The Conservation Foundation’s Post

Otters are sometimes described as the “tigers of the mangrove” in Southeast Asia, where they’re well-known to display extraordinary resilience and adaptability to human activity and urbanization. A camera-trap study recently published in Global Ecology and Conservation now highlights the importance of expanses of natural habitat, such as coastal forests and wetlands, for two species of otter living along southern Thailand’s increasingly modified coasts, reports Carolyn Cowan. The research team found that while otters are able to live within human-modified landscapes, tracts of natural habitat offer them vital refugia from a slew of threats, such as road collisions, prey depletion due to pollution of watercourses, and conflict with fish and shrimp farmers. The authors used their findings to create maps that indicate where conservationists and wildlife departments should prioritize management and monitoring for these vital top wetland predators. https://lnkd.in/d6DD_5dk

The smaller cat species are elusive, hard to monitor and often go unnoticed as does their disappearance. Many are habitat specialists and as a particular habitat is degraded or vanishes, so do they. At the same time conservation of smaller cat species is poorly resourced, with larger cats receiving the lion's share of funding. https://lnkd.in/ehxxiH42

Learn about birds, their essential role in our gardens, and how to document their behaviours for ecosystem research and conservation.

🌳 Dive into the world of habitat management with EMEC Ecology! 🌿 Discover how we're preserving and restoring ecosystems to support biodiversity and create sustainable environments. From woodland management to wetland restoration, we are champions of nature conservation. https://buff.ly/3Qje6wl #HabitatManagement #NatureConservation #Sustainability"

🌳 Dive into the world of habitat management with EMEC Ecology! 🌿 Discover how we're preserving and restoring ecosystems to support biodiversity and create sustainable environments. From woodland management to wetland restoration, we are champions of nature conservation. https://buff.ly/3Qje6wl #HabitatManagement #NatureConservation #Sustainability"

Brilliant idea to streamline the Endangered Species Act process in order to increase voluntary conservation efforts: "The revisions improve implementation of the conservation programs associated with the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under Section 10(a) of the ESA. One way the Service achieves this is by combining safe harbor agreements and candidate conservation agreements with assurances into one agreement type called a conservation benefit agreement. The Service also adds flexibility to allow permits for both listed and non-listed species and clarifies the requirements for complete applications. These revisions, which will increase efficiency by reducing the time and cost to develop and negotiate permit applications, will encourage more individuals and companies to engage in conservation benefit agreements and habitat conservation plans, generating greater conservation results overall."

Field stations are facilities used to conduct research on environmental and biological life. These often remote outposts are found in some of the least accessible areas of the globe.     Perhaps for this reason – thought of as tucked away in dense, tropical forests or icy and inhospitable Artic bases – they are somewhat ‘out of sight, out of mind’.     This can mean the benefits of field stations are overlooked and undervalued.     However, a new paper by 173 conservation researchers demonstrates the huge advantages field stations provide, highlighting how important they are for addressing global conservation challenges around the world.  Findings include improved habitat quality of the surrounding areas by reducing nearby deforestation (areas near field stations lost about 18% less forest!), reducing rates of hunting, and improving enforcement of laws regarding wildlife and resources. As well as this, field stations generate vital research to inform much-needed conservation policies.    Research is the cornerstone of successful conservation – and for many species we simply do not have the information to understand their precise status or causes of decline. Supporting ground-breaking research increases attention from funders and decision-makers.    So, if we want to support conservation, we must support research. That’s why we have supported Reserva Tesoro Escondido – one of the organisations invited to share data for this study – and their field station for seven years.  Based in lowland Chocó, Ecuador they are doing incredibly valuable work to protect the brown-headed spider monkeys and other endangered species the rainforest is home to.  Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gR7cwB9N   #Research #Ecuador #Conservation

Although Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, the ‘Yellowstone of Europe’, appears to be a bucolic idyll fluttering with butterflies, the façade is flawed and vulnerable. Thats why we are here: to learn from our hosts, biologists Barbara and Christoph Promberger, who are working to protect it by transforming a staggering 300,000 hectares of this wilderness teeming with bears, lynx and wolves, into a national park, despite local resistance and economic challenges. On my week there with Journeys With Purpose, an agency set up specifically to support huge landscape-changing conservation projects, we lived a ‘money-can’t-buy’ experience. We hiked in virgin forests, learnt about wildlife monitoring and reintroductions, camera traps, foraging, organic farming, all the while feasting on local wines and gourmet meals. It was sixteen years ago that the couple stumbled across a side-cutting of illegal logging, the sight confirming their worst fears: the forests and therefore wildlife were disappearing. According to Interpol, 30% of globally traded timber comes from illegal sources, and over half of it is sourced in Romania. Without the protection of a registered national park, the virgin forests are rich pickings for a thriving black market, but to achieve it Promberger needs the support of all 28 local communes, and time is not on his side. Read my full story for @countryandtownhouse at the link below: https://lnkd.in/e5F9eSft #carpathianmountains #conservation #romania #yellowstoneofeurope #journeyswithpurpose Conservation Carpathia #conservation #wilding #rewilding @alanaroisin @journeys_with_purpose @conservation_carpathia @conservationcollectiveorg @theeuropeannaturetrust @venetia_martin @theecologist_org @kneppwilding @isabella.tree @duncan_grossart @farcomms @rewildingdriver

