Biodiversity Issues Research Articles

Exploring the Thermal Microcosms at the Forest Floor—A Case Study of a Temperate Forest

With the expected changes in summer weather due to global warming, knowledge of the microclimatic variability at the forest floor dramatically increased in importance for silviculture, wildfire management and biodiversity issues. Thus, during the warm season in 2014, thermal aspects within a heterogeneous forest were recorded at nine sites and compared to data from a nearby weather station. It was found that soil (−5 cm) and near-surface (0–2 cm) temperatures under shaded conditions stayed remarkably cooler than temporarily or fully radiated spots inside and outside the forest; largest differences occurred in maxima (July: 22.5 °C to 53.5 °C). Solar radiation was found to be the main driver for the strong heating of near-surface microhabitats, which could be reinforced by the vegetation type (moss). The weather station widely reflected the average condition on forest floor, but lacks the biological meaningful temperature extremes. The measurement system (internal versus external sensor) resulted in differences of up to 6 K. The findings underline the importance of old or dense stands for maintaining cool microrefugia. However, also the need for careful selection and analysis of microclimatic measurements in forests, representative for specific microhabitats, under consideration of ground vegetation modifications.

Exploring Tourists’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Willingness to Pay on Biodiversity Conservation: Insights from Kinabalu Park, Borneo

The richness of biodiversity and ecotourism development in Malaysia has contributed to economic growth and human well-being. In this context, Kinabalu Park, Borneo, offers the uniqueness of biodiversity as the main attraction to local and foreign tourists. However, the economic value of biodiversity is difficult to quantify due to the non-existent market for these resources. This study explored the tourists’ knowledge and perception regarding the biodiversity issues and estimated the Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Kinabalu Park’s biodiversity conservation using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). A total of 250 questionnaires with five bid prices were distributed to local (RM3, RM6, RM9, RM12, and RM15) and international tourists (RM15, RM30, RM45, RM60, and RM75). This study reported that more than half of the respondents are willing to pay for the conservation of biodiversity. Most local and international tourists are willing to pay RM5 and RM84.05 per person, respectively. The Principle Component Analysis (PCA) in Factor Analysis showed that the “environmental” factor had the highest eigenvalue compared to the “social” factor. This finding shows that tourism has a very significant environmental attitude and preferences towards the conservation of biodiversity. The financial planning management can help the stakeholders in biodiversity conservation programs at Kinabalu Park for better governance in the future.

Microbiota of Aquatic and Terrestrial Habitats of the Dzou Cave

Microbiota of the deep caves has been poorly explored. The most relevant issues of the caves biodiversity are the sources of the microorganisms’ propagules and characteristics of autochthonous microbiota. The investigation presents the assessment of microbiota biodiversity from the Dzou cave (Western Caucasus). The aim of the study was to identify the species composition of micromycetes and phototrophs of the cave and to assess the sanitary-indicative microbiota in different habitats depending on the anthropogenic load. Microscopic and cultural methods were used to identify the microbiota from the entrance zone of the cave, as well as from aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the unlit deepest parts of the cave. The analysis of the phototrophic communities composition developed in the entrance area of the cave was carried out, 22 species were identified, among which cyanobacteria prevailed. The biodiversity of micromycetes was determined: 48 species were identified in the entrance zone, 60 species – in the dark zone of the cave. Comparison of the species composition of the dark and illuminated zones of the cave showed that in addition to species Humicola grisea, Hemicarpenteles ornatus and Alternaria sp., all species of entrance area are found in the unlit part of the cave. Representatives of genus Penicillium and Aspergillus were dominants. Revealed increase of the micromycetes and bacteria number was driving by increase in the level of anthropogenic load, especially in places of tourist camps. It was noted that the propagules of phototrophs are present in the cave substrates even at great depth, excluding some water samples, which may indicate the periodic drift of propagules or anthropogenic factor. The largest number of micromycetes species was detected in the clay deposits and rock samples. The least number of species was isolated from the water streams of the cave. A large number of micromycetes propagules was found in substrates near tourist camps, but their biodiversity was lower than in cave soils.

