The Military Macaw (Ara militaris) is a globally threatened species with a fragmented distribution, and assessing the genetics of populations could help identify conservation units. Nine microsatellites were used to analyze 86 samples in seven localities along the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra Madre del Sur, and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico. Results showed that the Military Macaw has moderate levels of genetic diversity, similar to that found in other macaw species in Latin America. This species shows a high genetic structure; we find a genetic break between localities separated by the Central Plateau and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which serve as geographic barriers. However, the locations within each genetic group are not genetically differentiated. It was observed that three locations of the Military Macaw have excess homozygotes, which could indicate a small effective size of the population and in combination with genetic isolation could increase the risk of extinction of the species. We propose two genetic groups for the species, the first comprising localities in the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre del Sur, and the second comprising localities of the Sierra Madre Oriental. According to the genetic differentiation, which was significant between the physiographic regions, and the unique allelic richness shown in this study, these two groups should be considered as independent conservation units. We strongly recommend the conservation and restoration of the natural habitats of the Military Macaw to maintain and increase the size of its population and recover and expand its original geographical distribution.

Human-induced conversion of natural habitats into agricultural areas is one of the major drivers for biodiversity loss. In many tropical regions, the matrix habitat area (habitat between fragments of remaining natural habitat) considerably exceeds the area of the original habitat. Therefore, understanding the factors determining matrix quality for animals is a key step to guide conservation action in fragmented landscapes. Matrix habitat, although being often highly disturbed, might provide valuable habitat for some species, serves as buffer zone for remaining natural habitat or corridor between fragments, and hence could be an important component for biodiversity maintenance on a landscape scale. We evaluated the effects of matrix quality on frog diversity in a rainforest ecosystem in Eastern Madagascar. Although frog diversity was affected in all matrix habitats, we found that variation in matrix quality was an important factor. Matrix habitat could serve as valuable habitat and corridor (i.e., high frog diversity along streams in the matrix), as buffer zone (moderate diversity in banana plantations), or was unsuitable habitat for most frog species (very impoverished diversity in secondary vegetation and rice fields). The remaining natural vegetation in and outside protected areas in Madagascar and worldwide is decreasing and will not be sufficient to preserve its biodiversity on a long term. Therefore, we must understand responses of organisms to disturbance in order to create buffer zones and corridors combining both disturbed and natural habitats. Implementing corridors along matrix streams connecting forest habitats might be an important contribution to amphibian conservation in fragmented landscapes.

Illegal bird-keeping and pet trade are some of the major threats to Neotropical birds. The aim of the present study was to detail aspects of the use and trade of wild Passeriformes as pets in an ecotonal zone of Caatinga-Cerrado domains in middle-north of Brazil, a western subregion of northeastern (NE) Brazil which also is a road hub interconnecting this region to the Amazon and other Brazilian areas. Information on the use of avifauna was obtained through semistructured interviews with 61 bird-keepers or trappers and investigations in the municipal market of Floriano, Piauí State. Our results reveal that at least 39 passerine species are targeted as pets in surveyed areas. Based on Use-Value (UV) index, the main recorded species were Sporophila lineola, Charitospiza eucosma, Sporophila nigricollis, Sporophila plumbea, Paroaria dominicana, Sicalis flaveola, Gnorimopsar chopi, Sicalis columbiana, Mimus saturninus, and Turdus rufiventris. In general, younger respondents (<30 years old) trapping more species than older persons (≥50 years old), as well as trappers engaged in wild pet trade explored a higher species richness by respondents. The regional bird market chain was typically performed outside municipal market of Floriano and facilitated by popularization of technological improvements (motorcycles, smartphones, and social media). New strategies urgently need to be developed to improve bird conservation, including establishment and maintenance of environmental education programs, media campaigns and development of a well-monitored system for captive breeding, and reproduction of wild birds exploited as pets.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a rapidly expanding crop in the Amazonian region of Brazil. Brazilian law requires all landowners, including oil palm plantations, to maintain forest reserves and forested riparian corridors as a way to limit biodiversity losses. Because of these laws and the forest-like structure of oil palm, these plantations may function as habitat for some native species in the region. We tested this assumption by experimentally translocating Cinereous Antshrikes (Thamnomanes caesius), a forest understory insectivorous bird and nuclear member of mixed-species flocks, from forest reserves to riparian corridors within a large oil palm plantation landscape and tracked their movements back to their home ranges. In total, we recorded the movements of 18 individuals, 8 of which were translocated. The other 10 individuals were tracked within their home ranges in the forest reserves. Six of the eight translocated birds successfully returned to their forest home range, but only one bird flew through the more direct route back through the oil palm matrix while the rest took longer routes through adjoining riparian corridors. Homing time for translocated birds averaged 9.57 (±2.23 SE) days. The home range of birds within the forest reserves averaged 2.39 (±0.69 SE) ha, and, with the exception of the single returning bird, Cinereous Antshrikes were never detected in oil palm. Our results suggest that oil palm plantations are a barrier to movements of our study species, and that riparian corridors connecting forest fragments may be effective routes for dispersal.

Agricultural expansions and unsustainable resource extraction increasingly threaten biodiversity worldwide. Thus, knowledge on landscape management opportunities that contribute to biodiversity conservation and provide the necessary natural resources is urgently needed. Community-based natural resource management can be one solution to achieve sustainable resource provisioning and biodiversity conservation. However, evidence on the effectiveness of the management transfers to local communities for biodiversity conservation is scarce. We use a case study from south-western Madagascar to discuss the integration of community-managed forests, including forests protected by local taboos, into measures for biodiversity conservation. In particular, we compared reptile community composition and species diversity between differently managed forest sectors (used and less-used) in two community forests. We hypothesized that forest use affects biodiversity depending on the people’s acceptance of management regulations. Our results show that reptile community composition was affected by forest management if the less used forest part was protected by traditional taboos. If the people did not respect regulations for resource extraction, habitat protection failed which led to a homogenization of reptile community composition across different forest parts. This highlights that the type of forest management and use and its acceptance in the rural communities determines the contribution of community forests to biodiversity conservation.

Laelia speciosa is an orchid species listed as threatened of extinction in the Mexican standard NOM-059. Wild populations of L. speciosa have been declining due to fragmentation of its habitat and massive extraction for trading in local markets in Mexico. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the evolutionary potential of L. speciosa within a fragmented landscape of ca. 4000 km² in the Cuitzeo basin, State of Michoacán. We sampled 15 populations throughout the Cuitzeo basin and amplified eight nuclear microsatellite markers to assess genetic diversity, structure, and connectivity and to test for evidence of recent bottlenecks. Surprisingly, L. speciosa populations showed high genetic diversity, with values ranging from moderate to high compared with those reported for other orchid species. Also, the analysis of molecular variance and R_ST results indicated the existence of low genetic differentiation, favored by its cross pollination habit which facilitates the maintenance of gene flow and that have been observed in other orchid species. Wright's within-population inbreeding (F_IS) was positive in all cases, denoting a heterozygosity deficit, with moderate-to-high values. Fragmentation may also lead to inbreeding due to either increased self-fertilization or mating between related individuals within remnant fragments. The L. speciosa populations examined showed evidence suggesting that some populations had recently gone through a bottleneck. We also observed that all the L. speciosa populations had a moderate effective population size. The history of L. speciosa in the Cuitzeo basin suggests that both fragmented and non-fragmented populations may have been recently subject to moderate reductions in effective population size, large enough to affect their allelic diversity, F_IS, but not their H_E. Such reductions may have been caused by episodic environmental fluctuations or resulted from the recent founding of some of the populations. The effective population size can be used as an indicator of habitat quality, and this was confirmed for the L. speciosa populations, which have undergone a drastic decline due to environmental changes, habitat destruction, and illegal collection. The ultimate goals of conservation are to ensure the continuous survival of populations and maintain their evolutionary potential by preserving natural levels of genetic diversity. Great efforts should be made to preserve this species' extant populations and their habitats to prevent further population reductions and preserve its overall genetic basis. Collection of this orchid should be banned and robust legal protection measures should be enforced through local authorities.

The hairy long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus pilosus) is endemic to the Andes in Peru and rarely studied, thus more investigations are needed. To gain a better understanding of this species’ distribution and to facilitate future surveys and conservation management, we compiled available information on specimens of D. pilosus, provided an ecological biogeography perspective of these specimens, and estimated suitable areas for D. pilosus using ecological niche modeling. We compiled 25 specimen records from six departments in Peru and extracted the climatic and elevation conditions for records with coordinates. We concluded that D. pilosus may occupy relatively high elevation sites, hiding in a relatively cool climatic niche at tropical latitude. We suggested possible upper and lower temperature limits for D. pilosus and lower precipitation limit for the genus Dasypus. The ecological niche model estimated that about half of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) range map was not suitable for D. pilosus and predicted additional suitable areas outside the IUCN range map in Amazonas and Cajamarca departments, Peru. We recommend that future field surveys or conservation management efforts prioritize regions associated with suitable areas predicted by our model and with species’ available records (e.g., Río Abiseo).

Natural beekeeping is an alternative livelihood for poor people in rural areas with poor accessibility and important for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem. We set out to answer the following two questions: (a) Can beekeeping really provide a significant contribution to local people’s income generation? (b) Do beekeepers have a strong willingness to protect natural forest? To do this, we systematically sampled and interviewed 60 beekeepers and 60 nonbeekeepers from 12 villages in three districts of Oudomxay Province, Lao PDR. We found that beekeeping households have a significant marginally higher income compared with nonbeekeeping households. Meanwhile, beekeepers also showed a significant concern for forest protection. Factors constraining the sustainability of beekeeping include chemical pesticide use, lack of technology, and several others. Governmental agencies and conservation organizations thus could promote natural beekeeping in rural areas for both a partial income source and regional biodiversity conservation.

