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Global biodiversity hotspot papers from conservation conference in Brazil Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology July 23, 2005 Below is a sampling of some of the biodiversity hotspot papers submitted for the conference. All descriptions are excepts from the official "Book of Abstracts" from the meeting. More abstracts. Turner, Will; WILCOVE, DAVID S. Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, dwilcove((AT))princeton.edu. The ability to measure progress (or the lack thereof) in meeting conservation goals is essential when resources are limited and time is crucial. This is especially true in the case of hotspots where numerous imperiled or endemic species co-occur. We have developed a set of continuous, quantitative Protection Indices that measure the degree to which conservation efforts reduce the threats to individual species and groups of species. The Protection Indices are based on 3 criteria used in the IUCN Red List to determine a species' global rank: number of populations, area of occupancy (area of habitat where protected), and geographical extent. We first use the indices to measure conservation progress in the Lake Wales Ridge scrub in central Florida, a discrete ecosystem harboring the highest concentration of endangered species in the continental USA. We then use them to determine which sites are especially important to the welfare of particular species and to determine priority sites for future acquisition. Our approach is readily transferable to other hotspots in other parts of the world A BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION VISION FOR SERRA DO MAR ECOREGION IN THE ATLANTIC FOREST GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT. SIMÕES, L. L.; Scaramuzza, Carlos A. M.; Accacio, G. de M.; Rosa, M. R.; Hercowitz, M.; Maltez, H. M.; Rodrigues, Sidney T.; Pinagé, E. R. WWF-Brasil, SHIS EQ QL 6/8, conjunto E, 2º andar, 71620-430, Brasília, DF, Brazil lucianasimoes((AT))wwf.org.br (LSS, CAMS, HMM, STR, ERP). Verde Volta, Rua Deputado Laércio Corte 1430, Apto. 142AC, 05706-290, São Paulo, SP, Brazil (GMA). ARCPLAN, Alameda Joaquim Eugênio de Lima, 881, Cj. 911, 01403-001, São Paulo, SP, Brazil (MRR). Estrela Consultoria, R. Original 172, ap.61, 05435-050, São Paulo, SP, Brazil (MH). Atlantic forest is the fifth hotspot in the world ranking out of 25. 70% of Brazilian population lives in the forest's former domain and less than 10% of the pristine vegetation is left. Hill chains and coastal plains of the "Serra do Mar" Ecoregion in South and Southeastern Brazil bear the largest forest fragments, many endemic species and the last viable populations of jaguars, golden lion tamarins, wooly spider monkeys and black-fronted piping guans. Considering the lack of biological knowledge and the opportunistic creation of protected areas, we produced a conservation plan based on targets for biodiversity distribution patterns and ecological process. We combined a biodiversity distribution surrogate based on vegetation and geomorphologic mapping, speciesdistribution modeling (primates, birds, butterflies and amphibians), spatial surrogate for altitudinal animal movement, C-Plan and Marxan decision-support tools and a cost analysis in order to make a gap analysis and to establish medium term conservation strategies for the Ecoregion. The preliminary results indicate that 34% of the selected targets are unprotected under the actual reserve system, 45% partially protected and 21% protected. The identified conservation priorities are integrated in conservation scenarios and the action plans are developed in a joint effort with different stakeholders CONSERVATION OF THREATENED SPECIES AND EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY IN THE HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY. Mittermeier, Russell A.; HOFFMANN, MICHAEL; Pilgrim, John D.; Brooks, Thomas; Mittermeier, Cristina G.; Lamoreux, John; Fonseca, Gustavo. Conservation International M Street NW, Suite 600,Washington, DC 20036 USA (RAM; CGM). Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036 USA, m.hoffmann((AT))conservation.org (MH; JDP; TMB; GF). Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA (JL). Life on earth faces a crisis of historical proportions, with nearly 16,000 species currently at risk of extinction. Conservationists can only achieve a significant reduction in global biodiversity loss, by allocating our time and resources more effectively to those regions urgently in need. The biodiversity hotspots, characterized by having both exceptional numbers of endemic species and exceptional levels of threat, are widely used to inform global conservation strategy. Here, we report on the results of a new and expanded analysis of the biodiversity hotspots to show that hotspots hold, as endemics, higher proportions of species globally threatened with extinction and of higher taxa (genera and families) than would be expected given their number of endemic species. Islands like Madagascar host large numbers of th reatened endemic species, and also hold particularly large numbers of higher taxa as endemics, even given their large numbers of endemic species. Given that the overwhelming majority of recent terrestrial vertebrate extinctions have occurred in the hotspots, and that sites representing places of imminent species extinctions are also concentrated in hotspots, we argue that urgent conservation action in the hotspots is crucial if the current rate of extinction is to be slowed THE MALAYSIAN BAT CONSERVATION RESEARCH UNIT: RESEARCH, CAPACITY BUILDING AND EDUCATION IN AN OLDWORLD HOTSPOT. KINGSTON, TIGGA; Akbar, Zubaid. Department of Geography, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston Massachussets 02215, USA, tigga((AT))bu.edu (TK) School of Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia, zubaid((AT))pkrisc.cc.ukm.my (ZA). Insectivorous bats are a highly diverse yet vulnerable component of vertebrate diversity in Old World rainforests. Nowhere is this more evident than in peninsular Malaysia, a critical country for bat conservation, with over 100 known species of which more than a third are IUCN red-listed. Local species richness can exceed 50 species, and many species are tied by ecomorphological specializations to intact stands of forest. The Malaysian Bat Conservation Research Unit (MBCRU) was established in 2001 to promote research and conservation education of this unique fauna. It is a collaboration between scientists and educators from the USA, Malaysia, and the UK. The primary objectives of the unit are: long-term research on bat diversity and conservation, capacity building, and education and outreach. We present the activities of the MBCRU's first three years with particular emphasis on our efforts to develop a predictive framework to determine local extinction risk in diverse, intact systems. We detail how composite risk profiles are generated from acknowledged vulnerability predictors (abundance, spatial distribution, reproductive phenology, home range, longevity and population turnover rates, and land-XIX Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology ABSTRACTS scape and temporal population variability) derived from a simple but standardized, spatially-explicit trapping protocol PRIORITISING THE ALLOCATION OF CONSERVATION RESOURCES BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS. WILSON, KERRIE; McBride, Marissa; Possingham, Hugh; Bode, Michael. The Ecology Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia, k.wilson2((AT))uq.edu.au. For effective conservation of biodiversity it is essential to identify priorities for conservation. In order to maximise the conservation of biodiversity within these regions, the investment of resources must be prioritised within and between them. This requires the consideration of a number of factors including relative biological value, the urgency for the protection of these values and the relative cost of investment. Given the dynamic and uncertain nature of landscapes and property availability, a decision theory approach is required. We use stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) to determine whether or not a particular area of land should be acquired at a particular time, given the current state of the area. We also compare the results of the SDP with two commonly used rules of thumb: minimise number of species lost and maximise number of species conserved. For three hotspots, data on number of endemic species, deforestation rates and relative costs of land acquisition were obtained. The results illustrate that the allocation of conservation resources can be prioritised to provide the best outcomes for biodiversity conservation in the most cost effective manner and that simple rules of thumb can be used to approximate the optimal allocation of resources Society for Conservation Biology - Brasilia 2005 News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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