scholarly journals The Smart Forest Conundrum: Contextualizing Pitfalls of Sensors and AI in Conservation Science for Tropical Forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 194008292110147
Author(s):  
Dipto Sarkar ◽  
Colin A. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
National Park ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Kibale National Park ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Field Station ◽  
Data Production ◽  
Global Corporations ◽  
The One

The term ‘smart forest’ is not yet common, but the proliferation of sensors, algorithms, and technocentric thinking in conservation, as in most other aspects of our lives, suggests we are at the brink of this evolution. While there has been some critical discussion about the value of using smart technology in conservation, a holistic discussion about the broader technological, social, and economic interactions involved with using big data, sensors, artificial intelligence, and global corporations is largely missing. Here, we explore the pitfalls that are useful to consider as forests are gradually converted to technological sites of data production for optimized biodiversity conservation and are consequently incorporated in the digital economy. We consider who are the enablers of the technologically enhanced forests and how the gradual operationalization of smart forests will impact the traditional stakeholders of conservation. We also look at the implications of carpeting forests with sensors and the type of questions that will be encouraged. To contextualize our arguments, we provide examples from our work in Kibale National Park, Uganda which hosts the one of the longest continuously running research field station in Africa.

Does the presence of elephant dung create hotspots of growth for existing seedlings?

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (03) ◽  
pp. 132-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs Kalbitzer ◽  
Victoria McInnis ◽  
Patrick A. Omeja ◽  
Sarah Bortolamiol ◽  
Colin A. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
National Park ◽  
Kibale National Park ◽  
Initial Number ◽  
Nutrient Input ◽  
Tolerant Plants ◽  
Number Of Leaves ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Slow Growing ◽  
Elephant Dung

AbstractMegaherbivores play a central role in the evolution and functioning of ecosystems. In tropical forests elephant species are some of the few remaining megaherbivores. Through elephant foraging, nutrients that would be locked in leaves and stems, taking months or years to decay, are quickly liberated for use. In 10 experimental sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda, we set up 10 pairs of plots (4 × 4 m), each pair involved one treatment, elephant dung addition, and one control. After 1 y, we quantified growth (height and leaf number) and survival of young light-demanding (12) and shade-tolerant (19) plant species (439 stems in total). In general, the addition of elephant dung did not increase seedling growth, and it only increased the number of leaves in shade-tolerant plants with a large initial number of leaves. Researchers have speculated that the loss of elephants would shift the composition of African forests to slow-growing tree species. However, this is not supported by our finding that shows some slow-growing shade-tolerant plants grew more new leaves with additional nutrient input from elephant dung, a condition that would occur if elephant numbers increase.

scholarly journals Phlebotomine Sand Fly Fauna andLeishmaniaInfection in the Vicinity of the Serra do Cipó National Park, a Natural Brazilian Heritage Site

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosana Silva Lana ◽  
Érika Monteiro Michalsky ◽  
Consuelo Latorre Fortes-Dias ◽  
João Carlos França-Silva ◽  
Fabiana de Oliveira Lara-Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Sand Fly ◽  
Sand Flies ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Phlebotomine Sand Flies ◽  
Serra Do Cipó ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One ◽  
Favorable Conditions

In the New World, the leishmaniases are primarily transmitted to humans through the bites ofLeishmania-infectedLutzomyia(Diptera: Psychodidae) phlebotomine sand flies. Any or both of two basic clinical forms of these diseases are endemic to several cities in Brazil—the American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) and the American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL). The present study was conducted in the urban area of a small-sized Brazilian municipality (Jaboticatubas), in which three cases of AVL and nine of ACL have been reported in the last five years. Jaboticatubas is an important tourism hub, as it includes a major part of the Serra do Cipó National Park. Currently, no local data is available on the entomological fauna or circulatingLeishmania. During the one-year period of this study, we captured 3,104 phlebotomine sand flies belonging to sixteenLutzomyiaspecies. In addition to identifying incriminated or suspected vectors of ACL with DNA of the etiological agent of AVL and vice versa, we also detectedLeishmaniaDNA in unexpectedLutzomyiaspecies. The expressive presence of vectors and naturalLeishmaniainfection indicates favorable conditions for the spreading of leishmaniases in the vicinity of the Serra do Cipó National Park.

scholarly journals The Swiss National Park

Oryx ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-70
Author(s):  
G. N. Zimmerli
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Swiss Society ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Swiss National Park ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Eastern Border ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The One ◽  
Protection Commission

The idea of a Swiss national park originated with the Swiss Society for Nature Research and this Society played the leading part in its realization. In 1906 the Society set up as part of its own organization a Swiss Nature Protection Commission and charged it to search for an area in Switzerland suitable for establishment as a reserve, in which all the animal and plant life could be protected against interference by man and so could be left entirely to the play of natural forces. It was not easy to find in Switzerland a suitably large area which still retained its original characteristics, was virtually free from human settlement, and contained some wealth of fauna and flora. After a careful survey of the whole country it became clear that the most suitable region was the Lower Engadine, with its isolated valleys on the eastern border of the country. The district in which, at the beginning of the century, bears had still lived was the one in which primitive nature could be found in its truest state.

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