Breaking through the Crisis in Marine Conservation and Management: Insights from the Philosophies of Ed Ricketts

Abstract:  Over the last decade, 2 major U.S. commissions on ocean policy and a wide range of independent sources have argued that ocean ecosystems are in a period of crisis and that current policies are inadequate to prevent further ecological damage. These sources have advocated ecosystem-based management as an approach to address conservation issues in the oceans, but managers remain uncertain as to how to implement ecosystem-based approaches in the real world. We argue that the philosophies of Edward F. Ricketts, a mid-20th-century marine ecologist, offer a framework and clear guidance for taking an ecosystem approach to marine conservation. Ricketts' philosophies, which were grounded in basic observations of natural history, espoused building a holistic picture of the natural world, including the influence of humans, through repeated observation. This approach, when applied to conservation, grounds management in what is observable in nature, encourages early action in the face of uncertainty, and supports an adaptive approach to management as new information becomes available. Ricketts' philosophy of "breaking through," which focuses on getting beyond crisis and conflict through honest debate of different parties' needs (rather than forcing compromise of differing positions), emphasizes the social dimension of natural resource management. New observational technologies, long-term ecological data sets, and especially advances in the social sciences made available since Ricketts' time greatly enhance the utility of Ricketts' philosophy of marine conservation.     

Species Review of Amphibian Extinction Risks in Madagascar: Conclusions from the Global Amphibian Assessment

Abstract:  We assessed the extinction risks of Malagasy amphibians by evaluating their distribution, occurrence in protected areas, population trends, habitat quality, and prevalence in commercial trade. We estimated and mapped the distribution of each of the 220 described Malagasy species and applied, for the first time, the IUCN Red List categories and criteria to all species described at the time of the assessment. Nine species were categorized as critically endangered, 21 as endangered, and 25 as vulnerable. The most threatened species occur on the High Plateau and/or have been subjected to overcollection for the pet trade, but restricted extent of occurrence and ongoing habitat destruction were identified as the most important factors influencing extinction threats. The two areas with the majority of threatened species were the northern Tsaratanana-Marojejy-Masoala highlands and the southeastern Anosy Mountains. The current system of protected areas includes 82% of the threatened amphibian species. Of the critically endangered species, 6 did not occur in any protected area. For conservation of these species we recommend the creation of a reserve for the species of the Mantella aurantiaca group, the inclusion of two Scaphiophryne species in the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species Appendix II, and the suspension of commercial collecting for Mantella cowani . Field surveys during the last 15 years reveal no pervasive extinction of Malagasy amphibians resulting from disease or other agents, as has been reported in some other areas of the world.     

Embracing diverse worldviews to share planet Earth

Leading societies toward a more sustainable, equitably shared, and environmentally just future requires elevating and strengthening conversations on the nonmaterial and perhaps unquantifiable values of nonhuman nature to humanity. Debates among conservationists relating to the appropriateness of valuing ecosystems in terms of their human utility have eclipsed the more important and impactful task of expressing conservation concerns in terms that are meaningful to diverse stakeholders. We considered the wide global diversity of perspectives on the biosocial complex—the relationships and interactions between all living species on Earth—and argue that humanity's best chance for effective conservation is to take a pluralistic approach that engages seriously with the worldviews of all stakeholders. Many worldviews—particularly those in indigenous cultures—place a higher value on the spiritual and nonmaterial aspects than what is often represented by the discourse surrounding Western conservation policy. Alternative framings of the biosocial complex that recognize nature's intrinsic value can be powerful motivators for social change and for local-scale conservation efforts. At a national and international level, changing ethical framings of human relationships with nature have started influencing conceptions of human rights relating to the environment and of the rights of nature itself. This change has led to an increased role of the judiciary in promoting environmental sustainability and promoting justice for groups who are most often affected by environmental harms. We hope our essay will motivate the scientific community to change its own perception of what a sound and sustainable relationship between humanity and other species should be and will help citizens become active environmental subjects, connected to the ecosystems around them.     

Global gains at local costs: Imposing protected areas: evidence from central India

With the ever-increasing understanding about the Earth as a living network of interdependent ecosystems, there seems to be a growing consensus that the whole planet is a global common. This feeling, however, is not bereft of severe complications arising from conflicting interests of different nations placed at varying levels of development. While developed countries are more concerned about environmental quality which is a global public good, less developed countries can hardly afford to make land use decisions that keep such wider futuristic concerns in mind while they are presently struggling with very basic problems of poverty and starvation. The actors at the global level prescribe, monitor, and enforce the global level collective choice through persuasive, and at times coercive, methods. At the national level, various legal provisions in the form of legislation reflect the collective choice at that level through creation of protected areas devoid of humans. A simple fact is overlooked, that it is impossible to achieve conservation goals without making local people equal participants in decisionmaking and benefit sharing.     

