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PubMed2003

Survey of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Southwestern Cameroon.

A study on the distribution and population density of the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) and the central chimpanzee (Pan t. troglodytes) was undertaken between December 1997 and August 2000 in the Campo and Ma'an Forests in southwestern Cameroon. The aim of this survey was to estimate the densities of the apes in different parts of the area, to assess the importance of the region for the conservation of these endangered species and to determine the influence of human activities such as logging and hunting. The survey was based on night nest counts on a total of 665.5 km of line transects. The overall density in the Campo Forest was estimated at 0.2 gorillas/km(2) and at 0.63-0.78 chimpanzees/km(2). The overall density of chimpanzees in the Ma'an Forest was estimated at 0.8-1 individuals/km(2). Gorilla density in this area was too low to allow an estimation. The highest gorilla nest density was found in secondary forest. The gorilla density in unlogged forest was significantly lower. Chimpanzees showed a clear preference for less disturbed areas. In unlogged forest, old secondary forests (logging more than 23 years ago) and areas of recent logging with large remaining patches of primary forest, significantly higher densities were calculated than inside the more heavily exploited logging concession. In areas with both logging and high hunting pressure both species were rare or even absent. The Campo Ma'an area is considered a very important area for the conservation of gorillas and chimpanzees. Conservation measures are urgently required to reduce the impact of logging and hunting. The creation of the Campo Ma'an National Park in January 2000 is an important measure to preserve the unique biodiversity in this so far hardly protected area.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

The effect of forest clear-cutting on habitat use in Sichuan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in Shennongjia Nature Reserve, China.

The habitat use of two groups of Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus roxellana) was observed, using the focal group method, for 7 months in four seasons from June 2000 to October 2001. The habitats were classed into primary forest and three successional habitats: after clear-cutting: grassland, shrub forest and young forest. The results showed that the large group of monkeys had larger range areas than the small group in the same season. Both groups had larger range sizes in summer or autumn than in winter or spring. They spent most of their time using primary forest and young forest, rarely used shrub forest and did not use grassland. In each season, they used the habitats non-randomly and preferred primary forest. The preference order of habitats for both groups every season was the same: primary forest > young forest > shrub forest >/= grassland. The results suggested that primary forest was high-quality habitat and should be conserved as a top priority. Clear-cutting would cause habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, and should therefore be prohibited. High-quality habitat for the monkeys is difficult to restore from clear-cutting.

Animal Migration↗
PubMed2004

Sleeping sites of Rhinopithecus bieti at Mt. Fuhe, Yunnan.

Data on sleeping site selection were collected for a group of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti; around 80) at Mt. Fuhe, Yunnan, China (99 degrees 20'E, 26 degrees 25'N, about 3,000 m asl) from November 2000 to January 2002. At the site mainly three vegetation types were present in an elevation-ascending order: deciduous broad leaf forest, mixed coniferous and broad leaf forest, and dark coniferous forest. In addition, bamboo forest presented in areas burned in 1958. Sleeping sites (n =10) were located in the coniferous forest, where trees were the tallest, bottommost branches were the highest, the diameter of crowns was the second largest, and the gradient of the ground was the steepest. Monkeys usually kept quiet during entering and staying at a sleeping site. The site choice and the quietness may be tactics to avoid potential predators. In the coniferous forest, however, monkeys did not sleep in the valley bottom where trees were the largest, but frequently slept in the middle of the slope towards the east/southeast, in the shadow of ridges in three other directions, to avoid strong wind and to access sunshine; in winter-spring, they ranged in a more southern and lower area than in summer-autumn. These may be behavioral strategies to minimize energy stress in the cold habitat. Monkeys often slept in the same sleeping site on consecutive nights, which reflected a reduced pressure of predation probably due to either the effectiveness of anti-predation through sleeping site selection, or the population decline of predators with increasing human activities in the habitat. The group's behavioral responses to interactive and sometimes conflicting traits of the habitat are site-specific and conform to expectations for a temperate zone primate.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Developing a national indicator of soil quality on U.S forestlands: methods and initial results.

The Montreal Process was formed in 1994 to develop an internationally agreed upon set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. In response to this initiative, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) programs of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service have implemented soil measurements as part of a national monitoring program to address specific questions related to the conservation of soil and water resources. Integration of soil assessments into the national FIA program provides for systematic monitoring of soil properties across all forested regions of the U.S. using standardized collection, laboratory, and statistical procedures that are compatible with existing forest inventory data. The resulting information will provide quantitative benchmarks for regional, national, and international reporting on sustainable forest management and enhance our understanding of management effects on soil quality. This paper presents an overview of the FIA soil monitoring program, outlines the field and laboratory protocols as currently implemented, and provides examples of how these data may be used to assess indicators of sustainable management as defined by the Montreal Process.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2005

Survival analysis for a large-scale forest health issue: Missouri oak decline.

