Climate Conditions and Biodiversity Decline

Many studies in recent years have investigated the effects of climate change on the future of biodiversity. In this chapter, the authors first examined the different possible effects of climate change that can operate at individual, population, species, community, ecosystem, notably showing that species can respond to climate challenges by shifting their climatic change. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges that affect all the natural ecosystems of the world. Due to the fragile environment, mountain ecosystems are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climatic change will affect vegetation, humans, animals, and ecosystem that will impact on biodiversity. Mountains have been recognized as important ecosystems by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Climate change will not only threaten the biodiversity, but also affect the socio-economic condition of the indigenous people of the state. Various activities like habitat loss, deforestation, and exploitation amplify the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

Urohidrosis as an overlooked cooling mechanism in long-legged birds

Behavioural thermoregulation could buffer the impacts of climate warming on vertebrates. Specifically, the wetting of body surfaces and the resulting evaporation of body fluids serves as a cooling mechanism in a number of vertebrates coping with heat. Storks (Ciconiidae) frequently excrete onto their legs to prevent overheating, a phenomenon known as urohidrosis. Despite the increasingly recognised role of bare and highly vascularised body parts in heat exchange, the ecological and evolutionary determinants of urohidrosis have been largely ignored. We combine urohidrosis data from a scientifically curated media repository with microclimate and ecological data to investigate the determinants of urohidrosis in all extant stork species. Our phylogenetic generalised linear mixed models show that high temperature, humidity and solar radiation, and low wind speed, promote the use of urohidrosis across species. Moreover, species that typically forage in open landscapes exhibit a more pronounced use of urohidrosis than those mainly foraging in waterbodies. Substantial interspecific variation in temperature thresholds for urohidrosis prevalence points to different species vulnerabilities to high temperatures. This integrated approach that uses online data sources and methods to model microclimates should provide insight into animal thermoregulation and improve our capacity to make accurate predictions of climate change’s impact on biodiversity.

Combating marine invasive alien species effectively in Australia

Marine invasive alien species are sea-based organisms that are non-native to a marine ecosystem, and which can or have spread to a degree that has an adverse impact on biodiversity and human livelihoods. In a globalized and inter-connected world, the threats posed by marine invasive alien species are here to stay. Accordingly, it often has been lamented that the threats from marine alien species are too difficult to combat effectively. In Australia, these threats are exacerbated by the country's unique characteristics such as its sheer size, as well as its geographical and historical isolation from the rest of the world. More importantly for the purposes of this article, Australia's unique constitutional framework that entrenches its national system of federalism has led to complex power-sharing arrangements between the Commonwealth, and the State and Territory governments in the management of invasive alien species, which are arguably inadequate to combat marine invasive alien species effectively. In Australia, laws have been made to manage only one vector of marine invasive species, ballast water from vessels, but not for other vectors. This article analyses how marine invasive alien species are currently managed within the Australian legal framework, and discusses what can be done to improve the status quo in order effectively to control the spread of such foreign organisms. It argues with optimism that marine invasive alien species can be effectively managed under a strong legal framework that seeks to prevent their occurrence and minimize the negative impacts of their occurrence. Such a legal framework consists of sound domestic laws and institutions, the effects of which can be enhanced by greater international cooperation.

PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT NATURAL ENEMIES IN THE HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD HARMONIA AXYRIDIS (COLEOPTERA COCCINELLIDAE)

The harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is one of the most common invasive alien species in the world, which has a global impact on biodiversity and agriculture, and causes economic loss and harm to humans. This insect can be infected by different natural enemies, but their interactions remain understudied. In the present study, 581 adult Ha. axyridis specimens were collected from 21 localities in Hungary with the help of citizen scientists and examined for natural enemies. The parasitic nematode Parasitylenchus bifurcatus (Nematoda: Allantonematidae) is reported in Hungary on the harlequin ladybird for the first time. The ladybirds were also infected by the ectoparasitic fungus Hesperomyces virescens (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) and parasitoid Dinocampus coccinellae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). The nematode parasite was present in all localities where Hesperomyces-infected ladybirds appeared. The prevalence of recorded natural enemies varied by locality: for P. bifurcatus it ranged from 1% to 8%; for He. virescens from 2% to 36%; and for the parasitoid it was 4%. Besides, a statistically significant positive correlation was shown between the nematode and the fungus co-infection using Spearman’s correlation. A study on the multiparasitism of harlequin ladybirds was not yet performed in Hungary. The study area is located between two distant areas in Europe where co-infections had already been observed, indicating that this is probably not a sporadic phenomenon, but that parasitism of the harlequin ladybird by multiple natural enemies might be prevalent throughout the area.

