When Agendas Collide: Human Welfare and Biological Conservation

Abstract:  Conservation should benefit ecosystems, nonhuman organisms, and current and future human beings. Nevertheless, tension among these goals engenders potential ethical conflicts: conservationists' true motivations may differ from the justifications they offer for their activities, and conservation projects have the potential to disempower and oppress people. We reviewed the promise and deficiencies of integrating social, economic, and biological concerns into conservation, focusing on research in ecosystem services and efforts in community-based conservation. Despite much progress, neither paradigm provides a silver bullet for conservation's most pressing problems, and both require additional thought and modification to become maximally effective. We conclude that the following strategies are needed to make conservation more effective in our human-dominated world. (1) Conservation research needs to integrate with social scholarship in a more sophisticated manner. (2) Conservation must be informed by a detailed understanding of the spatial, temporal, and social distributions of costs and benefits of conservation efforts. Strategies should reflect this understanding, particularly by equitably distributing conservation's costs. (3) We must better acknowledge the social concerns that accompany biodiversity conservation; accordingly, sometimes we must argue for conservation for biodiversity's sake, not for its direct human benefits.     

Role of Prices and Wealth in Consumer Demand for Bushmeat in Gabon, Central Africa

Abstract:  Unsustainable hunting of wildlife for food is often a more immediate and significant threat to the conservation of biological diversity in tropical forests than deforestation. Why people eat wildlife is debated. Some may eat bushmeat because they can afford it; others may eat it because it is familiar, traditional, confers prestige, tastes good, or adds variety. We completed a survey of 1208 rural and urban households in Gabon, Africa, in 2002–2003 to estimate the effect of wealth and prices on the consumption of wildlife and other sources of animal protein. Consumption of bushmeat, fish, chicken, and livestock increased with increasing household wealth, and as the price of these commodities rose, consumption declined. Although the prices of substitutes for bushmeat did not significantly, in statistical terms, influence bushmeat consumption, as the price of wildlife increased and its consumption fell, the consumption of fish rose, indicating that fish and bushmeat were dietary substitutes. Our results suggest that policy makers can use economic levers such as taxation or supply reduction through better law enforcement to change demand for wildlife. These measures will help to regulate unsustainable exploitation and reduce the risk of irreversible loss of large-bodied and slow-reproducing wildlife species. If policy makers focus solely on reducing the unsustainable consumption of wildlife, they may see adverse impacts on the exploitation of fish. Furthermore, policy makers must ensure that raising household wealth through development assistance does not result in undesirable impacts on the conservation status of wildlife and fish.     

Nonrandom, Size- and Timing-Biased Breeding in a Hatchery Population of Steelhead Trout

Abstract:  Hatcheries have been built and operated to buffer salmon and trout populations from overfishing and to compensate for habitat lost or degraded by human activities. These facilities are now so prevalent that in some cases hatchery-produced salmon outnumber salmon produced in the wild. By default, this makes them an important component in the current ecology and evolution of salmonids. Hatcheries differ from natural environments in many ways, and among the most fundamental is the necessity that humans select fish for breeding instead of allowing natural processes of mate choice and competition. We examined the mating system for steelhead trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) at Forks Creek Hatchery in southwest Washington and investigated factors affecting selection of individual steelhead for spawning by the hatchery staff. Despite efforts by the staff to not spawn selectively, data on steelhead spawned over 7 years revealed selection for large adult body size and early reproductive timing and a tendency for size-assortative mating (i.e., large with large). Selection on size was related to selection on reproductive timing because early returning fish tended to be larger than those returning later. To improve the fitness of both hatchery fish destined to spawn in the wild and hatchery fish designated to be spawned in the hatchery, a better understanding of factors associated with the range of reproductive success and mate-choice mechanisms in the wild is vital. This knowledge may then be applied to artificial propagation programs designed for conservation or enhancement.     

Process and outcome: gender differences in the assessment of justice

We studied the importance that women and men place on distributive and procedural justice. The relationship between distributive justice and several organizational outcomes (e.g. commitment, intent to stay) was stronger for men than women. The relationship between procedural justice and those same outcomes, however, was stronger among women than men. The relation of our findings in justice perceptions are related to other research on gender differences in interpersonal styles and perceptions. Future research ideas are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generic climate maps: A strategic application of climate survey data?

