Most migratory birds of the world's flyways are in decline, or in conservation troubles by now. The Old World flyway connecting Western Europe with Africa is no exception and hardly a surprise, while Africa features a tragic colonial legacy serving primarily the 'Global North' and a small group of wealthy or royal actors while the vast majority of people in Africa etc are ignored.
Further, this Afro‐Palaearctic flyway is unique in the fact that it features deep science, done for over 100 years, by elite universities, institutions and NGOs. Still, bird numbers in UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Africa overall are in decline already for easily over a decade. It's a crisis of science-based conservation, as practiced by 'The West', in Europe and by Africa and its NGOs and governance.
Here I assess a flyway conservation review by Vickery et al (2023) in the context of science bias, reality context, poverty and some ecological economics perspectives for conservation effectiveness. Reference is made to our own work, e.g. Walther and Huettmann (2021) and Chernetsov and Huettmann (2005), as well as to modern conservation practices, development aid and a future outlook involving climate change, modern methods as well as conflicts and warfare centered around resource extraction at avian conservation hotspots in Africa and the flyway.
Selection of References used (in order of citation)
Vickery, J. A., Mallord, J. W., Adams, W. M., Beresford, A. E., Both, C., Cresswell, W., ... & Hewson, C. M. (2023). The conservation of Afro‐Palaearctic migrants: What we are learning and what we need to know?. Ibis. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13171
Walther, B. A., & Huettmann, F. (2021). Palearctic passerine migrant declines in African wintering grounds in the Anthropocene (1970–1990 and near future): A conservation assessment using publicly available GIS predictors and machine learning. Science of The Total Environment, 777, 146093.
Chernetsov, N., & Huettmann, F. (2005). Linking global climate grid surfaces with local long-term migration monitoring data: spatial computations for the Pied Flycatcher to assess climate-related population dynamics on a continental scale. In International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications (pp. 133-142). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Marcacci, G., Briedis, M., Diop, N., Diallo, A. Y., Kebede, F., & Jacot, A. (2023). A roadmap integrating research, policy, and actions to conserve Afro‐Palearctic migratory landbirds at a flyway scale. Conservation Letters, 16(1), e12933.
Urban gulls are a fascinating issue in recent times. Most people in the world now live in cities, where they are confronted with urban governance and its wildlife, such as cockroaches, squirrels, rats, pigeons and gulls, let's say. In the subarctic this issue is widely unstudied but matters equally while most people in the world do live in cities: The Anthropocene.
Here I present on a recent study by us on gulls using urban habitat surveys, 'Big Data', GIS, machine learning and its inference (Huettmann et al. 2023). I present that short-billed gulls swap in summer an ecological niche space with ravens, driven by human factors like industrialization, rivers and gravel pits and food subsidies whereas 'natural forests' now get overruled.
This work has implications how urban spaces are to be managed due to gulls being known as major disease reservoirs and perceived pests. Thus far, this scheme is poorly addressed while an effective and sustainable municipal management does rule in the absence, with amateur bird watchers and contractors often dominating. An effective urban wildlife management is certainly lacking for most arctic and polar regions where pandemics currently affect such avian populations and subsequently can result into massive population crashes.
References (Selection)
Baltensperger, A. P., Mullet, T. C., Schmid, M. S., Humphries, G. R. W., Kövér, L., & Huettmann, F. (2013). Seasonal observations and machine-learning-based spatial model predictions for the common raven (Corvus corax) in the urban, sub-arctic environment of Fairbanks, Alaska. Polar Biology, 36, 1587-1599.
Benmazouz, I., Jokimäki, J., Juhasz, L., Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki, M. L., Paladi, P., Kardos, G., ... & Kövér, L. (2023). Morphological changes in hooded crows (Corvus cornix) related to urbanization. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11(1196075).
Forman, R. T. (2014). Urban ecology: science of cities. Cambridge University Press.
Hansen, L., & Huettmann, F. (2020). Swallows and Sparrows in the Human Street-Market Interface of Urban Nepal: Towards a First Open Access GIS Data and Model Inference on the Role of Religion and Culture in Bird Distribution. Hindu Kush-Himalaya watersheds downhill: Landscape ecology and conservation perspectives, 361-399.
Huettmann, F., Kövér, L., Robold, R., Spangler, M., & Steiner, M. (2023). Model-based prediction of a vacant summer niche in a subarctic urbanscape: A multi-year open access data analysis of a ‘niche swap’ by short-billed Gulls. Ecological Informatics, 102364.
Kövér, L., Gyüre, P., Balogh, P., Huettmann, F., Lengyel, S., & Juhász, L. (2015). Recent colonization and nest site selection of the Hooded Crow (Corvus corone cornix L.) in an urban environment. Landscape and Urban Planning, 133, 78-86.
When snow gets warmed up it melts; virtually every child will know that.
However, on a policy and public level, those details are hardly acknowledged, certainly not the vast impacts that relate to lacking 'snow pack', e.g. seasonality, regional climate, and feeding water tables, rivers, estuaries and thus directly contributing to farming, global food security and warfare even - to name just a few.