Elephants in Africa are keystone species crucial for ecosystem balance. They shape the environment by creating open grasslands and spreading seeds through their dung. Their presence benefits various species by creating waterholes and mud wallows. In KwaZulu Natal, restricted movements due to fences can lead to ecosystem degradation and human-elephant conflicts. The conservation challenge lies in balancing elephant movements with ecosystem protection to promote human-elephant coexistence and mitigate threats like poaching and habitat loss. KwaZulu Natal boasts a particularly rich biodiversity in terms of flora including unique grasses, aloes, and wildflowers. The diverse plant life sustains a variety of other wildlife species, providing food and habitats. The ecosystem's stability relies on abundant vegetation trophic levels, supporting a wide range of wildlife including primates, birds, and bats. The biodiversity of Zululand is exceptional, with unique wildlife or all shapes and sizes thriving in thickets and forests. Bees play a crucial role as pollinators, but their populations are declining globally. Conservation efforts, like those by Elephants Alive, demonstrate how bees can thrive in indigenous environments, promoting biodiversity. By strategically placing beehives, elephants are deterred from damaging vegetation due to their fear of bees. Save the Elephants' research shows elephants avoid areas with disturbed honeybees, using a unique vocalisation to warn others. This knowledge provides a human-elephant conflict mitigation strategy to protect crops. Free Spirit Bees for Conservation is an initiative in Zululand promoting human-elephant coexistence by integrating an understanding of bees, trees, and elephants. The goal is to create harmony in the ecosystem while benefiting the community through income from honey and beeswax. By expanding beekeeping efforts, the initiative offers opportunities for livelihood creation, conservation education, and upskilling. This innovative conservation approach seeks to redefine elephant conservation in Zululand while addressing broader conservation challenges in the region. Free Spirit Bees for Conservation was born from my passion for both elephant and botany conservation together with a proactive problem-solving approach. Having spent my whole wildlife conservation career in Zululand, I grasp the complexities of conservation here. As a happy beekeeper and apiary conservationist, I am excited about the potential of establishing bees-for-conservation projects across my home province. #beesforconservation #biodiversitymatters #apiaryconservation #humanwildlifecoexistence

I am happy to share that my paper (supposed to be the 5th data chapter of my thesis) is just published on Conservation Biology... "Managing protected areas (PAs) requires measurable indicators to assess effectiveness. The status of populations and guilds of multiple species are potential indicators that should be useful in biodiversity-rich tropical countries. We quantified such indicators using data from an intensive camera trap survey of seven sites at the forest farmland interface of Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. Surveys between 2014 and 2016 covered 671 camera locations set along habitat gradients comprising primary to degraded forest and lowland to sub-montane forest. We ran Bayesian multi-species occupancy models that incorporated landscape covariates and patrol intensity to generate four population parameters: relative abundance, probability of habitat use, species richness and detection probability. Model-derived beta coefficients summarized at the guild-level were extrapolated using detailed spatially-explicit data on landscape covariates to produce multi-guild occurrence maps to explore the role of habitats in supporting multiple overlapping functional groups. From 55,856 trap nights, we recorded 33 species from six guilds: carnivores; frugivores; granivores; herbivores; insectivores; and omnivores. All guilds were negatively correlated with elevation and positively correlated with primary forest. Five areas with high multi-guild overlap were identified and recommended for increased protection and other conservation measures, such as increasing the frequency of SMART patrols. Our data-driven guild-level approach for improving conservation practice has high relevance to other biodiversity-rich countries. Further utility of this guild approach, with potential future refinement and improvement, should greatly assist PA managers with improving area-based conservation effectiveness, such as higher patrol frequencies and or prioritizing wildlife, and habitat and ecosystem inventory, under-pinned by enhanced research, and cost-efficient budget allocation. Thanks to the Co-Authors: Matthew Linkie, Matthew Struebig, Oliver Wearn, David Macdonal WildCRU, Nick Deere Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, and Alue Dohong, Ph.D and Anonymous reviewers. I thank my family, friends, colleagues, even strangers.., for their support and cheer me on the PhD journey..!