Eyes on or hands on? A discussion of human interference

[Pckts]

Nasa Contributing to new tools for camera trapping
http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1026-remot...ation.html


Just to show, its not just some FD officials using these, these are highly advanced pieces of technology develpoded by some of the smartest people alive.

=13pxWith scientists rapidly adopting and using a range of remote sensing tools for monitoring environmental change, tracking wildlife and measuring biological processes, conservation needs to scale up networking capabilities to maximize the potential of this technological revolution, argues a commentary published in the journal Science.

NASA's Woody Turner breaks sensing technologies into two scales: remote sensing platforms like satellites and airplanes, and in-situ devices like camera traps, drones, phones, tags, and sensors.

"Remote sensing involves a wide array of tools and techniques on orbiting satellites and flying aircraft," he writes. "It enables directly observing large-scale ecosystems and large organisms, depicting the broader environmental context for biodiversity, tracking climatic and other drivers of biodiversity change (often for use in ecological models), and making consistent observations across time and space for biodiversity monitoring."

"Remote sensing is increasingly complemented by in situ sensing with cameras on stationary objects or small drones, sound recorders, cell phones, electronic tags, and fragments of genetic material sampled directly from the environment."
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1026-remot...z3LctJ0WCU
=13pxTurner says conservation effort would benefit from increased coordination between remote sensing and in situ approaches. But this isn't a simple undertaking.

"The data from satellites, aircraft, and in situ sensors cover a vast range of spatial scales. Use of these sensing data in concert requires sophisticated networking and geostatistical analysis to fill gaps between fine-scale organismal or genetic observations and ecosystem-scale observations. Similar networks are necessary to tie biodiversity observations to data on broader environmental drivers of change," he writes.

"Scale is not the only issue. The multitude of sensor types used to measure elements of biodiversity even at the same spatial scale further complicates networking, as does the integration of information from models. All observations and models come with their individual uncertainties, which must be addressed by any networking framework."
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1026-remot...z3Lct2jsX4

=13pxTurner notes that initiatives to coordinate data collection and monitoring across various scales are currently in their infancy, but nonetheless moving forward. He points to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a program being developed by the United States to collect environmental data across 20 "eco-climatic domains", as well as an international program under the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).

"The international Group on Earth Observations (GEO) partnership, particularly its global Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), is a first attempt by national governments to jointly coordinate satellite, airborne, and in situ observations across biodiversity elements through genes, species, and ecosystems," he writes. "This effort is crucial for meeting governments' obligations to assess national biodiversity under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services."
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1026-remot...z3LctUZYAh

*This image is copyright of its original author

and more  It's no secret that when it comes to the wild cats of Asia—and, really, cats in general—tigers get all the press. In fact, tigers—down to an estimated 3,200 individuals—arguably dominate conservation across Asia. But as magnificent, grand, and endangered as the tigers are, there are a number of other felines in the region that are much less studied—and may be just as imperiled.

A new, special edition of Cat News from the IUCN's Cat Specialist Group attempts to shine a light on Southeast Asia's other cats: nine small-to-medium sized cats that are not a part of the big cat genus, Panthera. Of these nine, cat conservationists say two are in particular need of research and conservation attention: the flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) and the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).

Most of Southeast Asia's cats have been studied in recent years using remote camera trap data in surveys set up for bigger cats, such as tigers and leopards, or other charismatic mammals. While these camera traps have revolutionized our understanding of some cryptic cats, like Borneo's bay cat (Catopuma badia), which appears more common than long-believed. It has also meant that species not found in so-called tiger areas have been overlooked.

"There are still gaps in our understanding because most of the camera-trap data comes from forest habitats (where tigers predominate) rather than wetlands, streams, and scrub forest which are evidently the more preferred habitats for [the fishing cat, flat-headed cat, and jungle cat]," conservationists Christine Breitenmoser, Will Duckworth, and Antony Lynam told mongabay.com in a recent interview. "These species are conservation priorities largely due to their rarity and levels of threat faced. If there were lots of them still around, more should be turning up in trade but they are not."
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1021-hance...z3LctlkyDd
=13pxThe bay cat: only found in Borneo this cat has long eluded scientists until recently. Photo by: Andrew Hearn and Jo Ross.

