tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/endemism-27500/articlesendemism – The Conversation2018-09-04T14:07:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022812018-09-04T14:07:14Z2018-09-04T14:07:14ZThe fate of unique species in Tanzania’s coastal forests hangs in the balance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234764/original/file-20180904-45172-gnrssh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Zanzibar Red Colobus is endemic to Tanzania.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tanzania is known for its tapestry of lush forests, expansive grasslands and tropical beaches, and abundant and diverse wildlife. Its coastal forests are part of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa <a href="https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/coastal-forests-eastern-africa">biodiversity hotspot</a> – a place recognised for its wealth of wildlife but threatened with destruction, making it a high priority for conservation efforts.</p>
<p>These forests are home to hundreds of endemic plant and animal species – ones that aren’t found anywhere else in the world. For example, there are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/div-classtitletwo-decades-of-change-in-state-pressure-and-conservation-responses-in-the-coastal-forest-biodiversity-hotspot-of-tanzaniadiv/084C3958DEBB8F1F36D2AF9BC363CB06">five endemic mammals</a> – including the Zanzibar Red Colobus – five endemic birds, six endemic amphibians and three endemic reptiles, as well as 325 endemic plants. More than 300 other species are shared only with the nearby Eastern Arc Mountains. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/div-classtitletwo-decades-of-change-in-state-pressure-and-conservation-responses-in-the-coastal-forest-biodiversity-hotspot-of-tanzaniadiv/084C3958DEBB8F1F36D2AF9BC363CB06">paper</a> we found that biodiversity – and the level of endemic species – is exceptional by global standards. We show that many endemic species are threatened with extinction. This is due to increasing human-use pressures as well as emerging mining, gas and oil exploration. Habitat loss and degradation has continued and the space remaining for the endemic species is shrinking. It’s now often confined to government protected areas and lands managed for conservation by villagers. </p>
<p>The region epitomises the challenges of conserving forests in a developing country with a rapidly expanding population, many of whom are dependent on subsistence farming and biomass for cooking. Both have a direct impact on forest habitats.</p>
<h2>Forest loss</h2>
<p>The forest habitat where these endemic species are uniquely found has continued to be lost and degraded over the past two decades. Between 1990 and 2007, coastal forest cover decreased by more than a third, and has continued to decline <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/deforestation-and-co2-emissions-in-coastal-tanzania-from-1990-to-2007/DBF62FE46790B3051B83C75477CA5572">ever since</a>. This is largely as a result of agricultural expansion, charcoal production and logging for timber and firewood. </p>
<p>Endemic species are only able to survive in forest. The loss of their habitat is therefore a direct threat to their survival. </p>
<p>By mapping forest loss we can see that there are areas that are some distance from the major coastal towns – Dar es Salaam and Lindi. The lack of recent forest loss closer to these cities is because it’s already been cleared and replaced with urban areas or farm land. Clearance of forest has spread like a wave from these cities into more rural areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234763/original/file-20180904-45166-1c2jmuf.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Areas of forest loss (red) and remaining tree cover (green) close to larger cities in coastal Tanzania (black) and protected areas (pale brown). Data covers the period 2000-2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Millions of people in Tanzania rely on natural resources – clean freshwater, healthy forests and abundant wildlife – for food and income. And, the destruction of Tanzania’s coastal forests to support the growing population is putting huge pressure on the natural environment.</p>
<p>The main use of forests by people has been as a source of farmland. Tanzania’s economic development in the coastal region is highly dependent on agriculture. Freshly cleared forest is more fertile than established farmland. This has led to more clearance of unprotected forest patches. The need for fertile soil that is close to water courses puts coastal forest patches under even more pressure. Now, almost no forest patches remain in the coastal areas of Tanzania unless they are protected in government – or village-managed reserves, or are within sacred forest or burial sites for local villagers. </p>
<p>The forests and woodlands in the coastal areas have also been used as a source of timber and poles for construction, and as a source of energy – either as firewood in rural areas or converted to charcoal for transport to the growing cities and urban areas. About 90% of Tanzania energy generation comes from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800912001942?via%3Dihub">wood and charcoal</a> and is a vital source of income to some rural villages. But this has an impact on many of the endemic species.</p>
<h2>The challenge</h2>
<p>To deal with these challenges – protecting this unique habitat while ensuring people have the resources they need to survive – reserved areas have been created by central and local governments, as well as local communities who are promoting <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss1/art37/">better management</a>. There is also a gradual movement towards private ownership of land. </p>
<p>Between 1995 and 2014, the total area of protected lands increased by more than 20% and now covers <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/div-classtitletwo-decades-of-change-in-state-pressure-and-conservation-responses-in-the-coastal-forest-biodiversity-hotspot-of-tanzaniadiv/084C3958DEBB8F1F36D2AF9BC363CB06">1,233,646 hectares</a>. Much of this is community managed village-land forest reserves – over 140 of these reserves have been developed in recent years, covering many <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/div-classtitletwo-decades-of-change-in-state-pressure-and-conservation-responses-in-the-coastal-forest-biodiversity-hotspot-of-tanzaniadiv/084C3958DEBB8F1F36D2AF9BC363CB06">important habitats</a>.</p>
<p>In comparison, the state managed reserve network has not expanded much over the past two decades, and the forested areas within these lands have become more degraded – especially close to major cities.</p>
<p>Reserve managers working along the coastal region of Tanzania are using a <a href="https://www.protectedplanet.net/c/protected-areas-management-effectiveness-pame/management-effectiveness-tracking-tool">simple score card to determine</a> how well their reserve is managed. We also found that the best managed reserves in this area are national parks and village-land forest reserves. This means that these are the places where forest habitat, and hence the endemic species confined to that habitat, are most likely to survive. </p>
<h2>What does the future hold?</h2>
<p>These challenges will only be solved if the right framework – from policy through to on-the-ground actions – is put in place. Building partnerships with global communities, national stakeholders and involving local communities could improve the effectiveness of managing forests and biodiversity, as well as supporting the country’s development priorities.</p>
