria species had a close association with soil texture, humidity and acidity, land elevation, air temperature and humidity, and light intensity. The abundance decreased with increasing the proportion of sandy clay loam content, soil humidity and acidity, land elevation, and light intensity. In contrast, the abundance increased with increasing sandy loam content, air temperature and air humidity. The existence of A. malaccensis was likely to associate with the existence of Goniothalamus sp., Macaranga sp., Vordia splendidissima, Lygopodium sp., and Stachyphrynium borneensis.

Threatened tree species across conservation zones in a nature reserve of North-Western Vietnam

Against a global backdrop of rapid environmental change, conserving biodiversity poses one of the biggest and most important challenges to society. For this reason, systems of nature reserves have never been more important. Protected areas are under threat in many parts of the world (Mascia & Pailler 2011), but the weakening of protected areas in a rich, developed country with a global reputation for conservation leadership (Harrison 2006) is particularly alarming (Ritchie 2013). Consequently, we are concerned about the recent spate of substantial policy, legislative, and management changes being made by three of six Australian state governments for exploitative uses of national parks—actions that could affect much of Australia and have negative effects on biodiversity.

Despite being key conservation instruments, the ecological effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) is contested. To assess the ecological effectiveness of PAs in the Katavi‐Rukwa Ecosystem (KRE) in western Tanzania, we investigated temporal changes in land‐use and population densities of six large mammal target species (elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, topi, and hartebeest) across areas with different conservation category, ranging from unprotected to strictly protected. During six survey periods between 1991 and 2018, we analyzed data from remote sensing and aerial wildlife surveys to derive (i) spatiotemporal patterns of cropland cover in relation to protection category; (ii) population densities of the six‐target species; and (iii) distribution of these species across protection category, land‐use and environmental variables. During the surveyed period, cropland increased from 3.4 % to 9.6 % on unprotected land and from ≤0.05 % to <1 % on protected land. Wildlife densities of most, but not all target species declined across the entire landscape, yet the onset of the observed wildlife declines occurred several years before the onset of cropland expansion. Logistic regression models indicated that target species preferred the national park over less strictly PAs and areas distant to cropland. As our data do not support a direct link between land‐use change and wildlife densities, additional factors may explain the apparent ecosystem‐wide decline in wildlife. To bolster wildlife conservation in the KRE, we recommended proactive strategies to reduce direct threats to wildlife and cropland expansion toward wildlife dispersal areas and migratory corridors.

Animals that breed in cavities formed through decay or mechanical damage often face limitations to reproduction due to a shortage of nest sites. Artificial nests are commonly deployed to increase the short‐term availability of breeding sites for these species. Often this is an effective approach; however, artificial nests are costly and may be ignored by the target species or inadvertently benefit nontarget species. Here we consider the use of modified natural hollows and artificial nest sites to support endangered Norfolk Island green parrots Cyanoramphus cookii. We recorded the characteristics of all modified and artificial nests in the Norfolk Island National Park and used 8 years of nesting data to study nest selection by green parrots and introduced crimson rosellas Platycercus elegans. Artificial nests (those lacking a natural base) were never used by green parrots. Nests with thicker walls were more likely to be used by green parrots, but there was no nest site characteristic that predicted frequency of use. Crimson rosella nest use was not predicted by any of the nest characteristics measured. A better understanding of the reasons behind green parrots' avoidance of artificial nests and preference for thicker nest walls is required to inform the future design and management of nest sites. Our study shows that evaluation of how artificial sites are used by the target species is important to maximize the efficacy of conservation efforts.

