Local Conservation Strategies Research Articles

Harnessing biodiversity data to inform policy: Rapid regional audits should underpin Local Nature Recovery Strategies

Nature recovery actions within anthropogenic landscapes typically target small and unrepresentative species sub-sets, or generic habitat features that are assumed to benefit wider suites of species, despite incomplete understanding of what these species are, or of their autecological needs. These limitations in the evidence underpinning conservation contribute to continuing biodiversity losses.Experimental evidence shows improved outcomes follow the use of spatially-targeted audits of multi-taxa biodiversity information, allowing actions to be tailored towards the ecological requirements of complete local species pools. We illustrate how this approach could be integrated into environmental policy, with particular reference to the European Union's 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and the UK Environment Act 2021's Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS).Biodiversity auditing uses existing repositories of species occurrence and functional trait data to group priority species into cross-taxa ‘management guilds’ that share similar responses to conservation interventions, allowing practitioners to identify and implement regionally-optimized, evidence-based action plans. Where previously implemented, this approach has successfully transformed conservation practices at bioregional scales, increasing the richness and abundance of priority species relative to pre-existing management.We provide methods for incorporating rapid low-cost biodiversity auditing into local conservation strategies, to ensure these support the widest complement of priority biodiversity. Failure to adopt a data-driven approach risks reproducing previously ineffective paradigms, and thus failing to seize vital chances to reverse declines in biodiversity. We further argue that researchers should prioritize the development of accessible tools to support authorities to incorporate species data into strategic landscape-scale conservation design.

Impacts of local conservation strategies on forest flora species of the Ambalara forest reserve in the Wa East District, Ghana

ABSTRACT Sustainable conservation of forest flora species is dependent on local conservation strategies. In the past, fringe communities of the Ambalara Forest Reserve were excluded from its conservation. In contemporary times, the participation of fringe communities in the conservation of forest flora species of the Ambalara Forest Reserve has been strengthened due to the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) initiative. This study examines the impact of strategies used by local actors such as the land priest (tendaana), sectional heads, chiefs (naamene), diviners, women leaders (magazias) and youth groups on forest flora species of the forest reserve. The strategies used by local actors are taboos, creation of traditional firebelts, revered tree species, bans and awareness creation. The study reveals that, fringe communities endorse the chiefs (naamene) and the land priests (tendaana) as the most effective actors in the conservation of forest flora species of the reserve and the traditional fire belt creation as the most effective conservation strategy. The study concludes that, there exist local management actors and strategies in the conservation of forest flora species of the forest reserve, and fringe communities and the reserve are impacted positively by means of their engagement in alternative livelihood activities and species richness of forest flora species respectively. It is recommended that traditional awareness creation should be intensified by the chiefs and elders on the need to conserve forest flora species of the reserve for future generations and as a form of mitigating the effects of climate change on biodiversity.

Mesophotic Reefs of the Largest Brazilian Coastal Protected Area: Mapping, Characterization and Biodiversity

Mesophotic reefs are poorly known worldwide despite their great ecological relevance and management importance for coral reef conservation strategies. To aid in filling this gap, we conducted a pioneering, large-scale survey, covering a total of around 315 miles in length, in the largest Brazilian coastal Marine Protected Area (MPA) Costa dos Corais. From the digital bathymetry model (30 to 50 m depth) generated by a multibeam echo sounder, we selected areas of greater geomorphological diversity for a detailed investigative expedition of mesophotic ecosystems. Various sampling techniques were used: single-beam echo sounders for detailing the relief, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) for habitat type investigation, baited remote underwater video (BRUV) for collecting images of the fish community, and scuba diving to perform transects describing the benthic and fish community. We analyzed reef environments from 20 to 68 m deep. As a result, we present the mapping and geomorphological characterization of two compartments of mesophotic reefs at 21–45 m depth and an image library of mesophotic ecosystems with the species description and indications of whether it is a new record in the region. Biodiversity data were collected covering eight species of sponges, with greater abundance for Ircinia spp., Aplysina spp., and Xestospongia muta; eight from corals, mainly Siderastrea spp. And Montastrea cavernosa; and 68 species of reef fish, with the Labridae family (including Scarinae—11 species) being the richest. Our results demonstrate the importance of mesophotic reefs for MPA Costa dos Corais reef biodiversity and, with that, the need to protect these areas through the application of local conservation strategies, such as the creation of “no-take zones”.