<p><em>Peter Sumbi, independent environmental consultant and Isaac Malugu, former forest officer were co-authors on this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Burgess receives funding from: 1, UK Darwin Initiative. 2. USA based Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund</span></em></p>Tanzania faces the challenge of conserving forests in a developing country with a rapidly expanding population.Neil Burgess, Professor at the Center for Marcoecology, Evolution and Climate, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912892018-02-07T00:03:20Z2018-02-07T00:03:20ZRainforest collapse in prehistoric times changed the course of evolution<p>Over <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/deforestation_calculations.html">750,000 square kilometres</a> of Amazon rainforest have been cleared since 1970 – a fifth of the total. As a result, many of the animals that live there are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jul/12/amazon-deforestation-species-extinction-debt">threatened with extinction</a>. But this isn’t the first time the Earth has seen its rainforests shrink. Toward the end of the Carboniferous period, around 307m years ago, the planet’s environment shifted dramatically, and its vast tropical rainforests vanished.</p>
<p>Palaeontologists have previously struggled to work out how this rainforest collapse affected the first ancient vertebrate animals that lived there – the early tetrapods. This is because the fossil record for this time is patchy and incomplete. My colleagues and I have now <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.2730">published new research</a> that reveals how the collapse initially caused the number of species to fall, affecting water-loving amphibians the most. But this event ultimately paved the way for the ancestors of modern reptiles, mammals and birds – known as the amniotes – to flourish and spread across the globe.</p>
<p>About 310m years ago, long before the first dinosaurs and mammals evolved, North America and Europe lay in a single landmass at the equator covered by dense tropical rainforests, known as the “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/ancient_earth/Coal_forest">coal forests</a>”. The warm, humid climate and rich vegetation provided an <a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-footprints-give-glimpse-of-how-ancient-climate-change-drove-the-rise-of-reptiles-69067">ideal habitat for amphibian-like early tetrapods</a>. This allowed them to quickly diversify into a variety of species.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205041/original/file-20180206-14078-1e7te9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carboniferous forest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ryan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Toward the end of the Carboniferous period, the number of tetrapod species had begun to increase greatly. But then the climate became much drier, causing a mass extinction of many species in the dominant plant groups, such as <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/calamite-fossils">horsetails</a> and <a href="https://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/moss-giant-club-9-30-11.aspx">club mosses</a>.</p>
<p>Although the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ter.12086/abstract">collapse of the rainforests</a> was a catastrophic event for plants, how it affected early tetrapods has remained largely uncertain. Previous analyses suggest that the number of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11870322">early tetrapod species increased</a> through the collapse of the rainforests, but that the resulting fragmented landscape isolated different groups from each other, a pattern known as endemism.</p>
<h2>Fossil bias</h2>
<p>The problem with this research is that the early tetrapod fossil record is heavily biased. Much of what we know about early tetrapod evolution comes from extensively-studied fossil sites in midwestern and southern US, western Canada, and central Europe. This means our picture of early tetrapod evolution is biased around how much <a href="http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/358/1/1.1">effort has been put into finding and identifying</a> fossils from these areas.</p>
<p>As with the dinosaurs, the reptile-like tetrapods of the Permian period, such as the sail-backed <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-dimetrodon-in-your-family-tree-54302176/"><em>Dimetrodon</em></a>, have captivated palaeontologists for many years. In contrast, the animals and landscapes of the Carboniferous period are relatively understudied. Palaeontologists and geologists are collaborating to <a href="https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/natural-world/closing-romers-gap/">close these gaps in our knowledge</a>. Together, these biases limit our knowledge of early tetrapod diversity and can drastically affect analyses.</p>
<p>To address this problem, <a href="https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193499_en.html">my colleagues and I</a> turned to the <a href="https://paleobiodb.org/">Paleobiology Database</a>. This database is accessible to the public and is updated continuously by palaeobiologists with the location and age of all fossil finds from across the world. Instead of simply counting the species we have fossils for, we applied innovative statistical methods to the entire tetrapod fossil record.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205049/original/file-20180206-14089-d02w8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carboniferous fossil tetrapods in the Paleobiology Database.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://paleobiodb.org/navigator/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, reveal that tetrapod species diversity decreased after the rainforest collapse, with amphibians suffering the greatest losses. The drier climate would have reduced the amount of suitable habitats for amphibian species, which are dependent on wet environments and must return to water to spawn.</p>
<p>Instead of evidence for endemism, we found that tetrapod species that survived the rainforest collapse began to disperse more freely across the globe, colonising new habitats further from the equator. Many of these survivors were early amniotes, such as diadectids and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Synapsid">synapsids</a>, animals that had considerable advantages over amphibians. They were generally larger so could travel longer distances, and because they laid eggs they were not confined to watery habitats.</p>
<p>While the fossil record of the Carboniferous and early Permian Periods is strongly biased, new statistical methods that address these biases have allowed us to examine the true impact of the rainforest collapse on early tetrapods. We now know that the event was crucial in paving the way for amniotes, the group that ultimately gave rise to the dinosaurs and eventually modern reptiles, mammals and birds, to become the dominant group of land vertebrates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Dunne receives funding from the European Research Council through its Horizon 2020 programme. </span></em></p>A drying climate caused a mass extinction among plants, but paved the way for the ancestors of modern reptiles, mammals, and birds.Emma Dunne, PhD student, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/598972016-08-26T03:58:19Z2016-08-26T03:58:19ZEcoCheck: Australia’s vast, majestic northern savannas need more care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135570/original/image-20160826-6595-1gilcpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Storm season in the Australian tropical savanna.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Euan Ritchie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ecocheck-25759">EcoCheck</a> series takes the pulse of some of Australia’s most important ecosystems to find out if they’re in good health or on the wane.</em></p>