The consequences of human exploitation on wetlands remain unresolved for many regions. Marismas Nacionales wetland in Northwest Mexico is a Ramsar site and a Biosphere Reserve at Mexico. By integrating literature sources, fisheries data, and field studies, this study shows how long-term coastal exploitation has contributed to subsequent declines in fishery resources and the wetland health. Oysters declined in prehistoric times and potentially recovered during the Spanish occupation. Further, overexploitation of oyster banks in the mid-19th century diminished oysters’ populations by early 20th century. Then, inshore fishing cooperatives flourished and exploited shrimp and finfish. These fisheries seemed sustainable until outboard motors and nylon nets populated estuaries. Government subsidies and free-market policies of late 20th century exacerbated fishing effort and disrupted social organization of fishing cooperatives which lead to widespread illegal and unsustainable fishing practices. Currently, the seemingly subtle shifts in artisanal fishing techniques have modified Marismas’ food webs. These results can help develop conservation guidelines for wetlands ecosystem services and be a reference for managers in other countries where long-term data of wetlands exploitation is limited.

Neotropical frugivorous bats are common seed dispersers of several pioneer plant species, conferring to the bats an important role for conservation purposes. However, the effects of bats on seed germination have been scarcely addressed. Here, we evaluate effects of passage of seeds through guts of Artibeus lituratus bats on the germination of the pioneer tree Cecropia pachystachya, accounting for seed storage time and fruit maturity as covariates. To control for seed sources, we collected infructescences and offered them partially to captive bats in order to obtain seeds passed through bats and seeds unpassed from the same infructescences. We then stored in glycerol subsets of seeds of both treatments through time until the beginning of the germination experiment. Germination success responded to storage time and fruit maturation stage. Among seeds from unripe fruits, those passed through the bat guts showed higher percentage of germination than seeds unpassed, but no difference occurred between treatments for seeds from mature fruits. In addition, passage through bats positively affected germination speed, irrespective of fruit maturity. Overall results support that bats can promote germination of C. pachystachya seeds, in addition to seed dispersal.

The Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) is a biodiversity hotspot with high deforestation rates that lead to extensive habitat changes, especially around protected areas (PAs). In our study, we analyzed how bats are affected by habitat changes comparing assemblages inside and outside Cerrado PAs. We compared diversity patterns of bats in relation to species composition, number of captured bats, as well as body condition and reproductive condition in cerrado sensu stricto (s.s.) and gallery forests. From September 2007 to June 2008, we captured 495 bats belonging to 25 species, 4 families, and 6 foraging guilds. When comparing captured bats inside and outside PAs, we found different patterns for both habitats, but with no differences in species richness for both habitats in relation to habitat perturbation. In relation to the degree of preservation, bat assemblages tend to be dissimilar between cerrado s.s. and similar between gallery forests. Besides that, in cerrados s.s., bats are less captured, or negatively affected, by habitat disturbance outside PAs; while in gallery forests, they are positively affected. Likewise, some bat species in gallery forests present higher body condition and more reproductive individuals outside PAs. Finally, we suggest that the intense habitat change in cerrado s.s. does cause negative effects on bats, while the positive effects found in degraded gallery forests may be due to the higher resource availability derived mainly from pioneer plants. Therefore, the presence of both nectarivorous bats in cerrado s.s. and frugivorous bats in gallery forests can be considered good indicators for habitat disturbance.

Many tropical invasive species have strong allelopathic effects. Pyrolyzed waste biomass (“biochar”) has sorptive properties that can reduce the bioavailability of a variety of toxic organic compounds, including pesticides and naturally occurring phenolic acids; however, sorption of allelochemicals has received little attention. Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) and lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosa) are important tropical island invasives thought to be allelopathic. Leaf extracts of both species were treated with two biochars (made from maize stalk and coconut husk feedstocks) and applied to maize (Zea mays) and radish (Raphanus sativus) seeds in a factorial design involving leaf extract and biochar dosages. Leaf extracts of both species had large inhibitory effects on germination and seedling growth, particularly at higher dosages, consistent with allelopathic effects. Biochar treatments positively affected seed germination and early seedling development consistent with sorption of these allelochemicals; in some cases, “rescue” effects occurred, in which biochar treatments completely counteracted allelopathic effects. Biochar leachates alone also generally had positive effects on seed germination and seedling development. We conclude that biochars have promise as a tool for combatting invasive allelopathic plants in tropical island ecosystems. The relative ease of biochar production using “low-tech” methods, and multiple benefits of biochar in enhancing soil productivity and carbon sequestration, may make such an approach viable in many developing countries.

Monitoring protocols are needed to evaluate the millions of hectares of land that are being proposed for forest restoration in the coming decades. Standardized proposals are critical to evaluate efficacy of restoration strategies, identify triggers for corrective actions, compare results across projects, and generally learn from past projects to inform future restoration efforts. We describe an iterative process, including over 200 stakeholders, to develop a protocol for monitoring Brazilian Atlantic Forest restoration. We give an overview of the ecological, socioeconomic, and management criteria, indicators, and metrics included in the protocol. Strengths of the protocol include the following: (a) testing and use across sites with a range of ages, forest types, past land uses, restoration techniques, and implementing institutions; (b) participation by a broad range of government, nongovernment, private, and academic institutions in the protocol development process; and (c) inclusion of socioeconomic and management criteria. Next steps for facilitating the broad adoption of the protocol in the Atlantic Forest region include providing in person and online training courses, establishing an online repository for storing and comparing monitoring data, and developing smartphone applications to facilitate data collection. Although the protocol was developed for the Atlantic Forest context and further refinements are needed, we think that the Atlantic Forest Pact monitoring protocol may serve as a model to inform the development of similar protocols in other regions, which ultimately could be integrated to produce a pantropical protocol for common use by several restoration forest programs worldwide.

The natural distribution of the critically endangered tree Serianthes nelsonii (Håyun lågu) is restricted to 33 known individuals located on the islands of Rota and Guam, Mariana Islands. Major risks of extinction are a limited range, a minimal number of individuals, and a lack of recruitment. The potential for grafting and air-layering propagation was evaluated to reveal new approaches, by which species recovery efforts may be achieved. Root formation occurred on 100% of the air-layered S. nelsonii stems. Using Serianthes kanehirae as rootstock, graft success was 100% for approach graft and 25% for traditional veneer graft techniques. These results have shown that asexual reproduction is highly successful for this woody legume species and is available to address the restrictions on species recovery caused by limited seed availability. These propagation strategies open up new prospects for conserving contemporary genetic diversity and reversing the failures in S. nelsonii recovery efforts, since the 1994 recovery plan was published.

Germain’s swiftlets (Aerodramus inexpectatus germani) are farmed regularly in Southeast Asia and produce highly valuable nests for which there is an increasing demand. Some populations of this species are thought to be decreasing, but little is known about the habitat used by swiftlets for foraging. Here, we focused on this swiftlet’s foraging habitat selection and describe their daily and seasonal variations in habitat use. We predict that the prey capture attempts would be highest during twilight periods of each day, but that overall capture rates would vary with season and habitat type. Prey capture attempts at different times of the day and seasons in five different habitats were investigated and compared to flying insect availability (estimate as biomass). For each habitat, insects were trapped immediately 5–10 m above vegetation levels (i.e., tree canopy and open paddies) and 0–5 m above water surfaces in water body habitat. The highest foraging intensity occurred over water bodies, forest, and open paddy land; all of which contained high numbers of major prey insects (Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Hemiptera). Foraging during the wet season was at a greater intensity than during the dry season which was associated with increased insect availability. This suggested that food supply in each habitat type, time of day, and season influenced the bird’s foraging habitat use. To conserve populations of this swiftlet, it is therefore important to protect wetlands, forest areas, and open paddy land to support natural insect prey within the foraging range of local swiftlets.

In tropical montane forests epiphytes represent a substantial proportion of biodiversity and green biomass, particularly where fog occurs almost daily. Epiphytes play important ecological roles in these ecosystems, for example, in forest hydrology and in amplifying arthropod biodiversity, but quantitative assessments of epiphytic biomass and species diversity are rare. Such data are important, however, for a better understanding on their ecological roles and as a baseline for detecting ecological change due to climate or land-use changes. In a tropical lower montane cloud forest (c. 1,150 m above sea level) in Panama, we identified and weighed all epiphytic matter, which includes vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and dead organic matter from the trunks of 22 trees varying in diameters at breast height and 28 canopy branches. Additionally, we collected epiphytic matter in the understory in 22 plots of 2 × 2 m. A total of 155 species of vascular epiphytes, hemiepiphytes, and nomadic vines were found. Orchidaceae were by far the most species-rich family, followed by Araceae and Bromeliaceae. The vertical distribution of these species in the forest showed species-specific vertical preferences, but species numbers varied little in undergrowth, trunks, and tree crowns. Epiphytic matter was positively related to tree size, and we used tree-size data inventory data from a nearby 1-ha plot to extrapolate our findings to the plot level. The resulting estimate of 16,439 kg ha⁻¹ for total epiphytic matter and 6,214 kg ha⁻¹ for living plants, the latter representing about 2% of aboveground forest biomass.

We present an overview of the diversity, distribution, and conservation status of all 60 species of the genus Peperomia (“radiator plants,” Piperaceae), which are currently known from the state of Veracruz in Mexico, including a taxonomically updated reference list that includes information about life form, overall distribution, endemism, and occurrence in Mexican states and municipalities of Veracruz. Specifically, for this latter state, we provide information on elevational range, habitat, and distinguishing characters useful for identification or uses. Moreover, we realize an assessment of conservation status considering International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List categories and criteria at regional level. About 45% of Peperomia species from Veracruz belong to a threatened category, mainly because of the continued loss and fragmentation of natural habitats.

