Search

• The overlooked tourism pressure may cause new potential wilderness conflict zones. • Conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness ecological value were mapped on a national scale. • Wilderness areas in China were characterized into 12 distinct landscape types. • The HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are mainly concentrated in the southeast of China. • 46.1% of HH conflict zones are solely subjected to tourist activities. Human activity has been significant driving force behind global declines in remaining wilderness areas. Previous assessments of human activity have focused on long-term cumulative human pressure. However, the growing popularity of nature-based tourism has led to increased tourists' footfall in remote wilderness areas. These short-term tourists' activities, if not assessed and properly restricted, may aggregate to form new potential impact zones. This study maps the potential conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness' ecological value on a national scale across China. By comparing distribution of conflict zones created through persistent human and tourism pressure, we identify wilderness areas threatened by pressures from tourism. Employing a Self Organizing Maps algorithm, we extract distinctive landscape features of wilderness areas, thereby shedding light on their attraction to visitors and subsequent ecological vulnerability. Our results show that, about two-thirds of China's land is identified as wilderness with 12 types of landscape character, among which 8.9% of wilderness areas suffer from some level of tourism pressure. Moreover, 80.3% of HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are concentrated in the southeast of China. Finally, 46.1% of HH conflict zones are unaffected by persistent human activities but are threatened by tourist activities. Our findings contribute to future placement and functional zoning of wilderness reserves in China, with potential applicability to conflict governance and wilderness conservation strategies in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness is an important concept in the discourses and policies concerning contemporary European protected areas, inherently challenging in terms of sustainability. Since its designation in 1992, the Val Grande National Park, located in northwest Italy, has been portrayed and promoted as a wilderness area, thereby enhancing tourism, whilst disregarding the historical signs of human activity. In this paper we explore the wilderness concept, focusing on the narratives developed in the area, that changed from a strict conservationist approach to a more utilitarian one, influencing the National Park's policy-making. The research is based mainly on the content analysis of several literary texts. We conclude that wildernessneeds to be reconceptualized so that contemporary European protection policies might become more effective, and we may use our knowledge of nature to promote sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zooplankton is a fundamental group in aquatic ecosystems representing the base of the food chain. It forms a link between the lower trophic levels with secondary consumers and shows marked fluctuations in populations with environmental change, especially reacting to heating and water acidification. Marine copepods account for approx. 70% of the abundance of zooplankton and are a target of monitoring activities in key areas such as the Southern Ocean. In this study, we have used FAIR-inspired legacy data (dating back to the 1980s) collected in the Ross Sea by the Italian National Antarctic Program at GBIF.org. Together with other open-access GIS data sources and tools, it allows one to generate, for the first time, three-dimensional predictive distribution maps for twenty-six copepod species. These predictive maps were obtained by applying machine learning techniques to grey literature data, which were visualized in open-source GIS platforms. In a Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) framework, we used machine learning with three types of algorithms (TreeNet, RandomForest, and Ensemble) to analyze the presence and absence of copepods in different areas and depth classes as a function of environmental descriptors obtained from the Polar Macroscope Layers present in Quantartica. The models allow, for the first time, to map-predict the food chain per depth class in quantitative terms, showing the relative index of occurrence (RIO) in 3Dimensions and identifying the presence of each copepod species analyzed in the Ross Sea, a globally-relevant wilderness area of conservation concern. Our results show marked geographical preferences that vary with species and trophic strategy. This study demonstrates that machine learning is a successful method in accurately predicting the Antarctic copepod presence, also providing useful data to orient future sampling and the management of wildlife and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity inventories provide critical information on the ecology of natural ecosystems and inform conservation planning at local to regional scales.Based on a systematic review, we compiled data on over 1000 mammal inventories conducted throughout the Neotropics – from Mexico to Argentina – to document the status of assemblage‐wide field mammalogy in the world's most biodiverse Tropical realm.We analysed data using descriptive statistics and a confusion matrix to understand the prevalence of species' pseudo‐absences, map overall patterns of survey density, and quantify any geographic sampling bias.Based on the 1028 site‐specific inventories published between 1983 and 2020, mean species richness of medium‐ to large‐bodied mammals was 11.9 (± 8.8 standard deviation). Local inventories were distributed across elevational gradients, and overall sampling effort and survey techniques employed were extremely variable. The best‐sampled regions were the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Mesoamerica, but we identified nine large assemblage‐wide Wallacean shortfalls and a pseudo‐absence rate of 11% (± 4% standard deviation); geographic sampling bias was largely related to human population density, regardless of the assemblages' intactness presumably found in the undersampled wilderness regions of the Neotropics.We document the 40‐year legacy of mammal field surveys throughout the Neotropics, where several glaring