Here I share my first-hand experiences across years from observing snow and ice in winter for areas like Hindu Kush-Himalaya, Antarctica and Alaska, the mountains and ice sheet landscapes. Those 'coldspots' are traditionally known for major ice and snow - cooling areas - of the world as indicators of the global temperature.
In this podcast I outline how this crucial subject for humanity -driven by man-made CO2 and Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) - received too little attention but hopefully can get addressed better now for future generations.
(Photo credit: Author, Murphy Dome (interior Alaska) area showing a mountain top with a very thin snow layer in January)
Additional references
Ingels J., R. Aronson, C. Smith, A. Baco, H. Bik, J. Blake, A. Brandt,M .Cape, D. DeMaster, E. Dolan, E. Domack, S. FireH, H Geisz, M. Gigliotti, H. Griffiths, K. Halanych,C. Havermans, F. Huettmann, S.Ishman, S. Kranz,A. Leventer, A. Mahon,J. McClintock,M. McCormick, B.Mitchell, A. Murray, L. Peck, A. Rogers, B. Shoplock, K. Smith, B. Steffel, M. Stukel, A. Sweetman, M. Taylor,A. Thurber, M. Truffer, A. Van de Putte, A. Vanreusel, M. Zamora-Duran (2020). Antarctic Ecosystem Responses following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving: Science Review and Future Research. WIREs Clim Change. 2020;e682. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.682 (see also previous podcast in this series by FH)
Regmi G.R. and F. Huettmann (2020) Hindu Kush-Himalaya Watersheds Downhill: Landscape Ecology and Conservation Perspectives. Springer Gland, Switzerland . 886 pages
The Guardian (2023a) Alpine ski resorts struggle amid snow shortage – in pictures. 6th January 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2023/jan/06/alpine-ski-resorts-snow-shortage-in-pictures (accessed 25th January 2023)
The Guardian (2023b) In stark contrast: the warming of Europe's ski resorts - photo essay. January 26th 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/26/warming-europe-ski-resorts-photo-essay-satellite-images-winter-lack-of-snow (accessed 26th January 2023)
New Zealand (NZ) is blessed with a unique, quite wild nature and its endemic biodiversity. Also, NZ as a relatively small nation with c. 5.1 mio inhabitants features the world's 4th largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ). But modern NZ also entails many governance problems. Indigenous concepts are becoming now more dominant in NZ, and commercial fisheries there have a governance stronghold. Many of the fisheries products are actually for export, e.g. U.S., Asia and the EU/UK.
Like found in many fisheries nations, e.g. Japan, Norway and Iceland, the set up of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) get widely opposed and marine protected areas make just for s very tiny fraction of the EEZ and its conservation.
This podcast elaborates on an article by journalist Andrea Vance (2022) presenting an overview of the MPA process in NZ and specifically for the southeastern coastline -the South East Marine Protection (SEMP) network process initiated already in 2013 - featuring great ecosystems and conservation species like yellow-eyed penguins, royal albatross, dolphins, sea lions and rock lobsters.
Reference
Vance A (2022) A decade of wrangling, but dolphins and seabirds off the South Island's east coast remain unprotected.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130147040/a-decade-of-wrangling-but-dolphins-and-seabirds-off-the-south-islands-east-coast-remain-unprotected.
05:00, Oct 29 2022. Stuff, New Zealand
Some environmental patterns appear to be local - but upon closer inspection - then have a wider and larger spill-over and are actually driven by global actors. Based on a recent study by Veit et al. (2021) here a seabird example is presented - the Elegant Tern - and how its conservation management effects spill into the wider Pacific and the Atlantic, including western Europe (Spain and France). It turned global. Most individuals of this tern species breed on just one tiny island in southern California - Isla Raza. However, individual bird vagrants of Elegant Terns are found by bird watchers and researchers in areas far away from this source but directly affected by rodent/predator-removal and other factors - most of them man-made and cultural.
The concept of telecoupling (=widely connected sources, sinks and spill-overs) can be applied here and it helps in the Anthropocene to understand how global economies, their cultures/attitudes and actions all affect oceans, species, prey and climate alike - including some of the associated El Nino patterns.
References (selection)
Liu J., Y. Dou, M. Batistella, E.Challies, T.Conno, C.Friis, J.DA. Millington, E. Parish, C. L Romulo, R.F.Bicudo Silva, H. Triezenberg, H.Yang, Z.Zhao, K. S. Zimmerer, F. Huettmann, M.L. Treglia, Z. Basher, M.G. Chung, A.Herzberger, A.Lenschow, A. Mechiche-Alami, J. Newig, J.Roch and J. Sun (2018) Spillover systems in a telecoupled Anthropocene: typology, methods, and governance for global sustainability. Environmental Sustainability 33:58-69 doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.04.009
Raya Rey A. and F. Huettmann (2019) Telecoupling analysis of the Patagonian Shelf: a new approach to study global seabird-fisheries interactions to achieve sustainability. Journal for Nature Conservation 3: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S1617138118301067
Raya Rey, A. N., J. C. Pizarro, C. B. Anderson, and F. Huettmann. (2017) Even at the uttermost ends of the Earth: how seabirds telecouple the Beagle Channel with regional and global processes that affect environmental conservation and social-ecological sustainability. Ecology and Society 22 (4):31. [online] URL: https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art31/
Veit, R. R., E. Velarde, M.H. Horn, and L.L. Manne (2021) Population growth and long-distance vagrancy leads to colonization of Europe by elegant terns Thalasseus elegans. Front. Ecol. Evol, 9: 824.
