Restoring the Great Basin Desert, U.S.A.: Integrating Science, Management, and People

The Great Basin Desert lies between the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east. Nearly 60% of the area’s deserts and mountains (roughly 30 million ha) are managed by the U. S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. This area is characterized by low annual precipitation, diverse desert plant communities, and local economies that depend on the products (livestock grazing, recreation, mining, etc.) produced by these lands. The ecological and economic stability of the Great Basin is increasingly at risk due to the expansion of fire-prone invasive species and increase in wildfires. To stem this loss of productivity and diversity in the Great Basin, the BLM initiated the “Great Basin Restoration Initiative” in 1999 after nearly 0.7 million ha of the Great Basin burned in wildfires. The objective of the Great Basin Restoration Initiative is to restore plant community diversity and structure by improving resiliency to disturbance and resistance to invasive species over the long-term. To accomplish this objective, a strategic plan has been developed that emphasizes local participation and reliance on appropriate science to ensure that restoration is accomplished in an economical and ecologically appropriate manner. If restoration in the Great Basin is not successful, desertification and the associated loss of economic stability and ecological integrity will continue to threaten the sustainability of natural resources and people in the Great Basin.     

Reframing the concept of alternative livelihoods

Alternative livelihood project (ALP) is a widely used term for interventions that aim to reduce the prevalence of activities deemed to be environmentally damaging by substituting them with lower impact livelihood activities that provide at least equivalent benefits. ALPs are widely implemented in conservation, but in 2012, an International Union for Conservation of Nature resolution called for a critical review of such projects based on concern that their effectiveness was unproven. We focused on the conceptual design of ALPs by considering their underlying assumptions. We placed ALPs within a broad category of livelihood‐focused interventions to better understand their role in conservation and their intended impacts. We dissected 3 flawed assumptions about ALPs based on the notions of substitution, the homogenous community, and impact scalability. Interventions based on flawed assumptions about people's needs, aspirations, and the factors that influence livelihood choice are unlikely to achieve conservation objectives. We therefore recommend use of a sustainable livelihoods approach to understand the role and function of environmentally damaging behaviors within livelihood strategies; differentiate between households in a community that have the greatest environmental impact and those most vulnerable to resource access restrictions to improve intervention targeting; and learn more about the social–ecological system within which household livelihood strategies are embedded. Rather than using livelihood‐focused interventions as a direct behavior‐change tool, it may be more appropriate to focus on either enhancing the existing livelihood strategies of those most vulnerable to conservation‐imposed resource access restrictions or on use of livelihood‐focused interventions that establish a clear link to conservation as a means of building good community relations. However, we recommend that the term ALP be replaced by the broader term livelihood‐focused intervention. This avoids the implicit assumption that alternatives can fully substitute for natural resource‐based livelihood activities.     

Assessing the global zoo response to the amphibian crisis through 20‐year trends in captive collections

Global amphibian declines are one of the biggest challenges currently facing the conservation community, and captive breeding is one way to address this crisis. Using information from the International Species Information System zoo network, we examined trends in global zoo amphibian holdings across species, zoo region, and species geographical region of origin from 1994 to 2014. These trends were compared before and after the 2004 Global Amphibian Assessment to assess whether any changes occurred and whether zoo amphibian conservation effort had increased. The numbers of globally threatened species (GTS) and their proportional representation in global zoo holdings increased and this rate of increase was significantly greater after 2004. North American, European, and Oceanian GTS were best represented in zoos globally, and proportions of Oceanian GTS held increased the most since 2004. South American and Asian GTS had the lowest proportional representation in zoos. At a regional zoo level, European zoos held the lowest proportions of GTS, and this proportion did not increase after 2004. Since 1994, the number of species held in viable populations has increased, and these species are distributed among more institutions. However, as of 2014, zoos held 6.2% of globally threatened amphibians, a much smaller figure than for other vertebrate groups and one that falls considerably short of the number of species for which ex situ management may be desirable. Although the increased effort zoos have put into amphibian conservation over the past 20 years is encouraging, more focus is needed on ex situ conservation priority species. This includes building expertise and capacity in countries that hold them and tracking existing conservation efforts if the evidence‐based approach to amphibian conservation planning at a global level is to be further developed.     