The resource availability hypothesis (RAH) and cross-cultural patterns: which one explains West African Cochlospermum species’ uses in Benin?

BackgroundCochlospermum tinctorium and C. planchonii are two wide edible plants of sub-Saharan countries, e.g., Benin, widely used as food, medicine, dye, handicraft, etc. Unfortunately, the uncontrolled harvest of their rootstocks exposes them to local extension risk. To enhance knowledge on the determinants of their uses in Benin, this study aimed to (i) assess the use forms, use values, abundance and perceived spatiotemporal dynamics, (ii) determine how does local abundance or cultural patterns affect the use of Cochlospermum species, and (iii) assess local harvesting modes and conservation management practices.MethodsIn total, 756 Dialog Partners through 27 ethnic groups were questioned countrywide using semi-structured interviews. Questions refer to local taxonomy, specific uses, organs sought, harvesting modes and local conservation strategies; afterward, local abundance of each species was assessed. Ethnobotanical indicators were analyzed through citation frequencies to obtain quantitative data. Comparison tests and statistical analyses were performed using R program.ResultsC. tinctorium and C. planchonii are locally well known and involved into 83 specific uses, grouped into ten categories of which medicinal use was the main. The use values of C. planchonii (0.10 ± 0.19) and C. tinctorium (0.23 ± 0.20) varied significantly between the ethnic groups, and only C. tinctorium showed index of commercially value above 75% for some ethnic groups. The current abundance, about 84 and 97 tufts.ha−1, respectively, for C. planchonii and C. tinctorium was perceived with a decline of 81.09% (C. tinctorium) and 73.7% (C. planchonii) of informants. Moreover, the Spearman’s correlation and Kruskal–Wallis tests performed revealed that the use values of C. tinctorium and C. planchonii were significantly correlated on the one hand with their local abundance and on the other hand with the investigated ethnic groups. About 42.3% of women produced the powder as principal activity, while more than 57% produced it mainly at the end of farm work. However, the conservation management was practiced by very few informants and consisted of partial harvesting of rootstocks (41.8%, only in southern Benin), and fallowing of harvesting areas (3.97%, only in northern Benin).ConclusionFacing the declining abundance and increasing market demand for rootstock powder of Cochlospermum species, existing local conservation strategies should be promoted and the domestication process should be initiated for sustainable management of these important wild edible plants before these important resources disappear completely in the wild.

Records of bentfin devil ray, Mobula thurstoni, in a marine protected area in Brazilian Equatorial Atlantic: implications for the species’ distribution and local conservation strategies

Records of bentfin devil ray, Mobula thurstoni, in a marine protected area in Brazilian Equatorial Atlantic: implications for the species’ distribution and local conservation strategies

The complexity of the conservation-development nexus in Central African national parks and the perceptions of local populations

Conservation programmes of recent decades aimed to adopt an approach that addresses biodiversity conservation goals through socio-economic tools and to better integrate the human dimension into biodiversity conservation. Yet, to analyse this complex conservation-development nexus, studying conservation perceptions of local populations are crucial to understand the dynamics and establish sound conservation-development management policies. Therefore, we aim to identify the key determinants of conservation perceptions in the Central African context in order to implement successful local and regional conservation strategies. Conservation perceptions of two national parks’ adjacent populations were examined through household surveys, adapted from the Poverty-Environment Network (PEN), in Rwanda and Republic of Congo. Outcomes were statistically analysed to identify the most important factors affecting perceptions about conservation measures. Using a nonlinear canonical correlation analysis, we found that economic factors (e.g. salary, savings, cattle size) and education positively affect conservation perceptions while ecosystem-dependent factors such as hunting and gathering other non-timber forest products have negative effects. Though, we identified a significant difference between two sites, whereby, conservation perceptions are negatively affected by bushmeat factors in Republic of Congo, and NTFP in Rwanda. In addition, our study showed that resource use and rights play a major role in communities’ perceptions and that revenue-sharing projects have a key impact on the perceptions. To ensure sound conservation and development measures, revenue-sharing schemes focusing on material benefits and alternative livelihoods may provide the best approach if participation of communities in the decision-making process is ensured. In this optic, improving education levels will raise awareness and positive perceptions of conservation measures. Development measures should target poor households as they appear to be more conservation-adverse. We conclude that in depth research on local demands for ecosystem products, relationships among stakeholders and community decision power are crucial factors to understand the complexity of the conservation-development nexus.

