Ecoregions

Land protection policies such as creating and preserving national parks have been promoted to counter global threats to the environment and to conserve biodiversity. We know little, however, about the country characteristics that might be good predictors of whether states will choose to protect land or not. What factors within a state need to be the focus of global attention or need to be encouraged to promote land-protection policies? Using the global standard of 10% ecoregion protection, we test four categories of predictors–biodiversity, environmental threats, politics (such as treaty participation and NGO activity), and economics (such as GDP and trade measures)–as well as a multidimensional model in a multivariate analysis of 129 countries. Our findings suggest that the multidimensional model best predicts when it is likely that a country will protect land. While a number of key variables such as economic are not supported, the environmental threats model presents us with the strongest individual reason for land protection.

vi Abstract R egionalism in the design disciplines is the idea that design can and should derive from abstractions and celebrations of the immediate context, both natural and cultural. Because the Pacific Northwest (PNW) has an ill-defined regional style in landscape architecture, there are often an inconsistent variety of imported or derivative design applications across many regional landscape scales which can result in generic, homogenizing, and ecologically pernicious landscapes that are inappropriate to the PNW region.

Diatoms are extremely diverse ubiquitous microalgae. This makes them good indicators of the quality of aquatic ecosystems, and they have been used for this purpose for the past 50 years.  Since 2000, the European Water Framework Directive has required them to be used for assessing the ecological quality of watercourses.
A typological framework has to be devised in order to compare rivers that are comparable, i.e. rivers with the same bioclimatic regions, that flow over the same geological substrate at similar altitudes. Various ecoregional classifications have been defined using these parameters. At a scale covering 4 European countries (Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland) and at a regional scale (north-east France) we show that ecoregions and geology are determinant in explaining communities, and that pollution-related parameters are less important. Unlike some other authors, we did not observe any homogenization of communities as the level of pollution level increased. Moreover, we did not observe geographically restricted communities, which make it possible to pool data from geographically distinct ecoregions with the same physical characteristics.
Diatoms display a very high degree of species diversity, which can be a problem for their routine use as assessment tools. We showed that when the precision of identification was increased from sub-division to species level, pollution assessment performances also increased, but to a much less marked extent than the number of taxa. Assessment performances at the genus and species levels are similar, whereas there are ten time more species than genera. We also showed that simplifying metrics (life-forms, ecological guilds) can be used to assess nutrient levels as effectively as diatom indices based on species. Furthermore, these metrics provide additional information about biofilm structure that is not available from species-based data.
Finally, micropollutant pollution of rivers is of increasing concern to citizens. We hypothesize that diatoms could be good candidates for assessing herbicide pressure. Four experiments lasting 2 months were conducted in lotic mesocosms. We showed that diatoms surrounded by thick exopolysaccharide matrices were more resistant to dissolved pesticides. On the other hand, diatoms with a high cell surface in contact with the water were disadvantaged. This kind of metric could be used in situ at a larger scale.
We conclude that these metrics could be useful for the purposes of diatom bioassessment. However, we also stress the importance of combining phylogeny and ecology to clarify which environmental pressures are forcing diatoms to adapt. Such studies will enhance diatom bioassessment.

Evolution of occupation and deforestation in the Amazon. Increasing deforestation trends in the Andean-Amazon countries. Ecoregions most affected. Evolution of protection of the Amazon, protected areas and indigenous territories, categories, countries, sizes. Ecoregions least protected. Which Amazon in 2015? Recommendations.

Non-native species have been introduced at escalating rates during the last decades, mainly due to the dispersion generated by the increasing trade and transport worldwide. Mollusks, the second largest metazoan phylum in terms of species richness, are no exception to this pattern, but, to date, a comprehensive synthesis of non-native mollusk species (NNMS) in South America was not available. For this purpose, an e-discussion group was formed with malacologists and taxonomists from South America, where we exchanged and analyzed bibliography, databases and information about NNMS, providing expert opinion to this assessment. The first list of non-native mollusk species for South America, considering terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, includes 86 NNMS distributed in 152 ecoregions (terrestrial, freshwater and marine) of the 189 recognized for the South American continent. Information on their native region, vectors, first record for South America and distribution, are also provided. In the analysis of the distribution of the NNMS and the entry points of each species (e.g., ports, cargo and passenger airports, cities) and status of conservation of the ecoregions, four hot spots were recognized: Subtropical-Atlantic,

En materia geopolítica, el conocimiento del soporte biofísico y climático
de una nación es un elemento de suma centralidad que incide en el
momento de trazar líneas estratégicas de acción. Por tal motivo, el siguiente capítulo tendrá como objetivo esbozar una breve caracterización ambiental de la Argentina a partir del análisis de sus ecorregiones, con el fin de tener un panorama general de su disposición y distribución de en cada una de las regiones geográficas propuestas en este libro.

