Reconciling Food Production and Biodiversity Conservation: Land Sharing and Land Sparing Compared

Abstract. Rizali A, Karindah S, Windari A, Rahardjo BT, Nurindah, Sahari B. 2020. Ant and termite diversity in Indonesian oil palm plantation: Investigating the effect of natural habitat existence. Biodiversitas 21: 1326-1331. Natural habitat existence in oil palm plantation has high conservation value and plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity. However, different taxa may have different responses to the presence of natural habitats. This research was aimed to investigate the effect of natural habitat existence on ant and termite diversity in oil palm plantation. The field research was conducted in oil palm plantation located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Twelve plots of oil palm plantation with different habitat characteristics were selected. Ants and termites were sampled using hand collection in six subplots for each plot. In total, 38 species of ants and 9 species of termites were collected from all research areas. The results showed that the area of natural habitats and the distance of oil palm field to natural habitats affected the diversity of termites in the oil palm plantation, but ant diversity did not show to be affected by the same conditions. Based on the generalized linear model, the area of natural habitats in the oil palm plantation had a negative relationship with the diversity of termites. In conclusion, the termite species community is more affected by natural habitats than ants in oil palm plantation.

We agree with Wright et al. (2012) that it is important to consider species of open habitats when assessing the impact of agricultural policy on landscapes where such species occur. However, there are at least four reasons why conservationists should be cautious about the idea that agriculture is a key element for conservation in the developing world (or indeed anywhere): Observing that most individuals of some bird species make use of agricultural habitats at some stage of their life history is insufficient to tell us whether preserving those habitats is desirable for the long-term conservation of other biodiversity, of all birds or even of those species themselves. All species have survived without agriculture for most of their evolutionary history. Most species which are now found largely on agricultural land use nonagricultural habitats as well, including open natural and semi-natural habitats. The methods we implemented in a recent analysis (Phalan et al. 2011a) assess the proportion of species which would benefit most from maximizing the area of low-yielding agriculture, maximizing the area of natural habitat by producing the same quantity or value of agricultural goods from a smaller area of high-yielding agriculture, or an intermediate strategy. Our approach depends upon measurements of population density across a range of land uses (and not, as Wright et al. incorrectly state, an assumption that “population density is always maximal in an existing and available natural habitat, with lower densities in all forms of agriculture and a monotonic decline with increasing yield”). The paper by Wright et al. does not present any such measurements. Decisions about land use have off-site consequences (Phalan et al. 2011b). There might be landscapes where data suggest the best way to conserve certain species is to attempt to “fossilise” some low-yielding farming practices. However, sparing low-yielding farmland in the face of rapidly rising demand for farm products would require us to accept agricultural expansion or yield increases elsewhere, with impacts on other species. Our approach offers a method to quantify those leakage effects on particular species, and on wider groups of species. Some of these other groups may have an even smaller proportion of species that tolerate agriculture than do birds. For example, low levels of cattle grazing might maintain open habitats suitable for some birds, but might not be compatible with the conservation of the native herbivores that previously created such conditions. Intervention to keep constant those farming practices in low-yielding agricultural landscapes that allow birds to live in them is difficult. Species with most individuals currently living on agricultural land are at risk from future changes in agricultural technology and the demand for different crops. Of the bird species identified by Wright et al. as being “dependent on low-impact agriculture,” many are in fact threatened by changes in small-scale agriculture, and not just by large-scale “industrial” agriculture. Liben Lark Heteromirafra sidamoensis is an example, where relatively small changes in farming practices by local people have taken the species close to extinction (Donald et al. 2010). There is an alternative to being constrained by current patterns of land use: habitat restoration might be an effective way of conserving some species in landscapes where most or all natural habitats have been converted. Once again, expanding or recreating areas of natural habitat will be practical only if increasing production elsewhere reduces demand for farmed land. Density-yield analyses of the type we advocate would help to clarify whether such a restoration-based approach might be appropriate, not just for a handful of bird species but for a broader sweep of the regional biota.

