scholarly journals Fluctuating asymmetry and feather growth bars as biomarkers to assess the habitat quality of shade coffee farming for avian diversity conservation

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 190013
Author(s):  
Gelaye Gebremichael ◽  
Diress Tsegaye ◽  
Nils Bunnefeld ◽  
Dietmar Zinner ◽  
Anagaw Atickem
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Tarsus Length ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Shade Coffee ◽  
Feather Growth ◽  
Coffee Farming

Shade coffee farming has been promoted as a means of combining sustainable coffee production and biodiversity conservation. Supporting this idea, similar levels of diversity and abundance of birds have been found in shade coffee and natural forests. However, diversity and abundance are not always good indicators of habitat quality because there may be a lag before population effects are observed following habitat conversion. Therefore, other indicators of habitat quality should be tested. In this paper, we investigate the use of two biomarkers: fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of tarsus length and rectrix mass, and feather growth bars (average growth bar width) to characterize the habitat quality of shade coffee and natural forests. We predicted higher FA and narrower feather growth bars in shade coffee forest versus natural forest, indicating higher quality in the latter. We measured and compared FA in tarsus length and rectrix mass and average growth bar width in more than 200 individuals of five bird species. The extent of FA in both tarsus length and rectrix mass was not different between the two forest types in any of the five species. Similarly, we found no difference in feather growth between shade coffee and natural forests for any species. Therefore, we conclude our comparison of biomarkers suggests that shade coffee farms and natural forests provide similar habitat quality for the five species we examined.

scholarly journals ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS AND FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY IN ANTILOPHIA GALEATA, MYIOTHLYPIS FLAVEOLA AND BASILEUTERUS CULICIVORUS IN BRAZILIAN SAVANNA

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 133-141
Author(s):  
Vanessa Fonseca Gonçalves ◽  
◽  
Celine de Melo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Stress ◽  
Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Brazilian Savanna ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Functional Importance ◽  
Random Difference ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Potential Use

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), defined as the random difference between two sides of a bilaterally symmetrical character, is often used to monitor biological populations in altered habitats. We aimed to compare the values of FA for wing and tarsi of three bird species (Antilophia galeata, Myiothlypis flaveola and Basileuterus culicivorus) in areas with different environmental stresses and to analyze their potential use as biomonitors. The birds were captured between March 2010 and March 2011, in seven forest fragments. In areas of high environmental stress, FA was higher for the wings of A. galeata and M. flaveola and the tarsi of B. culicivorus. FA depends on the functional importance of the character for each species. Thus, this study demonstrated that FA in wings and tarsi is a useful tool to assess the quality of the Brazilian Savanna (Cerrado) forest habitat.

scholarly journals Conservation of ecosystem services does not secure the conservation of birds in a Peruvian shade coffee landscape

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAF AERTS ◽  
SARAH SPRANGHERS ◽  
ÇAĞAN H. ŞEKERCIOĞLU
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Shade Coffee ◽  
Transect Counts ◽  
Disturbed Forest

SummaryAgricultural intensification in shade coffee farms has strong impacts on the structure and diversity of the agroforest, with negative consequences for forest specialist birds, understorey insectivores and their associated ecosystem services. Utilising variable distance transect counts, we sampled the bird community in a multiple-certified yet changing shade coffee landscape in the Peruvian East Andean foothills, to evaluate bird functional diversity and to assess potential impacts of coffee production on avian ecosystem services. To account for incomplete detection, we also calculated expected species richness per functional group, and to evaluate the effect of future species losses, we derived reduced bird communities by subsampling our data using a Monte Carlo procedure. We compared the relative abundances of functional groups based on preferred diets in the observed, expected and reduced bird communities to global functional signatures of tropical bird assemblages of forest, agroforests and agriculture. The birds in the shade coffee landscape were predominantly birds of secondary and disturbed forest habitats, indicating, as expected, strong human impact on the forest structure. Yet, the diet signatures of the observed, expected and simulated bird communities were not significantly different from global diet signatures of forest and agroforest bird communities of mixed tropical landscapes. Our results suggest that avian ecological function can be conserved at bird community level despite intensive human ecosystem use and associated losses of forest specialist and other less resilient bird species. These results underscore that forest management strategies or certification audits focused solely at ecosystem services may be insufficient to support conservation of rare or threatened bird species and that shade coffee systems can in no way replace the role of protected natural forests.

scholarly journals Avian diversity in geothermal power plant areas: Case studies in Kamojang, Darajat, and Gunung Salak, West Java, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
TEGUH HUSODO ◽  
KHEMAL PASHA MOCHTAN ◽  
Sya Sya Shanida ◽  
SYAHRAS FATHIN AMINUDDIN ◽  
INDRI WULANDARI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Avian Diversity ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
West Java ◽  
Geothermal Power Plant ◽  
Geothermal Power