knowledge shortfalls still persist. This calls for an audacious research agenda for future Neotropical mammal studies, which should target sampling in more remote areas, standardise sampling methodology, and provide high‐resolution data that can be used to fill current knowledge shortfalls. To do so, Latin American countries and the wider international community will need to commit greater personnel and financial resources to understanding biodiversity patterns and processes related to the Tropical vertebrate fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads are an overwhelming component of the global human footprint and their absence helps identify intact areas with high ecological value. Road‐free areas are decreasing globally, making accurate estimation of their location and size of great importance. Identification of such regions requires accurate data, but substantial variability exists in road network datasets created and maintained at different spatial scales. We compared estimates of road length, density, and roadless areas across Canada, which contains a high proportion of the world's remaining undisturbed and road‐free areas. Global‐ and national‐scale datasets included, on average, only 11%–14% of roads represented in regional‐scale data or volunteered geographic information (VGI), with the most pronounced differences in less‐developed areas. Regional‐scale datasets, with the lowest estimates of amount of roadless area and smallest mean roadless patch size, are likely the most complete road datasets but are not available for all jurisdictions, limiting their national‐scale utility. VGI provides a national‐scale alternative but still lacks many low‐use roads. Available global and national datasets have insufficient information for accurate assessments of roadless areas in Canada, which will require detailed, consistent subnational datasets assembled and maintained by each province and territory in a coordinated fashion to achieve national coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fur trapping is an important source of mortality for wolverine (Gulo gulo) in northern Canada. However, few populations are monitored for harvest sustainability. An examination of harvest data can be useful to identify areas of concern and direct appropriate management interventions. We used 27 years of harvest data (1988–2014) to examine patterns of wolverine harvest in the Yukon (Canada), where trapping permits are spatially explicit and there are no quotas. We identify spatiotemporal patterns in estimated harvest density, and trapping behavior by fur trappers. We also examined estimated harvest rates and availability of harvest refugia to evaluate if harvest was sustainable. The mean annual harvest in Yukon was 132 ± 31 wolverines, and there was no significant trend over time. Most trappers harvested wolverines infrequently, but 12% of trappers were responsible for 50% of all harvested wolverines, indicating that a small number of trappers had an influence on overall mortality. Relatively high mean annual harvest rates (≥ 8%) were estimated in several ecoregions in southwestern Yukon, where much of the human population and roads are concentrated. Conversely, estimated harvest rates were moderate to low (< 6%) in northern and eastern Yukon, which consist largely of remote wilderness. The mean percent area without harvest was 62 ± 16%. Sustained high harvest rates in southwestern Yukon are likely supported by dispersing animals from harvest refugia. Few putative harvest refugia were formally protected; rather, unsued trapping areas constituted temporal de facto harvest refugia. Our study points to the importance of harvest refugia and the persistence of wilderness regions for sustaining wolverine populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. It mentions Olmsted's landscape creations, especially his urban parks, are anything but relics of the past they remain a vital part of the present. It also mentions Olmsted intended city parks to provide a counterbalance to their urban surroundings, to be small portions of surrogate wilderness.

Under a warming climate, the southern boreal forest of North America is expected to see a doubling in fire frequency and potential for increased wind disturbance over the next century. Although boreal forests are often considered fire‐adapted, projected increases in disturbance frequency will likely result in novel combinations of disturbances with severities and impacts on community composition outside historic norms. Using a network of repeatedly measured vegetation monitoring plots, we followed changes in tree community composition in areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), in Minnesota, USA, experiencing disturbances ranging from severe windstorms or wildfires to areas affected by wind followed by fire or multiple fires within a short period of time. Using nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination, hierarchical cluster analysis, and permutational analysis of variance, we compared successional pathways across different disturbance types and combinations to test whether multiple disturbances had altered successional pathways or caused greater convergence relative to single disturbances. We found that multiple disturbances often resulted in strong shifts toward wind‐dispersed early‐successional tree species, while single disturbances tended to have multiple successional pathways that favored both late‐ and early‐successional species. All disturbances in our study resulted in significant shifts in composition, but we generally failed to find statistical evidence of changes in community dispersion. Although boreal forests appear to be somewhat resilient to multiple disturbance events, multiple disturbances resulted in post‐disturbance tree communities that were heavily dominated by disturbance‐adapted deciduous trees at the expense of conifers. Our results demonstrate that multiple disturbances are capable of altering successional pathways relative to single disturbance events and that increasingly frequent disturbances are likely to alter boreal forest structure and composition, perhaps leading to a forest region strikingly unlike that of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC 19 Marshall Robert. Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC 17 Marshall George. Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC 18 Marshall George. Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC 14 Leave No Trace. [Extracted from the article]

