Remote sensing is being widely used in the fields of resource management, planning, and wildlife habitat evaluation. Canopy cover-type mapping has been done in most of the bioclimatic zones of India and widely abroad, using aerial photointerpretation techniques. In the present study an attempt has been made to develop a methodology for mapping understorey vegetation in part of Kanha National Park, using 1:10,000-scale black-and-white aerial photographs.

The Park, one of the best for Tiger (Felis tigris) visibility and observation of other large carnivores and herbivores, has been mapped, with subdivision into 11 vegetation cover-classes and four density-classes, using aerial photographs, and each class has been visited in the field for understorey information concerning different physiographic units. Each category of canopy-cover was sampled in the field, and tree base-cover per hectare has been estimated.

Vertical profiles have also been drawn in the main vegetation classes in order to understand the occurrence of understorey vegetation. It was found that a physiographic analysis coupled with canopy-cover type and density, with appropriate sampling in the individual vegetation strata, have together proved indicative of understorey vegetationtype. When the relationship between understorey vegetation and canopy-cover type is established, one can directly depict understorey limits spatially in conjunction with the main vegetation cover. Such an approach of mapping understorey vegetation using aerial photographs could be of immense value for wildlife habitat evaluation and park management.

Urgent threats to the Gulf of California ecosystem from modern human activity obscure the fact that humans have interacted with native plants and animals for millennia. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that indigenous peoples occupied both sides of the Gulf some 13 000 calendar years ago and that they eventually inhabited six major islands and visited most smaller ones. Biologists have increasingly realized that these peoples probably played a role in shaping island biotic communities extant today. How much of a role is unknown, but the best places to find evidence may be archaeological sites, which often contain remains of plants and animals directly used by prehistoric peoples. The opportunity to investigate the interaction between early humans and island biota may be lost because modern island visitors endanger sites. Many people, whether boaters, ecotourists, government officials, scientists or artefact collectors, enjoy picking up artefacts. Small surface sites, with exposed remains, can be completely denuded in minutes. Visitors to small islands can obliterate entire archaeological records, thereby creating the illusion of pristine islands. This problem is bound to worsen as Mexico implements Escalera Náutica, a chain of marinas specifically intended to multiply manyfold the boating population. The Mexican government's management plan for Gulf islands, published in 2000, recognizes only a general need to manage cultural resources. Specific mechanisms for protecting sites should be developed. These should educate visitors about the importance of the archaeological record and the destructiveness of collecting. They should also provide adequate enforcement of Mexico's existing antiquities laws. Conserving the archaeological resources may be the best way of preserving biological data essential to island biogeographers and ecologists.

Throughout the world tourism is a tool for economic growth, conservation and improved quality of life for local residents, yet negative environmental impacts and economic leakages are common. Since the impacts of tourism are variable, it is important to understand which businesses are providing conservation and community benefits. Commercial success is often cited as an important determinant of sustainable behaviour, however, little research examines relationships between commercial success and provision of conservation and community benefits. Tour operators (businesses that organize and run tours) and agencies (businesses that sell tours operated by others) offering nature-based tours and travel services in Costa Rica were surveyed to answer the following questions: is commercial success in tourism ventures associated with conservation behaviour and the provision of benefits to local communities? If so, what factors are most associated with commercial success? Commercially successful entrepreneurs provided environmental education to visitors, supported conservation groups or initiatives, reduced, reused and/or recycled waste, used environmentally friendly equipment, and built formal partnerships with community members. Typically, these entrepreneurs had larger businesses, greater perceived success (relative to other similar businesses), and more growth (both in terms of visitors and employees). However, the extent to which entrepreneurs educated and employed local people, purchased supplies locally, and patronized local hotels and lodges was not related to commercial success. Overall, a relationship existed between an entrepreneur's level of commercial success and the provision of conservation benefits, but there was little evidence supporting a relationship between commercial success and community benefits. Nevertheless, most tourism businesses reported that they do provide benefits to local communities regardless of their level of commercial success. Therefore, in a country like Costa Rica, with a long history of using tourism as a conservation and community development tool, this study showed that tourism can benefit the environment and local people.