Abstract. Husodo T, Mochtan KP, Shanida SS, Aminuddin SF, Wulandari I, Putra IS, Megantara EN. 2020. Avian diversity in geothermal power plant areas: Case studies in Kamojang, Darajat, and Gunung Salak, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 1049-1059. Land cover changes that occur in the development of industrial areas have impact on the quality of biophysical and socio-economic environments. This study aimed to investigate the diversity of birds (avifauna) in three geothermal power plant areas in West Jawa Province, Indonesia (i.e., Kamojang, Darajat, and Gunung Salak). Transect and spotlighting methods were conducted in this study. We found that areas around geothermal power plant in Gunung Salak had the highest diversity of bird species with 105 species from 43 families, followed by Kamojang with 82 species from 34 families, and Darajat with 80 species from 40 families. In total, there were 134 species from 51 families in which two species are Endangered (EN) under the IUCN Red List category, five are endemic to Java, 11 are protected by CITES Appendix II and 14 are protected by national regulations. The presence of some birds was an indicator of ecosystem condition and functioning, including indicator of food chain, quality of water, quality of natural habitat, condition of riparian habitat, and the condition of open or disturbed habitat. Some birds were also associated with particular habitats, such as natural forests, riparians, a combination of natural forests and open habitats, tea plantations, and craters. The results of this study can be used as baseline information about the state of the surrounding environment in the three geothermal power plant areas and as a reference in biodiversity management in the future.

Effects of hypoxia on habitat quality of pelagic planktivorous fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico

2014 ◽  
Vol 505 ◽  
pp. 209-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Zhang ◽  
DM Mason ◽  
CA Stow ◽  
AT Adamack ◽  
SB Brandt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico

scholarly journals Testing the Likeable, Therefore Abundant Hypothesis: Bird Species Likeability by Urban Residents Varies Significantly with Species Traits

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 487
Author(s):  
Lillian Collins ◽  
Grant D. Paton ◽  
Sara A. Gagné
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Habitat Availability ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Behavioral Traits

The urbanization of landscapes filters bird communities to favor particular species traits, driven in part by the changes that homeowners make to the amount and quality of habitat in yards. We suggest that an ultimate driver of these proximate mechanisms underlying bird community change with respect to urbanization is the likeability of species traits by urban residents. We hypothesize that bird species likeability, modulated by species traits, influences the degree to which homeowners alter the availability and quality of habitat on their properties and thereby affects species population sizes in urbanized landscapes. We refer to this new hypothesis as the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis. The Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis predicts that (1) bird species likeability varies with species morphological and behavioral traits, (2) homeowners use trait-based likeability as a motivator to modify habitat availability and quality on their properties, and (3) residential habitat availability and quality influences species populations at landscape scales. We tested the first prediction of the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis using a survey of 298 undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who were asked to rank their preferences for 85 forest generalist and edge/open country songbird species grouped according to 10 morphological and behavioral traits. Survey respondents preferred very small, primarily blue or black species that are insectivorous, aerial or bark foragers, residents, and culturally unimportant. On the other hand, respondents disliked large or very large, primarily yellow or orange species that forage on the ground and/or forage by flycatching, are migratory, and are culturally important. If the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis is true, natural resource managers and planners could capitalize on the high likeability of species that are nevertheless negatively affected by urbanization to convince homeowners and residents to actively manage their properties for species conservation.

Using Fish Behavior to Assess Habitat Quality of a Restored Oyster Reef

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Layman ◽  
Z. R. Jud ◽  
D. Albrey Arrington ◽  
D. Sabin
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Oyster Reef ◽  
Fish Behavior

scholarly journals Improvement in physical river habitat quality in response to river restoration measures

Geografie ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-78
Author(s):  
Kateřina Kujanová ◽  
Milada Matoušková
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
River Restoration ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Reference Conditions ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
River Habitat ◽  
Restoration Measures ◽  
Hydromorphological Quality

The main goal of this paper is to verify the hypothesis that application of appropriate restoration measures can lead to an improvement in river habitat quality and to achieve good hydromorphological conditions within the ecological status under the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/ES. The study includes an analysis of river network modifications founded on comparing historical and present-day maps, a determination of regional hydromorphological reference conditions based on a field survey and measurements, an assessment of hydromorphological quality of the studied water body and a proposal of appropriate restoration measures. The effects on improvement in hydromorphological status were predicted on the basis of a simulation of hydromorphological conditions after the application of proposed restoration measures. Overall, at least a good hydromorphological status would be achieved. The study proved that it is essential to carry out a hydromorphological survey including a determination of reference conditions as it provides some outputs necessary for a proposal and application of efficient restoration.

scholarly journals Forest ecological monitoring of the Shiyang River basin based on Google Earth Engine

2021 ◽  
Vol 932 (1) ◽  
pp. 012011
Author(s):  
Y Wang
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Ecological Environment ◽  
Ecological Quality ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Shiyang River Basin ◽  
Natural Factors ◽  
Google Earth Engine

Abstract The Shiyang River basin is a typical inland arid region and one of the most fragile and sensitive areas of terrestrial ecosystems in China, and it is important to understand its ecological changes in a timely and accurate manner. This article selects the Shiyang River basin forest as the research area and uses Google Earth Engine (GEE) to evaluate and monitor the ecological environment quality of the Shiyang River basin from 1990 to 2020. The geographical detector model (GDM) was also used to analyse the sensitivity of the forest ecological environment to three natural factors: elevation, temperature and altitude. The results showed that the ecological quality of the natural forest is significantly better than that of the man-made forest area, and the ecological quality grade is higher. The forest change area RSEI has a large annual variation in ecological quality and is vulnerable to external factors. Among the influencing natural factors, the sensitive factors of precipitation and altitude are both greater than 84%. The temperature sensitivity of natural forests is stronger than that of man-made forests, ranging from 66% to 92% overall.

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