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In 2017, a new project was begun to assess the biodiversity of national parks and forest reserves in the Republic of Panama. Designated “Proyecto Sistema de Producción Sostenible Conservación de la Biodiversidad (PSPSCB)”, this project is managed by Panama’s Ministerio de Ambiente. The first park sampled in 2017 was Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park (OTHNP). Trichoptera (Insecta) were collected at four locations using both Malaise traps and UV light traps. The rugged terrain and lack of access in this remote park limited the sampled area. Sampling included streams in both the Caribbean and Pacific drainages. Seven new species of microcaddisflies (Hydroptilidae: Alistotrichia coclensis Armitage and Harris, Cerasmatrichia akanthos Armitage and Harris, Metrichia corazones Armitage and Harris, Neotrichia espinosa Armitage and Harris, Neotrichia michaeli Armitage and Harris, Neotrichia pierpointorum Armitage and Harris, and Neotrichia yayas Armitage and Harris) and one new country record, Metrichia macrophallata Flint, were identified from this preliminary survey and are reported herein. Other recently described species are reported here for the first time outside of their type localities. Based on other areas more extensively sampled compared to this modest survey, many more new species and new country records await discovery in OTHNP as are reported herein. There are now 439 species distributed among 15 families and 55 genera known from Panama.
We review the species of Bidessus of Madagascar and describe Bidessus anjozorobe sp. nov. from material collected in Anjozorobe forest. Anjozorobe is part of the Anjozorobe-Angavo Protected Area, which is an important corridor of transition forest between typical eastern humid forests and the residual sub-humid forest of the Central Highlands. Bidessus longistriga Régimbart, 1895 and Bidessus perexiguus Kolbe, 1883 are widespread but endemic low-altitude species on Madagascar. Bidessus nesioticus Guignot, 1956 is an alpine species described from near the peak of the Ankaratra mountain massifs at 2500 m a.s.l. We recollected the species for the first time since its description, in Ankaratra and in a new area above 2000 m a.s.l. in the Andringitra mountain further south. Bidessus cf. nero Gschwendtner, 1933 is tentatively recorded for Madagascar for the first time but further studies are needed to test the status of mainland and insular populations. Bidessus apicidens Biström & Sanfilippo, 1986 has not been recollected on Madagascar since 1970. All species are endemic to Madagascar except potentially Bidessus cf. ceratus and Bidessus cf. nero described from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, respectively. The older records of the two non-endemic species Bidessus complicatus Sharp, 1904 and Bidessus ovoideus Régimbart, 1895 on Madagascar could not be verified.
Alien plants were first recorded in 1937 in the 2 million ha Kruger National Park (KNP, a savanna protected area in South Africa), and attempts to control them began in the mid-1950s. The invasive alien plant control program expanded substantially in the late 1990s, but its overall efficacy has not been determined. We present an assessment of invasive alien plant control operations over several decades in KNP. We based our assessment on available information from a range of control programs funded from various sources, including national public works programs, KNP operational funds, and foreign donor funds. Over ZAR 350 million (~ US$ 27 million) has been spent on control interventions between 1997 and 2016. We found evidence of good progress with the control of several species, notably Opuntia stricta, Sesbania punicea, Lantana camara and several aquatic weeds, often because of effective biological control. On the other hand, we found that over one third (40%) of the funding was spent on species that have subsequently been recognised as being of lower priority, most of which were alien annual weeds. The allocation of funds to non-priority species was sometimes driven by the need to meet additional objectives (such as employment creation), or by perceptions about relative impact in the absence of documented evidence. We also found that management goals were limited to inputs (funds disbursed, employment created, and area treated) rather than to ecological outcomes, and progress was consequently not adequately monitored. At a species level, four out of 36 species were considered to be under complete control, and a further five were under substantial control. Attempts to control five annual species were all considered to be ineffective. On the basis of our findings, we recommend that more studies be done to determine impacts associated with individual invasive alien species; that the criteria used to prioritise invasive alien species be documented based on such assessments, so that management can justify a focus on priority species; and that funding be re-directed to those species that clearly pose greater threats, and for which other solutions (such as biological control) are not an option.