Amphibian Breeding Distribution in an Urbanized Landscape

Abstract

Social and cultural institutions influence how societies organize themselves to extract resources, affecting the ways in which resources are used and ultimately managed. In Papua New Guinea, marine tenure rights largely determine how individuals and communities use inshore marine resources. Whether institutions of customary marine tenure can play a role in resource conservation or are simply mechanisms to avoid conflict and maximize exploitation is a matter of debate. In the Manus Province, an unusual marine tenure and trade arrangement has resulted in the community of Andra producing the majority of lime powder used for consumption with betel nut. A socioeconomic and ecological assessment revealed that more than 90% of Andra's community was engaged in lime production, an industry contributing an estimated US$102,000 ± 28,000 to the village annually. The main source of material used in lime production at Andra is live branching coral (primarily Acropora spp.). The annual removal of approximately 2,113 ± 660 m 3 of coral appears to have produced significant changes in coral cover in Andra's reefs, resulting in a lower percent cover of hard corals (24 ± 2% SE) compared with neighboring reefs with little harvesting (33 ± 3% SE). Existing common-property regimes may provide incentives for individuals to sustainably use their own reef area. A lapse in supply, however, could threaten the community's virtual monopoly and provide other villages with an opportunity to gain a market share of lime production. Thus, the marine tenure and trade arrangements that facilitated Andra's position as the dominant supplier of lime to the province may result in incentives for the overexploitation of coral in ways that are paradoxical to an open-access scenario. Management interventions that aim to reduce the ecological impacts of coral harvesting should reflect the community's economic dependence on the practice and the sociocultural institutions that influence resource use.Resumen: Las instituciones sociales y culturales influyen en la forma en que las sociedades se organizan para extraer recursos, afectan a la manera en que los recursos son utilizados y manejados finalmente. En Papua Nueva Guinea, los derechos de posesión marina en gran medida determinan la manera en que individuos y comunidades utilizan los recursos marinos costeros. Es motivo de debate si las instituciones de posesión marina convencional pueden jugar un papel en la conservación de recursos o si son simples mecanismos para evitar conflictos y maximizar la explotación. En la comunidad de Andra, Provincia de Manus, donde se produce la mayor parte de polvo de cal utilizado para el consumo de nuez de betel, hay una forma de posesión marina y de organización de comercio poco usual. Una evaluación socioeconómica y ecológica reveló que más de 90% de los habitantes de Andra estaba ocupado en la producción de cal, una industria que anualmente aporta alrededor de US$102,000 ± 28,000 a la comunidad. El coral vivo (principalmente Acropora spp.) es la fuente principal del mater...

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