Desktop classification of inland wetlands for systematic conservation planning in data-scarce countries: mapping wetland ecosystem types, disturbance indices and threatened species associations at country-wide scale

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi van Deventer ◽  
Jeanne Nel ◽  
Namhla Mbona ◽  
Nancy Job ◽  
Justine Ewart-Smith ◽  
...  
Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1154
Author(s):  
Min Jeong Hong ◽  
Jin-Baek Kim ◽  
Yong Weon Seo ◽  
Dae Yeon Kim

Genes of the F-box family play specific roles in protein degradation by post-translational modification in several biological processes, including flowering, the regulation of circadian rhythms, photomorphogenesis, seed development, leaf senescence, and hormone signaling. F-box genes have not been previously investigated on a genome-wide scale; however, the establishment of the wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) reference genome sequence enabled a genome-based examination of the F-box genes to be conducted in the present study. In total, 1796 F-box genes were detected in the wheat genome and classified into various subgroups based on their functional C-terminal domain. The F-box genes were distributed among 21 chromosomes and most showed high sequence homology with F-box genes located on the homoeologous chromosomes because of allohexaploidy in the wheat genome. Additionally, a synteny analysis of wheat F-box genes was conducted in rice and Brachypodium distachyon. Transcriptome analysis during various wheat developmental stages and expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR revealed that some F-box genes were specifically expressed in the vegetative and/or seed developmental stages. A genome-based examination and classification of F-box genes provide an opportunity to elucidate the biological functions of F-box genes in wheat.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben L. Gilby ◽  
Andrew D. Olds ◽  
Christopher J. Brown ◽  
Rod M. Connolly ◽  
Christopher J. Henderson ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Banu Kaya özdemirel

Cross taxa congruence was investigated between butterfly taxa and ecological community for fine spatial scale (10 × 10 km² UTM grids) in north-eastern part of Turkey. The study area was evaluated within the scope of systematic conservation planning, and analyses were performed for sets of priority protected areas composed using complementarity-based site selection software Marxan. Cross taxa congruence was subsequently examined both in species richness and ecologic complementarity. Accordingly, it has been observed that the cross-taxon congruence between butterfly taxa and ecological community was relatively better than the results of previous studies. Another remarkable finding is that ecological community was a more robust surrogate than butterfly taxa. Although the results are valuable for conservation studies, they highlight the fact that a simple surrogate-based site selection would be inadequate to represent overall biodiversity.  The weakness of congruence patterns among surrogates would also lead to gaps in biodiversity conservation. These findings therefore draw attention to the necessities of incorporating surrogates of distinct ecology or some other surrogates like environmental parameters into conservation planning. Otherwise, there may be mistakes regarding species representation and the vast majority of species may be misrepresented in protected areas and protected area plans. At this point, it should be emphasized that understating cross taxa congruence and/or relationships is a key component for efficient biodiversity conservation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrine Drira ◽  
Frida Ben Rais Lasram ◽  
Tarek Hattab ◽  
Yunne Jai Shin ◽  
Amel Ben Rejeb Jenhani ◽  
...  

AbstractSpecies distribution models (SDMs) have been proposed as a way to provide robust inference about species-specific sites suitabilities, and have been increasingly used in systematic conservation planning (SCP) applications. However, despite the fact that the use of SDMs in SCP may raise some potential issues, conservation studies have overlooked to assess the implications of SDMs uncertainties. The integration of these uncertainties in conservation solutions requires the development of a reserve-selection approach based on a suitable optimization algorithm. A large body of research has shown that exact optimization algorithms give very precise control over the gap to optimality of conservation solutions. However, their major shortcoming is that they generate a single binary and indivisible solution. Therefore, they provide no flexibility in the implementation of conservation solutions by stakeholders. On the other hand, heuristic decision-support systems provide large amounts of sub-optimal solutions, and therefore more flexibility. This flexibility arises from the availability of many alternative and sub-optimal conservation solutions. The two principles of efficiency and flexibility are implicitly linked in conservation applications, with the most mathematically efficient solutions being inflexible and the flexible solutions provided by heuristics suffering sub-optimality. In order to avoid the trade-offs between flexibility and efficiency in systematic conservation planning, we propose in this paper a new reserve-selection framework based on mathematical programming optimization combined with a post-selection of SDM outputs. This approach leads to a reserve-selection framework that might provide flexibility while simultaneously addressing efficiency and representativeness of conservation solutions and the adequacy of conservation targets. To exemplify the approach we a nalyzed an experimental design crossing pre- and post-selection of SDM outputs versus heuristics and exact mathematical optimizations. We used the Mediterranean Sea as a biogeographical template for our analyses, integrating the outputs of 8 SDM techniques for 438 fishes species.


