Biodiversity Features Research Articles

The Evaluation of Angu Hydropower Station Habitat and Analysis on its Influencing Factors

Located in the junction of Dadu River, Qingyi River and Minjiang River, Angu Hydropower Station has the typical characteristics of plateau estuary wetlands. Since river systems are inter-relate and interact each other here, the transitional zone is with the ecological characteristics of rich biodiversity, frequent human disturbance and fragile ecological environment. According to characteristics of regional wetland ecosystem, and based on the specific investigation on the regional ecological characteristics of the flora and fauna, sediment and water quality, this research built an index system and evaluated the function of ecosystem. And then taking it as basis, this paper distinguished the effect mechanism of different driving factors on wetland ecosystem with the method of gradient analysis, so as to provide theoretical basis for the ecological restoration of this region.

A global map to aid the identification and screening of critical habitat for marine industries

Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations. No publicly available tools have been developed in either the marine or terrestrial realm to assess the likelihood of sites or operations being located within PS6-defined Critical Habitat. This paper presents a starting point towards filling this gap in the form of a preliminary global map that classifies more than 13 million km2 of marine and coastal areas of importance for biodiversity (protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas [KBA], sea turtle nesting sites, cold- and warm-water corals, seamounts, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarshes, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps) based on their overlap with Critical Habitat criteria, as defined by IFC. In total, 5798×103km2 (1.6%) of the analysis area (global ocean plus coastal land strip) were classed as Likely Critical Habitat, and 7526×103km2 (2.1%) as Potential Critical Habitat; the remainder (96.3%) were Unclassified. The latter was primarily due to the paucity of biodiversity data in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction and/or in deep waters, and the comparatively fewer protected areas and KBAs in these regions. Globally, protected areas constituted 65.9% of the combined Likely and Potential Critical Habitat extent, and KBAs 29.3%, not accounting for the overlap between these two features. Relative Critical Habitat extent in Exclusive Economic Zones varied dramatically between countries. This work is likely to be of particular use for industries operating in the marine and coastal realms as an early screening aid prior to in situ Critical Habitat assessment; to financial institutions making investment decisions; and to those wishing to implement good practice policies relevant to biodiversity management. Supplementary material (available online) includes other global datasets considered, documentation and justification of biodiversity feature classification, detail of IFC PS6 criteria/scenarios, and coverage calculations.

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.

Formulating conservation targets for a gap analysis of endemic lizards in a biodiversity hotspot

Species gap analyses that adopt conservation targets based on individual species attributes recognize that some biodiversity features need more protection than others and should lead to better outcomes than uniform conservation targets. In the Brazilian Cerrado hotspot, 4 of the 30 endemic lizard species are included in the IUCN or Brazilian red lists of threatened species. For 18 species with more than 5 occurrence records, we produced distribution models using Maxent and for 12 species with less than 5 occurrence records we used a 5km radius around the records to indicate distributions. For all species, we estimated habitat loss after discounting cleared areas from indicated distributions. Non-modeled species were considered as truly restricted-range endemics and had conservation targets set a priori as 100%. We formulated conservation targets for 18 modeled species based on three characteristics: natural rarity, vulnerability, and life-history. We estimated vulnerability from a model of future habitat loss across the Cerrado, derived with Maxent. We then performed a gap analysis considering strictly protected conservation areas. We applied percentage targets (between 12% and 23%) to estimated species distributions prior to habitat loss and evaluated the targets against the presence of the species within strictly protected conservation areas. Disturbingly, only one species is adequately protected by the current system of protected areas. We also found that one species is a minor conservation gap, whereas the remaining 28 species are either major (13) or total (5) conservation gaps. Habitat loss has erased a significant fraction of the original distribution of Cerrado endemic lizards and the existent network of protected areas is wholly inadequate to ensure their conservation. The use of conservation targets based on natural rarity, vulnerability, and life-story will support more defensible conservation guidelines than commonly used uniform targets for this threatened Neotropical savanna biome.

