Assessing Risk to Birds from Industrial Wind Energy Development via Paired Resource Selection Models

When wildlife habitat overlaps with industrial development animals may be harmed. Because wildlife and people select resources to maximize biological fitness and economic return, respectively, we estimated risk, the probability of eagles encountering and being affected by turbines, by overlaying models of resource selection for each entity. This conceptual framework can be applied across multiple spatial scales to understand and mitigate impacts of industry on wildlife. We estimated risk to Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) from wind energy development in 3 topographically distinct regions of the central Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania (United States) based on models of resource selection of wind facilities (n = 43) and of northbound migrating eagles (n = 30). Risk to eagles from wind energy was greatest in the Ridge and Valley region; all 24 eagles that passed through that region used the highest risk landscapes at least once during low altitude flight. In contrast, only half of the birds that entered the Allegheny Plateau region used highest risk landscapes and none did in the Allegheny Mountains. Likewise, in the Allegheny Mountains, the majority of wind turbines (56%) were situated in poor eagle habitat; thus, risk to eagles is lower there than in the Ridge and Valley, where only 1% of turbines are in poor eagle habitat. Risk within individual facilities was extremely variable; on average, facilities had 11% (SD 23; range = 0–100%) of turbines in highest risk landscapes and 26% (SD 30; range = 0–85%) of turbines in the lowest risk landscapes. Our results provide a mechanism for relocating high‐risk turbines, and they show the feasibility of this novel and highly adaptable framework for managing risk of harm to wildlife from industrial development. Evaluación del Riesgo para las Aves por el Desarrollo de Energía Eólica Industrial Mediante Modelos de Selección de Recursos Pareados.     

Organochlorine residues in the avifauna of Tamil Nadu (Southeast coast of India)

Pollution due to persistent pesticides is not a regional but a global problem. Organochlorine pesticides are persistent chemicals, stored and accumulated in the tissues of a wide variety of invertebrates and vertebrates including marine species. In the present study the organochlorine residues HCHs, DDTs and PCBs were measured in different trophic groups of birds (scavengers, inland piscivores, coastal piscivores, insectivores, granivores and omnivores) collected from Tamil Nadu Coast, India. The residue accumulation as a function of sex did not depict distinct variation. However, females had lower residue levels than males in terms of their mean weight and feeding habits. A continuous monitoring programme is recommended to establish the studied organisms as indicator species.     

Effects of daily nickel intake on the bio-accumulation,body weight and length in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Nickel pollution is a serious environmental problem, and its effects may provoke alterations in the ecosystem and in organism of animals and humans. Dermatitis, eczema, and asthma are some illnesses caused by Ni²⁺ poisoning. In this work, fish fed either Ni²⁺-enriched pellets or commercial pellets were studied. The amount of Ni²⁺ in fish were measurements by adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) with dimethylglyoxime as a complexing agent. The analysis of Ni²⁺ in fish by AdSV established that its accumulation occurs principally in viscera (670.86 ± 5.82 µg g^?1), in the head (697.12 ± 2.77 µg g^?1) and in the muscle (405.82 ± 3.26 µg g^?1), both after 12 months of experiments. Ni²⁺ adsorbs preferentially in organs such as the stomach, the intestine, and the kidneys and acts in the central nervous system as well. Tilapia growth and mass were significantly affected by Ni²⁺ poisoning. From statistical analysis, observed that the results for lengths, weights and metal concentration were different for each sampling at significance level of p < 0.05. The Ni²⁺ concentration in tilapia was enough to cause the death of tilapias; however, it did not occur because the presence of Zn²⁺ might act as protective agent of heavy metals.     

