Impending anthropogenic threats and protected area prioritization for the largest Neotropical apex predator in its Amazonian stronghold

Jaguars (Panthera onca) exert critical top-down control over large vertebrates across the Neotropics and have been declining due to multiple threats. Based on geospatial layers, we extracted socio-environmental variables for 447 protected areas across the Brazilian Amazon to identify protected areas that merit short-term high-priority efforts to maximize jaguar persistence. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, structural equations and regression modeling. Our results reveal that areas containing the largest jaguar densities and estimated population sizes are precisely those confronting most anthropogenic threats. We reveal that jaguars in the world’s largest tropical forest biome are threatened by deforestation associated with anthropogenic fires, and subsequent establishment of pastures. We provide a shortlist of protected areas that should be prioritized for short-term jaguar conservation. The future predicament of jaguar populations can only be ensured if protected areas can be proofed against downgrading and downsizing geopolitical pressures and external anthropogenic threats.

SecSel, a new software tool for conservation prioritization that is applicable to ordinal-scale data for multiple biodiversity features

SecSel, a protected-area prioritization tool, has been developed to help design areas that efficiently protect multiple features, including conservation of biodiversity and use of ecosystem services. The prioritization by SecSel is based on evaluation of the local units of each feature. The evaluation metrics should be quantitative but need not be ratio scale. The minimum requirement of the input data is that they are ordinal. The conservation target is the number of local units with high values of each feature to be protected in the area. SecSel can handle conflicts among features, including conflicts between conservation and utilization of land or specific ecosystem functions. Before the selection procedure, one of a conflicting pair of features in a site is discarded. That decision is based on the dispensability of the local unit to fulfilling the conservation target of each feature. SecSel also considers the cost of including each site in the protected area and the compactness of the area in terms of total boundary length or the distance to the nearest site. To demonstrate the functionality of Secsel, we used it to design land use in an alpine region of northern Japan where conservation of alpine vegetation and its recreational use are important considerations.

SecSel, a new software tool for conservation prioritization that is applicable to ordinal-scale data for multiple biodiversity features

SecSel, a protected-area prioritization tool, has been developed to help design areas that efficiently protect multiple features, including conservation of biodiversity and use of ecosystem services. The prioritization by SecSel is based on evaluation of the local units of each feature. The evaluation metrics should be quantitative but need not be ratio scale. The minimum requirement of the input data is that they are ordinal. The conservation target is the number of local units with high values of each feature to be protected in the area. SecSel can handle conflicts among features, including conflicts between conservation and utilization of land or specific ecosystem functions. Before the selection procedure, one of a conflicting pair of features in a site is discarded. That decision is based on the dispensability of the local unit to fulfilling the conservation target of each feature. SecSel also considers the cost of including each site in the protected area and the compactness of the area in terms of total boundary length or the distance to the nearest site. To demonstrate the functionality of Secsel, we used it to design land use in an alpine region of northern Japan where conservation of alpine vegetation and its recreational use are important considerations.

Critical area prioritization for river basin planning and management under future scenarios using SWAT model

<p>Suitable and practicable best management practices (BMPs) are needed to develop effective and efficient watershed management under future climate change scenarios. Tons river basin is an agricultural-based watershed having a great significance to the States of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Identification of critical erosion prone areas of the Tons River basin and implementation of BMPs for the future scenarios (2030-2050) using RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios is the main aim of this study. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated and validated for simulation of runoff and sediment yield using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) technique. The values of coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), percent bias (PBIAS) and RMSE-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) were 0.71, 0.70, -8.3 and 0.54 respectively during the calibration period whereas in validation the values were 0.72, 0.71, -3.9 and 0.56 respectively. Thus, the SWAT model can be employed in the Tons river basin of India for critical area prioritization and river basin planning and management under future scenarios.</p>

GATEWAY: A GEOSPATIAL ANALYTICS SYSTEM

This paper presents an overview of the Gateway web platform, a proprietary geospatial analytics system developed by Cobena Business Analytics and Strategy, Inc.1 The application is intended to serve as a user-friendly and easily-accessible tool for spatial data analysis and visualization geared toward non-technical specialists. Gateway’s core functionalities hinge on mapping and data visualization (choropleths and points) alongside traditional scoring methods and built-in machine learning algorithms for area prioritization and site selection. Gateway provides an interactive, cloud-based environment that abstracts and simplifies common location-based analyses. A core strength of the platform is also its heavy localization to the Philippine context through a curated database of market information — with future plans to create local counterparts across SEA — which reduces the need for extensive external market data collection and reconciliation. The paper gives a brief review of the system design and key features of the platform. It also highlights some key applications across industries such as real estate, consumer goods, and retail in informing expansion and distribution strategies, prioritizing resource allocation, and analyzing historical performance against market factors.