Quantifying and mapping species threat abatement opportunities to support national target setting

The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global to national level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conservation targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of taxonomic groups, that link action targets to outcome goals, and that can be applied to both global and national data sets to account for national context, which the species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric does. To test the flexibility of STAR, we applied the metric to vascular plants listed on national red lists of Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. The STAR metric uses data on species’ extinction risk, distributions, and threats, which we obtained from national red lists to quantify the contribution that threat abatement and habitat restoration activities could make to reducing species’ extinction risk. Across all 3 countries, the greatest opportunity for reducing plant species’ extinction risk was from abating threats from agricultural activities, which could reduce species’ extinction risk by 54% in Norway, 36% in South Africa, and 29% in Brazil. Species extinction risk could be reduced by a further 21% in South Africa by abating threats from invasive species and by 21% in Brazil by abating threats from urban expansion. Even with different approaches to red-listing among countries, the STAR metric yielded informative results that identified where the greatest conservation gains could be made for species through threat-abatement and restoration activities. Quantifiably linking local taxonomic coverage and data collection to global processes with STAR would allow national target setting to align with global targets and enable state and nonstate actors to measure and report on their potential contributions to species conservation.     

Are lower-latitude plants better defended? Palatability of freshwater macrophytes

Increased herbivory at lower latitudes is hypothesized to select for more effective plant defenses. Feeding assays with seaweeds and salt marsh plants support this hypothesis, with low-latitude plants experiencing greater damage in the field and being less palatable than higher-latitude plants. We tested this hypothesis for freshwater macrophytes because they offered an independent plant lineage and habitat type for testing this general hypothesis and because the patchiness of consumer occupancy across isolated water bodies might produce local variance in herbivory that would override geographic variance and produce different results for this habitat type. When we fed eight congeneric pairs of live plants from four sites in Indiana vs. four sites in South Florida (-215 and 0 frost days/yr respectively) to three species of crayfishes and one species of snail, three of the four herbivores significantly preferred high-latitude to low-latitude plants. For two crayfishes that differed in feeding on live plants (one favoring high-latitude plants and one not), we retested feeding using foods composed of freeze-dried and finely ground plants, thus removing structural characteristics while retaining most chemical/nutritional traits. In this assay, both herbivores strongly preferred high-latitude plants, suggesting that lower-latitude plants had been selected for more deterrent chemical traits. When we collected 22 pairs of congeneric plants from 9 sites throughout Indiana vs. 13 sites in Central Florida (-215 and -95 frost days/yr respectively) and tested these in feeding assays with three crayfishes using dried, ground, and reconstituted plant material, we found a significant effect of latitude for only one of three species of herbivore. Overall, our results suggest a preference for high-latitude plants, but the strength of this relationship varied considerably across small scales of latitude that differed considerably in numbers of frost-free days. The difference in results suggests that large changes in frost frequency over small spatial scales may affect selection for plant defenses, that local variance in herbivory overrode differential selection at geographic scales, or that these possibilities interact when durations of cold weather periodically exclude herbivores from shallower habitats, producing heterogeneous selection for defenses at small spatial scales.     

采用大气压电喷雾(API-ESI)质谱和液体样品直接大体积进样技术检测饮用和地下水中的苯基脲类和三嗪类除草剂

本文介绍了大体积进样技术分析一组苯基脲类和三嗪类除草剂多残留的简便方法.     

Programs assessing implementation and effectiveness of state forest practice rules and BMPs in the West

The major forest nonpoint source control programs in the West are largely regulatory, either under forest practices acts (California, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) or a streamside management act (Montana). These programs and the specific rules they enforce continue to undergo intensive scrutiny. Still, the questions are the same for these regulatory programs as for states that base nonpoint source control on voluntary BMPs (Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming). Are the rules or BMPs being applied, and are they effective in reducing nonpoint source pollution to levels that protect beneficial uses of water? The level of debate about forestry in the West has resulted in detailed monitoring and research to answer these questions. In the past, state agencies have assumed levels of BMP compliance based on the percent of operations without enforcement actions. These estimates are being replaced by statistically valid and reproducible monitoring of forest practices rules and BMP compliance levels. BMP effectiveness is being assessed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. This can involve field assessments, process-based research, and control watershed studies. Some trend monitoring is also beginning. With the regional implementation rate for forestry BMPs at about 94% and rising, it is likely that effectiveness testing will continue to be a priority and consume the majority of assessment resources for this region.     

Small enterprise owners’ accident causation attribution and prevention

Small enterprises have difficulty in the systematic prevention of accidents. This study explores how owners of small enterprises attribute accident causation and what they learn about accident prevention after an accident. Interviews were carried out with owners of 22 small (1–19 employees) construction and metal industry enterprises that recently had reported an accident with an expected injury absence of over two weeks. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results reveal that after a relatively serious accident the owners predominantly attribute the incident to unforeseeable circumstances, and secondarily to worker faults. A possible explanation is both self- and group-defensive attributions in order to avoid responsibility and blame. The reciprocal and close social relations between owners and workers make it difficult for the owners to be solely responsible for the accident. The study presents a paradox: learning from the accidents seems to be negative as the owners need to abstain from accident prevention in order to maintain that accidents are unforeseeable, and the injured worker returns to work under the same unsafe conditions as before the accident. The study indicates that efforts to improve accident prevention in small enterprises need to find ways to avoid defensive attribution in order to attain successful outcomes.     

