Archaeological Evidence of Validity of Fish Populations on Unexploited Reefs as Proxy Targets for Modern Populations

Reef‐fish management and conservation is hindered by a lack of information on fish populations prior to large‐scale contemporary human impacts. As a result, relatively pristine sites are often used as conservation baselines for populations near sites affected by humans. This space‐for‐time approach can only be validated by sampling assemblages through time. We used archaeological remains to evaluate whether the remote, uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) might provide a reasonable proxy for a lightly exploited baseline in the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). We used molecular and morphological techniques to describe the taxonomic and size composition of the scarine parrotfish catches present in 2 archaeological assemblages from the MHI, compared metrics of these catches with modern estimates of reproductive parameters to evaluate whether catches represented by the archaeological material were consistent with sustainable fishing, and evaluated overlap between size structures represented by the archaeological material and modern survey data from the MHI and the NWHI to assess whether a space‐for‐time substitution is reasonable. The parrotfish catches represented by archaeological remains were consistent with sustainable fishing because they were dominated by large, mature individuals whose average size remained stable from prehistoric (AD approximately 1400–1700) through historic (AD 1700–1960) periods. The ancient catches were unlike populations in the MHI today. Overlap between the size structure of ancient MHI catches and modern survey data from the NWHI or the MHI was an order of magnitude greater for the NWHI comparison, a result that supports the validity of using the NWHI parrotfish data as a proxy for the MHI before accelerated, heavy human impacts in modern times. Evidencia Arqueológica de la Validez de Poblaciones de Peces en Arrecifes Sin Explotar como Objetivos de Apoderamiento para Poblaciones Actuales     

PERCEIVED QUALITY OF CARE: THE INFLUENCE OF THE WAITING ROOM ENVIRONMENT

The current study investigated the effect of the physical environment of the waiting room on perceptions of the quality of care of the physician. One hundred forty-seven college students and 58 senior citizens viewed 35 slides of physicians' waiting rooms. Using a visual analog scale, participants rated the perceived quality of care and the environment of each waiting room. The primary hypothesis was that perceived quality of care would be greater for waiting rooms that were nicely furnished, well-lighted, contained artwork, and were warm in appearance versus waiting rooms that had outdated furnishings, were dark, contained no artwork or poor quality reproductions, and were cold in appearance. Factor analyses of the care and environment ratings produced factors consistent with the hypothesis. Additionally, waiting rooms judged to be those of female physicians were rated higher on both perceived quality of care and comfort in the environment.     

Visual Aesthetic Quality of Northern Ontario's Forested Shorelines

Only a few empirical studies on forest aesthetics have adopted a water-based perspective for observers and have investigated the perceived visual quality of forested shorelines. In forested environments with many lakes, such as the boreal forest in the Canadian Shield, individuals have greater exposure to forests from water-based rather than in-stand vantage points. This study employed the psychophysical research direction to explore the relationships between scenic beauty and biophysical characteristics of the forested shorelines in the boreal forests. Two model forms were tested. One model related the variation of shoreline forest aesthetic evaluations of near-vista views (140 m offshore) to a set of forest mensuration data. Tree size, tree mortality, conifer shrubs, tree density, amount of hardwood, and slope explained 60.2% of the variance in scenic beauty between the study sites. A second model was calibrated to test the relationship between an already existing ecosystem vegetation classification system and the aesthetic evaluations of the same forested shorelines. When the ecosystem classification was simplified to eight groups, the model explained 48.5% of variance. These models suggest that the psychophysical approach to studying aesthetics can be applied successfully to near-vista evaluations of scenic beauty. The finding that a forest ecosystem classification system is highly related to scenic beauty suggests that, at least in the boreal forest, managers can reasonably estimate the scenic beauty of forested shoreline environments from an ecosystem classification, with little need for intensive data on these sites.     