Data have been gathered on 93 organizations and over 3030 individuals using a climate survey. This paper examines the related concepts of climate and culture and points to their importance as root metaphors for organizational analysis. Key research issues surrounding the use of climate surveys are highlighted and a range of strategic applications of climate survey data outlined. A twofold contribution to the literature is made by considering empirical and statistical approaches used in the field and by categorizing the various climates within and across industries. The Business and Organization Climate Index (BOCI) data are analysed statistically in order to examine the practicality and validity of using organizational climate maps as part of a typical management of change intervention. The findings show that the BOCI instrument can be used to create a reliable average profile with a high degree of inter-rater reliability. The methodological issues surrounding such assessments are discussed. Moreover, these organizational profiles can be classified, by use of agglomerative statistical techniques such as cluster analysis, into eight overarching climate maps. These generic climate maps reflect three negative, one neutral and four positive variations of climate. The membership of any particular organization in the cluster is not solely determined by industry sector. However, broad patterns of strategy and organizational process are reflected in the eight clusters. Given that climate surveys reflect individual perceptions, the eight climate maps may be as strong a measure of managers' and workers' cognitive frameworks and judgements as they are representations of organizational behaviour and action.     

Toward Best Practices for Developing Regional Connectivity Maps

Abstract: To conserve ecological connectivity (the ability to support animal movement, gene flow, range shifts, and other ecological and evolutionary processes that require large areas), conservation professionals need coarse‐grained maps to serve as decision‐support tools or vision statements and fine‐grained maps to prescribe site‐specific interventions. To date, research has focused primarily on fine‐grained maps (linkage designs) covering small areas. In contrast, we devised 7 steps to coarsely map dozens to hundreds of linkages over a large area, such as a nation, province, or ecoregion. We provide recommendations on how to perform each step on the basis of our experiences with 6 projects: California Missing Linkages (2001), Arizona Wildlife Linkage Assessment (2006), California Essential Habitat Connectivity (2010), Two Countries, One Forest (northeastern United States and southeastern Canada) (2010), Washington State Connected Landscapes (2010), and the Bhutan Biological Corridor Complex (2010). The 2 most difficult steps are mapping natural landscape blocks (areas whose conservation value derives from the species and ecological processes within them) and determining which pairs of blocks can feasibly be connected in a way that promotes conservation. Decision rules for mapping natural landscape blocks and determining which pairs of blocks to connect must reflect not only technical criteria, but also the values and priorities of stakeholders. We recommend blocks be mapped on the basis of a combination of naturalness, protection status, linear barriers, and habitat quality for selected species. We describe manual and automated procedures to identify currently functioning or restorable linkages. Once pairs of blocks have been identified, linkage polygons can be mapped by least‐cost modeling, other approaches from graph theory, or individual‐based movement models. The approaches we outline make assumptions explicit, have outputs that can be improved as underlying data are improved, and help implementers focus strictly on ecological connectivity.     

Effects of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus on Individual Survival Probability in Wild Boreal Toads

Abstract: Chytridiomycosis is linked to the worldwide decline of amphibians, yet little is known about the demographic effects of the disease. We collected capture–recapture data on three populations of boreal toads (Bufo boreas [Bufo = Anaxyrus]) in the Rocky Mountains (U.S.A.). Two of the populations were infected with chytridiomycosis and one was not. We examined the effect of the presence of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]; the agent of chytridiomycosis) on survival probability and population growth rate. Toads that were infected with Bd had lower average annual survival probability than uninfected individuals at sites where Bd was detected, which suggests chytridiomycosis may reduce survival by 31–42% in wild boreal toads. Toads that were negative for Bd at infected sites had survival probabilities comparable to toads at the uninfected site. Evidence that environmental covariates (particularly cold temperatures during the breeding season) influenced toad survival was weak. The number of individuals in diseased populations declined by 5–7%/year over the 6 years of the study, whereas the uninfected population had comparatively stable population growth. Our data suggest that the presence of Bd in these toad populations is not causing rapid population declines. Rather, chytridiomycosis appears to be functioning as a low‐level, chronic disease whereby some infected individuals survive but the overall population effects are still negative. Our results show that some amphibian populations may be coexisting with Bd and highlight the importance of quantitative assessments of survival in diseased animal populations.