Foundations of Resilience Thinking

Through 3 broad and interconnected streams of thought, resilience thinking has influenced the science of ecology and natural resource management by generating new multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problem solving. Resilience science, adaptive management (AM), and ecological policy design (EPD) contributed to an internationally unified paradigm built around the realization that change is inevitable and that science and management must approach the world with this assumption, rather than one of stability. Resilience thinking treats actions as experiments to be learned from, rather than intellectual propositions to be defended or mistakes to be ignored. It asks what is novel and innovative and strives to capture the overall behavior of a system, rather than seeking static, precise outcomes from discrete action steps. Understanding the foundations of resilience thinking is an important building block for developing more holistic and adaptive approaches to conservation. We conducted a comprehensive review of the history of resilience thinking because resilience thinking provides a working context upon which more effective, synergistic, and systems‐based conservation action can be taken in light of rapid and unpredictable change. Together, resilience science, AM, and EPD bridge the gaps between systems analysis, ecology, and resource management to provide an interdisciplinary approach to solving wicked problems. Fundamentos del Pensamiento sobre Resiliencia     

Evaluating Microbial Indicators of Environmental Condition in Oregon Rivers

Traditional bacterial indicators used in public health to assess water quality and the Biolog system were evaluated to compare their response to biological, chemical, and physical habitat indicators of stream condition both within the state of Oregon and among ecoregion aggregates (Coast Range, Willamette Valley, Cascades, and eastern Oregon). Forty-three randomly selected Oregon river sites were sampled during the summer in 1997 and 1998. The public health indicators included heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), total coliforms (TC), fecal coliforms (FC) and Escherichia coli (EC). Statewide, HPC correlated strongly with physical habitat (elevation, riparian complexity, % canopy presence, and indices of agriculture, pavement, road, pasture, and total disturbance) and chemistry (pH, dissolved O2, specific conductance, acid-neutralizing capacity, dissolved organic carbon, total N, total P, SiO2, and SO4). FC and EC were significantly correlated generally with the river chemistry indicators. TC bacteria significantly correlated with riparian complexity, road disturbance, dissolved O2, and SiO2 and FC. Analyzing the sites by ecoregion, eastern Oregon was characterized by high HPC, FC, EC, nutrient loads, and indices of human disturbance, whereas the Cascades ecoregion had correspondingly low counts of these indicators. The Coast Range and Willamette Valley presented inconsistent indicator patterns that are more difficult to characterize. Attempts to distinguish between ecoregions with the Biolog system were not successful, nor did a statistical pattern emerge between the first five principle components and the other environmental indicators. Our research suggests that some traditional public health microbial indicators may be useful in measuring the environmental condition of lotic systems.     

Science, Policy, Stakeholders, and Fish Consumption Advisories: Developing a Fish Fact Sheet for the Savannah River

In recent years there has been a startling rise in the issuance of fish consumption advisories. Unfortunately, compliance by the public is often low. Low compliance can be due to a number of factors, including confusion over the meaning of advisories, conflicting advisories issued by different agencies, controversies involving health benefits versus the risks from consuming fish, and an unwillingness to act on the advisories because of personal beliefs. In some places, such as along the Savannah River, one state (South Carolina) had issued a consumption advisory while the other (Georgia) had not, although at present, both states now issue consumption advisories for the Savannah River. Herein we report on the development of a fish fact sheet to address the confusing and conflicting information available to the public about consuming fish from the Savannah River. The process involved interviewing fishers to ascertain fishing and consumption patterns, evaluating contaminant levels and exposure pathways, discussing common grounds for the provision of information, and consensus-building among different regulatory agencies (US Environmental Protection Agency, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Georgia Department of Natural Resources) and the Department of Energy. Consensus, a key ingredient in solving many different types of “commons” problems, was aided by an outside organization, the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP). The initial role for CRESP was to offer scientific data as a basis for groups with different assumptions about risks to reach agreement on a regulatory response action. The process was an example of how credible science can be used to implement management and policies and provide a basis for consensus-building on difficult risk communication issues. The paper provides several lessons for improving the risk process from stakeholder conflicts, through risk assessment, to risk management. It also suggests that consensus-building and risk communication are continuing processes that involve assimilation of new information on contaminants and food-chain processes, state and federal law, public policy, and public response.     

Thought self-leadership: the impact of mental strategies training on employee cognition,behavior, and affect

Thought self-leadership involves employee self-influence through cognitive strategies that focus on individual self-dialogue, mental imagery, beliefs and assumptions, and thought patterns. A training intervention-based field study with a control group was undertaken to empirically examine the applicability of thought self-leadership in an organizational setting (of bankruptcy financial status), and the potential for cognitions to be self-controlled. Results suggested that individuals who received the thought self-leadership training experienced increased mental performance, positive affect (enthusiasm), job satisfaction, and decreased negative affect (nervousness) relative to those not receiving the training. Additionally, the trainees reported a strong and positive reaction to the training. Finally, those who received the training experienced enhanced perceptions of self-efficacy and more optimistic perceptions of the organization's bankruptcy condition than those not receiving the training.     