Ecogeomorphological consequences of land abandonment in semiarid Mediterranean areas: Integrated assessment of physical evolution and biodiversity

This paper is based on an integrated assessment of abandoned farmland in the Iberian Southeast, a representative area of rich-biodiversity landscapes subject to strong physical stress and highly sensitive to environmental change. It is framed within the concept of natural reforestation and seeks an integration of physical and biodiversity features relevant for management. In pilot areas of different lithology (marly, limestone, and metamorphic) and abandonment age (< or >20 years), several physical (soil characteristics, evidences of erosion) and biodiversity (flora and birds) indicators have been assessed. It is concluded that these two sets of indicators often follow divergent or contrasting trajectories, particularly in the less coherent substrates where soil degradation and erosion concur with steppic physiognomy and high ornithological value. Lithology conditions the compositional and structural development of woody vegetation, but local landscape degradation can also reduce the pool of potential colonizers. Ecosystem development can be described as the interplay of positive and negative forces acting on physical evolution and biodiversity change. Abandonment per se is not a widely applicable management option but in many instances it can naturally improve soil and vegetation conditions. In more resistant lithologies, succession could lead to landscape homogenization, although recovery is usually slow and can eventually be arrested in stages dominated by a few woody species. Although our results are not generalizable to all semiarid land abandonment, they provide a framework for selecting management measures and for setting the scale and intensity of their application.

The crowded sea: incorporating multiple marine activities in conservation plans can significantly alter spatial priorities.

Successful implementation of marine conservation plans is largely inhibited by inadequate consideration of the broader social and economic context within which conservation operates. Marine waters and their biodiversity are shared by a host of stakeholders, such as commercial fishers, recreational users and offshore developers. Hence, to improve implementation success of conservation plans, we must incorporate other marine activities while explicitly examining trade-offs that may be required. In this study, we test how the inclusion of multiple marine activities can shape conservation plans. We used the entire Mediterranean territorial waters of Israel as a case study to compare four planning scenarios with increasing levels of complexity, where additional zones, threats and activities were added (e.g., commercial fisheries, hydrocarbon exploration interests, aquaculture, and shipping lanes). We applied the marine zoning decision support tool Marxan to each planning scenario and tested a) the ability of each scenario to reach biodiversity targets, b) the change in opportunity cost and c) the alteration of spatial conservation priorities. We found that by including increasing numbers of marine activities and zones in the planning process, greater compromises are required to reach conservation objectives. Complex plans with more activities incurred greater opportunity cost and did not reach biodiversity targets as easily as simplified plans with less marine activities. We discovered that including hydrocarbon data in the planning process significantly alters spatial priorities. For the territorial waters of Israel we found that in order to protect at least 10% of the range of 166 marine biodiversity features there would be a loss of ∼15% of annual commercial fishery revenue and ∼5% of prospective hydrocarbon revenue. This case study follows an illustrated framework for adopting a transparent systematic process to balance biodiversity goals and economic considerations within a country's territorial waters.

Farmland abandonment: threat or opportunity for biodiversity conservation? A global review

Farmland abandonment is changing rural landscapes worldwide, but its impacts on biodiversity are still being debated in the scientific literature. While some researchers see it as a threat to biodiversity, others view it as an opportunity for habitat regeneration. We reviewed 276 published studies describing various effects of farmland abandonment on biodiversity and found that a study's geographic region, selected metrics, assessed taxa, and conservation focus significantly affected how those impacts were reported. Countries in Eurasia and the New World reported mainly negative and positive effects of farmland abandonment on biodiversity, respectively. Notably, contrasting impacts were recorded in different agricultural regions of the world that were otherwise similar in land‐use and biodiversity characteristics. We showed that the conservation focus (pre‐ or post‐abandonment) in different regions is an important factor influencing how scientists address the abandonment issue, and this may affect how land‐use policies are defined in agricultural landscapes.