The relationship between how humans and altitude influence the structure of plant communities has been poorly investigated and particularly so in semiarid ecosystems. Understanding the processes that affect plant community structure is essential for sustaining the biodiversity found in altitudinal refugia of the Brazilian Caatinga. In this study, we investigated the influence of altitudinal gradients and human impacts on floristic composition and structure of a shrubby-arboreal community in northeastern Brazil. We recorded a total of 68 tree species in 45 randomly sampled 4 × 50 m plots in three different altitudinal levels (Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3). The species clearly separated among the altitudes studied when the abundance data were analyzed (Bray–Curtis, Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling). Whittaker plots indicated that Level 3 (highest) had more species and greater evenness and thus greater diversity. On the other hand, Level 1 (lowest) had lower diversity with greater dominance of a few pioneer species. Our results indicated that higher altitudes appear to function as refugia for many plant species (unique species and species shared with Atlantic Forest), which results in greater specie richness. However, high levels of human disturbance at lower altitudinal levels contribute to lower diversity due to the competitive abilities and dominance of pioneer tree species. The maintenance of these altitudinal Caatinga refugia is important and should be a priority for the implementation of new protected areas in the semiarid region of Brazil.

Birds perform several ecological roles for ecosystem functioning and generate great benefits for human population in some circumstances. However, environmental disturbances, mostly due to anthropogenic actions, have caused a decrease of bird diversity and can lead to the loss of their functions in the remaining habitats. Here, we conducted a scientific literature review to understand the general trends on the ecosystem functions executed by birds and the possible effects of environmental disturbances on them. Our research was conducted in September 2016 in Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, which returned 154 papers that targeted the importance of birds to the ecosystems’ maintenance. Among the studies (n = 99) that effectively assessed the ecological role of bird species, most were conducted in natural habitats (n = 63), and the most evaluated function was invertebrate population control (n = 70). About 58% of the publications related some environmental characteristic to the ecological function, but patch and landscape-scaled factors were poorly investigated. Furthermore, 52% of the papers showed that the ecological function of birds can arise from a cascade effect on other trophic levels, though this may depend on the environmental characteristics. Despite the numerous studies in the ornithology field, the ecological roles of birds in several ecosystems are still poorly understood. Future research should consider others ecological functions mediated by birds, such as disease control, and must take different spatial scales and human modification of habitats into consideration, enabling generalizations based on ecosystem type and landscape composition variation.

Crop raiding by Bornean elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) is increasing rapidly in North Kalimantan, mainly due to a rapid conversion of swiddens and secondary forest into oil palm plantations. In the Tulin Onsoi subdistrict, the area used by oil palm plantations has grown from 3,302.71 ha in 2001 to 21,124.93 ha in 2014. Particularly from 2006 to 2010, the area covered by oil palm plantations increased rapidly (418%). Preventing further encroachment of oil palm plantations in elephant habitat and regulating land use change are keys to stop further population declines and make way for the reestablishment of a viable elephant population in Kalimantan. Crop raiding is a strong determinant of the local people’s perceptions of elephants and risks eroding cultural values that enabled people to coexist with elephants. People’s perception and attitude toward elephants are generally negative. Nevertheless, negative attitudes have not led to cases of retaliation in the Tulin Onsoi subdistrict. Public education at the community level could strengthen cultural values and foster coexistence between humans and elephants.

As part of an experimental restoration of seed-dispersal processes in a fragmented agricultural landscape, we recorded rodent colonization of fenced plots in active cattle pasture over 10 years. The design included 16,900 m² fenced cattle exclosures that were either planted with seedlings of native animal-dispersed trees, planted with seedlings of native wind-dispersed trees, or unplanted controls to simulate natural succession. Near the end of the dry season in late May and early June from 2007 to 2016, five Sherman live traps were placed in each plot for 66 hr per plot, resulting in 1,584 trap hours per year. Eight species of rodents were captured. Of 697 individuals, 644 (92%) were cotton rats (Sigmodon toltecus); only 1 other species, Coues’ rice rat (Oryzomys couesi), accounted for >1% of the total. S. toltecus accounted for at least 96% of the biomass of >50 kg of rodents captured. This species dominated the rodent community while most plots were grass- or fern-covered from 2007 to 2010. Thereafter, the question of interest was whether S. toltecus change in population numbers could be attributed to normal fluctuations of small rodents or to habitat change. The minimum number alive declined from 149 in 2010 to 20 in 2016. Overall, and frequently within years, low S. toltecus captures reflected high woody cover from shrubs and trees. A virtual Sigmodon monoculture prevailed until dense herbaceous cover was replaced by forest understory.

Tropical dry forests are complex and diverse ecosystems threatened by multiple anthropogenic factors, such as habitat disturbance caused by land use change. We assessed species and functional diversity of lizard communities in areas with different levels of tropical dry forest disturbance in the Chamela region, Mexico. Functional richness, functional evenness, and functional dispersion were assessed considering six lizard functional traits. We recorded 415 lizards of 15 species. Species richness, species diversity, functional richness, functional dispersion, and the number of functional groups are lower in disturbed sites than in undisturbed tropical dry forest sites. On the contrary, abundance and functional evenness were higher in strongly disturbed sites. We suggest that lizard functional diversity should be studied further in order to secure the integrity of herpetofaunal communities and ecosystem processes.

In recent years, fires regularly and extensively took place in Indonesian forest and peatland, inducing a wide range of environmental and economic impacts, particularly the very bad air quality due to smoke haze and the considerable increase of carbon emissions. The causal relationship between Indonesian fires and human intervention has been widely recognized; however, their spatial relationship is still insufficiently observed. This study examines how well the distribution of fire hotspot can be explained by variables indicating human activities, with a case study in Central Kalimantan Indonesia. This study involves five proxy variables for human activities (land uses, land status, distance to road, distance to settlement, and distance to river), in addition to elevation, slope, and one variable pertaining to the existence of peatland. This study hence provides a model for fire hotspot distribution that would be a valuable approach to identify fire risk distribution and subsequently to support fire control, which is currently the most crucial foundation for the success of peatland restoration program in Indonesia.

The Cross River State Government in Nigeria is proposing to construct a “Cross River Superhighway” that would bisect critical remaining areas of tropical rainforest in south eastern Nigeria. We offer and evaluate two alternative routes to the superhighway that would be less damaging to forests, protected areas, and biological diversity. The first alternative we identified avoids intact forests entirely while seeking to benefit agriculture and existing settlements. The second alternative also avoids intact forests while incorporating existing paved and unpaved roads to limit construction costs. As currently proposed, the superhighway would be 260 km long, would intersect 115 km of intact forests or protected areas, and would cost an estimated ∼US$2.5 billion to construct. Alternative Routes 1 and 2 are only slightly longer (∼290 and ∼353 km, respectively) and have markedly lower estimated construction costs (∼US$0.92 billion). Furthermore, the alternative routes would have negligible impacts on forests and protected areas and would be better aligned to benefit local communities and agriculture. We argue that alternative routings such as those we examined here could markedly reduce the economic and environmental costs, and potentially increase the socioeconomic benefits, for the proposed Cross River Superhighway.

Astroblepidae face numerous threats in Ecuador, and their range is thought to be decreasing in most basins due to urban development, agriculture, oil and mineral extraction, dams, and introduction of exotic species. In the Napo River Basin, one of the largest and most-diverse river basins in Ecuador, Astroblepus vaillanti is also potentially being displaced by rainbow trout (Onchorynchus mykiss) introductions at higher altitudes, yet no published information exists on the habitat requirements and distribution of the species. In this study, we developed species–habitat relationships for a suite of physico-chemical variables and compared abundances of A. vaillanti in streams heavily impacted by agriculture and less impacted streams. Interestingly, we found significantly higher abundances of A. vaillanti in heavily impacted streams. We also found that A. vaillanti abundance was positively related to stream temperature, whereas the inverse was true for rainbow trout. Our study highlights the need for further study to understand the habitat requirements and diet of A. vaillanti as well as the impacts of rainbow trout on the species to inform conservation efforts of the species.

Gut content analysis of a juvenile Chinese pangolin revealed eight ant and one termite species being preyed on. The identification of > 26,000 prey items and a comparison with local ant communities suggest a selective foraging behavior and a tendency for direct predation on arboreal or epigaeic ant nests within secondary forest and shrubland habitats.

The constant demographic expansion of human population is now recognized as a stressing factor for ecological communities on beaches, and their effects have been barely explored in developing countries such as Mexico, where heavy coastline industrialization is currently undergoing. In this work, we study how anthropogenic factors have affected the Atlantic Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata) in two beaches with different anthropogenic disturbance in northern Veracruz (near Tuxpan and Tamiahua), Mexico. To this end, we evaluated the species genetic diversity using a fragment of the Cytochrome Oxidase I gene, along with several measurements (number of haplotypes, haplotype diversity, and nucleotide diversity, etc.), estimations of genetic relationship (haplotype network, phylogenetic analysis, gene flow), and statistical tests on average genetic distances (Student’s t test). We found 32 haplotypes, 22 from Tuxpan and 15 from Tamiahua. Despite the occurrence of almost 50% more haplotypes in Tuxpan than in Tamiahua, the correction for differences in sample size indicated that such a difference is statistically nonsignificant. A similar pattern was found with other genetic measurements. Similarly, the haplotype network and the phylogenetic reconstruction failed to recover haplotype clusters or haplogroups associated exclusively to one or another beach, whereas gene flow between localities was of the same order of magnitude in both directions. The Student’s t test showed that differences in genetic distances between localities (estimated using p-distances and Jukes-Cantor 69) were not statistically significant. Finally, although the anthropogenic effects between beaches in Tuxpan and Tamiahua are remarkable different, this has not been reflected in the genetic diversity of O. quadrata.

