Ecology and conservation

Summary

The Arcus Foundation is a private grant-making foundation that advances social justice and conservation goals. The Foundation works globally and has offices in New York City, USA and Cambridge, UK. For more information and to connect with Arcus visit:

Summary

Last year I visited the Indonesian part of Borneo. One of the highlights was a visit to an orangutan shelter on an island covered by rainforest. There I learned that an orangutan builds a new nest every day, using leaves and branches in the trees. These great apes move around from tree to tree and hardly ever come down to the ground. When it rains, they make “umbrellas” from big leaves. Orangutans share more than 96% of their genetic makeup with humans. In fact, the name orangutan means “person of the forest.” Many orangutans have lost their habitat because of deforestation. They have become homeless and dependent upon shelters to survive.

It is widely recognized that humans are altering the natural world at an unprecedented rate. Among the greatest challenges facing us today are understanding how human social and economic systems drive these changes and implementing strategies for reconciling economic development with the protection and conservation of the very resources upon which it depends. Future generations will judge us by how we have changed our behavior to ensure that we can live within the limits imposed on us by climate, water and land. They will also evaluate our efforts to ensure social justice and respect for dignity and life, while safeguarding the beauty and diversity of nature.

The State of the Apes series aims to identify and raise awareness of potential solutions for the conservation of biodiversity—and the environment more broadly—within the parameters of ongoing economic development. The tropical forests of Asia and Africa are the natural home of great apes and gibbons. By focusing on apes as flagship species for the conservation of these valuable forests, State of the Apes seeks to stimulate dialogue and collaboration, while also informing policy and practice.

Given that tropical forest loss is a significant contributor to climate change, the conservation of these resources is critical to protecting not only the great ape and gibbon populations but also the global human population. Even if tree crops replace the natural forest that has been removed, the impact on climate change will not be countered. And the loss of species diversity will be irreversible.

This volume highlights the deleterious effects of industrial-scale agriculture on ape populations as well as other wildlife species, forests and people in South and Southeast Asia to date.

Social and economic systems worldwide are changing rapidly. These changes are accompanied by an increasing demand for natural resources, including land, water, minerals, energy sources, food and timber. Today's foremost challenge lies in finding the tools to address the complexity of these interrelated trends, and in implementing strategies to balance environmental and socioeconomic needs. This volume contributes to this search by presenting original research, topical case studies and emerging best practice from a range of key stakeholders to examine the interface between ape conservation and industrial agriculture. In assessing the drivers behind agricultural expansion and land investments, it sheds light on governance challenges and legal frameworks that shape land use. Intended for policy makers, industry experts, decision makers, academics, researchers and NGOs, it is designed to inform debate, practice and policy to help reconcile the goals of industrial agriculture with those of ape conservation and welfare, and social and economic development. This title is also available as Open Access via Cambridge Books Online.

The great wave of immigrants to the United States during the late 1800s brought many talented individuals who enriched American culture and society. Notable among them stands the Italian-born artist, Albert L. Operti (1852–1927), a versatile painter, illustrator and sculptor. For much of his professional career, Operti served as a scenic artist for the Metropolitan Opera House and later as an exhibit artist for the American Museum of Natural History. However, he maintained an avid personal interest in polar explorers and the history of polar exploration, ultimately turning his artistic skills to the subject. Operti served as official artist for Robert E. Peary during his Arctic expeditions of 1896 and 1897, producing paintings, drawings and even plaster casts of the Inuit from the expedition. Over the course of his lifetime he painted a number of ‘great’ pictures depicting, in a factually accurate manner, important incidents in Arctic history along with numerous smaller paintings, sketches, illustrations and studies. The quality of his work never rivaled his more talented contemporaries in the field of ‘great’ paintings, such as the prominent artists William Bradford and Frederic Church. Nonetheless, Operti achieved some recognition in his time as a painter of historical Arctic scenes, but the full extent of his contributions are little known and have been largely unexamined. Unlike the explorers themselves whose legacy rests upon geographic or scientific accomplishments and written narratives, Operti's legacy stands upon the body of distinctive artwork that served to convey, in realistic and graphic terms, the hardships and accomplishments of those explorers. This article recounts the life of Operti and his role as an historian in disseminating knowledge of the polar regions and its explorers to the public.

