Protected Area System Research Articles

Quantitative assessment of landscape representativity of regional protected natural areas

The article proposes a method for quantitative assessment of the representation degree of the region landscape diversity in the system of specially protected natural areas by calculating the landscape representativeness index. It considers such indicators as the ecological state of landscapes, their share in the total area of the region, the share in the protected areas system, the degree of rarity, the minimum recommended share of protected areas in the total area of the territory. Proposed method is suitable for assessing landscape representativeness of protected areas system at various hierarchical levels of landscape organization and their morphological units for territories that are different in size and principles of allocation. The relevance of the study is due to the significant landscape imbalance of most of the modern systems of specially protected areas, when the role of hard-to-reach, less transformed landscapes is significantly increased in their composition and the classification categories of landscapes, significantly transformed by economic activity, are presented in insignificant extent or completely absent. The calculation of the coefficient of landscape representativeness of protected areas for the territory of Belarus and its landscape provinces showed that in general for the country this indicator is quite low, indicating the need to optimize the existing network of protected areas. Poozerye and Polessye landscape provinces are characterized by the highest representation of landscape diversity, and East Belarusian province by the lowest.

青藏高原国家公园群地域功能与结构研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 青藏高原国家公园群地域功能与结构研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202005061121 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 第二次青藏高原综合科学考察研究（2019QZKK0401）；中国科学院战略性先导科技专项（A 类）子课题（XDA20020302）；三江源国家公园联合研究专项（LHZX-2020-05） Regional function and spatial structure of National Park Cluster in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:青藏高原国家公园群建设是促进青藏高原地区可持续发展的重要模式探索。解析地域功能、建构有序的空间组织模式是其关键科学基础。基于青藏高原科学考察研究队提出的国家公园群建设方案，从地域功能和空间结构上进行了探讨。研究认为青藏高原国家公园群具有生态保育功能、生活保障功能和游憩公益服务功能，并表现为空间异质性、时间变异性、多样复合性和相互依附性4种特性；在层级结构上可以划分为2个跨国国家公园、8个旗舰国家公园和11个一般国家公园，未来可再融入青藏高原其他不同层级的自然保护地；从"群"层面优化单体国家公园的功能定位和整体层面的有机组织，需要在类型结构、层级结构和空间结构上进行综合统筹，建构点域、线域、面域相结合的空间组织模式，形成联系紧密、发展稳定、演化有序的功能有机体，才能够深入推进青藏高原国家公园群建设、生态安全屏障建设和区域绿色发展的三位一体目标实现。 Abstract:The construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau National Park Cluster (QTPNPC) is an important model for promoting the sustainable development of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Analyzing the regional function and building an orderly spatial organization pattern are key guarantees to promote sustainable development. This study proposes the QTPNPC construction plan based on scientific investigation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and provides an in-depth study on regional function and structure, which is necessary to construct a new group of QTPNPC with a wholesome and integral relationship among ecological conservation, life security, and tourist service functions. Understanding the spatial heterogeneity, time variability, and diverse compounds of the national park cluster is necessary. In terms of the hierarchical structure, it can be divided into 2 transnational national parks, 8 flagship national parks and 11 general national parks. In the future, it can be integrated into other nature protected area in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region to form a highly integrated park utilization system. Four primary and mutually dependent characteristics are group-level monomer optimization; national park function, orientation, and organic organization; type, hierarchical, and spatial structures; and integration through domains, lines, and points on three levels. The spatial organization mode is created to allow the QTPNPC to form functional organisms that are closely connected, to steadily develop and evolve in an orderly manner. In construction we need to develop advantage of monomer national park, establish an effective connection among the resource environmental bearing capacity and the national spatial development suitability evaluation, on the basis of comprehensive consideration of ecological importance and vulnerability, the ecosystem services value, according to the actual situation of different national park, thus forms the different characteristic paths. In accordance with the overall goal of the construction of the QTPNPC, we need to explore institutional innovation schemes, legislative systems and construction regulations for national parks, promote the realization of regional functions from the aspects of community development mechanism, franchise operation mechanism, recreation service mechanism and ecosystem product value-added system, and constantly improve the spatial governance system of natural protected areas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and to promote the construction of an ecological security barrier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the green development of the region. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