An increase in food production in Europe could dramatically affect farmland biodiversity

Conversion of semi-natural habitats, such as field margins, fallows, hedgerows, grassland, woodlots and forests, to agricultural land could increase agricultural production and help meet rising global food demand. Yet, the extent to which such habitat loss would impact biodiversity and wild species is unknown. Here we survey species richness for four taxa (vascular plants, earthworms, spiders, wild bees) and agricultural yield across a range of arable, grassland, mixed, horticulture, permanent crop, for organic and non-organic agricultural land on 169 farms across 10 European regions. We find that semi-natural habitats currently constitute 23% of land area with 49% of species unique to these habitats. We estimate that conversion of semi-natural land that achieves a 10% increase in agricultural production will have the greatest impact on biodiversity in arable systems and the least impact in grassland systems, with organic practices having better species retention than non-organic practices. Our findings will help inform sustainable agricultural development.

Strategi Pengembangan Minuman Tradisonal Arak Bali Menggunakan Model Analisis SWOT Dan QSPM

Evaluating and offering strategies for the existence of traditional Balinese alcoholic drinks that have the potential as a tourist attraction in Tri Eka Buana Village, Sidemen, Karangasem is the main goal of this research. For this purpose, different data collection tools were used, namely through interviews and questionnaires given to the Bali Provincial Tourism Office, the Village Head, the Head of the Tourism Awareness Group, and the Head of the Arak Cooperative in the village. Evaluation of the influence of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) as well as quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) analysis techniques are used to identify the appropriate management strategy. The results showed that Balinese wine has the potential to be developed in the form of arak agro-tourism. Its development must involve the participation of local communities as stakeholders and shareholders. Arak agrotourism can be an alternative for arak farmers who are not willing to cooperate with alcoholic beverage management bodies to be marketed to the tourism industries. These tourism options play a role in improving the community's economy and have a sustainable impact on biodiversity.

Agricultural expansion in African savannas: effects on diversity and composition of trees and mammals

Land use change (LUC) is the leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. However, the global understanding of LUC's impact on biodiversity is mainly based on comparisons of land use endpoints (habitat vs non-habitat) in forest ecosystems. Hence, it may not generalise to savannas, which are ecologically distinct from forests, as they are inherently patchy, and disturbance adapted. Endpoint comparisons also cannot inform the management of intermediate mosaic landscapes. We aim to address these gaps by investigating species- and community-level responses of mammals and trees along a gradient of small scale agricultural expansion in the miombo woodlands of northern Mozambique. Thus, the case study represents the most common pathway of LUC and biodiversity change in the world's largest savanna. Tree abundance, mammal occupancy, and tree- and mammal-species richness showed a non-linear relationship with agricultural expansion (characterised by the Land Division Index, LDI). These occurrence and diversity metrics increased at intermediate LDI (0.3 to 0.7), started decreasing beyond LDI > 0.7, and underwent high levels of decline at extreme levels of agricultural expansion (LDI > 0.9). Despite similarities in species richness responses, the two taxonomic groups showed contrasting β-diversity patterns in response to increasing LDI: increased dissimilarity among tree communities (heterogenisation) and high similarity among mammals (homogenisation). Our analysis along a gradient of landscape-scale land use intensification allows a novel understanding of the impacts of different levels of land conversion, which can help guide land use and restoration policy. Biodiversity loss in this miombo landscape was lower than would be inferred from existing global syntheses of biodiversity-land use relations for Africa or the tropics, probably because such syntheses take a fully converted landscape as the endpoint. As, currently, most African savanna landscapes are a mosaic of savanna habitats and small scale agriculture, biodiversity loss is probably lower than in current global estimates, albeit with a trend towards further conversion. However, at extreme levels of land use change (LDI > 0.9 or < 15% habitat cover) miombo biodiversity appears to be more sensitive to LUC than inferred from the meta-analyses. To mitigate the worst effects of land use on biodiversity, our results suggest that miombo landscapes should retain > 25% habitat cover and avoid LDI > 0.75—after which species richness of both groups begin to decline. Our findings indicate that tree diversity may be easier to restore from natural restoration than mammal diversity, which became spatially homogeneous.