Studies on insect and amphibian communities as well as on selected meadow bird species were carried out in the floodplain of the Lower Oder Valley National Park. The aim of these three studies was to analyse the effects of the present land use and management of the flooding regime on the selected species. The floodplain mainly consists of grassland habitats. Parts of the grassland are extensively used for farming whereas other parts were taken out of use in 1995. Currently, dykes bordering the river Oder prevent natural inundation of the floodplain during the summer months. During winter, floodgates, that are integrated into the dykes, stay open. Thus, the typical winter flooding can inundate the floodplain. The national park is still in the developmental stage. In plans for the future development of the national park, two main conservation strategies are discussed. On one hand conservation management is proposed with the aim to preserve and generate suitable habitats for the selected target species, corncrake (Crex crex). On the other hand, process conservation is suggested intending to create habitats suitable for the typical wetland fauna and flora by leaving some areas to natural processes and succession. On the basis of the three case studies the effects of the two conservation strategies on the selected taxa are discussed. On one hand Auchenorrhyncha and Anura will not necessarily benefit from conservation effort carried out for the benefit of the target species corncrake. These results call the selection of the corncrake as umbrella species into question. On the other hand, conservation of processes negatively affects corncrake populations while the anuran community is neither positively nor negatively affected and insect communities benefit from the conservation strategy.

Gentiana lutea ssp. symphyandra is a target species in the National System for monitoring of biodiversity in Bulgaria, where it is included in category 1 – Priority species. The control populations are located in the Central Balkan National Park (above the hut Tuzha), Vitosha Nature Park (below the locality Reznyovete), Rila National Park (localities Tiha Rila and Urdina reka) and in the Pirin National Park (locality Kazanite). The paper presents new data on the population structure (in terms of space and age) of Gentiana lutea subsp. symphyandra, its vegetation dynamics, reproductive capacity and participation in different phytocenoses and habitats. Eleven natural populations of the subspecies in five mountains located in four floristic regions and one subregion of Bulgaria were examined. Evidence for under the snow development of plants is reported for the first time. Prognosis and proposals for better protection of the species are given.

Nepal is considered a leader among developing nations with regard to conservation legislation and programs; it was among the first Asian nations to develop national conservation legislation, sign CITES, and develop a national conservation strategy. We review the history of modern conservation law in Nepal from the Rana period (early 1950s) to the present. The early legislation focused mainly on strict preservation of areas and species; this phase culminated in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973. Subsequent legislation has evolved more in the direction of an integrated, holistic approach to conservation and is beginning to incorporate the participation of local people; subsequent amendments to the 1973 act allowed greater rights to rural villagers, and the designation of conservation areas in addition to the more strictly defined protected areas (national parks, wildlife reserves, etc.). Our review of conservation legislation suggests that Nepal has had many successes to date; the country has a protected area system covering over 10% of its land area, and many target species are recovering in parks and reserves. There are also some causes of concern, including staff shortages, financial constraints within the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, and the fact that there is little legal infrastructure outside of protected areas to enforce conservation laws; further, some aspects of hunting regulations are in need of revision. Primary needs include a comprehensive review of these policies and a nationalized strategy to ameliorate the shortcomings.

SummarySão Tomé holds 20 endemic bird species, including the little known and ‘Critically Endangered’ Dwarf Olive IbisBostrychia bocagei, São Tomé FiscalLanius newtoniand São Tomé GrosbeakNeospiza concolor. We conducted a systematic survey of the core forest area, performing 1,680 point counts and compiling occasional observations, which enabled the identification of new areas of occurrence for the target species. MaxEnt distribution modelling suggested that the ibis and fiscal have roughly half of the potential area of occurrence that had been assumed (127 and 117 km2, respectively), while it more than doubled that of the grosbeak (187 km2). The south-west central region of the island, most of which is included in the São Tomé Obô Natural Park, has the highest potential for the Critically Endangered birds. We confirmed the association of all target species with native forest. The ibis preferred high tree density, while the fiscal selected low tree density and intermediate altitudes. Despite very restricted ranges, population sizes seem to be larger than previously assumed. These results suggest that the fiscal and grosbeak might be better classified as ‘Endangered’, while the ibis should maintain its status under different criteria, due to a very restricted range during the breeding season. This work provides vital ecological knowledge to support conservation action focusing on these species and their habitats, highlighting the need to improve the effectiveness of the São Tomé Obô Natural Park in protecting its unique biodiversity.

