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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the vulnerability of the important rangeland shrub, Atriplex leucoclada (Boiss) to both climate change and livestock grazing, within the Syrian rangelands as a representative landscape type of West Asia.

Ecologically based quantitative niche models were developed for both shrub species using maximum entropy and 13 spatially explicit GIS-based layers to predict current and future species distribution scenarios. Climatic variables varied over time in line with the predictions created from the HADCM3 global circulation model.

Results indicate that with grazing and climate change, the distribution of A. leucoclada will be reduced by 54 per cent in 2050, with the mean annual and minimum temperatures of the coldest month having the highest contribution in the model (28.7 and 21.2 per cent, respectively). The contribution of the grazing pressure, expressed by the overgrazing index, was estimated at 8.2 per cent.

These results suggest that the interaction of climate and increased grazing has the potential to favor the establishment of unpalatable species, while reducing the distribution of preferred plant species on western Asia rangelands.

In 1990 we compiled an annotated bibliography of official state lists of endangered, threatened, and rare species. In gathering information for that bibliography, which appeared in Reference Services Review in Spring 1991, we found numerous unofficial sources of state lists, such as those developed by universities, institutes, and Natural Heritage Programs, which also provide valuable information on statuses of endangered, threatened, and rare species. A comprehensive search for unofficial lists results in this second bibliography.

This study/paper aims to evaluate the floral richness of the central part of Chattogram city, Bangladesh. Chattogram is recognized as the largest port city and the commercial capital of Bangladesh, which confronts faster urbanization and swift infrastructure development. Green spaces in and around Chattogram city are shrinking sharply, which resulted in rapid loss of floral and faunal resources in this area. The present study was carried out from February 2018 to January 2019 to enumerate the vascular plant species of the Sulakbahar ward located in the central part of Chattogram City, Bangladesh.

The study area was categorized into 10 habitats to assess the variation of floral composition. The extensive whole area survey method was applied to record the flora from all sorts of plant habitats of the research area.

The study enumerated 418 vascular plant species under 315 genera and 120 families including natural, planted and cultivated from the study area. The habit form of the recorded plant composition indicated that herbs (35%) constitute the major plant category followed by trees (34%), shrubs (17%), climbers (12%), ferns (1%) and orchids (1%). The study also indicated that exotic species (50.3%) became dominant than native species (49.7%) in Chattogram city because of their scenic beauty, easy propagation and ornamental value to the city planners and inhabitants.

It appeared that floral resources of the Chattogram city area are in great threat due to aggressive and unplanned infrastructure development for housing, offices and institutions by replacing the green spaces. The study recommended that urgent protection measures should be taken to conserve and protect the existing floral resources for the well-being of the urban people.

Purpose – This chapter reports on a rapidly growing trend in the analysis of data about emerging market (EM) economies – the use of baseline models as comparisons for explanatory models. Baseline models estimate expected values for the dependent variable in the absence of a hypothesized causal effect but set higher standards than do traditional null hypotheses tests that expect no effect.

Design/methodology/approach – Although the use of baseline models research originated in the 1960s, it has not been widely discussed, or even acknowledged, in the EM literature. We surveyed published EM studies to determine trends in the use of baseline models.

Findings – We categorize and describe the different types of baseline models that scholars have used in EM studies, and draw inferences about the differences between more effective and less effective uses of baseline models.

Value – We believe that comparisons with baseline models offer distinct methodological advantages for the iterative development of better explanatory models and a deeper understanding of empirical phenomena.

This study seeks to investigate the influence of human activities on the patterns of species diversities along the forest‐savanna boundary in Oyo state of Nigeria.

A transect was placed along the study area from the rainforest belt, through the forest savanna ecotone to the southern fringe of the Guinea savanna vegetation belt. Each study site was identified as forest or savanna or ecotone using the species found within them. Samples from trees with diameter at breast height ≥ 6 cm were collected and the numbers from the different species counted. Species diversity patterns were analysed using the Shannon and Simpson's Index.

Analysis of patterns of species diversity with the Shannon and Simpson's Index showed a decrease in the species diversity from sites with mature vegetation to the areas of vegetation succession irrespective of whether they contained forest or savanna vegetation. Also, species diversities was greater in the forest vegetation than in the savanna vegetation. The decrease in species diversity and loss in some species is attributable to the effect of landuse and other human interference along the forest savanna ecotone.

The study suggested measures to reduce biodiversity loss in the forest savanna zones of Nigeria.

Marine species data are scattered across a series of heterogeneous repositories and information systems. There is no repository that can claim to have all marine species data. Moreover, information on marine species are made available through different formats and protocols. The purpose of this paper is to provide models and methods that allow integrating such information either for publishing it, browsing it or querying it. Aiming at providing a valid and reliable knowledge ground for enabling semantic interoperability of marine species data, in this paper the authors motivate a top level ontology, called MarineTLO and discuss its use for creating MarineTLO-based warehouses.

In this paper the authors introduce a set of motivating scenarios that highlight the need of having a top level ontology. Afterwards the authors describe the main data sources (Fisheries Linked Open Data, ECOSCOPE, WoRMS, FishBase and DBpedia) that will be used as a basis for constructing the MarineTLO.

The paper discusses about the exploitation of MarineTLO for the construction of a warehouse. Furthermore a series of uses of the MarineTLO-based warehouse is being reported.

In this paper the authors described the design of a top level ontology for the marine domain able to satisfy the need for maintaining integrated sets of facts about marine species and thus assisting ongoing research on biodiversity. Apart from the ontology the authors also elaborated with the mappings that are required for building integrated warehouses.

