Stephen E. W. Green

• Doctor of Philosophy: Biodiversity Management
• Lecturer at Newquay University Centre

Mesoamerican cloud forests support a rich and unique biodiversity but face severe threats from increasing habitat degradation and climate change. Here, we present an updated overview of the amphibians and reptiles of Cusuco National Park (CNP), an isolated cloud forest in the Sierra de Omoa, Northwest Honduras. Based on surveys conducted over a 17-...

Cloud forests are amongst the most biologically unique, yet threatened, ecosystems in Mesoamerica. We summarize the ecological value and conservation status of a well-studied cloud forest site: Cusuco National Park (CNP), a 23,440 ha protected area in the Merendón mountains, northwest Honduras. We show cnp to have exceptional biodiversity; of 966 t...

The global extent and distribution of forest trees is central to our understanding of the terrestrial biosphere. We provide the first spatially continuous map of forest tree density at a global scale. This map reveals that the global number of trees is approximately 3.04 trillion, an order of magnitude higher than the previous estimate. Of these tr...

Freshwater habitats are vitally important for vertebrate diversity and ecosystem service provision. These habitats are diverse in scale and type, ranging from vast wetlands and tropical flooded forests to small streams and ponds, but are all equally important to the diverse range of vertebrates they support. The loss and degradation of freshwater h...

The Hog Island Boa constrictor is a dwarfed insular race of Boa constrictor imperator endemic to two small islands (Cayo Cochino Grande and Cayo Cochino Pequeño) in the Cayos Cochinos archipelago, Honduras. During the late 1970s and 1980s the wild population was decimated by intensive and unregulated collection for the pet trade. Fortunately, conse...

Cambridge Core - Natural Resource Management, Agriculture, Horticulture and forestry - Species Conservation - edited by Jamieson A. Copsey

This end of season report is submitted as a review of the summer 2016-2017 seasons and the research activities of the Operation Wallacea research teams in Cusuco National Park, Honduras; over the course of the two summers. This report contains a summary of the methodologies and surveys employed, in addition to the data collected during that time, a...

The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) drives declines and extinctions in amphibian communities. However, not all regions and species are equally affected. Here, we show that association with amphibian aquatic habitat types (bromeliad phytotelmata versus stream) across Central America results in the odds of being threatened by Bd b...

Boxplots showing 18S rRNA microeukaryote diversity and richness estimates for bromeliad and stream microhabitats for rarefied datasets (1000 reads per sample). Plots show total number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), Shannon diversity, and Chao1 diversity per sample. Number of OTUs represents an uncorrected representation of the number of dif...

Bromeliad- and stream-associated Central American anuran species included in the assessments of IUCN conservation status and of occurring threats, with their corresponding IUCN categories, larval development or adult association to the habitat and threats. (XLSX)

Data collected from the bromeliad and stream sampling locations. Data includes physicochemical parameters, Bd prevalence and infection intensity and micro-eukaryote abundance and diversity. (XLSX)

The ability of volunteers to undertake different tasks and accurately collect data is critical for the success of many conservation projects. In this study, a simulated herpetofauna visual encounter survey was used to compare the detection and distance estimation accuracy of volunteers and more experienced observers. Experience had a positive effec...

An important aspect of evaluating biodiversity in a region, starting a monitoring program or informing conservation management decisions is having a good understanding of the taxonomy of local species. However, identification to the species-level can be challenging. A combination of DNA-based and phenotypic character analysis can provide a prelimin...

We examined aspects of natural history and ecology of the black-chested spiny-tailed iguana, Ctenosaura melanosterna, on Cayo Cochino Menor, Honduras, over 6 years to provide baseline data to assist in management of this critically endangered species. Size of territory is resource-dependent, and the species seems to prefer habitats with open canopy...

Cayo Cochino Pequeño (CCP) is a western Caribbean island with a surface area of only 0.64 km2 in the Cayos Cochinos Archipelago, Department of Islas de la Bahía, Honduras. It is relatively ecologically complex, with high herpetofaunal diversity (one turtle, six snake, eight lizard, and one amphibian species), considering the size and location. Alth...

The islands of Cayo Pequeno and Cayo Grande within the Cayos Cochinos archipelago of Honduras each support dwarfed populations of Boa constrictor. Despite their close proximity (< 1 km), these islands differ in habitat structure, potential prey species, and prey availability. For instance, populations of Agouti paca, Dasypus novemcinctus, Dasyproct...

The Cayos Cochinos, a group ofsmall islands off the northern coast of Honduras, are home to an unusual dwarffonn of Boa constrictor. This population was heavily impacted by collection for the live animal trade from 1979 to 1993, when a minimum of 5,000 boas was taken from the islands. An unknown level of illegal collection cominues, as evidenced by...