Incorporating social values and wildlife habitats for biodiversity conservation modeling in landscapes of the Great Plains

Socioecological information should be properly employed in the process of spatial analysis, planning, and management in order to respond to complex and multidirectional biodiversity issues. We conducted this study to map socioecological hotspots, where landscapes of social significance and wildlife habitats overlap, show to what extent and how the spatial distribution of social values (SVs) of people toward their landscapes interact with wildlife habitats in socioecological hotspots, simulate the potential for habitat degradation as a result of human activities linked to SVs, identify strategic areas for landscape restoration in socioecological hotspots, where both environmental conditions and SVs support the persistence and colonization of wildlife, and detect specific areas, where SVs of people may be contradictive leading to land-use disputes. We developed a model to show the potential for habitat degradation based on the spatial distribution of SVs associated with landscapes. We restricted our study to the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) and focused on habitats of five keystone mammal species to assess the validity of our model. Habitat loss, habitat subdivision, habitat dispersion, and habitat shrinkage can be four consequences of human activities for biodiversity in socioecological hotspots of the UMRB, however, the magnitude of impacts varies among landscapes and mammal species. Spatially explicit models to properly map SVs in relation to wildlife habitats are still associated with some uncertainties and limitations, and therefore, require further development. Change in SVs and public attitudes toward land use is essential to avoid further biodiversity loss in this region.

Explaining landscape preference heterogeneity using machine learning-based survey analysis

ABSTRACT We conducted a national survey on a high-quality internet panel to study landscape preferences in Norway, using photos as stimuli. We examined preference heterogeneity with respect to socio-demographic characteristics and latent topics brought up by the respondents, using ordinal logistic regression and structural topic modelling (STM), a machine learning-based analysis. We found that pasture landscapes are the most favoured (55%), while densely planted spruce forests are the least favoured (8%). The contrast was particularly strong between eastern and western Norway, between men and women, and between young and old. STM revealed that the choices were mainly driven by the preference for landscape openness, especially by women. Other important drivers were concerns regarding reforestation of former farmlands, aesthetic properties, forest management, biodiversity issues, and cultural values. Our results suggest that landscape policies may clash with socio-cultural preferences, and failure to account for these may undermine the success of a policy.

Наземные позвоночные животные в долинах рек Данилиха и Егошиха города Перми

The article deals with the issues of biodiversity of terrestrial vertebrate fauna in the valleys of the Danilikha and Yegoshikha rivers of the city of Perm. The recording was carried out during educational excursions and practices in zoology, biogeography and biogeocenology, with the usage of the scientific material on the previously rec-orded representatives of the fauna in the city of Perm. The recording of avifauna was carried out by the method of linear routes, the recording of small mammals was carried out using the installation of crushers and traps, other representatives of the fauna were recorded during visual examinations of the area. Based on the surveys carried out, the faunistic de-scription of the Danilikha and Yegoshikha river valleys and the ecological-faunistic groups of the avifauna of the river valleys were compiled. In the valley of the Danilikha River 4 species of amphibians, 1 species of reptiles, 17 species of mammals and 59 species of birds were recorded. In the Yegoshikha valley 4 species of amphibians, 5 species of rep-tiles, 25 species of mammals and 65 species of birds were recorded. The presence of species included in the Red List of the Perm region in the indicated territory was revealed. It has been established that the recorded rare species included in the Red List of the Perm region stay in river valleys during the period of annual migrations. The biodiversity of the studied territories is at a sufficiently high level, as a result of which it is recommended that the valleys of the Danilikha and Yegoshikha rivers be given the status of protected areas in order to preserve their biodiversity.

Оценка декоративности насаждений

The issue of biodiversity and sustainability of tree and shrub plantations in large cities is relevant both in Russia and abroad. Their ornamentality is an indicator of adaptation and ability to fully perform their functions. It is relevant to create plantations, decorative throughout the calendar year. The research purpose is to develop a scale for assessing the ornamentality of plantations in urban conditions. This procedure is based on scoring the following characteristics of green spaces: sanitary state; decorative qualities of trunk and crown; characteristics of flowering (according to duration, abundance, color and size of flowers); characteristics of leafing (variety of summer and autumn colors, total duration of leafing). There are 5 most common types of plantations: single-breed arboreal; single-breed shrub; mixed wood; mixed shrub; and woodshrub groups, in which the research was carried out. A mixed group of blue spruce (Picea pungens Eng.), bird cherry (Padus racemosa Lam.) and Hungarian lilac (Syringe josikae Jacg.) has the highest degree of ornamentality in northern conditions (24.8 points). A single-breed plantation of common ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius L.) has the least ornamentality score (13.1 points), which is due to its sanitary state. The total score depends not only on the species assortment, but also on the plantation sanitary state. The ornamentality score increases with distance from the road, which is due to the improvement in the sanitary state of trees and shrubs (22.8 points at a distance versus 21.4 points near the road). Among all the studied types of plantations in the cities of the Arkhangelsk agglomeration, 50 % have a high degree of ornamentality, 45 % – medium and 5 % – low. Single-breed plantations are generally less decorative than mixed (20.5 points versus 23.4 points). Urban plantations are more or less decorative throughout the entire calendar year. The proposed scheme of the procedure assumes an assessment of decorative effect during all seasons of the year. So, the following should be recorded: the beginning of the period of leafing and flowering in spring; the sanitary state, flowering (duration, abundance, color and size of flowers) in summer; the color scheme of the leaves, the total duration of leafing in autumn; the decorative qualities of trunk and crown (architectonics of crown, coloring of branches) in winter.

