Assessment of Cholinesterase inhibition activity of birds inhabiting pesticide exposed croplands and protected area in hot semi-arid region of Pakistan

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity levels can be used as an indicator for AChE inhibition due to pesticide poisoning in bird species. We assessed the comparative brain cholinesterase (AChE) activity level of five bird species inhabiting pesticide exposed croplands and Protected Area i.e. Deva Vatala National Park (DVNP), Bhimber by using a spectrophotometric method. AChE activity levels ranged from 56.3 to 85.9 µmol/min/g of brain tissue of birds representing DVNP. However, AChE activity levels ranged from 27.6 to 79.9 µmol/min/g of brain tissue of birds representing croplands. AChE activity levels observed in Jungle babbler, Common babbler, and Red-vented bulbul showed significant differences (P < 0.05) at two sites. However, White wagtail and Black drongo demonstrated non-significant differences (P > 0.05). Maximum inhibition was recorded in Jungle babbler (53%) followed by Common babbler (35%), Red-vented bulbul (18%), White wagtail (15%), and Black drongo (7%). The brain cholinesterase inhibition levels under-protected ecosystems (DVNP, Bhimber) and agricultural landscape suggest insecticidal contamination and its impact on avifauna diversity. The study also emphasizes on the importance of pesticide-free zones to protect the biodiversity of birds.

Integration of Instruments for the Protection of Natural Protected Areas in Urban and Biodiversity Strategies and in Urban Planning Regulations

Approximately 75% of the urban settlements in Romania are superimposed or are tangent to at least one natural protected area, these not being integrated from the point of view of their regulation in the urban strategies and in the urban planning regulations. From a spatial point of view, this type of relationship often represents a contrast between the urban fabric and the quasi-natural fabric. However, in the regulatory or strategy instruments for the development of urban settlements, where such contrasts exist, they are only integrated at the border level. The ecotone is, in most cases, the only element mentioned in urban planning instruments and is approached as a land that can only function in isolation and that in no way can support urban development. This reluctance and fear of approaching natural protected areas, also negatively influences the conception of the community, investors and the administration. Urban actors are not informed and therefore not motivated, but neither do they have the opportunity to get involved in the conservation and protection process. The purpose of this article is to research urban and biodiversity strategies at E.U level, to identify gaps in the formulation of urban planning tools, what are the reasons behind generating these gaps and how they can be eliminated, or at least mitigated. The analysis will focus on some models of urban strategies which address natural protected areas, but will also consider related elements, directly related to their conservation, urban ecology and the involvement in the process of urban actors.

Morphostructural Characterization of the Heterogeneous Rhodolith Bed at the Marine Protected Area “Capo Carbonara” (Italy) and Hydrodynamics

Mediterranean rhodolith beds are priority marine benthic habitats for the European Community, because of their relevance as biodiversity hotspots and their role in the carbonate budget. Presently, Mediterranean rhodolith beds typically occur within the range of 30–75 m of water depth, generally located around islands and capes, on flat or gently sloping areas. In the framework of a collaboration between the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Marine Protected Area “Capo Carbonara” (Sardinia, Italy), video explorations and sampling collections in three selected sites revealed the occurrence of a well developed and heterogeneous rhodolith bed. This bed covers an area >41 km2 around the cape, with live coverage ranging between 6.50 and 55.25%. Rhodoliths showed interesting morphostructural differences. They are small compact pralines at the Serpentara Island, associated with gravelly sand, or bigger boxwork at the Santa Caterina shoal associated with sand, whereas branches are reported mostly in the Is Piscadeddus shoal, associated with muddy sand. Both in the Santa Caterina shoal and the Serpentara Island, rhodoliths generally show a spheroidal shape, associated with a mean value of currents of 4.3 and 7.3 cm/s, respectively, up to a maximum of 17.7 cm/s at Serpentara, whereas in the Is Piscadeddus shoal rhodolith shape is variable and current velocity is significantly lower. The different hydrodynamic regime, with a constant current directed SW, which deviates around the cape towards E, is responsible for such morphostructural heterogeneity, with the site of the Serpentara Island being the most exposed to a constant unidirectional and strong current. We can associate current velocity with specific rhodolith morphotypes. The morphostructural definition of the heterogeneity of rhodoliths across large beds must be considered for appropriate management policies.

