scholarly journals Conservation Status of Forest Types Vary Greatly in Myanmar - the Most Forested Country in the Indo-burma Biodiversity Hotspot

Author(s):  
Sumalika Biswas ◽  
Qiongyu Huang ◽  
Khine Khine Swe ◽  
Franz-Eugen Arnold ◽  
Myat Su Mon ◽  
...  

Abstract Diverse forests with distinct forest types, harbor exceptional biodiversity and provide many ecosystem goods and services, making some forest types more economically valuable and prone to exploitation than others. The high rates of deforestation in Southeast Asia endanger the existence of such vulnerable forest types. Myanmar, the region’s largest forest frontier provides a last opportunity to conserve these vulnerable forest types. However, the exact distribution and spatial extent of Myanmar’s forest types has not been well characterized. To address this research gap, we developed a national scale Forest Type map of Myanmar at 20m resolution, using moderate resolution, multi-sensor satellite images (Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and ALOS-PALSAR), extensive field data, and a machine learning model (RandomForest). We mapped nine major forest types and developed a Conservation Status Score to evaluate the conservation status of the mapped forest types. Swamp, Mangrove, Dry Deciduous, Lowland Evergreen and Thorn forests were ranked as the five least conserved forest types. We also identified the largest remaining patch for each of the five least conserved forest types and determined their protection status to inform future forest conservation policy. In most cases, these patches lay outside protected areas indicating areas that may be prioritized for future conservation.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Knoop ◽  
Lounès Chikhi ◽  
Jordi Salmona

AbstractMadagascar is known for its unique biodiversity including its endemic primates, the lemurs. This biodiversity is threatened by deforestation, forest degradation and anthropogenic disturbances. Several mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus) have been shown to cope with habitat disturbances and degradation. However, there are 24 recognized mouse lemur species living in very different habitats, and it is not clear whether all these species respond similarly to forest degradation. Here, we review the literature on mouse lemur use of degraded habitat. We further question whether mouse lemurs show variation in degraded habitat use, with respect to forest type, conservation status and distribution range. We show that data on degraded forest (DF) use is available for 14 species and geographically aggregated in a few locations. However, data are scarce for most species, and lacking for almost half of the currently recognized species. Our results however confirm that most mouse lemur species are able to cope with, but do not necessarily respond positively to habitat degradation. We found no variation in degraded habitat use, with respect to forest type, conservation status and distribution range. However, we identified food resources availability, understory structure, predation, and tree hole availability to be the most frequently invoked factors potentially influencing DF use. The relative frequency of these four factors vary among forest types suggesting that differences may exist but still require research efforts for ecological and environmental differences among regions to be fully understood.RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTSLittle differences in the use of degraded forest (DF) between forest types, distribution ranges or conservation status.Varying factors potentially affecting DF use, such as food resources, forest structure, tree hole availability and predation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy M. Foran ◽  
Jason S. Link ◽  
Wesley S. Patrick ◽  
Leah Sharpe ◽  
Matthew D. Wood ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Thaman

Our ability to conserve biodiversity and to adapt to climate, environmental and economic change in the Pacific Islands will be greatly dependent on the conservation, restoration and enrichment of biodiversity within traditional multispecies agricultural land use systems. “Agrobiodiversity” is the most well-known, culturally-useful and accessible biodiversity on most islands and constitutes the most important foundation for ecosystem goods and services that support food, health, energy and livelihood security. This rich Pacific agrobiodiversity heritage, including associated ethnobiodiversity is highly threatened and deserves more prominence in mainstream conservation initiatives as a foundation for long-term sustainability. Such action is in line with Aichi Biodiversity Targets 7 and 13 which set goals for sustainable management of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and the maintenance of genetic diversity as critical for successful biodiversity conservation globally. It is also supported by the findings of the Japan Satoyama-Satoumi Assessment, which stresses the critical importance of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provided by traditional agricultural and village landscapes.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 266 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY R. MAGEE ◽  
ODETTE E. CURTIS ◽  
B-E. VAN WYK

