Training Conservation Biologists in Human Interaction Skills

Questionnaires were sent to 298 graduate programs in conservation biology and other areas of the biological and agricultural sciences and to 702 public and private organizations that employ, or might employ, conservation biologists. The focus of the questionnaires was on the need for training conservation biologists in human interaction skills (e.g., interpersonal communication, leadership, group decision making). Respondents were asked to indicate the current availability of such training at their institutions or organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 28.5% of the graduate programs and 21.1% of the conservation organizations. A majority of both groups of respondents indicated a high need for training in the following seven areas: written and oral communication; explaining science and values of biodiversity to the lay public; group decision making; interpersonal skills; group planning; leadership; and advocacy. Despite the high level of perceived training need, relatively few academic institutions and even fewer conservation organizations offer or require courses in human interaction skills (with the exceptions of written and oral communication and foreign languages). Sixty-four percent of the graduate faculty respondents and 78% of the employer organization respondents indicated that human interaction skills are equally important or more important to the work of conservation biologists than science knowledge and skill. We suggest that follow-up research should be conducted to delineate further the need for human interaction skills training and to assess the relationship between specific human interactions skills and conservation outcomes. We also recommend that a curriculum on human interaction should be designed and developed for conservation biologists, perhaps through a cooperative effort of interested faculty and employers facilitated by the Society for Conservation Biology and conservation organizations.     

Investigating freshwater periphyton community response to uranium with phospholipid fatty acid and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses

Periphyton communities can be used as monitors of ecosystem health and as indicators of contamination in lotic systems. Measures of biomass, community structure, and genetic diversity were used to investigate impacts of uranium (U) exposure on periphyton. Laboratory exposures of periphyton in river water amended with 238U were performed for 5 days, followed by 2 days of U depuration in unamended river water. Productivity as measured by biomass was not affected by concentrations up to 100 microg238U L(-1). Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) banding patterns revealed no changes in community or genetic structure related to U exposure. We suggest that the periphyton community as a whole was not significantly impacted by exposures of 238U up to a concentration of 100 microgL(-1). These findings have significance for the assessment and prediction of U impacts on aquatic ecosystems.     

Respondent Experience and Contingent Valuation of Environmental Goods

Respondent experience (i.e., a respondent's information set) has long been suspected to influence contingent valuation estimates of environmental values. We assess the influence of experience by explicitly modeling the relationship between respondent experience and both fitted individual resource values and the conditional variance of these estimated values. Using three different joint specifications for experience and WTP—normal/censored-normal, Poisson/censored-normal, and zero-inflated Poisson/censored-normal—we find discrete jumps in resource values as experience increases from zero and that more-experienced respondents have smaller conditional variances. Simulation of arbitrary levels of experience allows standardization of the amount of information when developing welfare estimates.     

Watershed-Based Survey Designs

Watershed-based sampling design and assessment tools help serve the multiple goals for water quality monitoring required under the Clean Water Act, including assessment of regional conditions to meet Section 305(b), identification of impaired water bodies or watersheds to meet Section 303(d), and development of empirical relationships between causes or sources of impairment and biological responses. Creation of GIS databases for hydrography, hydrologically corrected digital elevation models, and hydrologic derivatives such as watershed boundaries and upstream–downstream topology of subcatchments would provide a consistent seamless nationwide framework for these designs. The elements of a watershed-based sample framework can be represented either as a continuous infinite set defined by points along a linear stream network, or as a discrete set of watershed polygons. Watershed-based designs can be developed with existing probabilistic survey methods, including the use of unequal probability weighting, stratification, and two-stage frames for sampling. Case studies for monitoring of Atlantic Coastal Plain streams, West Virginia wadeable streams, and coastal Oregon streams illustrate three different approaches for selecting sites for watershed-based survey designs.     

Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network's Proposed Core Monitoring Variables: An Early Warning of Environmental Change

This article reports on the evaluation of existing ecologicalmonitoring variables from a variety of sources to select a suiteof core variables suitable for monitoring at the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) sites located acrossCanada. The purpose of EMAN is to promote the acquisition of relevant and consistent data that can be used to report on national trends and provide an early warning of ecosystem change. Existing monitoring variables were evaluated in twosteps. In the first step, three primary criteria were used to pre-screen preliminary variables. In the second step, a moredetailed evaluation considered twenty criteria based on dataquality, applicability, data collection methods, data analysisand interpretation, existing data and programs, and cost effectiveness to select a draft set of core monitoring variables(CMV). An ecological framework was developed to organize the CMVin a manner that permitted a gap analysis to confirm the CMV assessed a wide range of relevant environment components. Thesuite of CMV were then tested to determine their effectiveness in detecting ecosystem change caused by stressors with ecosystemresponses that have been well documented in the literature. Thisproject is part of a process lead by Environment Canada to select CMV to detect and track ecosystem change at EMAN sites. It is anticipated that the proposed CMV will undergo future discussion and development leading to the final selection of asuite of CMV for use at EMAN sites.     

Increased production of faecal pellets by the benthic harpacticoid Paramphiascella fulvofasciata: importance of the food source

The re-use of faecal pellets in the water column before sinking to the seafloor is known as an important pathway in marine food webs. Especially planktonic copepods seems to be actively use their faecal pellets. Since benthic copepods (order Harpacticoida) live in the vicinity of their pellets, it remains unclear how important these pellets are for their feeding ecology. In the present study a laboratory experiment was conducted to analyse the importance of faecal pellets for the feeding ecology of the harpacticoid Paramphiascella fulvofasciata and its grazing pressure on two diatom species (Seminavis robusta, Navicula phyllepta). By quantifying the amount and volume of the produced faecel pellets in different treatments, it was tested to what extent the food source and the lack of faecal pellets would influence the production of faecal pellets. We found that the grazing pressure of P. fulvofasciata depended on the diatom density since only a top-down effect could be found on the smaller Navicula cells during its initial exponential growth phase. The grazer had a negative effect on the diatom growth and controlled the cell density to about 4,000 cells/cm². In spite of the fact that the addition of faecal pellets did not show a significant positive effect on the assimilation of diatoms, the removal of faecal pellets strongly promoted the pellet production. Especially when grazing on Navicula the harpacticoid P. fulvofasciata produced significantly more and smaller faecal pellets when the pellets were removed. This outcome illustrates the need for faecal pellets of this harpacticoid copepod when grazing on the diatom Navicula. Apart from its selection for smaller diatom cells, it was suggested that the colonisation of heterotrophic bacteria enriched these pellets. This study is the first to indicate that trophic upgrading occurs on faecal pellets and not only on the initial autotrophic food sources per se.