Behind the general pattern of forest loss and gain: A long-term assessment of semi-natural and secondary forest cover change at country level

Despite deforestation taking place globally, forest cover is increasing in many European landscapes. This increase, however, resulting from plantations and spontaneous forest regrowth, may obscure the generally declining trend of semi-natural forests, though the latter are essential for local and landscape-level conservation strategies and sustainable forest management. We assessed changes in semi-natural and secondary forest cover since the 18th century in Hungary, focusing on the continuity of semi-natural forests. The main trajectories of regional and country-scale forest transformations were reconstructed from the fine-scale site histories of 1,728 randomly selected sample localities. Historical and recent datasets were complemented with field data to estimate forest cover change for seven time periods between the 1780s and the 2010s. Total forest cover changes over these 230 years showed a U-shape curve (from 25% to 24%), leading to a forest minimum in the first half of the 20th century. Semi-natural and secondary forests exhibited strikingly different trends. The proportion of semi-natural forests decreased to 36% of the total forest area by the 2010s, driven mainly by conversion to arable land, while 88% of the actual semi-natural forests have remained continuous forest since the 18th century. Our results showed that when reconstructing landscape-scale historical forest cover change and continuity, the loss of semi-natural forests remains hidden if the calculations are limited to ‘total forest cover change’. It would therefore be immensely important to distinguish between semi-natural and secondary forests, and between types of continuity in the assessments used for conservation-oriented landscape planning and sustainable forest management.

Global Biodiversity Implications of Alternative Electrification Strategies Under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Addressing climate mitigation while meeting global electrification goals will require major transitions from fossil-fuel dependence to large-scale renewable energy deployment. However, renewables require significant land assets per unit energy and could come at high cost to ecosystems, creating potential conflicts between global climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Here, we explore the potential biodiversity implications of alternative future global electrification pathways as depicted under the Shared Socioeconomic Scenarios (SSPs), i.e., alternative trends in societal development. We examined the intersection of high-resolution estimates of global energy densities for ten renewable and conventional technologies with global richness data to estimate technology-specific biodiversity footprints (species per GWh), whereas a Cumulative Biodiversity Impact (CBI) score was used to assess land and biodiversity outcomes of alternative scenarios. Downscaled electricity generation scenarios (2020−2100) were also constrained by alternative land conservation and energy development policies. Unexpectedly, variation among SSPs did not exhibit a clear tradeoff between global climate mitigation and CBI. Rather, CBIs were an outcome of total infrastructure development to meet electricity demand (from population growth and GDP) and the total magnitude of renewable energy development and storage technologies. Renewables assembled along a spectrum from land sharing to sparing. At the land sharing end, biomass-powered electricity from dedicated crops contributed the most to biodiversity impacts due to low energy density, whereas land-sparing technologies (solar) caused more-intense land degradation, but in smaller areas. Our results suggest that local land conservation practices and strategies promoting energy diversification could have greater implications for future biodiversity conflicts than global socioeconomic drivers.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Landscape simulation of small towns along Huaihe River based on geographic information system and big data analysis

A-class scenic spot attracted a large number of tourists due to its natural scenery and cultural environment, which offers a place for people to participate in tourism and leisure activities. The competitiveness and growth plan of the A-level scenic spots are influenced by the characteristics of the distribution of tourist areas. As a result, many domestic scholars begin to study the spatial structure of tourist attractions and establish regional strategies based on the results of their studies. The planning plan for scenic spots is formulated by the government. In order to better support local economic and social growth and better serve the people, the government's development policy must better address the needs of the people. When formulating the plan, attention should be given to the local soil and water conservation situation. Monitoring the current situation of soil and water conservation will provide support for the potential growth of local soil and water conservation strategies. Landscape of the city is an essential feature of the city, and the landscape of the city is made up of land, water, and houses. The unique landscape of a city is often made up of the local natural environment, the social environment, and other facts.

Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery.

Repeated counts of animal abundance can reveal changes in local ecosystem health and inform conservation strategies. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones, are commonly used to photograph animals in remote locations; however, counting animals in images is a laborious task. Crowd-sourcing can reduce the time required to conduct these censuses considerably, but must first be validated against expert counts to measure sources of error. Our objectives were to assess the accuracy and precision of citizen science counts and make recommendations for future citizen science projects. We uploaded drone imagery from Año Nuevo Island (California, USA) to a curated Zooniverse website that instructed citizen scientists to count seals and sea lions. Across 212 days, over 1,500 volunteers counted animals in 90,000 photographs. We quantified the error associated with several descriptive statistics to extract a single citizen science count per photograph from the 15 repeat counts and then compared the resulting citizen science counts to expert counts. Although proportional error was relatively low (9% for sea lions and 5% for seals during the breeding seasons) and improved with repeat sampling, the 12+ volunteers required to reduce error was prohibitively slow, taking on average 6 weeks to estimate animals from a single drone flight covering 25 acres, despite strong public outreach efforts. The single best algorithm was ‘Median without the lowest two values’, demonstrating that citizen scientists tended to under-estimate the number of animals present. Citizen scientists accurately counted adult seals, but accuracy was lower when sea lions were present during the summer and could be confused for seals. We underscore the importance of validation efforts and careful project design for researchers hoping to combine citizen science with imagery from drones, occupied aircraft, and/or remote cameras.

Field studies of a high elevation population of northern Greater glider Petauroides volans minor in the Bluff State Forest, Far North Queensland

ABSTRACT We present the results of field surveys and a radio-tracking study of the Greater glider Petauroides volans minor in the Bluff State Forest, North Queensland. Twenty-three spotlighting transects were surveyed twice in July 2018, mean abundance of P. v. minor was 0.24 ha-1 in wet sclerophyll and 0.38 ha-1 in dry sclerophyll forest. Field observations (n= 330) were collected from nine radio-collared animals across three field sites from July to October 2019. 95% kernel home range estimates varied, ranging from 1.03 – 11.45 ha. Observations of denning (n=66) across 22 den trees identified that the gliders utilised between 1 and 4 dens during the study. Den trees were predominantly large Blue gum Eucalyptus tereticornis, with Gum-topped box Eucalyptus moluccana, Narrow-leafed ironbark Eucalyptus drepanophylla, Tindale’s stringybark Eucalyptus tindaliae and unidentifiable tree stags were used to lesser extent in one field site. Mean availability of suitable den trees was 2.07±1.12 per ha in Site 1 and 2, and 1.57±1.24 in Site 3. Foraging observations (n=148) were collected, Pink Bloodwood Corymbia intermedia and E. moluccana were the most commonly observed feed trees utilised by the study animals during the tracking period. This study provides baseline data for P. v. minor within high elevation habitat (950 to 1000 m) at its most northern extent. Given the widespread decline of P. volans across much of its range, these data may be used for developing local conservation strategies for the species in North Queensland.

Environmental Niche Models Reveal Receding Refugia for Philippine Endemic and Threatened Melastome Trees under Accelerated Climate Change

