December 2013
Conservation Leadership Programme e-Newsletter
Taking leadership training to the field
Executive Manager's Message

Think to yourself for a moment – what is exciting about leadership? Got it? Now, what is scary about leadership? These are some of the questions we ask participants to share with one another at the start of our leadership workshop. At the end of November, CLP ran the first extended leadership course for Central and South American conservationists in partnership with NatureServe.

The 24 participants on the course were a combination of NatureServe network affiliates, CLP partner staff members and CLP alumni. Held outside of Lima, Peru, the group gathered for four days to delve into topics such as personal leadership style, conflict diagnosis, peer consults, stakeholder mapping and much more. We look forward to building on this course for future collaborations.

Heading north from Peru, CLP was in Ecuador in October to deliver our Project Planning and Proposal Writing course. Held in the cloud forest, the group worked with our expert facilitators to prepare proposals for 2014 CLP funding and other donors. Our suite of trainings will continue into early next year with a Publication Writing course in Southeast Asia.

Back in the office, we are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2013 Kate Stokes Memorial Award!  Kanchana Weerakoon from Sri Lanka will lead a project focused on reconnecting kids and youth from an urban environment with Mother Nature by conducting awareness programs and projects that get them outdoors and experiencing nature.

As many of you know, the application process for 2014 CLP Awards is well underway. Special thanks to all of our CLP Alumni Ambassadors who volunteered their time to provide feedback to applicants in their region. We have recently begun our review process and look forward to hearing back from our cohort of reviewers in the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter, featuring exciting amphibian updates, trans-boundary collaboration in Asia and much more. Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@CLPawards) to keep up with program and alumni news.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season.

Robyn Dalzen
CLP Director

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Where Are They Now?

Patricia Davis is Director at Community Centred Conservation (C3), an NGO which builds capacity and conserves species in coastal communities of the Comoros, Madagascar, the Philippines and Fiji.

In an interview with CLP, Patricia gives us an insight into her work and reflects on key moments in her career to date.

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Free Conservation Resources

We´re pleased to announce the availability of two free resources to assist with your conservation work: GIS training materials developed through a CLP Learning Exchange which took place in the Philippines, and English and Spanish versions of an excellent fundraising manual.

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IN THIS ISSUE
Executive Manager's Message
Where Are They Now?
Free Conservation Resources
Colombia Capacity Video
Alumni Accomplishments
Upcoming Events
Conservation in Action
Final Reports
Alumni Publications
Project Websites
Colombia Capacity Video

Earlier this year, the CLP was invited to participate in a unique event  - the first conference which was organized by capacity builders for capacity builders working in the conservation sector. Read more...

Alumni Accomplishments

Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi (2011, India) joined the Snow Leopard Trust as their Regional Ecologist.

Dr. Fan Peng-Fei (2008, 2010, China) was selected as New Century Excellent Talent by the Ministry of Education in China. The prestigious award includes 250,000 RMB.

Renata Ferrari Legorreta (2008 CLP-RFP) was awarded the Future Leaders Award by the University of Queensland.

Elena Salmanova (2007 CLP Intern) is Deputy Director for Science and Environmental Education at the Land of the Leopard National Park, Russia.

Irene Gauto (2013, Paraguay) won the 2014 Elizabeth E. Bascom Fellowship in Conservation Biology from the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Read more!

Upcoming Events

25-28 Feb 2014: Annual Conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology - Germany

25-27 Mar 2014: Student Conference on Conservation Science - UK

12-16 May 2014: 3rd International Climate Change Adaptation Conference - Brazil

13-16 July 2014: North American Congress for Conservation Biology - USA

20-24 July 2014: 51st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation - Australia

14-19 Aug 2014: International Marine Conservation Congress - Scotland

19-22 Aug 2014: 3rd SCB Asia Regional Conference - Malaysia

18-24 Aug 2014: 26th International Ornithological Congress - Japan

5-11 Oct 2014: International Union of Forest Research Organizations World Congress - USA

12-19 Nov 2014: IUCN World Parks Congress - Australia

Conservation in Action

Trans-boundary dolphin conservation

 

Amur Leopard with white paws on video!