<p>Australia’s Top End, Kimberley and Cape York Peninsula evoke images of vast, awe-inspiring and ancient landscapes. Whether on the hunt for a prized barramundi, admiring some of the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-02/indigenous-rock-art-could-be-among-oldest-in-world/6906476">oldest rock art in the world</a>, or pursuing a spectacular palm cockatoo along a pristine river, hundreds of thousands of people flock to this region each year. But how are our vast northern landscapes faring environmentally, and what challenges are on the horizon? </p>
<p>Above 17° south, bounded by a rough line from Cairns, Queensland, to Derby, Western Australia, are the high-rainfall (more than 1,000mm a year) tropical savannas. These are the largest and most intact ecosystem of their kind on Earth. With the exception of some “smaller” pockets of rainforest (such as Queensland’s <a href="http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/kutini-payamu/">Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park</a>), the vegetation of the region is dominated by mixed <em>Eucalyptus</em> forest and woodland with a grassy understorey.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134993/original/image-20160822-18725-2w5f3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Within the fire-prone Great Northern Savannas exist fire-sensitive communities such as these <em>Allosyncapria ternata</em> rainforests along the edge of the Arnhem Plateau in Kakadu National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Murphy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a distinct monsoonal pattern of rainfall. Almost all of it falls during the wet season (December-March), followed by an extended dry (April-November). Wet-season rains drive abundant grass growth, which subsequently dries and fuels regular bushfires – making these landscapes among the most fire-prone on Earth. The dominant land tenures of the region are Indigenous, cattle grazing and conservation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134706/original/image-20160819-12300-1qr0oay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cattle grazing is widespread in the Great Northern Savannas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These savannas are home to <a href="http://press.anu.edu.au/publications/nature-northern-australia">a vast array of plant and animal species</a>. The Kimberley supports at least 2,000 native plant species, while the Cape York Peninsula has some 3,000. More than 400 bird and 100 mammal species call the region home, along with invertebrates such as moths, butterflies, ants and termites, and spiders. Many of the latter are still undescribed and poorly studied. </p>
<p>Many species, such as the <a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/scaly-tailed-possum">scaly-tailed possum</a>, are endemic to the region, meaning they are found nowhere else.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134577/original/image-20160818-12274-shir7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A large male antilopine wallaroo, endemic to tropical Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Euan Ritchie</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The general lack of extensive habitat loss and modification, as compared to the broad-scale land clearing in southern Australia since European arrival, can give a false impression that the tropical savannas and their species are in good health. But research suggests otherwise, and considerable threats exist. </p>
<p>Fire-promoting weeds such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/field-of-nightmares-gamba-grass-in-the-top-end-12178">gamba grass</a>, widely sown until very recently as fodder for cattle, are transforming habitats from diverse woodlands to burnt-out, low-diversity grasslands. Indeed, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/huge-fires-are-burning-northern-australia-every-year-its-time-to-get-them-under-control-49431">fires</a> themselves, which are considered too frequent and too late in the dry season at some locations, are now thought to be a primary driver of species loss. </p>
<p>Notable examples of wildlife in trouble include <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper/MU12109.htm">declines of many seed-eating birds</a>, such as the spectacular Gouldian finch, and the catastrophic <a href="https://euanritchie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/the-disappearing-mammal-fauna-of-northern-australia-context-cause-and-response.pdf">decline of native mammal species</a>, most prominently in Australia’s largest national park, Kakadu. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134707/original/image-20160819-12284-zg0r75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bauxite mining threatens the habitat of vulnerable Cape York palm cockatoos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Added pressures include <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/10/australias-largest-cockatoo-threatened-by-aluminum-mining">bauxite mining</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-06/machinery-arrives-for-tiwi-woodchip-harvest/6284334">forestry</a> and cattle grazing. The latter activity exerts strong pressures on the characteristically leached, <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WR03008">nutrient-poor, tropical soils</a>. Most recently, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/qld-government-under-pressure-stop-bushland-clearing-cape-york/6445594">changes to Queensland’s land-clearing laws</a> have led to virgin savanna woodland being cleared. </p>
<p>It is likely <a href="https://euanritchie.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/stemming-the-tide-progress-towards-resolving-the-causes-of-decline-and-implementing-management-responses-for-the-disappearing-mammal-fauna-of-northern-australia.pdf">some threats may also combine</a> to make matters worse for certain species. For instance, frequent fires, intensive cattle grazing and the overabundance of introduced species such as feral donkeys and horses all combine to remove vegetation cover. This, together with the presence of feral cats, makes some native animals <a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-cats-rats-and-foxes-is-no-silver-bullet-for-saving-wildlife-42754">more vulnerable to predation</a>. </p>
<h2>New threats</h2>
<p>This globally significant ecosystem, already under threat, is facing new challenges too. Proposals to use the region as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-only-way-is-up-the-northern-australian-food-bowl-fantasy-12573">food bowl for Asia</a> are associated with calls for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rush-to-dam-northern-australia-comes-at-the-expense-of-sustainability-61566">damming of waterways</a> and land clearing for agriculture. </p>