自然保护地整合优化的景观格局变化分析——以贵州省思南县为例

自然保护地整合优化是我国重构自然保护地体系、衔接三条控制线划定、完善国土空间规划的重要举措。利用自然保护地整合优化成果、国土三调数据，综合运用GIS空间分析、景观格局指数和保护地边界分析法，对贵州思南县自然保护地整合优化各阶段景观格局的变化特征及其合理性进行了分析。结果表明：（1）整合优化后土地利用/覆盖组成变化显著，耕地、建设用地显著减少，优势景观林地面积增加。（2）整合优化后，思南县自然保护地景观异质性降低、优势度增强、破碎度增加。（3）各斑块类型的复杂性和异质性降低，林地优势度增强，但耕地、园地的破碎度增加，整合优化未造成优势景观的破碎化。（4）整合优化后，自然保护地边界复杂度显著提高，自然保护区、地质公园变化最明显，将给自然保护地勘界定桩增加难度。（5）耕地、建设用地、林地变化是思南县自然保护地景观格局变化的主要因素，耕地、建设用地主要作为矛盾调出自然保护地，而林地则主要作为破碎化斑块伴随矛盾一并调出。本研究自然保护地整合优化方案围绕矛盾和问题开展调整，所反映的景观格局变化，与整合优化调整规则限定的内容相适应，整合优化方案总体可行、合理。由于存在的破碎化、边界复杂化、区域分离等问题，在整合优化过程中应进一步优化调整规则，统一数据精度，尽量避免此类问题的产生。景观格局指数变化所反馈的信息可为自然保护地整合优化的科学开展及其成果的合理性评价提供一定参考，引入成果评估机制对自然保护地整合优化工作具有重要意义。;The integration and optimization of natural protected areas (IONPA) is a significant way to reconstruct the system of natural protected areas, connect the delimitation of three control lines, and improve the project of land spatial plans in China. In this paper, while using the result of IONPA and the data of the third national land survey, we analyzed the pattern of variations and rationalities of the landscape in each stage following the practice of IONPA in Sinan County, Guizhou Province, with the methods of GIS spatial distribution, landscape pattern index, and boundary analysis. The results showed that after IONPA, (1) the composition of land use/cover varied significantly, the area of cultivated land and construction land decreased dramatically, and the area of forest land from the dominant landscape increased relatively. (2) The landscape heterogeneity decreased, but both the dominance and the fragmentation increased in the natural protected areas in Sinan County. (3) The complexity and heterogeneity of each patch type decreased, but the dominance of forest land increased, while the fragmentation for the cultivated land and garden land increased. The IONPA did not fragment the dominant landscape. (4) The boundary complexity of the natural protected areas increased significantly, where the nature reserve and geopark varied the most, which would increase the difficulties of delimiting and staking the boundaries. (5) The changes of the cultivated land, construction land and forest land were the main factors attributed to the variations of landscape pattern in Sinan County. The cultivated land and construction land were suggested to move out from the natural protected areas mainly due to conservation conflicts, while the forest land was also suggested to move out mainly as fragmentized patches along with conflicts. In this study, the scheme of IONPA was adjusted focused on resolving the contradictions and problems, therefore, the changes of landscape pattern reflected from the practice in this study were consistent with the specific contents of the adjustment rules of IONPA. In general, the scheme of IONPA in this study was feasible and reasonable. However, there are still some problems like fragmentation, boundary complexity and regional separation, which remind us to avoid the above-mentioned problems, and meanwhile, to further optimize the adjustment rules of IONPA and to unify the accuracies of all data in the future. The information coming from the changes of landscape pattern indexes can provide a certain reference to conduct IONPA scientifically and to assess the result rationally. Additionally, introduction of the achievement evaluation mechanism to IONPA was significantly important.

The system of specially protected natural areas of Kuzbass

On the territory of Kuzbass there are 29 specially protected natural areas with a total area of 1.3 thousand hectares. The existing system of protected areas of Kuzbass is a protected area of federal significance (the State Nature Reserve Kuznetskiy Alatau, the National Natural Park Shorskiy, the State Natural Monument Lipovy Ostrov), 22 protected areas of regional and 4 protected areas of municipal importance. The purpose of this study is to analyze the location of specially protected natural areas in terms of the floristic zoning of Kuzbass and the primary analysis of the PA system in Kuzbass.

