Hunting Effects on Favourable Conservation Status of Highly Inbred Swedish Wolves

The wolf (Canis lupus) is classified as endangered in Sweden by the Swedish Species Information Centre, which is the official authority for threat classification. The present population, which was founded in the early 1980s, descends from 5 individuals. It is isolated and highly inbred, and on average individuals are more related than siblings. Hunts have been used by Swedish authorities during 2010 and 2011 to reduce the population size to its upper tolerable level of 210 wolves. European Union (EU) biodiversity legislation requires all member states to promote a concept called “favourable conservation status” (FCS) for a series of species including the wolf. Swedish national policy stipulates maintenance of viable populations with sufficient levels of genetic variation of all naturally occurring species. Hunting to reduce wolf numbers in Sweden is currently not in line with national and EU policy agreements and will make genetically based FCS criteria less achievable for this species. We suggest that to reach FCS for the wolf in Sweden the following criteria need to be met: (1) a well‐connected, large, subdivided wolf population over Scandinavia, Finland, and the Russian Karelia‐Kola region should be reestablished, (2) genetically effective size (N_e) of this population is in the minimum range of N_e = 500–1000, (3) Sweden harbors a part of this total population that substantially contributes to the total N_e and that is large enough to not be classified as threatened genetically or according to IUCN criteria, and (4) average inbreeding levels in the Swedish population are <0.1. Efectos de la Cacería sobre el Estatus de Conservación Favorable de Lobos Suecos con Endogamia Alta     

Understanding the Lessons and Limitations of Conservation and Development

Abstract: The lack of concrete instances in which conservation and development have been successfully merged has strengthened arguments for strict exclusionist conservation policies. Research has focused more on social cooperation and conflict of different management regimes and less on how these factors actually affect the natural environments they seek to conserve. Consequently, it is still unknown which strategies yield better conservation outcomes? We conducted a meta‐analysis of 116 published case studies on common resource management regimes from Africa, south and central America, and southern and Southeast Asia. Using ranked sociodemographic, political, and ecological data, we analyzed the effect of land tenure, population size, social heterogeneity, as well as internally devised resource‐management rules and regulations (institutions) on conservation outcome. Although land tenure, population size, and social heterogeneity did not significantly affect conservation outcome, institutions were positively associated with better conservation outcomes. There was also a significant interaction effect between population size and institutions, which implies complex relationships between population size and conservation outcome. Our results suggest that communities managing a common resource can play a significant role in conservation and that institutions lead to management regimes with lower environmental impacts.     

Implications of Urbanization for Artisanal Parrotfish Fisheries in the Western Solomon Islands

Abstract: Increasing migration into urbanized centers in the Solomon Islands poses a great threat to adjacent coral reef fisheries because of negative effects on the fisheries and because it further erodes customary management systems. Parrotfish fisheries are of particular importance because the feeding habits of parrotfish (scrape and excavate coral) are thought to be critical to the resilience of coral reefs and to maintaining coral reef health within marine protected areas. We investigated the ecological impact of localized subsistence and artisanal fishing pressure on parrotfish fisheries in Gizo Town, Western Solomon Islands, by analyzing the density and size distribution of parrotfish with an underwater visual census (UVC), recall diary (i.e., interviews with fishers), and creel surveys to independently assess changes in abundance and catch‐per‐unit‐effort (CPUE) over 2 years. We then compared parrotfish data from Gizo Town with equivalent data from sites open to and closed to fishing in Kida and Nusa Hope villages, which have different customary management regimes. Results indicated a gradient of customary management effectiveness. Parrotfish abundance was greater in customary management areas closed to fishing, especially with regard to larger fish sizes, than in areas open to fishing. The decline in parrotfish abundance from 2004 to 2005 in Gizo was roughly the same magnitude as the difference in abundance decline between inside and outside customary management marine reserves. Our results highlight how weak forms of customary management can result in the rapid decline of vulnerable fisheries around urbanized regions, and we present examples in which working customary management systems (Kinda and Nusa Hope) can positively affect the conservation of parrotfish—and reef fisheries in general—in the highly biodiverse Coral Triangle region.     

容检规中非圆形缺陷可接受准则的安全裕度

文章以国内典型压力容器用材245R为例，采用GB／T19624~断裂力学评价方法对于《压力容器定期检验规程》表5、表6中的超标非圆形缺陷可接受准则的安全裕度进行评价，评价结果表明其中可接受准则的部分规定不够保守，就此作者给出相关的修改建议。     

The role of toxicology in the evaluation of new agrochemicals

Abstract

The use of agrochemicals like crop protecting agents, veterinary disinfectants, and wood preservatives may result in (un)intentional exposure of the environment, animals and man. This paper deals with current testing strategies to assess the potential health risks for humans exposed to these chemicals during production or application or via consumption of foods containing pesticide residues.