<p>This is against a backdrop of <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-the-elephant-in-the-room-for-developing-northern-australia-43528">climate change</a>, which among other effects may bring less predictable wet seasons, more frequent and intense storms (cyclones) and fires, and hotter, longer dry seasons. Such changes are not only <a href="http://apscience.org.au/projects/APSF_01_2/Ritchie%20and%20Boltiho%202008.pdf">likely to harm some species</a>, but could also make those much-touted agricultural goals far more difficult to achieve.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134708/original/image-20160819-12284-16v7ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great opportunities exist in northern Australia, but we need to avoid the mistakes of the past.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/cape-yorks-ecosystems-are-worth-billions-of-dollars-time-to-share-the-wealth-56994">Great opportunities do exist</a> in northern Australia, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-white-paper-a-game-changer-for-northern-australia-43458">carbon farming and expanded tourism enterprises</a>. In some cases this might require difficult transitions, as already seen in parts of Cape York Peninsula, where often economically unviable cattle stations have become joint Indigenous and conservation-managed lands. </p>
<p>A key priority for the Great Northern Savannas should be to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW7tZ4JPqEI">maintain people on country</a>. It’s often thought that the solution to reducing environmental impacts is removing people from landscapes, but as people disappear so too does their stewardship and ability to manage and care for the land. </p>
<p>Importantly, and finally, we must also learn the <a href="https://theconversation.com/damming-northern-australia-we-need-to-learn-hard-lessons-from-the-south-53885">historical lessons</a> from southern Australia if we are to <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-development-plan-shows-australias-fraught-vision-of-our-tropics-44235">avoid making similar mistakes</a> all over again, <a href="https://theconversation.com/cape-yorks-wildlife-ignored-in-the-rush-to-develop-the-north-21998">jeopardising</a> the unique and precious values of the north.</p>
<p><em>Are you a researcher who studies an iconic Australian ecosystem and would like to give it an EcoCheck? <a href="mailto:michael.hopkin@theconversation.edu.au">Get in touch</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59897/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from Pozible, the Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, and the Australian Research Council. Euan Ritchie is affiliated with the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Murphy receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Environmental Science Programme and the Hermon Slade Foundation.</span></em></p>Australia’s Great Northern Savannas are the largest and most intact ecosystem of their kind on Earth. But they still face pressure from grazing, mining and agricultural expansion.Euan Ritchie, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityBrett Murphy, Research Fellow, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/515902016-01-14T04:39:21Z2016-01-14T04:39:21ZWhy it makes sense to build ecosystem restoration into economic growth plans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107741/original/image-20160111-6961-cliqi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tree house used to observe the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador which has made a point of developing ecotourism to boost economic growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Gary Granja </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s increasingly clear that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way humans run the world. There are many contradictions experienced daily that prove this: the <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28590#.Voz45VK1d_k">widening social gaps between rich and poor</a>, the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2843WESS2013.pdf">paradox of obesity next to starvation</a>, and the ongoing <a href="http://millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html">destruction of the planet</a> for short-term private profit.</p>
<p>Most of us have become willing prisoners of the prosperous economy that we had hoped to build. Meanwhile we are largely unaware that this apparent growth came at a huge cost to the environment and labour. This economy was <a href="https://www.academia.edu/3622214/Accountability_Democracy_and_Post-Growth_Civil_Society_Rethinking_Political_Economy_and_Finance">structured to benefit elites</a> rather than <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/15/news/economy/trickle-down-theory-wrong-imf/">trickle down</a> to the middle class and the poor. </p>
<p>As Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz makes clear, the current economic paradigm of a “rising tide” of prosperity and growth undermines the well-being of billions of people. It also endangers societal <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/06/05/154345390/growing-economic-inequality-endangers-our-future">stability</a> and the survival of other species. The time has come to ditch the current economic paradigm, for one in which <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/">people and the planet actually matter</a>.</p>
<p>We chart here an integrated economy based on the principles of the restoration, rather than the exploitation, of natural and human resources.</p>
<h2>Time for change</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html">Evidence</a> shows that the protection and promotion of natural ecosystems is not just a moral obligation. It is also essential economic and social policy. </p>
<p><a href="naturalcapitalforum.com/about/">Natural capital</a> is often defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets, like all living things, including geology, soil, air, and water. From this capital, people derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services. This makes human life and economic activity on earth possible.</p>
<p>In developing countries, abundant natural capital is the most significant generator of prosperity. This is followed by <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/HumanCapital.html">human capital</a>. This is according to an approach <a href="http://inclusivewealthindex.org/">assessing</a> the different types of wealth around the world.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/publications/working_papers/03-07sustainabledevelopment.pdf">Produced capital</a> is the only component of economic growth captured by the gross domestic product. Several of the world’s developing economies are shifting, after realising the importance of ecosystems to their national <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/">development</a>. </p>
<p>Some of these shifts are seen in Bolivia, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Namibia, with long-term benefits for sustainable economic growth. Most of these countries have included the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems in their constitutions. As a result there have been more sustained economic growth trajectories. This includes annual multi-million dollar revenues for the national coffers from ecotourism for Costa Rica, Ecuador and Namibia. Some have even established <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/projects/bhutan-committed-to-conservation">clear thresholds</a> for measuring sustainability and human well-being that cannot be surpassed. </p>