“My dream is to live off-grid”. A sentence that seems to come up more and more frequently throughout the last few years. Who does not want to live sustainably and be self-subsistent ? Yet, how is it really to live off-grid in remote areas, away from modern society, but yet to stay in western countries ? This is what we are discussing with our special guest Moriz Steiner in this episode. Moriz lived in his early teens in remote off-grid mountain huts, looking after cattle, and also discovering nature and himself. We touch upon topics such as the reason for living such off-grid lifestyles, if and how they can be reproduced by others in different countries, the sustainability, impact on wilderness, and how it relates to Steady State Economy, Ecological Economics, and Indigenization efforts. If you want to learn more about it and hear all the sweet details, we appreciate you tuning in.
References mentioned
Species distributions are an essential feature for a successful species conservation management. Data of presence/absence are quite simple to obtain and they are easily part of most inventory schemes, such as Bird Atlases and survey plots. After +100 years of bird banding, the current flurry of geotagging should improve knowledge on distributions. It should specifically be an easy feature for large species. The Great Grey Owl (Great Gray Owl in North America, Strix nebulosa) is one of those species; it is c. 65cm tall and has a wingspan of 1,2m, occurring in the Old World and the New World from temperate to arctic regions. However, the actual distribution is poorly known and described, even major authorities differ, as discussed here. Rather than an icon of the wild, this species seems to be more of a road- and urban species, as shown with machine learning predictions when modeling best-available data in Alaska (Andrews 2019). Using Great Grey Owls, the presented problems centered around expert-drawn distribution maps are commonly found elsewhere too, while ML and Open Access dat provide progress and new insights crucially needed.
References (in order of relevance for this podcast)
Andrews P. (2019). First Machine Learning-Based Model Predictions Of Great Gray Owl (Strix Nebulosa) Distribution In Alaska: A Primer For Supporting
Conservation Governance. Unpublished M.Sc. University of Alaska Fairbanks.
WIKIPEDIA (2022) Great Grey Owl. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_grey_owl
BirdLife International (Data Zone) (2023). Great Grey Owl. http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/great-grey-owl-strix-nebulosa
IUCN RedList (2022) Great Grey Owl. https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/map?query=Great%20Grey%20Owl&searchType=species
eBIRD (2022) Great Gray Owl. https://ebird.org/species/grgowl/US-WA-063
Sibley, D. (2000). The North American Bird Guide. Pica.
König, C., & Weick, F. (2008). Owls of the world. A&C Black.
Audubon Guide to North American Birds (2022) https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-gray-owl
NATURESERVE (2022) Great Gray Owl. https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100756/Strix_nebulosa
This episode deals with the somewhat overlooked impact on 'deep nature' by the world economy and global trade, it uses a global bottleneck and strategic hotspot: the Panama Canal region.
While focusing on a re-interpretation and shifted emphasize of the results by Bellis et al (2018; sea anemones, abundance, diversity and genetics) it also takes further evidence from Karr (1990; birds), Basset et al. (2015; butterflies) and Huettmann (2015) for the Panama Canal region and beyond (Jackson et a;. 2001) as a convenient and subsidized conduit for world trade through international cargo ships connecting virtually all major ports in the world across oceans. This bottleneck now receives increasing pressures due to world-wide economic growth.
The science elaboration presented here is not really 'rocket science', but infers a robust evidence for a major issue and effect on earth re. how we live,
and towards betterment!
References used in this podcast (order of mentioning)
Bellis, E. S., Edlund, R. B., Berrios, H. K., Lessios, H. A., & Denver, D. R. (2018). Molecular signatures of host specificity linked to habitat specialization in Exaiptasia sea anemones. Ecology and evolution, 8(11), 5413-5426.
Karr, J. R. (1990). Avian survival rates and the extinction process on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Conservation Biology, 4: 391-397.
Basset Y., H. Barrios, S. Segar, R. B. Srygley, A. Aiello, A. D. Warren, F. Delgado et al. (2015) "The butterflies of Barro Colorado Island, Panama: local extinction since the 1930s." PLoS One 10, no. 8: e0136623.
Huettmann F (ed.) (2015) Central American Biodiversity: Conservation, Ecology, and a Sustainable Future. Springer New York, 805 pages. ISBN 978-1-4939-2207-9 (25 chapters authored and co-authored out of 32 + data appendix in dSPACE)
Jackson, J. BC, M X. Kirby, W. H. Berger, K. A. Bjorndal, L. W. Botsford, B. J. Bourque, R. H. Bradbury et al. (2001) "Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems." science 293, no. 5530: 629-637.
