Transport infrastructure is closely linked to several politically relevant sustainability issues, and since 1985 a formalized environmental assessment process is linked to planning and construction of new roads and railways in the EU (EU directives 85/337/EEC and 2001/42). The aim of the environmental assessment process is to think in advance; to identify, predict and evaluate significant environmental changes resulting from a proposed activity, in order to adjust the proposed activity accordingly and to avoid unnecessary and unexpected consequences. Biodiversity is a component of sustainable development that is in many ways affected by road and railway construction, but which has been challenging to fully account for within the environmental assessment process. This thesis presents four studies on the role of biodiversity in environmental assessment of road and railway plans and projects. Paper I presents the state of the art of road and railway impacts on ecological patterns and processes sustaining biodiversity, and reviews the treatment of biodiversity in a selection of environmental assessment reports from Sweden and the UK. Paper II presents a quantitative assessment of the impact of the Swedish road network on birds and mammals, and how fragmentation and road disturbance might affect a selection of ecological profiles. Paper III demonstrates how scientific models, data and knowledge can be mobilized for the design and evaluation of railway corridors, and Paper IV analyses how habitat connectivity, as a prerequisite of genetic exchange, relates to landscape composition and size and number of fauna passages. The results from Paper I show that road and railway impacts on biodiversity need to be addressed at every level of planning; from corridor alignment in the landscape to utilization and maintenance. The review of environmental assessment reports shows that the treatment of biodiversity in environmental assessment has improved over the years, but that problems with habitat fragmentation, connectivity and the spatial delimitation of the impact assessment study area remain. The results from Paper II identify natural grasslands and southern broadleaved forest, prioritized habitat types important for biodiversity, to most likely be highly affected by road impacts, and suggest road disturbance to have a high impact on overall habitat availability. The results from Paper III demonstrate how the landscape specific distribution of ecological and geological resources can be accounted for in railway corridor design, and potentially lead to more resource efficient outcomes with less impact on ecological processes. The results from Paper IV indicate that the several small fauna passages would increase connectivity more across a barrier than the construction of a single large. Effective barrier mitigation will also depend on the selection of focal species and the understanding of how the focal species perceive the landscape in terms of resistance to movement. This thesis demonstrates how quantitative assessment can benefit biodiversity impact analysis and address issues such as habitat connectivity and fragmentation, which have been difficult to account for in environmental assessment. It is recommended that biodiversity impact analysis moves towards an increasing use of quantitative methods and tools for prediction, evaluation and sensitivity analysis. Future challenges include verification and calibration of relevant spatial ecological models, and further integration of road ecology knowledge into road and railway planning. / <p>QC 20151103</p> / GESP

Human activities have caused acidification of freshwater systems on a large scale resulting in reduced species diversity and ecological functioning in many lakes and streams. However, many naturally acidic freshwater systems have also been found, for instance in northern Sweden. In regions where such naturally acidic aquatic ecosystems have prevailed over evolutionary periods, species diversity and ecological functioning are not automatically impaired due to possible adaptation to the putatively adverse environmental conditions. I studied species diversity patterns and ecological functioning in anthropogenically acidified, naturally acidic, circumneutral, and limed streams to test the adaptation hypothesis and examine the ecological effects of variation in naturally acidic water chemistry. Species diversity was studied using benthic macroinvertebrates, while functioning was modelled using the decomposition rates of leaf litter. In accordance with the evolutionary species pool hypothesis, species richness was reduced more strongly in regions with anthropogenic than natural acidity when compared to circumneutral streams, supporting the adaptation hypothesis. In contrast, the patterns in ecological functioning along the pH-gradients did not differ between regions with anthropogenic and natural acidity, likely resulting from compensation: the biomass of tolerant taxa probably increased which thus rescued the loss in functioning otherwise mediated by the more sensitive taxa. Furthermore, the naturally variable acidic water chemistry clearly supported distinct macroinvertebrate assemblages, as was reflected in differing patterns of species diversity and ecological functioning. Such naturally acidic waters that were rich in dissolved organic carbon supported higher ecosystem process rates and lower species diversity than waters that contained little dissolved organic carbon. Upon liming naturally acidic streams microbial leaf decomposition increased, whereas shredding decreased along with changes in shredder abundances. The abundance of large caddisflies decreased, while the abundance of small stoneflies increased. The results suggest that various types of benthic macroinvertebrates with varying levels of adaptation and tolerance inhabited the hydrochemically variable naturally acidic streams. The distributions of macroinvertebrates in response to different pH levels and differences in acid quality and how these distributions translate into varying patterns of species diversity and ecological functioning are worthy of further investigation. This will likely improve our understanding of how such naturally acidic streams and their biota can be successfully managed.

