Representational Analyses of Conservation Lands in Maine

The three studies reported here (i.e., statewide, southern Maine, and state and federal wildlife areas) identify what areas should be conserved to represent the natural diversity of Maine. Geographic Information System (GIs) technology was used to conduct the analyses comparing the distribution of abiotic and biotic variables representing natural diversity on and off conservation lands. In the statewide analysis, 10 environmental variables were compared on and off conservation lands using ArcGrid with a cell resolution of 1.86 x 1.86 km. The areas found to contain variables that were underrepresented were. combined to identify and map regions with under-represented characteristics. The mean number of under-represented variables for each major biophysical region in Maine was calculated with southern Maine being in greatest need of more conservation lands. The highest degree of under-representation was in low elevation areas and lower portions of large river valleys. When abiotic variables, which are more permanent to the landscape, were weighted higher than biotic, the same results as above were found. To determine locations of potential new conservation lands in southern Maine, I analyzed the representation of seven environmental variables on conservation lands in southern Maine with a cell resolution of 94.6 x 94.6 m. Only four variables were substantially under-represented including 401 - 450 m elevation, 4 - 7 degrees of slope, shoreline and mudflats, and early successional and crop cover types. The distance from these highly under-represented areas to areas with high road density was measured and mapped as an indicator of their vulnerability to development. The contribution of Wildlife Management Areas (WMA\u27s) and National Wildlife Refuges (NWR\u27s) were analyzed to evaluate their contribution to the conservation of Maine\u27s wildlife and natural diversity. Earlier management objectives for these agencies focused on acquisition of game (e.g., waterfowl) and endangered species habitats. Management emphasis has broadened recently to include conservation of ecosystems and all wildlife species, therefore, it is important to assess whether NWR\u27s and WMA\u27s accomplish these new, broader goals. Geographic datasets including topography, vegetation cover, and terrestrial vertebrate richness were compared on and off WMA\u27s and NWR\u27s using ArcGrid with a cell resolution of 94.6 x 94.6 m for each major biophysical region in Maine. Out of 270 terrestrial vertebrate species predicted to occur in Maine, 219 were predicted to occur on WMA\u27s and 223 on NWR\u27s. Wetland and open water vertebrate species, wetland vegetation types, and low elevation areas were over-represented in the state, while most upland vegetation types were under-represented by WMA\u27s and NWR\u27s. These results suggest that WMA\u27s and NWR\u27s should acquire additional mid-elevation and upland areas, assuming a goal of land conservation that is representative of the state\u27s natural diversity

Using remote sensing and geographical information science to predict and delineate critical habitat for the bog turtle, Glyptemys muhlenbergii

"The purpose of this research project was to determine whether remote sensing and geographical information science (GISc) technologies could be used to model habitats and population distributions of the bog turtle, Glyptemys muhlenbergii. A subset of a Landsat 7 ETM+ image and color-infrared digital aerial photographs were used for a portion of Ashe County, North Carolina, where the wetlands occurred. Publicly available data may not be suitable for detecting small, isolated wetlands across the landscape due to heterogeneous landscape features, low spatial resolution of the images and the inherently poor quality of some of the images. However, the results of this study indicate that it is possible to define spectral signatures for wetlands when quality, high spatial and temporal resolution color-infrared data are available."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Green IS Research: A Modernity Perspective

Over the past two decades, the information systems community has become engaged in improving the environmental effects of information systems and technologies, which has given rise to the green IS field. Despite increasing interest, some have suggested that progress toward meaningful solutions for sustainability has been too slow. Responding to these concerns, we examine the development of green IS research using the modernity perspective to understand green IS’s evolution and to present alternative perspectives to motivate future research. From a sample of over 80 green IS papers published over a 15-year period, we identify four main patterns of modernity that are manifest in green IS research. These patterns include the importance of the individual in solving environmental problems; science as the main source of solutions; and the emergence of an artificial science approach, reliance on technology, and growth as businesses’ ultimate goals. Further, our analysis reveals that green IS research has started to demonstrate elements of a hyper-modernity perspective that emphasizes reflexivity. We argue that future green IS research should continue on this path and propose a conceptual framework inspired by hyper-modernity and centered on reflexivity that could serve as a guide for future research