Taxonomy and Biogeography of Apomixis in Angiosperms and Associated Biodiversity Characteristics

Apomixis in angiosperms is asexual reproduction from seed. Its importance to angiospermous evolution and biodiversity has been difficult to assess mainly because of insufficient taxonomic documentation. Thus, we assembled literature reporting apomixis occurrences among angiosperms and transferred the information to an internet database (http://www.apomixis.uni-goettingen.de). We then searched for correlations between apomixis occurrences and well-established measures of taxonomic diversity and biogeography. Apomixis was found to be taxonomically widespread with no clear tendency to specific groups and to occur with sexuality at all taxonomic levels. Adventitious embryony was the most frequent form (148 genera) followed by apospory (110) and diplospory (68). All three forms are phylogenetically scattered, but this scattering is strongly associated with measures of biodiversity. Across apomictic-containing orders and families, numbers of apomict-containing genera were positively correlated with total numbers of genera. In general, apomict-containing orders, families, and subfamilies of Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Orchidaceae were larger, i.e., they possessed more families or genera, than non-apomict-containing orders, families or subfamilies. Furthermore, many apomict-containing genera were found to be highly cosmopolitan. In this respect, 62% occupy multiple geographic zones. Numbers of genera containing sporophytic or gametophytic apomicts decreased from the tropics to the arctic, a trend that parallels general biodiversity. While angiosperms appear to be predisposed to shift from sex to apomixis, there is also evidence of reversions to sexuality. Such reversions may result from genetic or epigenetic destabilization events accompanying hybridization, polyploidy, or other cytogenetic alterations. Because of increased within-plant genetic and genomic heterogeneity, range expansions and diversifications at the species and genus levels may occur more rapidly upon reversion to sexuality. The significantly-enriched representations of apomicts among highly diverse and geographically-extensive taxa, from genera to orders, support this conclusion.

Biodiversity and community structural characteristics of macrobenthos in the Chukchi Sea

Field sampling of the macrobenthos from 23 stations in the Chukchi Sea was conducted during the 4th CHINARE (Chinese National Arctic Research Expeditions, July–August, 2010). We identified a total of 140 species of macrozoobenthos belonging to nine phyla, which were dominated by polychaetes (66), crustaceans (30), and mollusks (25), followed by echinoderms (9) and others (ten others, including four cnidarians, one oligochaete, one sipuncula, one priapulida, two bryozoans, and one urochordata). The dominant species were Aphelochaeta pacifica, Heteromastus filiformis, Nephtys ciliata, Nephtys caeca, Scoletoma fragilis, Golfingia margaritacea, Nuculana pernula, Macoma calcarea, Ennucula tenuis, Macoma inquinata, Musculus discors, Echinarachnius parma, and Ophiura sarsii, so there were more cold-eurythermal boreal immigrants than truly Arctic species (endemics). The average density and biomass (mean ± SD across all stations) of the total macrozoobenthos were (916 ± 907) ind/m2 and (902.9 ± 1 227.7) g/m2 (wet weight), respectively. Relatively high density and biomass were observed in the samples from the northeastern and southern Chukchi Sea. The spatial variation of benthic communities in the study sea area was relatively large; this spatial heterogeneity has led to high diversity and a patchy distribution pattern in the community structure. Compared to the 1st CHINARE (July–August, 1999), this investigation revealed different degrees of decreases in the average taxa numbers and the average density, abundance, and biodiversity in the area over the recent decade, which might be associated with global warming, human activities, and sea ice variations.