'Plankton" consists of phytoplankton (~plants) and zooplankton (-animals). It represents the basis of the ocean food chain and it includes many species; it's a very complex 'multi-species soup' representing a true science frontier hardly tackled, understood or managed yet.
Copepods are part of that taxonomic set up and they contribute usually to the majority - up to 70% - of zooplankton abundance in oceans. Using field data of the Italian National Antarctic Program from the 1980s and 1990s here we model-predict in an interdisciplinary international team effort for 26 copepod species at three ocean depth classes (0-10m, 11-70m, 71-750m) the relative index of occurrence (RIO) for the wider study area of the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (a world-record MPA and ocean wilderness area of global size and relevance). This research uses Machine Learning/AI ensembles and Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) methods to generalize from the Open Access dataset available from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF.org) using the 'Macroscope predictors' (see Huettmann et al. 2015 for details, source and use). Further details are provided in Grillo et al. (2022; compare also with Pinkerton et al. 2010).
This work matters as a global workflow template and it allows to obtain 3D models in GIS for plankton abundance, e.g. as needed for foraging estimates of marine mammals, penguins and fisheries. It can also be used for life-history research, carbon sequestration work in climate models as well as for baselines in carrying capacity formulas for fisheries and generic predator-prey studies.
The relevance of sound harvest models for krill and fish, e.g. in the so-called 'experimental' fisheries work with CCAMLR and the MPA in the Ross Sea has been outlined by Ainley et al. (2012) and others. Here we offer a solution towards sustainability in times of a generic ocean crisis.
References (selection; in order of citation)
Grillo M, F. Huettmann, L. Guglielmo and S. Schiaparelli (2022) Three-Dimensional Quantification of Copepods Predictive Distributions in the Ross Sea: First Data Based on a Machine Learning Model Approach and Open Access (FAIR) Data. Diversity 14:355. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14050355
Huettmann, F., M.S. Schmid, and G.R.W. Humphries (2015) A First Overview of Open Access Digital Data for the Ross Sea: Complexities, Ethics, and Management Opportunities. Hydrobiologia 2015, 761, 97–119.
Pinkerton, M. H., A.N. Smith, B. Raymond, G.W. Hosie, B. Sharp, J.R. Leathwick and J.M. Bradford-Grieve (2010). Spatial and seasonal distribution of adult Oithona similis in the Southern Ocean: predictions using boosted regression trees. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 57: 469-485.
Ainley, D.G., C.M. Brooks, J.T. Eastman and M. Massaro (2012) Unnatural Selection of Antarctic Toothfish in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. In Protection of the Three Poles; Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 53–75.0
(Photo credit: Andrei Savitsky - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78800127)
This episode presents on Tropical Mountain and Cloud Forest issues, namely conservation, species diversity and ecology.
It uses an interview with Hazel Berrios and her wider tropical plant field experience.
This session discusses a multi-year field study experience by the author, and a 2 years M.Sc. thesis field work by HB in the cloud forest of Ometepe Island, Nicaragua. A focus is made on over 200 species of epiphytes and its open access data in Dryad, a topic not much addressed before.
References
Berríos Alvarez, H. K. (2019). Species richness patterns and plant size of vascular epiphytes along an elevation gradient in the tropical montane forest of volcán maderas, nicaragua (Order No. 13811988). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2215571077). Retrieved from http://uaf.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/species-richness-patterns-plant-size-vascular/docview/2215571077/se-2?accountid=14470
Berrios H, Coronado I, Marsico T. [In review]. High species richness turnover of vascular epiphytes is associated with water availability along the elevation gradient of Volcán Maderas, Nicaragua. Authorea Preprints; 2021. DOI: 10.22541/au.163256507.73120492/v1.
Berrios, Hazel (2020), DATASET. Species richness and abundance of vascular epiphytes along an elevation gradient, Dryad, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bzkh1896h
Huettmann F. (2015) Conservation Research in the Cloud Forest of Central America with Lessons from Maderas Volcano, Ometepe, Nicaragua: A First-Person Narrative About Very Tough Fieldwork, Unfinished Data, and Climate Justice While Running Out of Time. In: F. Huettmann F. (ed.) Central American Biodiversity: Conservation, Ecology, and a Sustainable Future. Springer New York, pages 419-434
This podcasts elaborates on some supplementary materials in the forestry publication by Zhang et al. (2022).
Based on this research it briefly presents details of ten Forestation Programs in China and their contexts and objectives. Those are large-scale and long-term landscape projects with various aims and goals, increasing the forest area in China, and sometimes beyond. Grasslands and steeply sloped mountain areas play a specific role. Those programs improve poverty and rural development but are often not so well known abroad, and thus they are presented and discussed here as first pointers and for consideration and debate with the wider global audience. The increase of forest area and carbon sequestration, as well as avoidance of erosion through designed shelterbelts, often stand as main goals.