PATRONES DE DISTRIBUCIÓN GEOGRÁFICA DE LOS MAMÍFEROS TERRESTRES DE MÉXICO

Distributional data of 424 species of Mexican mammals are described, with information obtained from two databases, containing 56,859 records of specimens housed in biological collections as from records from literature. The number of records of specimens, number of collection sites, and the species richness, were represented in maps by geometric classes, for the 32 Mexican States, a system of 47 ecoregions, and grids of half and one grade of latitude-longitude. The largest number of records and collection sites is concentrated at the center of the country, while the areas with more collecting gaps are the Baja California and Yucatan peninsulas, as well as the north, especially the Mexican Plateau. As for the number of species, the richest areas are located in the center of the country, in Chiapas, and in two fringes along the oriental and western coasts. The estimated species number for the country with Chao2, is approximately 450 species.Se describe la distribución de 424 especies de mamíferos de México, con base en información proveniente de dos bases de datos que contienen 56,859 registros de especímenes de colecciones biológicas y literatura. Los números de registros, de sitios de recolecta y la riqueza de especies fueron representados en mapas por medio de clases geométricas, para los 32 estados mexicanos, para un sistema de 47 ecorregiones, así como para gradículas de medio y de un grado de latitud y longitud. La mayor cantidad de registros y sitios de recolecta se concentra hacia el centro del país, mientras que las zonas más desprovistas de registros son las penínsulas de Baja California y Yucatán, así como el norte, especialmente el Altiplano. En cuanto al número de especies, las zonas más ricas se localizan en el centro, en Chiapas y en dos franjas a lo largo de las costas oriental y occidental. El número de especies estimado para el país con el estimador no paramétrico Chao2, es de aproximadamente 450 especies

Patrones de distribución de orquídeas en un relicto de bosque altoandino, Cundinamarca-Colombia

Colombia is one of the countries with greatest diversity of orchids, with 4270 native estimated species, of which 199 present some kind threat. Knowing the characteristics that determine their distribution is necessary to design conservation programs. This study aims to know the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of orchids in a relict of high Andean forest in the region, of Cundinamarca, Colombia, for this purpose information was collected on the orchids found in nine transects of 50 m x 4 m. The environmental factors that had the greatest influence on the distribution of orchids were the altitude and the percentage of moss cover, as well as the characteristics inherent to the communities of forophytes, in the case of epiphytic species. Establishing orchid distribution patterns will allow, in the future, to design conservation programs for this particular flora and the high Andean forest in general.Colombia es uno de los países con mayor diversidad de orquídeas, cuenta con un estimado de 4270 especies nativas, de las cuales 199 presentan algún tipo de amenaza. Conocer las características que determinan su distribución es crucial para generar programas que propendan por su conservación. Este estudio buscó conocer la influencia de factores bióticos y abióticos sobre la distribución de orquídeas en un relicto de bosque altoandino en la región de Cundinamarca, Colombia, para tal fin se colectó información de las orquídeas encontradas en nueve transectos de 50 m x 4 m. Los factores ambientales que mayor influencia tuvieron sobre la abundancia y distribución de orquídeas fueron la altitud y el porcentaje de cobertura de musgos, así como las características inherentes a las comunidades de forófitos para el caso de las especies epífitas. Establecer patrones de distribución de orquídeas permitirá, en el futuro, diseñar programas de conservación de esta flora en particular y del bosque altoandino en general

Ecological niche modeling as a conservation tool to predict actual and potential habitat for the bog turtle, Glyptemys muhlenbergii.

The bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) is faced with two principle threats: wetland habitat loss and, to a lesser degree, the illegal collection for pet trade demands. Current methodologies for bog turtle population discovery in the Southeast rely primarily on field surveys, which are labor intensive and fiscally exhaustive. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the role of geographic information science technologies, remote sensing and ecological niche modeling to predict potential bog turtle habitats in the Southeast. Environmental data were organized in a geographic information system. The Genetic Algorithm for Ruleset Production was used to develop an ecological niche model to identify additional habitat sites with the same signatures and potential capacity for support. The results showed the area under the curve as 97%; the model correctly predicted 98.889% of the data points; and the model predicted 1.67% of the total research area as potential habitat. Areas of highest prediction will be investigated for bog turtle occupancy by trained professionals. This information will be beneficial to researchers in setting conservation priorities for the bog turtle

Multi-species space use by marine predators: defining biodiversity ‘hotspots’ in the marine realm