Composition of fish species in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and their responses to changes in the ecological environment

Based on trawl surveys in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea during the 2010 Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, fish biodiversity characteristics, such as fish composition, dominant species, biodiversity, and faunal characteristics were conducted. We also discussed the responses of fishes to the quick changes in Arctic climate. The results showed that a total of 41 species in 14 families were recorded in these waters. The dominant species were Hippoglossoides robustus, Boreogadus saida, Myoxocephalus scorpius, Lumpenus fabricii, and Artediellus scaber. There were 35 coldwater species, accounting for 85.37%, and six cold temperate species, occupying 14.63%. The habitat types of fish could be grouped as follows: 35 species of demersal fishes, five benthopelagic fishes, and one pelagic fish. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H′) (range between 0 and 2.18, 1.21 on average) was not high, and descended from south to north. Climate change has caused some fishes to shift along their latitudinal and longitudinal distribution around the Arctic and Subarctic areas, and this could lead to the decline of Arctic fishery resources.

Using stakeholders’ perspective of ecosystem services and biodiversity features to plan a marine protected area

Abstract The definition of a common vision that includes social and environmental goals, ecosystem services and/or biodiversity features that people are interested in maintaining or restoring is a great challenge for marine protected areas (MPAs). Recent initiatives have promoted broadening the focus from biodiversity conservation alone to the conservation of both ecosystem services and biodiversity, indicating that this integration should improve support and compliance from stakeholders. Using a Multiple-Use Coastal Marine Protected Area recently proposed in northern Chile, we investigated (i) stakeholders’ perceptions of the valuation of ecosystem services, threats to their provision, and the prioritization of ecosystem services, biodiversity features, and uses in a planning scenario, and (ii) stakeholders’ expectations for the establishment of a new MPA. The perceptions of different groups of stakeholders were compared and statistically analyzed, and the relationships among prioritizations were studied using a network approach. Stakeholders identified and valued 13 ecosystem services, 28 biodiversity features, 20 uses and activities, and 22 threats. Significant differences among the valuations and prioritizations of different stakeholder groups were attributable principally to artisanal fishermen's perceptions of some components that are directly related to their activities and livelihoods. High expectations of benefits from a new MPA implementation were observed for all categories of stakeholders. To relate the different valuated components, we proposed a network-based conceptual model that reduces complexity, and also as a strategy to communicate relationships and trade-offs occurring in this particular social–ecological system to the several stakeholders. We strongly recommend early stakeholder engagement so as to understand the variability in environmental perceptions and then reflect that variation in the planning and management actions of MPAs, thus improving support for their implementation and achieving conservation and societal goals. Our findings indicate that stakeholders’ perceptions and prioritizations of ecosystem services, biodiversity features and uses should be used as the basis for starting the MPA implementation and planning process.

Linking diversity and distribution to understand biodiversity gradients and inform conservation assessments

Broad-scale patterns of species richness result from differential coexistence among species in distinct regions of the globe, determined by the species’ ranges and their properties such as size, shape and location. Thus, species richness and ranges are inherently linked. These two biodiversity features also yield primary information for conservation assessments. However, species richness and range size have been usually studied separately and no formal analytical link has been established. In my PhD thesis, I applied and extended a recently developed conceptual and methodological framework to study geographical association among species and similarity among sites. This range–diversity framework, along with stochastic simulation modelling, allowed me to jointly evaluate the relationship between diversity and distribution, to infer potential processes underlying composite patterns of phyllostomid bats, and to use this approach to inform conservation assessments for the Mexican avifauna. I highlight the need to explore composite patterns for understanding biodiversity patterns and show how combining diversity and distributional data can help describe complex biogeographical patterns, providing a transparent and explicit application for initial conservation assessments.

Improving the surrogacy effectiveness of charismatic megafauna with well‐surveyed taxonomic groups and habitat types