Ultraviolet Radiation to control Bacteria in oil well injection water

Biocorrosion is a phenomenon that strongly affects the integrity of the materials used in the oil and gas industry. Different types of biocides are currently used to control bacteria in industrial water; however, they have disadvantages such as microbial resistance to these chemical compounds and possible impact on biodiversity due to eventual contamination of natural water. There are several alternatives for the elimination or control of bacteria, among which one is the use of type C ultraviolet (UV-C) radiation. Nevertheless, the use of these micro-organism removal systems could be affected by water quality and its efficiency can be improved by using LED diodes of lower energy consumption and greater versatility in exposure to high temperatures. This work was aimed to evaluate the use of such radiation as a strategy for the control and/or elimination of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), and acid producing bacteria (APB) present in both corrosion and souring processes. For this purpose, injection water from oil and gas industry and a dynamic system which flow variation enabled the evaluation of different water exposure times to UV-C light (1-20 minutes) were used. Efficiencies ranging between 99-100% were achieved in the elimination of SRB and APB from produced water measured by two different techniques, selective culture media for these microbial populations, and qPCR detecting a specific gene from the SRB population.

Agricultural expansion in African savannas – effects on diversity and composition of trees and mammals

Land use change (LUC) is the leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. However, the global understanding of LUC's impact on biodiversity is mainly based on comparisons of land use endpoints (habitat vs non-habitat) in forest ecosystems. Hence, it may not generalise to savannas, which are ecologically distinct from forests, as they are inherently patchy, and disturbance adapted. Endpoint comparisons also cannot inform the management of intermediate mosaic landscapes. We aim to address these gaps by investigating species- and community-level responses of mammals and trees along a gradient of small scale agricultural expansion in the miombo woodlands of northern Mozambique. Thus, the case study represents the most common pathway of LUC and biodiversity change in the world's largest savanna. Tree abundance, mammal occupancy, and tree- and mammal-species richness showed a non-linear relationship with agricultural expansion (characterised by the Land Division Index, LDI). These occurrence and diversity metrics increased at intermediate LDI (0.3 to 0.7), started decreasing beyond LDI > 0.7, and underwent high levels of decline at extreme levels of agricultural expansion (LDI > 0.9). Despite similarities in species richness responses, the two taxonomic groups showed contrasting β-diversity patterns in response to increasing LDI: increased dissimilarity among tree communities (heterogenisation) and high similarity among mammals (homogenisation). Our analysis along a gradient of landscape-scale land use intensification allows a novel understanding of the impacts of different levels of land conversion, which can help guide land use and restoration policy. Biodiversity loss in this miombo landscape was lower than would be inferred from existing global syntheses of biodiversity-land use relations for Africa or the tropics, probably because such syntheses take a fully converted landscape as the endpoint. As, currently, most African savanna landscapes are a mosaic of savanna habitats and small scale agriculture, biodiversity loss is probably lower than in current global estimates, albeit with a trend towards further conversion. However, at extreme levels of land use change (LDI > 0.9 or < 15% habitat cover) miombo biodiversity appears to be more sensitive to LUC than inferred from the meta-analyses. To mitigate the worst effects of land use on biodiversity, our results suggest that miombo landscapes should retain > 25% habitat cover and avoid LDI > 0.75 – after which species richness of both groups begin to decline. Our findings indicate that tree diversity may be easier to restore from natural restoration than mammal diversity, which became spatially homogeneous.

Urban Biodiversity In The Light Of The Dynamics Of Industrial Activities In San-Pedro (South-West Of The Ivory Coast)

The town of San Pedro, located in south-western Côte d'Ivoire, benefits from numerous natural assets (forest, hydrographic, soil), which contrib ute to its economic and social development and the well-being of its population. This situation particularly contributes to the dynamism of industrial activities to the detriment of biodiversity resources. This study therefore aims to identify the negative effects of the expansion of industrial activities in this city on its biodiversity. The methodological approach used was based on a mixed analysis provided by documentary research and a field survey (interview, questionnaire and direct observation). The processing of the data collected in the field led to the conclusion that the expansion of industrial activities in the town of San Pedro has a strong impact on biodiversity resources. More than 70% of the economic actors and heads of households interviewed are speechless in the face of this alarming phenomenon in the locality.