An annotated checklist of the Mollusca from the Australian Indian Ocean Territories (IOT) of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is presented. The checklist combines data from all previous studies and new material collected during the recent Christmas Island Expeditions organised by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (formerly the Raffles Museum of Biodiversty Resarch), Singapore. The checklist provides an overview of the diversity of the malacofauna occurring in the Cocos (Keeling) / Christmas Island ecoregion. A total of 1,178 species representing 165 families are documented, with 760 (in 130 families) and 757 (in 126 families) species recorded from Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, respectively. Forty-five species (or 3.8%) of these species are endemic to the Australian IOT. Fifty-seven molluscan records for this ecoregion are herein published for the first time. We also briefly discuss historical patterns of discovery and endemism in the malacofauna of the Australian IOT.

Areas with minimal anthropogenic influences are frequently used as reference sites and represent the best ecological state available in a region. Streams in such conditions are necessary for evaluating the conservation status of aquatic ecosystems of a region and to monitor them, taking natural environmental variability into consideration. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyse whether hydrological units are reliable regional units for aggregating reference sites. To this end, reference sites were studied in three different landscape units of the same hydrological unit. The study tested the hypothesis that water quality, physical habitat structure and the composition and structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages will be more similar for sites in the same landscape unit than for sites located in different landscape units in the same hydrological unit. The study showed that taxonomic richness and composition of the macroinvertebrate assemblages were negatively affecte...

Aim Biologists increasingly recognize the roles of humans in ecosystems. Subsequently, many have argued that biodiversity conservation must be extended to environments that humans have shaped directly. Yet popular biogeographical frameworks such as biomes do not incorporate human land use, limiting their relevance to future conservation planning. 'Anthromes' map global ecological patterns created by sustained direct human interactions with ecosystems. In this paper, we set to understand how current conservation efforts are distributed across anthromes. Location Global. Methods We analysed the global distribution of IUCN protected areas and biodiversity hotspots by anthrome. We related this information to density of native plant species and density of previous ecological studies. Potential conservation opportunities in anthromes were then identified through global analysis and two case studies. Results Protected areas and biodiversity hotspots are not distributed equally across anthromes. Less populated anthromes contain a greater proportion of protected areas. The fewest hotspots are found within densely settled anthromes and wildlands, which occur at the two extremes of human population density. Opportunities for representative protection, prioritization, study and inclusion of native species were not congruent. Main conclusions Researchers and practitioners can use the anthromes framework to analyse the distribution of conservation practices at the global and regional scale. Like biomes, anthromes could also be used to set future conservation priorities. Conservation goals in areas directly shaped by humans need not be less ambitious than those in 'natural areas'.

One of the important tools to evaluate the ecological quality of surface water is the Macrophytes indices based on the bioindication capacity of aquatic plants. In Mediterranean rivers (France, Spain, and Portugal), the development of some macrophytes indices like l’Indice Biologique Macrophytes Rivières (IBMR), the biological metric score (BMS), as well as the Fluvial Macrophyte Index (IMF) are founded on the determination of the indicator values of the floristic reference lists.

The aim of this study was to test the impact of the eco-Mediterranean differences (from one country to another) on the indicator taxa by comparing the indicator values of the Euro‐ Mediterranean macrophyte indices. With this in mind, we explore the possibility of the introduction of the Euro‐Mediterranean macrophytes-based indices in Morocco (i.e. the hydrological basin of Sebou (HBS)) as a part of a preliminary attempt to develop the first Afro-Mediterranean macrophyte index.

