Bioassay for Determining Sensitivity to Sulfosulfuron on Seven Plant Species

This study presents a bioassay procedure, based on the root and shoot growth parameters, for the determination of the herbicide sulfosulfuron (1-(4,6 dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)-3-(2-ethylsulfonylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-ylsulfonil)urea) sensitivity on seven vegetal species. Plant response to sulfosulfuron was calculated with the equations fitted to the root growth data as a function of the logarithm of the herbicide concentration by non-linear regression and was used to calculate the doses for 10, 30 and 50% inhibition of root growth (EC₁₀, EC₃₀ and EC₅₀). The results indicate that the phytotoxic effect of sulfosulfuron in all the species assayed followed the order: flax > maize > onion > vetch > lepidium sativum > tomato > barley. These species showed phytotoxicity at low levels of sulfosulfuron and flax appeared to be the most susceptible species to sulfosulfuron (0.001 mg/L).     

National Red Listing Beyond the 2010 Target

Abstract: Following creation of the 2010 Biodiversity Target under the Convention on Biological Diversity and adoption of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, information on status and trends of biodiversity at the national level has become increasingly important to both science and policy. National red lists (NRLs) of threatened species may provide suitable data for reporting on progress toward these goals and for informing national conservation priority setting. This information will also become increasingly important for developing species‐ and ecosystem‐based strategies for climate change adaptation. We conducted a thorough global review of NRLs in 109 countries and analyzed gaps in NRL coverage in terms of geography and taxonomy to determine priority regions and taxonomic groups for further investment. We then examined correlations between the NRL data set and gross domestic product (GDP) and vertebrate species richness. The largest geographic gap was in Oceania, followed by middle Africa, the Caribbean, and western Africa, whereas the largest taxonomic gaps were for invertebrates, fungi, and lichens. The comprehensiveness of NRL coverage within a given country was positively correlated with GDP and negatively correlated with total vertebrate richness and threatened vertebrate richness. This supports the assertion that regions with the greatest and most vulnerable biodiversity receive the least conservation attention and indicates that financial resources may be an integral limitation. To improve coverage of NRLs, we propose a combination of projects that target underrepresented taxa or regions and projects that provide the means for countries to create or update NRLs on their own. We recommend improvements in knowledge transfer within and across regions as a priority for future investment.     

Use of Land Facets to Plan for Climate Change: Conserving the Arenas,Not the Actors

Abstract: Even under the most optimistic scenarios, during the next century human‐caused climate change will threaten many wild populations and species. The most useful conservation response is to enlarge and link protected areas to support range shifts by plants and animals. To prioritize land for reserves and linkages, some scientists attempt to chain together four highly uncertain models (emission scenarios, global air–ocean circulation, regional circulation, and biotic response). This approach has high risk of error propagation and compounding and produces outputs at a coarser scale than conservation decisions. Instead, we advocate identifying land facets—recurring landscape units with uniform topographic and soil attributes—and designing reserves and linkages for diversity and interspersion of these units. This coarse‐filter approach would conserve the arenas of biological activity, rather than the temporary occupants of those arenas. Integrative, context‐sensitive variables, such as insolation and topographic wetness, are useful for defining land facets. Classification procedures such as k‐means or fuzzy clustering are a good way to define land facets because they can analyze millions of pixels and are insensitive to case order. In regions lacking useful soil maps, river systems or riparian plants can indicate important facets. Conservation planners should set higher representation targets for rare and distinctive facets. High interspersion of land facets can promote ecological processes, evolutionary interaction, and range shift. Relevant studies suggest land‐facet diversity is a good surrogate for today's biodiversity, but fails to conserve some species. To minimize such failures, a reserve design based on land facets should complement, rather than replace, other approaches. Designs based on land facets are not biased toward data‐rich areas and can be applied where no maps of land cover exist.     

Crossing Invisible Boundaries: the Effectiveness of the Langebaan Lagoon Marine Protected Area as a Harvest Refuge for a Migratory Fish Species in South Africa

Abstract:  The application of no-take areas in fisheries remains controversial. Critics argue that many targeted species are too mobile to benefit from area protection and that no-take areas are only appropriate for resident species. The degree of protection does not depend on the size of the no-take area but rather on the time fish reside inside its boundaries during key life-history events (i.e., spawning) and during periods of peak fishing activity. We evaluated the potential of a small no-take marine protected area (MPA) inside a coastal embayment as a harvest refuge for a mobile, possibly migratory, long-lived fish species. We used acoustic telemetry to track movements of 30 transmitter-tagged white stumpnose (Rhabdosargus globiceps) across and on both sides of the boundary of a small (34 km²) no-take area over a full year. Being landlocked on 3 sides, the location of the MPA inside the lagoon made it practical to detect all boundary crossings and to calculate the time individual fish used the MPA. We detected frequent movements across the boundary, with strong seasonal and individual variations. There were significant differences in MPA use patterns between fish from different release areas. The time spent in the MPA by individual fish during summer (mean 50%; max 98%) was out of proportion with the size of that area (4% of total habitat). Summer coincided with peak recreational fishing activity and with the spawning season of this species. The small MPA provided a refuge for a part of the spawning stock of white stumpnose. Our findings suggest that if strategically placed, a small no-take area can be effective in protecting mobile species and that models of spillover from no-take areas should account for seasonal and individual variation in area use and the spatiotemporal distribution of fish and fishers.     