Extensive field surveys of the Critically Endangered Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld have uncovered that Notobubon striatum, as currently circumscribed, comprises two distinct species. Upon careful examination of the type material it has become clear that names exist for both species. The type specimen of N. striatum clearly matches the lesser known species, a large shrub, ca. 1 m. tall, with a powerful anise-scent and which is restricted to the banks of seasonal rivers and watercourses in the Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld. The second and better known entity, with a wider distribution, corresponds to the type material of Dregea collina Ecklon & Zeyher. As such, a new combination, Notobubon collinum (Ecklon & Zeyher) Magee, is here made to accommodate this taxon, restricted to dry quartz and silcrete patches or outcrops in Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld. In their revised circumscriptions N. striatum and N. collinum are readily distinguished by habit, scent, leaf size and division, as well as leaf lobe shape and sepal size. Comprehensive descriptions of both species are provided, together with notes on their ecology and conservation status, and the existing key to the species of Notobubon updated. This brings the number of recognised species in the genus to thirteen.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 20033-20055
Author(s):  
Naveen Babu Kanda ◽  
Kurian Ayushi ◽  
Vincy K. Wilson ◽  
Narayanan Ayyappan ◽  
Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy

Documenting the biodiversity of protected areas and reserve forests is important to researchers, academicians and forest departments in their efforts to establish policies to protect regional biodiversity. Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) is an important protected area located in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka state known for its diverse flora and fauna with distinct ecological features. For the last four decades the sanctuary has witnessed the loss of forest cover, yet the vegetation in few locations is relatively undisturbed. The current inventory was undertaken during 2019–2020 to provide a checklist of woody species from SWS under-researched earlier. The list comprises 269 species of trees, lianas and shrubs distributed in 207 genera and 68 families. The most diverse families are Fabaceae, Moraceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Lauraceae, Apocynaceae, Meliaceae, Malvaceae, Phyllanthaceae, and Anacardiaceae, representing 48% of total woody flora. The sanctuary shelters 263 native and six exotic plant species. Thirty-nine species were endemic to the Western Ghats, five species to peninsular India and one species to the Western Ghats and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Four forest types, i.e., dry deciduous, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, and evergreen forests, are represented in the sanctuary. Of the total species, only seven occurred in all forest types, while 111 species are exclusive to a single forest type. One-hundred-and-four taxa were assessed for the International Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. Ten species that fall under Near Threatened, Vulnerable, and Endangered categories were encountered occasionally. The baseline data generated on plant diversity will be useful in highlighting the importance of these forests for species conservation and forest management. Such data form a cornerstone for further research. For instance, to understand the effect of invasive species and human impacts on the diversity of the region. 


1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
AF Bennett ◽  
LF Lumsden ◽  
JSA Alexander ◽  
PE Duncan ◽  
PG Johnson ◽  
...  

A total of 1487 observations of nine species of arboreal mammal, Acrobates pygmaeus, Phascolarctos cinereus, Petauroides volans, Petaurus australis, P. breviceps, P. norfolcensis, Pseudocheirusperegrinus, Trichosurus caninus and T. vulpecula, were made during surveys of the vertebrate fauna of northeastern Victoria. Habitat use by each species was examined in relation to eight forest types that occur along an environmental gradient ranging from sites at high elevation with a high annual rainfall, to sites on the dry inland and riverine plains. Arboreal mammals were not evenly distributed between forest types. Three species (P. australis, P. volans and T. caninus) were mainly associated with moist tall forests; two species (P. norfolcensis and T. vulpecula) were primarily associated with drier forests and woodlands of the foothills; the remaining three species (A. pygmaeus, P. breviceps and P. peregrinus) occurred widely throughout the forests. The composition of the arboreal mammal assemblage changed along the environmental gradient, but species displayed gradual changes in abundance with forest type rather than marked discontinuities in distributional pattern. The highest overall frequencies of occurrence of arboreal mammals were in forests typically dominated by a mixture of eucalypt species. The position at first sighting of an animal, and the relative height in the forest stratum, were used to describe the micro-habitats utilised. In general, the microhabitats occupied by each species are consistent with the distribution of their known food resources.


2017 ◽  
pp. 259-284
Author(s):  
Naren Pasupalati ◽  
Megha Nath ◽  
Abhijit Sharan ◽  
Priya Narayanan ◽  
Ramachandra Bhatta ◽  
...  

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