Survival analysis methodologies provide novel approaches for forest mortality analysis that may aid in detecting, monitoring, and mitigating of large-scale forest health issues. This study examined survivor analysis for evaluating a regional forest health issue - Missouri oak decline. With a statewide Missouri forest inventory, log-rank tests of the effects of covariates on the survivor function and equality of the survivor function among classes were conducted for selected oak species. Additionally, hazard functions were determined for diameter classes for damaged and undamaged oaks. Results indicate that mortality appears to vary significantly among some inventory classes such as oak species, but not among other classes such as ownership class. Indicators of individual tree vigor (i.e., crown class and ratio) were more significant predictors of oak tree mortality than site/stand attributes (i.e., density and aspect). Finally, results indicate that even fast-growing oak trees are at high risk of mortality if damaged by disease. Survival analyses, such as those applied in this study, may enable testing of forest health hypotheses using large-scale inventories. In the context of Missouri's oak forest decline, study results suggest management efforts should focus on limiting the spread of disease damage, increasing the vigor of residual trees, and emphasizing small trees when developing stand prescriptions.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2005

Eight nonnative plants in western Oregon forests: associations with environment and management.

Nonnative plants have tremendous ecological and economic impacts on plant communities globally, but comprehensive data on the distribution and ecological relationships of individual species is often scarce or nonexistent. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of vegetation type, climate, topography, and management history on the distribution and abundance of eight selected nonnative plant taxa in forests in western Oregon. These eight taxa were selected as being reliably detected by a multi-resource inventory of 1127 systematically-placed plots on non-federal forest lands from 1995 to 1997 by the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. One or more of the eight nonnative taxa studied were found on 20% of the sampled subplots in the study area, but relatively few stands were dominated by them. Overall abundance of nonnative taxa was likely much greater, because few composites and graminoids were identified to species in this general-purpose inventory. Distribution of most taxa was more closely associated with low density of overstory trees than with climate. Nonnative taxa were significantly more abundant in stands that had been recently clearcut or thinned than in stands that had not. Frequencies of several taxa decreased with elevation, which may reflect proximity to source populations and intensive land use rather than any climatic constraints. Although the greatest potential for displacement of native forest species appears to be in early-successional communities, the potential for spread of some shade-tolerant evergreen shrubs also seems high.

Climate↗
PubMed2005

Precision and accuracy of pest and pathogen damage assessment in young eucalypt plantations.

Fungal pathogens, browsing mammals, birds, insects, nutrient deficiencies, drought, frost and waterlogging are all damaging agents to plantation species. The subsequent loss in leaf tissue or reduced photosynthetic potential can reduce growth and potentially lead to tree death. The Crown Damage Index (CDI) was developed in Australia to quantify damage in young eucalypt plantations. The accuracy and precision of assessing damage at a tree level were determined to ensure the reliability, objectivity and repeatability of the CDI method. Nine assessors, with varying levels of experience, estimated damage on three plots of fifty trees each, to obtain an understanding of the subjectivity of assessing damage caused by insects (e.g. Chrysophtharta spp.) and fungal pathogens (e.g. Mycosphaerella spp.) on Eucalyptus globulus. Damage levels were measured by destructive sampling to enable direct comparisons between estimates and damage levels to be made. The most experienced assessors provided the most repeatable estimates and were generally the most accurate. The incidence of foliar necrosis was the least subjective measure while defoliation was the most subjective and the least accurate of the indices measured. All assessors, regardless of experience, were able to predict the Crown Damage Index (a combined index of all damage classes) to within 12% of measured damage levels.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

The monitoring of insects to maintain biodiversity in Ogawa Fores Reserve.

The results of a biodiversity monitoring program conducted in the Ogawa Forest Reserve and its vicinity, situated in a cool temperate region of Japan, identified three different patterns for species richness. Forests of the region are characterized by a mosaic of secondary deciduous stands of various ages scattered among plantations of conifers. The three different types of change in species richness observed in response to the stand age are as follows: Type I (butterflies, tube-renting bees and wasps, hoverflies, fruit flies, and longicorn beetles), the species diversity was highest in open areas, just after clear-cutting, decreasing with the stand age; Type II (mushrooms and mites associated with them), older stands showed greater diversity than younger stands; and, Type III (moths, oribatid mites, collembolas, carabid beetles, and ants), the number of species did not change greatly with the stand age, though ordination analysis revealed that there was variation in species compositions. These results indicate that combinations of stands of different ages, or heterogeneously arranged stands, can contribute to the maintenance of insect biodiversity at the landscape level.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Alberta biodiversity monitoring program - monitoring effectiveness of sustainable forest management planning.

