Journal: Biological Conservation

Abbreviation

Biol Conserv

Publisher

Elsevier

Journal Volumes

ISSN

0006-3207
1873-2917

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Publications1 - 10 of 58
  • Dieback of European ash
    Item type: Journal Article
    Pautasso, Marco; Aas, Gregor; Queloz, Valentin; et al. (2013)
    Biological Conservation
  • Sensible consumerism for environmental sustainability
    Item type: Journal Article
    Koh, Lian Pin; Lee, Tien Ming (2012)
    Biological Conservation
  • The sum of multiple human stressors and weak management as a threat for migratory fish
    Item type: Journal Article
    Silva, Fernanda de Oliveira; Kalapothakis, Evanguedes; de Silva, Luiz Gustavo Martins; et al. (2021)
    Biological Conservation
    Habitat fragmentation, species introduction and poor management have disturbed populations of migratory fish worldwide. No study, however, has investigated how the sum of impacts affects Neotropical migratory fish. This study investigated the migratory behavior of an endemic fish (Prochilodus hartii, Jequitinhonha River, Brazil) in a scenario of fragmentation and flow alteration by Irapé Hydropower Dam, hybridization with alien fish and controversial management practices using an integrative framework (radio and acoustic telemetry + genetics). Movements were assessed at four sites: the reservoir (TR1); fish passed manually to the reservoir (TR2), simulating a fish passage system; the tailrace (TR3); and 80 km downstream from the dam (TR4). Overall, fish from TR1 and TR2 moved over shorter distances across the reservoir, and few reached upstream sites. Fish from TR3 remained close to the dam, while fish from TR4 showed a diversity of migratory behaviors; most migrated to a large tributary, and no fish approached the dam. We recorded hybrids in all sites, but the percentage increased (62%) at TR4. Native fish and hybrids showed synchronized migratory behavior. Results depict a difficult conservation problem, considering that the dam isolated populations, the impoundment disturbed migratory dynamics, and fish invasion and hybridization affected the genetic structure of native stocks. In this scenario, the installation of a fish pass would not benefit native populations, with risk of enhancing demographic impacts and species invasions. This study shows how multiple stressors create a complex (but common) scenario where the conservation of migratory fishes is made more difficult.
  • Herded cattle and wild grazers partition water but share forage resources during dry years in East African savannas
    Item type: Journal Article
    Sitters, Judith; Heitkonig, Ignas M.A.; Holmgren, Milena; et al. (2009)
    Biological Conservation
  • Top 100 research questions for biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia
    Item type: Journal Article
    Coleman, Joanna L.; Richards, Daniel R.; et al. (2019)
    Biological Conservation
  • Drivers of transgression: What pushes people to enter protected areas
    Item type: Journal Article
    Ponta, Nicole; Cornioley, Tina; Waeber, Patrick O.; et al. (2021)
    Biological Conservation
    The establishment of protected areas is central to biodiversity conservation strategies. However, they often fail in meeting their expectations, especially in the tropics. One core reason for their failure is human pressure. Protected area transgression has tremendous impacts on biodiversity, but also on persecuted rule-breakers whose necessities are often ignored. Despite the increasing enforcement of strict protection rules, non-compliance is a phenomenon experienced in protected areas around the world. To improve biodiversity and social outcomes of any conservation intervention, we need to understand what drives transgressive behavior but also the gazettement of protected areas. By using a role-playing game with Indigenous people in the Colombian Amazon we were able to openly discuss transgression. In the game, park managers designed protected areas primarily for biodiversity conservation but also for restoration. Communication among stakeholders and a resource-abundant landscape were key to increase compliance without exerting enforcement while the violations history of the protected area as well as the abundance of resources within its boundaries encouraged transgression. To achieve voluntary compliance, we recommend to acknowledge transgression’s multidimensionality and integrate it into conservation planning.
  • Obituary
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Koh, Lian Pin; Lee, Tien Ming (2011)
    Biological Conservation
  • Translating conservation genetics into management
    Item type: Review Article
    Koskela, Jarkko; Lefèvre, François; Schueler, Silvio; et al. (2013)
    Biological Conservation
  • Landscape-scale diversity of plants, bumblebees and butterflies in mixed farm-forest landscapes of Northern Europe: Clear-cuts do not compensate for the negative effects of plantation forest cover
    Item type: Journal Article
    Andersson, Georg K. S.; Boke-Olen, Niklas; Roger, Fabian; et al. (2022)
    Biological Conservation
    To assess the biodiversity consequences of contemporary land-use trends in Northern Europe, where agriculture is being replaced by forestry, we need a better knowledge of the contributions of constituting habitats to biodiversity. Here, we use purposefully collected data from 87 sites to model how agricultural habitats, including semi-natural pastures, sown temporary grassland (leys), cereal crops, and forest habitats comprising both mature production forests and clear-cuts, contribute to landscape-scale diversity of plants, bumblebees and butterflies in boreonemoral Sweden. At the local scale, species richness was highest in semi-natural pastures, intermediate in cereal crops and leys and lowest in forest. In clear-cuts, species richness was similarly high to that in semi-natural pastures. Countryside species-area models show that at a landscape scale, the high local richness in clear-cuts was more than offset by the low species richness encountered in forest. At landscape scale, semi-natural pastures, and in the case of plants also cereal crops, were major contributors of unique species. Leys and semi-natural pastures were both important contributors to bumblebee diversity. The effect of the surrounding landscape composition on local diversity was weak, suggesting that area-based approximations of landscape-scale species richness were reasonable. We conclude that clear-cuts constitute habitats for open-land species but cannot maintain landscape -scale diversity in the face of agricultural abandonment when open land is replaced by even-aged production forests. Maintaining farmland, in particular semi-natural pastures but also cereals and leys, is therefore critical to maintaining the landscape-scale species richness of plants and insects in forestry-dominated areas.
  • Positive developments in low-intensive, protected grasslands in Switzerland suggest successful conservation measures
    Item type: Journal Article
    Boch , Steffen; Ecker , Klaus T.; Pichon , Noémie A.; et al. (2026)
    Biological Conservation
    Conservation measures in protected areas are important for conserving global biodiversity. Despite the importance of assessing the effectiveness of protected areas and whether they develop toward their conservation goals, targeted monitoring programs in protected areas at the national level are rare. In Switzerland, a long-term program was launched in 2011 to systematically monitor changes in biodiversity and habitat quality in protected areas of national importance. Here, we focused on protected grasslands (0.7 % of Switzerland's surface area) and examined the status and changes of plot-level indicators over six years using a probability sample of 441 grassland sites (2149 vegetation plots) across Switzerland. We analyzed changes in vascular plant species richness, the proportions of threatened, specialized and neophyte species, environmental conditions (by means of ecological indicator values) and area of target vegetation types, and the factors associated with these indicators. Within six years, we detected a decreasing mean indicator value for nitrogen, an increasing proportion of specialist species and a significant decrease in area of non-target vegetation that developed toward the target vegetation, namely positive trends from a nature conservation perspective. However, thermophilization indicates climate-warming driven vegetation shifts. Our findings highlight the importance of well-replicated and standardized data in monitoring programs to evaluate temporal changes, which in our case enabled us to detect trends within a rather short period. The positive developments reflect successful nature conservation management by the federal and cantonal (= regional) authorities, which were implemented by farmers and nature conservation organizations by maintaining and promoting low-intensive land-use regimes.
Publications1 - 10 of 58