The biggest threat facing the region's cat species is habitat destruction. Parts of Southeast Asia now have some of the highest deforestation rates on the planet—Indonesia and Malaysia—exacerbated by the rapid spread of monoculture plantations, such as oil palm, pulp, and rubber. Meanwhile, much of the human pressure in the region is focused on wetlands, key habitat for both the fishing cat and the flat-headed cat. Hunting is also worsening the situation.

"Small cats are not usually direct targets for poachers but they are collateral damage that gets caught in snare-lines along with other types of animals," the scientists said. "For clouded leopards, favored prey species such as wild pig and muntjac are also subject to hunting for wild meat, so prey loss is additionally a key threat."

So, how do we keep these cats around?

"Maintaining large tracts of forest habitat, keeping roads out of these places, and actively protecting them from poaching and other disturbances, should be a prescription for stabilizing populations for many wild cats," the scientists say.

In an October 2014 interview, the authors of the introductory paper in the special issue told mongabay.com why these cats have been long neglected and what needs to happen to better understand and, ultimately, protect them.

INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINE BREITENMOSER, WILL DUCKWORTH, AND ANTONY LYNAM
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1021-hance...z3LctrdEAw
=13pxA mainland clouded leopard in Thailand. This is the region's third biggest cat after the tiger and leopard. Photo by: Wanlop Chutipong.

Mongabay: Why should these nine cat species—those found in South East Asia not including tigers and leopard—be a higher conservation and research priority?

Christine Breitenmoser, Will Duckworth, and Antony Lynam: The smaller cat species are generally poorly known in terms of basic status and distribution. We know even less about their ecology, habitat preferences, and activity patterns. This is because there are few dedicated field studies while most of the information available comes from so-called 'by-catch' data from camera-trap studies done for the larger cats, especially tigers. This in itself reflects the dearth of available conservation funds for species that are not flamboyant, charismatic species with high commercial value. For these reasons, the smaller cats deserve more attention from conservationists and researchers.

While it is clear that there are no imminent threats of regional extinction to most of the species, three of them (one of which, flat-headed cat, occurs only in Southeast Asia) might well be seriously threatened. For two of these (flat-headed cat and fishing cat) the available information is too poor to know exactly where and how to deploy resources (assuming they could be secured) to conserve them. For the third species (jungle cat) one priority area is clear (northern Cambodia) but another area (dry-zone Myanmar) that might well hold large population is unsurveyed. In sum: without specific conservation measures in their favor, continued major declines in SE Asia are likely for these three species, and without greatly increased further research, any conservation measures may be inefficient and even ineffective.

Mongabay: How have camera traps revolutionized our understanding of South East Asia's medium and small cats?
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1021-hance...z3LctwV99t
=13pxChristine Breitenmoser, Will Duckworth, and Antony Lynam: Wild cats tend to be hard to observe due to their secretive habits, because most of them live in dense tropical forests and are at least partly nocturnal and thus require specialized survey methods to detect them. It's for these reasons that spotlighting and camera-traps are most useful survey methods for smaller cats. Camera-traps are remotely-triggered devices that are usually placed at ground level where they detect movements of all wildlife (and human) traffic passing in front of the beam. So camera-traps set for larger cats along trails at ground level have picked up the portion of smaller cat traffic that uses these same habitats. What they do not pick up—unless specifically set to do so—is the activity above the ground, or off trails, or in specialized habitats such as wetlands, open forest or scrubland. The three species of most conservation concern in Southeast Asia (flat-headed cat, fishing cat, and jungle cat) are all inhabitants of wetlands, open forest and scrubland. This is why they need specific research and conservation—it is not happening 'on the back' of the famous species.

Mongabay: Why should fishing cat and the flat-headed cat be made the conservation priorities of this group of nine species?

Christine Breitenmoser, Will Duckworth, and Antony Lynam: When we put all the camera-trap data together, we still find that for some species, such as fishing cat, flat-headed cat and jungle cat, there are still gaps in our understanding because most of the camera-trap data comes from forest habitats (where tigers predominate) rather than wetlands, streams, and scrub forest which are evidently the more preferred habitats for these species. These species are conservation priorities largely due to their rarity and levels of threat faced. If there were lots of them still around, more should be turning up in trade but they are not, and for all of them there are good a priori reasons based on habitat to assume major declines.

Mongabay: How might the chosen habitat of flat-headed cats and fishing cats make them much more vulnerable than other cats in the group?



All Images and much more information found here

http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1021-hance...-cats.html

All gained through camera traps






 
 
 
 
 
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