I describe the spider biodiversity for a savanna ecosystem, assess sampling techniques, investigate surrogate measures of species richness and measure the biotic and abiotic processes affecting spider diversity. Spiders were sampled at Makalali Game Reserve, Northern Province, South Africa from February to December 1999 using pitfall traps, sweep netting, beating and active searching. A total of 4832 individuals from 268 species (14 potentially new), 147 genera (8 endemic and 2 new records for South Africa) and 37 families (1 new record for South Africa) were recorded. There was no overall significant difference in spider diversity among different physiognomic habitat types. However, analysing the results at a functional group level revealed that the web builders were significantly affected by the habitat type. Mopane woodland habitat type had the greatest number of web builders and general bushveld the least. Sweeping and active searching sampled the greatest number of individuals and species respectively. I recommend a combination of at least beating and active searching, which together sampled the highest number of unique species, for efficient and cost effective surveys. There was a significant relationship between the spider species richness and other invertebrate richness. However, the relationship is not significant when functional groups are considered separately. There was also a significant relationship between the number of species and families and species and genera. However, species level identifications remain ideal for conservation purposes. Inexperienced participants significantly overestimate the number of species. The use of surrogates is not supported by the work conducted in this study. It is still unclear what biotic and abiotic processes or combination of processes influence spider diversity patterns at the local scale. Different spider functional groups are significantly influenced by different factors. However, habitat diversity (branches and vegetation density) was the most common factor influencing spider diversity . Predicted diversity (modelled using GIS and beta-coefficients from multiple regression analyses) was higher than measured diversity values. While further research into the role of other environmental variables is clearly required, current reserve management should aim to maximise microhabitat structural diversity. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The application of systematic conservation decision-making methodologies requires data on the spatial distribution of the elements of biodiversity. When a decision on where to put a protected area to conserve biodiversity must be made at a given time, the decision must be based on the best data available. But, adequate data are often lacking. This thesis examines the use of surrogate measures of biodiversity in conservation decision-making in Guyana, South America. The study looks at different surrogate measures and their influence on the selection of priority biodiversity sites for conservation. Surrogate measures at the ecosystem and species level are examined. The research shows that measures from different hierarchical levels produce different outcomes on the location of sites, however measures at the ecosystem-level appear to capture most of the known species distributions. The thesis examines cross-taxon congruency and shows that the spatial scale of analysis influences patterns of congruency for different taxonomic groups. The influence of spatial scale is also examined for various measures of biodiversity and it is shown that variability of species richness decreases with increased selection unit size. Finally, an index of vulnerability is used to prioritise conservation of sites in Guyana based on urgency, which is defined by two different threats: agriculture and forestry. This thesis adopts a conceptual framework based on data-driven, efficient, flexible and transparent methodologies and uses it to demonstrate how a network of protected areas might be established in Guyana that uses the most comprehensive data available on biodiversity. The thesis concludes by presenting a protocol for conservation decision-making that incorporates some of the theoretical principles identified by this work as important for measuring biodiversity and planning a protected area network.

His world is full of organisms with no names. Brian Leander is working to discover and characterize the diversity of life on Earth.

One of the challenges faced by the United Nations in addressing global environmental issues is to find politically agreeable strategies that promote action at the national level. One approach is to designate observances, such as the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). While the UN has used these international designations for several years, the results achieved from them are rarely examined, particularly at the national level. This research asked: How has the International Year of Biodiversity been used to initiate actions that protect biodiversity in Canada? It developed a case study, based on data collected from a documentation review, semi-structured interviews, and collaborative dialogues designed to further explore preliminary findings. Data were analysed qualitatively. Results converged around six findings, primarily around the Year's use as a communications tool. Ten recommendations aim to guide future uses of international designations in Canada as a tool to address global environmental issues.

