A Framework for Developing Objective and Measurable Recovery Criteria for Threatened and Endangered Species

For species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service are tasked with writing recovery plans that include “objective, measurable criteria” that define when a species is no longer at risk of extinction, but neither the act itself nor agency guidelines provide an explicit definition of objective, measurable criteria. Past reviews of recovery plans, including one published in 2012, show that many criteria lack quantitative metrics with clear biological rationale and are not meeting the measureable and objective mandate. I reviewed how objective, measureable criteria have been defined implicitly and explicitly in peer‐reviewed literature, the ESA, other U.S. statutes, and legal decisions. Based on a synthesis of these sources, I propose the following 6 standards be used as minimum requirements for objective, measurable criteria: contain a quantitative threshold with calculable units, stipulate a timeframe over which they must be met, explicitly define the spatial extent or population to which they apply, specify a sampling procedure that includes sample size, specify a statistical significance level, and include justification by providing scientific evidence that the criteria define a species whose extinction risk has been reduced to the desired level. To meet these 6 standards, I suggest that recovery plans be explicitly guided by and organized around a population viability modeling framework even if data or agency resources are too limited to complete a viability model. When data and resources are available, recovery criteria can be developed from the population viability model results, but when data and resources are insufficient for model implementation, extinction risk thresholds can be used as criteria. A recovery‐planning approach centered on viability modeling will also yield appropriately focused data‐acquisition and monitoring plans and will facilitate a seamless transition from recovery planning to delisting. Un Marco de Referencia para Desarrollar Criterios de Recuperación Objetivos y Medibles para Especies Amenazadas y en Peligro     

A Quantitative Climate-Match Score for Risk-Assessment Screening of Reptile and Amphibian Introductions

Assessing climatic suitability provides a good preliminary estimate of the invasive potential of a species to inform risk assessment. We examined two approaches for bioclimatic modeling for 67 reptile and amphibian species introduced to California and Florida. First, we modeled the worldwide distribution of the biomes found in the introduced range to highlight similar areas worldwide from which invaders might arise. Second, we modeled potentially suitable environments for species based on climatic factors in their native ranges, using three sources of distribution data. Performance of the three datasets and both approaches were compared for each species. Climate match was positively correlated with species establishment success (maximum predicted suitability in the introduced range was more strongly correlated with establishment success than mean suitability). Data assembled from the Global Amphibian Assessment through NatureServe provided the most accurate models for amphibians, while ecoregion data compiled by the World Wide Fund for Nature yielded models which described reptile climatic suitability better than available point-locality data. We present three methods of assigning a climate-match score for use in risk assessment using both the mean and maximum climatic suitabilities. Managers may choose to use different methods depending on the stringency of the assessment and the available data, facilitating higher resolution and accuracy for herpetofaunal risk assessment. Climate-matching has inherent limitations and other factors pertaining to ecological interactions and life-history traits must also be considered for thorough risk assessment. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Structure of small mammal communities in Moscow parks and public gardens

Data collected between 1987 and 2002 have been used to analyze the structure of small mammal communities in parks and public gardens of the city of Moscow. With regard to several ecological parameters, four categories of parks markedly differing in biotopic conditions have been distinguished. The least stable zoocenoses are formed in deteriorating parks. More favorable ecological conditions exist in public gardens and regular parks, where not only synanthropic but also hemisynanthropic rodents can be found. The fauna of small mammals in landscape parks is similar to that in forest cenoses, but this fauna in park forests better complies with the concept of forest community.     

Effects of Patch Size and Type of Coffee Matrix on Ithomiine Butterfly Diversity and Dispersal in Cloud-Forest Fragments

Abstract: Determining the permeability of different types of landscape matrices to animal movement is essential for conserving populations in fragmented landscapes. We evaluated the effects of habitat patch size and matrix type on diversity, isolation, and dispersal of ithomiine butterflies in forest fragments surrounded by coffee agroecosystems in the Colombian Andes. Because ithomiines prefer a shaded understory, we expected the highest diversity and abundance in large fragments surrounded by shade coffee and the lowest in small fragments surrounded by sun coffee. We also thought shade coffee would favor butterfly dispersal and immigration into forest patches. We marked 9675 butterflies of 39 species in 12 forest patches over a year. Microclimate conditions were more similar to the forest interior in the shade‐coffee matrix than in the sun‐coffee matrix, but patch size and matrix type did not affect species richness and abundance in forest fragments. Furthermore, age structure and temporal recruitment patterns of the butterfly community were similar in all fragments, independent of patch size or matrix type. There were no differences in the numbers of butterflies flying in the matrices at two distances from the forest patch, but their behavior differed. Flight in the sun‐coffee matrix was rapid and directional, whereas butterflies in shade‐coffee matrix flew slowly. Seven out of 130 recaptured butterflies immigrated into patches in the shade‐coffee matrix, and one immigrated into a patch surrounded by sun coffee. Although the shade‐coffee matrix facilitated movement in the landscape, sun‐coffee matrix was not impermeable to butterflies. Ithomiines exhibited behavioral plasticity in habitat use and high mobility. These traits favor their persistence in heterogeneous landscapes, opening opportunities for their conservation. Understanding the dynamics and resource requirements of different organisms in rural landscapes is critical for identifying management options that address both animals’ and farmers’ needs.     