See also the references by Chen et al. (2018), Elvin (2006) and Harris (2006) for wider context.
References
Zhang, L., P. Sun, F. Huettmann, and S. Liu (2022). Where should China practice forestry in a warming world? Global Change Biology, 00, 1– 15. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16065
Chen J, R. John, G. Sun3, P. Fan, G. M. Henebry, M. E. Fernández-Giménez, Y.Zhang, H. Park, L. Tian, P. Groisman, Z.Ouyang, G. Allington, J. Wu, C. Shao,A..Amarjargal, G.Dong, G. Gutman, F.Huettmann, R.Lafortezza, C. and J.Qu (2018) Prospects for the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SES) on the Mongolian plateau: five critical issues Environmental Research Letters 13: 123004. DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf27b
Elvin M. (2006) The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China. Yale University Press
Harris R. (2006) Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West, East Gate Books.
This podcast provides some deeper insights into our new publication by Solovyeva et al. (2021) dealing with Arctic Geese in the Eastern Russian Arctic. It provides a showcase for the 'New Digital Arctic' as the myriad changes in the Arctic land-, sea- and coastal-scape are unfolding so fast with devastating outcomes (Krupnik and Crowell 2020).
This research shows a more nuanced range and distribution pattern for these two species - Tundra Bean Geese & Greater White-fronted Geese - during moult and brood-rearing than previously known for flyway delineations, nesting and summer range maps etc. This was possible by using Machine Learning and many Open Access GIS data ("Big Data"). Based on the first-time online release of 24 years of field data in very remote areas like rivers of Yakutia, Chaun research station, Chukotka and Northern Kamchatka it presents the best-available public and digital information on the topic, added by GBIF.org data as well as compiled and geo-referenced (Russian) literature data for a good model assessment.
This podcast emphasizes the experience and suggestions for data sharing in polar regions and elsehere, as stated by D. Carlson for the International Polar Year (IPY; Carlson 2011) making open access approaches a best-professional practice, if not already mandatory by many funders, e.g.Huettmann et al. (2011), Huettmann and Ickert-Bod (2017) for examples. An application is provided how it can affect better management and protection, e.g. for Climate Change forecast and conservation (Spiridonov et al. 2012).
This research raises the question why so many data repositories are either empty, locked behind passwords, or underused, and it shows that Open Access and Open Source in 'The Cloud' can provide a generic progress tfor everybody. Here we provide a workflow and baseline across international researchers to achieve such outcomes with ISO-complian metadata to actually understand the data sets, model inference and outcome.
References and background readings
Carlson, D. A (2011) Lesson in sharing. Nature 469: 293. https://doi.org/10.1038/469293a
Huettmann, F. (ed) (2012) Protection of the Three Poles, Springer Tokyo, Japan, p. 337
Huettmann F, Yu Artukhin, O. Gilg, and G. Humphries (2011) Predictions of 27 Arctic pelagic seabird distributions using public environmental variables, assessed with colony data: a first digital IPY and GBIF open access synthesis platform. Marine Biodiversity 41: 141-179 DOI 10.1007/s12526-011-0083-2
Huettmann F and S. Ickert-Bond (2017). On Open Access, data mining and plant conservation in the Circumpolar North with an online data example of the Herbarium, University of Alaska Museum of the North Arctic Science. http://www. nrcresearchpress.com/toc/as/0/ja
Krupnik I. and A. L. Crowell (2020) Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North. Smithsonian Institutional Press. Washington D.C.
Solovyeva D. I. Bysykatova-Harmey. S L. Vartanyan, A. Kondratyev F. Huettmann (2021) Modeling Eastern Russian High Arctic Geese (Anser fabalis, A. albifrons) during moult and brood rearing in the ‘New Digital Arctic. Scientific Reports.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-01595-7
Spiridonov V., M. Gavrilo, Y. Krasnov, A. Makarov, N. Nikolaeva, L. Sergienko, A. Popov and E. Krasnova (2012). Chapter 8 Toward the New Role of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in the Arctic: The Russian Case. in F. Huettrmann (ed) Protection of the Three Poles. Springer New York. pp. 171 – 201.
The Gray-headed Chickadee is part of the app. 50 Parus species with a dominance in the Old World, ranging from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden Finland) all across Russia and even into the New World, namely Alaska and Yukon/Canada (Hailman and Haftron 1995). This species is often found in pine-dominated lichen stands of the subarctic region.
In the last years some studies reported dramatic declines, e.g. in the southern regions of Norway and northern Finland (Krams et al. 2010, Dale and Andreassen 2016). Here I focus on some aspects of the reported and local species loss, namely man-made global warming due to CO2 and old-growth forest loss. A recent study about Alaska by Booms et al. (2020) gets emphasized which reported only three detections for this species during 2010-2017 (formerly, over 150 locations had reports reaching back til 1864, with many consistent sightings over the last 20 years, e.g. done by bird watchers). Alaska has not reported a single Gray-headed Chickadee nest in recent years.
While solid songbird population trend data are few for the subarctic, this species might already indicate serious problems for the Anthropocene, e.g. Huettmann (2012) and Krupnik (2018).