Vegetation structure and microhabitat availability and diversity affect ant assemblage diversity, growth, and dispersal. In this study, we described assemblages of ants nesting in twigs found in the leaf litter, comparing nest characteristics and ant colony sizes among different vegetation habitats at a regional scale. Twigs were collected in urban parks, Eucalyptus plantations, and preserved areas of native Atlantic Forest. We measured the twigs, counted the number of ant colonies, and estimated canopy openness. A total of 51,213 ants from 22 genera and 61 species were recorded. We collected 74, 141, and 283 nests in urban parks, Eucalyptus plantations, and native forest areas, respectively. The richest genera were Pheidole, Camponotus, and Solenopsis. Linepithema neotropicum, Gnamptogenys striatula, and Solenopsis sp.2 were recorded in all study areas. We found only one invasive species, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii. Typically, the canopy in urban park areas was more open, and these areas had lower species richness, lower rate of twig occupancy, and smaller diameter twigs occupied by smaller colonies compared to Eucalyptus plantations or native forest. Ant assemblages were determined mainly by vegetation habitat, followed by twig characteristics. As many ant species use twigs as nest site, twigs are critical habitats for maintaining ant diversity in the leaf litter of areas with varying degrees of complexity in the vegetation structure. However, the availability of twigs as nest resource depended on vegetation structure. In addition, twigs may increase the area occupied by the colonies of some ant species, including Wasmannia auropunctata, which was very frequent in urban parks.

Raptor birds have widespread distributions in different environments throughout the planet. Yet, they are highly sensitive to landscape disturbances. We studied raptors in northern-central Mexico at the Highland plateau of San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, in three landscape types that differed in proportion of agriculture. Our main goal was to determine whether small proportion of agriculture at the landscape level influences species richness, ecological diversity, and functional diversity. We conducted raptor road surveys during 1 year, from April 2015 to February 2016. We registered a total of 332 birds belonging to 14 diurnal raptor species. The most abundant species were Cathartes aura (turkey vulture), Falco sparverius (American kestrel), Caracara cheriway (crested caracara), and Buteo jamaicensis (red-tailed hawk). Three species: Aquila chrysaetos (golden eagle), Pandion haliaetus (osprey), and Falco columbarius (merlin) were exclusively recorded in the less-degraded, scrubland landscapes. However, no significant differences on average diversity were found between landscape types. Contrastingly, scrubland landscapes had the highest average functional diversity, followed by mixed landscapes, and then by agricultural landscapes, with significant differences in functional diversity between scrubland and agricultural landscapes. Overall, observed species richness in the study area formed four functional groups. These groups change and loose species as proportion of agriculture in the landscape progressively increases. The results suggested that the contribution of species richness to functional diversity, both for scrubland landscapes, which have the greatest functional diversity, and agricultural landscapes, which hold the smallest functional diversity, is important because there is substantial functional redundancy among landscape types.

Due to production activities, species richness in rubber plantations varies considerably. To answer the question of how many species could potentially survive rubber plantation, we established a dynamic plot with an area of 1 hm² in a rubber plantation in Danzhou, Hainan Island, south China. We surveyed and analyzed plant species diversity and spatial distribution patterns of dominant species in the plot. The results showed that (a) there are a total of 183 species belonging to 155 genera and 69 families in the 1 hm² plot of the plantation. This level of species richness is slightly lower than a typical tropical rainforest of the same size. (b) Subplots as small as 4,000 m² already contain at least 90% of species, genus, and family, respectively, which indicates that 1 hm² plot may be large enough for the dynamic monitoring of species diversity in rubber plantations, in our region at least. (c) All of the 20 dominant species have a clumping distribution at Scale 0 to 5 m, which is similar to the finding in tropical rain forests. In conclusion, many plant species grow back in rubber plantations that are minimally managed or called naturally managed. Such a management approach could be useful in maintaining species diversity in rubber plantations.

The management of assemblages of species across many taxa is a common concern in conservation. Consequently, the use of one or a few surrogate or indicator species to represent an entire assemblage has become an increasingly important tool in conservation science. However, conservation schemes based on the needs of one or two focal species often fail to account for individualistic responses of larger assemblages of species. Data from bird point counts along with vegetation characteristics from a coastal tropical dry forest in Kenya that is subject to elephant disturbance were used to explore the differential responses of bird species to environmental conditions in a forest reserve where wildlife management includes both endangered birds and mammals. Results revealed that even birds with similar foraging habits had idiosyncratic responses to both environmental traits and elephant disturbance. While overall species responded to important characteristics such as percent canopy cover and leaf litter depth, individualistic responses of different species trait diversity defied easy characterization of optimal forest management schemes. Taken together, our analyses highlight the difficulty in basing the development of management plans for entire assemblages of species on the response of a single or a few species. Implications for wildlife conservation in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and similar forest reserves are discussed, emphasizing the need for a better understanding of individual species’ responses to forest conditions.

The Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (Mammalia; Bovidae) is IUCN Critically Endangered, but its ecology remains almost entirely unknown. Here we present the first characterization of Saola habitat use. We assessed Saola macrohabitat and microhabitat characteristics using Saola sighting location data obtained from local people. The study focused on the Phou Sithon Endangered Species Conservation Area in the northern Annamites of Lao PDR. A geographical information system was used to characterize macrohabitat variables including elevation, abundance of streams, and distance to nearest village associated with each observation. Infinitely weighted logistic regression models were used to assess relationships between detection of Saola and these macro variables. Direct measurements for microhabitat variables for each Saola observation were also collected and compared with other available vegetation data. Twenty-two observations from 18 independent observation points were analyzed. Elevations of the points ranged from 592 to 1,112 m (Median = 747 m) matching previous studies (500–1,400 m). Our regression model indicated abundance of streams affected detection of Saola suggesting it was more likely detected in areas with higher abundances of streams; however, streams were also associated with human travel routes. Our analysis also suggested that Saola were more frequently encountered in primary forest with a high density of trees but were occasionally observed in secondary growth. Most encounters were on animal trails. This information represents an important baseline for future assessments of Saola priority areas, which may assist in searching for possible sites that might harbor this elusive species; however, additional studies of its ecology are urgently needed to guide future management.

Mexico has the fifth place among megadiverse countries, and the southern part of the country belongs to the Mesoamerican hotspot, where Oaxaca state has a very rich flora, related to its intricate topography. In this study, a multicriteria analysis (species richness, rareness, irreplaceability, turnover, and vulnerability) was used to prioritize conservation areas in Oaxaca, using as model system the genus Quercus (oaks), due to its high diversity and ecological importance. Our results indicate that the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca (SMOax) is the physiographic subprovince with the highest richness (38 species), rareness and irreplaceability of Quercus species, followed by the Montañas y Valles del Occidente (MVO; 29 species), the Sierra Madre del Sur (SMS; 25 species), and the Montañas y Valles del Centro (20 species). Areas that have retained most primary vegetation cover from 2000 to 2010 are mainly in the SMOax, in the Ixtlán district, and in the SMS, in the Miahuatlán district. On the other hand, MVO is the area with greater habitat disturbance, mainly in the Juxtlahuaca-Tlaxiaco districts. Oaxaca has numerous areas without official protection, named Indigenous Conservation and Community Areas, which play a central role as an alternative for conservation for 11 oak species. In conclusion, the priority conservation areas for the genus are mainly located in the SMOax and in the SMS. For white oaks, the semiarid area of Coixtlahuaca-Teposcolula-Nochitlán is important, while for the red oaks, the most important regions are the humid areas of Teotitlán, Sola de Vega, and Miahuatlán.

The pervasive loss of primary forest in the tropics means that we need a better understanding of how transforming tropical landscapes affects plant regeneration if we wish to recover and maintain the diverse composition, structure, and function of tropical forest and landscapes. Advance regeneration (AR) is a crucial stage in forest dynamics; it includes all the immature woody plants that germinate and establish and may eventually form part of the forest as adults. In this study, we describe AR in three contiguous habitats in the tropics of central Veracruz, Mexico: a protected tropical semideciduous forest, a 17-year-old secondary forest (SF), and coastal dune scrub (DS). The community attributes of the AR were analyzed among and within the three habitats as were the relationship between its spatial variability and microenvironmental conditions and the attributes of the adult woody vegetation. In total, 3,195 individuals belonging to 95 species and 40 families were recorded in 90 quadrats of 25 m² (sampling area: 2,250 m²). Brosimum alicastrum (Moraceae) was the most abundant species (1,498 individuals) and occurred in all three habitats. Despite having an adult community dominated by secondary species, the AR of the SF had a high degree of similarity with the primary forest. In the DS, late successional species were rare indicating it will likely take centuries for it to become a forest. Regardless of the severe fragmentation of the area and its nutrient-poor sandy soils, our results show that the seasonally dry tropical region of central Veracruz is highly resilient.

The Colombian Caribbean, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, is facing great challenges in biodiversity conservation due to accelerated ecosystem transformations and the territorial planning required for peacemaking. We conducted a systematic review of 470 documents published between 1990 and 2015 to evaluate the progress of biodiversity and ecosystem services knowledge, identify biases, and define the priorities for research. Specifically, we describe the main characteristics of biodiversity studies, including the geographic distribution and the ecosystem services studied. We found limited participation by the social and interdisciplinary sciences. Researchers have focused mainly on taxonomic groups such as insects, birds, and mammals, ecosystems such as the tropical dry forest and regulating services. Some geographic areas have very few studies, corresponding to places affected by armed conflict. We propose that it is necessary to focus on plant and microorganism studies and those at the genetic and landscape level, as well as on less studied ecosystems such as urban and agro-ecosystems and places involved in armed conflict that have not been studied. We conclude by exposing insights to enhance some of the biases found and face the challenges: in the short term, the establishment of protected areas to guarantee the supply of ecosystem services for human well-being, in the middle term, an integrated territorial planning, and in the long term, the promotion of the social-ecological systems perspective. Ecosystem services concept reveals the link between biodiversity and human well-being and thus could have the potential to contribute to biodiversity conservation and peace construction in the Caribbean.