Summary Conservation planning often relies on the use of surrogates for representing many aspects of biodiversity. Previous tests on the effectiveness of charismatic mammals as biodiversity surrogates have suffered from the lack of fine‐resolution data and produced varied and contrasting results. In this study, we used unique high‐resolution data for more than 600 biodiversity features from the Maputaland–Pondoland–Albany global biodiversity hot spot to assess how the surrogacy effectiveness of the ‘Big Five’ charismatic mammal species could be improved. We found that combining the ‘Big Five’ charismatic mammal species with well‐known and surveyed taxonomic groups, such as birds, amphibians and reptiles, and habitat types, which can be mapped quickly and inexpensively, increases the representation of poorly surveyed taxonomic groups, such as endemic and threatened invertebrate and plant species, as well as other mammal species. In particular, habitat types were found to be an integral component of a successful surrogate strategy. Nevertheless, a broad cross‐taxon surrogate group composed of the ‘Big Five’, birds, amphibians and reptiles, was found to be a more effective surrogate than habitat types on their own. Meanwhile, other taxonomic groups and habitat types were not effective surrogates for the ‘Big Five’ charismatic species. As charismatic mammals have an important marketing value, they can be promoted to generate funding, which can then facilitate the implementation of conservation action and cover management costs, thereby indirectly benefiting other threatened biodiversity. Synthesis and applications. While some geographic areas and taxa have been extensively studied, detailed information about the distributions of species is missing for much of the world. This study provides important information that can have operational relevance to prioritize areas for conservation action in areas of the world with poor data on biodiversity. We found that other taxa are not good surrogates for charismatic mammal species. We also found that habitat types are a necessary component of surrogacy strategies that cover plants and insects. Overall, a combination of habitat types and charismatic mammals, complemented with other well‐known taxa (birds, amphibians and reptiles), provided the highest surrogacy effects.

云南生物多样性现状及保护对策探究

云南省是我国生物多样性最为丰富的地区，保存有许多珍稀、特有和古老的类群，是公认的生物多样性重要类群分布最为集中、具有全球意义的生物多样性关键地区之一。进行云南生物多样性现状及保护对策的探究，对于我国乃至世界生物多样性的保护与可持续利用都具有重要的理论价值和实践意义。本文阐明了生物多样性的概念、价值及意义，对我国云南的动物资源、植物资源，生态系统类型，物种遗传资源等进行了系统的分析，针对我国云南生物多样性现状，论述了云南生物多样性的丰富性和特有性等特征，进而分析了云南生物多样性现存的问题。在此基础上，提出相应的保护对策，并且提出了关于云南生物多样性的一些展望。Yunnan province is the most abundant area of biodiversity in China, which saves a lot of rare, en-demic and ancient groups and is one of the most important focuses of global significance and one of the key areas of biological diversity taxa distribution. Exploring the Countermeasures of Yunnan status of biodiversity and protection has the important theory value and practical significance for the protection of our country and the world of biological diversity and sustainable utilization. This paper illustrated the concept, value and significance of biodiversity. Animal resources, plant resources, ecosystem types and genetic of the species resources in Yunnan province were studied systematically. In view of the status of biodiversity in Yunnan, the paper discussed richness, en-demism and other feature of biodiversity and analyzed the existing problems of biodiversity in Yunnan. In the end, the paper pointed out the strategies related to the existing problems and made outlook about the biodiversity in Yunnan province.

Grassland Management for Climate Change Adaptation and Watershed Protection in Karnali Watershed Area

Karnali watershed area is very sensitive and need of scientific management of highland grasslands which are rich in number of plants and animal species that have significant role and contribution in national economy and ecology. However, these grass lands are in threat and exist in their natural state within protected areas as neighboring grasslands and forest habitats have been rapidly degraded. At higher altitudes, trans-Himalayan and alpine rangelands are home to a diverse array of wildlife and are grazed by livestock, which are an integral part of the livelihood of several different ethnic groups. These grasslands are being overgrazed and little is known about the ecology and sustainability of prevailing land use practices at the community level. In this context, the prime concern of the paper is to address the existing issues, challenges along with biodiversity characteristics of the higher altitude grasslands of the region. Thus, the main focus of the paper is to point out the major issues of grasslands along with location specific as well as innovative measures and devises for the effective management of grassland beyond the protected and adjoin areas. Further, the paper explores some applicable measures to high land grassland management strategies with active participation of local communities with a view to provide comprehensive policy guidance for the sustainable management of grasslands in order to build the capacity of locals on the road to climate change adaptation and watershed protection in the Karnali region.

