Structuring Decisions for Managing Threatened and Endangered Species in a Changing Climate

The management of endangered species under climate change is a challenging and often controversial task that incorporates input from a variety of different environmental, economic, social, and political interests. Yet many listing and recovery decisions for endangered species unfold on an ad hoc basis without reference to decision‐aiding approaches that can improve the quality of management choices. Unlike many treatments of this issue, which consider endangered species management a science‐based problem, we suggest that a clear decision‐making process is equally necessary. In the face of new threats due to climate change, managers’ choices about endangered species require closely linked analyses and deliberations that identify key objectives and develop measurable attributes, generate and compare management alternatives, estimate expected consequences and key sources of uncertainty, and clarify trade‐offs across different dimensions of value. Several recent cases of endangered species conservation decisions illustrate our proposed decision‐focused approach, including Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) recovery framework development, Cultus Lake sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) management, and Upper Columbia River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) recovery planning. Estructuración de Decisiones para Manejar Especies Amenazadas y en Peligro en un Clima Cambiante     

Incorporating Social and Cultural Significance of Large Old Trees in Conservation Policy

In addition to providing key ecological functions, large old trees are a part of a social realm and as such provide numerous social‐cultural benefits to people. However, their social and cultural values are often neglected when designing conservation policies and management guidelines. We believe that awareness of large old trees as a part of human identity and cultural heritage is essential when addressing the issue of their decline worldwide. Large old trees provide humans with aesthetic, symbolic, religious, and historic values, as well as concrete tangible benefits, such as leaves, branches, or nuts. In many cultures particularly large trees are treated with reverence. Also, contemporary popular culture utilizes the image of trees as sentient beings and builds on the ancient myths that attribute great powers to large trees. Although the social and cultural role of large old trees is usually not taken into account in conservation, accounting for human‐related values of these trees is an important part of conservation policy because it may strengthen conservation by highlighting the potential synergies in protecting ecological and social values. Incorporación del Significado Social y Cultural de Árboles Añejos a Políticas de Conservación     

Virtual Garden Computer Program for use in Exploring the Elements of Biodiversity People Want in Cities

Urban ecology is emerging as an integrative science that explores the interactions of people and biodiversity in cities. Interdisciplinary research requires the creation of new tools that allow the investigation of relations between people and biodiversity. It has been established that access to green spaces or nature benefits city dwellers, but the role of species diversity in providing psychological benefits remains poorly studied. We developed a user‐friendly 3‐dimensional computer program (Virtual Garden [ www.tinyurl.com/3DVirtualGarden ]) that allows people to design their own public or private green spaces with 95 biotic and abiotic features. Virtual Garden allows researchers to explore what elements of biodiversity people would like to have in their nearby green spaces while accounting for other functions that people value in urban green spaces. In 2011, 732 participants used our Virtual Garden program to design their ideal small public garden. On average gardens contained 5 different animals, 8 flowers, and 5 woody plant species. Although the mathematical distribution of flower and woody plant richness (i.e., number of species per garden) appeared to be similar to what would be expected by random selection of features, 30% of participants did not place any animal species in their gardens. Among those who placed animals in their gardens, 94% selected colorful species (e.g., ladybug [Coccinella septempunctata], Great Tit [Parus major], and goldfish), 53% selected herptiles or large mammals, and 67% selected non‐native species. Older participants with a higher level of education and participants with a greater concern for nature designed gardens with relatively higher species richness and more native species. If cities are to be planned for the mutual benefit of people and biodiversity and to provide people meaningful experiences with urban nature, it is important to investigate people's relations with biodiversity further. Virtual Garden offers a standardized tool with which to explore these relations in different environments, cultures, and countries. It can also be used by stakeholders (e.g., city planners) to consider people's opinions of local design. Programa de Computadora de Jardín Virtual para Uso en la Exploración de los Elementos de Biodiversidad que la Gente Desea en las Ciudades     

Value of information in product recovery decisions: a Bayesian approach

There is a widespread recognition of the need for better information sharing and provision to improve the viability of end-of-life (EOL) product recovery operations. The emergence of automated data capture and sharing technologies such as RFID, sensors and networked databases has enhanced the ability to make product information; available to recoverers, which will help them make better decisions regarding the choice of recovery option for EOL products. However, these technologies come with a cost attached to it, and hence the question ‘what is its value?’ is critical. This paper presents a probabilistic approach to model product recovery decisions and extends the concept of Bayes' factor for quantifying the impact of product information on the effectiveness of these decisions. Further, we provide a quantitative examination of the factors that influence the value of product information, this value depends on three factors: (i) penalties for Type I and Type II errors of judgement regarding product quality; (ii) prevalent uncertainty regarding product quality and (iii) the strength of the information to support/contradict the belief. Furthermore, we show that information is not valuable under all circumstances and derive conditions for achieving a positive value of information.     