Against the backdrop of the competing demands of agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation, understanding land-use changes is critical. We studied the past, current and future landscape–dynamic scenarios for coffee and rice-coupled crops at a village scale in the Western Ghats (southern India) by integrating three levels of organization (patch, farm and soils). The village structures and dynamics from 1950 to 2010 were modelled with the Dynamic Patch Landscape (DYPAL) modelling platform and analysed with Comparison Map Profile (CMP) spatial analysis in order to assess environmental trends. Our model, combined with mathematical formalizations and multiscale analyses, was also used to project future land-use sustainability. Our findings highlight significant environmental issues affecting the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, which is also subject to increasing and differential demands for other crops that are dependent on farm production systems. Intensive coffee cultivation, with conversion of the forest cover into Grevillea robusta monoculture and ongoing paddy abandonment, have had a strong impact on the region's landscape (+30% G. robusta) and biodiversity (from –3% to –13% in the already-reduced forest cover).

Declining species richness is a global concern; however, the coarse-scale metrics used at regional or landscape levels might not accurately represent the important habitat characteristics needed to estimate species richness. Currently, there exists a lack of knowledge with regard to the spatial extent necessary to correlate remotely sensed habitat metrics to species richness and animal surveys. We provide a protocol for determining the best scale to use when merging remotely sensed habitat and animal survey data as a step towards improving estimates of vertebrate species richness on broad scales. We test the relative importance of fine-resolution habitat heterogeneity and productivity metrics at multiple spatial scales as predictors of species richness for birds, frogs and mammals using a Bayesian approach and a combination of passive monitoring technologies. Model performance was different for each taxonomic group and dependent on the scale at which habitat heterogeneity and productivity were measured. Optimal scales included a 20-m radius for bats and frogs, an 80-m radius for birds and a 180-m radius for terrestrial mammals. Our results indicate that optimal scales do exist when merging remotely sensed habitat measures with ground-based surveys, but they differ between vertebrate groups. Additionally, the selection of a measurement scale is highly influential to our understanding of the relationships between species richness and habitat characteristics.

Ecological restoration is suggested as a tool to mitigate environmental problems caused by urbanization, but its utility may be hampered by conflict between ecological design and neighbouring communities’ needs. We explore this issue by comparing vegetation diversity and structure in a 21-year-old urban reforestation project in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil, with a nearby reference forest, and we assessed popular perceptions about the project. Overall, density and basal area of canopy trees in the restoration plantation reached 73% and 46%, respectively, of the values found in the reference forest, but ground cover by exotic grasses was substantially higher in the planted forest. Rarefied species richness was similarly high in the plantation forest (59 species) and in the remnant forest (69 species), but species composition was markedly different. The human legacy on restoration diminished with time, reflected in the higher proportion of species and individuals of late-successional, native and not-planted species in the seedling community of the plantation forest. While community perceptions of reforestation were positive and both use and non-use values were reported, interviewees reported little involvement in the development of the project, which could have contributed to synergies between ecological and social outcomes.

Millions of people living in poverty depend on non-timber forest products (NTFPs), yet forest protection causes displacement, replacement or reduction of NTFP extraction activities, with implications for human welfare. Here, we assess the impact of forest protection on a novel measure of wellbeing that incorporates both objective and subjective components of people's lives. In five villages near forests with mixed protection status in Tanzania, household perceived need for firewood is compared with actual consumption in order to provide a simple metric of firewood sufficiency. Firewood sufficiency varied with forest protection status, with non-compliance inferred by household ability to meet firewood needs despite forest access restrictions. Fuel-efficient stove ownership improved the perceived ability to meet firewood needs; however, actual consumption remained unchanged. Firewood sufficiency was significantly lower for those sourcing firewood outside forests, and increased household awareness of the management authority significantly reduced firewood consumption. In a forest landscape of mixed protection status, pressure will likely be displaced to the forest with the least active management authority, affecting their efficiency as non-extractive reserves. Our findings reinforce the need for a landscape approach to forest management planning that accounts for local needs, to avoid leakage to other less well-protected forests and detriment to household welfare.

