STREAM TYPES IN THE DES MOINES RIVER BASIN1

Stream tributaries in the Des Moines River basin have been classified according to the glacial terrain through which they flow. Three stream types were categorized as follows: (1) streams that flow entirely on Wisconsin drift, (2) streams that flow entirely on Kansan drift, and (3) streams that have their headwaters located on new drift but have their lower reaches flowing on older drift. Selected channel and valley characteristics were measured and used to verify the stream type classification. Five variables were chosen for use in a multiple linear discriminatory analysis, which is a statistical technique developed for the purpose of classifying observations into one of several categories which have been predetermined. The streams in each group were verified with the exception of three anomalies based on the probability associated with the largest linear discriminant function. The rationale for the three anomalous streams is not easily determined. But, they are considered to be associated with pre-glacial drainage or at least pre-Wisconsin age drainage. Otherwise, the analysis shows that the major channels and valleys in the Des Moines River basin tend to reflect the glaciated upland surface.     

Book reviews

Environmental Economics

R. K. Turner, D. W. Pearce & I. Bateman

London, Harvester Wheatsheaf 1994, 328 pp., £10.95 pb.

Gray World, Green Heart: Technology, Nature, and the Sustainable Landscape

Robert L. Thayer Jr

New York, Wiley, 1994, 332 pp., £32.95 hb     

Lessons in logistics from Somalia

By February 1981 the refugee relief operation in Somalia was close to breakdown. The Governor of Somalia and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) contracted the agency CARE to manage the logistics of the operation. By August 1981 over 99 % of food received at Mogadishu was reaching the camps. Here we describe this apparent success, and attempt to diagnose the contributing factors. Chief among these are dynamic leadership, 'systems' management, adaptability of personnel, the use of professional Indian food monitors in the camps, and the support given by the Government. The chief qualification on the success of the operation has been the continued dependency on expatriate expertise.
General conclusions are offered relating to the management of logistics in relief operations. The most important conclusion is that there is a prime need for logistics to be centralized in a single organization at the start of major emergencies. We point to the current inadequacy in an international relief system which fails to ensure this, and suggest that a new or existing part of the United Nations family be given a 'brief for in-country logistics' to become a UN Emergency Logistics Office.     

An Ecosystem Management Program and Assessment Process for Ontario National Parks

Abstract: An ecosystem management program and assessment process was developed to standardize an ecosystem-based approach to protecting the ecological integrity of Ontario's national parks. The elements of the ecosystem management program collectively represent the dominant planning and technical aspects of ecosystem management. Within the program, 11 specific products—ecosystem conservation plan, greater park ecosystem inventory and analysis, greater park ecosystem scope, area of cooperation, stakeholder analysis, partnership group management guidelines, scientific research program, ecological indicators, ecological integrity monitoring program, information network, and communication strategy—are considered requisite tools to improve the scientific understanding required for park management within the context of greater park ecosystems and to increase communication and coordination among governments and citizens to improve decision making. The formal process uses evaluation criteria associated with the 11 products to assess progress in developing an ecosystem management program and the content of the related products. The assessment process, which provides comprehensive identification of a park's specific ecosystem management needs, has been applied to all national parks in Ontario in the past year, which has had the immediate effect of refining their ecosystem management programs.     

Conservation Applications of Astronaut Photographs of Earth: Tidal-Flat Loss ( Japan), Elephant Effects on Vegetation (Botswana), and Seagrass and Mangrove Monitoring (Australia)

Abstract: National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA) photographs taken by astronauts from low Earth orbit can provide information relevant to conservation biology. This data source is now more accessible because of improvements in digitizing technology, Internet file transfer, and availability of image processing software. We present three examples of conservation-related projects that benefited from the use of astronaut photographs. First, NASA scientists requested that astronauts photograph the area of the controversial Isahaya Bay reclamation project in Japan. Japanese researchers used photographs from before and after the reclamation as a tool for communication with the public about the effects of tidal-flat loss. The newly acquired images and the availability of high-resolution digital images from NASA archives provided timely public information on the observed changes. Second, we digitally classified and analyzed a Space Shuttle photograph of Chobe National Park in Botswana to identify the locations of woodlands affected by elephants. Field validation later confirmed that areas identified on the image showed evidence of elephant damage. Third, we used a summary map from intensive field surveys of seagrasses in Shoalwater Bay, Australia, as reference data for a supervised classification of a digitized photograph taken from orbit. The classification distinguished seagrasses, sediments, and mangroves with accuracy approximating that in studies using other satellite remote-sensing data. Astronaut photographs are in the public domain, and the database of nearly 400,000 photographs from the late 1960s to the present is available at a single searchable location on the Internet (  http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop ). These photographs can be used by conservation biologists as a source of general information about the landscape and for quantitative mapping.     

Estimating damages from climate-related natural disasters for the Caribbean at 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming above preindustrial levels

This paper examines historical and future changes in normalised damages resulting from climate-related natural disasters for the Caribbean. Annualised damages of USD824 million are shown to be non-stationary over the historical period 1964 to 2013. Perturbations of (i) sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical North Atlantic (TNA) and (ii) the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO) appear to be associated with historical damages. Both the TNA and AMO are known modulators of hurricane activity and rainfall amounts in the Caribbean. Indicative future damages are determined using (i) cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of perturbed climate states and (ii) an artificial neural network (ANN) model of damages using projected TNA values and the state of the AMO derived from an ensemble of five coupled model intercomparison project phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models (GCMs) run under the RCP 4.5 scenario. Estimates of future damages are determined when global mean surface temperatures (GMST) reach and exceed 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. Annual normalised damages may potentially increase to at least USD1395 million or close to double for 1.5 °C. At 2 °C, higher damages may occur; however, large uncertainty across all GCMs prohibits the identification of significant difference between 1.5 and 2 °C. Significant differences in damages do, however, exist for at least two of the GCMs for the two climate states. The robustness of the results is discussed in light of a number of issues, including limitations associated with the data.