Evaluating alternative forest management strategies for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory, southwest Yukon.

Sustainable forest management (SFM) requires the balancing of diverse values and conflicting management objectives. Climate change adds a further degree of uncertainty to this complex issue. In this study we analysed a Strategic Forest Management Plan (SFMP) from the southwest Yukon, Canada. The SFMP was developed to enable the salvage harvesting of beetle-killed white spruce stands and encourage fuel-abatement treatments to reduce fire risk to local communities. It did not, however, provide a long-term strategy to achieve SFM in the region. In this study, the SFMP served as the basis to develop and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the context of climate change. Working group discussions with local stakeholders enabled the structuring of a ratings table that helped practitioners and experts to characterize five alternative strategies stemming from the SFMP, based on its main goals and objectives. An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was then used to balance competing values and objectives and test the alternatives against each other. The strategy 'Manage for multiple values and use' had the highest AHP-score when compared to the four other alternatives (timber, wildlife, fire risk reduction and carbon), which were narrower in scope. It may represent the best balance for the ecological and socio-economic values listed in the SFMP. Although the multiple values (MV) alternative is closest to the current SFMP in terms of scope, this study highlights that there are viable alternatives such as 'manage for wildlife' that achieved similar scores to the MV approach. The current SFMP has great potential to serve as a basis and starting point for a continuous and adaptive planning process for forest management. Exploring the different/alternative strategic directions will help to better address uncertain futures, thereby leading to more sustainable approaches.

Boost the resilience of protected areas to shocks by reducing their dependency on tourism.

Ecotourism is widely considered a strong mechanism for the sustainable funding of protected areas (PAs). Implemented during the 1990s in Madagascar, nature-based tourism experienced positive growth over the last 30 years with increasing numbers of visits to the parks and reserves. Revenue earned from entrance fees to the network of PAs managed by Madagascar National Parks has never been sufficient to finance their management. Political crises and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, have highlighted for park managers, the risk of relying on such earnings when they covered just 1% of the required funding in 2021. Alternative mechanisms of funding are analysed for all of Madagascar's PAs with a view to facilitating sustainable conservation of the localities and protection of the island's biodiversity.

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.

The genus Opisthacanthus Peters, 1861 (Scorpiones: Hormuridae), a remarkable Gondwanian group of scorpions.

New comments are proposed on the geographic distribution of genus Opisthacanthus, and the Gondwanian model is further supported. The diversity of the genus is extraordinary in Madagascar, with the same number of species as in continental Africa, but sub-Saharan Africa is home to six out of the nine groups currently recognized of Opisthacanthus. Given the affinities of the Opisthacanthus groups and their current distribution, a center of origin in Africa could be favored for these ancient scorpions. The proposed Gondwana model suggests that the Madagascar Opisthacanthus are closer to those of the New World, which is consistent with the affinities observed in morphological characters. A new species, Opisthacanthus titanus sp. n., is described from the Torotorofotsy Forest, located in Eastern Madagascar. The new species shows affinities with both Opisthacanthus madagascariensis Kraepelin, 1894 known from dry regions in the western portion of the island and Opisthacanthus lavasoa Lourenço, Wilmé & Waeber, 2016 only known from the extreme southeast of the island. The new species and O. madagascariensis have similar external morphologies but the morphometric values are markedly distinct. Moreover, O. madagascariensis is exclusively found in spiny forest thickets and open woodlands, whereas the new species was found in the humid forest of Torotorofotsy. The total number of species in Madagascar is now raised to twelve. Biogeographical scenarios are also proposed to infer the origin of the Opisthacanthus and better understand its distribution in the New World, in Africa and Madagascar.

On specimen killing in the era of conservation crisis - A quantitative case for modernizing taxonomy and biodiversity inventories.

BACKGROUND TO THE WORK: For centuries taxonomy has relied on dead animal specimens, a practice that persists today despite the emergence of innovative biodiversity assessment methods. Taxonomists and conservationists are engaged in vigorous discussions over the necessity of killing animals for specimen sampling, but quantitative data on taxonomic trends and specimen sampling over time, which could inform these debates, are lacking. METHODS: We interrogated a long-term research database documenting 2,723 land vertebrate and 419 invertebrate taxa from Madagascar, and their associated specimens conserved in the major natural history museums. We further compared specimen collection and species description rates for the birds, mammals and scorpions over the last two centuries, to identify trends and links to taxon descriptions. RESULTS: We located 15,364 specimens documenting endemic mammals and 11,666 specimens documenting endemic birds collected between 1820 and 2010. Most specimens were collected at the time of the Mission Zoologique Franco-Anglo-Américaine (MZFAA) in the 1930s and during the last two decades, with major differences according to the groups considered. The small mammal and bat collections date primarily from recent years, and are paralleled by the description of new species. Lemur specimens were collected during the MZFAA but the descriptions of new taxa are recent, with the type series limited to non-killed specimens. Bird specimens, particularly of non-passerines, are mainly from the time of the MZFAA. The passerines have also been intensely collected during the last two decades; the new material has been used to solve the phylogeny of the groups and only two new endemic taxa of passerine birds have been described over the last two decades. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that specimen collection has been critical for advancing our understanding of the taxonomy of Madagascar's biodiversity at the onset of zoological work in Madagascar, but less so in recent decades. It is crucial to look for alternatives to avoid killing animals in the name of documenting life, and encourage all efforts to share the information attached to historical and recent collections held in natural history museums. In times of conservation crisis and the advancement in digital technologies and open source sharing, it seems obsolete to kill animals in well-known taxonomic groups for the sake of enriching natural history collections around the world.