Marine Ecological Research in New Zealand: Developing Predictive Models through the Study of No-Take Marine Reserves

Abstract:  New Zealand established its first no-take marine reserve more than 25 years ago. Twenty no-take marine reserves have now been created, although few of these are considered comparable. We considered whether existing conceptual models of population and community structure based only on data from exploited systems lack the baseline information of natural states necessary to make accurate predictions for new reserves. Three of the oldest and best-studied reserves are situated on the northeastern coast of New Zealand. These reserves are considered broadly comparable replicates, and research has shown the recovery of previously exploited predator populations and the reestablishment of trophic controls over community structure and productivity. None of the major changes was predicted when the reserves were created. All the observations from and experimental tests of hypotheses in these three ecologically comparable reserves have provided predictive models for future reserves. Recent surveys in newly created reserves, however, suggest that these models are bioregion and habitat specific. In these new reserves the recovery of previously exploited predators was predicted but did not always occur. Where trends were correctly predicted, the speed and amplitude of the changes were not accurately predicted. Research in New Zealand suggests that it is not yet possible to predict explicit outcomes for newly created reserves and less possible to predict detailed results for systems of reserves. Results from a representative system of reserves, including all major habitats within all bioregions and broadly comparable reserves, are needed. Such a system will enable the range and variety of natural ecosystem dynamics to be investigated and provide the controls necessary to measure the effects of exploitation.     

Establishing IUCN Red List Criteria for Threatened Ecosystems

Abstract: The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.     

Conservation of Marine Megafauna through Minimization of Fisheries Bycatch

Abstract: Many populations of marine megafauna, including seabirds, sea turtles, marine mammals, and elasmobranchs, have declined in recent decades due largely to anthropogenic mortality. To successfully conserve these long‐lived animals, efforts must be prioritized according to feasibility and the degree to which they address threats with the highest relative impacts on population dynamics. Recently, Wilcox and Donlan (2007, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment) and Donlan and Wilcox (2008, Biological Invasions) proposed a conservation strategy of “compensatory mitigation” in which fishing industries offset bycatch of seabirds and sea turtles by funding eradication of invasive mammalian predators from the terrestrial reproductive sites of these marine animals . Although this is a creative and conceptually compelling approach, we find it flawed as a conservation tool because it has narrow applicability among marine megafauna, it does not address the most pervasive threats to marine megafauna, and it is logistically and financially infeasible. Invasive predator eradication does not adequately offset the most pressing threat to most marine megafauna populations—fisheries bycatch. For seabird populations, fisheries bycatch and invasive predators infrequently are overlapping threats. Invasive predators have limited population‐level impacts on sea turtles and marine mammals and no impacts on elasmobranchs, all of which are threatened by bycatch. Implementing compensatory mitigation in marine fisheries is unrealistic due to inadequate monitoring, control, and surveillance in the majority of fleets. Therefore, offsetting fisheries bycatch with eradication of invasive predators would be less likely to reverse population declines than reducing bycatch. We recommend that efforts to mitigate bycatch in marine capture fisheries should address multiple threats to sensitive bycatch species groups, but these efforts should first institute proven bycatch avoidance and reduction methods before considering compensatory mitigation.     

Trade-Offs in the Design of Fishery Closures: Management of Silky Shark Bycatch in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Fishery

Abstract:  Bycatch—the incidental catch of nontarget species—is a principal concern in marine conservation and fisheries management. In the eastern Pacific Ocean tuna fishery, a large fraction of nonmammal bycatch is captured by purse-seine gear when nets are deployed around floating objects. We examined the spatial distribution of a dominant species in this fishery's bycatch, the apex predator silky shark ( Carcharhinus falciformis ), from 1994 to 2005 to determine whether spatial closures, areas where fishing is prohibited, might effectively reduce the bycatch of this species. We then identified candidate locations for fishery closures that specifically considered the trade-off between bycatch reduction and the loss of tuna catch and evaluated ancillary conservation benefits to less commonly captured taxa. Smoothed spatial distributions of silky shark bycatch did not indicate persistent small areas of especially high bycatch for any size class of shark over the 12-year period. Nevertheless, bycatch of small silky sharks (<90 cm total length) was consistently higher north of the equator during all years. On the basis of this distribution, we evaluated nearly 100 candidate closure areas between 5°N and 15°N that could have reduced, by as much as 33%, the total silky shark bycatch while compromising only 12% of the tuna catch. Although silky sharks are the predominant species of elasmobranchs caught as bycatch in this fishery, closures also suggested reductions in the bycatch of other vulnerable taxa, including other shark species and turtles. Our technique provides an effective method with which to balance the costs and benefits of conservation in fisheries management. Spatial closures are a viable management tool, but implementation should be preceded by careful consideration of the consequences of fishing reallocation.