Combinatorial optimization of elk habitat effectiveness and timber harvest volume

Forest resource planning processes in the western United States have been placing an increasing emphasis on wildlife and fish habitat goals. With this in mind, we developed a method that incorporates a Habitat Effectiveness Index (HEI) for Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) into the objective function of a mathematical forest planning model. In addition, a commodity production goal is proposed (maximum timber production), and the habitat and commodity production goals are allowed to act as goals in a multi-objective goal programming planning problem. A heuristic programming technique (tabu search) is used to develop feasible solutions to the resulting non-linear, integer programming problem. Using a hypothetical example, we illustrate results of five scenarios, where the emphasis of the achievement of one or both goals is altered. The main contribution of this approach is the ability to measure and evaluate the trade-offs among achieving a certain level of a complex wildlife goal and achieving commodity production goals. These trade-offs are measured using a flexible model, allowing planners to formulate non-linear spatial goals as objectives of a problem, rather than forcing them to rely on posterior evaluations of the suitability of management plans to goals such as elk HEI.     

Simulating forest structure, timber production, and socioeconomic effects in a multi-owner province.

Protecting biodiversity has become a major goal in managing coastal forests in the Pacific Northwest--an area in which human activities have had a significant influence on landscape change. A complex pattern of public and private forest ownership, combined with new regulations for each owner group, raises questions about how well and how efficiently these policies achieve their biodiversity goals. To develop a deeper understanding of the aggregate effect of forest policies, we simulated forest structures, timber production, and socioeconomic conditions over time for the mixture of private and public lands in the 2.3-million-ha Coast Range Physiographic Province of Oregon. To make these projections, we recognized both vegetative complexity at the stand level and spatial complexity at the landscape level. We focused on the two major factors influencing landscape change in the forests of the Coast Range: (1) land use, especially development for houses and cities, and (2) forest management, especially clearcutting. Our simulations of current policy suggest major changes in land use on the margins of the Coast Range, a divergence in forest structure among the different owners, an increase in old-growth forests, and a continuing loss of the structural elements associated with diverse young forests. Our simulations also suggest that current harvest levels can be approximately maintained, with the harvest coming almost entirely from private lands. A policy alternative that retained live trees for wildlife would increase remnant structures but at a cost to landowners (5-7% reduction in timber production). Another alternative that precluded thinning of plantations on federal land would significantly reduce the area of very large diameter (>75 cm dbh) conifer forests 100 years into the future     

Swimming ability and its rapid decrease at settlement in wrasse larvae (Teleostei: Labridae)

Wrasses are abundant reef fishes and the second most speciose marine fish family, yet little is known of their larval swimming abilities. In August 2010 at Moorea, Society Islands, we measured swimming ability (critical speed, Ucrit) of 80 settlement-stage larvae (11–17 mm) of 5 labrid species (Thalassoma quinquevittatum [n = 67], Novaculichthys taeniourus [n = 6], Coris aygula [n = 5], Halichoeres trimaculatus [n = 1] and H. hortulanus [n = 1]) and 33 new recruits of T. quinquevittatum. Median (mdn) larval Ucrit was 7.6–12.5 cm s⁻¹. In T. quinquevittatum (n = 67), larvae of 12.5–14.5 mm swam faster (mdn 16.9 cm s⁻¹) than smaller or larger larvae (mdn 3.9 and 3.2 cm s⁻¹, respectively). Labrid larvae Ucrit is similar to that of other similar-sized tropical larvae, so labrids and species with comparable settlement sizes should have similar abilities to influence dispersal. Ucrit of T. quinquevittatum recruits decreased to 47–56% of larval Ucrit in 2 days, implying rapid physiological changes at settlement.     

Spatiotemporal coupling/decoupling of planktonic larvae and benthic settlement in decapods in the Scottish east coast

Settlement patterns and the relationship between meroplanktonic larvae and settlement in decapods were studied on the Scottish east coast. Artificial settlement substrates (ASS), deployed at two locations (sandy vs. rocky sea substrates), were employed to collect megalopae and newly settled juveniles. Abundance of meroplanktonic larvae was used as an indicator of larval supply. The results showed a clear seasonality in settlement rates, and in some cases, significant differences between sites were detected. Nevertheless, the interference of the ASS with the surrounding habitat limits the study of spatial variability in settlement rates. Significant cross-correlation was found between the abundance of megalopae and juveniles in the collectors and planktonic larval abundance a month earlier. For individual species, this relationship was observed only in Pisidia longicornis. Complexities caused by the great variety of pre- and post-settlement processes, alongside effects of secondary dispersals of early juveniles may have obscured the relationship between meroplanktonic larvae and juveniles in other species.