Phylogenetic diversity is a reliable predictor of taxonomic and functional diversity and of biodiversity option value. During forest fragmentation, forest patches that vary in size, degree of isolation, and shape are formed. Identifying the spatial characteristics of forest remnants that maximize phylogenetic diversity could be useful to conservationists when prioritizing areas to be protected if resources are limited. In this study, we assessed whether spatial patch characteristics (size, edge density, and shape) and the context of the patch in the surrounding landscape (i.e., isolation degree) affect plant phylogenetic diversity in 19 naturally shaped forest patches. Owing to the age of the forest patches, the study system allowed us to assess the long-term effects of spatial variables on phylogenetic diversity. We found that patch size has a positive effect on phylogenetic diversity, presumably because environmental heterogeneity and niche opportunities are greater in bigger patches. Also, phylogenetic diversity was positively affected by edge density. The convergent evolution of traits which confer tolerance to prevailing edge conditions in phylogenetically distant species may explain this result. We suggest that patch size is a reliable predictor of plant phylogenetic diversity and could be used as a prioritization criterion in conservation strategies, at least in the study area.

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the most endangered felids in the world. Its distribution has been reduced by 50% globally, and the species continues to be hunted illegally. We provide data on jaguar abundance, sex ratio, seasonal and daily activity, and site fidelity in La Papalota—a 368-ha natural protected area in Nayarit, western Mexico. La Papalota is located between two areas with high priority for the conservation of the jaguar: Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve and the San Blas-San Juan area. Over a period of 4,240 trap nights (14 months), we collected 130 independent photos of six different individuals (one adult male, three adult females, one subadult female, and one cub). Jaguars use La Papalota all year round, and we were able to document three pregnancies. We suggest that, although a small protected area like our study site cannot provide an entire home range for even a single jaguar, it and similar reserves can play a crucial role as stepping-stones for jaguars moving across highly modified landscapes.

Andiroba (Carapa guianensis) is a multiple-use tree species that plays a crucial socioeconomic role across thousands of Amazonian traditional and indigenous communities. In the floodplain forests of the Amazon estuary, we partnered with local forest managers to investigate C. guianensis ecological parameters, addressing seed production rates, tree density, and size class structure across a range of environmental conditions and forest use history. C. guianensis population structure was measured in three forest types: baixio, restinga, and terra preta, differentiated by tidal influence, species dominance and composition, and edaphic conditions. We found significant differences across forest types, whereby seedling and sapling densities were higher in terra preta and adult densities were higher in baixio. Adult densities were 28.7, 23.0, and 19.5 trees/ha, and seedling densities were 22.9, 105, and 151 trees/ha in baixio, restinga, and terra preta forest types, respectively. Seed production rates varied significantly across forest types, year, size class, crown form, and crown illumination. There were higher numbers of viable seeds in terra preta versus baixio (5.5 kg and 2.6 seeds/tree/year, respectively) as well as more trees with better crown forms, more light, and larger diameter sizes. Long-term patterns of community timber management intensity by forest type significantly influenced both population structure and population-level seed production. Nonetheless, assessment of seed production for the total population suggests that the local community was collecting less than 1% of the viable C. guianensis seeds produced annually within community forest lands. This study illustrates the potential of management to impact the sustainability of an important multiple use species and shows the impact that community conservation planning and action can have on future natural resource availability.

Despite significant knowledge of tiger ecology, information on hunting behavior is limited because tigers hunt in habitats where they are difficult to observe. From May 2013 to June 2015, we visited kill sites of eight female radio-collared tigers (Panthera tigris) to identify prey species of this species in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. At 150 kill sites, 11 mammalian species were identified from skeletal remains or hair samples. Sambar (Rusa unicolor), banteng (Bos javanicus), and gaur (Bos gaurus) composed 95.1% of tiger prey biomass. A subset of 87 kill sites was paired with 87 randomly selected sites within the home ranges of five of the eight radio-collared tigers to determine the influence of prey abundance and other ecological variables on hunting success. At each site, geomorphic and ecological covariates were sampled in 900 m² square plots. A generalized linear model was used to investigate differences between kill sites and random sites. Mean relative prey abundance at kill sites was significantly lower than relative prey abundance at random sites (77.8 and 139.3 tracks/ha, respectively) indicating tigers did not kill in areas of higher relative prey abundance. Model selection was used to examine 12 landscape features that potentially influence kill site location. In the best model, low shrub cover and high crown cover were highly significant; tree density was included in this model but was not significant. This is the first study to demonstrate that kill location requires a combination of landscape features to first detect and then successfully stalk prey.

With the extant of tropical forest degradation, primates increasingly inhabit forest patches embedded in anthropogenic matrices. Such matrices are composed of different land cover types (e.g., agricultural lands and cattle pastures), but large uncertainty remains about the ability of primates to use these land covers. Here, we assessed the use of the landscape matrix by spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in 13 forest sites from three countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, and El Salvador). Based on ad libitum records from >212 months of field observations, we found that spider monkeys used four types of land covers for feeding or traveling: secondary vegetation, isolated trees, tree crops, and vegetation corridors. Secondary vegetation was more frequently used than the other land covers. The number of land covers present in the matrix was positively related to the number of land covers used for traveling and feeding. Monkeys consumed 53 plant species in the matrix, mostly native and old-growth or late-successional forest species, although they also used three cultivated tree species. Most species were trees, especially from preferred food species, although monkeys also used palms, lianas, and shrubs. Monkeys fed principally from fruits, but they also used leaves, wood, and flowers. Most species were used from secondary vegetation and isolated trees. These findings suggest that the landscape matrix can provide supplementary food sources for this endangered primate and opportunities for traveling (i.e., spatial connectivity) in human-modified landscapes—information that can be used to improve conservation strategies, especially under the context of land-sharing management strategies (e.g., agroforestry).

This article argues for research and policy emphasis on two often-ignored factors critical to increasing regional agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: the presence of agronomically and economically important variability in farmer soils; and the capacity of existing agricultural input supply chains in the region to provide the types, quantities, and quality of agricultural inputs that farmers will need to increase yields and respond to market changes. Along with problems of credit access, market incentives, production risk, and infrastructure, understanding the specific soil nutrient limitations and needs of small farmers and building the capacity of agrodealers to provide the services farmers require will influence how the agricultural sector develops, who benefits, and who loses.

Food security and climate change are two pressing issues shaping the future of tropical land use. Brazil, home to abundant land that is rich in carbon, water, and biodiversity and often cleared for agropastoral and renewable energy purposes, is the ideal location for studying socioeconomic and environmental trade-offs of land use dynamics. Here, I use recent (2000–2016) land-use land-cover change dynamics in the established agricultural states of Mato Grosso and Goiás to demonstrate how incentivizing intensive agricultural practices and improving degraded pastures may be a means by which Brazil can increase agricultural production while conserving the remainder of the Cerrado. I then discuss these outcomes with regard to agricultural expansion in the agricultural frontier region of Matopiba and briefly highlight contextual elements that need to be considered by other developing tropical countries looking toward Brazil as a model for agricultural and economic development.

Member States of the European Union have strong historical ties to agriculture in tropical regions based on colonial history and accompanying trade flows. Attempts to reverse the extractive nature of these relationships through public finance investments in sustainable intensification and the linking of smallholders to new markets could enhance food security and rural development. Public sector financing of public–private partnerships to support these efforts, however, may create dominant positions for large agricultural companies. Moreover, the expanded use of agricultural production contracts by these firms may give rise to a variety of legal and social issues, especially when one party to the agreement lacks economic bargaining power. On the other hand, production contracts can enable small-scale farmers to mitigate risk, establish more predictable income streams, and access new market opportunities. Public development funds promoting reformation of smallholder farming operations need to consider the consequences of the expanded use of production contracts.

Interactions between agriculture, energy, and tropical environments occur within a larger, interconnected food–energy–water (FEW) system context. These interactions both affect and are shaped by the FEW nexus (connected FEW natural processes, engineering and infrastructure, and institutions and governance), motivating the collective inclusion of many processes and institutions in the discussion of any individual member. Moreover, the important role of the tropics in the global environment and global food security raises the stakes of management, providing further impetus for a thorough, FEW nexus approach. We herein discuss FEW issues which are key to proper FEW nexus management in the tropics, including fundamental earth system processes, agricultural expansion and deforestation, the potential benefits and drawbacks of hydropower development, and technology and policy advancements.

Increased agricultural production will be necessary to feed rapidly growing populations in sub-Saharan Africa, where many households currently practice low-input, subsistence farming. Efforts to expand food production will likely include agricultural intensification to enhance productivity of existing cropland, and holistic frameworks are needed to quantitatively evaluate trade-offs and synergies between intensification and other dimensions of development. Beyond well-documented interactions with environmental and economic issues, intensification’s complex relationship with human health should take a position of primary importance in any framework designed to advance food security. While intensification can lead to improvements in nutritional status, neglecting sources of potential adverse health impacts, including water source contamination and direct contact with agricultural inputs or environmental pathogens, may undermine prospective gains. Harmonizing goals will require interdisciplinary teams applying frameworks that integrate tools such as quantitative risk assessment, environmental life cycle assessment, and economic models to comprehensively evaluate potentially dissimilar strategies across common metrics while accounting for interdependencies and uncertainties. With local implementation partners, these teams will be well-equipped to develop holistic interventions that effectively promote food security and protect human health while considering local constraints and opportunities across multiple dimensions of development.

To achieve global food security, we need to approximately double food production over the coming decades. Conventional agriculture is the mainstream approach to achieving this target but has also caused extensive environmental and social harms. The consensus is that we now need an agriculture that can “multi-functionally” increase food production while simultaneously enhancing social and environmental goals, as committed to in the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Farming also needs to become more resilient to multiple insecurities including climate change, soil degradation, and market unpredictability, all of which reduce sustainability and are likely to exacerbate hunger. Here, we illustrate how agroforestry systems can increase yield while also advancing multiple SDGs, especially for the small developing-world agriculturalists central to the SDG framework. Agroforestry also increases resilience of crops and farm livelihoods, especially among the most vulnerable food producers. However, conventional yield-enhancement strategies have naturally dominated the debate on food production, hindering implementation of more multifunctional alternatives. Governments and institutions now have the opportunity to rebalance agricultural policy and investment toward such multigoal approaches. In doing so, they could achieve important improvements on multiple international commitments around the interlinked themes of food security, climate change, biodiversity conservation, and social well-being.