Regeneration of Native Trees in the Presence of Invasive Saltcedar in the Colorado River Delta, Mexico

Abstract:  Many riparian zones in the Sonoran Desert have been altered by elimination of the normal flood regime; such changes to the flow regime have contributed to the spread of saltcedar ( Tamarix ramosissma Ledeb.), an exotic, salt-tolerant shrub. It has been proposed that reestablishment of a natural flow regime on these rivers might permit passive restoration of native trees, without the need for aggressive saltcedar clearing programs. We tested this proposition in the Colorado River delta in Mexico, which has received a series of large-volume water releases from U.S. dams over the past 20 years. We mapped the vegetation of the delta riparian corridor through ground and aerial surveys (1999–2002) and satellite imagery (1992–2002) and related vegetation changes to river flood flows and fire events. Although saltcedar is still the dominant plant in the delta, native cottonwood (  Populus fremontii S. Wats.) and willow ( Salix gooddingii C. Ball) trees have regenerated multiple times because of frequent flood releases from U.S. dams since 1981. Tree populations are young and dynamic (ages 5–10 years). The primary cause of tree mortality between floods is fire. Biomass in the floodplain, as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index on satellite images, responds positively even to low-volume (but long-duration) flood events. Our results support the hypothesis that restoration of a pulse flood regime will regenerate native riparian vegetation despite the presence of a dominant invasive species, but fire management will be necessary to allow mature tree stands to develop.     

What Every Conservation Biologist Should Know about Economic Theory

Abstract: The last century has seen the ascendance of a core economic model, which we will refer to as Walrasian economics. This model is driven by the psychological assumptions that humans act only in a self‐referential and narrowly rational way and that production can be described as a self‐contained circular flow between firms and households. These assumptions have critical implications for the way economics is used to inform conservation biology. Yet the Walrasian model is inconsistent with a large body of empirical evidence about actual human behavior, and it violates a number of basic physical laws. Research in behavioral science and neuroscience shows that humans are uniquely social animals and not self‐centered rational economic beings. Economic production is subject to physical laws including the laws of thermodynamics and mass balance. In addition, some contemporary economic theory, spurred by exciting new research in human behavior and a wealth of data about the negative global impact of the human economy on natural systems, is moving toward a world view that places consumption and production squarely in its behavioral and biophysical context. We argue that abandoning the straightjacket of the Walrasian core is essential to further progress in understanding the complex, coupled interactions between the human economy and the natural world. We call for a new framework for economic theory and policy that is consistent with observed human behavior, recognizes the complex and frequently irreversible interaction between human and natural systems, and directly confronts the cumulative negative effects of the human economy on the Earth's life support systems. Biophysical economics and ecological economics are two emerging economic frameworks in this movement.     

Motivations Influencing the Adoption of Conservation Easements

Abstract: The use of conservation easements as a conservation mechanism for private land has increased greatly in the past decade; conservation easements now protect over 15 million ha across the United States from residential and commercial development. We used a mailed survey and in‐depth telephone interviews to determine factors that motivate private landowners in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin (U.S.A.) to place conservation easements on their properties. The mailed survey asked about characteristics of landowners, their properties, and their opinions on 9 factors related to the decision to place an easement. A follow‐up telephone interview was completed with 19 mail‐survey participants to gain an in‐depth understanding of the action and to triangulate the results with the questionnaire. Place attachment, which is a measure of personal connection to a location or property, was the greatest motivation for implementation of an easement. Results of a principal components analysis suggested contributing to the public good underlaid several of the strong motivational factors for participation. Financial reasons were the lowest ranked motivational factor; however, financial concerns may facilitate placement of an easement that would otherwise not be realized. We believe that our results may be transferable to places where land protected by easements is not dominated by traditional farming (row crops, pastures, and hay), timber harvesting, or nonextractive uses (e.g., habitat for wild animals, recreation, and protection of ecosystem services).