 

Poop - a non-invasive key to flying fox DNA

Uncovering amphibians across continents

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Final Reports

Bringing Bat off the Brink: Conservation action for the Critically Endangered Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat (2006)

White Sand Forests in Upper Amazonia: Conservation of its Endemic Avifauna and Flora, Peru (2006)

Conservation of the Medemia argun and the Nubian Desert Oasis Biodiversity in Egypt (2008)

Last chance to save? Averting amphibian conservation crisis in Bale, Ethiopia (2010)

Identification and Protection of Important Bat Caves in Turkey (2010)

CHAGRA' 2010: Enhancing Conservation of the Chalk Grasslands in Ukraine (2010)

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Human-Snow Leopard Conflict in Spiti Valley, India (2011)

Read Final Report Summaries

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Alumni Publications

D’Lima, C., Marsh, H., Hamann, M., Sinha, A., & Arthur, R. (2013)  Positive Interactions Between Irrawaddy Dolphins and Artisanal Fishers in the Chilika Lagoon of Eastern India are Driven by Ecology, Socioeconomics, and Culture. AMBIO doi: 10.1007/s13280-013-0440-4

In human-dominated landscapes, interactions and perceptions towards wildlife are influenced by multidimensional drivers. Understanding these drivers could prove useful for wildlife conservation. We surveyed the attitudes and perceptions of fishers towards threatened Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) at Chilika Lagoon India. To validate the drivers of fisher perceptions, we : (1) observed dolphin foraging behavior at stake nets, and (2) compared catch per unit effort (CPUE) and catch income of fishers from stake nets in the presence and absence of foraging dolphins. We found that fishers were mostly positive towards dolphins, believing that dolphins augmented their fish catch and using culture to express their perceptions. Foraging dolphins were observed spending half their time at stake nets and were associated with significantly higher catch income and CPUE of mullet (Liza sp.), a locally preferred food fish species. Wildlife conservation efforts should use the multidimensional drivers of human–wildlife interactions to involve local stakeholders in management.

D’Souza, E., Patankar, V., Arthur, R., Alcoverro, T., Kelkar, N. (2013) Long-Term Occupancy Trends in a Data-Poor Dugong Population in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago. PLoS ONE 8(10): e76181. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0076181

We estimated long-term (over 50 years) occupancy, persistence and extinction of a data-poor dugong (Dugong dugon) population across multiple seagrass meadows in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, India. This study was based on historical sighting, stranding and mortality records from 1959-2004 and extensive surveys carried out by us between the years 2010 and 2012 in all potential dugong habitats covering c. 75 % of the coastline. Dugong populations are currently restricted to a few areas where they seem to have persisted over several years. We found that dugong occupancy had declined by 60% over the last 20 years and the present-day occurrences were mainly in sheltered bays and channels with persistent seagrass meadows dominated by Halophila and Halodule sp. Availability of suitable seagrass habitat is not a limiting factor for dugong presence, but entanglement in gillnets and direct hunting appears to have likely resulted in local extinction of dugongs from several locations.

Garbino, G.S.T., Silva, F.E., & Davis, B.J.W. (2013) Range extension of the vulnerable dwarf marmoset, Callibella humilis (Roosmalen et al. 1998), and first analysis of its long call structure. Primates 54(4): 331-334.

We present two new records for the vulnerable dwarf marmoset, Callibella humilis. The first record, based on observed and photographed individuals, is from a campinarana area on the left (west) bank of the Rio Madeirinha, a left (west)-bank tributary of the Rio Roosevelt in the state of Amazonas, municipality of Novo Aripuanã and extends the distribution of the species ~270 km southwards, to the left (west) bank of the rio Roosevelt. The second record is based on an individual collected from the mouth of the Rio Roosevelt, at less than 10 km from the type locality of Mico marcai. This indicates that the species occurs sympatrically with M. marcai and probably Mico melanurus. We also present the first sonogram analysis of its long call structure, which shows some similarities, in the note duration and frequency, with Cebuella pygmaea and Mico argentatus.

Ma, Z., Hua, N., Peng, H., Choi, C., Battley, P.F., Zhou, Q., Chen, Y., Ma, Q., Jia, N., Xue, W., Bai, Q., Wu, W., Feng, X., & Tang, C. (2013) Differentiating between stopover and staging sites: functions of the southern and northern Yellow Sea for long-distance migratory shorebirds. Journal of Avian Biology 44: 504-512.