Principles and procedures for safety assessment of pesticide residues in food as developed by WHO/FAO are described. Different types of toxicity studies in mammalian test animal species are discussed and a strategy is outlined in order to characterize the toxicity profile of a compound and the relationship between applied doses and adverse effects. Safety testing of agrochemicals should be carried out in relation to its intended use, and in particular attention will be paid to toxicity testing of residues of pesticides in food. Extrapolation of results from animal studies to humans and the use of safety factors is discussed.

Besides the use of animal protocol studies for safety testing of agrochemicals, the potential use of in‐vitro models derived from organs and tissues of animals is discussed. Data on the in‐vitro metabolism of thiabendazole, aldicarb and alachlor are discussed in order to demonstrate that such data may complement or partly substitute whole animal experimentation.

Principles and procedures for safety testing of residues of agrochemicals in food as applied during the last three decades, constitute a ‘safety‐first’ approach, providing sufficient safety margins for the consumer of foods which may contain low levels of residues of agrochemicals.     

Safety testing of pesticides and methods of evaluating human exposure in the field

Abstract

The importance of field surveys to provide data on acute pesticide hazards is discussed. The types of questions which small field surveys of pesticide exposure should answer are presented. In addition to protective clothing, the value of distance, time, and personal hygiene in reducing exposure are considered. Finally, the importance of an adequate data base for the development of protocols and guidelines for public protection is discussed.     

Implications of simultaneity in a physical damage function

A modeler must often rely on highly simplified representations of complex physical systems when analyzing associated economic issues. Herein, we consider a management problem in which a bioeconomic system exhibits simultaneity in processes governing productivity and damage. In this case, it may benefit the producer to sacrifice productivity to reduce the costs associated with increased damage. We specify empirically a structural damage relationship that explains the biological process by which an invasive species damages a host and estimate the structural model and its reduced form with an exceptional dataset on infestation of olives by the olive fruit fly. We contrast the results of these models with the approach typically taken in the economic literature, which expresses damage as a function of pest density. The population-based approach introduces significantly greater bias into the individual grower's choice of damage-control inputs than estimates based on the structural model.     

Use of Congeneric Assessment to Reveal the Linked Genetic Histories of Two Threatened Fishes in the Murray‐Darling Basin,Australia

Abstract: The intensely regulated Murray‐Darling Basin in southeastern Australia is the nation's most extensive and economically important river system, and it contains fragmented populations of numerous fish species. Among these is the Murray hardyhead (Craterocephalus fluviatilis), a species listed as endangered (International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List) in the mid‐1990s prior to its acute decline with the progression of a severe drought that began in 1997. We compared the genetic structure of Murray hardyhead with 4 congeneric species (Darling hardyhead[C. amniculus], Finke hardyhead[C. centralis], Lake Eyre hardyhead[C. eyresii], and unspecked hardyhead[C. stercusmuscarum]), selected on the basis of their taxonomic or biological similarity to Murray hardyhead, in order to affirm species boundaries and test for instances of introgressive hybridization, which may influence species ecology and conservation prospects. We used allozyme (52 loci) and mtDNA markers (1999 bp of ATPase and cytochrome b) to provide a comparative genetic assessment of 139 Murray hardyhead, which represented all extant and some recently extirpated populations, and 71 congeneric specimens from 12 populations. We confirmed that Murray hardyhead and Darling hardyhead are taxonomically distinct and identified a number of potential conservation units, defined with genetic criteria, in both species. We also found allozyme and mtDNA evidence of historic genetic exchange between these 2 allopatric species, apparently involving one population of each species at the geographic edge of the species’ ranges, not in the most proximate populations sampled. Our results provide information on species boundaries and offer insight into the likely causes of high genetic diversity in certain populations, results which are already being used to guide national recovery planning and local action. Given the prevalence of incorrect taxonomies and introgression in many organismal groups, we believe these data point to the need to commence genetic investigations of any threatened species from an initially broad taxonomic focus.     

Critical review of Integrated Water Resources Management: Moving beyond polarised discourse

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emerged as a popular concept in the water sector in the 20th century. From a highly techno-centric approach in the past, it has taken a new turn embracing Habermasian communicative rationality as a place-based nexus for multiple actors to consensually and communicatively integrate decisions in a hydrological unit. The 'how to integrate' approach had remarkable appeal worldwide in promoting authentic participation of all stakeholders. However, critics argue that the domain of water resource management is a political process of contestation and negotiation; the emphasis is on complexities, contextuality, power dynamics and the importance of analysing real world situations. They demonstrate 'how integration cannot be achieved' given the power dynamics in social interactions. These apparently contradictory discourses draw on different theoretical paradigms and polarise the discourse on IWRM, without offering constructive alternatives. To this end, this paper offers an option to complement this polarised discourse by examining 'how integration actually does take place' in a strategic context thereby facilitating consensual decisions to integrate water management for a sustainable future.