A conceptual model of sustainable forest management is described based on three connected and necessary components: Policy/Strategic Planning, Operational Planning, and Effectiveness Monitoring/Science. Alberta's proposed Forest Management Planning Standard is described as an example of operational planning. The standard utilizes coarse and fine filter approaches to conserving biodiversity and sets requirements for implementation monitoring. The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Program (ABMP) is described as an example of effectiveness monitoring supporting Operational Planning. The ABMP is a rigorous science-based initiative that is being developed to monitor and report on biodiversity status and trends throughout the province of Alberta, Canada. The basic survey design consists of 1656 sites, 20 km apart, evenly spaced on a grid pattern across Alberta. Sites will be sampled over a five-year period at a rate of 350 sites/year. Standardized sampling protocols will be used to cover a broad range of species and habitat elements within terrestrial and aquatic environments, as well as broader landscape-level features. Trends and associations detected by ABMP products will be validated through cause-effect research. ABMP focuses research on critical issues and informs both operational planning and the development of policy and strategic-level plans. The Alberta Forest Management Planning Standard and the ABMP are described as key components to implementing resource planning based on ecosystem management principles.

Alberta↗
PubMed2006

Monitoring of biodiversity indicators in boreal forests: a need for improved focus.

The general principles of scale and coarse and fine filters have been widely accepted, but management agencies and industry are still grappling with the question of what to monitor to detect changes in forest biodiversity following forest management. Part of this problem can be attributed to the lack of focused questions for monitoring including absence of null models and predicted effects, a certain level of disconnect between research and management, and recognition that monitoring can be designed as a research question. Considerable research from the past decade has not been adequately synthesized to answer important questions, such as which species or forest attributes might be the best indicators of change. A disproportionate research emphasis has been placed on community ecology, and mostly on a few groups of organisms including arthropods, amphibians, migratory songbirds, and small mammals, while other species, including soil organisms, lichens, bats, raptors, some carnivores, and larger mammals remain less well-known. In most studies of community ecology, the question of what is the importance, if any, of the regularly observed subtle changes in community structures, and causes of observed changes is usually not answered. Hence, our ability to deal with questions of persistence is limited, and demographic research on regionally-defined key species (such as species linked to processes, species whose persistence may be affected, species with large home ranges, species already selected as indicators, and rare and threatened species) is urgently needed. Monitoring programs need to be designed to enable managers to respond to unexpected changes caused by forest management. To do this, management agencies need to articulate null models for monitoring that predict effects, focus fine-scale monitoring on key species (defined by local and regional research) in key habitats (rare, declining, important) across landscapes, and have a protocol in place to adapt management strategies to changes observed. Finally, agencies must have some way to determine and define when a significant change has occurred and to predict the persistence of species; this too should flow from a well-designed null model.

Biodiversity↗
PubMed2005

Mapping tropical deforestation in Central Africa.

The NASA Landsat Pathfinder Humid Tropical Deforestation Project was to map deforestation activities in the humid tropics using datasets from both the Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) and MSS (Multispectral Scanner System). In Central Africa, its effort had been constrained by the availability of cloud-free satellite coverage, especially for the 1970s Landsat MSS imagery. Here, we reported the deforestation rate and its spatial variability in the region using 18 pairs of co-registered Landsat TM imagery from the 1980s to 1990s. Of the total classified area of 416,000 km2, there were approximately 217,000 km2 of dense forest and 24,000 km2 of degraded forest in the 1980s. A total of 1012 km2 of forest, including 542 km2 of dense forest and 470 km2 of degraded forest, were cleared annually with an annual deforestation rate of 0.42%, varying among scenes ranging from 0.03 to 2.72%. Additionally, an average of 0.12% (ranging from 0.01 to 0.77% among scenes) or 257 km2 of dense forest was degraded annually. Regression analyses indicated that extensive deforestation occurred in areas with larger forest cover, including dense and degraded forests. Image interpretation also confirmed the hypothesized relationship between deforestation and forest accessibility. The annual clearance of the dense forest was significantly related to the rural population density, and there was a positive relationship between the dense forest degraded during the 1980s-1990s and the degraded forest area in the 1980s.

Africa↗
PubMed2006

A simulation study to assess the sensitivity of a forest health monitoring network to outbreaks of defoliating insects.

The sensitivity of the United States Forest Health Monitoring network to outbreaks of defoliating insects was examined by means of a simulation study. A model constructed specifically for the study was used to generate a wide variety of defoliation patterns in forested landscapes. Forest configuration was that of Minnesota, USA, as expressed by the GAP land cover classification. Combinations of model parameters were based on a Latin Hypercube sample. The relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak characteristics was then examined via multiple regression. Both theoretical and model results pointed to a strong, linear relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak size. Model results provided additional insight, suggesting a significant relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and other outbreak characteristics after outbreak size was taken into account.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Factors affecting participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund: a study in a participatory forest in Bangladesh.

