scholarly journals Reptile species persistence under climate change and direct human threats in north-western Argentina

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAVIER NORI ◽  
GERARDO C. LEYNAUD ◽  
JOSÉ VOLANTE ◽  
CRISTIAN S. ABDALA ◽  
GUSTAVO J. SCROCCHI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Agriculture Expansion ◽  
The Face ◽  
North Western

SUMMARYProtected areas have been established historically in residual places where the potential for extractive uses is low, implying that places at risk are usually under-protected. Argentina is no exception, with few protected areas established in productive regions that are prone to conversion. Here, using reptiles as a study group and considering the most important human threats in north-western Argentina, we estimated priority conservation areas where we expect species to persist in the face of climate change and land conversion. Protected areas cover no more than 9% of the study region, but represent less than 15% of reptile distributions. There are great opportunities for improving the conservation status in the region by protecting only 8% more of north-western Argentina, with the level of species protection inside the protected area network increasing almost four-fold, reaching 43% of species distributions on average and 59% of the distributions of threatened reptiles. Fortunately, the highest diversity of reptiles in the region does not match the places targeted for agriculture expansion. Our findings suggest that future prioritization schemes should embrace other groups that are especially diverse in the Chaco ecoregion, which overlaps with our study area.

scholarly journals Integrated Landscape Change Analysis of Protected Areas and their Surrounding Landscapes: Application in the Brazilian Cerrado

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Bellón ◽  
Julien Blanco ◽  
Alta De Vos ◽  
Fabio de O. Roque ◽  
Olivier Pays ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Landscape Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Productivity Loss ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Local Analysis ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Conservation Areas

Remote sensing tools have been long used to monitor landscape dynamics inside and around protected areas. Hereto, scientists have largely relied on land use and land cover (LULC) data to derive indicators for monitoring these dynamics, but these metrics do not capture changes in the state of vegetation surfaces that may compromise the ecological integrity of conservation areas’ landscapes. Here, we introduce a methodology that combines LULC change estimates with three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-based proxy indicators of vegetation productivity, phenology, and structural change. We illustrate the utility of this methodology through a regional and local analysis of the landscape dynamics in the Cerrado Biome in Brazil in 2001 and 2016. Despite relatively little natural vegetation loss inside core protected areas and their legal buffer zones, the different indicators revealed significant LULC conversions from natural vegetation to farming land, general productivity loss, homogenization of natural forests, significant agricultural expansion, and a general increase in productivity. These results suggest an overall degradation of habitats and intensification of land use in the studied conservation area network, highlighting serious conservation inefficiencies in this region and stressing the importance of integrated landscape change analyses to provide complementary indicators of ecologically-relevant dynamics in these key conservation areas.

scholarly journals Globalization and Biodiversity Conservation Problems: Polycentric REDD+ Solutions

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mwangi Githiru ◽  
Josephine Njambuya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Great Chance ◽  
Free Rider Problem ◽  
The Face ◽  
Negative Impacts

Protected areas are considered the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, but face multiple problems in delivering this core objective. The growing trend of framing biodiversity and protected area values in terms of ecosystem services and human well-being may not always lead to biodiversity conservation. Although globalization is often spoken about in terms of its adverse effects to the environment and biodiversity, it also heralds unprecedented and previously inaccessible opportunities linked to ecosystem services. Biodiversity and related ecosystem services are amongst the common goods hardest hit by globalization. Yet, interconnectedness between people, institutions, and governments offers a great chance for globalization to play a role in ameliorating some of the negative impacts. Employing a polycentric governance approach to overcome the free-rider problem of unsustainable use of common goods, we argue here that REDD+, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate change mitigation scheme, could be harnessed to boost biodiversity conservation in the face of increasing globalization, both within classic and novel protected areas. We believe this offers a timely example of how an increasingly globalized world connects hitherto isolated peoples, with the ability to channel feelings and forces for biodiversity conservation. Through the global voluntary carbon market, REDD+ can enable and empower, on the one hand, rural communities in developing countries contribute to mitigation of a global problem, and on the other, individuals or societies in the West to help save species they may never see, yet feel emotionally connected to.

scholarly journals The geography of high-value biodiversity areas for terrestrial vertebrates in Western Europe and their coverage by protected area networks

Web Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. T. Assunção-Albuquerque ◽  
J. M. Rey Benayas ◽  
F. S. Albuquerque ◽  
M. Á. Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Natura 2000 Network ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Major Taxon

Abstract. We identified high-value biodiversity areas (HVBAs) of terrestrial vertebrates according to a combined index of biodiversity (CBI) for each major taxon and a standardized biodiversity index (SBI) for all taxa in 2195 cells of 50 × 50 km in Western Europe to evaluate whether these areas are included in the current protected area networks. The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and NATURA 2000 protected area network were used to assess the protected area cover in HVBAs. WDPA and NATURA 2000 were geographically quite complementary as WDPA is more densely represented in Central and Northern Europe and NATURA 2000 in the Mediterranean basin. A total of 729 cells were identified as HVBAs. From the total of these HVBA areas, NATURA 2000 network was present in more cells (660) than the WDPA network (584 cells). The sum of protected land percentages across all the HVBA cells was 28.8%. The identified HVBA cells according to the SBI included 603 or 78.2% of all vertebrate species in the study region, whereas the identified HVBA cells according to the SBI for individual taxa included 47 (90.4%) species of amphibians, 79 (74.5%) of reptiles, 417 (88.5%) of birds, and 130 (91.5%) of mammals. However, neither network was present in 7 or 3% of the identified HVBA cells. Thus, we recommend expanding protected areas in Europe to fill this gap and improve coverage of vertebrate species to strengthen biodiversity conservation.