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Further readings
Booms, T.L., L. H. DeCicco, C.P. Barger and J. A. Johnson (2020) Current Knowledge and Conservation Status of the Gray-Headed Chickadee in North America. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 11: 654–664. doi: https://doi.org/10.3996/082019-JFWM-072
Dale, S and E. Andreassen (2016) Population decline of the Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) in southern Norway and an assessment of possible causes. Ornis Fennica 93: 77-87.
Hailman J.P. and S. Haftorn (1995) Gray-headed chickadee (Poecile cinctus). In Poole AF, Gill FB, editors. The birds of North America ( Poole AF, Gill FB editors). Ithaca, New York: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.196Huettmann 3 Pole Protection
Huettmann, F. (2012) Yet Another, But This Time Realistic, Polar Synthesis, Meta-Analysis, and Outlook: Protecting Ice, Snow, People, Species, Habitats, and Global Temperatures for Good? in F.Huettmann (ed) Protection of the Three Poles, Springer Tokyo, Japan, pp. 265-330
Krams, K., D. Cīrule, T. Krama, M. Hukkanen, S. Rytkönen, M. Orell, T. Iezhova, M. J. Rantala, and L.Tummeleht (2010) Effects of Forest Management on Haematological Parameters, Blood Parasites, and Reproductive Success of the Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) in Northern Finland. Annales Zoologici Fennici 47: 335-346. https://doi.org/10.5735/086.047.0504
Krupnik, I. (2018) 'Arctic Crashes:’ Revisiting the Human-Animal Disequilibrium Model in a Time of Rapid Change. Hum Ecol 46: 685–700. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-9990-1
The segregation in animals is a fundamental topic in wildlife research and conservation policy. It was studied early on within 'deer' (ungulates) and how males and females use space and habitat in different ways. Often, they are not even overlapping, and for parts of the year they may even be treated perhaps as different species ?
Here I discuss some key citations and the concept, using sexual segregation, and then extend the concept to birds such as White-naped Cranes from Mongolia and how those species use space and home ranges in different ways, e.g. by age class, subadults vs adult and failed nesters.
It's clear that the subject is complex, with research ongoing, but that the conservation law and policy has not really implemented it, yet and that thus, the species - many of them hunted or affected by humans - are not so well and precisely managed.
Citations:
Bowyer T.R. (2004) Sexual Segregation in Ruminants: Definitions, Hypotheses, and Implications for Conservation and Management, Journal of Mammalogy 85: 1039–1052, https://doi.org/10.1644/BBL-002.1
Kie J.R. and R. Terry Bowyer (1999) Sexual Segregation in White-Tailed Deer: Density-Dependent Changes in Use of Space, Habitat Selection, and Dietary Niche, Journal of Mammalogy 80: 1004–1020, https://doi.org/10.2307/1383271.
Li, Z., Z. Jiang (2007) Sexual segregation in Tibetan gazelle: a test of the activity budget hypothesis. Journal of Zoology 274: 327-331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00388.x
Ruckstuhl K.E. and P. Neuhaus (2002) Sexual segregation in ungulates: a comparative test of three hypotheses. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 77:77-96. doi: 10.1017/s1464793101005814.
Wearmouth W.J. and D. W Sims (2008) Sexual segregation in marine fish, reptiles, birds and mammals behaviour patterns, mechanisms and conservation implications. Adv Mar Biol 54:107-70. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2881(08)00002-3.
This episode elaoborates on the Seascape Ecology scheme and on the concept of defining a global sustainability science agenda without bias.
It is based on the new publication of over 30 co-authors by Pittmann et al. (2021) which essentially tried to follow the Sutherland et al. (2009) approach to find and highlight research priorities for the so-complex world ocean scheme reaching sustainability (something that we are currently far away from, e.g. ocean crisis and based on a traditional reductionistic approach/oceanography/research vessels).
In the meantime, the concept of Seascape Ecology is presented, e.g. (Pittmann 2017) -stemming initially from Landscape Ecology (e.g. Forman 1995) - allowing for more 'ecumenical' approaches to research and to obtain 'patterns and processes', usually being based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, deep models and more holistic concepts like telecoupling (Liu et al. 2018 ) that are urgently needed to better tackle global sustainability questions.
References
Pittman S.J. , K. L. Yates, P. J. Bouchet, D. Alvarez-Berastegui, S. Andréfouët, S. S. Bell, C. Berkström, C. Boström, C. J. Brown, R. M. Connolly, R. Devillers, D. Eggleston, B. L. Gilby, M. Gullström, B. S. Halpern, M. Hidalgo, D. Holstein, K. Hovel, F. Huettmann, E. L. Jackson, W. R. James J. B. Kellner, C. Y. Kot, V. Lecours, C. Lepczyk, I. Nagelkerken, J. Nelson, A. D. Olds, R. O. Santos, K. L. Scales, D. C. Schneider, H. T. Schilling, C. Simenstad, I. M. Suthers, E. A. Treml, L. M. Wedding, P. Yates and M. Young. Seascape ecology: identifying research priorities for an emerging ocean sustainability science. Marine Ecology Progress Series 663: 1-29 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13661
Pittmann S. (ed) (2017) Seascape Ecology. Wiley Blackwell
Forman R.T.T. (1995) Land Mosaics (The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions). Cambridge University Press.