Magnitude and distribution of option value for the Washakie Wilderness,northwest Wyoming,USA

Option value is estimated for the Washakie Wilderness, northwest Wyoming, USA, using the contingent valuation technique. Consumer surplus, the traditional measure of economic value, is estimated separately and compared with option value. Several populations are tested, including Washakie visitors, Yellowstone National Park visitors, and residents from four metropolitan test markets: Salt Lake City, Utah; Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida, USA. The average annual preservation option value (consumer surplus) expressed by on-site wilderness visitors is $46.17 ($80.13), by urban residents is $9.70 ($8.97), and by rural residents is $8.43 ($7.80). Four selected attributes are determined to be important in motivating option demand for the Washakie, including existence value, bequest value, the desire for an on-site visit, and interest in securing the visiting privileges of others. The results suggest that option value is important in wilderness valuation and that off-site users account for a large part of the economic value of wilderness.     

CHEMISTRY RESPONSE OF TWO FORESTED WATERSHEDS TO ACID ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION1

ABSTRACT: The deposition and chemistry of precipitation were estimated for one year in two forest ecosystems in the South-Central United States. Precipitation, throughfall, litter leachate, and soil leachate were analyzed for a small catchment of pine-hardwoods in southeastern Oklahoma and for a catchment of loblolly pines (Pinus taeda L.) in northern Mississippi. In the pine-hardwood forest, 98 percent of the acid deposition was neutralized, 50 percent in the forest canopy, and 48 percent in the forest floor. In the pine forest, 75 percent of the acid deposition was neutralized, all in the forest floor. The pine-hardwood ecosystem accumulated sulfate, nitrate, and ammonia ions, and lost base cations. During seasons of deficient precipitation, dry deposition appeared to enrich the concentrations of hydrogen, nitrate, sulfate, and ammonia ions in throughfall samples at both locations.     

水资源研究中几个问题的探讨

本文讨论了区域水资源的评价问题.无论是地表水、地下水,还是土壤水都是来源于大气降水,降水资源才是区域总水资源;同时讨论了区域水资源的平衡原理.降水资源转化了截留水、地表水、土壤水和地下水4项水资源.该文对这2种不同的水体进行了深入讨论,着重论述了土壤水资源的概念及其特征.并对潜水蒸发和水资源的价值问题提出了看法.     

FLOOD FREQUENCY ANALYSIS FOR SMALL WATERSHEDS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS1

ABSTRACT: Twenty-two gaging stations were selected for developing a regional flood frequency curve for small (area less than 2 square miles) watersheds in southern Illinois. Five probability functions were compared, and the extreme value type I function was selected to develop the regional flood curve. The curve was generated with the index flood method and also another empirical method that related the function parameters to the watershed area. Estimated peak discharges with various return periods were compared with the results obtained from multiple regression analysis.     

Development of a bird integrity index: using bird assemblages as indicators of riparian condition

We describe the development of a bird integrity index (BII) that uses bird assemblage information to assess human impacts on 13 stream reaches in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. We used bird survey data to test 62 candidate metrics representing aspects of bird taxonomic richness, tolerance or intolerance to human disturbance, dietary preferences, foraging techniques, and nesting strategies that were affected positively or negatively by human activities. We evaluated the metric responsiveness by plotting each one against a measure of site disturbance that included aspects of land use/land cover, road density, riparian cover, and stream channel and substrate conditions. In addition, we eliminated imprecise and highly correlated (redundant) metrics, leaving 13 metrics for the final index. Individual metric scores ranged continuously from 0 to 10, and index scores were weighted to range from 0 to 100. Scores were calibrated using historical species information to set expectations for the number of species expected under minimally disturbed conditions. Site scores varied from 82 for the least disturbed stream reach to 8.5 for an urban site. We compared the bird integrity index site scores with the performance of other measures of biotic response developed during this study: a fish index of biointegrity (IBI) and two benthic macroinvertebrate metrics. The three assemblages agreed on the general level of disturbance; however, individual sites scored differently depending on specific indicator response to in-stream or riparian conditions. The bird integrity index appears to be a useful management and monitoring tool for assessing riparian integrity and communicating the results to the public. Used together with aquatic indicator response and watershed data, bird assemblage information contributes to a more complete picture of stream condition.     

Modeling channel management impacts on river migration: a case study of Woodson bridge state recreation area,Sacramento river,California, USA

Understanding how hydraulic factors control alluvial river meander migration can help resource managers evaluate the long-term effects of floodplain management and bank stabilization measures. Using a numerical model based on the mechanics of flow and sediment transport in curved river channels, we predict 50 years of channel migration and suggest the planning and ecological implications of that migration for a 6.4-km reach (river miles 218–222) of the Sacramento River near the Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area, California, USA. Using four different channel management scenarios, our channel migration simulations suggest that: (1) channel stabilization alters the future channel planform locally and downstream from the stabilization; (2) rock revetment currently on the bank upstream from the Woodson Bridge recreation area causes more erosion of the channel bank at the recreation area than if the revetment were not present; (3) relocating the channel to the west and allowing subsequent unconstrained river migration relieves the erosion pressure in the Woodson Bridge area; (4) the subsequent migration reworks (erodes along one river bank and replaces new floodplain along the other) 26.5 ha of land; and (5) the river will rework between 8.5 and 48.5 ha of land in the study reach (over the course of 50 years), depending on the bank stabilization plan used. The reworking of floodplain lands is an important riparian ecosystem function that maintains habitat heterogeneity, an essential factor for the long-term survival of several threatened and endangered animal species in the Sacramento River area.