Lmst

🎉 🎉 🎉 🐜 🐜 🐜 Genetic and phenotypic responses to #HabitatFragmentation in a European #HarvesterAnt

#ConservationGenetics #MessorStructor #FluctuatingAsymmetry #GyneSize #HabitatIsland #Inbreeding #Outbreeding

This creates a patchwork of #MicroHabitats that can support more mobile #insect life and other small beings, which is particularly crucial in areas where #HabitatFragmentation is severe. This patchwork can create #migration corridors, at least for smaller, very mobile #species, between larger areas of habitat that were previously cut off from each other.

It may not seem like much to have a few pots of #NativeFlowers on your tiny little balcony compared to someone

4/6

Multi-Stage Semantic Segmentation Quantifies Fragmentation of Small Habitats at a Landscape Scale
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https://bsky.app/profile/david-alexander.bsky.social/post/3lapamlpwks25 <-- shared #BlueSky post
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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15225277 <-- shared paper
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H/T David Alexander (@david-alexander.bsky.social‬)
“AI predictions of #LandCover in the #PeakDistrict #NationalPark [UK]…”
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #semanticsegmentation #convolutionalneuralnetwork #landcoverprediction #habitatfragmentation #landcover #AI #CNN #conservation #planning #management #habitats #machinelearning #PDNP #PeakDistrict #NationalPark #NP #UK #Britain #England #spatialanalysis #model #modeling

aerial image with annotation - “AI predictions of #LandCover in the #PeakDistrict #NationalPark [UK]…”

maps and aerial images - (a) Detailed land cover predictions for entire Peak District National Park (1439 km²). (b) Close-ups of the three insets shown in panel (a). The RGB images (top) and model predictions (bottom) of three 1 km × 1 km example tiles are shown.

charts and images - Multi-stage semantic segmentation approach, where (a) land cover (LC) is predicted from RGB images in multiple stages: classification of the main class, overlaying the OS NGD layer, classification of the detailed subclasses, and post-processing to further split up subclasses (based on soil data). (b) The classifiers are Convolutional Neural Networks that use the U-Net architecture, consisting of convolutional layers as well as skip connections [14,34] to map RGB images to LC predictions. (c) The LC schema is hierarchical, and multiple classifiers and post-processing layers are used to predict all subclasses. Colours correspond to the steps in panel (a).

charts, maps & aerial images - Semantic segmentation of main classes. (a) Main class classifiers converged, as demonstrated by the test data loss (while convergence was determined based on training loss). (b) Distribution of data per main class, where the train and test data consisted of 70% and 30% of the data, respectively. The right y-axis indicates the equivalent number of full 64 m × 64 m patches (i.e., the total area per class divided by the area per patch). (c) Confusion matrix of the model’s predictions on the test data. This is further quantified in Table 4. (d) Five example images (top) and their predicted land cover (bottom) are shown; the size is that which was presented to the CNN model (64 m × 64 m, North-oriented). C—woodlands, D—moorlands and E—grasslands.

Tunnels aim to encourage British #snakes to mix and breed https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/10/adder-girl-tunnels-aim-to-encourage-british-snakes-to-mix-and-breed

"The tunnels opened for snakes this spring after radio-tagging studies showed two #adder populations on the commons were not mixing because of the road. The populations need to meet each other to breed and boost their genetic diversity... #Britain’s only #venomous snake has vanished from central #England over the last decade because of persecution, #HabitatFragmentation and non-native #pheasants predation"

aerial photo of a small wildlife crossing under a narow road

Koalas and wildlife running the gauntlet on Hogbin Drive?

Hogbin Drive leads through coastal bush and wetland near Coffs Harbour airport and has been a wildlife squasher for a long time. Now that the 'fauna exclusion fence" is almost complete, motorists can speed without 'obstacles' getting in their way. The three kilometres of fencing was meant to prevent the killing of five koalas per year and many injured wildlife.

"It was a tragedy to see a dead koala on Hogbin Drive on Sunday, April 28th just north of the airport roundabout especially after fencing was put up on either side of the road. All that money spent by the council just to create a gauntlet that koalas cant get out of once they have scaled the fencing."