scholarly journals Coupled Networks of Permanent Protected Areas and Dynamic Conservation Areas for Biodiversity Conservation Under Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassidy C. D'Aloia ◽  
Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis ◽  
Christopher Blackford ◽  
Cindy Chu ◽  
Janelle M. R. Curtis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Coupled Networks ◽  
Dynamic Conservation

scholarly journals Nature protection across countries: Do size and power matter?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Baldi
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
The Face ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Limited Spectrum ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Effective Growth

AbstractProtected areas are one of the most effective tools for nature conservation. Consequently, almost all countries have agreed to set increasingly demanding goals for the expansion of their protected area systems. However, there is a large disparity among countries, and research on the cultural drivers of differences remains quite unexplored. Here, we explore the relationship between protected extent and a limited spectrum of socio-economic characteristics, making focus on size and power features. Protected areas under strict conservation categories (I to IV, IUCN) were considered for 195 countries, and relationships were modeled by means of LOESS regressions, violin plots, and a random forest ensemble learning method. Larger and more powerful countries (in terms of land area, gross domestic product, or military expenditure) protect less and in relatively smaller units than smaller and less powerful countries. Out of the twenty most extensive countries of the world, only two exceed 10% of protection. This situation is problematic since an effective growth of the global protected area network depends on the willingness of larger and more powerful countries. We propose different hypotheses a posteriori that explain the role of size and power driving protection. These hypotheses involve direct mechanisms (e.g., the persuasive capacity of large countries) or mechanisms that mediate the interactions of some others (e.g., tourism contribution to GDP and insularity). Independently of mechanisms, our results emphasize the conservation responsibilities of large and powerful countries and contribute to envision conservation scenarios in the face of changes in the number and size of countries.

Potential distributional changes and conservation priorities of endemic amphibians in western Mexico as a result of climate change

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDRÉS GARCÍA ◽  
MIGUEL A. ORTEGA-HUERTA ◽  
ENRIQUE MARTÍNEZ-MEYER
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Natural Protected Areas ◽  
Western Mexico ◽  
Composite Models

SUMMARYThere is a growing concern regarding the conservation status of amphibian species worldwide; they are more threatened and declining more rapidly than mammals or birds, and Mexico is considered one of the richest countries on Earth in terms of reptile and amphibian species. Composite models of the current distribution patterns of endemic amphibians in western Mexico were used to predict their potential distributional changes as a consequence of expected climatic changes. The models identified the most significant conservation areas within the region (hotspots), considering existing natural protected areas (NPAs) and previously recognized terrestrial priority regions for conservation (TPRCs). Three niche modelling algorithms (Bioclim, GARP and MaxEnt) used 2412 locality records for 29 species to model their climate envelopes under current and future conditions for the years 2020, 2050 and 2080. The models indicated that overall species persistence was 60% for the years 2020 and 2050, but dropped to < 20% by the year 2080. The current network of NPAs included only 8% of the areas that currently possess the greatest predicted potential richness (16–21 species), and, by 2050, the models indicate they will encompass only 3% of these areas. Six TPRCs included 44% of currently predicted areas with the highest potential species richness, but, by 2050, models predicted only 3% of such areas would persist within one TPRC. Higher uncertainty levels and variability among species surrounded the 2080 projections generated by the three algorithms. Recognition of the potential effects of climate change and consideration of the conservation value of the six TPRCs identified in this study may counteract the potential consequences of climate change on biodiversity in Mexico.

scholarly journals Conservation Status of North American Birds in the Face of Future Climate Change

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. e0135350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Langham ◽  
Justin G. Schuetz ◽  
Trisha Distler ◽  
Candan U. Soykan ◽  
Chad Wilsey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North American ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
The Face

scholarly journals Could Protected Areas in Brazil’s Semi-Arid Conserve Endangered Birds Facing Climatic and Land Cover Changes?

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-70
Author(s):  
Tiago Castro Silva ◽  
Lara Gomes Côrtes ◽  
Marinez Ferreira de Siqueira
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Global Climate Changes ◽  
The Face

Protected areas act as pillars on which conservation strategies are built. Besides human activities, global climate changes are an additional concern to species’ conservation. In northeastern Brazil, climate change should lead to a replacement of the current native vegetation by semi-desert vegetation. This study evaluates whether the protected areas of the Caatinga can contribute to the maintenance of suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds over time in the face of global climate changes and land cover change. We used ecological niche models as input layers in a spatial prioritization program, in which stability indices were used to weight the targets. Results predicted that most taxa (18) will have their suitability lowered in the future, and all taxa (23) will have their ecological niche geographically displaced. However, our results showed that the Caatinga’s protected areas system integrated with a set of priority areas can maintain suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds in the face of climate change and land cover change. On average, Caatinga’s protected areas system could protect climatic stability areas at least 1.7 times greater than the scenarios without it. This reinforces the importance of protected areas as a biodiversity conservation strategy. 
  

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