Conservation needs exposed by variability in common-pool governance principles

Common-pool governance principles are becoming increasingly important tools for natural resource management with communities and comanagement arrangements. Effectiveness of these principles depends on variability in agreements, trust, and adherence to institutional norms. We evaluated heterogeneity in governance principles by asking 449 people in 30 fishing communities in 4 East African countries to rate their effectiveness. The influences of individuals, their membership and role in stakeholder community groups, leadership, community, and country were tested. The membership and role of people were not the main influence on their perceptions of the effectiveness of governance principles. Therefore, drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of specific principles would be difficult to make independent of the individuals asked. More critical were individuals’ nationalities and their associations with the shared perceptions of a response-group's effectiveness of each principle. Perceptions of effectiveness differed strongly by country, and respondents from poor nations (Madagascar and Mozambique) were more cohesiveness but had fewer and weaker between-community conflict-resolution mechanisms. Overall, group identity, group autonomy, decision-making process, and conflict resolution principles were perceived to be most effective and likely to be enforced by repeated low-cost intragroup activities. Graduated sanctions, cost–benefit sharing, and monitoring resource users, fisheries, and ecology were the least scaled principles and less affordable via local control. We suggest these 2 groups of principles form independently and, as economies develop and natural resources become limiting, sustainability increasingly depends on the later principles. Therefore, management effectiveness in resource-limited situations depends on distributing power, skills, and costs beyond fishing communities to insure conservation needs are met.     

Effects of reduced water quality on coral reefs in and out of no‐take marine reserves

Near‐shore marine environments are increasingly subjected to reduced water quality, and their ability to withstand it is critical to their persistence. The potential role marine reserves may play in mitigating the effects of reduced water quality has received little attention. We investigated the spatial and temporal variability in live coral and macro‐algal cover and water quality during moderate and major flooding events of the Fitzroy River within the Keppel Bay region of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park from 2007 to 2013. We used 7 years of remote sensing data on water quality and data from long‐term monitoring of coral reefs to quantify exposure of coral reefs to flood plumes. We used a distance linear model to partition the contribution of abiotic and biotic factors, including zoning, as drivers of the observed changes in coral and macro‐algae cover. Moderate flood plumes from 2007 to 2009 did not affect coral cover on reefs in the Keppel Islands, suggesting the reef has intrinsic resistance against short‐term exposure to reduced water quality. However, from 2009 to 2013, live coral cover declined by ～50% following several weeks of exposure to turbid, low salinity water from major flood plume events in 2011 and subsequent moderate events in 2012 and 2013. Although the flooding events in 2012 and 2013 were smaller than the flooding events between 2007 to 2009, the ability of the reefs to withstand these moderate floods was lost, as evidenced by a ～20% decline in coral cover between 2011 to 2013. Although zoning (no‐take reserve or fished) was identified a significant driver of coral cover, we recorded consistently lower coral cover on reserve reefs than on fished reefs throughout the study period and significantly lower cover in 2011. Our findings suggest that even reefs with an inherent resistance to reduced water quality are not able to withstand repeated disturbance events. The limitations of reserves in mitigating the effects of reduced water quality on near‐shore coral reefs underscores the importance of integrated management approaches that combine effective land‐based management with networks of no‐take reserves.     

A comparative approach to assess drivers of success in mammalian conservation recovery programs

The outcomes of species recovery programs have been mixed; high‐profile population recoveries contrast with species‐level extinctions. Each conservation intervention has its own challenges, but to inform more effective management it is imperative to assess whether correlates of wider recovery program success or failure can be identified. To contribute to evidence‐based improvement of future conservation strategies, we conducted a global quantitative analysis of 48 mammalian recovery programs. We reviewed available scientific literature and conducted semistructured interviews with conservation professionals involved in different recovery programs to investigate ecological, management, and political factors associated with population recoveries or declines. Identifying and removing threats was significantly associated with increasing population trend and decreasing conservation dependence, emphasizing that populations are likely to continue to be compromised in the absence of effective threat mitigation and supporting the need for threat monitoring and adaptive management in response to new and potential threats. Lack of habitat and small population size were cited as limiting factors in 56% and 42% of recovery programs, respectively, and both were statistically associated with increased longer term dependence on conservation intervention, demonstrating the importance of increasing population numbers quickly and restoring and protecting habitat. Poor stakeholder coordination and management were also regularly cited by respondents as key weaknesses in recovery programs, indicating the importance of effective leadership and shared goals and management plans. Project outcomes were not influenced by biological or ecological variables such as body mass or habitat, which suggests that these insights into correlates of conservation success and failure are likely to be generalizable across mammals.     

