scholarly journals Habitat conversion and global avian biodiversity loss

2003 ◽  
Vol 270 (1521) ◽  
pp. 1293-1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Gaston ◽  
T. M. Blackburn ◽  
K. K. Goldewijk
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Avian Biodiversity

Planning for the future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Esler ◽  
Anna L. Jacobsen ◽  
R. Brandon Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Land Sharing ◽  
Land Protection ◽  
Land Sparing ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Sustainable Conservation ◽  
Terrestrial Biomes

Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions are highlighted in several global analyses of conservation risk and priorities. These regions have undergone high levels of habitat conversion and yet of all terrestrial biomes they have the second lowest level of land protection. With transformation pressures set to continue (Chapter 8), planning for a sustainable conservation future in MTC regions is therefore essential. Conservation activities are represented by a variety of philosophies and motives, partially driven by the underlying differences in transformation drivers and sociopolitical contexts across MTC regions. These activities include investment in, and best-practice management of, protected areas (land sparing), an interdisciplinary focus on integrated management of production landscapes (land sharing; stewardship), as well as ecological restoration to increase habitat, improve connectivity, and provide a hedge against the impacts of future climate change. These responses need to be applied in a strategic, synergistic manner to minimize future biodiversity loss.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic homogenization of amphibian assemblages in human-altered habitats across the globe

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (15) ◽  
pp. E3454-E3462 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Justin Nowakowski ◽  
Luke O. Frishkoff ◽  
Michelle E. Thompson ◽  
Tatiana M. Smith ◽  
Brian D. Todd
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Average Loss ◽  
Species Responses ◽  
Landscape Scales

Habitat conversion is driving biodiversity loss and restructuring species assemblages across the globe. Responses to habitat conversion vary widely, however, and little is known about the degree to which shared evolutionary history underlies changes in species richness and composition. We analyzed data from 48 studies, comprising 438 species on five continents, to understand how taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of amphibian assemblages shifts in response to habitat conversion. We found that evolutionary history explains the majority of variation in species’ responses to habitat conversion, with specific clades scattered across the amphibian tree of life being favored by human land uses. Habitat conversion led to an average loss of 139 million years of amphibian evolutionary history within assemblages, high species and lineage turnover at landscape scales, and phylogenetic homogenization at the global scale (despite minimal taxonomic homogenization). Lineage turnover across habitats was greatest in lowland tropical regions where large species pools and stable climates have perhaps given rise to many microclimatically specialized species. Together, our results indicate that strong phylogenetic clustering of species’ responses to habitat conversion mediates nonrandom structuring of local assemblages and loss of global phylogenetic diversity. In an age of rapid global change, identifying clades that are most sensitive to habitat conversion will help prioritize use of limited conservation resources.

Prominent role of invasive species in avian biodiversity loss

2009 ◽  
Vol 142 (10) ◽  
pp. 2043-2049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Clavero ◽  
Lluís Brotons ◽  
Pere Pons ◽  
Daniel Sol
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Avian Biodiversity

scholarly journals Forecasting Avian Migration Patterns using a Deep Bidirectional RNN Augmented with an Auxiliary Task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kehinde Owoeye
Keyword(s):  
Bird Migration ◽  
Satellite Telemetry ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Critical Infrastructures ◽  
Cathartes Aura ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Building Models ◽  
High Tension ◽  
Avian Biodiversity ◽  
Better Than

Early forecasting of bird migration patterns has important application for example in reducing avian biodiversity loss. An estimated 100 million to 1 billion birds are known to die yearly during migration due to fatal collisions with human made infrastructures such as buildings, high tension lines, wind turbines and aircrafts thus raising a huge concern for conservationists. Building models that can forecast accurate migration patterns is therefore important to enable the optimal management of these critical infrastructures with the sole aim of reducing biodiversity loss. While previous works have largely focused on the task of forecasting migration intensities and the onset of just one migration state, predicting several migration states at even finer granularity is more useful towards optimally managing the infrastructures that causes these deaths. In this work, we consider the task of forecasting migration patterns of the popular Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) collected with the aid of satellite telemetry for multiple years at a resolution of one hour. We use a deep Bidirectional-GRU recurrent neural network augmented with an auxiliary task where the state information of one layer is used to initialise the other. Empirical results on a variety of experiments with our approach show we can accurately forecast migration up to one week in advance performing better than a variety of baselines.

scholarly journals Are railways detrimental to bird populations? A BDACI study on the construction of the Bothnia Line Railway

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriaan de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Mixed Effect ◽  
Construction Period ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Mixed Effect Models ◽  
Avian Biodiversity ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
And Control

AbstractRailways, like roads, are commonly considered bad for birdlife, but supporting data are very scarce. We conducted a 14-year before-during-after control-impact (BDACI) study of birds in agricultural landscapes affected by the construction of the Bothnia Line Railway (BLR) in northern Sweden. The “during” phase was split into two phases, one for the true construction period and one for the years when the railway was ready but not trafficked. Avian biodiversity increased in impact sites (N=13), but not in control sites (N=6). The numbers of breeding territories decreased correspondingly in impact and control sites, but trends differed between species and sites. Developments in the Degernäs site demonstrated that mitigation could be successful. Finally, there was no support for a shying-away effect of the BLR. Territory midpoints moved closer rather than away from the railway, albeit with variable patterns for individual sites and species. Mixed effect models showed no differences in avian biodiversity between the Construction, Ready and Traffic phases compared with Before, but relative increases in numbers of territories and decreases in territory midpoint distances to the BLR. The results do not support a general detrimental effect of railway construction on bird populations in terms of biodiversity loss, reduced abundances or shying-away from train traffic. More studies and the development of “Railway Ecology” are badly needed.