Fire regimes in mountain landscapes of southern Europe have been shifting from their baselines due to rural abandonment and fire exclusion policies. Understanding the effects of fire on biodiversity is paramount to implement adequate management. Herein, we evaluated the relative role of burn severity and heterogeneity on bird abundance in an abandoned mountain range located in the biogeographic transition between the Eurosiberian and Mediterranean region (the Natural Park ‘Baixa Limia–Serra do Xurés’). We surveyed the bird community in 206 census plots distributed across the Natural Park, both inside and outside areas affected by wildfires over the last 11 years (from 2010 to 2020). We used satellite images of Sentinel 2 and Landsat missions to quantify the burn severity and heterogeneity of each fire within each surveyed plot. We also accounted for the past land use (forestry or agropastoral use) by using a land cover information for year 2010 derived from satellite image classification. We recorded 1735 contacts from 28 bird species. Our models, fitted by using GLMs with Poisson error distribution (pseudo-R2-average of 0.22 ± 0.13), showed that up to 71% of the modeled species were linearly correlated with at least one attribute of the fire regime. The spatiotemporal variation in burnt area and severity were relevant factors for explaining the local abundance of our target species (39% of the species; Akaike weights >0.75). We also found a quadratic effect of at least one fire regime attribute on bird abundance for 60% of the modeled species. The past land use, and its legacy after 10 years, was critical to understand the role of fire (Akaike weights >0.75). Our findings confirm the importance of incorporating remotely sensed indicators of burn severity into the toolkit of decision makers to accurately anticipate the response of birds to fire management.

In the Serengeti National Park (SNP), illegal game meat hunting is largely carried out using snares in the south-western, western and north-western areas. Game meat hunting provides cash income and protein to communities outside the SNP. The economic benefits of game meat hunting have drawn people to villages close to the park boundary, causing a rise in human population density well above the regional average. Game meat hunting has already drastically reduced populations of Cape buffalo and must in the long term be considered unsustainable for a number of other herbivore species. In this chapter an estimate of the current wildlife offtake from the National Park is made and the impact of unselective hunting methods on carnivore species, the most common non-target species, is considered. The analysis demonstrates that game meat hunting poses a threat to both target and non-target species of the Serengeti wildlife community. Optimality models, commonly used in behavioural ecology and economics, are introduced to assess a hunter’s profit in relation to hunting effort (costs) and to ask whether unchecked illegal hunting is likely to be sustainable in the long term. A review of studies on African systems demonstrates that whenever costs are reduced, the impact on wildlife due to illegal hunting is dramatically increased and reaches unsustainable levels. Proposals to limit wildlife offtake to sustainable levels, including limited legalization of game meat hunting in areas adjacent to SNP and the development of alternative sources of income and protein for local communities, are considered. The evaluation of these proposals suggests that the situation in the Serengeti does not meet the pre-conditions and assumptions of programmes developed elsewhere for maximizing economic returns from wildlife utilization as an incentive to preserve wildlife; hence such programmes are unlikely to be successful here. This is because the Serengeti is a wildlife system dominated by migratory herbivores, exacerbating the problem of assigning unambiguous ownership of wildlife outside the protected area to a given local community — a pre-condition for any successful privatization or commercialization scheme. Also, if future community conservation services are focused only on those communities that currently benefit most from illegal exploitation, i.e. communities adjacent to the protected areas, then such programmes are likely to reinforce a vicious cycle. They are likely to attract more people to villages close to the protected area and ultimately put greater demands on the proted areas, just as currently people are attached to these villages because of enhanced oppurtunities for illegal hunting. The analysis suggests that in ecosystems dominated by migration herbivores and wih low levels of law enforcement a large investment is required in both law enforcement and rural development of local communities, that the success of the latter may be linked to investment in the former, and that without both of these the long-term conservation of Serengeti wildlife populations is unlikely to be ensured.