We confirm that the ecological amplitude and species optima vary between Mediterranean ecoregions, and indicator taxa differ between countries: There are medium to small correlations between Mediterranean indices: IBMR/BMS (p = 0.000, R2 = 0.57), IMF/BMS (p = 0.000, R2 = 0.34), and IBMR/IMF (p = 0.000, R2 = 0.30). Five species exhibit major differences in indicator values: Zannichellia palustris and Potamogeton pectinatus have more eutrophic indicator values in France (IBMR) than in Spain (IMF). Potamogeton nodosus, Amblystegium riparium and Lycopus europaeus have broader ecological amplitudes in Portugal (BMS) than in France (IBMR) and in Spain (IMF), where it is restricted to eutrophic conditions. Furthermore, the three indicator systems include different indicator-taxon numbers.

The comparison of the HBS elaborated list with the Euro‐Mediterranean indices revealed the low level of common taxa approximately 6.76% of all indicator species used in the French index (IBMR), 10.48% in the Portuguese index (IMF) and 12.38% in the Spanish index (BMS).

These results show the inadequacy of the trophic indices approach with the HBS conditions and thus the need for the development of an index based on biotic indices approach.

Aim Biologists increasingly recognize the roles of humans in ecosystems. Subsequently, many have argued that biodiversity conservation must be extended to environments that humans have shaped directly. Yet popular biogeographical frameworks such as biomes do not incorporate human land use, limiting their relevance to future conservation planning. 'Anthromes' map global ecological patterns created by sustained direct human interactions with ecosystems. In this paper, we set to understand how current conservation efforts are distributed across anthromes. Location Global. Methods We analysed the global distribution of IUCN protected areas and biodiversity hotspots by anthrome. We related this information to density of native plant species and density of previous ecological studies. Potential conservation opportunities in anthromes were then identified through global analysis and two case studies. Results Protected areas and biodiversity hotspots are not distributed equally across anthromes. Less populated anthromes contain a greater proportion of protected areas. The fewest hotspots are found within densely settled anthromes and wildlands, which occur at the two extremes of human population density. Opportunities for representative protection, prioritization, study and inclusion of native species were not congruent. Main conclusions Researchers and practitioners can use the anthromes framework to analyse the distribution of conservation practices at the global and regional scale. Like biomes, anthromes could also be used to set future conservation priorities. Conservation goals in areas directly shaped by humans need not be less ambitious than those in 'natural areas'.

Non-native species have been introduced at escalating rates during the last decades, mainly due to the dispersion generated by the increasing trade and transport worldwide. Mollusks, the second largest metazoan phylum in terms of species richness, are no exception to this pattern, but, to date, a comprehensive synthesis of non-native mollusk species (NNMS) in South America was not available. For this purpose, an e-discussion group was formed with malacologists and taxonomists from South America, where we exchanged and analyzed bibliography, databases and information about NNMS, providing expert opinion to this assessment. The first list of non-native mollusk species for South America, considering terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, includes 86 NNMS distributed in 152 ecoregions (terrestrial, freshwater and marine) of the 189 recognized for the South American continent. Information on their native region, vectors, first record for South America and distribution, are also...

The current rate of warming due to increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is very likely unprecedented over the last 10,000 y. Although the majority of countries have adopted the view that global warming must be limited to <2°C, current GHG emission rates and nonagreement at Copenhagen in December 2009 increase the likelihood of this limit being exceeded by 2100. Extensive evidence has linked major changes in biological systems to 20th century warming. The "Global 200" comprises 238 ecoregions of exceptional biodiversity [Olson DM, Dinerstein E (2002) Ann Mo Bot Gard 89:199-224]. We assess the likelihood that, by 2070, these iconic ecoregions will regularly experience monthly climatic conditions that were extreme in . Using >600 realizations from climate model ensembles, we show that up to 86% of terrestrial and 83% of freshwater ecoregions will be exposed to average monthly temperature patterns >2 SDs (2σ) of the 1961-1990 baseline, including 82% of critically endangered ecoregions. The entire range of 89 ecoregions will experience extreme monthly temperatures with a local warming of <2°C. Tropical and subtropical ecoregions, and mangroves, face extreme conditions earliest, some with <1°C warming. In contrast, few ecoregions within Boreal Forests and Tundra biomes will experience such extremes this century. On average, precipitation regimes do not exceed 2σ of the baseline period, although considerable variability exists across the climate realizations. Further, the strength of the correlation between seasonal temperature and precipitation changes over numerous ecoregions. These results suggest many Global 200 ecoregions may be under substantial climatic stress by 2100.