Биологик ресурсларни муҳофаза қилиш

Экология бўйича янги қонунчилик соҳасида амалга оширилган ислоҳотлар натижасида, биологик хилма-хиллик, ўсимлик ва ҳайвонот дунёси, озоқ-овқат хавфсизлигини таъминлаш, ўрмонлардан фойдаланиш ҳамда экологик хавфсизликни таъминлаш, экологик сиёсат, табиий ресурслардан оқилона фойдаланиш билан боғлиқ масалалар ўз акини топган.

Scientific research as an important aspect of natural science education

Modern higher education makes high requirements on the level of students’ training, which requires a fundamentally new approach to learning. Students’ research work of higher educational institutions is a promising activity that can realize the full personal development of students, reveal their creative potential and individual resources. The organization of research activities will allow to conduct meaningful laboratory and practical classes in an interactive mode, when students develop research, communication and reflexive skills. A competent method of organizing research activities will significantly improve the effectiveness of classroom activities, maintain a high degree of interest and cognitive activity of students, and the use of research training technologies when considering issues of biodiversity will make it possible to identify the essence of the studied processes and ensure professional and personal growth of students. The importance of scientific research in natural science education was evoked. Main directions of the student’s research activity on the base creation for carabidological observations and ecological control are considered. Data received are the case of interest not only for comparative analysis of carabid beetles communities zone changes but also for clarification of carabidofauna spacing under the condition of anthropogenic transformation in the Central part of Russia. The presented information can be used as additional material by teachers of higher and secondary educational organizations and by biology teachers. To arrange the students’ research activity instructional guidelines were worked out which help to form research competence and put into practice research approach in higher education.

Decision-making, now in 3D: Exploring three dimensions of decision-making processes and their consequences for biodiversity research

Science and knowledge are called to participate in the institutional, political and behavioral changes that are necessary to address biodiversity loss. Knowledge however does not possess direct performative powers, and the relationships between knowledge production and use are complex, as has been documented for multiple issues and by different fields of research. This paper proposes to unpack three dimensions of “decision-making”. By taking the field of ecosystem service assessment and valuation as its main example, the paper discusses and illustrates how this unpacking can help researchers situate themselves in the diversity of decision-making contexts that can exist, and how this can influence the contributions they can make to try and solve biodiversity issues they are involved in. After describing some key characteristics of the “rationalist” vision of decision, it suggests that looking at the temporal continuity of decision-making processes (e.g., a one-time moment versus a continuous and diffuse process), the degree of conflict in a process, and the range of actors involved and their modes of interaction, widely expands the variety of ways that ecosystem service assessment and valuation can be involved in decision-making. The paper uses three case studies to illustrate this variety, and discusses some implications for researchers, both in terms of acknowledging their situatedness and of future research prospects.

The More You Search, the More You Find: A New Mediterranean Endemism of the Genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae) from a Submarine Cave of the Messina Strait Area (Italy)

Three hundred years of study on the Mediterranean molluscan fauna led the scientific community to consider it as the best ever known. However, the rate at which new taxa are discovered and described every year is still remarkably high, even in key predators such as Muricidae Rafinesque, 1815. Within this family, the genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847 comprises species widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea that were already the target of a decadal nomenclatural, morphological, and molecular combined research. Notwithstanding, we hereby describe an additional ocenebrid endemism from the Mediterranean Sea, whose distribution appears to be restricted to a circalittoral submarine cave of the Messina Strait area (Italy). The new species Ocenebra vazzanai is compared with the recent Atlanto-Mediterranean congeneric taxa on the basis of the known type materials, and a table summarizing the main diagnostic features of the species is offered to facilitate future identifications. The high biodiversity highlighted in the genus Ocenebra reveals a wide adaptive radiation and suggests the necessity of further studies aiming to tackle biodiversity issues even in popular groups, such as molluscs, and in widely studied biogeographic areas, such as Italy, and the Mediterranean basin in general.