Author(s):  
Jana Niedobová ◽  
Vladimír Hula ◽  
Pavla Šťastná

Collecting of Carabidae was conducted using pitfall traps at four sites. The first two sites (T1 + T2) were at the slope of Macošská stráň and the other two sites (T3 + T4) at the slope of Vilémovická stráň. The study was done in 2008 and 2009. At Macošská stráň in 2008, 21 species of Carabidae with the total number of 228 individuals were found and in 2009, 18 species of the total number of 116 specimens were collected. At Vilémovická stráň in 2008, 22 species of Carabidae with the total number of 1977 specimens were found and in 2009, 21 species of the total number of 623 specimens were caught. In terms of classification of relictness, Macošská stráň in 2008 was dominated by species of adaptable group A (60%), species of eurytop group (E) were represented by 35% and of relic group (R) by 5%. In 2009, the same representation of species of groups A and E (47%) were found and the species of group R were represented by 6%. Vilémovická stráň in 2008 was dominated by species of group A (52%), species of group E were represented by 43% and of group R by 5%. In 2009 also dominated species of group A (54%), species of group E were represented by 41% and of group R by 5%. In the studied area we reported four endangered species of Carabidae protected by Law (No. 395/1992 Coll.) as amended, these were Calosoma auropunctatum (critically endangered), Brachinus crepitans, Carabus ullrichii and Cicindela campestris (endangered) and two species listed under the Red List of Threatened Species of the Czech Republic (Veselý et al., 2005). One of the species is listed as vulnerable (Calosoma auropunctatum) and one as near endangered (Carabus cancellatus). Another significant species found on the monitored sites was Aptinus bombarda.


2011 ◽  
pp. 136-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. M. Watson ◽  
Hedley S. Grantham ◽  
Kerrie A. Wilson ◽  
Hugh P. Possingham

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Li ◽  
Hu Liu ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Wenzhi Zhao

<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Wetlands remaining in the arid inland river landscapes of northwestern China suffer degradation and their resilience and ability to continue functioning under hydrologic and land use changes resulting from climate change may be significantly inhibited. Information on the desert-oasis wetlands, however, is sparse and knowledge of how ecological functioning and resilience may change under climate change and water-resource management is still lacking. Research in oasis wetland areas of the Northwestern China identified linkages between subsurface flow, plant transpiration, and water levels. In this study, we present an ecohydrological analysis of the energy and water balance in the wetland ecosystem. A process-based stochastic soil moisture model developed for groundwater-dependent ecosystems was employed to modelling the interactions between rainfall, water table fluctuations, soil moisture dynamics, and vegetation, and to investigate the ecohydrology of arid inland wetlands system. Field measured groundwater levels, vertical soil moisture profiles, soil water potentials, and root biomass allocation and transpiration of pioneer species in the wetlands were used to calibrate and validate the stochastic model. The parameterized model was then running to simulate the probability distributions of soil moisture and root water uptake, and quantitative descript the vegetation–water table–soil moisture interplay in the hypothesized scenarios of future. Our analysis suggested the increasing rates of water extraction and regulation of hydrologic processes, coupled with destruction of natural vegetation, and climate change, are jeopardizing the future persistence of wetlands and the ecological and socio-economic functions they support. To understand how climate change will impact on the ecohydrological functioning of wetlands, both hydrological and land use changes need to be considered in future works.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Wetland ecosystem, groundwater, soil moisture dynamics, water balances, Heihe River Basin</p>


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