Home to exceedingly diverse and highly endemic flora in the Malesian region, the Philippines is highly vulnerable to species loss due to climate change. The lack of baseline ecological and biogeographic information in the country, which are requisites to effective conservation, compounds this problem. To address this, we used maximum entropy modeling to predict suitable habitats of four Philippine endemic trees – Astronia cumingiana, and three threatened species, Astrocalyx calycina, Beccarianthus ickisii, and B. pulcherrimus (Astronieae: Melastomataceae) – under current climate conditions. We then predicted changes in their habitats for the years 2041–2060 and 2061–2080 under two future climate scenarios. We also assessed the level of protection that the species receive using the current protected area boundaries. Our models showed potentially suitable habitats for all species outside of their observed occurrence under the present climate, but their niches are generally predicted to shrink and ascend to higher altitudes when projected under future climate scenarios. The overlaps of their suitable niches outside protected area boundaries also increase southward, with Mindanao island possibly harboring the greatest number of unprotected Astronieae species. Our findings contribute to the emerging field of environmental niche modeling in the country and support the need to re-envision the country’s protected area system to move towards climate-smart local conservation strategies.

Coral cover surveys corroborate predictions on reef adaptive potential to thermal stress

As anomalous heat waves are causing the widespread decline of coral reefs worldwide, there is an urgent need to identify coral populations tolerant to thermal stress. Heat stress adaptive potential is the degree of tolerance expected from evolutionary processes and, for a given reef, depends on the arrival of propagules from reefs exposed to recurrent thermal stress. For this reason, assessing spatial patterns of thermal adaptation and reef connectivity is of paramount importance to inform conservation strategies. In this work, we applied a seascape genomics framework to characterize the spatial patterns of thermal adaptation and connectivity for coral reefs of New Caledonia (Southern Pacific). In this approach, remote sensing of seascape conditions was combined with genomic data from three coral species. For every reef of the region, we computed a probability of heat stress adaptation, and two indices forecasting inbound and outbound connectivity. We then compared our indicators to field survey data, and observed that decrease of coral cover after heat stress was lower at reefs predicted with high probability of adaptation and inbound connectivity. Last, we discussed how these indicators can be used to inform local conservation strategies and preserve the adaptive potential of New Caledonian reefs.

Extensive Overlap in the Selection of Wild Fruits by Chimpanzees and Humans: Implications for the Management of Complex Social-Ecological Systems

Understanding the capacity for humans to share resources (crops, wild foods, space) with large-bodied wildlife is vital for biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing, and requires comprehensive examination of their temporal interactions over fine spatial scales. We combined ecological (plant identification, wild fruit availability plots, animal faecal and trace sampling) and social science (free-listing, semi-structured interviews, participant observation) methods to systematically and simultaneously collect data on the availability and selection of fruits from wild plants by humans and critically-endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), a national conservation flagship species at Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau. Within an area of 12.7 km2, we demonstrate that local people’s monthly use of wild fruits was driven by its overall availability in the habitat, whereas chimpanzees, as ripe fruit specialists, sought out fruits year-round. Humans and chimpanzees overlap in the selection of fruits from at least 27 wild plant species. The ranked use of fruits from species which were used by both chimpanzees and humans was significantly positively correlated, suggesting they preferentially target fruits of the same wild plant species. Each month, humans and chimpanzees selected three to six of the same wild fruit species. Chimpanzees fed significantly more on wild fruit species that were available for longer periods, with no effect of that plant species density. Neither plant density nor number of fruiting months impacted human selection of fruit from a plant species, suggesting people might seek out desired resources irrespective of a species’ abundance in the landscape. These findings are important for the development of a shared knowledge base to establish culturally relevant conservation management strategies. We recommend the active management of plant species that are exploited for their fruits by both humans and chimpanzees at Cantanhez National Park, including figs (Ficus spp), oil-palm (Elaeis guineensis) and velvet tamarind (Dialium guineense). This can be achieved through supporting traditional resource management practices and the strategic replanting of shared plants in deforested areas and degraded corridors between forest fragments. This situation is representative of human-chimpanzee coexistence scenarios found across West Africa; the importance of shared resource use should be incorporated into local, national and regional conservation strategies.