<p>Ten African countries, from South Africa to Gabon, signed the Gaborone Declaration in 2012 and the Cairo Declaration in <a href="http://www.gaboronedeclaration.com/blog/2015/3/18/gaborone-declaration-features-in-the-cairo-declaration">2015</a>. These commit nations to protecting natural capital and integrating it into economic planning. The UN also supports the work of a group of lawyers calling for a global law giving <a href="http://eradicatingecocide.com/the-law/existing-ecocide-laws/">rights</a> to other species living on the planet.</p>
<p>A global call has been made for the establishment of a <a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Claim_the_Sky/?pv=59">public trust</a> to manage the atmosphere, the most precious resource.</p>
<p>The way human activities generate productive value is being reconsidered in the new economy. This is a crucial step in addressing the social and environmental impacts of a ruinous economic system. Humans have spent the last 150 years exploiting natural resources and labour to the point of collapse and civil unrest. But the time has come to build a new economy based on the restoration of both <a href="http://www.islandpress.org/book/restoring-natural-capital">natural</a> and social <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/">capital</a>.</p>
<p>Economically and ecologically, investment in land, wetland and marine rehabilitation has powerful benefits. It can enable adaptation to climate change. It also increases opportunities for businesses and communities to solve problems cooperatively or with <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2103029">responsible competitiveness</a>. It helps build ecological and social resilience. </p>
<p>South Africa boasts important pockets of innovation in these fields. The <a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/projectsprogrammes">expanded public works initiatives</a> to restore ecological functionality and biodiversity to catchments, wetlands, and fire-prone ecosystems are particular examples. South Africa is learning, through these and other initiatives, that investment in <a href="http://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity-science/science-policyaction/mainstreaming-biodiversity/ecological-infrastructure">ecological infrastructure</a> as a development and climate resilience strategy is crucial.</p>
<p>The country also hosts a high density and diversity of green economic and technological <a href="http://africege.org/">initiatives</a>. These provide fertile ground for experimentation into sustainable and prosperous futures. Yet, South Africa’s economy remains overall highly extractive. It depends on obsolete infrastructure and fossil fuels like coal. This must change fast, and learning from existing innovations can help fast-forward the transition.</p>
<p>At a global <a href="http://www.espconference.org/espconference2015#.VnAeikp97IU">conference</a> in November in South Africa, speakers highlighted a range of important and potentially game-changing initiatives by countries investing in ecosystem services and infrastructure. </p>
<p>The conference addressed the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>What is the economic potential of investing in ecological infrastructure and the restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity, in different parts of the world?</p></li>
<li><p>What are the avoided costs of disaster relief, through ecological restoration? </p></li>
<li><p>How much do these activities simultaneously build social resilience and adaptation to change?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The values on which the current economy is based undermine ecosystem health and human well-being. Instead, the country should realign an economy around the <a href="http://we-africa.org/">wellbeing</a> of society and the environment, partly through changing the way in which it is measured.</p>
<p>Traditional practices of measuring capital flow do not reflect the very important degradation of natural assets, or of labour. In the early 1970s, while the outside world ignored the Club of Rome and the global environmental movement, the King of Bhutan led the way with a fundamentally different parallel system to GDP. He called it <a href="http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/">gross national happiness</a>. The <a href="http://www.happyplanetindex.org/">Happy Planet Index</a> inspired by Nic Marks is another. </p>
<p>The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals demand that the global development policy discourse is changed to one of human well-being, linked to ecosystem health. It must build on shaping a <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/by/society">new economy</a>, one in which people and the planet truly matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phoebe Barnard heads the South African National Biodiversity Institute's Climate Change Bioadaptation and Biodiversity Futures programs, and receives basic funding from SANBI and the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorenzo Fioramonti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The world must embrace an economy where people and the planet are what matters the most.Phoebe Barnard, Lead Climate Scientist, SANBI; Head: Biodiversity Futures Program; Lead Researcher, Climate Change Vulnerability and Bioadaptation, University of Cape TownLorenzo Fioramonti, Full Professor of Political Economy, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/467022015-08-28T04:07:21Z2015-08-28T04:07:21ZEarly warning systems help track the weather and can do the same for species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93179/original/image-20150827-368-1mtr8dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Secretary birds are identified by South Africa's early warning system as being fast headed towards extinction.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hdwallpapers.cat/secretary_bird_speaking_pretty_calling_hd-wallpaper-531535/">https://hdwallpapers.cat/secretary_bird_speaking_pretty_calling_hd-wallpaper-531535/</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The landscapes of southern Africa have changed at a dizzying pace over the last few decades. We may not link our stress levels, our road rage, or feelings of alienation to the steady homogenisation of our environment. But they are profoundly linked. </p>
<p>In most towns and cities, the melodious dawn chorus has dwindled to an incessant chip-and-chatter of sparrows, punctuated by the raucous calls of hadeda ibises. The disconnection of people from the environment is already profound. Sadly, most of us don’t notice change until it’s too late.</p>
<p>Britain and other European countries have long experienced highly transformed landscapes. They have realised that human <a href="http://www.nies.go.jp/db/sdidoc/qolc2004.pdf">quality of life indicators</a> can and should include the numbers of birds on farmlands, or the richness of morning birdsong. Whatever our culture, birds tend to be important signs to watch. And it’s so easy to learn to read the signs.</p>
<p>South Africa has been pioneering the use of <a href="http://www.sanbi.org/sites/default/files/documents/documents/biodiversitybooklet2012barnard.pdf">early warning systems for biodiversity</a>. This has been done as a window onto the natural world to support adaptive environmental management. People are used to early warning systems for tsunamis, for economic shocks, for disease outbreaks and for drought. Biodiversity changes can be on a slower time scale, but they are of equal or greater importance to detect before it’s too late.</p>