Economic Growth and Biodiversity Loss in an Age of Tradable Permits

Abstract:  Tradable permits are increasingly becoming part of environmental policy and conservation programs. The efficacy of tradable permit schemes in addressing the root cause of environmental decline—economic growth—will not be achieved unless the schemes cap economic activity based on ecological thresholds. Lessons can be learned from the largest tradable permit scheme to date, emissions trading now being implemented with the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol caps neither greenhouse gas emissions at a level that will achieve climate stability nor economic growth. If patterned after the Kyoto Protocol, cap-and-trade schemes for conservation will not ameliorate biodiversity loss either because they will not address economic growth. In response to these failures to cap economic growth, professional organizations concerned about biodiversity conservation should release position statements on economic growth and ecological thresholds. The statements can then be used by policy makers to infuse these positions into the local, national, and international environmental science-policy process when these schemes are being developed. Infusing language into the science-policy process that calls for capping economic activity based on ecological thresholds represents sound conservation science. Most importantly, position statements have a greater potential to ameliorate biodiversity loss if they are created and released than if this information remains within professional organizations because there is the potential for these ideas to be enacted into law and policy.     

Physical,chemical, and mechanical properties of landfilled waste from Campina Grande,Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The properties of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills vary considerably, depending on the waste’s composition, time, and density. This...     

A Nationwide Assessment of the Biodiversity Value of Uganda's Important Bird Areas Network

Abstract:  BirdLife International's Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is the most developed global system for identifying sites of conservation priority. There have been few assessments, however, of the conservation value of IBAs for nonavian taxa. We combined past data with extensive new survey results for Uganda's IBAs in the most comprehensive assessment to date of the wider biodiversity value of a tropical country's IBA network. The combined data set included more than 35,000 site × species records for birds, butterflies, and woody plants at 86 Ugandan sites (23,400 km²), including 29 of the country's 30 IBAs, with data on additional taxa for many sites. Uganda's IBAs contained at least 70% of the country's butterfly and woody plant species, 86% of its dragonflies and 97% of its birds. They also included 21 of Uganda's 22 major vegetation types. For butterflies, dragonflies, and some families of plants assessed, species of high conservation concern were well represented (less so for the latter). The IBAs successfully represented wider biodiversity largely because many have distinctive avifaunas and, as shown by high cross-taxon congruence in complementarity, such sites tended to be distinctive for other groups too. Cross-taxon congruence in overall species richness was weaker and mainly associated with differences in site size. When compared with alternative sets of sites selected using complementarity-based, area-based, or random site-selection algorithms, the IBA network was efficient in terms of the number of sites required to represent species but inefficient in terms of total area. This was mainly because IBA selection considers factors other than area, however, which probably improves both the cost-effectiveness of the network and the persistence of represented species.     

How Broad-Scale Studies of Patterns and Processes Can Serve to Guide Conservation Planning in Africa

Abstract:  Analysis of large-scale biodiversity patterns can uncover general relationships and problems that need to be taken into account when conservation strategies are developed. Nevertheless, these large-scale patterns need to be supplemented with information from local studies that can identify specific problems and determine how the land can be divided between conservation and development interests. I analyzed biodiversity patterns at three different scales to show how various scales of research contributed to conservation planning. A gap analysis for all of sub-Saharan Africa revealed that the network of wildlife reserves provides insufficient protection of narrowly endemic and threatened species, mainly because such species are aggregated in certain areas with dense human populations. A more fine-grained analysis of the distribution of forest birds of eastern Africa generally confirmed the results obtained with coarse-scale data and added precision by identifying forest tracts where conservation actions should be concentrated. Detailed local distribution data for one of the prioritized areas, the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, suggest that the actions to halt the loss of biodiversity should be concentrated in the submontane zone, immediately adjacent to densely populated areas. To achieve conservation on the ground, these general planning tools must be supplemented with other kinds of research concerning land-use and local knowledge and with approaches that promote more sustainable development. Different types of institutions will be needed for these different tasks, but it is essential that researchers maintain a dialogue with planners in this area .     

PRIVACY REGULATION AND PLACE ATTACHMENT: PREDICTING ATTACHMENTS TO A STUDENT FAMILY HOUSING FACILITY

Although similar processes and functions have been proposed for privacy regulation and place attachment, little theoretical or empirical work encompasses both constructs. In the present study, a theoretical model relates privacy regulation to place attachment in the home. According to this model, the home setting may either facilitate or inhibit privacy regulation with family. When regulation is facilitated, family functioning and feelings of control should be enhanced, promoting attachments to the home.Questionnaire data from student family apartment residents supported this model. Residents who reported greater ease in regulating privacy with family also reported greater apartment attachment. Analyses suggested that this relationship was mediated by family functioning and feelings of control. Similar relationships were found for three different types of attachment.By bridging across concepts often treated separately, the model supported in this study suggests new directions for theoretical and empirical study, and new applications for housing policy and design.