Un paesaggio costituisce un'unità ecologica dinamica in struttura e funzione. La configurazione spaziale dei diversi elementi del paesaggio e i loro cambiamenti nel tempo possono essere attribuiti ad una combinazione di fattori ambientali e attività umane, ognuna delle quali opera a scale spaziali e temporali diverse (FORMAN, GODRON, 1986; KLIJN, HUDO DE HAES, 1994; FORMAN, 1995). Il paesaggio è un mosaico formato da elementi che, in funzione della scala, rappresentano singoli stadi di una dinamica più complessa. Dall'osservazione di un mosaico più o meno articolato si può arrivare ad aggregare un insieme di ele-menti che, anche se diversi per composizione floristica e struttura, sono legati dalla comune tendenza dinamica verso una stessa tipologia di vegetazione matura (stadi seriali) e distinguere quelli che invece, pur essendo vicini, fanno riferimento a tipologie diverse di vegetazione naturale potenziale (stadi catenali) . Variazioni avvenute nella struttura del paesaggio possono portare un gran numero di conseguenze in funzioni importanti del mosaico ambientale, quali la dispersione di organismi (o propaguli), il flusso genico, la propagazione dei disturbi e degli incendi . Evidenziare i cambiamenti delle 31 ABSTRACT -Multitemporal landscape analysis and hierarchic ecosystem classification. The case of the Lepini Mountains (Central Italy) -In the past two decades, as the influence of global change became more prominent, ecological research has been conducted at increasingly larger spatial scales. It is generally agreed that the actual land use pattern of a region has a strong influence on a variety of ecological phenomena. Nevertheless, the actual status of a landscape is the result of a land use evolution, and the historic development of a region is often one of the most decisive factors governing species distribution of plants and animals. Thus, describing changes in the proportions of land cover types through time may be crucial for preserving biological diversity and developing paradigms of sustainable ecosystem management at the landscape level. Numerous studies in landscape ecology has been concentrated in quantify various aspects of landscape change. However, a shortcoming of most of this work is that landscape change depends non-linearly on the extent of the area analyzed. Therefore, a landscape classification scheme that provides ecologically meaningful frame for quantifying different aspects of landscape mosaics could be useful. The aim of this work is to analyze and describe landscape change of the SW sector of the Lepini Range (Central Italy) and its relationship with different environmental factors. The Lepini Mountains are located in central Italy and the analyzed sector has an extension of 418 Km 2 . It is characterized by some heterogeneity in geological and morphological features since elevation ranges from 20 m a.s.l. to 1536 m a.s.l. Two Land cover vegetation maps (1954 and 1992) at 1:50000 of the study area were produced through aerial photographs interpretation following CORINE Land Cover protocol. The land cover legend has been adapted incorporating information (i.e. vegetation types) in a new level of detail. 23 land cover types were identified. Landscape change has been evaluated trough transition matrix analysis for the landscape extent and for each land unit present inside the study area. Results show two opposite trends inside the Lepini Range, on one hand, an intensification of man activities and natural regrowth of spontaneous woodlands on the other. Although refinements are needed to create a uniform language for describing and mapping ecosystem distribution, the use of landscape classification as a baseline for a quantitative landscape change analysis seems very effective.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and the largest river basin on the planet. More species are found here than anywhere else. Such is the extraordinary diversity of life in the Amazon that the region is believed to be home to 10%, 1 in 10, known species on Earth. A compilation of species in the Amazon region from 2002 showed that there are at least 40,000 plant species in this vast biome, 75% of which are endemic to the region. In addition, the same study found that 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles and 427 amphibians had been scientifically classified for the region, as well as at least 3,000 species of fish. This is the largest number of freshwater fish species in the world. The same level of diversity can almost certainly be said for invertebrates. About 50,000 species of insects can be found in any 2.5 sq km of Amazon rainforest. More recent studies have recorded vastly increased numbers of species of plants and vertebrates in the region. It is e...

