Browsing by Subject "Biodiversity conservation"

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Bird species richness and diversity responses to land use change in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya
(2024) Mugatha, Simon M.; Ogutu, Joseph O.; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Maitima, Joseph M.
The increasing demand for cultivated lands driven by human population growth, escalating consumption and activities, combined with the vast area of uncultivated land, highlight the pressing need to better understand the biodiversity conservation implications of land use change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Land use change alters natural wildlife habitats with fundamental consequences for biodiversity. Consequently, species richness and diversity typically decline as land use changes from natural to disturbed. We assess how richness and diversity of avian species, grouped into feeding guilds, responded to land use changes, primarily expansion of settlements and cultivation at three sites in the Lake Victoria Basin in western Kenya, following tsetse control interventions. Each site consisted of a matched pair of spatially adjacent natural/semi-natural and settled/cultivated landscapes. Significant changes occurred in bird species richness and diversity in the disturbed relative to the natural landscape. Disturbed areas had fewer guilds and all guilds in disturbed areas also occurred in natural areas. Guilds had significantly more species in natural than in disturbed areas. The insectivore/granivore and insectivore/wax feeder guilds occurred only in natural areas. Whilst species diversity was far lower, a few species of estrildid finches were more common in the disturbed landscapes and were often observed on the scrubby edges of modified habitats. In contrast, the natural and less disturbed wooded areas had relatively fewer estrildid species and were completely devoid of several other species. In aggregate, land use changes significantly reduced bird species richness and diversity on the disturbed landscapes regardless of their breeding range size or foraging style (migratory or non-migratory) and posed greater risks to non-migratory species. Accordingly, land use planning should integrate conservation principles that preserve salient habitat qualities required by different bird species, such as adequate patch size and habitat connectivity, conserve viable bird populations and restore degraded habitats to alleviate adverse impacts of land use change on avian species richness and diversity.
Complementary ecosystem services from multiple land uses highlight the importance of tropical mosaic landscapes
(2023) Raveloaritiana, Estelle; Wurz, Annemarie; Osen, Kristina; Soazafy, Marie Rolande; Grass, Ingo; Martin, Dominic Andreas; Bemamy, Claudine; Ranarijaona, Hery Lisy Tiana; Borgerson, Cortni; Kreft, Holger; Hölscher, Dirk; Rakouth, Bakolimalala; Tscharntke, Teja
Tropical agricultural landscapes often consist of a mosaic of different land uses, yet little is known about the spectrum of ecosystem service bundles and materials they provide to rural households. We interviewed 320 households on the different benefits received from prevalent land-use types in north-eastern Madagascar (old-growth forests, forest fragments, vanilla agroforests, woody fallows, herbaceous fallows, and rice paddies) in terms of ecosystem services and plant uses. Old-growth forests and forest fragments were reported as important for regulating services (e.g. water regulation), whilst fallow lands and vanilla agroforests as important for provisioning services (food, medicine, fodder). Households reported the usage of 285 plant species (56% non-endemics) and collected plants from woody fallows for varying purposes, whilst plants from forest fragments, predominantly endemics, were used for construction and weaving. Multiple land-use types are thus complementary for providing ecosystem services, with fallow lands being particularly important. Hence, balancing societal needs and conservation goals should be based on diversified and comprehensive land management.
Ethnobotanical knowledge against the combined biodiversity, poverty and climate crisis: a case study from a Karen community in Northern Thailand
(2022) Georgiadis, Pavlos
Societal Impact Statement: Global biodiversity is eroding at alarming rates due to anthropogenic factors, such as climate change and unsustainable land use management. These interrelated challenges often push forest ecosystems to their limits, leading many species to disappear before their characteristics and potential are explored. As a result, indigenous rural communities inhabiting the world's biodiversity hotspots are losing a vital resource that supports their subsistence and livelihoods against persistent poverty. This research documents traditional ecological knowledge of a Karen community inside the Doi Inthanon National Park, Northern Thailand, reporting ethnobotanical uses of 125 plant taxa. It provides a ranking of culturally important trees that can inform the selection of framework species for ecosystem restoration and sustainable development in the region's montane forests. Summary: Climate change, population growth and persistent poverty are applying pressure to the world's most fragile ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots in unprecedented ways. There is an urgent need to document species that provide important ecological services and contribute to overall human quality of life. Participatory rural appraisal tools and collection of herbarium specimens were used to elicit ethnobotanical knowledge of an ethnic community inside the mountain forest of Northern Thailand. Statistical analysis was performed on the basis of quantitative indices to rank the cultural significance of the reported species in a Karen community inside Doi Inthanon National Park, Northern Thailand. This article presents an ethnobotanical inventory of 125 plants, including data on important botanical families, use categories and useful plant parts. A prioritisation of 30 culturally important tree species is attempted on the basis of four quantitative indices. Most of the reported plants are neglected and underutilised in need of further research and development for the diversification of agriculture, diets, livelihoods and landscapes. The integration of cultural criteria in the selection of framework species for ecosystem restoration embeds local community needs in conservation efforts, increasing their potential for success and fostering an integrated approach to sustainable development.
Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry
(2022) Wurz, Annemarie; Tscharntke, Teja; Martin, Dominic Andreas; Osen, Kristina; Rakotomalala, Anjaharinony A. N. A.; Raveloaritiana, Estelle; Andrianisaina, Fanilo; Dröge, Saskia; Fulgence, Thio Rosin; Soazafy, Marie Rolande; Andriafanomezantsoa, Rouvah; Andrianarimisa, Aristide; Babarezoto, Fenohaja Soavita; Barkmann, Jan; Hänke, Hendrik; Hölscher, Dirk; Kreft, Holger; Rakouth, Bakolimalala; Guerrero-Ramírez, Nathaly R.; Ranarijaona, Hery Lisy Tiana; Randriamanantena, Romual; Ratsoavina, Fanomezana Mihaja; Raveloson Ravaomanarivo, Lala Harivelo; Grass, Ingo
Resolving ecological-economic trade-offs between biodiversity and yields is a key challenge when addressing the biodiversity crisis in tropical agricultural landscapes. Here, we focused on the relation between seven different taxa (trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and ants) and yields in vanilla agroforests in Madagascar. Agroforests established in forests supported overall 23% fewer species and 47% fewer endemic species than old-growth forests, and 14% fewer endemic species than forest fragments. In contrast, agroforests established on fallows had overall 12% more species and 38% more endemic species than fallows. While yields increased with vanilla vine density and length, non-yield related variables largely determined biodiversity. Nonetheless, trade-offs existed between yields and butterflies as well as reptiles. Vanilla yields were generally unrelated to richness of trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and ants, opening up possibilities for conservation outside of protected areas and restoring degraded land to benefit farmers and biodiversity alike.