Monitoring Afromontane forest cover loss and the associated socio-ecological drivers in Kaffa biosphere reserve, Ethiopia

Land-use change remains a major driver of biodiversity loss, and projecting extinction rates for different scenarios of habitat conversion is a key concern in conservation research (Pereira et al. 2010; Wright 2010; de Baan et al. 2013). Species–area relationships (SARs) have been one of the main models used to develop such projections, but they have been criticized recently for overestimating extinctions (He & Hubbell 2011). One problem is that classic projections are based on the assumption that all natural areas converted to human-dominated areas, such as agriculture and forestry, become completely hostile to biodiversity (Pereira et al. 2012). However, there is a growing recognition that many species are not constrained to fragments of their native habitat and that the matrix can play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity (Prugh et al. 2008; Karp et al. 2012). Recently a comparison of 2 models that incorporate the wider landscape context, the countryside SAR (Pereira & Daily 2006) and the matrix-calibrated SAR was conducted by Koh and Ghazoul (2010). Here we show that the results of that comparison are incorrect and that in contrast with their results, the countryside SAR outperforms both the matrix-calibrated SAR and classic SAR projections in projecting tropical bird extinctions. To compare the performance of different species–area models in projecting species extinctions, Koh and Ghazoul examined birds in 20 biodiversity hotspots in the world. For each hotspot they estimated the proportion of native habitat remaining and the proportion converted to disturbed forest, agricultural land, and urban area. For each hotspot, they estimated the number of species extinct or threatened with extinction as all endemic bird species in each hotspot classified as extinct, critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable by the IUCN. Threatened species are included because they are expected to become extinct when species richness reaches an equilibrium with the amount of remaining habitat. Next they estimated sensitivities, σj, and affinities, hj, through the use of a database of studies of how many species disappear locally when natural habitat is converted to each type of human-dominated landscape. This shows that affinities and sensitivities are related because . Unfortunately, Koh and Ghazoul calculated the affinities simply as and ignored the exponent z. Using this incorrect calculation of affinities they found that the best projections of endemic bird extinctions are with the matrix model, followed by the classic SAR, and that the countryside SAR has the worst performance. We recalculated the projections of extinction rates with the data from Koh and Ghazoul, the z value they used (0.35), and the correct estimate of habitat affinities. We found that the countryside SAR outperformed both the matrix-calibrated SAR and the classic SAR in this data set (Table 1, Fig. 1). There might be other data sets where the matrix-calibrated SAR outperforms the countryside SAR; more research is needed to compare the different SAR models. The countryside SAR is particularly suitable to describe diversity patterns in multi-habitat landscapes even when the original cover or species composition is not known. The results of 2 recent studies show that the performance of the countryside SAR is better than the classic SAR in describing bird (Guilherme & Pereira 2013) and plant (Proenca & Pereira 2013) diversity in such landscapes.

Survival curves for 2to 6-month periods were plotted for 17 different populations of nonbreeding cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) introduced into isolated or enclosed areas of natural habitat. Eight populations were introduced onto predator-free islands or into a 1-acre, predator-proofed enclosure of old field habitat, and nine populations were released into 1-acre enclosures freely accessible to bird and mammal predators. Radioactive pins (cobalt-60 or zinc-65) inserted under the skin aided in determining the fate of cotton rats which failed to appear in live traps. Survival curves were linear or convex for introduced populations protected from predation and strongly concave for those open to natural predators. Abundant evidence for kills by hawks, foxes, and bobcats was found in the latter cases. A density of about 15/acre, the mean point of inflection in the survival curves, was considered to be a predator-limited carrying capacity since mortality was high above, and low below, this density when predators were active. The experimental study has special relevance to the fall and winter cotton rat populations in the southeastern United States. It is concluded that when diverse and highly mobile predator populations are present they are more important than food, social interaction, or weather in regulating cotton rat density. The role played by predation in the regulation of mammal populations is usually difficult to determine because survival of individuals and the exact causes of mortality are hard to ascertain in the field. Isolated or enclosed areas of natural habitat can simplify the evaluation of predation effects since emigration and immigration can be controlled and the survival of marked individuals can be followed with reasonable precision. The object of this investigation was to determine the effect of natural predation on the mortality of nonreproducing populations of the cotton rat confined to areas of natural habitat. Survival of groups of animals introduced to predatorfree islands and to a large predator-proof enclosure was compared with survival of similar groups occupying enclosures accessible to predators. In all, survival curves for 2to 6-month periods were plotted for 17 different populations. I am especially indebted to Drs. Eugene 1 Contribution from the Laboratory of Ecology, AEC Savannah River Plant supported by AEC Contract No. AT(38-1)-310. 2Present address: Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida. 698 P. Odum and Frank B. Golley for help in organizing the manuscript; Drs. Richard G. Wiegert and Michael H. Smith also read the manuscript and gave helpful suggestions. John H. Harper and Dr. George F. O'Neill of AEC Savannah River Plant assisted with radionuclide labeling and John B. Gentry, Jim C. Mayenschein, Michael R. Pelton, and Dr. Howard Orr assisted in the field. Dr. Orr also permitted me to use his unpublished data to construct curve No. 4 (Fig. 8).