Península Valdés (PV) is the most austral calving ground for the SW Atlantic population of Eubalaena australis. Recent studies indicate that E. australis often feeds in PV mainly in late September and October. A microscopic analysis of food chitin remains found in five whale faeces was performed in the present study in an attempt to obtain baseline knowledge about trophic ecology and degree of use of plankton food available for whales in PV during spring (September–December). The remains in faeces from stranded and live individuals included copepods, other zooplankton and centric diatoms, all of which were characterized. Copepod remains were found to be dominant. Scanning electron and confocal laser scanning microscopes were used for comparative analyses between the mandibular gnathobases found in whale faeces and those obtained from preserved specimens. Mandibular gnathobases were the same in structure and morphometry as those obtained from preserved Calanus australis (copepodites 4–6). The positive relationship observed between the total length and width of the mandibular gnathobases edge of C. australis and those found in faeces allowed us to infer the developmental stages of the copepods ingested by E. australis. Our results indicate – for the first time – the relevant role of C. australis copepodite 5 as main prey for E. australis in PV during the calving season. Copepodite 5 of C. australis accumulates energy-rich lipids. This is energetically attractive for whales and it is the potential reason why E. australis feeds mainly on dense patches dominated by this developmental stage of C. australis.

Of the three species of the genus Squalus that occur in the Mediterranean Sea, S. blainville and S. megalops are very difficult to distinguish. This study assesses the variability in morphological features that have been used to differentiate between these species. Squalus were collected from stations within the 25-nautical mile Fisheries Management Zone around the Maltese Islands; 349 specimens were dissected and categorized into male and female, mature and immature, and individuals were randomly selected from each category to make up a sample of 169 specimens. For each individual, total length and first dorsal fin parameters were measured, and morphology of denticles isolated from the laterodorsal area, of the upper and lower teeth and of the chondrocranium was analysed. The first dorsal spine was shorter that the fin base in 93% of the specimens, which is typical of S. megalops; this character was not related to either gender or maturity. Chondrocrania with one lateral process (typical of S. blainville) and two lateral processes (typical of S. megalops) were present. Teeth from the same individuals showed morphological features that overlap between S. blainville and S. megalops. Both unicuspid (typical of S. megalops) and tricuspid denticles (typical of S. blainville) were observed on the same individuals. Twelve specimens (six having one and six having two lateral chondrocranial processes) were analysed genetically by sequencing of the mtDNA marker Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI). All resulted to be S. blainville showing that intraspecific variability in supposedly diagnostic morphological features is large enough to render these unreliable to tell apart these two species, especially in the field.

Ecology and conservation

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POL volume 52 issue 1 Cover and Back matter

Apes Overview

Acknowledgments

4 - Legal Frameworks at the Interface between Industrial Agriculture and Ape Conservation

Section 1 - Industrial Agriculture and Ape Conservation

Introduction

Credits

8 - The Status of Captive Apes

References

The Arcus Foundation

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Foreword

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Glossary

5 - From Process to Impact of a Voluntary Standard: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

1 - Economic Development and Conservation of Biodiversity: Understanding the Interface of Ape Conservation and Industrial Agriculture

Industrial Agriculture and Ape Conservation

Russia and the Arctic. Environment, identity and foreign policy. Geir Hønneland. 2015. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. xii + 191 p, illustrated, hardcover. ISBN 978-1-78453-223-9. £58.00.

Albert L. Operti: chronicler of Arctic exploration

Faecal analysis of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in Península Valdés calving ground, Argentina: Calanus australis, a key prey species

Travels into print. Exploration, writing, and publishing with John Murray, 1773–1859. Innes M. Keighren, Charles W.J. Withers and Bill Bell. 2015. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xiii + 364 p, illustrated, hardcover. ISBN 978-0-226-42953-3. £31.50; US$45.00.

Not all that clear cut: intraspecific morphological variability in Squalus blainville (Risso, 1827) and implications for identification of the species

Ecology and conservation

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Industrial Agriculture and Ape Conservation