|  |
STATISTICAL DATABASES
Spatially-defined socioeconomic date are necessary to plan and implement conservation actions. Demographic data, for example, can reveal patterns of migration and movement as well as the current distribution of people in and near areas of biodiversity importance. Such data provide a sense of how future human settlement might conflict with conservation. Along with information on agricultural suitability and land use, these data also contribute to improving land uses at regional scales and demonstrating that conservation and development are possible side by side.
Working with regional programs in CI as well as national institutions and agencies, HDP researchers are compiling detailed socioeconomic data for all biodiversity hotspots and wilderness areas. These data can be used in a broad range of analyses of the human dimensions of biodiversity, including studies of the location and level of current and likely future threats to protected areas, options for developing conservation corridors, and defining places holding the greatest opportunities for conservation. | |
|
When overlaid with habitat and species data, information on human uses and impacts helps to pinpoint the areas at greatest risk, as well as identify areas with the greatest opportunities for conservation. Data at the regional and global scale also provide valuable information about the social context for conservation actions and investments.
As HDP researchers compile or construct these data sets, they will use available technology to fully share them as free downloads with the conservation community and the public (as permitted by the agencies originally creating the data).
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Arrowood, H., Treves, A., Matthews, N. 2003. Determinants of day-range length in the black howler monkeys at Lamanai, Belize. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19(5): 591-594.Treves, A. 2003. Modeling vigilance remains unrealistic. Behavioural Processes 63(3): 137-138.Treves, A., Drescher, A., & Snowdon, C.T. 2003. Maternal watchfulness in black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra). Ethology 109(2): 135-146.
In many vertebrates, parents protect their young by detecting predators and aggressive conspecifics before they attack. But parental investment in protection is a limited resource, whose allocation to offspring should reflect optimization strategies. Thus, we tested if maternal investment in vigilance varied with the risk faced by young black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra). Twelve females in six groups were compared, including those with and without young and those with immatures of differing ages. The greatest increase in vigilance was seen when immatures were conspicuous, and to a lesser extent, among mothers of dependent young (neonates and infants). These findings support the idea that parents adjust their behavior to both chronic and episodic risk faced by young. We explore the possible role of predation and infanticide in shaping the vigilance of mothers.
Treves, A. 2001. Reproductive consequences of variation in the composition of howler monkey (Alouatta spp.) groups. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 50(1): 61-71.Treves, A. 2000. Theory and method in studies of vigilance and aggregation. Animal Behaviour 60(6): 711-722.Predation is considered one of the most important selective pressures on free-ranging animals. Our understanding of it derives mainly from studies of individual vigilance (visual scanning of the surroundings beyond the immediate vicinity) and aggregation in prey. Vigilance bears a direct relationship to aggregation, because animals in groups may rely on associates for early warning of danger. This review addresses the relationship between vigilance and aggregation with particular attention to the prediction that individual vigilance declines with increasing group size. Contrary to most other animals studied, primates do not support the prediction. Exploring this, I examined the assumptions underlying vigilance theory in the light of primate behaviour. First I tested whether manual harvesting and upright processing of food as seen among primates might permit them to feed and scan simultaneously. I found no support for this idea. Next I examined the targets of primate vigilance and found that one component (within-group vigilance) might explain the differences between primates and other animals. Finally, I evaluated whether individual primates in large groups face a lower risk of predation than those in small groups. A conclusion was impossible, but by separating group-level from individual-level risk, I was able to identify several common circumstances in which group size would not predict individual risk or vigilance. These circumstances arose for primates and nonprimates alike. I concluded that the relationship of vigilance to aggregation is not straightforward. The absence of a group-size effect on vigilance among primates is probably due to functional differences in vigilance behaviour or safety in groups, not to methodological differences. Furthermore, future work on animal vigilance and aggregation must fully consider both the targets of glances, and the assumption that larger groups are safer from predators. I predict that animals will not relax vigilance in larger groups if conspecific threat increases with group size. Group size will not predict individual risk of predation nor individual vigilance rates when predators do not rely on surprise, or when predators select a small subset of highly vulnerable group members. | |
| |  | | New Presentations on Hydrological Services Available Online: Sampurno Bruijnzeel, tropical hydrology expert, talks about vegetation, reforestation, and hydrological services in two CI-sponsored presentations.
Oct. 16 presentation at the World Bank (8 MB PDF)
Oct. 17 presentation at CI (7.2 MB PDF)New CABS Brochure Now Available: Click here to view the latest CABS brochure. Contact us to order a hard copy. The Environmental Systems Research Institute Awards CABS’ GIS & Mapping Lab: The Institute honored the Lab for the fifth time in six years, awarding it First Place in the Best Cartographic Design - Single Map Product category for the Coppename River AquaRAP by Mark Denil.
View the winning map Hotspots Revisited Available Online. Hotspots Revisited details the state of the earth's biodiversity hotspots. The book identifies 34 regions that cover only 2.3 percent of the Earth's surface but are home to 75 percent of the planet's most threatened species.
View Hotspots Revisited | |
|