Reducing species extinctions and expanding protected areas are key goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). To meet these goals, nations should assure a minimum protection of all ecoregions (Target 11) and preserve the most threatened species (Target 12). While the total extent of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Brazil has increased sharply, little is known about MPAs' capacity in representing the country´s commitments for global conservation goals. Here, we evaluated how well the current system of MPAs represents the geographic range of 118 threatened marine vertebrate species and the eight marine ecoregions in Brazil. We also investigated where unprotected or poorly protected species are concentrated, and whether existing MPAs are prioritizing the species most at risk. Results revealed that half of marine ecoregions have <10% of their area under protection, and therefore that Brazil has failed to meet CBD Aichi Target 11. About 3% of the threatened marine vertebrates remain completely unprotected by MPAs, and most (88.1%) species have less than 10% of their ranges covered by no-take MPAs. Moreover, coverage provided by MPAs is strongly biased toward species under low threat levels. Our mapping of current conservation gaps highlights where establishing new MPAs could improve the protection of imperilled species and contribute to achieve global conservation goals.

Non-native species have been introduced at escalating rates during the last decades, mainly due to the dispersion generated by the increasing trade and transport worldwide. Mollusks, the second largest metazoan phylum in terms of species richness, are no exception to this pattern, but, to date, a comprehensive synthesis of non-native mollusk species (NNMS) in South America was not available. For this purpose, an e-discussion group was formed with malacologists and taxonomists from South America, where we exchanged and analyzed bibliography, databases and information about NNMS, providing expert opinion to this assessment. The first list of non-native mollusk species for South America, considering terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, includes 86 NNMS distributed in 152 ecoregions (terrestrial, freshwater and marine) of the 189 recognized for the South American continent. Information on their native region, vectors, first record for South America and distribution, are also provided. In the analysis of the distribution of the NNMS and the entry points of each species (e.g., ports, cargo and passenger airports, cities) and status of conservation of the ecoregions, four hot spots were recognized: Subtropical-Atlantic,

This paper presents the context, methodology and preliminary results of an ecoregionalisation process applied at national scale. Ecoregion delineation was based on robust biophysical stratification and on vegetation data, particularly vegetation series. Synphytosociological information proved to be very effective as diagnostic or descriptive feature, promoting the role of synphytosociology as scientific reference point for ecoregional programmes.

Galindo-Cardona et al. Drone Congregation Areas in Argentina in apiaries and DCAs, and highlight the role of drones in mite dispersion and genetic variability of new colonies. The study of DCAs emerges as a tool for investigating not only honey bee reproduction and conservation, but also the impact of the environment on bee epidemiology.

Indonesian Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the context of biodiversity and spatial locations require study in the form of ecoregion-based analysis. The study makes in analyzing inequality (gap analysis) between marine protected areas based zoning ecoregions and facilitate the planning of protected areas (Beck et.al. 2003). This is mainly for provisioning new conservation areas or the expansion of existing conservation areas in order to meet its target of 20 million hectares in 2020 and the effective management of the target of 4.5 million ha in 2014. This study is MPA based ecoregion and how to dealt with MPA's spatial inequality.

Seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) at the Colombian inter-Andean valley of Cauca River (IVCR) has been under constant transformation. Following the current SDTF's global distribution, it has remained as small and sparse fragments embedded in an anthropogenic landscape. Information regarding the known species composition is a basic input in any modelling scheme. Environmental data is also needed to understand its influence as an explanatory variable for the species occurrences. Knowledge about the biomes and ecoregions where they have been registered may help to understand the way in which the multiple species have been distributed through environmental gradients. In such a way we could recognize the relevance that IVCR plays for the conservation of SDTF plant species in the long term. From multiple datasets, a database with 1725 plant species was built. After applying different criteria set (endangered, endemic, conservation status, at national and regional level), different species subsets were obtained. For a first subset with the species prioritized, Maxent Algorithm on R Studio has been applied to produce predictive habitat suitability models to support the detection of potential areas for restoration. Restoration scenarios will be built for each subset of prioritized species which can be used for landscape planning purposes.

Freshwater Ecoregions of Vietnam:
1. ID 726 – Lower Lancang (Mekong)
2. ID 727 – Khorat Plateau (Mekong)
3. ID 728 – Kratie - Stung Treng (Mekong)
4. ID 729 – Mekong Delta
5. ID 730 – Southern Annam
6. ID 731 – Eastern Gulf of Thailand Drainages
7. ID 760 – Northern Annam
8. ID 761 – Song Hong
9. ID 763 – Xi Yiang