Resilience of lowland Atlantic forests in a highly fragmented landscape: Insights on the temporal scale of landscape restoration

The Atlantic forest is one of the most threatened tropical forest ecosystem in the world, and despite current knowledge, its ability to recover structure and diversity after a disturbance is still a matter of debate. Quantifying carbon stocks and species diversity in forests at different successional stages and assessing their recovery capacity is important for designing local conservation and restoration strategies. We investigated the resilience potential of lowland Atlantic forests at landscape-scale using a chronosequence approach in 160 0.1-ha permanent plots, three old-growth and 13 second-growth forests at various stages of recovery. We assessed whether tree species richness, including species with high conservation values (endemic and threatened), composition and aboveground carbon stock recover along succession; and estimated how much of the old-growth forest values the 20-yr-old secondary forests had attained and the time needed to reach old-growth forests levels. Species richness, composition and carbon stock tended to recover along the chronosequence, while endemic and threatened species showed no relationship with forest age. After 20 yr of succession, the secondary forests recovered on average 52% of total species richness, 21% of species composition and only 16% of carbon stock of old-growth forests. We predicted that the absolute recovery of lowland Atlantic forests would take eight decades to thousands of years, much longer than the 10–40 years targeted by national efforts to restore degraded ecosystems. Despite slow recovery, these regenerating forests are important for climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation as they potentially sequester 1.78 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 and harbor a number of species comparable to old-growth forests. Our findings indicate that achieving landscape restoration and conservation goals through passive restoration can be a challenge, highlighting the need to invest in management plans in areas with relatively low resilience and high biodiversity and carbon conservation values.

Homestead tree holdings: Composition, uses and challenges in Checheche Growth Point, South East Lowveld, Zimbabwe

AbstractUnderstanding homestead tree holdings is important for developing local conservation and livelihood strategies. However, relative to urban homesteads, tree holdings in rural African homesteads remain little studied, especially in semi‐arid settings. Using ecological and household surveys, this paper examines homestead tree composition, uses and challenges in Checheche, Zimbabwe. In total, 1,594 trees were encountered across 147 homesteads. Nearly, all homesteads (99%) had trees, and most of them were primarily planted for fruits and shade. Fuelwood, traditional medicines, windbreak and homestead decoration were considered as secondary benefits. Overall, tree density was approximately 112 trees/ha, with an average of 11 ± 7.1 trees per homestead. Homestead tree holdings were explained by age and gender of respondent, homestead ownership and importance attached to and knowledge of trees. Challenges to tree planting mentioned include termites, diseases, livestock damage, high temperatures, water shortages and poor quality soils. Overall, this study shows that homestead tree planting is widespread in semi‐arid rural settings but constraints to tree planting ought to be addressed to optimise the benefits from trees. Further research is needed to fully understand the socioecological context that explains tree survival, as a basis for developing interventions for enabling homestead tree planting.

Essential waters: Young bull sharks in Fiji's largest riverine system.

Coastal and estuarine systems provide critical shark habitats due to their relatively high productivity and shallow, protected waters. The young (neonates, young‐of‐the‐year, and juveniles) of many coastal shark species occupy a diverse range of habitats and areas where they experience environmental variability, including acute and seasonal shifts in local salinities and temperatures. Although the location and functioning of essential shark habitats has been a focus in recent shark research, there is a paucity of data from the South Pacific. In this study, we document the temporal and spatial distribution, age class composition, and environmental parameters of young bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) in the Rewa, Sigatoka, and Navua Rivers, Fiji's three largest riverine systems. One hundred and seventy‐two young bull sharks were captured in fisheries‐independent surveys from January 2016 to April 2018. The vast majority of the captures were neonates. Seasonality in patterns of occurrence of neonate individuals suggests a defined parturition period during summer. Environmental parameters between the Rewa and the Sigatoka River differed significantly, as did the recorded young bull sharks abundance. According to the surveys, young bull sharks occur in all three rivers with the Rewa River likely representing essential habitat for newly born bull sharks. These results enhance the understanding of bull shark ecology in Fiji and provide a scientific basis for the implementation of local conservation strategies that contribute to the protection of critical habitats.

Human disturbance impacts the integrity of sacred church forests, Ethiopia.