Transformation of the protected areas system of Siberia in 2010-2020

By 2020 protected areas in Siberia are represented by all the main categories of various levels of subordination mentioned in the Federal law “On protected areas”, and it also provides for the possibility of creating other categories of protected areas at the discretion of the regions. In particular, in Yakutia there are regional protected areas of the category “resource reserves” and “protected landscapes”, in the Tyumen region – “natural and historical complex” and “environmental monitoring polygon”, which have areas that are important for territorial nature protection. In general, 421 protected areas of the main categories are currently functioning in Siberia, which includes 14 subjects of the Russian Federation, the Siberian federal district and parts of the Far East (the Republics of Sakha(Yakutia) and of Buryatia, the Zabaikalsky kray) and the Ural (Tyumen region with the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi districts). Of these, 58 protected areas of federal significance (27 reserves, 8 national parks, 23 refuges or zakazniks) and 363 protected areas of regional significance (27 natural parks, 272 zakazniks, 63 resource reserves in Yakutia and 1 environmental monitoring site in the Tyumen region). This article examines the dynamics of the protected areas system in Siberia development. The starting point for this research was the creation Atlases of the “Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Siberian Federal district» and “Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Far East Federal district».

Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Natura 2000 Network: Introducing Proxy Indicators and Conflict Risk in Greece

Within the ecosystem services framework, cultural ecosystem services (CES) have rarely been applied in state-wide surveys of protected area networks. Through a review of available data and online research, we present 22 potential proxy indicators of non-material benefits people may obtain from nature in Natura sites in Greece. Despite the limitations due to data scarcity, this first distance-based study screens a recently expanded protected area system (446 Natura sites) providing steps towards an initial CES capacity review, site prioritization and data gap screening. Results identify hot spot Natura sites for CES values and wider areas of importance for the supply of CES. Additionally, a risk analysis mapping exercise explores the potential risk of conflict in the Natura sites, due to proposed wind farm developments. Α number of sites that may suffer serious degradation of CES values due to the large number of proposed wind turbines within these protected areas is identified, with 26% of Greece’s Natura sites showing serious and high risk of degradation of their aesthetic values. Screening-level survey exercises such as these may play an important role in advancing conservation effectiveness by increasing the appreciation of the multiple benefits provided by Natura protected areas. Based on this review, we propose recommendations through an adaptive approach to CES inventory and research initiatives in the protected area network.

Management Effectiveness Assessment for Ecuador’s National Parks

Ecuador belongs to the group of 17 megadiverse countries on the planet, and the Ecuadorian national system of protected areas covers around 20% of the country’s territory. Despite some initiatives for protected areas management effectiveness evaluation, the information on this matter is scarce and a general overview is missing. In this context, this study aims at investigating problems faced by National Parks in Ecuador and developing a base level management effectiveness evaluation for possible comparative assessments in the future. Focusing on all 12 legally established National Parks, this study used the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT), an internationally consecrated methodology based on a scorecard questionnaire that includes six elements of management cycle: context, planning, inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. The questionnaire was applied to Ecuadorian National Parks management teams through face-to-face interviews. The resulted overall management effectiveness indices are between 40.6% and 99.0%. The general condition of biodiversity value was considered as good in line with the legal status and National Parks design but topics related to budget allocation, tourism arrangements, communities and indigenous people received lower scores. The low enforcement emphasis is not necessarily the best way to improve management effectiveness; the identified issues should be addressed by including communities and indigenous people in the decision making and benefits sharing as well as strategic allocation of budgetary resources, with proper adaptation to Natural Parks’ specific conditions.

