Conservation, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2023) – 4 articles

Cultivated meat (CM) is a disruptive technology that provides an alternative to animal protein. In this context, the Amazon manatee (Trichechus inunguis) emerges as an important case. Although it is illegal to hunt this large mammal, its meat continues to be consumed, causing several threats to its natural habitat. The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of introducing the Amazon manatee CM into the traditional meat value chain as a tool to aid the biodiversity of the Amazon Basin. Thus, we developed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats matrix from the content analysis of 11 interviews conducted between October 2021 and May 2022. The interviewees were experts in different fields, ranging from financial analysts of novel food technologies to biologists, researchers, and others. We presented the theme of illegal hunting and its consequences during the interviews, followed by the CM process, and explained how the royalties from the sale of this innovative product could help to preserve Amazon biodiversity through the proposal of a new business model. The main findings suggest that the proposed model would produce good results, but the threat of a rebound effect from the consumption of wild animals was mentioned in most responses, especially by actors involved in conservation. The strengths and opportunities of this disruptive narrative mainly focused on preserving biodiversity and promoting environmental awareness, combining the conservation of wildlife and the consumption of novel food. The weaknesses included the lack of knowledge and the non-existent market. This framework is relevant for policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and researchers seeking to improve the sustainability not only of the species found in the Amazon, but also around the world. Full article

In Hawai’i, ecosystem conservation practitioners are increasingly considering the potential ecohydrological benefits from applied conservation action to mitigate the degrading impacts of runoff on native and restored ecosystems. One determinant of runoff is excess rainfall events where rainfall rates exceed the infiltration capacity of soils. To help understand runoff risks, we calculated the probability of excess rainfall events across the Hawaiian landscape by comparing the probability distributions of projected rainfall frequency and land-cover-specific infiltration capacity. We characterized soil infiltration capacity based on different land cover types (bare soil, grasses, and woody vegetation) and compared them to the frequency of large rainfall events under current and future climate scenarios. We then mapped the potential risk of excess rainfall across the main Hawaiian Islands. Our results show that land cover type has a very large effect on runoff risk as excess rainfall conditions are 234% more likely in bare soil and 75% more likely in grasslands compared to woody forests and shrublands. In contrast, projected shifts in rainfall intensity by end-of-century show little impact on these probabilities and thus, the risk of runoff. This indicates that the probability of excess rainfall is primarily driven by differences in land cover and not by current or potential shifts in rainfall patterns across the Hawaiian landscape. The ability to estimate the risk of potentially ecologically and economically costly runoff based on changes of land cover is useful for managers focused on invasive species control and restoration planning, especially for native and endemic ecosystems unique to the State of Hawai’i. Full article

Increasing the germination percentages from chemical and/or mechanical processes in native species is vital for the conservation of the species. The objective was to evaluate the effect of different treatments on the germination process of species belonging to the tropical deciduous forest (TDF) in a forest nursery. Eight species of trees and shrubs reported to be native to the TDF were selected; the seeds were collected from various sites of the state of Queretaro, Mexico. A randomized design of four replicates with 25 seeds was used, for which three pre-germinative scarification treatments were evaluated for each species: (1) thermal scarification (TS), (2) mechanical scarification (MS), and (3) chemical scarification (CS). Germination was considered as the protrusion of cotyledons onto the substrate and was recorded every 48 h for 60 days. A significant difference was observed between treatments (p ≤ 0.05). The mechanical treatment (MS) obtained the highest germination percentage and the least variation, in contrast to the thermal, chemical, and control treatments, which presented the lowest amount of germinated seeds. The MS treatment was the most effective for all the species studied because it allowed for 100% of the germination to be achieved. Full article