Like many other states in south-east USA, Alabama is blessed with a high percentage of natural areas. These areas support vital nature tourism and the outdoor recreation sector. This study was undertaken at the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) and Sipsey Wilderness Area (SWA), significant hubs for outdoor recreation in northwestern Alabama. The goal of this study was to collect baseline information that could be used to develop tools and strategies for increasing the diversity of users participating in outdoor recreation at BNF/SWA. A pretested questionnaire was administered to visitors at eight outdoor recreation sites in the BNF/SWA. Adults encountered at study locations were invited, after their visit, to participate in the study. The study found that (a) the majority of visitors to the BNF/SWA were Caucasians and the least encountered race was African American; (b) the most common reason for visiting BNF/SWA was for family outings, whereas activities with friends or coworkers were the second most important reason for visiting; (c) hiking (39.6%), camping (29.1%), picnicking (23.3%), and horseback riding (22.5%) were the most popular outdoor recreation activities pursued by visitors. It was concluded that a study aimed at identifying the constraints which negatively impact the use of the BNF/SWA by minorities should be a critical step in the process of trying to diversify the BNF/SWA's user base. Increased efforts must be made to identify the reasons for the low usage of the BNF/SWA by minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across much of southern Africa's savanna wildernesses, wildfires burn unchecked. This is particularly true in the woodland savannas of northern Botswana, where wildfires originate outside of management activities, and are left to burn uncontrolled, because of limited resources and remoteness. There is concern that severe annual wildfires are resulting in the 'savannisation' of large tracts of wooded land across forest reserves, protected areas and surrounding wilderness areas. Because the current fire regime is unknown, management interventions are hard to introduce. We examine the recent 20-year (2001–2020) fire history in northern Botswana using MODIS satellitederived fire products to reveal fire frequency and seasonality. Six wildfire hotspots are identified for exploration of fire frequency and possible origins. Annual fire frequencies are far higher than would be expected without anthropogenic ignition. Extensive areas in some hotspots are shown to have burned between 14 and 16 out of the 20-year period. Fires peak in September, several weeks before the onset of the rainy season and associated lightning strikes, and when the fuel load is at its maximum and conditions at their driest. Adaptive fire management practices, such as those being followed in neighbouring South Africa and elsewhere should inform Botswana's fire management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global expansion of road networks threatens apex predator conservation and ecosystem functioning. This occurs through wildlife-vehicle collisions, habitat loss and fragmentation, reduced genetic connectivity and increased poaching. We reviewed road impacts on 36 apex predator species and assessed their risk from current roads based on road exposure and species vulnerability. Our findings reveal all apex predators are exposed to road impacts. Eight of the ten species with the highest risk occur in Asia, although other high-risk species are present in the Americas, Africa and Europe. The sloth bear suffers the highest risk of all apex predators, followed by the tiger and dhole. Based on species risk from roads, we propose a widely applicable method to assess the potential impact of future roads on apex predators. We applied this method to proposed road developments in three areas: the Brazilian Amazon, Africa, and Nepal, to locate high-impact road segments. Roughly 500 protected areas will be intersected by these roads, threatening core apex predator habitats. We advocate the need for rigorous road development planning to apply effective mitigation measures as an urgent priority and to avoid construction in wilderness areas and predator strongholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use has transformed ecosystems over three quarters of the terrestrial surface, with massive repercussions on biodiversity. Land-use intensity is known to contribute to the effects of land-use on biodiversity, but the magnitude of this contribution remains uncertain. Here, we use a modified countryside species-area model to compute a global account of the impending biodiversity loss caused by current land-use patterns, explicitly addressing the role of land-use intensity based on two sets of intensity indicators. We find that land-use entails the loss of ~15% of terrestrial vertebrate species from the average 5 × 5 arcmin-landscape outside remaining wilderness areas and ~14% of their average native area-of-habitat, with a risk of global extinction for 556 individual species. Given the large fraction of global land currently used under low land-use intensity, we find its contribution to biodiversity loss to be substantial (~25%). While both sets of intensity indicators yield similar global average results, we find regional differences between them and discuss data gaps. Our results support calls for improved sustainable intensification strategies and demand-side actions to reduce trade-offs between food security and biodiversity conservation. Land use is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but disentangling the contribution of its various components is challenging. Here, the authors partition the role of land use type and intensity in explaining global patterns of impending species losses for terrestrial vertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In areas where farmland borders protected areas, wildlife may be attracted to crops and cause substantial financial damage for farmers. Elephants, in particular, can destroy a year's harvest in a single night, and can also cause damage to buildings and other farm structures. Few studies have examined whether damage caused by wild elephants increases social inequalities in farmer communities. We interviewed settlement leaders and subsistence rice farmers living