Liu J., Y. Dou, M. Batistella, E.Challies, T.Conno, C.Friis, J.DA. Millington, E. Parish, C. L Romulo, R.F.Bicudo Silva, H. Triezenberg, H.Yang, Z.Zhao, K. S. Zimmerer, F. Huettmann, M.L. Treglia, Z. Basher, M.G. Chung, A.Herzberger, A.Lenschow, A. Mechiche-Alami, J. Newig, J.Roch and J. Sun (2018) Spillover systems in a telecoupled Anthropocene: typology, methods, and governance for global sustainability. Environmental Sustainability 33:58-69 doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust. 2018.04.009
Sutherland W.J., W. M. Adams R. B. Aronson R. Aveling T. M. Blackburn S. Broad G. Ceballos I. M. Côté R. M. Cowling G. A. B. Da Fonseca E. Dinerstein P. J. Ferraro E. Fleishman C. Gascon M. Hunter Jr. J. Hutton P. Kareiva A. Kuria D. W. Macdonald K. Mackinnon F. J. Madgwick M. B. Mascia J. Mcneely E. J. Milner‐Gulland S. Moon C. G. Morley S. Nelson D. Osborn M. Pai E. C. M. Parsons L. S. Peck H. Possingham S. V. Prior A. S. Pullin M. R. W. Rands J. Ranganathan K. H. Redford J. P. Rodriguez F. Seymour J. Sobel N. S. Sodhi A. Stott K. Vance‐Borland A. R. Watkinson (2009) One Hundred Questions of Importance to the Conservation of Global Biological Diversity. Conservation Biology 23: Pages 557-567
The Arts and the Sciences are truly connected; they feed into each other, relate directly, provide inspiration and creativity for the global audience.
Following a quote by Berthodl Brecht "Art is not a mirror for reality, but a hammer with which to shape it" it can present a major force to be reckoned with. And in case done 'right' it can effectively achieve progress for the wider common good, sustainability and future generations.
While art is beautiful in its own right, linking it with science and power for a valid outcome when using public money and with public institutions it can quickly become a deep - if not controversial - discussion.
Here I briefly elaborate on the connection between art and science with a conservation and sustainability outlook, and how it can be done, using a few examples from Leonardo Da Vinci (flight), Salvador Dali (DNA, Religion) and William Badger Bates (Murray Darling river in Australia).
Supporting references
The Guardian (2021) It’s a funeral march’: French artist JR’s powerful eulogy for Australia's Murray-Darling. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/28/its-a-funeral-march-french-artist-jrs-powerful-homily-for-australias-murray-darling. (Accessed 27th February 2021)
Sutherland Z. (2016) Conceptualism and Global-Neo-Avantgarde. The New Left Review Mar/Apr 98: https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii98/articles/zoe-sutherland-the-world-as-gallery (Accessed 2nd April 2021)
National Science Foundation (NSF) (2021) When science meets art: 6 NSF research projects that turn STEM into STEAM. https://beta.nsf.gov/science-matters/when-science-meets-art-6-nsf-research-projects-turn-stem-steam (Accessed 2nd April 2021)
Caribou and reindeer are an inherent and co-evolved part of the Circumpolar North. However, the Arctic Report Card 2018 stated that app. 2.6 million reindeers got lost just during the last 20 years. The status of caribou herds further south is equally worrisome, with the lower 48 states of the U.S. having virtually no wild caribou left, and reindeer herds in Mongolia also struggeling, just like many Canadian caribou do.
Looking at many herds and publications, here I elaborate on those changes, cycles and generic trends the these animals face in times of the anthropocene, global change and widely unabated increases of man-made CO2.
Citations and further references:
Collard R.C., J. Dempsey and M Holmberg (2019) Extirpation despite regulation? Environmental assessment and caribou. Conservation Science and Practice DOI: 10.1111/csp2.166
Gailus J. (2010) Grizzly Manifesto, The: In Defense of the Great Bear (RMB Manifesto). Rocky Mountain Books. Banff, Canada.
Hegel, T., A. Mysterud, T. Ergon, L. Loe, F. Huettmann and N. Stenseth (2009) Seasonal Effects of Pacific-based climate on recruitment in a predator-limited large herbivore. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 471-482.
