Managing Giant Clams in the South China Sea

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youna Lyons ◽  
Denise Cheong ◽  
Mei Lin Neo ◽  
Hiu Fung Wong
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Giant Clams ◽  
Local Extinctions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Tridacna Gigas

Abstract Tridacna gigas, the world’s largest living bivalve, could once be found on shallow coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific Region where its presence can be traced back to around 10 million years. However, following several local extinctions throughout its geographic range, its SCS population appears to have also been the subject of unprecedented overharvesting. This article discusses the obligations of littoral States of the SCS to protect and preserve this threatened resource and its habitat, to cooperate and consult with each other to that effect and act with due diligence. Given these obligations and the risk of irreversible harm and species’ extinction in the SCS, it proposes that littoral States should proceed to list the SCS population of T. gigas in the CITES Appendix I, impose an immediate ban on further harvesting pending (re-)assessment of the population, and adopt a management plan to ensure its survival and sustainable use.

Under the shadow of the giants: The ASEAN in search of a common strategy in a fluid and perilous Indo-Pacific region

2021 ◽  
pp. 205789112110145
Author(s):  
Renato Cruz De Castro
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Regional Power ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
The Us ◽  
Common Strategy

This article examines how the ASEAN is managing the quintessential security challenges of the 21st century, particularly China’s emergence as a regional power, its expansive territorial claim in the South China Sea, and the US–China strategic rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region. As an organization tackling these security concerns, the ASEAN lacks the essential mechanism for conflict resolution, operates through informal diplomacy and moral suasion, and relies on consensus in making decisions. As a result, China has effectively divided the association during the talks on the peaceful settlement of the South China Sea dispute. China is currently formulating with the ASEAN a Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. All the same, China has made sure that any future agreement with the ASEAN imposes no constraints on its expansionist moves in the contested waters, and contains provisions that benefit its interests in the long run. Meanwhile, US–China strategic competition has prompted the ASEAN to think of ways to deal with this potential security threat. However, the association has failed to come up with a common strategy. In conclusion, this article argues that China’s emergence as a regional power, its maritime expansion into the South China Sea, and the US–China geopolitical contest are testing both the capacity and the limits of the ASEAN in resolving these security issues.

New olenelline trilobites from the Northwest Territories, Canada, and the phylogenetic placement of Judomia absita Fritz, 1973

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2918 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. WESLEY GAPP ◽  
BRUCE S. LIEBERMAN ◽  
MICHAEL C. POPE ◽  
KELLY A. DILLIARD
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
New Species ◽  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Early Cambrian ◽  
Phylogenetic Placement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
One New Species

The Early Cambrian olenelline trilobites are a diverse clade and have been the subject of several phylogenetic analyses. Here, three new species of Bradyfallotaspis Fritz, 1972 (B. coriae, B. nicolascagei, and B. sekwiensis) and one new species of Nevadia Walcott, 1910 (N. saupeae) are described from the Sekwi Formation of the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada. In addition, new specimens potentially referable to Nevadia ovalis McMenamin, 1987 were recovered that may expand that species’ geographic range, which was thought to be restricted to Sonora, Mexico. The results of a phylogenetic analysis incorporating several olenelline taxa, including Judomia absita Fritz, 1973 from the Sekwi Formation, are also presented herein. This species has been assigned to various olenelline genera, including Judomia Lermontova, 1951 and Paranevadella Palmer & Repina, 1993. Phylogenetic analysis suggests this species is closely related to Judomia tera Lazarenko, 1960 from Siberia. This phylogenetic relationship provides further support for the hypothesis that a close biogeographic relationship existed between Laurentia and Siberia during the Cambrian.

scholarly journals ANALYZING TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL TRENDS IN MANAGEMENT PLANS OF FEDERAL PROTECTED AREAS IN BRAZIL

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 846-854
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ribeiro Morais ◽  
◽  
Mariana Nascimento Siqueira ◽  
Roniel Freitas-Oliveira ◽  
Daniel Brito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Group A ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Group B

