2017, Taylor, Subhashni

The small island nations and territories of the Pacific region are low-lying with a high ratio of shore- line to land area. These characteristics intensify the susceptibility of the islands and the biodiversity that they support to environmental changes. The islands are already experiencing higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and changes in frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. This study undertook a broad-scale assessment of the impacts of climate change and sea level rise on the threatened terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity of 23 countries and territories in the region. A database of 'indicative susceptibility' of islands to climatic and oceanographic processes was used with the distribution data of 150 threatened terrestrial vertebrate species downloaded from International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Fifty six percent of these species were endemic to the region. Thirty islands spread over five countries were identified which supported three or more threatened species but were also ranked as very highly or highly susceptible to climatic and oceanographic processes. Twelve additional species were identified, three of which are critically endangered, with distribution on islands with very high or high susceptibility. An analysis with the global protected area network dataset showed that none of the identified islands occurred in a conservation area. A more forward looking conservation strategy would involve prioritization programmes which anticipate the impacts of climate change so that future species' ranges and "climate refugia" can be identified especially if translocation is essential for the protection of threatened biodiversity.

2014, Drielsma, Michael, Ferrier, Simon, Howling, Gary, Manion, Glenn, Taylor, Subhashni, Love, Jamie

This research reports on a new approach to conservation assessment that seeks to extend the target-based model traditionally underpinning systematic conservation planning. The Biodiversity Forecasting Tool (BFT) helps answer three important questions relating to regional biodiversity persistence: 'how much' biodiversity can persist for a given land-management scenario; 'what' habitats to focus conservation effort on; and 'where' in the landscape to undertake conservation action. The tool integrates fine-scaled variability in vegetation composition and structure with spatial context, which is critical for ensuring the viability of populations. Thus, a raster data framework is employed which deems each location or gridcell in a landscape as contributing to biodiversity benefits to various degrees. At its simplest, just two spatial inputs, vegetation community types and vegetation condition, are needed. Drawing on, as a case-study, a broad-scale biodiversity assessment for NSW, Australia, this paper reports on the successful application of the BFT tool for a variety of functions ranging from interactive scenario evaluation through to conservation benefits mapping.

2015, Okonkwo, Chidumeje, Kumar, Lalit, Taylor, Subhashni

The Niger Delta wetland ecosystem is of high economic importance to the local dwellers and the nation in general. The region is rich in both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and serves as a main source of livelihood for rural dwellers as well as stabilizing the ecosystem. Tremendous changes have occurred recently in the Niger Delta wetlands due to anthropogenic activities, thus raising awareness on the need for effective monitoring, protection and conservation of the wetland ecosystem. A good knowledge of the services provided by wetland ecosystems is an important key for an effective ecosystem management. The aim of this paper therefore was to review the importance of wetland resources, their threats and the need to protect them. This review shows that the region is rich in biodiversity of high economic importance to national development, and has been under severe threat from human activities, especially pollution. It is recommended that effective monitoring be employed using modern techniques such as GIS and remote sensing in the conservation and management of this important ecosystem.

2016, Taylor, Subhashni, Drielsma, Michael, Taylor, Robert, Kumar, Lalit

In many regions species are declining due to fragmentation and loss of habitat. If species persistence isto be achieved, ecologically informed, effective conservation action is required. Yet it remains a challenge to identify optimal places in a landscape to direct habitat reconstruction and management. Rather than relying on individual landscape metrics, process-based regional scale assessment methodology is needed that focuses primarily on species persistence. This means integrating, according to species' ecology, habitat extent, suitability, quality and spatial configuration. The rapid evaluation of metapopulation persistence (REMP) methodology has been developed for this purpose. However, till now no practical conservation planning application of REMP has been described. By integration of expert ecological knowledge, we extended REMP's capabilities to prioritize conservation action for a highly modified agricultural region of central NSW, Australia based on the metapopulation ecology of 34 fauna species. The region's current capacity to support the species was evaluated in relation to the pre-European state for which there was known viability. Six of the species were found to currently have insufficient habitat to support viable populations. Seeking locations to maximize overall improvement in viability for these species, we prioritized conservation action to locations near the threshold of metapopulation persistence.

2016, Taylor, Subhashni, Kumar, Lalit

The islands of the Pacific region hold three of the 35 global biodiversity hotspots with large numbers of endemic species. Global climate change will exacerbate the challenges faced by the biodiversity of this region. In this review, we identify trends in characteristics for 305 terrestrial species threatened by climate change and severe weather according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). We then review the literature on observed and potential impacts of climate change on terrestrial biodiversity, focusing on the species' characteristics that were identified. High-elevation ecosystems such as cloud montane forests are projected to disappear entirely by the year 2100, with corresponding global losses of their endemic biodiversity. Sea level rise threatens restricted range species on small low-lying atolls. Shifts in distribution may be possible for generalist species, but range shifts will be difficult for species with small distributions, specialized habitat requirements, slow dispersal rates, and species at high elevations. Accurate assessments of climate change impacts on biodiversity of the region are difficult because of confusion about nomenclature, the many species unknown to science, the lack of baseline data on species' ecology and distributions, and lack of fine resolution elevation data for very small islands. Furthermore, synergistic interactions of climate change with other threats like habitat loss and invasive species have not been comprehensively assessed. Addressing these knowledge gaps will be difficult for Pacific island nations due to limited financial resources and expertise.