广东省南海市主干道气溶胶中多环芳烃(PAHs)的研究

气溶胶采样点位于广东省南海市桂江路边缘及两侧 ,采集时间为 2 4 h,连续采集三天。使用仪器为国产大体积采样器。同时在公园内设点采样 ,以作背景研究。样品经超声波抽提和层析柱分离得到正构烷烃、芳烃 (AHs)和极性组分等三种有机组分。对 PAHs进行 GC MS分析 ,气溶胶中具有较高含量的芴、菲、蒽、荧蒽、芘、苯并 [a]蒽、、苯并 [b]荧蒽、苯并 [k]荧蒽、苯并 [a]芘、茚并 [1 ,2 ,3-cd]芘、二苯并 [a,h]蒽、苯并 [g,h,i]等。通过 TSP研究认为 ,主干道的机动车排放和扬尘是气溶胶的主要来源 ,气候改变也是 TSP变化的另一重要因素。     

A Two-Part Measure of Degree of Invasion for Cross-Community Comparisons

Abstract:  Invasibility is a critical feature of ecological communities, especially for management decisions. To date, invasibility has been measured in numerous ways. Although most researchers have used the richness (or number) of exotic species as a direct or indirect measure of community invasibility, others have used alternative measures such as the survival, density, or biomass of either a single or all exotic species. These different measures, even when obtained from the same communities, have produced inconsistent results and have made comparisons among communities difficult. Here, we propose a measure of the degree of invasion (DI) of a community as a surrogate for community invasibility. The measure is expressed as 2 independent components: exotic proportion of total species richness and exotic proportion of total species abundance (biomass or cover). By including richness and abundance, the measure reflects that the factors that control invasibility affect both of these components. Expressing exotic richness and abundance relative to the richness and abundance of all species in a community makes comparisons across communities of different sizes and resource availability possible and illustrates the importance of dominance of exotic species relative to natives, which is a primary management concern associated with exotic species.     

Cost-Effective Management Alternatives for Snake River Chinook Salmon: a Biological-Economic Synthesis

Abstract: The mandate to increase endangered salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin of North America has created a complex, controversial resource‐management issue. We constructed an integrated assessment model as a tool for analyzing biological‐economic trade‐offs in recovery of Snake River spring‐ and summer‐run chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). We merged 3 frameworks: a salmon‐passage model to predict migration and survival of smolts; an age‐structured matrix model to predict long‐term population growth rates of salmon stocks; and a cost‐effectiveness analysis to determine a set of least‐cost management alternatives for achieving particular population growth rates. We assessed 6 individual salmon‐management measures and 76 management alternatives composed of one or more measures. To reflect uncertainty, results were derived for different assumptions of effectiveness of smolt transport around dams. Removal of an estuarine predator, the Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia), was cost‐effective and generally increased long‐term population growth rates regardless of transport effectiveness. Elimination of adult salmon harvest had a similar effect over a range of its cost estimates. The specific management alternatives in the cost‐effective set depended on assumptions about transport effectiveness. On the basis of recent estimates of smolt transport effectiveness, alternatives that discontinued transportation or breached dams were prevalent in the cost‐effective set, whereas alternatives that maximized transportation dominated if transport effectiveness was relatively high. More generally, the analysis eliminated 80–90% of management alternatives from the cost‐effective set. Application of our results to salmon management is limited by data availability and model assumptions, but these limitations can help guide research that addresses critical uncertainties and information. Our results thus demonstrate that linking biology and economics through integrated models can provide valuable tools for science‐based policy and management.     

城市污水细菌多样性及其生物安全性研究

为掌握镇江城市污水中微生物种群结构特征,笔者通过构建并分析城市污水中细菌16SrRNA基因文库,对其系统族群研究发现:污水中细菌16S rRNA基因主要来自变形细菌(proteobacte-ria)的各亚族,占总检序列的86.3％,还有脱铁杆菌门(Deferribacteres)、厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)和拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)等类群,表明城市污水中微生物丰富多样.通过生物安全评价发现,污水中存在多种病原微生物,包括Arcobacter; Sulfurospirillum;Acinetobacter; Aeromonas;Fusobacterium;Bacteroides; Esch-erichia coli;Enterobacter;Clostridium 等.研究表明,近似弓形杆菌属(Arcobacter)的细菌比例高达74.2％,为城市污水中的主要优势菌群,PCR扩增23S rDNA上的特异性序列后进一步证实污水中Arco-bacter为致病性弓形杆菌,该发现为制定治理城市污水生物性污染的措施提供了科学依据.     

The response of epiphytic lichens to air pollution and subsets of ecological predictors: a case study from the Italian Prealps

We investigated the response of epiphytic lichens to air pollution, against the background of other ecological predictors in a prealpine heterogeneous area, using Non-Parametric Multiplicative Regression (NPMR). The best NPMR model for total lichen diversity according to N environmental predictors at tree level has a cross R(2)=0.709. It includes 10 variables, belonging to three different subsets of factors: two pollution-related factors (distance in meters from the road and from the cement factory); four stand-related (habitat, heat index, LAI and elevation) and four substrate-related factors (inclination, circumference and texture and tree species). Considering separately the effects of each subset on lichen diversity, substrate- and stand-related factors produce good models with similar cross R(2) (0.490 and 0.500, respectively), whereas pollution-related factors produce a model with a lower cross R(2) (0.340). Hence, we provide information to investigate the applicability of lichen biomonitoring to complex heterogeneous areas where standardized protocols are not reliable.