Proposed Omkareshwar National Park Complex (ONPC), is a planned park in Madhya Pradesh (central India) that is being designed as a compensatory conservation plan to overcome the loss of wildlife and forest by the construction and submergence from nearby Indira-Sagar and Omkareshwar dams, part of the infamous multi-purpose Narmada dam project. All the village communities in the ONPC largely depend on the forest resources for their daily sustenance, particularly fuel-wood and non-timber forest products such as tendupatta, mahua, kullu and dhavda gums. The local people typically engage as gatherers of non-timber forest resources, farmers or work as labors on other agricultural farms. Enclosing, this forest commons, threatens the livelihood opportunities of adivasis. Hence, this dissertation questions how compensatory conservation transforms the forest governance and the economic activities of the local communities. I examine how rules-in-use control spatial actions alter economic, political and social relationships within proposed ONPC in central India. I gathered the economic, social and political data through interviews, case-studies and surveys. Farmers benefit from the creation of the ONPC as a biodiversity offset, while other villagers engaged in off-farm and NTFP extraction labor, are more economically vulnerable. Adivasi depend mostly on the forest resource extraction for their income generation. Therefore, with increasing restrictions placed on the resource access and control, resource users are forced to travel outside their villages in search of wage labor.

While much evidence suggests that ecosystem functioning is closely related to biodiversity, present rates of biodiversity loss are high. With the emergence of the metacommunity concept ecologists have become increasingly aware that both local processes (e.g. competition, predation), and regional processes (e.g. dispersal and regional heterogeneity) affect ecological communities at multiple spatial scales. I experimentally investigated the effects of habitat connectivity and regional heterogeneity on biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning of artificial pond metacommunities of freshwater invertebrates at the local (α), among-community (β), and regional (γ) spatial levels. There was a significant effect of habitat connectivity on mean local richness, but mean local Simpson diversity, mean local functional diversity (FD), and all the three indices of ecosystem functioning investigated (regional abundance, invertebrate biomass, and chlorophyll a concentration) were unaffected by connectivity levels. Regional heterogeneity had no effect on local diversity, but enhanced both among-community richness and among-community Simpson diversity. Conversely, connectivity reduced among-community Simpson diversity. All indices of regional diversity were unaffected by either connectivity or heterogeneity. Despite expectations that there would be strong interactions between the effects of connectivity and heterogeneity on species richness, there were no interactions for any index of biodiversity at any spatial scale. Invertebrate community composition was unaffected by either connectivity or heterogeneity, though there was a significant effect of heterogeneity on its variance. Neither connectivity nor heterogeneity had significant effects on any index of ecosystem functioning, nor among-community coefficients of variation of ecosystem functioning. Connectivity appears to act mainly as a force homogenizing habitat patches in a region, as opposed to having strong effects in and of itself on communities. Conversely, heterogeneity acts largely as a diversifying force, maintaining differences between communities within a region, but, similar to connectivity, it does not have clear effects on communities at the local scale. Despite the different processes expected to act in homogeneous and heterogeneous regions, it does not appear that connectivity and heterogeneity interact strongly. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2008-10-16 09:06:33.103

Providing opportunities for outdoor recreation and maintaining ecological integrity are primary management objectives for protected spaces in the public domain, but as visitation and visitor expectations change, a balance must be maintained between environmental and visitor use that is consistent with management goals. There is an increasing dependence on public participation in protected area management to compensate for an increasing budgetary gap between desired and actual management states. The Investigator explores how science, public perception, and collaborative relationships with stakeholders influence management planning and what the effect has been on management action. How has that balance between visitor use and environmental preservation objectives been affected? Three case study sites were selected in eastern Ontario: a national park, a provincial park, and a municipal forest. For each site, semi-structured interviews with staff and stakeholders were conducted, guiding legislation and supporting documents were analysed, and site observational evidence was collected. The data was analyzed using methodological triangulation and McCracken’s (1988) four-part method of inquiry. The results identified each site’s management goals and the management planning and action utilized to achieve those goals. The integration of environmental science and the role of public perception and participation are described as well as the nature of the management response. The discussion identifies management trends across the three governmental levels, characterising how ecological integrity and visitor use are managed, the impact of funding on management action, and the role and influence stakeholders have achieved at each site. Findings revealed trends from federal to municipal governance, principally: i) operational funding decreases; ii) the influence and dependence on public participation and stakeholder collaboration increases; iii) the importance of environmental preservation objectives decrease while ‘use’ associated objectives increase. Critically however, it was observed that when funding levels are below the threshold required to comply with stated management goals, protected area management becomes more reactive and tends to favour ‘use’ related objectives over environmental preservation objectives despite land managers’ best intentions. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-25 08:55:09.118

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