UNIDADES DE CONSERVAÇÃO CARIOCAS: HISTÓRICO E CENÁRIO ATUAL

Protected areas are the main strategy for biodiversity conservation. The Atlantic Forest is a biodiversity hotspot therefore a priority site for establishing protected areas. This work describes the history and current scenario of the Conservation Units (UCs – Unidades de Conservação in Portuguese) – as protected areas are called in Brazil – in Rio de Janeiro municipality. Therefore, this study reports the process of UCs creation in Rio de Janeiro, analyzes how they are distributed among the different categories of the Brazilian National Protected Areas System and spatially throughout the city and, finally, verifies if UCs have a management plan and how they were elaborated. The process of UCs establishment in Rio de Janeiro seems to reflect the world growing concern about environmental issues which resulted in changes in the Brazilian environmental policies. Currently, 24% of the city area is covered by forests and 67% of this forest cover is inside its 60 UCs. This scenario is not as positive as it sounds: (1) half of Rio de Janeiro UCs belongs to a category which might be of little efficiency in conserving biodiversity, (2) the existence of these UCs does not guarantee biodiversity conservation as many seem to be “paper parks” and only 25% of the UCs have its most relevant management tool and (3) most UCs overlap among each other which can lead to uncertainties regarding the management responsibility of the areas that they share. Considering that the city has forest cover below the minimum quantity to maintain biodiversity integrity, the effectiveness of its UCs have to be maximized. This requires that Rio de Janeiro UCs have their limits revised to eliminate their overlaps and have an appropriate management guided through well-designed and frequently updated management plans.

Blue Ice, Meteorites, Fossil Penguins and Rare Minerals: The Case for Enhanced Protection of Antarctica’s Unique Geoheritage – An International Legal Analysis

Its isolation and extreme climate means Antarctica is one of the world’s richest regions for untouched geoheritage. The potential of mining in Antarctica is often talked of in public discourse as a future threat to Antarctica even though the prohibition on mining is absolute and is likely to stay so indefinitely. As such mining does not pose a realistic threat to Antarctica’s geoheritage. The impacts of scientific research and tourism pose more pressing challenges to Antarctica’s geoheritage. This paper considers emerging debates in the Antarctic Treaty System on the need for further protection of Antarctica’s geoheritage. After considering the concept of geoheritage the paper considers key threats to Antarctic geoheritage. The role of Antarctic Specially Protected Area system in the protection of Antarctica’s geoheritage is then considered as is the draft code of conduct on geosciences field research currently being developed within the Antarctic Treaty System. The final part of the paper then goes on to examine how the Antarctic Treaty system could in part draw on the experience of other international initiatives, including the frameworks associated with the UNESCO Global Geoparks movement in developing an Antarctic System for protection of geoheritage.

Functional zoning of China's protected area needs to be optimized for protecting giant panda

Management zone designations are important to improving the core function of biodiversity conservation in any protected area. However, land managers of most protected areas can barely identify whether the zones they manage are ideally designated due to lack of clear information related to the protected objects as well as other related in-situ conservation information on a regional scale. Here we focused on 26 protected areas at national and local levels that have mainly been designated to protect the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in Sichuan Province, China. The management zones of these protected areas included core, buffer, and experiment zones. We used five indicators to test the spatial differentiation among management zones, including the area of each management zone (Area), the proportion of a zone that overlapped with other protected areas (Overlap proportion), the number of giant pandas present (Panda number), the density of giant pandas (Panda density), and the proportion of the concentrated distribution areas for giant panda (CDA proportion). The results showed that Area and Panda number of the core zone were significantly higher than the buffer zone (P = 0.000) and the experiment zone (0.000 ≤ P ≤ 0.001); Panda density in the core zone (P = 0.006) and buffer zone (P = 0.009) were significantly higher than in the experiment zone. Meanwhile, the buffer zone had the highest Panda density (7.71 individuals/100 km2) and the experiment zone had the highest CDA proportion (42.19%). Nevertheless, no significant differences were observed in the five indicators between the national and local protected areas (0.058 ≤ P ≤ 1). The concentrated distribution area for giant panda accounted for 36.66% of these 26 protected areas, covering nearly 80% of the population of wild giant pandas, while the previous core zones (accounting for 62.84% of the 26 protected areas) only covered 66.12% of the population of wild giant pandas. Thus, we suggested that the concentrated distribution area of giant panda should be designated as the main area of the functional zone and be designated mainly for conserving biodiversity that is represented by giant panda in the Sichuan area of Giant Panda National Park; in addition, the local protected areas should be given more attention during the reform of China's protected area system.