Protected areas are the most frequently used tool for the mitigation of threats to biodiversity. However, without effective management, the creation of new protected areas may be ineffective. In Brazil, protected areas must have both a governing body (consultative or deliberative council) and an official management plan. Here, we analyzed general trends and patterns in the approval of the management plans for Brazilian federal protected areas. We considered all federal protected areas, and compiled data on (i) the year the area was created, (ii) the type of protected area (integral protection vs. sustainable use), (iii) year its management plan was approved, (iv) year in which the management plan was revised after its approval, (v) total area (in hectares), and (vi) the biome in which the area is located. We stablished three groups of protected area: 1) Group A: protected areas created prior to 1979, 2) Group B: protected areas created between 1979 and 1999, and 3) Group C: protected areas created between 2000 to the present time. Finally, we tested whether time for the approval of the management plan suffered a simultaneous effect of the type of biome and type of categories of protected area (strictly protected vs. sustainable use areas). We found 211 (63.17% of the 334) protected areas with management plan. On average, the time taken for the creation and approval of a management plan far exceeds the deadlines (5 yrs.) defined under current Brazilian law. All Brazilian biomes are poorly covered by protected areas with effective management plans, with the highest and lowest value observed in the Pantanal (100%) and Caatinga (46.42%), respectively. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of many federal protected areas in Brazil can be reduced considerably by the lack of a management plan, with deleterious consequences for the country’s principal conservation strategies.

Negotiating an International Legal Instrument on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: A Look Ahead

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Marta Abegón Novella
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Final Agreement ◽  
Core Issues

The negotiation of the future Agreement governing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction is in its final stage. Essentially a treaty for the protection of general interests, the Agreement can generate several benefits for the governance of the oceans. However, in the first three sessions of the intergovernmental conference, deep discrepancies have emerged with respect to the core issues of the package agreed in 2011. This article identifies various formulas and strategies that have been considered in the negotiations and incorporated in the Revised draft text as possible regulatory options with the potential to bring positions closer and facilitate the agreement: avoiding explicit reference to the legal status of marine genetic resources; the incorporation of differential and contextual norms; the introduction of due diligence obligations; the incorporation of internal soft law; and the reduction of the scope of the treaty. These options may help to provide flexibility and differentiation in the regulation but, as essentially pragmatic measures, they tend to sacrifice the ambition of the final Agreement. On the other hand, if States assume their real role and responsibility in the process –that of interpreters of general interest and custodians of marine biodiversity –they would be in a better position to find novel and more ambitious solutions for bringing this crucial Agreement to fruition. This article advocates a return to basics and the placing of the marine environment at the centre of the regulations.

Extensive cryptic diversity of giant clams (Cardiidae: Tridacninae) revealed by DNA-sequence-based species delimitation approaches with new data from Hainan Island, South China Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Dan Cui ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Jiawei Chen ◽  
Helu Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Species Delimitation ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Hainan Island ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Nominal Species ◽  
Cryptic Diversity ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Giant Clams

Abstract Accurate species delimitation is important, especially for endangered species. As one of the most conspicuous bivalve taxa, giant clams are threatened throughout their geographic range. Many phylogeographic studies have revealed strong population structure among giant clams in the Indo-Pacific, suggesting cryptic diversity within these species. However, less attention has been paid to their identification and delimitation. In this study, we assembled a comprehensive dataset of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for Tridacna species, focusing on new sequences from Hainan Island in the South China Sea and previously published ones from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, the Solomon Islands and the Red Sea. Three nominal species, Tridacna crocea, T. squamosa and T. noae, were recognized at Hainan Island on the basis of distance-based DNA barcoding, with mean interspecific K2P distances of 10.6–24.7% for seven Tridacna species (T. crocea, T. squamosa, T. noae, T. maxima, T. mbalavuana, T. derasa and T. gigas). The most abundant species, T. noae, represents the first record of this species from Hainan Island. Using a combination of phylogenetic and DNA-based species delimitation analyses (automatic barcode gap discovery, generalized mixed Yule coalescent and Bayesian Poisson tree processes), we found strong support for a total of 13 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) for the seven nominal Tridacna species. These results, coupled with the fact that each OTU occupies different regions in the Indo-Pacific, strongly suggest multiple cryptic species of giant clams. Our findings point to the need for taxonomic revisionary work on giant clams throughout the Indo-Pacific; such work will have important conservation implications.