The other day, part of the not yet completed fence was destroyed by a vehicle. Today a large wallaby was trapped and killed on the inside of the road. The gene flow of local biodiversity is now even more restricted than before, but the free flow of traffic is an absolute priority.
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Making things safer for Coffs Harbour koalas on the go
https://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/Newsroom/Making-things-safer-for-Coffs-Harbour-koalas-on-the-go

City of Coffs Harbour, Koala Register, where people can track and record local sightings. (of roadkill?)
https://haveyoursay.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/Koala-Register
#koalas #wildlife #roads #HabitatFragmentation #fences #cars #crashes #roadkill #fatalities #airport #GeneFlow #MobilityDesign #NSWKoalaStrategy

Forest Fragmentation Is Changing The Shape Of Amazonian Trees, Finds Study [remotesensing]
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https://phys.org/news/2023-12-forest-fragmentation-amazonian-trees.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44004-5 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #amazonia #amazon #amazonrainforest #brazil #remotesensing #LiDAR #terrestrial #terrestriallaser #forestry #lossofhabitat #clearing #trees #vegetation #harvesting #model #modeling #canopy #tree #treecanopy #deforested #tropicalrainforest #tropical #rainforest #forestedge #treeshape #light #sunlight #biomass #ecosystem #treehealth #fragmentedforest #model #survey #habitatfragmentation #treearchitecture #allometry #forestconservation #foresthealth #CentralAmazonia #edgeeffects #carbonsequestration #climatechange

graphic - cross section - Point cloud of trees growing in fragmented forests in Central Amazonia, obtained using high-resolution terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) - The quantification of architectural attributes of tropical trees is challenging and has been largely overlooked. TLS offers new perspectives into the three-dimensional (3D) structure of trees, including descriptions of fine-scale architectural traits such as tree asymmetry and vertical distribution of branches. Here, [they] investigate how the architecture of surviving and young colonising trees change with proximity to forest edges. [They] used TLS data that resulted in a point spacing of 1.4 cm at a 20 m distance from the scanner.

graphic - charts - Architectural traits acquired using a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) in Central Amazonia varied with tree height and were affected by edge effects.

graphic - charts - Allometric models for predicting the woody volume of Amazonian trees

photo - from the ground looking up to the tree canopy, Amazon rain forest

Must manage resource roads (oils and gas, forestry, mining, etc) if we want to keep some grizzlies on the landscape. Females stop having offspring once there’s a certain density of roads, and poachers use the roads.

#GrizzlyConservation
#HabitatFragmentation

http://transbordergrizzlybearproject.ca/pdf/Proctor%20et%20al%202018%20Grizzlies%20&%20Resource%20Roads%20Report.pdf

The unseen impact of the country's relentless urban sprawl on the native wildlife population. The displacement of biodiversity with wo/men and their dogs

“The wildlife is suffering ..., the kangaroos haven't got anywhere to go. They can’t go back to where they came from because it’s just houses now."

"While developments are financially lucrative for both construction companies and the local council, residents (wildlife carers) say they’ve been left to clean up the mess with little help."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/dangerous-problem-sparked-by-citys-continuous-urban-sprawl-043435218.html
#monoculture #sprawl #roads #cars #roadkill #WildlifeCarer #council #wildlife landlocked #HabitatFragmentation #biodiversity #ExtinctionCrisis

And then the koalas just vanished...
Speeding cars, road designs, roaming dogs and disease are the biggest koala killers.
Logging and sprawl should also be added to the list of extinction makers

"A database tracking hospital admissions and deaths reveals the devastating impact cars, disease and dogs are having on the South East Queensland koala population"
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"In the five years between 2009 and 2014, 52% of reported wild koala deaths were caused by car strike, 34% were from a chlamydia-related disease and 14% were because of a dog attack.

"This equates to 1,431 koala deaths from a car strike, 943 chlamydia-related deaths, and 395 dog attack deaths in just five years."

"Remember that these deaths were just the reported cases, so the real numbers would be significantly higher."
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-cars-chlamydia-canines-biggest-koala.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-40827-w
Ravi Bandara Dissanayake et al, Anthropogenic and environmental factors associated with koala deaths due to dog attacks and vehicle collisions in South-East Queensland, Australia, 2009–2013, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40827-w
#dogs #pets #dogAttacks #Mauling #cars #speeding #roads #RoadDesign #HabitatFragmentation #koalas #wildlife #IndustrialLogging #Bellingen #ThreatenedSpecies #IntroducedSpecies #sprawl #biodiversity #conservation #extinction makers

Introduced species killing endemic koalas

This @TheWarOnCars episode was hugely mind expanding, and well worth your time:

https://mastodon.social/@TheWarOnCars/110735155005451905

#Traffication
#HabitatFragmentation

"10 million animals are hit on our roads each year."
"As Australia’s population expands, wildlife are pushed into smaller areas, with more roads criss-crossing their habitats. The most visible victims of #RoadExpansion are larger mammals such as possums, wombats, kangaroos and #koalas. However, millions of smaller animals including echidnas, birds, reptiles and frogs are also injured or killed each year on our roads."
https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733

https://www.wires.org.au/
#Wildlife rescue

#HabitatFragmentation #Roads #Cars #Motorists #Roadkill #VehicleCrashes #Speeding #DogAttacks #HumanDominatedLandscapes #BellingenShireCouncil #Biodiversity #Euthanasia #Extinction