Forests are the most widespread terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. In 2015, natural forests accounted for 93% (3.7 billion ha) of this global forest area (FAO 2016), albeit only 26% of these are primary forest (i.e. old-growth or ancient woodland). Since 1990, 31 million ha of primary forest have been modified or cleared, and a net loss of 129 million ha of natural forest has occurred (–0.13%/year) (FAO 2016). This deforestation has largely been in tropical South America and Africa, where forests have been cleared and converted for agricultural uses, resulting in habitat loss and carbon emissions.

For many, declining biodiversity represents an emotionally and psychologically distant ‘cost’ – similar to how a number of people perceive climate change. Using an expectancy-value theory framework, we showed participants photographs that visibly illustrated the threat of biodiversity loss. Specifically, we tested a combination of preregistered and exploratory hypotheses through an online experiment (n = 843) to understand whether viewing photographs of plants and animals (with and without captions) bolstered people’s valuing of biodiversity and willingness to donate to a nature-focused charity relative to a control group. Participants who viewed photographs (without captions) valued biodiversity more and donated more to the nature-focused charity; those who viewed photographs with captions showed similar though more muted (non-statistically significant) effects. Follow-up mediation analyses on the photographs-only participants suggested that the photographs may have catalysed negative emotions that increased valuing of biodiversity and, in turn, increased donations. This study provides preregistered evidence that thoughtfully selected photographs boost people’s valuing of biodiversity and exploratory evidence that the pathway through which that might occur is more likely via negative emotions than through reduced psychological distance. Educators, conservationists, journalists and others may find these results informative as they develop strategies for addressing the acute problem of biodiversity loss.

The changing fortunes of ecological issues in American society suggest the importance of citizen attention and attitudes to environmental problems. Only a few studies since Earth Day, 1970, have focused on a key group of political actors in natural resource politics—environmental activists. The great variety of issues that are of interest to environmentally-concerned individuals suggest that important differences exist among environmentalists regarding the nature of ecological problems.

The present paper examines the attitudes of these people and how they have defined the extent and character of the ecological crisis. By adopting an analytical framework that described levels of environmental understanding, this analysis has attempted to explore belief-structures within the environmental movement and the implications of these beliefs for future change. The evidence revealed that, while environmentalism is not a monolithic social movement, a substantial majority of the respondents to sets of questions about key issues were in the ‘reformist’ mode of environmental activity—that is, environmental problems are reasonably well understood by these activists, the origins of environmental problems are seen by them in terms of consumption and production activities in society, and these attitudes demand political action that is compatible with existing institutions.

Rural people in most of the developing countries are facing an acute shortage of domestic fuel which has led to many socio-economic and environmental problems. In an attempt to examine the nature and extent of the household energy problem, and to suggest certain measures to alleviate it, 432 sample households from eight sample villages in Haryana, north-western India, were surveyed using structured questionnaires during 1995. We find that there has been widespread switching over to low quality fuels (crop residue and dung cake), more time and effort are now spent in fetching fuelwood, biomass fuels have been monetized, and that severe degradation of vegetation cover has occurred. All these changes reflect the acute shortage of household energy in rural areas of Haryana State. It has almost become a crisis, particularly in the Eastern Haryana Region and in poor households. The common lands still provide a significant proportion of household fuel, especially to landless and marginal farming households. Hence, energy plantation on common lands is an immediate, feasible and sustainable solution to the rural energy problem. There is also an urgent need to prevent the wastage of energy by increasing end-use efficiency.