Anthropogenic change of ecosystems has led to wide-scale changes in biodiversity globally, with declines across terrestrial, freshwater and marine realms. Global concern about the increasing anthropogenic impact on biodiversity has driven intense research into the drivers and consequences of change, alongside rapidly moving international policy and conservation development. Quantifying critical marine habitats is vital for protecting remaining biodiversity, and understanding areas of increased coexistence or biodiversity hotspots is particularly important if management and conservation methods continue to focus on spatial approaches (such as marine protected areas). A key challenge in biogeography is to understand and predict the potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of biodiversity, therefore identifying the environmental drivers that may impact richness may provide insight into future species richness patterns. Studies have highlighted the difficulty in mapping biodiversity at a large scale due to patchy data coverage, and this is further intensified using a particularly cryptic set of species that inhabit and spend much of their life beneath the surface. Top marine predators have essential ecological roles as ecosystem engineers and amplify trophic information across multiple spatiotemporal scales and have been identified as sentinel species which can exhibit clear responses to environmental variability and ecosystem health. However quantitative maps of marine predator coexistence are lacking, with the collection of new standardised data expensive, time-consuming and often focused on small-scale local studies.This thesis utilises large available historical datasets to address this critical research gap in mapping the biodiversity of top marine predators across multiple taxa, around the UK. Chapter 2 summarises available data around the UK, which can be used to ascertain the status of the information available. This is useful for a wide range of stakeholders who are often under time pressure, under-resourced and trying to be proactive in a fast-paced legislative environment. It demonstrates available data exists to maximise temporal and spatial coverage of such a large-scale area, for large-scale research questions.However, it is well-known that databases have inherent biases due to heterogeneousdata sources and lack of standardisation. Chapter 3 adapts a well-recognised risk-assessment matrix approach to quantify biases within four example datasets. The study highlighted the level of risk in using heterogeneous datasets is lower for assessing patterns of association in marine predators, rather than counts or abundances. Therefore, research questions should be carefully considered when utilising datasets not designed for a specific research hypothesis. The matrix method presented has two important roles to advance this field of research: the first is to aid people to analyse existing datasets and provide a standardised approach to enumerating bias quantitatively as opposed to just describing bias assumptions. The second is to guide research to design better surveys by understanding which risk factors are most influential on their study.Critically, Chapter 4 provides maps of marine predator biodiversity hotspots around the UK, identifying areas of shared space use across taxa groups. It is the largest cross- taxa study of marine predator biodiversity around the UK to date. Sighting datasets were collated and species richness was determined across different spatial scales. Whilst species richness has been a keystone measure of biodiversity, it can be skewed by survey effort and therefore a new measure of ‘species richness per unit effort’ (SRPUE) was derived to identify relative areas of high and low richness. Patterns in species richness over time using seasonal-trend decomposition analysis revealed that the concept of carrying capacity becomes evident when survey effort is accounted for. This chapter demonstrates how the analysis of existing data can facilitate the mapping of the biodiversity of marine predators and allow areas of high shared space use to be prioritised in conservation and management.Simply quantifying biodiversity hotspots is not enough, with the potential drivers of species richness patterns identified as important in the literature, particularly with anthropogenic climate change causing shifts in species coexistence. Chapter 5 uses three modelling approaches to look at associations of high species richness with a suite of environmental variables. Macro-ecological models (MEMs) using generalised additive models (GAMs) and stacked species distribution models (SSDMs) were utilised to give maps of species richness. SRPUE is a useful method to factor in effort in richness mapping, but user interpretation is not as intuitive as the well-known species richness integer scale, and therefore an alternative approach was derived using effort as a predictor. All variables were significant predictors for biodiversity. The GAM using raw species richness and SSDM model demonstrated sea surfacetemperature has the highest relative contribution to richness hotspots and therefore is a concern in climate change with warming oceans.Overall, this thesis demonstrates how analysis of existing and diverse data can be utilised cost-effectively to map biodiversity. While some caution is needed when using historical datasets, these distribution maps are the first available output at this spatial scale and taxonomic coverage and have widespread and immediate applications in identifying important areas of protection and providing a focus for marine management strategies

The development of a Geographic information system for environmental monitoring on the Cape Peninsula, and an assessment of the use of spot imagery for vegetation mapping

This thesis concerns the establishment of a Geographic Information System for the Cape Peninsula and the use of SPOT satellite imagery to map land cover classes. The former is seen as a necessary tool to promote judicious conservation management decisions for the fragile "Fynbos" ecosystem, and the latter as a convenient means of acquiring up-to-date information concerning the environment, and to monitor change