<h2>Mobilising people to track what’s happening</h2>
<p>Four things are crucial to the success of biodiversity early warning systems.</p>
<p>First and most fundamentally, the workforce: an engaged and interacting community of professional scientists and <a href="http://www.citizensciencealliance.org/">citizen scientists</a> who are passionate and knowledgeable about their subject, whether it’s birds, frogs, proteas, lizards, or corals.</p>
<p>Second, the methods. Citizen scientists need to follow a simple but scientifically sound protocol, designed by the professional scientists, in order for the data to be reliable and repeatable. This means basic stuff like recording observer effort, following the same approach each time for comparative purposes, and covering an area in a predictable and ecologically representative way.</p>
<p>Third, the audience. Other scientists, policymakers, planners and managers – whether in government or on farms – need to have a strong interest in using the information provided by the early warning system. South Africa’s government does, not least because it needs to report to a number of international conventions and agreements. </p>
<p>And that’s where the fourth part comes in: the science/policy translation process.</p>
<p>Data are meaningless until they can be processed through trends analysis and policy translation. This requires a great deal of tedious, nuts-and-bolts data handling, cleaning, sorting and statistical analysis to ensure that it is accurate and robust enough on which to rest decisions about environmental management. So raw data, gathered by researchers and scientists, eventually gets turned into trend graphs and headline indicators after a process of milling and interpretation. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93180/original/image-20150827-364-k1ite6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phoebe Barnard and students with Southern double collared sunbird.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lisa Nupen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Policy translation is the difficult thing for many scientists. We weren’t necessarily encouraged to remember how to communicate with normal human beings, and explain trends and implications. But this is something that many people and <a href="http://www.sanbi.org">institutions in South Africa</a> are quite good at. And statistical ecology, a very scarce skill in Africa, is gaining momentum with two very valuable research-and-training centres, the <a href="http://adu.org.za/">ADU</a> and <a href="http://seec.uct.ac.za/index.php">SEEC.</a> They will ultimately merge and are pioneering the large-scale, long-term citizen science data <a href="http://www.sanbi.org/sites/default/files/documents/documents/brdscc.pdf">projects and analysis</a> on which policy translation depends.</p>
<p>Relative to most other African countries, South Africa has an embarrassment of riches in this field. There are wonderful projects, an ardent volunteer army of birders and other citizen scientists, reasonable funding and institutional support, excellent skills, and even good political will. So it’s up to us to use these strategic advantages to good effect in managing ecosystem health.</p>
<p>Southern Africa’s two most widely known and used biodiversity citizen science projects are both species atlases: snapshots of species distribution in space and time. They are the <a href="http://www.proteaatlas.org.za/">Protea Atlas Project</a> from 1991-2001 with follow-up work, and the <a href="http://sabap2.adu.org.za/">Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2</a>, started in 2007 and still going strong. SABAP2 is the second and highly successful round of a very participatory first <a href="https://www.academia.edu/12165893/The_seminal_legacy_of_the_Southern_African_bird_atlas_project">SABAP1 atlas</a> twenty years earlier.</p>
<p>Both projects revolutionised the practice and accuracy of conservation biology and global change biology worldwide, as they are increasingly used in <a href="https://www.academia.edu/15072411/Potential_impacts_of_climate_change_on_southern_African_birds_of_fynbos_and_grassland_biodiversity_hotspots">scientific</a> and policy applications. Both have improved what we know about biodiversity on the ground, at a finer scale and with more accuracy and reliability than was earlier possible. They have been widely used internationally in <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7671709/Novel_methods_reveal_shifts_in_migration_phenology_of_barn_swallows_in_South_Africa">top scientific journals</a>.</p>
<p>And perhaps most importantly, they have helped foster a widespread culture of biodiversity passion and monitoring across southern Africa – that it’s quite okay, and even cool, to be a nature geek. Thousands of volunteers from across the region have contributed data, often at significant personal cost and effort, to these national and regional projects.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we can only protect what we know and appreciate. The passion of many South Africans, Namibians, Zimbabweans and Swazis for birds, plants and other taxa, and the fascination of scuba divers for <a href="http://heatherdugmore.co.za/?p=389">coral reefs</a> and <a href="http://www.ispotnature.org/communities/southern-africa/Sea%20Fish%20Atlas">sea fish</a>, is the key to unlocking a window. Through this window we can watch our environment carefully, and anticipate serious changes before it’s too late.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phoebe Barnard is employed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and receives funding from SANBI and the National Research Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p>Early warning systems are available for things like tsunamis and diseases. Why not for animals as well?Phoebe Barnard, Lead Climate Scientist, SANBI; Head: Biodiversity Futures Program; Lead Researcher, Climate Change Vulnerability and Bioadaptation, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/422692015-06-04T04:37:25Z2015-06-04T04:37:25ZFast, cheap calories may make city birds fat and sick<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83830/original/image-20150603-2963-cp9prp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C900%2C569&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Cape sugarbird is vulnerable to ailments, including obesity, that are linked to climate change and urbanisation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">J Tinkler </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Change. It can creep up on us so gently that we hardly even notice it. Yet the pace of environmental change in the world’s cities and landscapes, against the backdrop of the past millennium, is quite dizzying.</p>
<p>This past century has seen rampant growth in urbanisation, agriculture, mines, factories, sprawling infrastructure and the choking invasions of alien plants. This human transformation has been so far-reaching that we’ve started calling it a geological epoch: <a href="http://www.anthropocene.info/en/anthropocene">the “Anthropocene”</a>.</p>
<p>Species facing this blitz of accelerating, human-driven change don’t always cope well. Birds are among the most visible windows into this world of vulnerability. And we know more about the impact of climate change on birds because people from many cultures watch them as signposts of change and meaning. </p>