Biodiversity at tropical latitudes is notably great and increasingly threatened by habitat loss and the direct or indirect effects of climate change. Estimates vary but there is reasonably strong evidence that current rates of species extinction and local extirpations are historically high and increasing. Habitat loss and fragmentation owing to agriculture drives much of this trend and the large-scale loss of forest habitat to crops such as palm oil and soy is especially concerning. Evidence is emerging that changes in precipitation regimes at tropical latitudes may also pose a significant threat to tropical ecosystems. A trend toward more severe seasonal drought and xeric conditions is predicted for large regions of the tropics and, while data are few, this will likely challenge the viability of many animal populations and communities. Dryer conditions may be especially severe in regions where deforestation and agriculture dominant land use. These issues motivate the need for close communication and joint research agendas among conservationists, climate modelers, and agribusiness.

Large-scale commercial cropping of soybeans expanded in the tropical Amazon and Cerrado biomes of Brazil after 1990. More recently, cropping intensified from single-cropping of soybeans to double-cropping of soybeans with corn or cotton. Cropland expansion and intensification, and the accompanying use of mineral fertilizers, raise concerns about whether nutrient runoff and impacts to surface waters will be similar to those experienced in commercial cropland regions at temperate latitudes. We quantified water infiltration through soils, water yield, and streamwater chemistry in watersheds draining native tropical forest and single- and double-cropped areas on the level, deep, highly weathered soils where cropland expansion and intensification typically occurs. Although water yield increased four-fold from croplands, streamwater chemistry remained largely unchanged. Soil characteristics exerted important control over the movement of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into streams. High soil infiltration rates prevented surface erosion and movement of particulate P, while P fixation in surface soils restricted P movement to deeper soil layers. Nitrogen retention in deep soils, likely by anion exchange, also appeared to limit N leaching and export in streamwater from both single- and double-cropped watersheds that received nitrogen fertilizer. These mechanisms led to lower streamwater P and N concentrations and lower watershed N and P export than would be expected, based on studies from temperate croplands with similar cropping and fertilizer application practices.

Agricultural intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa has the chance to increase yields and food security while minimizing environmental contamination and protecting remaining native ecosystems. Targeting intensification to areas of high production potential including clayey, deep tropical soils on gently sloping lands will reduce leaching and runoff of nitrogen into water bodies. This holds particularly for rates of nitrogen fertilizer applications of less than 150 N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ rates at which nitrous oxide emissions also remain low. Overlays of maps of maize production potential, soil properties, and topography for East Africa indicate almost half of that area has high production potential and a third of that is on favorable soils. More than 70% of this area identified for targeting is already in cropland, thus reducing the need to clear additional native ecosystems. Targeting intensification must also include factors such as climate and seasonality. Incorporating results from field studies of agricultural impacts, assessing these impacts at larger scales, and developing planning maps with national partners and other stakeholders are key steps toward promoting increased crop production while minimizing environmental consequences.

The role of tropical forests in climate is most often expressed in terms of the carbon they keep out of the atmosphere if deforestation is avoided or the carbon they remove from the atmosphere as they grow. The direct role of forests, particularly in the tropics, in maintaining low surface temperatures and relatively high precipitation has been underappreciated. Recent studies in the Brazilian agricultural frontier indicate that tropical deforestation, for pasture and crop production, has led to significant regional climate change in the last 40 years of a scale much larger than that attributed to the carbon released from deforestation. Deforestation reduces net surface radiation and evapotranspiration, thus increasing sensible heat flux and land surface temperature. In Mato Grosso state, the temperature of the forested Xingu Indigenous Park is 3℃ cooler than the surrounding mosaic of pasturelands, croplands, and remaining forest fragments. In the neighboring state of Rondônia, rainfall has significantly decreased and the dry season lengthened as deforestation occurred. Numerical model studies strongly suggest that Brazil’s agricultural frontier will be much warmer and dryer in coming decades as greenhouse gas concentrations increase. Thus, in Brazil, it is becoming clear that, because of their capacity to moderate regional climate, preserving tropical forests will be a key component of mitigating exogenously driven future climate change.

One in every five patches of tropical forest near agriculture in Brazil appears to contribute more to agricultural production by preventing crop-killing extreme heat exposure than it could produce if it were converted to cropland itself. In this commentary, I refer to this and other forms of climate regulation by ecosystems and beneficial for agriculture as E4A. E4A is a readily employable and largely untapped concept for protecting and restoring tropical ecosystems. The promise of E4A lies in demonstrating sizeable production-protection synergies relevant for critical actors. Using a consultative research process, I gauged the current and future status of E4A science and action in tropical land use decision-making. Stakeholders flagged unmet demand for E4A in support of decisions tied to numerous regulatory, governance, and business processes. Results from a complementary literature review revealed gaps in research, advocacy, and entrepreneurship. I close by discussing opportunities to relieve E4A pain points to catalyze tropical ecosystem stewardship.

Forest patches characterized by old trees with large crown sizes are of high biodiversity conservation value because they contain various microhabitats and may preserve the original flora of primeval or ancient forests. Aerial photo estimations of the average tree crown size represent a promising approach for identifying and monitoring such forest patches. Numerous sensors and algorithms have been developed to estimate the crown size in coniferous forests or forests with relatively low topographic variations; however, methods for estimating the crown size in steep broad-leaved forests in tropical or temperate regions are still required. We propose a method of estimating the size of tree crowns to obtain the “crown size index (CSI),” which can be used as a candidate biodiversity index for steep broad-leaved forest patches. We applied this method to a subtropical broad-leaved forest in southwestern Japan. In the first step, gray values from aerial imagery are converted to relative values, and then the crown size is subjected to a granulometric estimation. Regression of the CSI from the diameter at breast height of the canopy layer trees presented R² values as high as 0.67. Resampling tests revealed that monochrome aerial images resampled with spatial resolutions ranging from 0.40 m to 1.20 m produced results with relatively high accuracy (R^{2≥ .55). These results suggest that the proposed method has the potential for use as a cost-effective method of evaluating the biodiversity of broad-leaved forest patches in hilly or mountainous regions using images from various high-resolution sensors.}

Climate change can lead to a geographic range shift of species in the future, which might challenge a species to maintain viable populations with lower dispersal abilities over time. Therefore, protecting stable habitats is important for the conservation of these species. Herein, we assess the effectiveness of the Brazilian protected areas to preserve the rare and threatened coral snake Micrurus brasiliensis and explore the occurrence of stable habitat areas through its geographic distribution at the end of 21st century. We used ecological niche modeling to generate the potential distribution of the species in the present, and then projected its distribution to past and future climatic scenarios. We assessed whether Brazilian reserves would encompass suitable habitats in the future and proposed areas in which conservation efforts could be directed based on habitat stability (refugia) over time. Our findings show that the potential distribution of M. brasiliensis have shifted over the time, and there is an expected decrease of more than 60% in the amount of suitable areas in the future. The protected areas will contain climatically less suitable areas in the future. We strongly suggest expanding the existing reserve network as well as the creation of corridors between protected areas, allowing the dispersal of M. brasiliensis, enhancing the opportunities for preserving viable populations in the long term.

Most remaining tropical forests are under some level of chronic human disturbance, which may favor the proliferation of disturbance-adapted native plants, like some species of tropical lianas. These plants may alter forest structure and composition, but little is known about their effect on ecological processes, such as seed rain. We analyzed the early effects of overabundant lianas on the seed rain of animal-dispersed tree species for 1 year. We analyzed the effect of overabundant lianas on seed rain by cutting all lianas in experimental plots of 314.1 m², establishing 12 paired plots with and without liana cutting in a disturbed Atlantic Forest remnant in Southeastern Brazil. Rarefied tree seed species richness was higher in plots dominated by lianas (10.9 ± 0.2 and 8.3 ± 1.2 for 500 seeds sampled in liana-dominated and liana-cut plots, respectively), but seed abundance was lower (209 ± 138 and 984 ± 421 seeds m⁻² in liana-dominated and liana-cut plots, respectively). Pioneer seed abundance (316.0 ± 116.3 seeds m⁻²) and species density (3.2 ± 0.3 species trap⁻¹) did not differ among treatments. Lianas may eventually increase local seed rain diversity, while suppressing local tree seed rain abundance. Understanding the impact of the dominance of ruderal species in ecological processes that maintain tropical forests communities, such as seed rain, is crucial to guide the directions for conservation and management of degraded remnants.

I use three case studies in this essay to show that policies promoting commercial soy production in the tropics involve a Faustian Bargain. Faustian Bargains, strictly defined, comprise a conflict one faces when a decision-maker trades one’s “soul” for greater knowledge. Applied more liberally in the context of soybean development, commercial crop technologies, like soybean, offer the potential for improved labor productivity over traditional staples, and as a result, they can provide a pathway out of poverty traps. However, they also may cause considerable changes to traditional norms, cultivation practices, market relationships, natural resources, and the natural environment, hence, the Faustian Bargain. Relevant to this special issue of Tropical Conservation Science, the three case study examples demonstrate how and why commercial crop production requires a shift to intensive input usage. Thus, promoting commercial crops means introducing chemical fertilizers and herbicides into environments where heretofore traditional methods involved little or no inputs other than labor. The Faustian framework involves the tradeoff between potentially greater economic opportunities, but at a cost to traditional norms, practices, and potentially the natural environment.

Ecological niche modeling (ENM) uses species’ known occurrences and environmental variables to estimate potential geographic distributions. The potential distribution of a species can be updated and refined after new occurrences are collected; therefore, we developed an online application (Armadillo Mapper [AM]) that automatically updates the ecological niche model for the hairy long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus pilosus) with new observations and provides a revised potential distribution map. AM can be used by researchers and conservation practitioners without a deep knowledge of geographic information system (GIS) techniques and ENM. Here, we introduce this online application and demonstrate the use of our application with a new observation of D. pilosus. AM has the potential to be extended to other species and to bridge the gap between distributional knowledge synthesized in a computer lab and conservation efforts carried out in the field.