Many migratory shorebirds along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway are declining due to habitat loss. There is an urgent need to determine the roles of different stopping sites (rest vs refuelling) for migratory birds during northward migration in the Yellow Sea in East Asia, where many of the critical stopping areas are located. Our study indicate that the study sites in the southern Yellow Sea provide temporary resting sites for birds in poor condition and for birds that encounter unfavorable weather conditions, while the northern Yellow Sea provide critical refueling sites for the entire population. The rapid turnover rate in the southern Yellow Sea indicates that many more birds use that area than are indicated by peak counts.

Mao, X., Thong, V. D., Bates, P. J. J., Jones, G., Zhang, S. & Rossiter, S. J. (2013) Multiple cases of asymmetric introgression among horseshoe bats detected by phylogenetic conflicts across loci. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 110: 346–361. doi: 10.1111/bij.12138

Phylogenetic discordance among taxa can provide powerful insights into past episodes of introgressive hybridization, as well as lineage sorting. Previously, we showed that the taxonomically distinct taxon Rhinolophus sinicus septentrionalis has undergone historical introgression with its sympatric sister subspecies Rhinolophus sinicus sinicus. To examine in more detail the extent of gene flow between these two taxa, and also between these and their sister species Rhinolophus thomasi, we obtained new samples from China, Myanmar, and Vietnam, and combined new and published genetic data from these, Rhinolophus rouxii, and Rhinolophus indorouxii from India. Phylogenetic analyses revealed three separate cases of discordance: between R. s. septentrionalis and adjacent populations of R. s. sinicus, between R. s. septentrionalis and R. thomasi and between eastern populations of R. s. sinicus and a newly-identified lineage. In both former cases the mitochondrial DNA introgression appears to be asymmetric, which is likely to have resulted from mating between R. s. septentrionalis females with smaller R. s. sinicus and R. thomasi males, although we cannot rule out other scenarios completely. Further conflicts between genetic data and accepted species arrangements across the genus, with paraphyly of members of the rouxii-group, suggest the need for a thorough systematic revision of relationships within this group.

Pereyra, L.C., Akmentins, M.S., Laufer, G., & Vaira, M. (2013) A new species of Elachistocleis (Anura: Microhylidae) from north-western Argentina. Zootaxa 3694(6): 525-544.

Elachistocleis haroi sp. nov. is described from El Algarrobal, Jujuy province, north-western Argentina. The new species is diagnosed by the dorsal pattern of mid-longitudinal bright yellow stripe from the intraocular zone, surpassing the post-cephalic transverse skin fold, to vent; dorsum grayish brown mottled with a paravertebral symmetric pattern of dark spots resembling a pine tree; and a thin regular yellow line on the posterior surface of the thighs and tibiae. The advertisement call is a long trill with an average duration of 3.18 seconds, multipulsed with a mean dominant frequency of 4.56 kHz. The tadpole is characterized by the oral dermal flaps with papillae-like edges.

See More Publications

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Project Websites

Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan | Bat Census in Crimean Caves (Ukraine) | Birds-Indonesia | BirdLife Zimbabwe | Community-based Conservation of Lake Kuyucuk, Kars (Turkey) | Community Centered Conservation (C3 - Comoros) | Community Forest Buffer (India) | Conservacion Argentina | Ecology and Conservation of the Chilean Dolphin | EcoLeague (Russia) | EcoMuseum (Kazakhstan) | Fundación Conserva (Colombia) | Fundación CEBio (Argentina) | Giant Otter Conservation (Bolivia) | Guyra (Paraguay) | Jampatu - Conserving Bolivian Amphibians | Katala Foundation (Philippines) | Kuzeydoga (Turkey) | Life on Chalk (Ukraine) | Mabuwaya Foundation (Philippines) | Macedonian Ecological Society | Madagasikara Voakajy | Maio Biodiversity Foundation (Cape Verde) | Marsh Deer Project (Argentina) | Mpingo Conservation Project (Tanzania) | Nature Conservation Foundation (India) | Nature Iraq | Oycos (Venezuela) | ProDelphinus (Peru) | Project Hapalopsittaca (Colombia) | Project Karumbé (Uruguay) | Proyecto Washu (Ecuador) | Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (Russia) | Samoan Birds | Save the Frogs Ghana | Seabirds Argentina | Sea to Shore Alliance (USA) | Soul of the Andes (Argentina) | South Rupununi Conservation Society (Guyana) | Strizh Ecological Centre (Russia) | Tide Belize | Turtle Conservation & Research Programme (India) | WildlifeDirect (Kenya)

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