Подходы европейских экологов к типологии и картографированию местообитаний

Подходы европейских экологов к типологии и картографированию местообитаний

Representation does not necessarily reduce threats to biodiversity: Australia's Commonwealth marine protected area system, 2012–2018

In 2012, Australia proclaimed a national marine protected area (MPA) system - the National Representative System of MPAs (NRSMPA). Following a change in federal government, the system underwent two major revisions: an independent review released in 2015, and a final plan designed by the Director of National Parks implemented in 2018. We used all three iterations of the NRSMPA, from 2012 to 2018, to compare: 1. the MPA zoning composition, using IUCN protected area categories; 2. the achievement of goals for representing biophysical features; and 3. the potential to mitigate threats to biodiversity from commercial fishing and offshore petroleum extraction. We found that protection levels in the NRSMPA were downgraded in 2018, compared to 2012 and 2015 iterations. Although each iteration met its qualitative goals, the lack of quantitative goals meant that representation of biophysical features was highly uneven and dominated by MPAs offering little protection against the impacts of extractive uses. Moreover, existing areas with value for pelagic longlining, demersal trawling, and offshore petroleum extraction were largely avoided by MPAs, irrespective of their biophysical features. MPAs, especially those with high protection, resulted in little forgone fisheries catch and revenue, likely providing few safeguards for species threatened by fishing. Changes in the NRSMPA over time have left more areas open to fishing, particularly pelagic fishing and notably in the Coral Sea. By focusing on meeting poorly defined representation goals instead of threat reduction, changes to the NRSMPA over time have increased the exposure of Australia's marine biodiversity to known threats.

Assessing the future conservation potential of the Amazon and Andes Protected Areas: Using the woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha) as an umbrella species

Tropical forests are facing constant degradation and destruction as a result of multiple threats, mostly from land-use, and increasingly from climate change. Understanding the effects of these threats, and the role of Protected Areas in buffering their impacts, is becoming an essential task to prevent the loss of species. In this study, we used the woolly monkey, a keystone species with seed dispersal functions, as a surrogate to assess the future conservation potential of the Protected Areas in Colombia, a megadiverse country where important tropical forests remain. We modelled the ecological niche of the woolly monkey using an ensemble forecasting approach to assess potential distribution changes resulting from climate change and deforestation. Distribution changes in 2050 were estimated for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), three Global Circulation Models (GCMs) and one deforestation projection. Additionally, we evaluated the current and future suitable area for the species located within Protected Areas. For the year 2016, we estimated a potential distribution area for the woolly monkey of 413,533 km2 after accounting for deforestation. The future synergistic effect of climate change and deforestation could cause a reduction of up to ∼13 % in the species potential distribution in Colombia, mainly in the Andean-Amazonian foothills and the Amazon region. The distribution area lost due to climate change was exceeded by losses due to deforestation in all scenarios, where up to 65,356 km2 could be lost as a result of forest clearance. The current Protected Area system will not be able to mitigate the impacts of climate and land-use changes, since ∼26 % of the woolly monkey’s range is currently located within National Parks and Indigenous Reserves. This range could decrease by ∼18 % in the most drastic future scenario. Based on these results, we emphasize the need of an integrated approach of land-use planning that encompasses the creation, expansion and connectivity of Protected Areas, along with the strengthening of law enforcement capacity and restoration efforts to halt increasing deforestation. The effective implementation of these strategies is necessary to assist species to track their suitable climatic conditions, especially through the Andean-Amazonian foothills, and will contribute to the conservation of tropical biodiversity.

Effectiveness of Costa Rica’s Conservation Portfolio to Lower Deforestation, Protect Primates, and Increase Community Participation

