Reproductive Isolation of Ips nitidus and I. shangrila in Mountain Forests of Western China: Responses to Chiral and Achiral Candidate Pheromone Components.

Eastern Palearctic conifers are subject to frequent bark beetle outbreaks. However, neither the species responsible nor the semiochemicals guiding these attacks are well understood. Two high-mountain Ips species on Qinghai spruce, Picea crassifolia, I. shangrila and I. nitidus, are typical in this regard. Six synthetic candidate pheromone components that we earlier identified from hindguts of unmated males of these two Ips species were tested for field activity in Qinghai province, P. R. China. For I. nitidus, racemic ipsdienol ((±)-Id) could replace the naturally-produced blend of enantiomers containing 74% (-)-(S)-Id (74:26 S:R), in attractive ternary or binary blends. In contrast, sympatric I. shangrila were attracted mainly to blends including Id of opposite chirality, 97%-(+)-(R)-Id. Of the verbenols, (-)-trans-verbenol was inactive for I. nitidus or inhibitory for I. shangrila, but (-)-cis-verbenol (cV) was a key component of the pheromone in both species. Two fully factorial experiments demonstrated that (±)-Id, cV, and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MB) are components of the aggregation pheromone of I. nitidus, whereas only (+)-Id and cV are essential components of the aggregation pheromone of I. shangrila. While MB is not necessary for attraction of I. shangrila, it is an active antagonist and likely functions in species isolation. A review of the pheromone production and responses in Palearctic Ips and Pseudoips showed that cV is more common than methylbutenols, and both elicit qualitatively variable responses. Ipsdienol is the most common component with variable chirality, and is a necessary, but often not sufficient, factor for determining pheromone specificity.

Frontiers of protected areas versus forest exploitation: Assessing habitat network functionality in 16 case study regions globally.

Exploitation of natural forests forms expanding frontiers. Simultaneously, protected area frontiers aim at maintaining functional habitat networks. To assess net effects of these frontiers, we examined 16 case study areas on five continents. We (1) mapped protected area instruments, (2) assessed their effectiveness, (3) mapped policy implementation tools, and (4) effects on protected areas originating from their surroundings. Results are given as follows: (1) conservation instruments covered 3-77%, (2) effectiveness of habitat networks depended on representativeness, habitat quality, functional connectivity, resource extraction in protected areas, time for landscape restoration, "paper parks", "fortress conservation", and data access, (3) regulatory policy instruments dominated over economic and informational, (4) negative matrix effects dominated over positive ones (protective forests, buffer zones, inaccessibility), which were restricted to former USSR and Costa Rica. Despite evidence-based knowledge about conservation targets, the importance of spatial segregation of conservation and use, and traditional knowledge, the trajectories for biodiversity conservation were generally negative.