Information practices become highly complex in biodiversity citizen science projects due to the projects’ large scale, distributed setting and vast inclusion of participants. This study aims to contribute to knowledge concerning what variations of information practices can be found in biodiversity citizen science and what these practices may mean for the overall collaborative biodiversity data production in such projects.

Fifteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with participants engaged with the Swedish biodiversity citizen science information system Artportalen. The empirical data were analysed through a practice-theoretical lens investigating information practices in general and variations of practices in particular.

The analysis shows that the nexus of biodiversity citizen science information practices consists of observing, identifying, reporting, collecting, curating and validating species as well as decision-making. Information practices vary depending on participants’ technical know-how; knowledge production and learning; and preservation motivations. The study also found that reporting tools and field guides are significant for the formation of information practices. Competition was found to provide data quantity and knowledge growth but may inflict data bias. Finally, a discrepancy between practices of validating and decision-making have been noted, which could be mitigated by involving intermediary participants for mutual understandings of data.

The study places an empirically grounded information practice-theoretical perspective on citizen science participation, extending previous research seeking to model participant activities. Furthermore, the study nuances previous practice-oriented perspectives on citizen science by emphasising variations of practices.

This study aims to test a multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) paired with a thermal imaging camera for detecting big game species such as Eurasian elk, red deer, European roe deer and Eurasian wild boar.

The research work was carried out in the Czarna Bialostocka Forest District (Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland). A thermal imaging camera E20Tvx Yuneec with a view angle of 33° × 26.6° and a thermal sensor resolution of 640 × 512 pixels was selected for the research. The Yuneec H520E hexacopter was chosen as the lifting vehicle. The flights for the study were conducted between the autumn of 2021 and the winter of 2022. The UAV was flown at two different altitudes, 120 and 80 m above ground level, which provided a ground sampling distance of 11 and 7 cm, respectively.

The results so far have shown the potential of commercially available thermal imaging cameras for detecting and identifying big game species, such as Eurasian elk and red deer. Moreover, in the winter season of 2022 on the 7th and 13th of March, it was also possible to determine the sex of red deer distinguishing between males and females. The results of the survey made with the thermal camera were compared to the assessment from the standard method for the determination of the game population in the Czarna Bialostocka sub-district. In the case of red deer, the results of the research carried out during the winter exceed five times the numbers obtained as a result of the traditional inventory. That is most likely due to the gregarious occurrence of this species in the winter season.

The use of thermovision to estimate the population and sex of animals is a relatively new issue, especially in Poland, where the use of thermal imaging is not the official method of research of big game species yet.

Large-scale urbanisation has become a significant barrier to the natural migration of tree species, which is being exacerbated by accelerated climate change. Within this context, improving the permeability of urban landscapes is expected to be an effective strategy to facilitate the process of forest migration through cities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to assess the permeability of urban green spaces as stepping stones for forest migration, from the perspective of seed dispersal.

The proposed method combines a least-cost path (LCP) model and a graph theory-based approach. The LCP model is applied to map the potential pathways of seed dispersal at multiple spatial and temporal scales, based on which graph theory-based indices are used to quantify the accessibility of urban landscapes for seed dispersers. This method is demonstrated by a case study in the Greater Manchester area, UK. Eurasian jay, Eurasian siskin, coal tit and grey squirrel are selected as the main seed dispersers in the study area.

The results provide a comparison of the landscape permeability maps generated from different seed dispersers and identify key areas likely to facilitate the process of forest migration. Recommendations regarding landscape management for improving permeability are also discussed.

This method allows designers to re-visualise highly modified and fragmented urban landscapes as stepping stones for seed dispersal, which in turn allows for a more piecemeal form of landscape design to optimise urban landscapes for climate adaptation.

IUCN ‐ The World Conservation Union defines a protected area as an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) describes a protected area as a geographically defined area, which is designated or regulated and managed to achieve specific conservation objective. Protected areas‐national parks, wildlife reserves, wilderness areas, etc. ‐ are the cornerstones of national and international conservation strategies. They act as refuges for species and help maintain critical ecological processes and ecosystem services that intensely managed landscapes and seascapes cannot provide. These places provide space for natural evolution and future ecological restoration. In recent years there has been growing recognition of the benefits that protected areas provide for people: genetic resources for pharmaceuticals and agriculture, traditional medicines; recreational opportunities and ecotourism revenues; sustainable sources of goods such as non‐timber forest products; and refuge for traditional and vulnerable human societies (Dudley et al. 2005). A wide range of management objectives, approaches and types of governance are used within protected areas in different countries. In terms of management objectives, these range from strict protection and exclusion of humans to broad‐scale approaches that include cultural landscapes such as farms and managed forests. IUCN‐The World Conservation Union subdivides protected areas into six categories based on management objectives: Ia: strict nature reserve/wilderness protection area; Ib: wilderness area; II:national park; III:natural monument; IV:habitat/species management area; V:protected landscape/seascape; and VI:managed resource protected area. In terms of governance types, protected areas may be managed directly by a government, co‐managed with other actors such as nongovernmental organizations, or even declared and managed collectively by indigenous peoples and local communities or by the relevant individual or corporate landowner. Today, there are more than 100,000 designated protected areas in the World Database on Protected Areas covering around 11.4 per cent of Earth’s land surface, along with more than 1,300 marine protected areas covering less than 0.5 per cent of the oceans (Dudley et all. 2005).