scholarly journals The unrealized potential of herbaria for global change biology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K. Meineke ◽  
Charles C. Davis ◽  
T. Jonathan Davies
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Herbarium Data ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Few Data

AbstractPlant and fungal specimens in herbaria are becoming primary resources for investigating how plant phenology and geographic distributions shift with climate change, greatly expanding inferences across spatial, temporal, and phylogenetic dimensions. However, these specimens contain a wealth of additional data—including nutrients, defensive compounds, herbivore damage, disease lesions, and signatures of physiological processes—that capture ecological and evolutionary responses to the Anthropocene but which are less frequently utilized. Here, we outline the diversity of herbarium data, global change topics to which they have been applied, and new hypotheses they could inform. We find that herbarium data have been used extensively to study impacts of climate change and invasive species, but that such data are less commonly used to address other drivers of biodiversity loss, including habitat conversion, pollution, and overexploitation. In addition, we note that fungal specimens are under-explored relative to vascular plants. To facilitate broader application of plant and fungal specimens in global change research, we outline the limitations of these data and modern sampling and statistical tools that may be applied to surmount challenges they present. Using a case study of insect herbivory, we illustrate how novel herbarium data may be employed to test hypotheses for which few data exist, despite potentially large biases. With the goal of positioning herbaria as hubs for global change research, we suggest future research directions and curation priorities.

scholarly journals Habitat specificity is not universal proxy for sensitivity to habitat conversion among rodents on the Canadian Prairies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne M. Heisler ◽  
Gavin L. Simpson ◽  
Ray G. Poulin ◽  
Troy I. Wellicome ◽  
Britt D. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Resource Limitation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Habitat Specificity ◽  
Canadian Prairies ◽  
Agricultural Intensity ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Agriculture Products

AbstractConverting habitat for agricultural production threatens biodiversity loss worldwide and has significant implications for human well-being. Debates on how to conserve biodiversity as the demand for agriculture products rises is being informed by studies using habitat specificity as a proxy for sensitivity to land modification, assuming all species respond to habitat loss and fragmentation relative to their affinity towards the habitat type being converted. Here, we test this assumption among rodent assemblages on the Canadian Prairies, hypothesizing negative responses among grassland obligates and neutral or positive responses among habitat generalists to landscape change along a gradient of increasing agricultural intensity. We found complex, sometimes contradictory responses among rodent species, which depended on the magnitude of habitat loss that had occurred and did not always reflect each species’ relative affinity for grassland habitat. Our results suggest future studies should avoid assuming a single habitat type appropriately characterizes resource limitation among all species, and instead carefully consider which dimension of the ecological niche defines specificity for each species. Our results indicate habitat specificity is not always a reliable proxy for sensitivity to land modification, with significant implications for biodiversity conservation when used to inform agriculture and land use policies.

The way of value of Correlation of genomic DNA microsatellite loci and live weight of Chukchi reindeer

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
V. Dodokhov ◽  
N. Pavlova ◽  
T. Rumyantseva ◽  
L. Kalashnikova
Keyword(s):  
Microsatellite Markers ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
High Germination ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mean ◽  
High Level ◽  
Dna Microsatellite

The article presents the genetic characteristic of the Chukchi reindeer breed. The object of the study was of the Chukchi reindeer. In recent years, the number of reindeer of the Chukchi breed has declined sharply. Reduced reindeer numbers could lead to biodiversity loss. The Chukchi breed of deer has good meat qualities, has high germination viability and is adapted in adverse tundra conditions of Yakutia. Herding of the Chukchi breed of deer in Yakutia are engaged only in the Nizhnekolymsky district. There are four generic communities and the largest of which is the agricultural production cooperative of nomadic tribal community «Turvaurgin», which was chosen to assess the genetic processes of breed using microsatellite markers: Rt6, BMS1788, Rt 30, Rt1, Rt9, FCB193, Rt7, BMS745, C 143, Rt24, OheQ, C217, C32, NVHRT16, T40, C276. It was found that microsatellite markers have a wide range of alleles and generally have a high informative value for identifying of genetic differences between animals and groups of animal. The number of identified alleles is one of the indicators of the genetic diversity of the population. The total number of detected alleles was 127. The Chukchi breed of deer is characterized by a high level of heterozygosity, and the random crossing system prevails over inbreeding in the population. On average, there were 7.9 alleles (Na) per locus, and the mean number of effective alleles (Ne) was 4.1. The index of fixation averaged 0.001. The polymorphism index (PIC) ranged from 0.217 to 0.946, with an average of 0.695.

Reintroduced mowing can counteract biodiversity loss in abandoned meadows

Erdkunde ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Lundberg ◽  
Jutta Kapfer ◽  
Inger Elisabeth Måren
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss
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