Variability of essential oil composition in Albanian accessions of Satureja montana L.

Satureja montana L. is an important aromatic and medicinal plant. The present study is aimed to contribute to a better knowledge of chemical biodiversity features of S. montana in Albania. The authors studied the variation in the chemical composition of its essential oil in six populations collected from agro-climatically diverse sites. Dried leaves were hydrodistillated and the essential oil was analyzed by a combination of GC and GC/MS. The concentration of essential oil ranged for the different populations from 0.22 - 1.61%. The oil was characterized to have 38 to 58 components, where the main compound was carvacrol (2.21 - 55.95%).

Analysing tree species and size diversity patterns in multi-species uneven-aged forests of Northern China

The diversity of complex multi-species uneven-aged forests is not easy to describe efficiently and meaningful. In the past, most importance has been assigned to species diversity and there is a wide range of approaches to quantifying this aspect of diversity. In woodlands, size diversity is another important dimension of biodiversity, as trees can be small or large and depending on their size play different ecological roles. Traditionally size diversity has often been neglected in diversity surveys of woody vegetation or considered as difficult to handle. We investigated the size and species diversity of two multi-species uneven-aged forests from monsoon- and subtropical/warm-temperate climate zones in northern China using non-spatial and spatially explicit forestry and diversity characteristics. We found that the analysis of both species and size diversity provided a much better understanding of diversity patterns in complex multi-species forests. Interestingly the relationship between size- and individual-based relative abundances follows a saturation curve. The analysis using non-spatial forestry and biodiversity characteristics led to approximately similar results in all four plots despite the very different woodland communities involved. However, with spatial measures we gained a deeper insight concerning the deviation from random distributions of species and size as well as interaction ranges of trees. We also found an aggregation of similar species and sizes at small inter-tree distances in the monsoon influenced climate and an aggregation of different sizes in the subtropical/warm-temperate climate zone. The use of second-order characteristics was instrumental in elaborating the subtle differences between the diversity of the two study areas and thus made an important contribution to this study.

Process of biodiversity research of Karst areas in China

Because the Karst environment is very sensitive to disturbance, once a strong disturbance occurs in a Karst ecosystem it will undergo reverse succession, and both its recovery and restoration might be difficult. So, biodiversity is an important factor in maintaining existing Karst landscapes and also provides the basis for recovery of degraded Karst ecosystems. Karst restoration has become the core issue in research related to environmental changes in Karst areas. With the implementation of the World Heritage List and Rocky Desertification Project in recent years, the number of related research papers has shown rapid growth and Karst has become one of the important topics of new research. This paper uses the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and Springer databases as well as the Taylor & Francis UK database as data sources; the result shows: (1) the quantity of Karst related journal articles is on the rise, exceeding 20 articles per year since 2008; (2) Karst related journal articles focus on two major categories, ecology (51) and environmental engineering (41); (3) the literature mainly comprises jointly produced documents, and most are from the core research team of Wang Kelin, Su Weici, Xiong Kangning. Based on statistical results, we comprehensively review two theses and 89 academic papers and use combined data from the internet and correlation analysis to give a scientific overview of recent literature. The result can be seen in three ways. First, 39 papers have been published on mechanisms that maintain biodiversity>20 papers on the characteristics of diversity>20 papers on monitoring and evaluation of diversity>13 papers on Karst restoration and reconstruction of diversity. Second, the research concentrated on three aspects, namely, 16 papers on the characteristics of native biodiversity, 17 on biological mechanisms that maintain biodiversity, and 15 on non-biological mechanisms for maintaining biodiversity. Third, for comparing natural Karst habitats with degraded habitat in two contrasting ecological landscapes, the paper elaborates on dynamic biodiversity research in Karst areas from different perspectives and different fields and scientifically analyses the correlations of literature from these different perspectives. This paper is based on a brief summary of research related to biodiversity in Karst regions, as well as research related to the perspectives of specific geological and geomorphological conditions of Karst regions and clarifies the basic condition of biological diversity in Karst areas. Four problem areas are identified that need to be the subject of future studies. First, research related to genetics, species and ecosystem research needs to be integrated and strengthened and further study of mechanisms related to genetic variation, species in Karst area flora and changes within Karst ecosystems is needed. Second, research on the mechanisms involved in habitat maintenance serves as the basis of the establishment of regional diversity surveys. On this basis, research related to maintaining diversity in light of economic development should be added with discussions on issues such as population variation and the ability of populations to evolve as well as changes in regional biodiversity on both the macro and microlevels. Third, species selection during habitat reconstruction is very subjective. If we want to balance economic development with ecological benefits, we need to study how we can coordinate the relationships among species in the reconstruction area, and maintain stable regional biodiversity. Last, designing a monitoring system is an important basis for status surveys and prediction of future conditions. Monitoring might provide scientific data to help maintain biological diversity in Karst areas.