Mager, K.H., K. E. Colson and K. J. Hundertmark (2013) High genetic connectivity and introgression from domestic reindeer characterize northern Alaska caribou herds. Conserv Genetics 14:1111–1123 DOI 10.1007/s10592-013-0499-2
Resnick B. (2018) The Arctic has lost 2.6 million reindeer over the past 20 years. The Arctic is changing — fast. That’s bad news for reindeer and caribou.https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/12/11/18134411/christmas-reindeer-north-pole-populations-decline-agu-arctic-report-card
Sullivan (2018) Arctic Report Card: Reindeer and caribou populations continue to decline. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/2018-arctic-report-card-reindeer-and-caribou-populations-continue
Yannic, G., L. Pellissier, J. Ortego et al. (2014) Genetic diversity in caribou linked to past and future climate change. Nature Clim Change 4, 132–137. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2074
Many songbirds are migratory, and they are in a serious conservation trouble! Here we show from a recent publication by Walther and Huettmann (2021) how those trends in the Old World and its African fllyways and wintering grounds can be modeled with Open Access GIS layers and machine learning, how they relate to recent habitat factors over time, and where the trends and hotspots in Africa are predicted to go in the near future for species that are in 'large decline', 'moderate decline' and 'not declining'. This work presents a grim case for flyway managment achievements, lack there of for 1970-1990, and the still ongoing decay along the flyway while the human crisis in those regions is currently accelarating, including warfare, poverty, oil development and mining, human migrants and climate change.
One must probably find that this a surprising conclusion considering that so much migratory bird (banding) research has been ongoing, e.g. in former colonial countries, but then it has not really put those topics on the agenda, communicated it in the scientific bird literature, or improved habitat-related questions last 100 years. It seems to present a typical case of Bandura's (2007) argument while conservation is time-critical.
Citations (in reverse order to match podcast content)
Walther B.A. and F. Huettmann (2021) Palearctic passerine migrant declines in African wintering grounds in the Anthropocene (1970–1990 and near future): A conservation assessment using publicly available GIS predictors and machine learning. Science of the Total Enviroment Feb 27;777:146093. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146093.
Kronenberg J., E. Andersson and P. Tryjanowski. (2017) Connecting the social and the ecological in the focal species concept: case study of White Stork. Nature Conservation 22: 79–105.
Berthold P. (2003) Changes in the breeding bird fauna of two southern rural communities during recent decades-lost paradises ? J Ornithol 144:385–410.
Bandura A. (2007) Impeding ecological sustainability through selective moral disengagement. Int. J. Innovation and Sustainable Development 2: 8-35.
Autocorrelation -the serial correlation - as a correlated signal with a delayed copy of itself is inherent in Nature. It's not just a problem to get rid of, to be modeled away or a Red Herring in time and space, but it should be used to your advantage. In reality though, it's either ignored or disturbing the classic frequentist analysis of data and inference for a science-based analysis. There is virtually no conservation policy and legal text addressing it. Here I elaborate on the meaning and relevance of autocorrelation and how to tackle it and I promote to put it more on the forefront of science-based conservation.
Borcard D., F. Gillet and P. Legendre (2011) Numertial Ecology with R. Springer Textbook. New York.
Dale M.R.T. and M.J. Fortin (2001) Spatial autocorrelation and statistical tests in ecology. Ecoscience 9:162-167. DOI: 10.1080/11956860. 2002.11682702
Diggle, P. J. (2005) Spatio-temporal Point Processes: Methods and Applications. Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers. Working Paper 78. http://biostats.bepress.com/jhubiostat/paper78
Fortin M.J. and M. R. T. Dale (2009) Spatial Autocorrelation in Ecological Studies: A Legacy of Solutions and Myths Geographical Analysis 41:392 - 397. DOI: 10.1111/j.1538-4632.2009.00766.x
Georgescu-Roegen N. (1971) The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Greig-Smith, P. (1982). Quantitative plant ecology. 3d ed. Studies in Ecology 9. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Hawkins, B.A., J.A.F. Diniz‐Filho, B. Mauricio Bini, L., De Marco and T.M. Blackburn (2007) Red herrings revisited: spatial autocorrelation and parameter estimation in geographical ecology. Ecography, 30: 375-384. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0906-7590.2007.05117.x
Huettmann F. and A.W. Diamond (2006) Large-Scale Effects on the Spatial Distribution of Seabirds in the Northwest Atlantic. Landscape Ecology 21: 1089-1108.
Papritz A. (2020) Tutorial and Manual for Geostatistical Analyses with the R package georob. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/georob/vignettes/georob_vignette.pdf
Schneider D. (1990) Spatial autocorrelation in marine birds. Polar Research 8: 89-97. https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v8i1.6807
Schneider D. (1994) Quantitative Ecology: Spatial and Temporal Scaling. Academic Press
Central America and its Biodiversity is world famous. However, its status and conservation is very worrying, just like many features in the Anthropocene these days. Using over 12 years for field school-based field research in the region -land, marine and atmosphere - this podcast is based, in part, on Bocklett (1998) and Huettmann (2015) elaborating on issues of conservation governance relevance, and many of them otherwise widely overlooked but highly applicable worldwide.
Citations
Bocklett C.D. (1998) Land, power and poverty: agragian transformation and political conflict in Central America. 2nd ed. (Thematic Studies in Latin America). Westview Press, Boulder.
Huettmann F. (2015) Central American Biodiversity: Conservation, Ecology, and a Sustainable Future. Springer New York.