<h2>Negotiating the urban landscape</h2>
<p>Cape Town’s spatial footprint in the apartheid era transformed the <a href="http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/south-africa/cape-town-and-the-cape-peninsula/the-cape-flats-and-the-townships/">Cape Flats</a> into a sea of low- and medium-income housing and industrial development. This isolated the “islands” of the incredibly rich <a href="http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-south-africas-fynbos">fynbos mountain habitat</a> on the Cape Peninsula and Boland mountains. </p>
<p>These flats now prevent the dispersal of many species across the largely hostile cityscape. The City of Cape Town and its <a href="http://academic.sun.ac.za/botzoo/iingcungcu/index.htm">partners</a> are trying to address this with an <a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnvironmentalResourceManagement/functions/BiodivManagement/Pages/BiodiversityNetwork.aspx">urban biodiversity network</a> and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iingcungcu-sunbird-restoration-project/285157724989224?ref=ts&fref=ts">project</a> to restore natural habitat “stepping stones” <a href="http://www.caretakers.co.za/films.php?id=98544377">through fragmented environments</a> for climate change adaptation by birds. </p>
<p>The fynbos biome is an east-west and north-south global biodiversity hotspot, hinged roughly around the city of Cape Town. Its phenomenal biodiversity, entirely comparable in richness and <a href="http://www.biodiversity-worldwide.info/endemism.htm">endemism</a> to Borneo or Brazil, is increasingly crowded out by a diverse, mobile and economically divided human society. </p>
<p>At the periphery of this society, <a href="http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/promeropidae/promerops_cafer.htm">Cape Sugarbirds</a> are flashy, long-tailed endemic icons of fynbos mountains. They and other endemics are powerfully affected by human urbanisation. Where they feed, breed and disperse is constrained by urban and agricultural landscapes. But birds can also use the shade, food, water and other nesting materials found in gardens and on farms. </p>
<p>Cape Sugarbirds eat nectar, insects and spiders. But when provided with nectar bottles in suburban gardens, they become greedy sugar fiends. Like baboons and other creatures along the urban edge, sugarbirds suffer from the same fast-food tendencies and ailments as the complacent, often overfed human population. A great documentary called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-WUP5psyuM">Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead</a> became a YouTube sensation among those taking health and diet seriously. And its lessons of fast, cheap calories are not limited to humans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83831/original/image-20150603-2963-69gaod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cape sugarbird with research colour-rings on the leg.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Drummond Hay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sugarbirds in the city are vulnerable</h2>
<p>My team of stress ecologists, veterinary pathologists and ornithologists is watching how sugarbirds and other fynbos endemic birds use resources in natural and urbanised landscapes – and how vulnerable they are to ailments, including obesity, that are linked to climate change and urbanization. </p>
<p>Brett Gardner, former vet at the Johannesburg Zoo, has autopsied young bottle-fed sugarbirds from urban gardens. He found them fat and sick – and, in this case, already dead – with poor body condition and visible signs of stress. More surprisingly, we realised that sugarbirds are increasingly infected by an invasive mite, Knemidocoptes, and in some cases, avian pox. These infections turn their legs into swollen, flaky masses. </p>
<p>Avian pox and mite transmission is thought to be easier in warmer conditions, and associated with bird feeders and bird baths. So, these diseases are potentially important indicators of climate change and urban stress. </p>
<p>We are <a href="http://acdi.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/MCKBET001_2013_ACDI_Dissertation.pdf">investigating</a> the extent to which climate change, urbanisation and sugarbird disease and stress are causally linked. We have also found that some novel sugars, like xylitol, are <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/xylitol-could-kill-sugarbirds-and-pets-1.1847533#.VWxgzUa1ffc">deadly poisonous</a> to birds. </p>
<p>Cities and towns present both new threats and opportunities for birds such as Cape Sugarbirds. They appear to increase certain kinds of risk, like <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/9281/thesis_sci_2014_morling_f.pdf">predation by cats</a>, car strikes, window and building strikes and the incidence of disease. They probably decrease other risks, like the dangers of migration and dispersal, and the risk of predation by natural enemies such as goshawks or mongooses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83637/original/image-20150602-7000-x2bpha.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sampling of diseased sugarbird by Brett Gardner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Gardner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What you can do</h2>
<p>Cities also offer birds novel opportunities – new microhabitats, water, shade and food resources.</p>
<p>There are two basic things the average city-dweller can do to help birds adapt to climate change and cities. You can provide natural, indigenous, vegetation in and around your home – even if you have only an apartment balcony. If you are blessed with a garden, you can plant locally indigenous plants (in fynbos, these include local ericas, proteas, restios and bulbs), and vigorously protect open natural habitat remaining in the neighbourhood.</p>
<p>And you can bell your cat, if you have one. In Cape Town alone, cats are estimated to kill millions of <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/9281/thesis_sci_2014_morling_f.pdf">birds, geckoes and other creatures</a> per year. </p>
<p>Providing bird food, like nectar bottles, is not strongly recommended. It may spread illness and poor health – and please, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoebe.barnard.169/posts/427002977467056">never use xylitol</a>.</p>
<p>But judicious bird feeding does help grow a more aware and engaged citizenry, and can help birds survive dramatic events such as Cape Town’s recent <a href="http://magazine.africageographic.com/weekly/issue-37/cape-town-fire-fynbos-table-mountain-life-in-the-ashes/">Muizenberg fires</a>. </p>
<p>Birds in the city help us hold up a mirror to our own species. If we aren’t to suffer increasingly from the human equivalent of the <a href="http://e360.yale.edu/feature/declining_bee_populations_pose_a_threat_to_global_agriculture/2645/">colony collapse disorder</a> experienced by bees, we need to watch these signposts carefully.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phoebe Barnard and her team receive funding from the South African National Biodiversity Institute, University of Cape Town and National Research Foundation to support the fynbos bird research mentioned in this article. </span></em></p>Species facing the blitz of accelerating, human-driven change don’t always cope well. Birds are among the most visible windows into this world of vulnerability.Phoebe Barnard, Lead Climate Scientist, SANBI; Head: Biodiversity Futures Program; Lead Researcher, Climate Change Vulnerability and Bioadaptation, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411982015-05-08T04:30:55Z2015-05-08T04:30:55ZSouth Africa must start managing its retreat from the coast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80640/original/image-20150506-22688-97l0jh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With sea levels rising, a managed retreat from the coastline is necessary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2015 there may remain some small uncertainties about the pace and intensity of climate change, but the inevitability of storm surges and <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/regional/index.php?idp=30">sea level rise</a> is not one of them.</p>