Global perspectives and future research directions for the phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil: A knowledge mapping analysis from 2001 to 2020

• The overall global perspective of the PHMCS field was obtained. • PHMCS research has flourished over the past two decades. • In total, 8 clusters were obtained, and many new hot topics emerged. • “Biochar,” “Drought,” “Nanoparticle,” etc., may be future hot topics. • Five future directions are proposed. In total, 9,552 documents were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection and subjected to knowledge mapping and visualization analysis for the field of phytoremediation of HM-contaminated soil (PHMCS) with CiteSpace 5.7 R3 software. The results showed that (1) the number of publications increased linearly over the studied period. The top 10 countries/regions, institutions and authors contributing to this field were exhibited. (2) Keyword co-occurrence cluster analysis revealed a total of 8 clusters, including “Bioremediation,” “Arsenic,” “Biochar,” “Oxidative stress,” “Hyperaccumulation,” “EDTA,” “Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,” and “Environmental pollution” clusters (3) In total, 334 keyword bursts were obtained, and the 25 strongest, longest duration, and newest keyboard bursts were analyzed in depth. The strongest keyword burst test showed that the hottest keywords could be divided into 7 groups, i.e., “Plant bioremediation materials,” “HM types,” “Chelating amendments,” “Other improved strategies,” “Bioremediation characteristics,” “Risk assessment,” and “Other.” Almost half of the newest topics had emerged in the past 3 years, including “biochar,” “drought,” “health risk assessment,” “electrokinetic remediation,” “nanoparticle,” and “intercropping.” (4) In total, 9 knowledge base clusters were obtained in this study. The studies of Ali et al. (2013), Blaylock et al. (1997), Huang et al. (1997), van der Ent et al. (2013), Salt et al. (1995), and Salt (1998), which had both high frequencies and the strongest burst scores, have had the most profound effects on PHMCS research. Finally, future research directions were proposed.     

Global optimization from suboptimal parts: foraging sensu lato by leaf-cutting ants

Central-place foraging theory has been unable to explain the load selection behavior of leaf-cutting ants (Atta spp., Attini: Formicidae). We suggest that this is due to incomplete consideration of the sequence of behaviors involved in resource acquisition by these ants. Unlike most central-place foragers, leaf-cutting ants do not return to their nests with food. Instead, the leaf fragments they gather must be processed within the nest to convert them to substrate for fungal gardens. We have shown previously that leaf fragment size affects the rate of distribution and processing of leaf tissue inside laboratory nests of Atta colombica. Including these tasks in the calculation of foraging rate may help explain load selection and other features of central-place foraging by Atta colonies. Here we develop a mathematical model of the complete sequence of external and internal tasks that lead to addition of substrate to fungal gardens. Using realistic parameter values, the leaf fragment sizes predicted to maximize a colony's rate of foraging in this broad sense correspond well with the mean fragment sizes actually collected by Atta colonies in the field. The optimal fragment size for global performance in the model is below the size that would maximize the delivery rate by above-ground foragers. The globally optimal size also fails to maximize the rate of either fragment distribution or fragment processing within the nest. Our results show how maximum collective performance of an ensemble of linked tasks may require behavior that would appear suboptimal in a piecemeal analysis of tasks.     

利用农业土壤固定有机碳——缓解全球变暖与提高土壤生产力

大气CO     

Lomborg and the Litany of Biodiversity Crisis: What the Peer-Reviewed Literature Says

Abstract:  Lomborg's (2001) book has generated passionate discussion about the state of the global environment. We performed a bibliometric evaluation of the peer-reviewed primary scientific literature to determine whether there is any consistent evidence that "things are getting better." The global literature primarily reported negative impacts on biodiversity caused by human actions, although Europe appeared to be doing better than the rest of the world. These results cannot be explained by publication bias alone because rejection rates of papers indicating improvements in the environment would have to be unrealistically high to change our results. There were nonrandom distributions of papers showing environmental recovery in developed countries and for ecosystems not strongly subjected to conservation-development conflicts. Although the literature did not paint a picture of universal gloom, the empirical evidence clearly showed growing environmental crises.