in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, Nepal, to examine (1) the variation and spatial distribution of wealth within the farmer community, (2) the severity and spatio-temporal distribution of damage inflicted by Asian elephants Elephas maximus, and (3) the willingness to insure against such damage. We investigated whether particular societal strata are disproportionally affected by negative interactions with elephants. We found that farmers near the boundary between agricultural and wilderness areas were significantly poorer and had smaller landholdings than those further into the cultivated lands. Concomitantly, damage to crops and houses was more frequent nearer the wilderness–agriculture boundary than further away from it. Hence, in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, farmers near the wilderness–cultivation boundary, with small landholdings, had a relatively higher cost of elephant damage, yet were less willing to pay for an insurance scheme. We infer that in areas where both social inequality and damage caused by wildlife are spatially structured, conservation success may cause economic hardship for the local community, particularly for the poorer class. We discuss causes of the current lack of communal mitigation measures against the damage caused by elephants in the Park, and potential solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness areas are not immune to changes in land use, land cover, and/or climate. Future changes will intensify the balancing act of maintaining ecological conditions and untrammeled character within wilderness areas. We assessed the quantitative and spatial changes in land use, land cover, and climate predicted to occur in and around wilderness areas by (1) quantifying projected changes in land use and land cover around wilderness areas; (2) evaluating if public lands surrounding wilderness areas can buffer future land‐use change; (3) quantifying future climate conditions in and around wilderness areas; and (4) identifying wilderness areas expected to experience the most change in land use, land cover, and climate. We used projections of land use (four variables), land cover (five variables), and climate (nine variables) to assess changes for 707 wilderness areas in the contiguous United States by mid‐21st century under two scenarios (medium‐low and high). We ranked all wilderness areas relative to each other by summing and ranking decile values for each land use, land cover, and climate variable and calculating a multivariate metric of future change. All wilderness areas were projected to experience some level of change by mid‐century. The greatest land‐use changes were associated with increases in agriculture, clear cutting, and developed land, while the greatest land cover changes were observed for grassland, forest, and shrubland. In 51.6% and 73.8% of wilderness areas, core area of natural vegetation surrounding wilderness was projected to decrease for the medium‐low and high scenarios, respectfully. Presence of public land did not mitigate the influence of land‐use change around wilderness areas. Geographically, projected changes occurred throughout the contiguous U.S., with areas in the northeast and upper Midwest projected to have the greatest land‐use and climate change and the southwestern U.S. projected to undergo the greatest land cover and climate change. Our results provide insights into potential future threats to wilderness areas and the challenges associated with wilderness stewardship and climate adaptation. Despite the high degree of protection and remoteness of wilderness areas, effective management and preservation of these lands must consider future changes in land use, land cover, and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Peter Paul Rubens' perspective on the relationship between the human and the animal as exemplified through the image of the satyr. It mentions paints satyresses that can be both devilishly seductive and positively maternal and peculiar status of this creature in the long history of debates about the connection between humans and animals. It also mentions denizens of the wilderness, satyrs are distinctly closer to nature than civilization.

Most wildland and prescribed fire spread occurs through ground fuels, and the rate of spread (RoS) in such environments is often summarized with empirical models that assume uniform environmental conditions and produce a unique RoS. On the other hand, representing the effects of local, small-scale variations of fuel and wind experienced in the field is challenging and, for landscape-scale models, impractical. Moreover, the level of uncertainty associated with characterizing RoS and flame dynamics in the presence of turbulent flow demonstrates the need for further understanding of fire dynamics at small scales in realistic settings. This work describes adapted computer vision techniques used to form fine-scale measurements of the spatially and temporally varying RoS in a natural setting. These algorithms are applied to infrared and visible images of a small-scale prescribed burn of a quasi-homogeneous pine needle bed under stationary wind conditions. A large number of distinct fire front displacements are then used statistically to analyze the fire spread. We find that the fine-scale forward RoS is characterized by an exponential distribution, suggesting a model for fire spread as a random process at this scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a perspective on the future of planet Earth and the concept of Island Civilization. Focus is given on the awareness of teenagers of climate change and the rise of youth-led environmental movements as a commitment to environmental stewardship and a reflection of a shift in societal attitudes toward sustainability. It discusses the vision of environmental historian Roderick Frazier Nash on human occupancy on Earth and the future of wilderness and civilization.

The author tells about her use of the module called Island Civilization as a form of exposure therapy for upcoming college students to understand environmental changes. She shares the vision of Professor Emeritus Roderick Nash of the University of California on human occupancy of Earth in the fourth millennium and the concepts of wilderness and civilization. Four possible scenarios that students are proposed to examine are the wasteland, garden, future primitive and Island Civilization.