Land-use change can have profound effects on forest communities, compromising seedling recruitment and growth, and long-term persistence of forests on the landscape. Continued forest conversion to agriculture causes forest fragmentation which decreases forest size, increases edge effects and forest isolation, all of which negatively impact forest health. These fragmentation effects are magnified by human use of forests, which can compromise the continued persistence of species in these forests and the ability of the forests to support the communities that depend on them. We examined the extent and influence of human disturbance (e.g. weedy taxa, native and exotic tree plantations, clearings, buildings) on the ecological status of sacred church forests in the northern highlands of South Gondar, Ethiopia and hypothesized that disturbance would have a negative effect. We found that disturbance was high across all forests (56%) and was negatively associated with tree species richness, density, and biomass and seedling richness and density. Contrary to expectation, we found that forests < 15.5 ha show no difference in disturbance level with distance from population center. Based on our findings, we recommend that local conservation strategies not only protect large forests, but also the small and highly used forests in South Gondar which are critical to the needs of local people, including preserving large trees for seed sources, removing exotic and weedy species from forests, and reducing clearings and trails within forests.

ETHNOBOTANICAL AND ETHNOVETERINARY IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS OF SCRUB AREAS OF DACHIGAM NATIONAL PARK, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA

Objective: The rich plant diversity of mountains has been used by the indigenous people for thousands of years as health-care remedies. A study on the important plant communities of scrub ecosystems of Dachigam National Park was carried out with the special aim of enlisting the ethnobotanical, and ethnoveterinary uses of plants being used by the people of the area.&#x0D; Methods: Data were collected by visual appraisal approach, rapid rural approach, and questionnaire methods coupled with group meetings and field discussions.&#x0D; Results: Data collected from the present investigation indicate that 59 plants belonging to 33 families with Rosaceae, the dominant family, were exclusively used for ethnobotanical purposes and 10 plant species belonging to 8 families were having ethnoveterinary use. These species include 14 medicinal species, 10 vegetable species, 10 with edible species, 6 fodder species, 6 species used as tea substitutes, 3 species for menstrual problems, 3 species used for religious ceremonies, 2 species used for chutney, 2 art and craft species, and 1 species used for ornamental, fuelwood, and agricultural tools each.&#x0D; Conclusion: The people of the area are exclusively dependent on medicinal plants using traditional knowledge that provides them with the best therapeutic and economic benefits. Such traditional knowledge could be valuable for developing local and regional conservation strategies for these fragile ecosystems. There is an urgent need to thoroughly analyze the secondary metabolite properties of such plants to validate their authenticity in the local health-care systems.

Discovery of a multispecies shark aggregation and parturition area in the Ba Estuary, Fiji Islands.

Population declines in shark species have been reported on local and global scales, with overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change posing severe threats. The lack of species‐specific baseline data on ecology and distribution of many sharks, however, makes conservation measures challenging. Here, we present a fisheries‐independent shark survey from the Fiji Islands, where scientific knowledge on locally occurring elasmobranchs is largely still lacking despite the location's role as a shark hotspot in the Pacific. Juvenile shark abundance in the fishing grounds of the Ba Estuary (north‐western Viti Levu) was assessed with a gillnet‐ and longline‐based survey from December 2015 to April 2016. A total of 103 juvenile sharks identified as blacktip Carcharhinus limbatus (n = 57), scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini (n = 35), and great hammerhead Sphyrna mokarran (n = 11) sharks were captured, tagged, and released. The condition of umbilical scars (68% open or semihealed), mean sizes of individuals (±SD) (C. limbatus: 66.5 ± 3.8 cm, S. lewini: 51.8 ± 4.8 cm, S. mokarran 77.4 ± 2.8 cm), and the presence of these species over recent years (based on fishermen interviews), suggest that the Ba Estuary area is a critical habitat for multiple species that are classified as “Near Threatened” or “Endangered.” Specifically, the area likely acts as a parturition ground over the studied period, and potentially as a subsequent nursery area. We identified subareas of high abundance and found that temperature, salinity and depth acted as small‐scale environmental drivers of shark abundance. The data suggests a tendency for species‐specific spatial use, both horizontally (i.e., between sampling areas) and vertically (i.e., across the water column). These results enhance the understanding of shark ecology in Fiji and provide a scientific basis for the implementation of local conservation strategies that contribute to the protection of these threatened species.