Neotropical fruit bats are important dispersers of endozoochorous seeds, and the passage of seeds through their guts can affect germination. We asked whether the passage of Cecropia pachystachya (Urticaceae) seeds through guts of bats influences their germination behavior, specifically the proportion of germinated seeds and onset and speed of germination. We collected seed sets from bat feces and directly from ripe fruits monthly for a total of 6 months, in the urban area of Campo Grande, Central Brazil. Seeds were stored in glycerol until the germination experiment. During the experiment, for 45 days we maintained seed sets in a germinator and recorded daily seed development. Through redundancy correlation analysis, the interaction between seed source (fruits or bat feces) and time of storage explained 78% of variation in the germination parameters—the onset and speed of germination and the percentage of germinated seeds. Through data generated from random resamples, seed sets defecated by bats presented slower germination speed than seeds from ripe fruits, but onset of germination and proportion of germinated seeds did not differ between seeds passed or not passed through Artibeus lituratus and Artibeus planirostris. Overall, our results support that fruit bats are safe dispersers of C. pachystachya and promote asynchrony of germination among seeds, which may favor parental fitness in less predictable environments.

We assessed effects of vegetation and fire on small mammals in open vegetation formations of the Busanga Flood Plain (Kafue National Park, Zambia) in areas of low and high fire recurrence. The impact of fire was related further to the time elapsed between the last fire and the time of trapping (fire age). Sampling sites covered three management zones: intensive utilization (tourist areas), wild (less used), and wilderness (no road access). Vegetation type, fire recurrence, fire age, and management zone were independent variables. Communities were similar in grassland and on termitaria but differed from miombo. Species richness was highest on termitaria, followed by grassland and miombo. Species numbers declined with increasing fire frequency but were unaffected by fire age. In contrast, the average body mass of species occurring at any one site (only adult individuals considered) declined with the time elapsed between the time of capture and the last fire (the longer the time interval, the lower the body mass of species averaged over the species found at the site). This response implies higher vulnerability of the smaller species to fire and slower recolonization potential of smaller species after fire. The interactions between fire, vegetation characteristics, and small mammals need to be reviewed, given their importance in the functionality of this ecosystem.

Native bees are important pollinators of cultivated and wild plants. Although much importance has been accorded them in many countries of the world, India has largely ignored the role of these important ecosystem service providers for too long. The consequence is public apathy toward these beneficial insects. This study has attempted to find out the general “bee awareness” of people living in agrarian societies in a socioeconomically underdeveloped Indian district through picture-based questionnaire surveys and has also attempted to determine the effectiveness of information divulgation in changing people’s perception toward native bees. Opinion of the people on honeybee health in this district has also been explored. It has been found that traditional knowledge of bees is largely restricted to the honey-producing species of the genus Apis, and even though other native species are frequently encountered by the people, there is a substantial lack of awareness about their true nature and importance. However, the study suggests that through right training, this situation may favorably be altered. Multiple regression analysis of socioeconomic factors determining bee knowledge of respondents revealed that women were > 4 times better at identifying native bees than men, both with or without given information, and the higher the level of education the better people were at identifying native bees. People considered pesticides and their irregular application to be the major killers of honeybees. This study generates hope for involvement of local people in native as well as honeybee conservation and management through proper awareness campaigns and right education.

Military training areas (MTA) are increasingly recognized as sites that harbor high levels of biodiversity, including large numbers of endangered species, yet their conservation value has not been rigorously assessed. Here, we studied the species richness and composition of medium- and large-sized mammals in Formosa MTA, a Brazilian military area, as a case study to assess the conservation value of military areas. We also made an evaluation of Brazilian MTAs regarding size, distributions, and representation of within ecoregion/biome compared with other protected areas. The medium- and large-sized mammal community composition fits the pattern described for the Cerrado, characterized by species of wide distributions, but locally rare. The Formosa MTA supports a relatively higher richness (n = 29) than protected areas in nearby regions and is a refuge for eight endangered species. Our study identified 52 MTAs covering a total area of 3 million ha. Our findings highlight the relevance of Formosa MTA for the conservation of regional mammalian fauna and indicate the potential of other military areas in the context of biological conservation.

The tropics are a critical nexus of important environmental services and resources, productive lands that are critical to feeding the planet in years to come, and rural economies beset by disease and malnutrition, and in need of economic development. This special issue synthesizes a series of multidisciplinary dialogues aiming to examine the complex challenge of tropical agricultural systems. The work contained five principle themes: (a) The future of tropical agriculture is vital for developing world economies and the global environment in ways that scholars are still working to characterize. (b) The tropics are highly socioeconomically and environmentally heterogeneous. (c) We expect sociocultural and institutional factors to strongly shape the future of tropical agriculture and the environment. (d) Sustainable tropical agriculture means linking smallholders, the vast bulk of farmers, with commercial agriculture, the vast bulk of agribusiness. (d) Scholarship from the environmental sciences can help to navigate many cross-cutting issues facing sustainable agricultural development.

Alive Antillean manatee stranding is one of the main challenges for the conservation of the species in Brazil. In the present study, data on Antillean manatee stranding recorded by the CMA/ICMBio’s Wild Animals Rehabilitation Center from 1987 to 2015 were analyzed. The CMA and the REMANE’s (Northeastern Aquatic Mammal Stranding Network’s) institutions have rescued on average five Antillean manatees per year. Approximately 56% of the animals were alive when rescued, and 43.7% were found dead. The states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte have the highest records of stranding, rescue, and assistance of alive calves. Stranding of alive specimens is more frequent during the austral summer, especially in January, February, and March. In the North region, the main threat to the Antillean manatee population seems to be interaction with fishing activities. Studies on the causes of dependent calf stranding in northeast Brazil are urgently needed to promote the development of public policies for the conservation of the species. Brazil’s manatee rehabilitation centers must undergo improvements to better assist stranded calves, which need special care to survive.

An old yet appealing fact in conservation biology is the potential of sacred groves (SGs) and forest reserves (FRs) to harbor considerable biodiversity. Although fragmentation effects have been extensively investigated in several studies, the specific context pertaining to SG has rarely been discussed. Using data from two sites (Kétou and Pobè) in South Benin, we studied the similarities and connectivity between SG and FR, and the effects of fragmentation on forest ecosystems. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and Moran index-based correlogram were used to analyze species-based similarities, distribution, and spatial autocorrelation. Fragmentation effects on characteristic species and forest structures were also tested. Results showed slightly greater similarity between SG and FR for Kétou SG–FR group compared with that of Pobè. Spatial association between SG and FR was also site specific and stronger in Pobè SG–FR group. The weak spatial dependence between SG and FR for the Kétou group reflects the state of degradation in the FR. Species richness and structural parameters were higher in SG than in FR for both sites. The results indicate that these forests emanated from fragmentation of primary forests and that the fragmentation effects were more pronounced in FR. The indicator species analysis further revealed some fragmentation effects on woody species composition, suggesting that forest isolation is potential threat for conservation of biological and structural diversity. In sum, this study shows that despite their limited spatial extent, SGs are key landscape features that play a vital role in local biodiversity conservation.

The ecological consequences of converting tropical forests to rubber plantations on the soil microbial compositions and diversity remain unknown. By using an Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis, we assessed the compositions and diversity of bacterial and fungal community in soils of rubber plantation (or rubber forest, RF), secondary tropical forest (STF), and tropical seasonal rainforest (TSR) in Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Our findings revealed that (a) for bacterial composition, Bacillaceae was the most dominant family (13.60%) in RF soil, while it only accounted for 4.13% in STF and 6.92% in TSR. For fungal composition, the largest family in soils of RF was Basidiomycota_unclassified. However, the largest family in STF and TSR was Russulaceae. (b) Number of operational taxonomic units, Chao index, and Shannon index of bacterial community in soil of RF were significantly higher than those of TSR and STF. However, these diversity indices of fungal community in RF were significantly lower than those of TSR and STF. (c) Soil pH and total phosphorus were very important drivers for bacterial community, whereas soil organic matter and total nitrogen were the most important factors for fungal community. (d) The microbial biomass carbon in RF was relative lower than those in STF and TSR, which suggested that the total microbial biomass decreased after forest conversion. To protect the total diversity of this region, the individual farmers should use herbicides as little as possible to reserve ground vegetation. And the government could outline a land-use policy that prohibits the cultivation in areas of natural vegetation.

Ongoing conflict resolution in Colombia brings an opportunity for economic development of impoverished communities and a conservation threat of deforestation in newly accessible rural areas. Ecotourism is often proposed as a “win–win” solution for developing countries to meet both economic and conservation needs. With the highest number of bird species of any country, including 443 rare species highly valued by bird-watchers, Colombia has a unique opportunity to develop a lucrative and conservation-friendly bird-watching tourism industry in postconflict areas. Through geospatial analysis of conflict zones, bird distributions, protected areas, forest cover, and bird-watching activity, we identify areas of Colombia with unrealized bird-watching potential that are ripe for the development of synergistic conservation-ecotourism projects. An investment in ecotourism infrastructure and training by the Colombian government may be a conservation-friendly alternative to natural resource extraction that could alleviate poverty without degrading natural capital in postconflict Colombia.

Although Amapá is the most protected Brazilian state, the same level of protection does not extend to its savannas. These are currently suffering increased pressure from threats including large-scale agriculture, particularly the expansion of soybean plantations. In September 2016, the Government of Amapá presented a zoning proposal (Zoneamento Socioambiental do Cerrado [ZSC]) that reserves most of the savannas for agricultural activities. Here, we outline how the methodology employed is flawed because it does not include fauna surveys, evaluations of ecosystem services or an assessment of the social importance of the savannas. The ZSC authors admit that, contrary to Brazilian legislation, the zoning was carried out with the single intention of increasing agriculture production. Current knowledge indicates that Amapá’s savannas are rich in biodiversity, including endemic and threatened species, and are also home to a rich culture of traditional populations. These savannas are important providers of ecosystem services that, if intact, could represent around US$ 1.52 billion annually. We hold that the ZSC should be reformulated, with fair participation of stakeholders, in accordance with Brazil’s legal requirements. At least 30% of the savannas should be protected, local family farming should be supported, and the rights of traditional peoples must now be assured through recognition of their land rights.