Common approaches to reverse the trend of tropical deforestation and loss of wildlife include systems of protected areas (PAs) such as national parks, payments for ecosystem services programs (PES) that provide financial rewards to landowners protecting their forests, and ecotourism that attempts to increase local economic gains and protect biodiversity while minimizing detrimental ecological effects from tourists. For example, Costa Rica successfully reversed deforestation by restoring forest cover from 24.4% in 1985 to >50% by 2011 through implementation of national environmental protection policies in the 1990s that included a portfolio of PAs, PES, and ecotourism. However, the social-ecological effectiveness of this conservation portfolio in terms of interactions between deforestation, biodiversity, and community participation is not clear across local scales. Therefore, we conducted multitemporal geospatial analysis to determine forest cover change from 2001-2017, broad census surveys to determine primate species richness and group encounter rate, and surveyed private landowners to determine participation in PES and ecotourism across four regions of Costa Rica. Net forest loss varied sevenfold across regions and occurred in both protected and non-protected areas across all regions from 2001-2017, although rates were lower inside protected areas. Primate group encounter rate varied significantly across all regions with an elevenfold difference between the region with the most primates compared to the region with the least. All but one region contained the full community of primate species present. Participation in conservation incentives also varied sevenfold across regions, with those reporting the highest participation having the highest primate density and diversity, as well as the lowest deforestation rates. These results suggest that the most effective strategy to simultaneously curb tropical deforestation, protect primates, and ensure community benefits may depend on a complete portfolio of PAs, PES, and ecotourism, rather than a subset of these strategies. Future studies will explore finer scale differences and similarities across PA, PES, and ecotourism forests, including measures of primate physiology and behavior, forest structure, and pesticide exposure.

English

This paper presents an analysis of the costs of protected areas (PAs) management in Ethiopia, specifically those managed by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority. The authority is managing a network of protected area (PA) systems covering an area of about 29,950 km2. Primary and secondary data were used. A total of 3,045 rangers are required to effectively control illegal activities. The estimated number of rangers at basic level management ranges from 70 in Senkelle to 459 in Babile sanctuary with a mean (±SD) of 243.75 (± 6.52). The actual mean (±SD) patrol range covered by a single ranger is 53.2 (± 15.08), ranging from 1.22 km2 in Senkelle to 161.72 km2 per ranger in Geralle National Park. At basic level management the mean (±SD) patrol range covered by a single ranger is 8.81 (± 1.31), ranging from 0.8 km2 in Senkelle to 15.5 km2 in Halledighe. The total annual management cost was estimated between $10.5 million to $21.5 million. The mean (±S.D) annual expenditure for basic level management is $404.45/km2 (±164.32); ranging from $2333/km2 in Senkelle to $166/km2 in Halledighe. Cost Benefits Analysis showed the mean (±SD) return of investment was $129 (±41.42) for every $1 invested. Key words: Budget, cost benefits analysis, management cost, protected area, rangers.

Prioritizing areas for conservation action in Kawthoolei, Myanmar using species distribution models

Kawthoolei (defined as all Karen National Union administrative areas and encompassing Karen State, Myanmar), a global hotspot for biodiversity, is increasingly under threat due to deforestation, mining, human population growth, indiscriminate burning, and infrastructure development. Pinpointing biodiversity hotspots to focus conservation efforts is integral given the limited funding and capacity of local conservation actors to undertake activities throughout Kawthoolei. We obtained wildlife presence data for 23 medium-large mammal species of conservation concern from 7 years of camera trapping efforts throughout Kawthoolei and produced species distribution models, which were used to prioritize areas for conservation action. Presence only data were combined with bioclimatic, topographical, anthropogenic, land cover, and biotic interaction variables to produce Maxent models covering 87,612 km2. Species specific maps were weighted according to their IUCN Red List of Threatened Species status and combined to pinpoint areas with high biodiversity, weighing areas higher that harbored Vulnerable and Endangered species. Individual species were predicted present in 1.44–32.17 % of the study area. Priority maps classified 55.91 % of the total study area as having no species present, 25.07 % as low priority, 10.73 % as medium priority, and 8.29 % as high priority. The protected area system currently covers 26.8 % of the high priority habitats available. While most endemic species continue to persist in Kawthoolei, models demonstrated a scattered distribution of high priority areas throughout Kawthoolei, which may lack connectivity. Additional conservation actions that supplement the current protected area system may be necessary to curb extirpation risks, including the demarcation and active patrolling of additional protected areas in high priority landscapes and activities that promote connectivity between high-quality habitats.

First photographic records of bush dogs (Speothos venaticus) from camera-traps in Guyana

Abstract The bush dog (Speothos venaticus) is rare, elusive, and difficult to study in the wild. Guyana contains a wealth of intact tropical forest (∼18.4 million ha) and savanna (1.6 million ha) habitats, but management of this species is hindered by a lack of data. We present two photographic records (consisting of nine individuals) of bush dogs from camera-traps set in the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA) – the first of this species in Guyana. These records highlight the importance of Guiana Shield forests and Guyana’s expanding protected areas system to the conservation of these wide-ranging carnivores. Additionally, we recommend that detailed measurement and reporting of site variables become standard, as it will improve the efficacy of camera-trap studies of bush dogs and allow for broad-scale modelling of space use not otherwise possible due to the low detection rates at the scale of each individual study.