While the academic land sharing–land sparing debate peaked in the recognition that neither strategy alone may offer the best solution to integrate commodity production with biodiversity conservation, the lack of integrating the local realities of people and their cultural landscapes beyond mere biodiversity conservation is hampering the knowledge transfer from our scientific discourse to the policy agenda. Here, we focus on European cultural landscapes, which represent prime examples for the success but also the fragility of social-ecological agricultural systems that benefit from land sharing. In contrast, we challenge the effectiveness of land sparing for sustainable agriculture. Moreover, we question whether and how either sparing or sharing can actually be implemented on the ground. We conclude that creating and maintaining sharing systems nowadays is a normative choice that society can take. Based on this, we caution against the ongoing prioritization of optimizing the economic benefits perceived from such systems. We highlight the limitations of economic instruments to safeguard the multifunctionality of sharing landscapes. Taken together, we suggest that deliberations on the sparing–sharing discussion ought to be moved from a limited perspective on biodiversity towards a holistic consideration of landscapes as spaces that are shaped by and satisfy manifold aspects of human well-being, ranging from cultural to materialistic needs.

The effects of agricultural landscape composition and heterogeneity on bird diversity and community structure in the Chengdu Plain, China

Agricultural expansion and intensification enabled growth of food production but resulted in serious environmental changes. In light of that, debates concerning sustainability in agriculture arises on scientific literature. Land sharing and land sparing are two opposite models for framing agricultural sustainability. The first aims to integrate agricultural activities with biodiversity conservation by means of enhancing the quality of the agricultural matrix in the landscape towards a wildlife friendly matrix. The other model aims to spare natural habitats from agriculture for conservation. This work aimed to explore spatial evidences of land sharing/sparing and its relationship with rural population in the Brazilian Cerrado. A Land Sharing/Sparing Index based on TerraClass Cerrado map was proposed. Spatial analysis based on Global and Local Moran statistics and Geographically Weighted Regression were made in order to explore the influence of local rural population on the probability of spatial land sharing/sparing clusters occurrence. Spatial patterns of land sharing were found in the Cerrado and a positive association with rural population was found in some regions, such as in its northern portion. Land use policies should consider regional infrastructural and participative governance potentialities. The results suggests possible areas where joint agricultural activities and human presence may be favourable for biodiversity conservation.

Agricultural productivity is the key to global food security. Modern conventional farming has substantially increased food production, but at the expense of serious environmental harm [[1][1]]. By contrast, organic production is regarded as a suitable and more sustainable alternative owing to its

The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) is a charismatic species that is native to Central and South America and commonly housed in captivity. Gaps in knowledge about these birds’ behavioral ecology in the wild hinders both in situ and ex situ management and conservation efforts for this species. We conducted seventeen days of observations of free-living scarlet macaws in two locations in Costa Rica, in February 2022, with the aims of (1) advancing our knowledge of this species’ natural behavioral ecology, and (2) generating data for comparison with captive macaws to help to inform their ex situ management (e.g., enclosure design and enrichment). Routes were walked within two locations—Bosque Escondido (BE), release area for captive-bred reintroduced individuals and no extant wild population, and Punta Leona (PL), an area of natural habitat within a resort inhabited by wild scarlet macaws—and focal interval sampling of multiple scarlet macaws in a group was used to record behavior and space use. The macaws at both locations were generally active, spent most of their time high in the tree canopy, relied on climbing to move within it, and used a wide variety of supports. The macaws at PL spent significantly more time feeding and locomoting, and less time perching, than those at BE, possibly due to differences in resource availability, rearing conditions, and age. Furthermore, the wild scarlet macaws at PL exhibited a variety of foraging strategies to acquire and manipulate food items within the tree canopy, including frequent use of their feet during manipulation. Despite limitations caused by a small sample size, a short period of observations, and differences between the two populations observed, this study provides insights into the behavioral ecology of scarlet macaws in the wild, which can be used for behavioral assessments of captive macaws while informing their ex situ management, with applications to animal welfare and captive breeding programs.