Cost Benefit Analyses in Managing Late Blight Through Trichoderma asperellum Seed Treatment and Ridomil® Application on Potato

Fungicides overuse in management of late blight has led to increased cost of production and biodiversity issues. To better understand costs and benefits associated with seed treatment to reduce fungicide application, apical cutting and tuber seed crop were pre-treated by either peridermal injection or dipping using T. asperellum suspension at 33%, 66% and 100% concentration and then sprayed separately with Ridomil® (Metalaxyl 4% + Mancozeb 64%) at 21, 14 and 7 (Manufacturer’s Recommended Regime) days interval. Results showed that apical cuttings had 7.5% higher disease severity and 0.2% lower yield than crop from seed tuber. Untreated and 33% T. asperellum were not significant different (p = 0.05) in disease and yield scores. T. asperellum concentration at 66% and 100% reduced disease severity by 26% and 27% resulting to 30% and 29% yield increment respectively. Spray interval of 14 days did not differ significantly from 7 day spray interval in terms of disease score and yield but the regime MRR% was double 7 day spray interval. Maximum yield loss was observed in unprotected plots followed by treatments sprayed at 21 days interval. Combination of 66% and 100% T. asperellum concentration with 14 days interval resulted to higher yield and marginal rate of return compared to any other combination. Seed dipping was four times profitable than injection. The findings suggest that seed treatment at 66% and 100% T. asperellum concentration by dipping in combination with Ridomil® application at 14 days interval significantly reduced late blight epidemics and improved on yield and consequently increased net farm income.

Proyecto territorial para el valle de Lambayeque (Perú). Enfoque orientado a garantizar un desarrollo autosostenible localmente

Lambayeque’s growth over the last eight decades accelerates a urban consolidation process that weakens relationships and exchanges between populations, regardless ecosystems or environmental policies. North Peruvian coast is highly vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters and social tensions, increased by high rates of poverty in rural areas. Against this situation, we propose to regain the sense of place through new strategies to restore, in today’s practise, the environmental sensibility to protect the common heritage, meaning: culture, rural and urban landscape, local production and knowledge. The territoriality approach is the starting point to for human, environmental, geographic, and biodiversity issues integration, together with architectural aspects. All these different inputs allow us to build a territorial scale project with focus on identity preservation and increase of patrimonial values to ensure local self-sustainable development.

Harnessing Technologies for Mitigating the Water Woes in the City of Bengaluru

Industrialization has caused most of the world's environmental problems like climate change, water security issues, biodiversity issues among others. Water-related issues like water scarcity, lack of water quality, water sanitation issues, lack of proper water resources management are some of them. Urbanization, population increase, pollution has led to an increase in water demand. Water being the elixir of life, is essential for the day-to-day living of an individual. The Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like AI, IoT, Blockchain, Machine Learning have the capability of bringing solutions to these issues. The current study focuses on the water woes of Bengaluru, a fast-growing urban city, due to its migrating population. The woes are also due to the irresponsible behaviour of builders converting lakes into real estate infrastructure leading to clogged drains, excess sewage creation and flooding. A huge mismatch between demand and supply of water is created due to these issues. Before the city hits the Day Zero – no water day, it is significant to set up water infrastructure along with technology implementation which will help resolve this burning issue at the earliest.

Harnessing technology for mitigating water woes in the city of Bengaluru

Industrialization has caused most of the world’s environmental problems like climate change, water security issues, biodiversity issues among others. Water-related issues like water scarcity, lack of water quality, water sanitation issues, lack of proper water resources management are some of them. Urbanization, population increase, pollution has led to an increase in water demand. Water being the elixir of life, is essential for the day-to-day living of an individual. The Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like AI, IoT, Blockchain, Machine Learning have the capability of bringing solutions to these issues. The current study focuses on the water woes of Bengaluru, a fast-growing urban city, due to its migrating population. The woes are also due to the irresponsible behaviour of builders converting lakes into real estate infrastructure leading to clogged drains, excess sewage creation and flooding. A huge mismatch between demand and supply of water is created due to these issues. Before the city hits the Day Zero – no water day, it is significant to set up water infrastructure along with technology implementation which will help resolve this burning issue at the earliest.