Chemosensory and behavioural responses of the turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae, to glucosinolates and isothiocyanates

Summary. The turnip sawfly Athalia rosae sequesters glucosinolates from its cruciferous host plants in the larval stage. Investigation of the chemosensory and behavioural responses of adult A. rosae to glucosinolates and their volatile hydrolysis products, isothiocyanates, revealed that females detect glucosinolates by contact chemoreception and isothiocyanates by antennal olfaction. In electroantennogram recordings, four isothiocyanates (allyl [2-propenyl] isothiocyanate, benzyl isothiocyanate, butyl isothiocyanate and iberverin [3-methylthiopropyl isothiocyanate]) were active at all doses presented, including the lowest (0.1 μg), whilst the threshold for detection of three others, iberin [3-methylsulphinylpropyl isothiocyanate], methyl isothiocyanate, and sulforaphane [4-methylsulphinylbutyl isothiocyanate], was higher, at between 1 and 10 μg (source concentration of volatiles). Allyl isothiocyanate attracted experienced females in a four-chambered olfactometer, whilst na?ve females showed no response. Allyl isothiocyanate also attracted mature females to baited yellow water traps in field trials, although immature females were repelled at high isothiocyanate concentrations. In laboratory behavioural bioassays the glucosinolates sinigrin (allyl [2-propenyl] glucosinolate) and sinalbin (p-hydroxybenzyl glucosinolate), stimulated ovipositor probing in mature female A. rosae to an extent comparable to hot-water extracts of their host plants. These responses show that glucosinolates and isothiocyanates play an important role in host finding and host recognition in A. rosae.     

Biologische Detektionsverfahren in der Dünnschichtchromatographie

The goal of this work is to make ecotoxicologically-relevant substance bands visible on thin-layer chromatographic plates. Bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Vibrio fischeri, Salmonella typhimurium), fungi (Aspergillus niger), algi (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) and pollen (Impatiens walleriana) were used as test organisms. With the aid of these organisms, it has been possible to identify bactericide, fungicide, algicide, phytotoxic and genotoxic bands.     

Survival, Pb-uptake and behaviour of three species of earthworm in Pb treated soils determined using an OECD-style toxicity test and a soil avoidance test

Mature (clitellate) Eisenia andrei Bouché (ultra epigeic), Lumbricus rubellus Hoffmeister (epigeic), and Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny) (endogeic) earthworms were placed in soils treated with Pb(NO(3))(2) to have concentrations in the range 1,000 to 10,000 mg Pb kg(-1). After 28 days LC50(-95%confidence limit)(+95%confidence limit) values were E. andrei 5824(-361)(+898) mg Pb kg(-1), L. rubellus 2867(-193)(+145) mg Pb kg(-1) and A. caliginosa2747(-304)(+239) mg Pb kg(-1) and EC50s for weight change were E. andrei2841(-68)(+150) mg Pb kg(-1), L. rubellus1303(-201)(+240) mg Pb kg(-1) and A. caliginosa1208(-206)(+212) mg Pb kg(-1). At any given soil Pb concentration, Pb tissue concentrations after 28 days were the same for all three earthworm species. In a soil avoidance test there was no difference between the behaviour of the different species. The lower sensitivity to Pb exhibited by E. andrei is most likely due to physiological adaptations associated with the modes of life of the earthworms, and could have serious implications for the use of this earthworm as the species of choice in standard toxicological testing.     

Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans in butter from different states in Australia

Nine samples of butter from producers in various states of Australia were analysed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Detectable concentrations of 2,3,7,8-chlorine substituted PCDD/Fs were found in all samples. The mean PCDD/F concentration expressed as 2,3,7,8-TCDD equivalents (TEQs) was 0.19 pg TEQ g-1 fat. The highest concentration (0.46 pg TEQ g-1 fat) was observable in a sample from Victoria which is the most densely populated state. Overall the results indicate that PCDD/F concentrations in dairy products from Australia are low in comparison to the levels in dairy products of industrialized countries on the Northern Hemisphere. As expected, this study provides evidence that the environmental and consequently the human body burden of PCDD/Fs to be relatively low in Australia.     

Attributional conflict between managers and subordinates: An investigation of leader-member exchange effects

The present study investigated the discrepancies, or conflict, between the attributions of leaders and members as a function of LMX quality and explored the relation between attributional conflict and subordinate job satisfaction, perceptions of equity, and turnover intentions. Data for the study were provided by 141 supervisor-subordinate dyads from the managerial ranks of a large manufacturing organization. Both parties of the dyad made attributions for subordinate loyalty, affect, and contributions, member behaviors identified as critical in previous LMX research. Limited support emerged for the hypothesis that attributional conflict would be greater in dyads where subordinates reported lower rather than higher LMX quality. Findings suggested that attributional discrepencies are due, in part, to the tendency of leaders to make more favorable attributions for subordinates reporting higher LMX quality than for subordinates reporting lower LMX quality. Results also revealed that, while attributional conflict was negatively related to subordinate satisfaction and perceptions of equity and positively related to turnover intentions, attributional conflict did not predict subordinate work outcomes when the effects of LMX quality were controlled. Implications of these findings were discussed.