Setting conservation targets for sandy beach ecosystems

Representative and adequate reserve networks are key to conserving biodiversity. This begs the question, how much of which features need to be placed in protected areas? Setting specifically-derived conservation targets for most ecosystems is common practice; however, this has never been done for sandy beaches. The aims of this paper, therefore, are to propose a methodology for setting conservation targets for sandy beach ecosystems; and to pilot the proposed method using data describing biodiversity patterns and processes from microtidal beaches in South Africa. First, a classification scheme of valued features of beaches is constructed, including: biodiversity features; unique features; and important processes. Second, methodologies for setting targets for each feature under different data-availability scenarios are described. From this framework, targets are set for features characteristic of microtidal beaches in South Africa, as follows. 1) Targets for dune vegetation types were adopted from a previous assessment, and ranged 19–100%. 2) Targets for beach morphodynamic types (habitats) were set using species–area relationships (SARs). These SARs were derived from species richness data from 142 sampling events around the South African coast (extrapolated to total theoretical species richness estimates using previously-established species–accumulation curve relationships), plotted against the area of the beach (calculated from Google Earth imagery). The species-accumulation factor (z) was 0.22, suggesting a baseline habitat target of 27% is required to protect 75% of the species. This baseline target was modified by heuristic principles, based on habitat rarity and threat status, with final values ranging 27–40%. 3) Species targets were fixed at 20%, modified using heuristic principles based on endemism, threat status, and whether or not beaches play an important role in the species' life history, with targets ranging 20–100%. 4) Targets for processes and 5) important assemblages were set at 50%, following other studies. 6) Finally, a target for an outstanding feature (the Alexandria dunefield) was set at 80% because of its national, international and ecological importance. The greatest shortfall in the current target-setting process is in the lack of empirical models describing the key beach processes, from which robust ecological thresholds can be derived. As for many other studies, our results illustrate that the conservation target of 10% for coastal and marine systems proposed by the Convention on Biological Diversity is too low to conserve sandy beaches and their biota.

The performance of the global protected area system in capturing vertebrate geographic ranges

Given the heavy reliance placed on and investment in protected areas for biological conservation, there has been much debate as to how effective these are in representing biodiversity features within their boundaries. The majority of studies addressing this issue have been conducted on a regional or national basis, precluding a broad picture of patterns of representation at the species level. We present a global assessment of the representation of the terrestrial geographic ranges of complete taxonomic groups: all known extant amphibians, birds and mammals (20,736 species) within the current global system of protected areas. We conclude that it is necessary substantially to improve the levels of coverage of the geographic ranges of the majority of species, even the widespread ones. This is particularly true for rare species, which might be assumed to be foci for protected area systems. To improve on the low levels of coverage of vertebrate ranges attained by the existing areas, key regions should be targeted, but heavy reliance will also have to be placed on approaches to sustaining populations in the wider, unprotected landscape.