大熊猫(<em>Ailuropoda melanoleuca</em>)是我国特有的珍稀物种,也是世界上最濒危的野生动物之一。为了将人工繁育的部分大熊猫个体重引入其历史分布区或复壮野生种群,中国保护大熊猫研究中心从2003年开始进行圈养大熊猫的野外放归工作,通过野化培训以提高圈养大熊猫适应和选择野外环境的能力。对野化培训大熊猫"淘淘"的生境选择研究表明:该野化培训大熊猫幼仔经常活动于新笋密度较大的区域[生境与对照:(2.68±1.14)对(1.58±0.66)],却避开成竹密度过大[(9.91±2.51)对(12.18±4.68)]、竹子较高[(4.57±1.09) m对(4.98±0.66) m]以及枯死竹过多[(2.52±0.86)对(3.39±1.33)]的区域;喜欢活动于离水源[(1.59±0.67)对(2.19±0.87)]和隐蔽场所较近[(5.37±2.14) m对(8.35±7.76)m],以及距离乔木较远[(3.09±0.69) m对(2.70±0.42) m]和郁闭度较低[(1.85±0.57)对(2.10±0.47)]的区域(<em>P</em> < 0.05),新笋密度大小是该栖息地在整个野化培训期间是否被利用的最重要因素。该野化培训大熊猫幼仔保持着与带仔母兽相近的生境选择特征,对竹子环境的选择也与卧龙野生大熊猫相似,野化培训对该大熊猫幼仔产生了积极的作用。野化培训大熊猫幼仔形成的家域和核域面积分别为9.21 hm² 和1.93 hm²,占野化培训圈面积的51.95%和10.89%,其中家域面积仅有卧龙野生大熊猫的1.4%-2.4%,所以在以后的野化培训过程中需要采取增加野化培训圈中环境丰富度等方式,促进野化培训大熊猫形成较大的家域面积。;The giant panda (<em>Ailuropoda melanoleuca</em>)is a rare endangered species listed on the IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources)Red List of Threatened Species and in the Appendices of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The giant panda has encountered risks of gene loss and local extinction of metapopulations due to habitat loss as a result of both biogeological and anthropologenic disturbance. One way to save endangered species is to reintroduce captive animals to sparsely populated regions of their historical distribution area. However, in order for reintroduction to succeed, captive animals must be able to select habitat that ensures their survival in the wild, a crucial skill that can be honed during pre-release training. We conducted research involving pre-release training of a giant panda in an enclosure in an area of natural habitat at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) in Wolong Nature Reserve. We found that the panda selected areas with a high density of <em>Fargesia robusta </em>bamboo shoots (means±standard deviation of habitat plots and control plots: 2.68±1.14 vs. 1.58±0.66), but avoided areas with a high density of adult bamboo (9.91±2.51 vs. 12.18±4.68) dead bamboo (2.52±0.86 vs. 3.39±1.33) and areas with higher bamboo culms ((4.57±1.09) m vs. (4.98±0.66) m). The panda was found in areas near water ((1.59±0.67) m vs. (2.19±0.87) m) and shelter ((5.37±2.14) m vs. (8.35±7.76) m) more often than other areas, but avoided areas close to trees ((3.09±0.69) m vs. (2.70±0.42) m) and areas with higher canopy cover (1.85±0.57 vs. 2.10±0.47) (<em>P</em> < 0.05). Logistic regression showed that the density of new bamboo shoots was the main factor predicting habitat use by the pre-released giant panda. The pre-released giant panda had similar habitat selection patterns as its mother, suggesting that it may be able to learn skills from its mother, an important factor that can impact the success of the reintroduction. The pre-released giant panda also displayed similar habitat selection patterns as wild giant pandas in Wolong Nature Reserve, suggesting that it may be prepared for foraging in the wild. The fact that the pre-released giant panda selected areas close to the shelter suggests it might have learned predator avoidance skills from pre-release training, which could have a positive effect on its survival in the wild. Home range and home range core areas were 9.21 hm² and 1.93 hm², about 51.95% and 10.89% of the pre-release training enclosure respectively, while the home range was only 1.4%-2.4% of home ranges of wild giant pandas in Wolong Nature Reserve. It is essential to enrich the bamboo species richness of the pre-release training enclosure (such as by including <em>Bashania faberi </em>in the enclosure) in the future.