Subsistence hunting of neotropical birds is common and widespread in the tropical forests of Latin America. Although its sustainability under different scenarios is subject to debate, hunting has already contributed to the decline and local extirpation of several taxa and is considered to be a significant threat to a range of large-bodied species. Gaining a better understanding of the variability of hunting patterns, as well as the factors that can potentially be used to predict them, is important if we are to develop conservation strategies that target the species most likely to be experiencing declines. In this article, we examine the avian hunting profiles of 65 communities in the neotropics. We describe their variability and look at the relationship between a hunting profile and (a) its geographical location, (b) the community’s age, (c) the community’s population size, and (d) the year in which the survey was carried out. We find that there is a significant but weak relationship between a community’s geographic location and the composition of its bird hunting profile, and that prey profiles can be considerably different even among close neighbors. We found no relationship between a community’s age or size and the mean biomass of bird prey hunted. Our results challenge the assumption that older and larger settlements have a predictable impact upon avian prey communities and suggest that cultural preferences or the starting availability of prey species can change rapidly over short distances.

Despite their humid environment, tropical rainforests are threatened by fires that negatively impact their ecological and economic value. However, fires in these ecosystems have been investigated to a far lesser degree compared with temperate or seasonally dry forests. We performed a bibliometric analysis to identify knowledge gaps in rainforest fire studies from 1981 to 2015. Through an analysis of the temporal and spatial research trends, we aimed to evaluate the main drivers that motivate investigations in this field of study. In total, we recorded 366 publications in indexed journals. Approximately 60% of these studies were conducted in four countries. The number of publications tended to increase after El Niño years. A word co-occurrence network revealed a strong relationship between land use change and fires and the role of fire in agricultural and ecosystem traits. We conclude that socioeconomic drivers, deforestation, and global climate change should be considered to gain a better understanding of the occurrence of forest fires. Further studies should include the cause, intensity, and recurrence of fires, since they determine the effects of fire on the soil and biota (fire severity). The spatiotemporal patterns of forest fires require further study to develop strategies for good agricultural production and to predict successional routes after fires. These identified gaps in the research on forest fires could guide decision-making toward the prevention of further fire expansion or at least to reduce its negative effects in tropical rain forests.

The frequency and intensity of hurricanes are likely to increase in the Caribbean due to climate change, potentially threatening the long-term conservation of biodiversity in vulnerable island ecosystems. The effects of hurricanes were assessed for the understory forest birds of Cozumel Island during the first and second year after two consecutive hurricanes (Emily and Wilma) struck the island in July and October of 2005. Post-hurricanes values were compared to pre-hurricanes values for summer and winter bird assemblages. A total of 2,504 individuals of 45 species (29 resident and 16 migrants) were captured using mist nets. Strong negative effects of the hurricanes were detected during the first winter season, that is, 3 months following the second hurricane, with significantly lower mean values per site for the number of individuals, the number of species, and the percentages of migratory individuals and species. During the second winter (16 months after the hurricanes), parameter values of the bird assemblages were similar to pre-hurricane values. Response variables showed no effects of hurricanes in the case of summer bird assemblages (either 8 or 21 months after the hurricanes). Yet, when we carried out ordinations of the samples, taking into consideration the bird species and their relative abundances, we found that in both winter and summer seasons, bird assemblages for the three sampling periods (pre-hurricanes, first year and second year after the hurricanes) could be clearly distinguished. Management strategies for hurricane-prone areas are recommended, in particular for diverse insular ecosystems highly threatened by the synergistic effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances.

Tropical forests are home to a rich biodiversity, and protected natural areas (PNA) represent one of the approaches adopted for conserving this biodiversity. However, PNAs are under constant threat of becoming too isolated in a landscape matrix frequently hostile to most of the species they harbor. A new system of conservation has recently been proposed in the form of areas under private protection (privately protected areas or PPAs) that complement the existing PNAs in their task of conservation. The objective of this study was to document the richness of mammal species that inhabit a 100 ha fragment of rain forest and pasture decreed as a PPA in southeastern Veracruz, Mexico, and to compare it to two nearby PPAs and one PNA of contrasting conservation values. Mammals were monitored in the three climatic seasons of the year through direct observation, track identification, and the use of Tomahawk, Sherman, and camera traps, as well as mist nets. We recorded 32 mammal species—including seven threatened species—belonging to 28 genera and 15 families. These results are important considering that 29 and 14 species have been reported for two other PPAs in the region that are 10 times larger. However, large mammals of the Orders Carnivora, Artyodactyla, and Perissodactyla were absent and are probably locally extinct. We propose that, under specific favorable conditions, forested PPAs can make an important contribution to strategies designed for biodiversity conservation in tropical ecosystems, by helping to conserve endangered species of both medium- and small-sized mammals.

A well-established invasive Sinanodonta woodiana population was discovered in a floodplain lake of the upstream section of the Irrawaddy River basin, Kachin State, Myanmar. The DNA barcoding reveals that the population belongs to the temperate invasive mtDNA lineage and represents the same cytochrome c oxidase subunit I haplotype, which has been recorded in the invasive European populations. It is the most southern location of a population appertaining to this highly invasive haplotype known to date. The actual distribution of this alien species in Myanmar is still unknown, although it appears to be rather not widespread. Its possible dispersal through the country may affect native benthos communities, which include many unique endemic taxa. However, further expansion of the temperate lineage across South East Asia is supposed to be limited due to a specific environment of tropical floodplain freshwater systems that appears too warm for this cryptic taxon.

Heterosphecia tawonoides Kallies, a “lost” species of clearwing moth known only from a single specimen from 1887 (the holotype, which is missing important morphological features), was observed and filmed for the first time in its natural habitat. Our studies have shown that it is associated with Malaysian primary lowland dipterocarp forests, ecosystems which are vanishing rapidly due to extensive human activity. This is the first record of H. tawonoides in Malaysia. Behavioral aspects, such as mud-puddling among bees and acoustic mimicry, are discussed and shown in a video. A morphological redescription, including features visible on live individuals only, is provided. The DNA barcode sequence is given, with comparison to closely related species.

Palms are important structural components of tropical rain forests. Nonetheless, information on their propagation potential under nursery conditions to facilitate their use in forest restoration is scarce. This article studies the propagation potential of a tropical palm assemblage focusing on seed collection and germination patterns in the rainforest of Tirimbina, Costa Rica. From October 2013 to January 2016, we evaluated palm fruit availability and analyzed the germination potential of 5,172 seeds from 21 species monitored weekly for 57 weeks. Palm fruits were available all year; the percentage germination was 65.6%, and 90% of seeds germinated in 7 to 25 weeks. Contrary to the prevalent view that palms have low germination, germination was completed relatively fast. Palm propagation is limited by low species abundance rather than by fruit availability or germination potential. To propagate palms for restoration projects, we suggest to determine the species abundance and diversity at the study site, identify propagation priorities according to the species conservation status, and collect fruits throughout the year in a systematic way to include the greatest species and habitat diversity and infer the phenological patterns that will guide future seed collection. Our results are relevant to foster palm propagation with the purpose of including palms in forest restoration and increase our understanding of palm ecology, conservation, and regeneration strategies.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an aquatic weed degrading tropical floodplains everywhere. On the Burdekin floodplain, northern Australia, it is widespread and contributes to poor water quality, specifically hypoxia which contributes to voluminous wetland fish kills each summer. Removing weeds have focused on applying herbicides using aerial spraying, though restoration success is not monitored. Here, we investigated four aerial spray applications scheduled between November 2013 (Year 1, November 2013 to November 2014) and November 2015 (Year 2, November 2014 to November 2015) in Lochinvah wetland (35 ha wetland, Burdekin floodplain). Using high-frequency (20 min) loggers, dissolved oxygen (DO%) was tracked, which revealed that concentrations were similar before and several weeks after a spray application (independent t test, p > 0.01, except spray application 2, p = 0.06). More interestingly, aquatic weed coverage was low (5% of wetland) during Year 1 and DO had a typical diurnal cycle (20% to 130%). In contrast, low wetland flushing in Year 2 and high weed coverage (80% coverage) combined to increase DO hypoxia exposure risks for fish, with nearly 100% of the logging time failing acute and chronic values known for local fish. The Year 2 weed cover also increased water temperature exposure risk (twofold increase), which was unexpected and which means that fish probably could access cool, deeper, water refugia more frequently compared with Year 1. Controlling aquatic weeds using aerial spraying seems to have minimal risk for fish when cover is low; however, the proliferation of aquatic weeds and spraying has deleterious impact on available oxygen for fish.

This article analyses how states and nonstate actors' efforts at sustaining natural resource lead to the exclusion of those who are most dependent on access to it. An access lenses review of Burunge Wildlife Management Area unravels the paradox between policy promise and practice. Situating our case in the context of neoliberal conservation that offers opportunities of patronage, rent-seeking, and capital accumulation to various state and private investors, we show that Wildlife Management Areas concentrate licit benefits to a few elites, while excluding the majority of rural peoples in accessing their customary lands and natural resources. This leads people to rely on illicit access mechanisms, and consequently, leading to violent confrontations between game scouts and people and protests and struggles to regain legal access. These conflicts erode rural peoples' trust and willingness to support conservation. The widely overlooked socioeconomic and political contextualization in conservation policy formation, often framed in apolitical and normative terms, acts as a vehicle for different meanings and practices that are mobilized by different actors to promote their own interests. Thus, state and nonstate actors, whose interests override ideals of an apolitical conservation vision, jointly produce an austere conservation regime that strips local people from access to resources.