The geographical pattern of distribution of the genus Tityobuthus Pocock, 1890, a typical Ananterinae element endemic to Madagascar (Scorpiones: Buthidae).

New comments are proposed for the Ananterinae (sensu Pocock) or the 'Ananteris Group'. The worldwide pattern of distribution of the elements associated with the Ananterinae, as well as aspects of their ecology, is discussed. The biogeographic patterns presented by extant and fossil elements of this group confirm not only the characteristics of a lineage representing a typical Gondwanian distribution, but correspond also to older Pangean patterns. One new species is described in the genus Tityobuthus Pocock. This new species is also a possible endemic element to the Island of Nosy-Be or at least to the Sambirano region. Generally, the Madagascar pattern of Tityobuthus is following the Neogrosphus rule, showing typical high species richness with low dispersal when the ancestral population had a large niche breadth.

Marine turtles used to assist Austronesian sailors reaching new islands.

Austronesians colonized the islands of Rapa Nui, Hawaii, the Marquesas and Madagascar. All of these islands have been found to harbor Austronesian artifacts and also, all of them are known nesting sites for marine turtles. Turtles are well known for their transoceanic migrations, sometimes totalling thousands of miles, between feeding and nesting grounds. All marine turtles require land for nesting. Ancient Austronesians are known to have had outstanding navigation skills, which they used to adjust course directions. But these skills will have been insufficient to locate tiny, remote islands in the vast Indo-Pacific oceans. We postulate that the Austronesians must have had an understanding of the marine turtles' migration patterns and used this knowledge to locate remote and unknown islands. The depth and speed at which marine turtles migrate makes following them by outrigger canoes feasible. Humans have long capitalized on knowledge of animal behavior.

More about the geographical pattern of distribution of the genus Pseudouroplectes Lourenço, 1995 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Madagascar.

The genus Pseudouroplectes Lourenço, 1995 (Buthidae) remains among the less speciose Malagasy genera and all the known species are extremely rare. A new species is described from the dry forests in the Tsingy formations of the National Park Bemaraha, extending the distribution of the genus further north. Once again, the single holotype specimen was obtained by extraction with the use of Berlese system. With the description of the new species, the distributional pattern of this genus is confirmed for dry forest formations from the south to the middle of the island; however, for the first time the group's distribution overlaps that of another micro-scorpion genus, Microcharmus Lourenço, 1995. The distribution patterns of the humicolous micro-scorpions endemic to Madagascar are considered to further explore the "Neogrosphus rule" as a possible explanation of global species distribution patterns in changing environments.

How Effective Have Thirty Years of Internationally Driven Conservation and Development Efforts Been in Madagascar?

Conservation and development are intricately linked. The international donor community has long provided aid to tropical countries in an effort to alleviate poverty and conserve biodiversity. While hundreds of millions of $ have been invested in over 500 environmental-based projects in Madagascar during the period covered by a series of National Environmental Action Plans (1993-2008) and the protected areas network has expanded threefold, deforestation remains unchecked and none of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established for 2000-2015 were likely be met. Efforts to achieve sustainable development had failed to reduce poverty or deliver progress toward any of the MDGs. Cross-sectorial policy adjustments are needed that (i) enable and catalyze Madagascar's capacities rather than deepening dependency on external actors such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and donor countries, and that (ii) deliver improvements to the livelihoods and wellbeing of the country's rural poor.

More about the geographical distribution of the Malagasy genus Neogrosphus Lourenço, 1995 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) and description of a vicariant new species.

The distributional patterns of Malagasy scorpions belonging to the endemic genus Neogrosphus Lourenço, 1995 are revised. Up to now only two species were known for this genus: Neogrosphus griveaudi (Vachon, 1969), restricted to the dry forests formations in the southern and western portions of Madagascar, and Neogrosphus blanci Lourenço, 1996 only known from the Massifs of the Central region. Diagnoses are proposed for the genus and known species and a new vicariant species is described from the Ankarana Massif. The actual range of distribution of the members of this genus is currently patchy and fragmented over a large area extending from subarid to subhumid bioclimates. Based on the eco-biogeographical analyses of the genus Neogrosphus, we formulate a global rule to explain species diversity and vicariance.