Sustainability and environmental stewardship: empirical analysis of selected composite indexes

The Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Summit and other World Forums have focused on policies to address global warming, biodiversity and other sustainability issues. A variety of composite indexes has been proposed to examine the sustainability status and environmental stewardship in many different nations. This paper examines a broad spectrum of these composite indexes: Inclusive Wealth Index, Environmental Performance Index, Sustainability Adjusted Global Competitiveness Index (World Economic Forum), Global Sustainability Competitiveness Index (SolAbility), Climate Change Performance Index, Social Progress Index and Global Green Economy Index to investigate their contribution to achieving sustainable development. This analysis enables us to identify appropriate policy directions based on these indexes and current technologies.

Student Teachers’ Knowledge to Enable Problem-Solving for Sustainable Development

Education is a central strategy in terms of sustainable development (SD) and can contribute to solving global challenges like biodiversity loss and climate change. Content knowledge represents one base for teaching education for sustainable development (ESD). Therefore, identifying teaching and learning prerequisites regarding SD challenges in teacher education is crucial. The focus of the paper was to assess and learn more about student teachers’ procedural knowledge regarding issues of biodiversity and climate change, by using an expert benchmark. The aims of the study are to describe and identify (i) differences between students’ and experts’ effectiveness estimations, (ii) differences in bachelor and master students’ procedural knowledge, and (iii) differences between procedural knowledge of students studying different ESD-relevant subjects. Student teachers at eight German universities (n = 236) evaluated the effectiveness of solution strategies to SD challenges. The results showed high deviations in the effectiveness estimations of experts and students and, therefore, differing procedural knowledge. The lack of student teachers’ interdisciplinary knowledge to reduce biodiversity loss and climate change seemed to be largely independent of their study program and ESD-relevant subject. One reason for this may be the generally low number of ESD-relevant courses they attended. This study suggests further longitudinal research in order to make clear statements about changes in SD-related knowledge during teacher education.

Biodiversity modelling in practice - predicting bird and woody plant species richness on farmlands

ABSTRACT In light of decreasing species richness on farmland and an increasing awareness of biodiversity issues among customers and food companies, concepts and models to evaluate and enhance farmland biodiversity are greatly needed. It is important that the models are easy to apply as they have to be utilized by practitioners such as farmers and their consultants. In this study, simple but valid predictors were identified to rapidly assess the species richness of birds and woody plants in hedgerows, an important farmland landscape element. Hedgerows were sampled in seven agricultural landscapes throughout Germany. By means of automatic model selection procedures, linear regression models were estimated to predict bird and woody plant species richness. Cross validation procedures were carried out in order to visualize model selection uncertainty and estimate the prediction error. Due to a rather high prediction error, the model for plants can only be recommended for use when field work is not feasible. The model for birds, however, explained 70.8% of the variance in species numbers. It may help farmers, food companies and nature conservation agencies to rapidly evaluate bird species richness in hedgerows on farmland and to identify potentials and appropriate measures for enhancing it.

Biomass and carbon distribution on Imperata cylindrica grasslands

Abstract. Syahrinudin, Denich M, Becker M, Hartati W, Vleg PLG. 2020. Biomass and carbon distribution on Imperata cylindrica grasslands. Biodiversitas 21: 74-79. Invasive plants can alter the diversity and composition of ecological communities leading to ecosystem change both function and biodiversity issues. Imperata cylindrica is an invasive grass thrives on wide range of soil fertility and climatic condition forming a vast grassland area of this species. Conversion of such lands into agriculture and plantation is costly and high capital demanding. This work was devoted to investigate CO2 mitigation potential of the conversion I. cylindrica grassland to plantations in Sumatra and East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Stratified sampling technique was applied for the determination of biomass and carbon stock of the system studied. Results show that I. cylindrica grassland stored only a relatively small amount of biomass C (5.9-7.6 mg ha-1) implying that conversion into a more C-rich tree-based system would be promising tool to enhance C sequestration. Soil C content at both study sites decreased significantly with depth from the top 15 cm to the 3-m depth and was considerably higher in East Kalimantan than in Sumatra. Provided similar land-use history, the differences in soil C are likely to be related to the level prior to the invasion. Roots of I. cylindrica extended to a maximum depth of only 180 cm, but most of these roots being confined to the topsoil, little organic material is deposited in deeper layers. Despite the dense mat of rhizomes, the extent of C stored in the topsoils was modest. As sequestration is of global concern, the conversion of this grassland into systems with higher biomass accumulation and deeper root penetration is required.

Sequences of Acretocins, Peptaibiotics Containing the Rare 1-Aminocyclopropanecarboxylic Acid, from Acremonium crotocinigenum CBS 217.70.

Sequences of Acretocins, Peptaibiotics Containing the Rare 1-Aminocyclopropanecarboxylic Acid, from Acremonium crotocinigenum CBS 217.70.