One major source of uncertainty in industrial planning is due to the conflicting uses of environmental components by the proponent of an action and the various ‘actors’ who share the proponent's environment. These actors may be government agencies, health authorities, conservancy organizations, or individual citizens. As they all share the environment with the proponent of the action, there should also be a sharing of the decision-making process.

Difficulties of identifying potential actors at the non-governmental level can be reduced by undertaking a rigorous analysis of the environmental components, of the uses which they serve, of the way in which the uses may be impaired by proposed activities, and hence of which users are most likely to be concerned.

The result of such an approach, which constitutes a new style of management ‘from the outside–in’ rather than ‘from the inside–out’, is that industry must involve itself in a broader-based and more imaginative planning process than hitherto. Failure by industry to do this will result in either a progressive erosion of the freedom of decision-making (by increased government interference) or in progressive blocking of industry's plans and consequently a reduction in its ability to achieve its corporate objectives of profit–growth–security in the face of conflict over its operations, its siting proposals, and its products.

Suitable realization by managements of the interdependence of their actions with those of others should lead to the addition of a truly environmental dimension to their traditional function—even without the governmental intervention and pressure-group counteractivity which have become increasingly evident with the growth of the environmental movement in recent years.

Many factors influence the dynamics of fisheries and feedback mechanisms amongst these factors are poorly understood. The ecological systems are too large and complex to conduct controlled experiments and economic adjustments to changes in fish populations defy traditional equilibrium analysis. New modelling approaches are required to identify the driving forces behind the dynamics of exploited fish populations, assess likely consequences of alternative management measures, and achieve consensus among stakeholders.

We present an interdisciplinary modelling approach that can be used easily to assess dynamic consequences of alternative assumptions for certain key biological and economic parameters, and incorporates the input of various stakeholder groups in the fishery. Contributions of scientists, economists and managers to the model can be augmented with contributions from the fisherfolk.

Our approach is illustrated by a dynamic computer model capturing the interactions of three demersal fish species on Georges Bank, namely Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua), Haddock (Melanogramus aeglefimts) and Pollack (Pollachius virens), population sizes of which are assumed to be density-dependent for the purposes of the model and are significantly affected by management decisions. The model addresses how management measures for one species influence the population dynamics of other commercially exploited species. Various scenarios are run to explore the implications of viable management strategies under alternative assumptions on the driving forces behind complex ecological-economic processes. The analyses indicate that neither small reductions in effort nor mesh size increases are likely to prevent the further demise of the Georges Bank ground fisheries, and, in fact, stocks of the three targeted species may decline. Alternative management measures seem to be necessary to prevent collapse, and might include various strategies, such as effort controls and mesh size reductions, in conjunction with a dramatic change in fishing technology. The assessment and viability of alternative management measures in turn require that consensus is generated among stakeholders about data and models.

It is argued that, while designation (i.e. allocation) of an area to wilderness or related nature conservation purposes is an important action, it is merely a necessary but insufficient step in the long-term preservation and protection of such areas. Although one can argue that areas designated for preservation objectives require little or no management, the persistent pressures stemming from their continued use, as well as external pressures stemming from increasing (and/or increasingly mobile) human populations, make the issue of management not one of whether but rather of how.

Wilderness management is an inherently difficult task. Generally low levels of information foster great uncertainly with which managers must contend. The difficulty is further promoted by the relative scarcity of the wilderness resource, and by potentially irreversible consequences stemming from decisions made in the face of uncertainty.

The difficult nature of the job of wilderness management could be made less so by improvements in the following areas:

1. Development of accurate baseline information about the wilderness resource and its use;

2. Development of a hierarchical management framework that specified goals, objectives, and actions;

3. Improved understanding of the consequences of alternative management actions;

4. Resolution of the underlying philosophical basis for management; and

5. Development of a broad spectrum of areas with varying levels of importance placed on Nature conservation, so that some areas are provided with relatively high levels of human presence and impact, while others are managed so as to provide the highest degree of protection to Nature and conservation values.