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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Preliminary Global Assessment Of Terrestrial Biodiversity Consequences Of Sea-Level Rise Mediated By Climate Change, Shaily Menon, Jorge Soberon, Xingong Li, A. Townsend Peterson
Preliminary Global Assessment Of Terrestrial Biodiversity Consequences Of Sea-Level Rise Mediated By Climate Change, Shaily Menon, Jorge Soberon, Xingong Li, A. Townsend Peterson
Shaily Menon
Considerable attention has focused on the climatic effects of global climate change on biodiversity, but few analyses and no broad assessments have evaluated effects of sea-level rise on biodiversity. Taking advantage of new maps of marine intrusion under scenarios of 1 and 6 m sea-level rise, we calculated areal losses for all terrestrial ecoregions globally, with areal losses for particular ecoregions ranging from nil to complete. Marine intrusion is a global phenomenon, but its effects are most prominent in Southeast Asia and nearby islands, eastern North America, northeastern South America, and western Alaska. Making assumptions regarding faunal responses to reduced …
Indicator Groups And Faunal Richness, Jerome K. Vanclay
Indicator Groups And Faunal Richness, Jerome K. Vanclay
Professor Jerome K Vanclay
Species richness is a popular indicator of ecosystem vitality, but is difficult to assess. Many natural resource managers seek an efficient bioindicator, but the link between candidate indicators and the richness of other taxononic groups remains elusive. A series of faunal surveys in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in Cameroon suggest that it may be possible to devise faunal bioindicators. The species richness of birds, of butterflies and of termites is significantly correlated with total faunal richness across eight species groups, suggesting that these groups may have potential as bioindicators, alone or in combination. Although expensive, further research is warranted because …
In The Heat Of The Law, It's Not Just Steam: Geothermal Resources And The Impact On Thermophile Biodiversity, Donald J. Kochan, Tiffany Grant
In The Heat Of The Law, It's Not Just Steam: Geothermal Resources And The Impact On Thermophile Biodiversity, Donald J. Kochan, Tiffany Grant
Donald J. Kochan
Significant research has been conducted into the utilization of geothermal resources as a ‘green’ energy source. However, minimal research has been conducted into geothermal resource utilization and depletion impacts on thermophile biodiversity. Thermophiles are organisms which have adapted over millions of year to extreme temperature and chemical compositions and exist in hot springs and other geothermal resources. Their ability to withstand high temperatures makes them invaluable to scientific and medical research. Current federal and California case law classify geothermal resources as a mineral, not a water resource. Acquisition of rights to develop a geothermal resource owned or reserved by the …
A Vegetation Based Approach To Biodiversity Gap Analysis In The Agastyamalai Region, Western Ghats, India, B. R. Ramesh, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa
A Vegetation Based Approach To Biodiversity Gap Analysis In The Agastyamalai Region, Western Ghats, India, B. R. Ramesh, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa
Shaily Menon
Protected areas in India have historically been established on an ad hoc basis with little attention to the conservation value of an area. This study focuses on a set of protected areas in the Agastyamalai region of the Western Ghats (WG), India. We examine forest loss and land-use changes in the study area from the early 1900s to 1960 and from 1960 to 1990. We use GIS to perform a biodiversity gap analysis of the protected areas in the study site. We produce a detailed map of existing floristic types and use it to generate layers corresponding to floristic species …
Cloning And Conservation Of Biological Diversity: Paradox, Panacea, Or Pandora's Box?, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa, Leah Gorman
Cloning And Conservation Of Biological Diversity: Paradox, Panacea, Or Pandora's Box?, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa, Leah Gorman
Shaily Menon
The success of a Scottish team in cloning a mammal from an adult tissue cell has generated considerable speculation in the popular press about potential applications to conservation biology. Possibilities that have been mentioned include cloning endangered species and creating gene banks for the germplasm of rare species. Sensational or inaccurate reports might encourage the mistaken notion that cloning technology is more advanced or reliable than it actually is. More important, such reports might foster the myth that there is no longer an urgency to conserve endangered species or their habitats as long as we have frozen germplasm and cloning …
Applications Of Geographic Information Systems, Remote-Sensing, And A Landscape Ecology Approach To Biodiversity Conservation In The Western Ghats, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa
Applications Of Geographic Information Systems, Remote-Sensing, And A Landscape Ecology Approach To Biodiversity Conservation In The Western Ghats, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa
Shaily Menon
The mountains along the west coast of peninsular India, the Western Ghats, constitute one of the unique biological regions of the world. Rapidly occurring land-cover and land-use change in the Western Ghats has serious implications for the biodiversity of the region. Both landscape changes as well as the distribution of biodiversity are phenomena with strong spatial correlates. Recent developments in remote-sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow the use of a landscape ecology and spatial analysis approach to the problem of deforestation and biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats. Applications of this approach include analyses of land-cover and land-use …
Effectiveness Of The Protected Area Network In Biodiversity Conservation: A Case-Study Of Meghalaya State, M. Latif Khan, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa
Effectiveness Of The Protected Area Network In Biodiversity Conservation: A Case-Study Of Meghalaya State, M. Latif Khan, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa
Shaily Menon
The North-Eastern region of India is significant for biodiversity conservation because of its floristic richness and high levels of endemism. Deforestation levels are high in the region due to anthropogenic pressures. We accessed various literature sources to create a database for Meghalaya state containing information on plant species, habit, altitudinal distribution, endemism, and endangered status. Information on the existing protected area network (type, extent, and altitudinal representation) was added to the database. The database was used to assess the effectiveness of the existing protected area network in conserving the floristic biodiversity of the state. Of a total of 3331 plant …
Biodiversity Monitoring: The Missing Ingredient, Kamaljit Bawa, Shaily Menon
Biodiversity Monitoring: The Missing Ingredient, Kamaljit Bawa, Shaily Menon
Shaily Menon
With mounting losses in biological diversity, inventorying and monitoring of biodiversity to assess the magnitude and rate of losses are emerging as dominant themes in conservation biology. Inventorying has been defined as the surveying, sorting, cataloging, quantifying and mapping of entities ranging from genes to landscapes1 and monitoring has been defined as the surveillance of the compliance with or deviation from a predetermined standard2. Renner and Ricklefs3 argued that rushed inventories will compromise scientific rigor and have little influence on decision making. More recently, Stork et al.4 argued that losses in biological diversity are so severe that inventorying and monitoring …
Using Biodiversity Data To Assess Species--Habitat Relationships In Glacier National Park, Montana, Diane M. Debinski, Peter F. Brussard
Using Biodiversity Data To Assess Species--Habitat Relationships In Glacier National Park, Montana, Diane M. Debinski, Peter F. Brussard
Diane M. Debinski
Biodiversity surveys are becoming increasingly popular. However, standard analysis techniques for these data have not yet been developed. This paper explores the use of multivariate ordination techniques for assessing species—habitat relationships using biodiversity data. The research was conducted in Glacier National Park, Montana, and birds and butterflies were chosen as the taxonomic groups of study. Biodiversity assessment sites were established throughout a range of habitats and monitored from 1987 through 1989. Presence/absence sampling over the total number of sampling sites was used to classify species commonness and rarity. Approximately 86% of the historically recorded butterflies and 70% of the historically …