Trial release of the world's rarest tortoise Geochelone yniphora in Madagascar

We measured the activity of mammalian predators, numbers of singing male songbirds, and predation rates on nests of songbirds (152 natural, open-cup nests and 380 artificial nests) on 38 250 m transects located along various types of forest-field edges in a wildlife management area in east-central Illinois. We then related these variables to each other and to measures of the vegetative structure of our transects that we anticipated might influence predator activity or predation rates on nests of birds characteristic of edge and shrubland habitats. Mammalian predators, particularly raccoons (Procyon lotor), were abundant in the wildlife area and present on all transects surveyed. We did not find significant relationships among the variables we measured. Rather, rates of nest predation were consistently high (>70%) and generally evenly distributed around our study site. Medium-sized, generalist mammalian predators in the midwestern United States reach their highest population densities in fragmented landscapes with abundant edge habitat, particularly agricultural edges. Areas of natural habitat in these landscapes dominated by agriculture may concentrate predators and act as ecological traps for nesting birds because they attract high densities of breeding birds that are subjected to high rates of nest predation.

Just as throughout the world in general, deaths related to animal attacks continue to be a public health problem in Turkey. A decrease in areas of natural habitat because of human invasion, and the use of these areas for hunting, wood-cutting, recreational and sporting activities has increased the possibility of humans encountering wild animals. A physical retrospective screening was made of the forensic records of a total of 8944 autopsy cases in the Forensic Medicine Institute of the Trabzon Group Directorate in the 10-year period between Januarry 2007 and December 2016. When the types of animals causing the traumatic death were examined, the most frequent was cattle in 15 cases followed by horses in 7 cases, bears in 4 cases, wolves in 2 cases, and wild boars in 2 cases. According to the autopsy results, the cause of death was most often intrathoracic bleeding and intrathoracic organ damage, the regions of the body injured were seen to be most often the chest and back, and the most common form of injury was blunt/crush trauma. From these records, cases were identified where the cause of death was traumatic animal attack, and examination was made of the sociodemographic characteristics, the type of animal that caused the injuries, information about the location of the incident, witness statements, information about the healthcare centre, findings of external examination and autopsy, and the cause.

The cajui Anacardium spp., which is similar to the caju Anacardium Ocidentale L., is a species adapted to edaphic-climatic conditions of the biome Cerratinga (Cerrado e Caatinga). Its fruit is composed of one swollen stalk (pedicel) which is formed by nutritional reserves rich in vitamin C and drupe (cashew nut). It is also rich in protein and lipids, but with smaller size. This paper focuses on investigating the applicability of the biplot graphical analysis in the process of selective breeding of cajui population. The cajui working population in Embrapa Meio Norte comprises of 11 genotypes collected in areas of natural habitat in the state of Piaui. The experiment was designed in randomized complete blocks with two plants per plot and four replications. A graphical analysis (biplot) was used to study the relationships between variables and behavior of the experimental genotypes. This was implemented to principal component analysis based on singular value decomposition biplot. The total variable weight can be predicted from length of peduncle, basal and apical diameter of peduncle, and variables of easy mensuration. Genotypes M40A, M23, M14, and M17 are similar to each other and they have high amounts of brown, apical and basal diameter of the peduncle, total weight, and peduncle length. They are considered as candidates selected for consumption in natura and industrial processing. The graphical analysis (biplot) showed robustness in the presentation of relationships between variables considered and the indication of the selection candidate genotypes in the population studied.