<p>Due to the warming ocean’s thermal mass, thermal expansion, melting ice, and other complex interactions between air, land and water, the sea level will rise significantly over the <a href="http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/">next few centuries</a>. Even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, this is inevitable. </p>
<h2>We can’t fight climate change on the beaches</h2>
<p>African cities and coastlines, like the rest of the world, absolutely need our natural coastal defences: dunes, estuaries, mangroves, reefs and coastal plains. </p>
<p>And we’ve messed with them royally, just when we can least afford it. Our dunes are bulldozed and mismanaged by developers, municipalities and transport authorities. Our beaches are <a href="http://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/coasts/living-in-coastal-areas/">crowded</a> with hotels and lifestyle developments. </p>
<p>In areas vulnerable to sea level rise and storm surges, these developments are at increasing risk of inundation and permanent damage over coming years. </p>
<p>A grim scenario of broken, rusting infrastructure littering our coasts is getting more likely around the globe each year that countries prevaricate about climate change and go about their business as though nothing’s happening. </p>
<p>In Nigeria and Senegal alone, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms3.html">more than 24.5 million people</a> live and are part of local economies in coastal areas at high risk of inundation. </p>
<h2>A managed retreat from the coast</h2>
<p>But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can change it. There’s another film playing in the cinema next door. It’s called “a managed retreat from the coast”. It’s unlikely to draw teenaged Friday-night crowds, perhaps, but it’s a film we all need to watch. </p>
<p>A managed retreat is essential to minimise risk to coastal societies and maximise social and economic stability. And if planned properly, it can generate significant economic growth rather than chaos. </p>
<p>We have to face the reality of planning and implementing – globally and throughout Africa – a managed retreat from the coast. </p>
<p>The cities of <a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnvironmentalResourceManagement/publications/Documents/Phase%201%20-%20SLRRA%20Sea-Level%20Rise%20Model.pdf">Cape Town</a> and <a href="http://www.dccs.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Climatic-Future-for-Durban-Final-Revised-Report-_edited-.pdf">Durban</a>, progressively, have modelled areas where storm surges and sea level rise will inevitably start taking out infrastructure and homes in the next decade or two – electrical substations, sewerage infrastructure, roads, railway lines, homes, hotels, shops. </p>
<p>But like coastal local authorities everywhere, they have a daunting task in implementing the next crucial steps – removing vulnerable infrastructure, consulting with communities and property owners, leading discussions about how to finance the work and facilitating some form of compensatory regime. </p>
<p>After all, city planning departments worldwide have blithely allowed market-driven infrastructure development in the <a href="http://coastalcare.org/sections/inform/poor-coastal-development/">stupidest places</a>. Cape Town and Durban are getting their acts together, but the damage of bad planning decisions has been done for decades, and in some places still continues. </p>
<p>Fortunately, South Africa has an important legal mechanism for coastal adaptation. The <a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/legislations/nema_amendment_act24.pdf">National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act</a> defines a basis for coastal set-back lines and provides for coastal management programmes at national, provincial and municipal levels. But tragically, it is not retroactive, and it contains loopholes. </p>
<p>Existing infrastructure, including housing, sewerage and electricity infrastructure, can generally stay where it is. And herein lies the rub. Local authorities must currently figure out the messy realities of implementing a managed retreat themselves. And political leaders find it easier to look the other way as long as possible. </p>
<h2>Be prepared or caught unawares</h2>
<p>Adaptation to climate change anywhere would be promoted, made much more orderly and much more cost-effective by a legislative, policy and financing framework to support this proactive retreat, and to protect and restore coastal “ecological infrastructure”.</p>
<p>The coastline and near-shore environment itself, with beaches, mangroves, reefs, fringing dunes, estuaries, cliffs and sandy plains, is all crucial ecological infrastructure. It’s also a complex, enormously powerful defence against the inexorable march inwards of stormy seas. </p>
<p>This coastal ecological infrastructure is among our most important assets, and normally completely “free” – preventing in many areas the need for expensive and ugly concrete sea walls, tidal barrages, and other hard infrastructure networks.</p>
<p>So where coastal ecological infrastructure remains, it must be protected. Where it is degraded – as in most cities – it must be actively restored to buffer communities from sea level rise and storm surges. </p>
<p>And where it has been lost altogether to rampant coastal development, we must bite the bullet and remove hard buildings, roads, and service infrastructure to restore it. </p>
<p>The alternative is a treacherous coastline, littered with rusting hulks of drowned and broken buildings, displaced coastal communities, and attendant impacts on health, food security, disaster risk management, and social and economic stability. </p>
<p>South Africa has a particularly progressive <a href="http://www.sanbi.org/sites/default/files/documents/documents/national-climate-change-response-white-paper.pdf">policy framework</a> on climate change. That’s a real asset. But it’s time to grab the bull by the horns and get to grips with the reality of planning and implementing a proactive retreat from our coastlines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phoebe Barnard receives modest funding from the National Research Foundation for work on species vulnerability to climate change. She is employed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and affiliated with the University of Cape Town. She is also a community volunteer on environmental and land use planning issues in the Cape Town area. </span></em></p>In areas vulnerable to sea level rise and storm surges, developments are at increasing risk of inundation and permanent damage over coming years.Phoebe Barnard, Lead Climate Scientist, SANBI; Head: Biodiversity Futures Program; Lead Researcher, Climate Change Vulnerability and Bioadaptation, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.