This paper examined the factors that might influence participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund (TFF) established for sustainable development of participatory forest management (PFM). Information on willingness-to-pay, socioeconomic characteristics, and attitudes of participating farmers toward TFF were obtained from interviews with 581 participating farmers. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the dominant factors that might influence participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the TFF. The results showed that participating farmers' willingness-to-pay was significantly affected by (i) family income; (ii) education level; (iii) confidence that his aspired benefits will be received; (iv) agreement with the statement that 'PFM is sustainable under the present state of management'; (v) agreement with the statement that 'PFM is a good strategy for forest conservation'; and (vi) knowledge of PFM strategies. Thus, participating farmers with a higher level of education, higher income and positive attitudes toward TFF tended to express more willingness-to-pay. Establishment of TFF could be an effective strategy in implementing sustainable PFM in Bangladesh. For this strategy to succeed, however, active partnership between the participating farmers and Forest Department is required. Participating farmers' attitudes toward TFF should therefore be taken into consideration as should the results of this study, which are important indicators of participating farmers' positive attitudes toward TFF.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Analysis of failure time in clonally propagated plant populations.

A problem originating in forest tree breeding concerns the number of clones needed in clonally propagated plantings to manage risk of failure due to an unforeseen catastrophic event. In this paper, we present a model for and analysis of time to failure for clonally propagated populations, assuming that in each year there is a chance for attack by an insect or pathogen. We develop the probability distribution of the number of years until population failure, T. A surprising finding is that in some circumstances increasing the number of clones can increase, rather than decrease, the chance of population failure. This suggests that laws, such as those current in the European Community, mandating minimum numbers of clones to be used in reforestation, may not achieve their intended effects, and that further investigation is needed to clarify the situation.

Forestry↗
PubMed1996

Biological diversity, indigenous knowledge, drug discovery and intellectual property rights: creating reciprocity and maintaining relationships.

When new plant-derived therapeutics based on indigenous knowledge are being explored, it is important that the pharmaceutical companies return benefits to the native populations and the local governments from which the research material was obtained. When a potentially marketable plant product is being developed, it is essential that equitable agreements have already been established between the pharmaceutical companies and the people and/or countries from which this indigenous knowledge was acquired. Equally important is the commitment to provide immediate reciprocity that will enhance the welfare, the biocultural diversity and the well-being of the forest peoples. These measures should commence when a research project begins and continue during its duration. The development of these measures must be based upon the expressed needs of the indigenous communities. The relationship between the stability of the rain forest biocultural diversity, the creation and development of agro-forest resources and the long term benefits to the forest people is highlighted. Examples of initiatives taken by Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Healing Forest Conservancy are described and discussed in the context of exploring appropriate use of intellectual property law to address the ethical issues facing all business and research groups working in the tropics.

Awards and Prizes↗
PubMed1996

Rules and regulations on the collection in Cameroon of biological materials for biological testing and drug discovery.

Regulations on the exploitation of Cameroon's rich biodiversity have tended to emphasize timber exploitation at the expense of non-timber uses. Materials for scientific research have been marginalized. However, in-service instructions usually provide practical guidelines such as specific charges that researchers must pay for the collection of samples. Even though the current law and text of application are silent on regulations addressing the scientific "prospecting' or exploitation of the forests, it is hoped that a particular text in conformity with the current regulations will provide more specific rules governing the collection, testing and exportation of biological materials for drug testing and discovery.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

[Management policy and utilization of botanical resources in the Dominican Republic].

The Dominican Republic has an extension of 48 442 km2. It occupies the eastern portion of the island of Hispaniola and is the second in size within the Greater Antilles. The floral resources of the Island have been extensively exploited without an adequate management policy. This has led to the destruction of about 90% of the forested lands of the country. The Dominican Republic has about 5600 species of vascular plants, of which 36% are endemic, many of which are in danger of extinction, due to overexploitation and/or destruction of the habitats. In order to protect the biodiversity of the Dominican Republic, 22 nature preserves were created, representing about 13.3% of the national territory. The primary institutions charged with the management and protection of the flora are the General Directorate of Forests, National Directorate of Parks, the National Botanical Garden, and the Department of Wild Life under the State Secretary of Agriculture (SEA). Numerous laws, resolutions and decrees have been promulgated, governing forest resources. As to the wildlife, emphasis is given to the protection of the fauna. At present, there is a technical body, which is structuring a Forest Code. Export of products of the wild flora is regulated by the Wildlife Department under the State Secretary of Agriculture (SEA). This Department also administers regulations for CITES. The Department of Plant Sanitation of the SEA and the Dominican Centre of Export Promotion (CEDOPEX) are also involved in the control of the export of biological materials.

Animals↗