Metapopulation structure informs conservation management in a heavily exploited coastal shark (Mustelus henlei)

2015 ◽  
Vol 533 ◽  
pp. 191-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Sandoval-Castillo ◽  
LB Beheregaray
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Management ◽  
Metapopulation Structure ◽  
Mustelus Henlei

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA clarifies the taxonomy and distribution of the Australian snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) in northern Australian waters

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Palmer ◽  
Stephen A. Murphy ◽  
Deborah Thiele ◽  
Guido J. Parra ◽  
Kelly M. Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Mitochondrial Control Region ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Base Pairs ◽  
Metapopulation Structure ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Nucleotide Divergence ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
North Western

Conservation management relies on being able to identify and describe species. Recent morphological and molecular analyses of the dolphin genus Orcaella show a species-level disjunction between eastern Australia and South-east Asia. However, because of restricted sampling, the taxonomic affinities of the geographically intermediate populations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia remained uncertain. We sequenced 403 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from five free-ranging Orcaella individuals sampled from north-western Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Low net nucleotide divergence (0.11–0.67%) among the Australian Orcaella populations show that populations occurring in the Northern Territory and Western Australia belong to the Australian snubfin (O. heinsohni) rather than the Asian Irrawaddy dolphin (O. brevirostris). Clarifying the distribution of Orcaella is an important first step in the conservation and management for both species; however, an understanding of the metapopulation structure and patterns of dispersal among populations is now needed.

scholarly journals Metapopulation Patterns of Iberian Butterflies Revealed by Fuzzy Logic

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 392
Author(s):  
Antonio Pulido-Pastor ◽  
Ana Luz Márquez ◽  
José Carlos Guerrero ◽  
Enrique García-Barros ◽  
Raimundo Real
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Set Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Set Theory ◽  
Metapopulation Dynamics ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Dynamics Analysis ◽  
Metapopulation Structure ◽  
Occurrence Data ◽  
Metapopulation Theory ◽  
The Cost

Metapopulation theory considers that the populations of many species are fragmented into patches connected by the migration of individuals through an interterritorial matrix. We applied fuzzy set theory and environmental favorability (F) functions to reveal the metapopulational structure of the 222 butterfly species in the Iberian Peninsula. We used the sets of contiguous grid cells with high favorability (F ≥ 0.8), to identify the favorable patches for each species. We superimposed the known occurrence data to reveal the occupied and empty favorable patches, as unoccupied patches are functional in a metapopulation dynamics analysis. We analyzed the connectivity between patches of each metapopulation by focusing on the territory of intermediate and low favorability for the species (F < 0.8). The friction that each cell opposes to the passage of individuals was computed as 1-F. We used the r.cost function of QGIS to calculate the cost of reaching each cell from a favorable patch. The inverse of the cost was computed as connectivity. Only 126 species can be considered to have a metapopulation structure. These metapopulation structures are part of the dark biodiversity of butterflies because their identification is not evident from the observation of the occurrence data but was revealed using favorability functions.

scholarly journals Genomic Characterization of the Three Balkan Livestock Guardian Dogs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2289
Author(s):  
Mateja Janeš ◽  
Minja Zorc ◽  
Maja Ferenčaković ◽  
Ino Curik ◽  
Peter Dovč ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Management ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Mountainous Areas ◽  
Autosomal Snps ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Gray Wolves ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
Genomic Characterization

Balkan Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD) were bred to help protect sheep flocks in sparsely populated, remote mountainous areas in the Balkans. The aim of this study was genomic characterization (107,403 autosomal SNPs) of the three LGD breeds from the Balkans (Karst Shepherd, Sharplanina Dog, and Tornjak). Our analyses were performed on 44 dogs representing three Balkan LGD breeds, as well as on 79 publicly available genotypes representing eight other LGD breeds, 70 individuals representing seven popular breeds, and 18 gray wolves. The results of multivariate, phylogenetic, clustering (STRUCTURE), and FST differentiation analyses showed that the three Balkan LGD breeds are genetically distinct populations. While the Sharplanina Dog and Tornjak are closely related to other LGD breeds, the Karst Shepherd is a slightly genetically distinct population with estimated influence from German Shepard (Treemix analysis). Estimated genomic diversity was high with low inbreeding in Sharplanina Dog (Ho = 0.315, He = 0.315, and FROH>2Mb = 0.020) and Tornjak (Ho = 0.301, He = 0.301, and FROH>2Mb = 0.033) breeds. Low diversity and high inbreeding were estimated in Karst Shepherds (Ho = 0.241, He = 0.222, and FROH>2Mb = 0.087), indicating the need for proper diversity management. The obtained results will help in the conservation management of Balkan LGD dogs as an essential part of the specific grazing biocultural system and its sustainable maintenance.

scholarly journals Long-term changes in the plant ecology of an African savanna landscape and the implications for ecosystem theory and conservation management

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Western ◽  
Victor N. Mose ◽  
David Maitumo ◽  
Caroline Mburu
Keyword(s):  
Human Impact ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Ecosystem Theory ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Studies of the African savannas have used national parks to test ecological theories of natural ecosystems, including equilibrium, non-equilibrium, complex adaptive systems, and the role of top-down and bottom-up physical and biotic forces. Most such studies have excluded the impact of pastoralists in shaping grassland ecosystems and, over the last half century, the growing human impact on the world’s rangelands. The mounting human impact calls for selecting indicators and integrated monitoring methods able to track ecosystem changes and the role of natural and human agencies. Our study draws on five decades of monitoring the Amboseli landscape in southern Kenya to document the declining role of natural agencies in shaping plant ecology with rising human impact. Results We show that plant diversity and productivity have declined, biomass turnover has increased in response to a downsizing of mean plant size, and that ecological resilience has declined with the rising probability of extreme shortfalls in pasture production. The signature of rainfall and physical agencies in driving ecosystem properties has decreased sharply with growing human impact. We compare the Amboseli findings to the long-term studies of Kruger and Serengeti national parks to show that the human influence, whether by design or default, is increasingly shaping the ecology of savanna ecosystems. We look at the findings in the larger perspective of human impact on African grasslands and the world rangelands, in general, and discuss the implications for ecosystem theory and conservation policy and management. Conclusions The Amboseli study shows the value of using long-term integrated ecological monitoring to track the spatial and temporal changes in the species composition, structure, and function of rangeland ecosystems and the role of natural and human agencies in the process of change. The study echoes the widespread changes underway across African savannas and world’s rangelands, concluding that some level of ecosystem management is needed to prevent land degradation and the erosion of ecological function, services, and resilience. Despite the weak application of ecological theory to conservation management, a plant trait-based approach is shown to be useful in explaining the macroecological changes underway.

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