Seawater Temperature Seasonality in the South China Sea During the Late Holocene Derived From High-Resolution Sr/Ca Ratios of Tridacna Gigas

2015 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Yan ◽  
Liguang Sun ◽  
Da Shao ◽  
Yuhong Wang
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Seawater Temperature ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Tridacna Gigas ◽  
Temperature Seasonality

Temperature seasonality, the difference between summer and winter temperature, has significant influences on global terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, most of proxy-based climate records are of limited temporal resolution and thus insufficient to quantify the past temperature seasonality. In this study, high-resolution Sr/Ca ratios of modern (live-caught) and fossil (dead-collected) Tridacna gigas shells from the South China Sea (SCS) were used to reconstruct the seawater temperature seasonality during the late Holocene. The averaged seawater temperature seasonality around 2165 ± 75 BC (4.46 ± 1.41°C, derived from the data of 18 yr) were similar to the seasonality of recent decade (4.41 ± 0.82°C during AD 1994–2005), but the temperature seasonality around AD 50 ± 40 (3.69 ± 1.37°C, derived from the data of 48 yr) and AD 990 ± 40 (3.64 ± 0.87°C, derived from the data of 11 yr) was significantly lower than that during AD 1994–2005. The reduced seasonality around AD 990 ± 40 was attributable to the unusually warm winter during the medieval times, probably caused by the weakening of East Asian Winter Monsoon. Our study highlighted the potential of T. gigas shells in providing high-resolution seasonality climate information during the late Holocene.

scholarly journals Studenica Marble: Significance, Use, Conservation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nevena Debljović Ristić ◽  
Nenad Šekularac ◽  
Dušan Mijović ◽  
Jelena Ivanović Šekularac
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
National Heritage ◽  
Architectural Structures ◽  
The Right

Studenica marble is the stone used in creating the mediaeval Serbian cultural heritage. This is a historical overview of the importance and use of stone from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, when the most imposing religious architectural structures were built. The significance of Studenica marble is particularly manifested in the Virgin’s Church at the Studenica Monastery. For its marble façades and artistic architectural elements, among other things, the church was inscribed in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List in 1986. Through centuries, the Virgin’s Church suffered multiple destructions. In order to restore the marble façades properly and its architectural elements, the marble deposits where the stone was once quarried had to be located anew. When the stone material characterisation had been performed, the right stone was selected for the complex conservation works on the churches in Studenica and Sopocani. A practical implementation of the research results raised the awareness of the marble deposits in the Studenica vicinity, being also part of the national heritage. The Studenica Monastery Cultural Landscape Management Plan envisions preservation of the deposits and their sustainable use for restoration purposes in the future.

scholarly journals Aboriginal knowledge of the mammals of the central deserts of Australia

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Burbidge ◽  
K. A. Johnson ◽  
P. J. Fuller ◽  
R. I. Southgate
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Terrestrial Mammal ◽  
Sudden Loss ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
Profound Knowledge ◽  
Preferred Habitat ◽  
The Subject

More than one-third of the terrestrial mammal species of the central deserts of Australia have vanished in the past 50 years. Few of these have been the subject of even preliminary scientific study, and data as basic as geographic range and preferred habitat are lacking for many species. Aborigines, many of whom lived traditionally in the central deserts until recently, still retain a profound knowledge of the mammals, but this knowledge, too, is fast disappearing. Aboriginal people living in communities scattered through and around the edges of the 1645 000 km2 of the study area, comprising the Great Sandy, Little Sandy, Tanami, Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts and the Central Ranges district, were shown museum skins and asked to provide information about local names, current and past status, and aspects of biology and ecology. Most species, including some thought to have become extinct early this century, persisted in the deserts until 30–50 years ago. New data are presented on former distribution and on the biology and ecology of many species. The mammal fauna of the central deserts was richer and more widespread than generally believed, but the area has suffered a massive and sudden loss of species, probably unparalleled in extent elsewhere in Australia.

scholarly journals Bringing back the giants: juvenile Tridacna gigas from natural spawning of restocked giant clams

Coral Reefs ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. Cabaitan ◽  
Cecilia Conaco
Keyword(s):  
Giant Clams ◽  
Natural Spawning ◽  
Tridacna Gigas
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