Coordinating and Standardizing Outdoor Recreation Supply and Demand Databases to Facilitate Management and Promote Conservation, Health, and Accessibility

Recreation opportunities exist as a system at multiple scales and are offered by a variety of recreation providers sometimes with different goals and objectives. Incremental and disparate planning across providers can lead to mismatched supply and demand and inefficient use of resources. Furthermore, traditional recreation supply and demand studies have not systematically considered compatible benefits from conserving recreation lands including demand for and provision of biodiversity and wildlife conservation, ecosystem services, human health, and environmental justice issues.Historically, the supply of outdoor recreation and conservation lands was assembled by different state and federal agencies, counties and municipalities, Native American tribes, non-governmental organizations, or private organizations for the lands they directly managed with little systematic coordination. A national level Protected Area Databased (PAD-US) developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Gap Analysis Project is changing this. It is the official, publicly available, and comprehensive spatial inventory of every park and protected area in the US. The PAD-US program has developed a standardized data set with consistent protocols and methodologies for data collection for continuous updates.Demand assessments are currently conducted by various federal and state agencies, industry associations, and academics. These studies are independently conducted at various levels form recreation site, across land ownership, by activity, or state and national studies. Initiated in 1960, what became the National Survey of Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) collected recreation demand data for analysis at state and national levels. Many recreation planners used this data until it was discontinued in 2014. While there has been coordination and systemization and standardization of recreation supply data collection, no similar actions have occurred for demand.Following the PAD-US, we identify opportunities to coordinate, standardize, and systematize the collection of demand data across agencies, ownerships, and scales. We propose a parallel publicly available National Recreation Demand Database (NRDD) with consistent protocols and methodologies to be the comprehensive and authoritative inventory of recreation demand. We suggest that a new National Survey on People and the Environment (NSPE) be developed to replace the NSRE to collect improved data on outdoor recreation, other resource uses, and compatible benefit demand information.

A Bolder Conservation Future for Indonesia: Conserving Biodiversity, Carbon And Unique Ecosystem In Sulawesi

As more ambitious protected area (PA) targets for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework is set beyond Aichi Target 11, new spatial prioritisation thinking is required to expand protected areas to maximise different environmental values. Our study focuses on the biodiversity and forest-rich Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which has a terrestrial PA network that covers 10% of the island. We run scenarios to identified areas outside the current PA network and their representativeness of conservation features. We use Marxan to investigate trade-offs in the design of a larger PA network with varying coverage targets (17%, 30%, and 50%) that prioritises forest area, karst ecosystem, and carbon value as conservation features. Our first scenario required PAs to be selected at all times, and it required larger areas to meet these targets than our second scenario, which did not include existing PAs. The vast Mekongga, Banggai, and Popayato-Paguat landscapes were consistently identified as high priorities for protection in the various scenarios. The final section of our analysis used a spatially explicit three-phase approach to achieve this through PA expansion, the creation of new PAs, and the creation of corridors to connect existing PAs. Our findings identified 13,039 km2 of priority areas to be included in the current PA network, potentially assisting Indonesia in meeting the post-2020 GBF target if our approach is replicated elsewhere across Indonesia as a national or sub-national analysis like this study. We discuss various land management options through OECMs and the costs to deliver this strategy.

Multi-taxa spatial conservation planning reveals similar priorities between taxa and improved protected area representation with climate change

Protected area (PA) networks have in the past been constructed to include all major habitats, but have often been developed through consideration of only a few indicator taxa or across restricted areas, and rarely account for global climate change. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) aims to improve the efficiency of biodiversity conservation, particularly when addressing internationally agreed protection targets. We apply SCP in Great Britain (GB) using the widest taxonomic coverage to date (4,447 species), compare spatial prioritisation results across 18 taxa and use projected future (2080) distributions to assess the potential impact of climate change on PA network effectiveness. Priority conservation areas were similar among multiple taxa, despite considerable differences in spatial species richness patterns; thus systematic prioritisations based on indicator taxa for which data are widely available are still useful for conservation planning. We found that increasing the number of protected hectads by 2% (to reach the 2020 17% Aichi target) could have a disproportionate positive effect on species protected, with an increase of up to 17% for some taxa. The PA network in GB currently under-represents priority species but, if the potential future distributions under climate change are realised, the proportion of species distributions protected by the current PA network may increase, because many PAs are in northern and higher altitude areas. Optimal locations for new PAs are particularly concentrated in southern and upland areas of GB. This application of SCP shows how a small addition to an existing PA network could have disproportionate benefits for species conservation.