Predicting biodiversity richness in rapidly changing landscapes: climate, low human pressure or protection as salvation?

Rates of biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia are among the highest in the world, and the Indo-Burma and South-Central China Biodiversity Hotspots rank among the world’s most threatened. Developing robust multi-species conservation models is critical for stemming biodiversity loss both here and globally. We used a large and geographically extensive remote-camera survey and multi-scale, multivariate optimization species distribution modelling to investigate the factors driving biodiversity across these two adjoining biodiversity hotspots. Four major findings emerged from the work. (i) We identified clear spatial patterns of species richness, with two main biodiverse centres in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and in the mountainous region of Southwest China. (ii) Carnivores in particular, and large ungulates to a lesser degree, were the strongest indicators of species richness. (iii) Climate had the largest effect on biodiversity, followed by protected status and human footprint. (iv) Gap analysis between the biodiversity model and the current system of protected areas revealed that the majority of areas supporting the highest predicted biodiversity are not protected. Our results highlighted several key locations that should be prioritized for expanding the protected area network to maximize conservation effectiveness. We demonstrated the importance of switching from single-species to multi-species approaches to highlight areas of high priority for biodiversity conservation. In addition, since these areas mostly occur over multiple countries, we also advocate for a paradigmatic focus on transboundary conservation planning.

Every hill has its leopard: patterns of space use by leopards (Panthera pardus) in a mixed use landscape in India.

Understanding abundance and distribution of species is often necessary for wildlife conservation. However, elusive species such as the leopard (Panthera pardus) that have wide geographical distribution and typically low abundance pose a constant challenge to conservationists due to logistical and methodological constraints. Although leopard abundance has been estimated at the scale of protected areas or other smaller regions, reliable information describing leopard distribution over large spatial scales remains largely unavailable. Knowledge about space use by leopards within landscapes could help improve conservation management, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and also facilitate population status monitoring. We carried out occupancy surveys across c. 24,000 km2 in southern India in a landscape that consisted a mosaic of leopards’ natural habitats and highly human-dominated areas. We investigated the effects of key ecological and anthropogenic variables in determining leopard space use patterns. We addressed imperfect detections obtained using sign surveys conducted on spatially replicated transects within sampling units by modeling detection as a function of spatial auto-correlation and covariates. Our results show that the probability of site-use by leopards across the landscape varied between 0.02 (95% CI [0.01–0.09]) and 0.99 (95% CI [0.99–1.0]) across the study area. The best model (AIC weight = 0.97) showed that the probability of leopard space use was affected by the proportion of natural habitats and the presence of large wild prey in the sampling unit. Given that India is undergoing rapid modifications due to economic changes and demand for natural resources, we emphasize the need for landscape-based approach for conserving and monitoring leopards. We argue that leopards are an indicator of functional ecosystems represented by scrub, deciduous forest and rocky outcrops that do not always get prioritized for conservation, unlike densely forested habitats. Similarly, conservation of natural large wild prey, especially outside the protected area system, should assume greater importance, which could also have a positive impact on reducing human-leopard conflict.

Theoretical framework for eco-compensation to national parks in China

At present, the establishment of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main subject has attracted widespread attention from all corners of Chinese society. Eco-compensation mechanism is an important institutional guarantee for the construction of China’s system for natural protected areas. However, the current research over eco-compensation policies for China’s national parks and relevant practices are far from systematic and lacking of top-level design. Based on the current research and practices of eco-compensation to national parks (NPEC) at home and abroad, this paper has considered China’s requirements for the pilot areas in the national park system, proposed a theoretical framework on the basis of clarifying the connotation of eco-compensation, and thus formulated four key techniques. The techniques include identifying compensation subjects, formulating compensation methods, determining compensation standards, and expanding financing channels, with a view to providing a top-level design for the establishment of an NPEC mechanism in China.