Assigning Degrees of Ease or Difficulty for Pet Animal Maintenance: The EMODE System Concept

Pet animal management is subject to varied husbandry practices and the resulting consequences often impact negatively on animal welfare. The perceptions held by someone who proposes to keep an animal regarding the ease or difficulty with which its biological needs can be provided for in captivity are key factors in whether that animal is acquired and how well or poorly it does. We propose a system to ‘score’ animals and assign them to categories indicating the ease or difficulty with which they can be kept as pets in accordance with welfare and public health and safety considerations. The ‘EMODE’ (‘Easy’, ‘Moderate’, ‘Difficult’, ‘Extreme’) system has two fundamental components: animal welfare—which considers the ‘five freedoms’ principles; and public health and safety—which considers management associated with risks from disease or injury to the keeper and to others. EMODE incorporates two tiers of assessment and guidance, and may offer a reasonable guide for the majority of relevant animals. EMODE Tier 1 provides a primary and general assessment of animals by class or group, and EMODE Tier 2 provides a secondary refined assessment of animals by species or breed. EMODE offers a user-friendly and versatile foundation concept for the future development of guidance for the layperson who may be considering acquiring a pet or for certain personnel when considering assigning species to restrictive lists of suitable animals, for example, ‘positive lists’ as used by governments to control animals in trade and keeping.     

Concordance of genetic and fin photo identification in the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, off Mossel Bay, South Africa

Visual identification of naturally acquired marks has been a popular if subjective method of animal identification and population estimation over the last 40 years. Molecular genetics has also independently developed objective individual marking techniques during the same period. Here, we assess the concordance of individual great white shark (Carcharodon carharias) dorsal fin recognition and identification, using seven microsatellite loci as the independent unbiased arbiter, over a period of 5 years. As a monitoring technique, fin photographs offer a very good individual identification key for white sharks over a relatively short period of time (5 years), matching with genetic data in about 85% of cases, whilst caution and a continuously updated database is required for animal recognition over a longer period.     

The Importance of Selecting Appropriate Criteria for Calculating Acidity Critical Loads for Terrestrial Ecosystems Using the Simple Mass Balance Equation

The Simple Mass Balance (SMB) equationis commonly used throughout Europe for thecalculation of acidity critical loads for forestsoils. Different criteria can be set in themodel depending on whether the receptor (e.g. treeroots) is more sensitive to the toxic effects ofaluminium or to unfavourable pH conditions. Thispaper examines the effects on critical loadscalculations of using different criteria andcritical limits, and demonstrates the importanceof selecting the most appropriate and justifiablecriteria for the chosen receptor, since they caneffect the critical loads values obtained. Abrief review of the range of different criteriaand limits used throughout Europe is included. In addition, the gibbsite equilibrium constant,used in the SMB equation to represent therelationship between dissolved aluminium andhydrogen ions in soil solution, is discussed. This relationship is not generally described inthe literature as a criterion in the equation,but this work highlights the effects differentgibbsite values have on critical loadcalculations and the importance of applying themost appropriate value for the soil in therooting zone of the receptor.     

CHANNEL RESPONSE FROM SHRUB DOMINATED RIPARIAN COMMUNITIES AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON SALMONTD HABITAT1

ABSTRACT: We surveyed first‐to third‐order streams (channel widths from 1.4 to 10 m) in the southeastern slopes of the Cascade Range of Washington and found two distinct endpoints of riparian vegetation. Where the forest overstory is dominated by park‐like Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), channels are commonly bordered with a dense scrub‐shrub vegetation community. Where fire suppression and/or lack of active riparian zone management have resulted in dense encroachment of fir forests that create closed forest canopies over the channel, scrub‐shrub vegetation communities are virtually absent near the channel. Other factors being equal, distinct differences in channel morphology exist in streams flowing thru each riparian community. The scrub‐shrub channels have more box‐like cross‐sections, lower width‐to‐depth ratios, more pools, more undercut banks, more common sand‐dominated substrates, and similar amounts of woody debris (despite lower tree density). Temperature comparisons of forest and scrub‐shrub sections of two streams indicate that summer water temperatures are slightly lower in the scrub‐shrub streams. We surmise that these morphology and temperature effects are driven by differences in root density and canopy conditions that alter dynamic channel processes between each riparian community. We suspect that the scrub‐shrub community was more common in the landscape prior to the 20th century and may have been the dominant native riparian community for these stream types. We therefore suggest that managing these streams for dense riparian conifer does not mimic natural conditions, nor does it provide superior in‐stream habitat.     

Local Government and the WSSD

Abstract

For over a century the development industry has been less than mindful of the laws of nature and ecology. Among the negative side effects of this development track is the accumulation of nutrients in our soils and water, and greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. There is already evidence that this increased concentration is going to fundamentally change our Earth's climate and natural environment beyond recognition and predictability. The two superstorms that struck the southern United States in 2005 are an indication of the strength and frequency with which similar disasters might afflict other communities in the future. The time for celebrating the small fixes and innovations of a few industry leaders is over. Global collaboration and collective will are needed now if we are to reshape the future of our planet. New tools, economic constructs and political awareness provide the impetus and wherewithal to take on this challenge.