Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaim...Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaimed by forest without use of the areas by humans. In our work we analysed cleared grasslands. The questions we tried to answer were which changes were caused by different land use, how favourable mowing can be for the purpose of grassland management and nature protection, do the composition of the plant species and the diversity vary within two years when conditions of precipitation are different. In four sampling areas, in 4 × 10 quadrats we registered the plant species and their cover values. We performed a site assessment in April, June and October, 2013-2014. We analysed the data by using cluster and ordination processes and we compared the sampling areas on the basis of the humidity preference and Shannon＇s index of diversity. According to the results, the composition of species and diversity on the analysed areas used for different purposes considerably deviate from each other. Further, we found a difference between two portions of the area whose had minor deviation in water management.展开更多
People's livelihood in several Himalayan regions largely depends on collection,use,and trade of medicinal plants.Traditional use is generally not a problem,but commercial gathering of selected species to meet incr...People's livelihood in several Himalayan regions largely depends on collection,use,and trade of medicinal plants.Traditional use is generally not a problem,but commercial gathering of selected species to meet increasing national and international demand can result in over-exploitation.Sustainable management of medicinal plants requires a clear understanding of the respective roles,responsibilities and viewpoints of the various stakeholders involved.Through personal interviews and group discussions,this study aimed at investigating the views of two stakeholder groups on use,trade and conservation of medicinal plants in the Rasuwa district of Nepal.Local people and district and national organizations agreed that medicinal plants are collected for a combination of commercial and personal uses.Perceptions on market availability differed significantly:100 % of the respondents from district and national organizations saw markets as easily available,against only 36 % for local people.This could explain why medicinal plants were perceived by local people to contribute less to income generation than to livelihood improvement.Different viewpoints were also expressed concerning the status of medicinal plants in the district:81 % of the respondents from district and national organizationsconsidered that medicinal plants were threatened,compared to only 28 % for local people.Despite this disparity,both stakeholder groups agreed upon potential threats to medicinal plants:over-harvesting;habitat loss due to land-use change and deforestation;and over-grazing by livestock.Several challenges were identified regarding sustainable management of medicinal plants,such as ambiguous policies;lack of resources,information and infrastructures;habitat degradation;and over-exploitation.Despite these challenges,respondents agreed that the medicinal plants sector offers huge opportunities in the Rasuwa district,given resource availability,community awareness and motivation,and the priority given to the sector by governments and other agencies.Proper collaboration,communication and coordination among stakeholders are needed to grab these opportunities.展开更多
Translocations, especially assisted colonizations, of animals are increasingly used as a conservation management tool. In many cases, however, limited funding and other logistic challenges limit the number of individu...Translocations, especially assisted colonizations, of animals are increasingly used as a conservation management tool. In many cases, however, limited funding and other logistic challenges limit the number of individuals available for transloeation. In conservation genetics, small populations are predicted to rapidly lose genetic diversity which can deteriorate population survival. Thus, how worried should we be about the loss of genetic diversity when introducing small, isolated populations？ Historical species introductions provide a means to assess these issues. Here we review 13 studies of ＂assisted colonization-like＂ introductions of animals, where only a small known number of founders established an isolated population without secondary contact to the source population. We test which factors could be important in retaining genetic diversity in these cases. In many cases, loss in heterozygosity （-12.1%） was detected, and more seriously the loss in allelic richness （-27.8 %）. Number of founders seemed to have an effect but it also indicated that high population growth rate could help to retain genetic diversity, i.e. future management actions could be effective even with a limited number of founders if population growth would be enhanced. On the contrary, translocated organisms with longer generation times did not seem to retain more genetic diversity. We advocate that, where possible, future studies on translocated animals should report the loss of genetic diversity （both heterozygosity and allelic richness）, which is essential for meta-analyses like this one for deepening our understanding of the genetic consequences of assisted colonization, and justifying management decisions [Current Zoology 61 （5）： 827-834, 2015].展开更多
文摘Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been planted on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon Mountains, which would be reclaimed by forest without use of the areas by humans. In our work we analysed cleared grasslands. The questions we tried to answer were which changes were caused by different land use, how favourable mowing can be for the purpose of grassland management and nature protection, do the composition of the plant species and the diversity vary within two years when conditions of precipitation are different. In four sampling areas, in 4 × 10 quadrats we registered the plant species and their cover values. We performed a site assessment in April, June and October, 2013-2014. We analysed the data by using cluster and ordination processes and we compared the sampling areas on the basis of the humidity preference and Shannon＇s index of diversity. According to the results, the composition of species and diversity on the analysed areas used for different purposes considerably deviate from each other. Further, we found a difference between two portions of the area whose had minor deviation in water management.
文摘People's livelihood in several Himalayan regions largely depends on collection,use,and trade of medicinal plants.Traditional use is generally not a problem,but commercial gathering of selected species to meet increasing national and international demand can result in over-exploitation.Sustainable management of medicinal plants requires a clear understanding of the respective roles,responsibilities and viewpoints of the various stakeholders involved.Through personal interviews and group discussions,this study aimed at investigating the views of two stakeholder groups on use,trade and conservation of medicinal plants in the Rasuwa district of Nepal.Local people and district and national organizations agreed that medicinal plants are collected for a combination of commercial and personal uses.Perceptions on market availability differed significantly:100 % of the respondents from district and national organizations saw markets as easily available,against only 36 % for local people.This could explain why medicinal plants were perceived by local people to contribute less to income generation than to livelihood improvement.Different viewpoints were also expressed concerning the status of medicinal plants in the district:81 % of the respondents from district and national organizationsconsidered that medicinal plants were threatened,compared to only 28 % for local people.Despite this disparity,both stakeholder groups agreed upon potential threats to medicinal plants:over-harvesting;habitat loss due to land-use change and deforestation;and over-grazing by livestock.Several challenges were identified regarding sustainable management of medicinal plants,such as ambiguous policies;lack of resources,information and infrastructures;habitat degradation;and over-exploitation.Despite these challenges,respondents agreed that the medicinal plants sector offers huge opportunities in the Rasuwa district,given resource availability,community awareness and motivation,and the priority given to the sector by governments and other agencies.Proper collaboration,communication and coordination among stakeholders are needed to grab these opportunities.
文摘Translocations, especially assisted colonizations, of animals are increasingly used as a conservation management tool. In many cases, however, limited funding and other logistic challenges limit the number of individuals available for transloeation. In conservation genetics, small populations are predicted to rapidly lose genetic diversity which can deteriorate population survival. Thus, how worried should we be about the loss of genetic diversity when introducing small, isolated populations？ Historical species introductions provide a means to assess these issues. Here we review 13 studies of ＂assisted colonization-like＂ introductions of animals, where only a small known number of founders established an isolated population without secondary contact to the source population. We test which factors could be important in retaining genetic diversity in these cases. In many cases, loss in heterozygosity （-12.1%） was detected, and more seriously the loss in allelic richness （-27.8 %）. Number of founders seemed to have an effect but it also indicated that high population growth rate could help to retain genetic diversity, i.e. future management actions could be effective even with a limited number of founders if population growth would be enhanced. On the contrary, translocated organisms with longer generation times did not seem to retain more genetic diversity. We advocate that, where possible, future studies on translocated animals should report the loss of genetic diversity （both heterozygosity and allelic richness）, which is essential for meta-analyses like this one for deepening our understanding of the genetic consequences of assisted colonization, and justifying management decisions [Current Zoology 61 （5）： 827-834, 2015].
